ALD's MOVIELAND

Fjord -Palme d'or !!!

2026-05-24T00:28:18.122+03:00

all winers here

Palme d'or

FJORD
Cristian MUNGIU

Kudos !!! next on I guess the Oscars !

Second Palme d')r for Mungiu after 19 years from 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 days, making him the Tenth director in the history of Cannes to win twice. Here's the other nine.

Fjord also won in Cannes 4 other awards:

-the François Chalais Prize

-Prix de la Citoyenneté (Citizenship Award)

-Ecumenical Jury Prize

-FIPRESCI award (International Critics' Prize)

***At the official screening the film was received with a 12 mins. standing ovation, a huge timing for the festival and a good barometer of the success of the projection, much more than the reviews and the trades star ratings.

The Plague (2025)

2026-05-23T01:53:20.685+03:00

Remarkable debut by Charlie Polinger (w/d). It premiered in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Worthy of the DGA Award. Amazingly it was shot in Romania (by Abis studios, art director Vlad Vieru just won a Gopo for the Yellow Tie) !!! Great widescreen compositions. in 2.39 : 1. Also shot on film,35mm by Steven Breckon, another name to follow.

Joel Edgerton (also a producer) is the only adult name in the film, the rest is a bunch of kids, real talent. Everett Blunck as Ben is a stand-out. They won best actors in Sitges, also together with Kayo Martin.

Lord of the Flies in a summer waterpolo camp with shades of masculin Carrie. It's set in 2003, no clue why. It's gross sometimes like teenagers are, it's unpleasant and it feels real. Tough to direct all these kids, and as a first picture, kudos !

Also great, I mean GREAT sound design and a great score by Johan Lenox, reminiscent also of Pino Donnagio's cues.

Corsa Notturna (see, it's in Italian;) will give you goosebumps. It looks like it's Lenox' first real score too. Bravo !

Also Moby's song Feeling So Real will never feel the same again ! 4 real ;)

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 ! Deserves even more but my empathy was with the filmmaking, not the characters.

Caveat (2020)

2026-05-20T01:35:00.000+03:00

I caught up with Damian McCarthy 1st feature film Caveat after seeeing Hokum in a cinema last week and Oddity in 2024.

Caveat in Latin means Warning/ Beware.

Creepy, claustrophobic, atmospheric very low key and extremly well done low budget debut feature shot in Cork, Ireland.

Loses some steam in the third act but it's paced at 1h30 so it's all good. It's basically for the viewer a one person drama and experiences and emotions -through Issac (Jonathan French's amnesic character).

The harness is a gimmick worthy of Edgar Allan Poe's stories.

The film's dialogue is minimal, and the sound design/ soundtrack is keeping the ternsion up, as with the camera movements and the set design of the creepy house with falling walls, the basement, floors creaking and those distant cries of the foxes...

The most interesting thing in the film is the drumming toy rabbit that beats Stephen King/ Osgood Perkins' Moneky for creepiness and weirdness.

***The toy rabbit featured in the film was acquired via eBay by McCarthy, who "always had an interest in wind-up toys". It was stripped of its fur and sent to costume and prop builder Lisa Zagone, who finalised its design.

3 1/2 out of 5 / 7 out of 10

Sight and Sound: The uncannily claustrophobic design of the setting matches the tightness of the irrationally unfolding narrative in this slice of ghostly surrealism, so beautifully styled that you can practically smell the mildew-stained walls.

Hokum (2026)

2026-05-15T02:22:43.185+03:00

Hokum is No Hokum.

maybe the best, most intense horror of the year yet.

To be seen on the big screen. It's widescreen - 2.39 : 1, -by Colm Hogan, kudos! - but it's claustrophobic and the sound design is Great !!! And the music too-atmospheric, as a tool of building more sound !

From the director od Oddity and Caveat, Irishman Damian McCarthy, a name to follow...

McCarthy provides some genuine good scares

and gets a restrained performance from Adam Scott (Severance series), at his most serious and downbeat. His character is the obnoxious and depressed writer Ohm Bauman (reminiscences to Richard Bachman, The Shining -Kubrick's- and other Stephen King characters, Jack Torrance, Mort Rainey, George Stark included).

