mondomark

Ti West’s The Innkeepers

2012-01-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

Just uploaded is a review of Ti West’s latest horror film, The Innkeepers (2011), which opens at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Friday February 3rd, and whose soundtrack is available January 31st.

I loved West’s last film, the salute to eighties slashers The House of the Devil (2009), and appreciated the bulk of his little-seen forest thriller Trigger Man (2007), and in all three films one can trace his gradual recognition of tighter & coherent plotting – aspects largely absent in his debut feature The Roost (2005), a film that does have admirers, but it’s a film hampered by the kind of contrived scenes and slow pacing that can become interminable.

Characters running in and out of locations works only if the reasons for their actions has purpose, and a finale only satisfies if the heroine hasn’t done something massively stupid. (In the case of House, all the babysitter had to do was pick up the gun, kill her tormentors, and voila! She’s free!)

Sometimes it’s forgivable when the pluses outweigh the errors, and while Innkeepers isn’t perfect, it’s a successful little ghost tale that shows off West’s skills at creating a mounting sense of dread before a classically-crafted shock. It’s also a great example of how to mine a great location, building on its existing mystique, letting the actors react to its maze-like structure, and establish in clean, simple scenes the parameters of where they’re safe, and where they must never, ever venture but inevitably must in order for there to be a movie.

It’s also unusual that West set his film in a working hotel and used its name, a savvy move that will probably see a spike in the Yankee Pedlar Inn’s clientele for a while. It’s an impressive building with lovely wooden trim, and its wide lobby and long corridors allowed West to have fun with the 2.35:1 ‘scope ratio.

In addition to the film review [M], there’s the soundtrack review [M] of Jeff Grace’s score (released by Screamworks Records / MovieScore Media).

Grace may be the only composer thus far who can take my favourite instrument – the cello – and turn it into an instrument from Hell. Innkeepers isn’t as terrifying as The Roost or Travis Betz’s Joshua (2006), but it’s a solid horror score which really ought to be experienced in a theatre; that main title sequence is wonderful at establishing the mood and emotional parameters of the film, and its so-called mumble core characters.

A slight (and final) tangent

Although the film will get primary attention by critics, I’m compelled to pay compliment to the very nature of West’s indie stature, because like his colleagues, his films are (ideally) sold using campaign art that doesn’t feature the banal big star heads in standard Photoshop friezes.

Within the studio realm, poster design over the last few years has degenerated into a lazy assignment of placing heads on posters, solely so passersby can recognize the star and base their decision to buy a ticket on that actor or actress’s fan base. Most studio posters are designed with little imagination, and it’s often indie artists working on spec or special commissions who draw from the artists and periods they admire, and create works that push a poster design to its proper artistic and functional apex.

There may be more Innkeeper posters out there (or more to come), but remember the video posters we always see online and in stores? Big heads, predictable expressions, and lots of Photoshopping. The problem with the lot is that every studio is working from the same narrow mental template of selling a film’s most recognizable elements, so when you line up studio-produced films, you see a monotonous pattern of heads, of similar objects placed in similar areas of a DVD / Blu-ray cover. The end-result is a sense of sameness, which defeats the purpose of hiring a graphic designer educated in making things distinct.

Below are four very different poster styles I found for The Innkeepers. Where you see heads, they are small parts of a greater stylistic design that as a whole makes that poster stand out from the banal. They are deliberately retro, and they will work in catching your attention because what studios have failed to understand is the ability of audiences to maintain their own repository of commercial art, be it recent, classic, or iconic:

70s letter design with 90s interplay of stark shadows and faces.

Dreamy eighties effort that's oddly more PG-friendly, suggesting a mystical, tongue-in-cheek journey in place of death-by-fright.

A poke at the iconography of 70s posters where one image, tied to a styled title design, infers unseen horrors paying audiences will be privileged to experience.

A contemporary poke at the "Saw" and Dark Castle campaigns where mayhem saturates the image, and the title's smeariness is reflective of the film's gore intensity. Of course, this image infers a slaughterfest that never happens. It's an art director who simply ran with one image that lasts for a few seconds. In other words: a cheat.

They all work, and not one features a big stupid head.

Kind thanks to all.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

John Guillermin at Fox

2012-01-24T14:44:00.000-05:00

Just uploaded are a reviews of Rapture [M] (1965), making its premiere Blu-ray release via Twilight Time, and Guns at Batasi [M] (1964) from Fox, a still-timely drama set in an African country trying to assert itself in spite of lingering effects of British colonial rule.

Both films, alongside The Blue Max (1966), were directed by British import John Guillermin, best known as the actor-friendly co-director of The Towering Inferno (1974). That film was his reward for building up a strong body of work in various genres in film and TV, but it also arrested any chance of tackling the kind of small dramas with which he excelled.

Both Rapture and Batasi feature potent central performances, and very distinct visual styles, whereas Blue Max demonstrated his knack at combining drama and first-rate second unit work without sacrificing plotting or character development.

(Yes, Blue Max us a cold film with no one particularly likeable, but it has that gorgeous Jerry Goldsmith score, and some of the finest aerial combat every mounted. While the new Red Tails is trying to present dramatic combat sequences using CGI, Blue Max is all real planes, pilots, and daredevil stunts that no CGI artist can mimic.)

Rapture also features remarkable cinematography that goes beyond capturing the stunning Brittany coast. There are camera moves that astound, montages that pique, and Georges Delerue’s fine score adds soul to a sometimes flashy camera style.

Batasi is memorable for Richard Attenborough’s potent performance, and one can perhaps presume the issues of colonialism in the script ignited a need for Sir Dickie to bring broader cause and effects dramas to the big screen, hence the epic, multi-generational scope of Gandhi (1982), and the violent racial injustice of apartheid in Cry Freedom (1987).

Coming very shortly: a review of Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel (1979), screening as part of the TIFF Bell Lightbox’s Attack the Bloc Cold War Sci-Fi series, and a review of Ti West’s The Innkeepers (2011), which will not disappoint Westonians wanting a good series of measured shocks.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Festivals-a-Go-Go --- Cold War Sci-Fi on the Big Screen

2012-01-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

Swinging to the Politico-Trippy-Headiness of Cold War Wow!

In perusing the TIFF Bell Lightbox’s latest catalogue, alongside retrospectives of Turkish filmmaker Yilmaz Guney and French filmmaker Robert Bresson (starting next week), some may have noticed a splashy section devoted to sci-fi films produced during the Cold War era in Eastern Europe, when Soviet and Soviet-style regimes were in power, and the mandate of the Party was mirrored in government-approved films.

The attraction to these films isn’t tied down to one reason. They’re artifacts of dead regimes, perhaps politicized representations of man’s place in the cosmos, subversive efforts by filmmakers to explore themes and critiques in B-movie scenarios, or outright escapism with trippy visuals, set designs, shiny spacesuits and bulbous helmets, and music that’s either dead serious, cerebral, or wacked-out.

The best-known director among the 17 represented films - spanning the former USSR, East Germany, the former Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Estonia - is Andrei Tarkovky, via Solaris and Stalker, and while these two films may receive the lion’s share of attention, there’s a whole slew of works by directors few have ever seen, or seen on DVD.

Screening from January thru March, the movies that make up Attack the Bloc: Cold War Science Fiction from Behind the Iron Curtain are largely anchored around Fridays, which tends to be TIFF’s cult film slot, and I think that’s a programming error in the sense that it restricts the wackier, B-movie efforts for the Friday crowd, and deliberately redirects the more intellectual, genre-transgressions to Sundays.

I get the logic, but given a lot of effort went into curating this series and the overall rarity of the prints, these movies ought to get repeat showings over the next 2-3 months, unless it’s a case of limited print availability.

Some of the films have been / are available on DVD in and around planet Earth, but if you’ve seen even one of the B-level films, you’ll know that part of their success and cult status is due to the audience experience, and the uniqueness of their look and effects – different film stocks, colour schemes, and effects created without the aid of Consolidated Film Industries (or any Hollywood-based firm, unless the film’s American release was handled by Roger Corman).

I’ll have film reviews of key works in the coming weeks, but to help you to plan your Cold War expedition, I’ve tallied the films below, and noted what’s unique, their screening dates and home video availability (exclusive Russian releases excepted).