Hokum is psychological horror mixed with folk supernatural lore, but also a bit more,

Opening and ending bookends raise the quality of the film a lot.

Liked it better than Weapons and felt the kind of vibe Hereditary gave me back when I saw it in a cinema.

7 1/2 out of 10 !

In the Stars-The Rolling Stones (SOTD)

2026-05-14T21:30:00.000+03:00

The 1st video from the new album, Speaking Tongues (out July 10th) is out.

In the Stars. With 'em stars.

“Some people seek their fortune on the turn of a card

Or throwing some bones in a whiskey glass

‘Cause if you wanna seek your fortune, need a lot of luck

I was standing there when the lightning struck"

Indeed ;)

It's a slick, big budget, high concept video for a cool song reminiscenting the 70's.

AI de-aging, etc.

Directed by Francois Rousselet, who directed also the most recent clip of RS, Angry from Hackney Diamonds in 2023, as well as Ride 'Em on Down from Blue and Lonesome (2016).

my buddy Ticke aka Attila Brushvox wrote about it here !

Deep Purple-Arrogant Boy (SOTD)

2026-05-12T22:43:00.006+03:00

Great new song from some ol' boyz

Lyrics here

video here, premiered 2nite.

Produced by Bob Ezrin. Written by Don Airey, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Simon McBride & Ian Paice.

From their upcoming 24th studio album SPLAT !, out on July 3d.

see ya in Cluj on Oct. 1st !!!

https://btarena.info/event/concert-deep-purple/

tickets here

Iron Maiden -Burning Ambition (2026)

2026-05-05T00:00:00.003+03:00

hell yeah, and yes a film about the Maidens

8.05.2026. watch your cinema screens !!!

now the London premiere was on

See ya Friday at Coresi -Cinema One in Brasov, it runs there Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 19.00

(also it runs next weekend)

https://www.cinemaone.ro/movie/3292/1/253179#/

Up the Irons !!!!

Update after the screening (as noted on Letterbox):

Gotta say I expected this for a while so my expctations were Aces High. Seeing all the docs about the Irons, it makes for a nice completion, and great to see it in a cinema theater (*although mostly empty :( but it is more or less a promotional tool for the ongoing tour, more than the coda on the story of the Iron Maiden legend.

3 1/2 -half star beacuse it ws on the big screen tho-

International BO here.

Romanian box office:

Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition

distributor: Ro Image 2000 1 86 2.285 73.232,46 2.285 73.232,46 2.285 73.232,46 lei

16.459,32 USD

2.285 tickets / 86 screens....

The Lodger (1927)

2026-05-04T16:11:00.000+03:00

The Lodger -from Aperitiff 2009 on a a special live music projection

În The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), Londra e terorizată de un misterios

asasin în serie, numit Răzbunătorul (The Avenger), care ucide blonde în plină şi perpetuă

ceaţă. În acelaşi timp un individ misterios se cazeză în pensiunea familiei Bunting, care

începe să-l suspecteze pe chiriaş că este asasinul mult temut. Protagonistul titular este

Ivor Novello, renumit compozitor, actor şi cîntăreţ în epocă, care şi-a reluat rolul din

acest film mut într-un remake sonor, din 1932 (regia Maurice Elvey). Temele

caracteristice lui Alfred Hitchcock, suspiciune şi vionovăţie, care vor reveni obsedant,

sunt prezente în primul său thriller, cu tuşe expresioniste, care se inspiră din povestea lui

Jack Spintecătorul. Este şi primul film de Hitchcock care se păstrează integral (copia

nouă are 105 minute) şi în care regizorul are un cameo, apariţie devenită apoi trademark.

Versiunea clujeană are 75 de minute şi e acompaniată live de muzica DJ Dubase &

Leizaboy.

Alin Ludu Dumbravă

The Fortune (1975)

2026-04-23T02:27:00.020+03:00

The Fortune was then back in 1975 at the time not so fortunate...a good time to revisit now on Jack's 89th BB (Birthday Bash-I hope so...)