Those unable to catch films can do further sleuthing at the various Amazon sites (see links to KQEK.com’s Amazon store, as we’re an associate), or try and swap shifts / call in sick / play dead to catch a rare screening of something heady, trippy, or downright nutty in one of the TBL’s big screen / big sound cinemas.

Adolescents in the Universe (1974)

Dead Mountaineer's Hotel (1979) --- formerly available from Rusico on DVD. Amazon U.S.A.

Eolomea (1972) --- released in the U.S. by First Run Features individually and as part of a boxed DEFA Sci-Fi set, but the German DVD reportedly sports an anamorphic transfer. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Ferat Vampire (1982) --- from the director of 2010’s Habermann, Juraj Herz’s blood-fueled racecar shocker has been released in the Czech Republic on DVD with English subs.

Golem (1980) --- 1980 Polish version with wooden planks coming out of a guy’s mouth. Why wouldn’t you be curious?

Great Space Voyage, The (1974)

Ikarie XB-1 (1963) --- available on German all–region DVD. Amazon U.S.A.

I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen (1970)

In the Dust of the Stars / Im Staub der Sterne (1976) --- released in the U.S. by First Run Features individually and as part of a boxed DEFA Sci-Fi set, but the German DVD reportedly sports an anamorphic transfer. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Moscow-Cassiopeia (1973)

Planet of Storms / Planeta Bur (1962) --- published in the TBL guidebook as screening Friday March 23 at 9pm, but not listed on the website. Available on Russian DVD, German DVD. Also released in U.S. by Roger Corman (see? I told you he’d come up) as Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) with new footage by Curtis Harrington. Footage later recycled by Peter Bogdanovich in Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), of which both craptastic titles are available via Archive.org on as separate DVDs. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Silent Star, The (1960) --- released in the U.S. by First Run Features individually and as part of a boxed DEFA Sci-Fi set, but the German DVD reportedly sports an anamorphic transfer. Recut and rleased in the U.S. in 1962 as First Spaceship on Venus. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Solaris (1972) --- Andrei Tarkovsky’s iconoclastic sci-fi epic gets three screening dates, but is also available on Blu & DVD via Criterion. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Stalker (1979) --- Tarkovsky’s second epic is similarly available on 3 distinct dates, and is available via KINO / Mongrel Media. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Test Pilot Pirxa (1979) --- available on YouTube with wonky subtitles, so why bother?

To the Stars by Hard Ways (1982) --- released on DVD by Rusico. Amazon U.S.A.

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966) --- released on DVD in the U.S. by Facets. Amazon Canada / U.S.A.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Soundtrack Reviews & Score Release Tally

2012-01-19T12:14:00.000-05:00

You might think that with us now in the middle of winter, and with the U.S. Congress wrestling with SOPA, an anti-piracy bill symbolic of the corporate paranoia where entertainment is being being stolen by all / bought by none, that there would not only be fewer releases each year, but less labels surviving, but as this month's tally indicates, people are still interested in film music releases, be it classic or new material in digital or physical form.

The best way to read the non-death of music distribution is how the industry needed to find new venues, hyper-target niche markets, and adapt by welcoming digital yet keeping physical in mind for collectors and audiophiles wanting an actual compact CD.

I've sort of bounced back & forth between the two mediums, happy with the little space digital music occupies, but kind of fond of an actual disc, knowing it represents the best sound, even though formats like flac are perfectly fine. It may also be the peculiar comfort in seeing music fans half my age wanting turntables, buying old vinyl (deliberately), and being excited about building a platter collection.

Major labels have little interest in niche markets, which is why, like the major film studios, their core business will be in primarily producing new material and licensing back catalogue material to indie labels for set time periods. The studios have the best masters which gives them an edge over copies of music or film circulating in the public domain realm, and with indie labels ostensibly servicing niche / collector / fan markets & interests, there's an obvious need to work with the best possible elements.

Besides, if indie labels and producers weren't working with major labels, it may be likely that a lot of material would remain uncatalogued, undiscovered, and we would'nt see the regular waves of expanded and premiere releases of complete original scores. Case in point: Spain's Quartet Records recently announcing a February release of a Casino Royale 2-disc edition featuring Burt Bacharach's original film score.

Even if you hate the 1967 film and music, this represents the ideal scenario of 'lost' or unfound material being not only discovered, but making its way into the commercial realm where it belongs. This could apply to any musical idiom: the reason, for example, why we have elaborate jazz sets isn't because major labels have dedicated teams of historians and archivists working in the vaults, but a shared interest among a few indie & in-house people, and perhaps a sense of competition: if the people behind Mosaic Records set the standard for jazz reissues with their exhaustive sets, then it behooves labels to follow the meticulous production values if they want to re-sell catalogue material to fans anew in shinier, happier boxed sets.

To that end, I'll move on to the score tally below, plus some new soundtrack reviews: Tyler Bates' engrossing score for the sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour [M] and Craig Richey's Answers to Nothing [M] (both from Lakeshore Records); Danny Elfman's complete music for Scrooged [M] (La-La Land); Howard Shore's A Dangerous Method [M] and John Williams' War Horse [M] (Sony); and the original Casino Royale [M] album, which Kritzerland released a year ago, coupled with a transfer of the original vinyl for purists unable to get their hands on a vintage Colgems platter.

I just got my Bernard Herrmann at Fox box from Varese, and while it was hefty at $200 smackaroons, had a I hesitated, I would've lost the chance to own this monster set and enjoy 14 CDs of pure Herrmann Heaven. (I still feel peeved I hesitated to snap up Mimic, but let's not go there again.)

Reviews of that beast-box will come soon, as I'm trying to tie some film & DVD reviews to the respresented scores. A handful of the titles are out in Spain on DVD - White Witch Doctor, King of the Khyber Rifles - and I wouldn't be surprised if Twlight Time has one or two Herrmann titles up their sleeves. (Now that The Roots of Heaven is a reality, hopefully they have their sights on Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, sporting a rich surround mix, Herrmann's dreamy score, and Robert Wagner playing a really, really happy Greek fisherman.)

Coming soon will be a pair of John Guillermin film reviews, including Rapture (Twilight Time), which sports an isolated Georges Delerue score. The label has also announced Blu-ray editions of Pal Joey, sporting an isolated score track and an extra called "Backstage and at Home with Kim Novak"; and Swamp Water, the Jean Renoir film, sporting an isolated score track of David Buttolph's music.

Buttolph is all but forgotten among the Golden Age composers, so this brings some of his music into the commercial realm. Personal favourites include his music for the Alan Ladd submarine thriller The Deep Six (1958), Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), and perhaps his best-known work, House of Wax (1953), which appears in rich stereo on Warner Home Video's DVD.

The Score Tally:

Titles listed include current, upcoming, and some announced for February.

The term "ltd." denotes titles released in limited quantities because collectors need to be driven crazy now and then.

The black dots (".") between titles could be interpreted as moderne spacing devices meant to break up the visual monotony of text clusters, or perhaps the point at which I *&%$# gave up in figuring out why the skilled minds behind MS Word, HTML, Dreamweaver, and Word Press can't #*&^!! figure out how to permit fluid cutting & pasting of text and HTML code without spacing aberrations.

It's 2012, for God's sake. If a netbook can fly the space shuttle, why can't you figure out code that guarantees what originates in any word processing software remains intact in its final published format?

Onwards now.

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ISOLATED SCORES ON VIDEO:

Mysterious Island (Twilight Time)

Picnic (Twilight Time)

Rapture (Twilight Time)

Roots of Heaven, The (Twilight Time)

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REGULAR RELEASES:

Alhambra (Germany)

Moby Dick (Richard G. Mitchell)

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Beat Records (Italy)

Alla conquista dell’Arkansas (Francesco De Masi)

Dove vai se il vizietti ce l’hai? (Berto Pisano)

…E tu vivrai nel terror! L’Aldila (Fabio Frizzi)

Enfantasme (Stelvio Cipriani)

Manhattan Baby (Fabio Frizzi)

Una bara per lo sceriffo (Francesco De Masi)

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BSX Records (USA)

Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie (Bear McCreary) – ltd.

Fireflies in the Garden (Jane Antonia Cornish)

Halloween 4 (John Acrpenter, Alan Howarth) --- read the film review at KQEK.com

Humanoids from the Deep (James Horner) – ltd.