For Jack and Warren one of their most obscure films and the only one they did together except Beatty's own REDS...This was Beatty's film trying to greenlit Shampoo (1975) and the studio, Columbia Pictures, made that film in order to get this made and guess which film flopped bigtime...

Directed by Mike Nichols, (shot in summer 1974), it was a huge flop at the time of the relase, the guyz had a lot of fun tho but not also Nichols (!) and the film has way more fun values today !

Plot synopsis: Two bumbling hustlers in the 1920s attempt to gain the fortune of an heiress. Nothing will stop them, not even murder.

via my post from 2007, `You Don't know Jack! on DVD/ updated and in English now:

In The Fortune /Averea in Romanian/1975, Jack joins his buddiest friend Warren Beatty. What they thought they would reissue Some Like it Hot, became Beavis and Butt-head avant la lettre. Or Stan and Bran dadaists. Abbot and Costello meet the Stooges. Without Iggy. With Stockard Channing (nominated for a Golden Globe as a newcomer), who did not become the new Marilyn Monroe. Compared to something like Wedding Crashers, B & B (i.e. Nicholson and Beatty), are rocket scientists. Jack as Oscar plays as madcap as it gets, Beatty as Nicky keeps it dandy,. It's an all-mus-go cynical farce, tango featured, bonus the moustaches. Plus the sexiest movie star chick since Chicken Little the cartoon. Director Mike Nichols had previously made, in 1970, with Jack and Art Garfunkel, Carnal Knowledge and would direct Jack again in Heartburn and Wolf. Nichols had such a bad experience that he didn't make another film for 8 years...:(

Maybe Billy Wilder would've made it better and less chaotic ? Or Blake Edwards' more succesful ?

Written by Carole Eastman, Jack's buddy (wrote 4 films for him and Jerry Schatzberg's Puzzle of a Downfall Child), under the pen name Adrien Joyce.

Shot by master John A. Alonzo (working with Jack after Chinatown, Black Sunday, Scarface). Widescreen 2.35.1, ANAMORPHIC.

Exceptional production design by Richard Sylbert in his last film with Nichols, and with Jack via Chinatown. The villa apartment is the same as in Day of the Locust , 'cos it's the same set, Schlesinger's film is also 1975).

Merry period music and adaptations by David Shire. I Must Be Dreaming is sung by Stockard Channing.

Jack's buddy, Scatman Crothers has a cameo as a fisherman, one of his many in Jack's films (The King of Marvin Gardens, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining).

Another Nicholson great buddy, Harry Dean Stanton has a silent and uncredited cameo at 1h21.

More trivia from wikipedia:

Because the start of principal photography on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was delayed, Jack Nicholson, who had worked with Nichols on Carnal Knowledge, was available for the role of Oscar Sullivan. During filming, the actor was forced to deal with two events that impacted his personal life. First, a fact checker working on a biographical piece for Time discovered that the woman Nicholson believed was his sister was actually his mother, and the woman who raised him was his grandmother. Then his close friend Cass Elliot (mama Cass!) died in her sleep, and rumors about the cause of her death circulated in the media. These two events, linked with the film's eventual failure, made The Fortune a subject that Nicholson never discussed in interviews and biographies.

3 1/2 stars out of 5 / 7 out of 10 !!! (raised it a half-star after that viewing in 2007).

LMA Jack Nicholson -Jack is 89 !!!

2026-04-22T20:51:00.002+03:00

The one and only Jack Nicholson is Today 89 !!!

my Blog series on him here

Retired from acting in 2013 though his Last Film was How Do You Know (2010), where he played a supporting role.

Sae him last on the big screen in the special screening of The Shining in IMAX in Porto. Planning for a long time a screening of Chinatown, now it might be the best time ;)

Happy Birthday Jack !!! Stay Healthy !!!

We finally re-saw an obscure slapstick comedy that was infamous at the time of its release, The Fortune (1975), Jack's only film with his buddy, Warren Beatty.

The Passion of Anna / En Passion (1969)

2026-04-10T20:56:00.044+03:00

Tagline: Man is the king of beasts

Uncanny but I watched this because of Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama that features the poster for this specific film. Was curious to see any influences and realised I haven't actully seen this Bergman famous piece from 1969. It's actually better titled originally, as A Passion / En passion.