Music from the Twilight Saga for Chamber Orchestra (various)

Music from the Walt Disney/PIXAR Films for Solo Piano (various)

Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (John Cacavas)

Scrooge (1970) (Leslie Bricusse) – new recording

Thing, The (Ennio Morricone) – re-recording of complete score arr. By Alan Howarth

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Colosseum (Germany)

Als der Weihnachtsmann von Himmel fiel (Peter Wolf)

Die verlorene zeit (Julian Maas, Christoph M. Kaiser

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Cometa (Italy)

Inchiestra (Alessandro Alessandroni)

L’isola degli uomini pesce / Screamers (Luciano Michelini)

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Concord Records (USA)

Beneath the Darkness (Geoff Zanelli)

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Creature Features Records (USA)

Lost Skeleton Returns Again (John Morgan, William Stromberg)

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DigitMovies (Italy)

Castello dei morte vivi, Il / Castle of the Living Dead (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino)

Chi Sei / Beyond the Door (Dranco Micalizzi)

Corri uomo corri (Bruno Nicolai) – available separately on CD and LP

Finche c’e’guerra c’e’speranza / Where There Was War There’s Hope) (Piero Piccioni)

Flesh for Frankenstein / Blood for Dracula (Claudio Gizzi) – 2CDs

OK Connery (Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai) – available separately on CD and LP

Senza Dio, I / Sentence of God + …E intorno a lui fu morte / Death Knows No Time (Carlo Savina)

Siu puo fare… Amigo / Can Be Done (Luis Bacalov)

Squadra volante (Stelvio Cipriani) – available separately on CD and LP

Tentacoli / Tentacles (Stelvio Cipriani)

Zorro (Guido De Angelis, Maurizio De Angelis) – available separately on CD and LP

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Disques Cinemusique (Canada)

First Georges Delerue’s 45RMP Records

Maurice Jarre’s Unpublished French Film Music

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Dutton Vocalion (USA)

Big Suspense Movie Themes + Big Bond Movie Themes (Geoff Love & His Orchestra)

Eric Winstone Plays 007 + Supersonic Sounds

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Film Score Monthly (FSM) (USA)

Frantic (Ennio Morricone) – expanded

Gremlins (Jerry Goldsmith) – expanded 2CDs

Nightwatch / Killer by Night (John ‘Johnny’ Williams / Quincy Jones)

Space Children / Colossus of New York (Nathan Van Cleave)

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GDM (Italy)

Anda muchacho, Spara! / Dead Men Ride (Bruno Nicolai)

Cartoni animate (Ennio Morricone)

Decameron Nero, Il (Luciano Michelini)

Django spara per primo / Django Shoots First (Bruno Nicolai)

Ennio Morricone: The Complete Edition – 15 CD compilation

Gli occhi Freddi della paura (Ennio Morricone) – expanded

Notte e il momento, La / The Night and the Moment (Ennio Morricone)

OSS 77: Operazione fior di loto (Luis Bacalov)

Prato, Il (Ennio Morricone)

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Intrada (USA)

Core, The (Christopher Young) – 2CDs

Great Train Robbery (Jerry Goldsmith) – 2CDs

It (Richard Bellis)

Rapture (Georges Delerue)

Renegades (Michael Kamen)

Road House (Michael Kamen)

Sand Pebbles, The (Jerry Goldsmith)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Leonard Rosenman)

21 Hours to Munich (Laurence Rosenthal)

Wolfen (James Horner) --- read the film review at KQEK.com

Wrong Box, The (John Barry)

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Kritzerland Records (USA)

Trial, The (Jean Ledrut) – ltd.

People in the Picture, The (Mike Stoller, Iris Rainer, Artie Butler) – stage recording

Raven, The + An Evening of Edgar Alan Poe (Les Baxter) – ltd.

Synanon (Neal Hefti) + Enter Laughing (Quincy Jones)

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Kronos Records (Malta)

Africa To-Day (Piero Umiliani)

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Lakeshore Records (USA)

Answers to Nothing (Craig Richey / others)

Contagion (Cliff Martinez) --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Darkest Hour, The (Tyler Bates)

Grey, The (Marc Streitenfeld)

One for the Money (Deborah Lurie)

Rampart (Dickon Hinchliffe)

Underworld: Awakening (Paul Haslinger)

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La-La Land Records (USA)

Batman Forever (Elliot Goldenthal) – 2CDs; ltd.