His first 'real' film in color, brilliantly shot by Sven Nykvist (did I say Brilliantly? ;), masterfully restored in 2016 by the Sweedish Film Institute and thus issued on the Criterion collection, the copy I saw. Third part of "the island trilogy" (Fårö island that is), following Hour of the Wolf and Shamem and shots in the same sets, in only 45 days.

Tough, dark, cruel, bitter to the core, includes these postmodern interviews of actors -Von Sydow, Andersson, Ullmann and Josephson, all four brilliant, all four Bergman ensemble troopers to the core-, that cut into the narrative, no music score, an aloof narrator voiceover (Bergman himself), and I see even an influence on Tarkovski's The Sacrifice.

As character Elis Vergérus (erland Jospehson) observes: ’I don’t imagine that I reach into the soul with this photography. I can only register an interplay of forces, large and small. You look at this picture and imagine things. All is nonsense All play, all poetry. You can’t read another person being with any claim of certainty. Not even pain gives a reaction.’

it can be exactly what the Auteur direktor says.

"This time he was Andreas Winkelman."

Bergman's own notes on the film and more on Bergman's site here.

9 out of 10 / 4 1/2 out of 5 !!!

RIP Mario Adorf

2026-04-09T19:33:00.006+03:00

Mario Adorf, the Swiss cult actor that died on April 8th 2026 was 95. His father was an Italian surgeon, his mother a German nurse.

He acted in over 200 films, played grand theatre, wrote bestsellers. La Piovra's Acidduzzu (for the Romanians), spaghetti westerns (Gli Specialisti/The Specialists), giallos (L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo), polizioteschi (Milano Calibro 9), but also Alfred Matzerath in Die Blechtrommel for the arthouse and posterity. Winner of the Leopard Career Award in 2016.

Cultiest movie: Deadlock (1970)

met him briefly in Cannes in 2013 after the screening of Billy Wilder's Fedora.

https://aldmovieland.blogspot.com/2013/05/c66-mario.html

Cannes 2026 Oficial Selection

2026-04-09T17:51:00.008+03:00

Cannes 2026 official selection includes the new Cristian Mungiu film, FJORD, his 1st International film, shot in Norway, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve ! The two Osccar nominated actors were together before in A Different Man (2024). I'm getting Oscar buzz already on this one...

The whole Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition here

It also includes Nicholas Winding Refn's new film, the revenge thriller HER PRIVATE HELL, out of competition.

Also Out of Competition is Andy Garcia's noir DIAMOND, starring Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman.

Festival special screenings includes doc JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW by Steven SODERBERGH

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/steven-soderbergh-john-lennon-yoko-ono-documentary-1235470466/

The Drama (2026)

2026-04-07T22:15:00.027+03:00

The Drama (loved the title) has Bergmanesque, Woody Allenesque-through his Bergman love), Nouvelle Vague vibes too- and i must confess I enjoyed it more than the whole Sentimental Value thing. Or overbloated Baumbach's Marriage Story, all due to Bergman's tropes (ther is even a poster for The Passion of Anna, which the writer/director showed his actors in preparation for the shoot). Don't foreget Borgli is a Swede too.

Liked the energy, the humor, the storytelling, the editing, Daniel Pemberton's score, the acting of the two leads-Robert Pattison and Zendaya in her best part yet- imo-they had chemistry.

Dram Scenario was ok, Sick of You was intense, looking forward for more Kristoffer Borgli.

Eagles of the Republic (2025)

2026-04-04T15:07:00.020+03:00

Eagles of the Republic is a terrific political thriller by Tarik Saleh (third part of his Cairo trilogy), about Egypt's political and military machinations involving a film star (Fares Fares, the lead in all three Saleh films and a film star in his own right), caught in the middle of the manipulative crossfire.

Would've been worth more attention in the actual climate, premiered in Cannes last year in competition, and it was Sweden's entry for best foreign film -did not make the short list. Shades of early Costa-Gavras. Also of Das Leben der Anderen. Gave me goosebumps in parallel with what happened in communist Romania and all dictatorships alike.

Great score by Alexandre Desplat on his 1st collaboration with Saleh and great widescreen cinematography by Pierre Aïm (shot on 65 mm, 2.39.1). Pierre Aïm shot also the other two Saleh films in his Trilogy -The Nile Hilton Incident (2017, which I saw at TIFF) and Cairo Conspiracy, aka Boy From Heaven (2022, seen briefly on Romanian screens). Of course this film could not be shot in Egypt, so it is all dressed up in Turkey -great job by Saleh's production design Roger Rosenberg. The director is a very persona non grata in Egypt...

Fun fact: Saleh and Rosenberg shot the action thriller The Contractor (2022) in Bucharest for Berlin !!!

Now in Romanian cinemas -very limited-see it on the big screen !

4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!!

****

the press confrence in Cannes here

and an interview in Variety with the director here

Angine de Poitrine - Sarniezz- SOTD

2026-04-01T18:44:00.004+03:00

Angine de Poitrine ... this name is showing up all over, today I studied them more and I agree...

Microtonal duo from Quebec. Fantastic. Plus a gimmick they have, playing incognito under weird carnival masks and pointilist costumes ! It seems they are brothers and they play:

"un répertoire d'anti-aréna-rock instrumental cartonneux qui, à la manière de la musique techno, s'articule autour d'un jeu dynamique d'ajout et de retrait de motifs sonores en constante métamorphose."

Khn de Poitrine - Microtonal Guitars

Klek de Poitrine - Drums

check out the whole KEXP concert here.

They describe their music as: "Dada Pythago-Cubist Mantra-Rock".

Here's Rick Beato take on them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO8bt94-ybg

Project Hail Mary (2026)

2026-03-21T19:52:00.033+02:00

`Fist my bump.`

Project Hail Mary is the Feel Good science fiction film of the year, decade, and more, a hopeful unlikely buddy film well done, with winks to 2001, Intersellar, ET, Close Encounters of 3d kind and of course Rocky ;).
Ryan Gosling is at his most charismatic and Rocky is a hoot !
Import Deutch Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, Zone of Interest), does a good job, and also karaoke ;)
Nice songs on the soundtrack (Kris Kristofferson, The Beatles, Dennis Wilson, Ike and Tina Turner) and effective score by Daniel Pemberton. It does what Mission 2 Mars and The Martian (also based on an Andy Weir book) did not manage to do, meanwhile touching the Grace ;)

See it on IMAX if you can, all the space sequences are shot in the format.

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5

RIP Chuck Norris

2026-03-20T17:00:00.005+02:00

...Missing in Action....

Chuck Norris became legendary through the jokes about him, that he is invincible and imortal. He was Not. But gone now at 86, he was an inspiration to many, especially in the 80's Romania.

A Force of One, a man who knew Good Guys Wore Black and An Eye for an Eye he was a Lone Wolf Mc Quade -the inspiration for the later series Walker, Texas Ranger.

I first saw him in the cinema in Breaker ! Breaker !, translated as Orasul fantoma -Ghost town (1977), which I tremember cleartly they had a print in Black and white. Re-saw that on video later on. The battle with the broken bottle stayed vividly in my mind. He had no moustache at the time. Then on video fisrt films I saw was The Way of the Dragon, his first part in the 1972 Bruce Lee film (also directed by Lee), where he battles Lee in the Colosseum. The Colosseum would never be the same again. Oh, yes, for a bit, in Double Team where JCVD, a huge Norris and Lee fan, battles Mickey Rourke again in the Rome Arena.

He was a Karate champion and he became Steve Mc Queen's instructor and McQueen adviced him to go into acting.

Here's some Chuck Norris jokes:

Chuck Norris didn't die, God called him for backup!

Chuck actually died about 15 years ago. Death was too afraid to tell him

Chuck Norris went to Heaven to Judge God for his sins

RIP to the man who can put out a fire with a gallon of gasoline

The man who can beat the sun in a staring contest

The man whose diary is called the Guinness Book of World Records

RIP Phil Campbell

2026-03-14T21:30:00.035+02:00

Phil Campbell was Motorhead's last guitarist, on a series of greats (Larry Wallis, Wurzel, "Fast" Eddie Clarke), survived by only Brian Robertson (70 now).