Fat Man and Little Boy (Ennio Morricone) – 2CDs; ltd.

55 Days at Peking (Dimitri Tiomkin) – 2CDs; ltd --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Friday the 13th Parts 1-6 (Harry Manfredini) – 6CDs; ltd.

Scrooged (Danny Elfman) – ltd. --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Space: Above and Beyond (Shirley Walker) – 3CDs; ltd.

Tora! Tora! Tora! (Jerry Goldsmith) – ltd.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Greg Edmonson) – 2CDs; ltd. --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: 50th Anniversary (Bert Shefter, Paul Sawtell) – ltd.

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MovieScore Media (Sweden)

Awakening, The (Daniel Pemberton)

Back to Gaya (Michael Kamen)

Captain Trueno y Santo Grial / Captain Thunder and the Holy Grail (Luis Ivars)

Hideaways (Eric Neveux)

Man to Man (Patrick Doyle)

Merlin: Series Two (Rob Lane, Rohan Stevenson)

Pslam 21 (Christer Christensson)

Treasure Guards (Michael Richard Plowman)

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Music Box Records (France)

Emmanuelle 4 + S.A.S. a San Salvador (Michel Magne)

Overboard (Alan Silvestri) – ltd.

Pigalle la nuit (Eric Demarsan)

Vous de jouer Milord, A (Francois de Roubaix)

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Naive (France)

Cle des champs, La (Bruno Coulais)

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Naxos (USA)

Jane Eyre (Bernard Herrmann) – rerecording; reissue

New Babylon (Dmitry Shostakovich)

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Null Corporattion, The (USA)

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross) – available separately digitally, on 3CDs, and 180 gram vinyl

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Perseverance Records (USA)

Animals United / Konferenz der tiere (David Newman)

Exorcist II: The Heretic (Ennio Morricone) – ltd; reissue --- read the film review at KQEK.com

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Playtime (France)

Jo + Les grandes vacances (Raymond Lefevre)

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Prometheus (Belgium)

Conan the Destroyer (Basil Poledouris) --- re-recording, 2CDs

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Quartet Records (Spain)

Blackthorn (Lucio Gody)

Mientras Duermas (Lucas Vidal)

Morte scende leggera, La (Lallo Gori) – ltd.

Quelle strane occasioni (Piero Piccioni) – 2CDs; ltd.

Verbo (Pascal Gaigne)

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Saimel (Spain)

Angeli senza paradise (Angelo Francesco Lavagnino)

Negre Buenos Aires (Bruno Nicolai)

K.O. va e uccidi (Cales Cases)

Maddalena (Ennio Morricone) - expanded

Pa negre – pan negro (Jose Manuel Pagan)

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Silva Screen (USA / UK)

Haywire (David Holmes)

Sherlock: Season 1 (David Arnold, Michael Price)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alberto Iglesias)

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Sony (USA)

Artist, The (Ludovic Bource) --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Dangerous Method, A (Howard Shore) --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Descendants (various) --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

Iron Lady, The (Thomas Newman)

My Week with Marilyn (Alexandre Desplat, Conrad Pope)

Red Tails (Terence Blanchard)

War Horse (John Williams) --- read the review at KQEK.com [Main / Mobile]

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Summit (USA)

Man on a Ledge (Henry Jackman) --- digital only

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Sumthing Else (USA)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Grant Kirkhope)

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Universal Music (France)

Nouvelle Vague: Chansons et musiques de films (various) – 3CDs

Partitions inedites / Unused Scores (Georges Delerue) – includes Regarding Henry + Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Varese Sarabande (USA)

Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century-Fox – 14 CDs; ltd.