Official Motorhead announcement:

He was Motörhead's guitarist for 31 years (the longest serving member aside from Lemmy) having joined in 1984. After Lemmy’s passing, he was blessed to form Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons with his sons Todd, Dane and Tyla, which recorded and toured together for years.

Phil was a wonderful guitarist, writer, performer, and musician who had Motörhead in his veins. He always led with his gift of guitar, and carried a great sense of humour, but most of all, Phil led with his heart. You could not be around him without a chuckle or twenty, because quite simply, Phil loved life and lived it with great joy.

There will be plenty of time for us to share stories -tales of Campbell glory- and some damn good jokes together; for now, please send love and positive energy to Gaynor and the boys while affording them time, space, and privacy.

Much love and RIP Phil. The world has just lost an enormous beam of light, and we are devastated.

Saw Phil on all the dates with Motorhead I got to see and with his band, Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons in 2018 at Qunatic club in Bucharest. Last year they opened for Guns 'n Roses on the National Arena in Buch. They played Suceava in 2024 and REF too in 2023.

Phil Cambell was just 64 !!!

How to Make a Killing (2026)

2026-02-28T00:54:00.004+02:00

How to Make a Killing is in cinemas now. This is John Patton Ford's second film. Loved his first effort, Emily the Criminal back in 2022, it made my Top Films list.

This is Film Noir, dark comedy, thriller, and most of all an homage of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1959), the classic Ealing comedy with Alce Guiness es ;), based on the novel , it says on the credits. "Insiperd by" those two.

Also has an 80's air, it's cynical and politically incorrect, stylish and crisp.

Finally a good part for Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow (cool names in this family !), after the huge misfire of new Running Man-Liked the guy in his SNL episode, I think he has more comedic potential than action chops, definetly romantic too.

Margaret Qualley is the bad femme fatale in the story, another good part in her resume after Honey Don't, Drive-Away Dolls, Kinds of Kindness, Poor Things, The Substance. I first liked her in Once Upon A Time in...Hollywood.

Jessica Henwick is the romantic interest, Ruth. Bill Camp has a nice part as Warren Redfellow, also Topher Grace as one of the Redfellows (Steven) and Zach Woods (from Sillicon Valley) another one (Noah). Also Ed Harris' part as the patriarch Whitelaw Redfellow is more like a cameo, but he's effective as ever.

Amazingly enough this was shot in South Africa instead of New York and New Jersey !!!

Great score by Emile Mosserri and effective soundtrack-The Clapping Song (Shirley Ellis) , the Brazilian classic Take Me Back to Piaui by Juca Chaves, No Fear by Inflo, etc.

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 !

Remembering George Harrison

2026-02-25T18:19:00.002+02:00

George Harrison would've been 83 today....Living in the Material World...

When he died George was only 58....He became my hero in highschool with his hit album Cloud Nine (1987). I love most his stuff with The Travelling Willburys...

Now only Jeff Lynne and His Bobness still around here....

RIP Tom Noonan

2026-02-18T14:01:00.002+02:00

Tom Noonan, most famously known as Francis Dollarhyde/ The Toothfairy in Michael Mann's Manhunter, the first Hannibal Lecter (spelled Lektor) film in 1986, is gone at 74. I re saw the film last year...It's the best Lecter / Thomas Harris film for me still. And Noonan is pretty scary.

Great character actor , he was also iFrankenstein's monster in The Monster Squad, the baddie in Robocop 2. He returned for Michael Mann in Heat.

In his youth, Noonan was a guitarist and a composer and a theatre actor. He directed 2 indie feature films, a play and some shorts.

Terribly sad about Tom Noonan passing. In casting Manhunter I auditioned about 10-15 actors in New York when Tom walked in the door and said, “I don’t want to talk. I just want to read.” He read and it was magical. We worked closely. I based Dollarhyde less on the novel’s character and more on a convicted killer whom I met and with whom I corresponded who was doing life in Vacaville. I took Tom into that world and he made it his own. It was an automatic to cast Tom in a wheelchair as Kelso in Heat. He did so much more fine work, but it was as the battered child become a killer adult - both alive in the same bottle - that projected the range and deep soul of this so acute and committed artist. Rest in peace, Tom.

(Michael Mann)

RIP Robert Duvall

2026-02-16T23:30:00.016+02:00

...when in Rome...just landed and in the taxi I hear the news, celelbrissimo attore Robert Duvall, etc..surely I get it. Gone. I mean he was 95, lived a great and long life and his films are immortal.

But why everytime I go somewhere this kind of news get heavier and harder?

Last year was just tough and brutal: Gene Hackman in Barcelona (also at 95, also in February), Brian Wilson when we were at night in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, Michael Madsen when I was to see Iron Maiden in Belfort, Remo Girone in Tramonti, Rob Reiner in Porto...Just when Ozzy left I was in Brasov...

Duvall was one of the Greatest, like Hackman. As as kid I knew him first by name, my father showed me, he was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most versatile actor of the '70's. Opposed to Hackman he was the quintesential Character Actor. Capital A.

He was in over 100 films and television series.

He got an Academy Award (for the forgotten Tender Mercies-1983), a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

His film debut was as Boo Radley in the book adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

His shot at Movie Mythology came with Consigliere Tom Hagen in The Godfather and more for Coppola, a bit part in The Conversation-uncredited-where I saw him last-last year, as a Gene Hackman homage series of films), lt. Kilgore "love Napalm in the morning" in Apocalypse Now. He refused to reprise his part in The Hodfather III doe to a salary quarrel.

Loved his parts in Lucas' debut THX 1138, Jesse James in The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, the gangster in The Outfit, based on the Donald E. Westlake book, the German colonel in The Eagle has Landed, the baddie in Sam Peckinpah's Killer Elite, a TV producer in Sidney Lumet's Network, Dr. Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, the cop in True Confessions, another cop in Dennis Hopper's Colors, then later on Tony Scott's Days of Thunder, written by Robert Towne, Joel Schumacher's Falling Down, Kevin Costner's Open Range. Also Sling Blade, Get Low, the part of the Old man in the adpatation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, The Judge in 2014, last bit in 2022 Scott Cooper's Netflix flick The Pale Blue Eye.

He directed five films films, most notably The Apostle in 1997 and in 2002 in Argentina, Assassination Tango. I gotta catch-up with that last one, never saw it.

He lived in his ranch in Virginia, surrounded by his family. Never will be gone, just left this stage and sets...

"Somebody once said that the best life in the world is the life of a second leading man. You travel, you get a per diem, and you’ve probably got a better part anyway. And you don’t have the weight of the entire movie on your shoulders.”

Robert "Bob" Duvall (1931-2026)

The Secret Agent wins at Spirit Awards !

2026-02-16T15:04:00.006+02:00

O Agente Secreto wins at best International Film at Spirit-the Independent Film Awards !!! Good luck at the Oscars !

See it in a Cinema !!! In Romania from 27.02.2026 !

Featuring the last role of the great late Udo Kier !!!

Full winners list here / Train Dreams scored big !

Later Edit: Unfortunately the film was snubbed bigtime at the Oscars....

Crime 101 (2026)

2026-02-15T22:12:00.008+02:00

Crime 101 is a little LA neo-noir gem directed by the Brit Bart Layton (American Animals). Heist, angst, existentialism, it's based on a novella by Don Winslow (Savages). The title refers to the 101 Freeway in Southern California, entering Los Angeles, and the faved heist location of the blue-eyed Thief Davis (Chris Hemsworth, reminiscent of another Michael Mann pic, Blackhat).

The ensemble casting is cool: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Jason Leigh (more like a cameo cos she has only one scene, surely cut for time), and Nick Nolte in a part sim lliar with Jon Voight's in Heat.

Produced by Working Title Films, Crime 101 was bought by Amazon MGM, outbidding Netflix,. which is great cos they also distributed in Theaters (through Sony).

Mostly a Heat homage, plus elements from Mann's Thief, Walter Hill's The Driver, even a scene fromTrue Romance ;)

A nice conversation on Steve McQueen and the iconic Mustang from Bullit add on.

See in in the cinema, it's great widescreen and sound and score- Blanck Mass.

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 5 !