Big Miracle (Cliff Eidelman)

Black Gold (James Horner)

Ides of March (Alexandre Desplat)

In the Land of Blood and Honey (Gabriel Yared / various)

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Michael Giacchino)

Real Steel (Danny Elfman)

Safe House (Ramin Djawadi)

There Must Be Dragon: Secretos de passion (Robert Folk)

Tower Heist (Christophe Beck)

Will (Nigel Clarke, Michael Csanyi-Wills)

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Water Tower Music (Warner Bros.) (USA)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Alexandre Desplat)

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Andrew Lockington)

Joyful Noise (Mervyn Warren)

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This handy-dandy list was compiled from various awesome sources, including catalogue announcements at Screen Archives Entertainment, Soundtrackcollector.com, Chris’ Soundtrack Corner, and Intrada.

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Yilmaz Güney, Part I - Yol (1982)

2012-01-16T15:13:00.002-05:00

No, that isn't Sean Connery carrying Isabella Rossellini.

Spanning January and February, the TIFF Bell Lightbox is running a retrospective of Turkish director Yilmaz Güney, best known for his international and Cannes-winning hit Yol (1982).

The retro, The Way Home: The Films of Turkish Master Yilmaz Güney, consists of 8 films: Hope, The Herd, Yol, The Poor Ones, Elegy, Bride of the Earth, The Hungry Wolves, and The Friend, and with the exception of a French Region 2 DVD release of Yol, apparently none of his films are available on video in North America (and probably the same in Europe, Yol excepted).

Güney's case may be a classic situation of a lauded, respected filmmaker who died too young - he passed away 2 years after Yol's release - and missed the window of a home video retrospective via labels like Criterion, Connoisseur, or others. His films may exist on DVD in Turkey, but in terms of his work as an actor and director with English subs, what's out there is nil, making this occasion quite special. That isn't to say there would'nt have been an interest in his work; rather, he didin't make enough films after 1982 to give western labels material to build their own catalogue of titles for widespread VHS release over several years.

For example, many of Ingmar Bergman's early films were available on VHS via Nelson and Embassy, and dubbed or subtitled, those old tapes permitted a level of penetration that at least made viewers aware of Bergman's early work. With Güney, there's nothing out there for the interested to grab on video at all, so it was hard for fans, let alone interested distributors, to know exactly what existed for potential English language exploitation.

I've uploaded a review of Yol [M] and details of the screened print, and the full schedule of the 8 films is up at the TBL site. They're only being screened once, making this a rare treat for fans who've been waiting for a Criterion-styled release that just hasn't happened (yet).

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Jan Kadar does CanCon - Lies My Father Told Me (1975)

2012-01-15T16:55:00.000-05:00

As happens with most Canadian films produced during the seventies, their eventual DVD release takes decades, and Lies My Father Told Me [M] (1975) finally emerges via Ergo Media.

If you’re counting, that’s 36 years for an Oscar-nominated film with an Oscar-winning director to reach audiences again, after disappearing from circulation, except on TV airings and rare screenings (such as the recent Canadian Open Vault showing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox).

Lies was directed by Jan Kadar (The Shop on Main Street, Adrift), and marks his final feature film before moving into TV. Shot on location in Montreal, the production beautifully captures the spartan courtyard where the relationship between a young boy (newcomer Jeff Lynas) and his devoted grandfather (Yossi Yadin) is discombobulated by a father (Len Birman) hungry for instant financial success.

Set in the 1920s, the film looks authentic, and while Ted Allan’s character of grandfather Zaida isn’t wholly original, the film’s cast is quite strong, particularly Birman, who’s marvelous voice is recognizable to fans of Rocket Robin Hood. Also in the cast is Marilyn Lightone, she of the annoying ‘voice of Bravo’ TV bumpers, who’s also fine as David’s ever-exhausted mum.

Coming soon is a related review of Adrift (1971), Kadar’s rarely-seen suspense film that’s part experimental, film noir, and erotic thriller mash-up, with come-hither-so-I-can-hurt-you Paula Pritchett as the central temptress Anada.

Now if only someone would release both the TV version & theatrical cuts of Mordecai Richler’s Montreal-set Joshua Then and Now (1985), or better: a restored cut that integrates the profanity from the theatrical (released by Fox) into the longer TV mini-series (broadcast by the CBC).

I know. Legal nightmare. But it does star James Woods & Alan Arkin, for Pete’s sake.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Just Don't Go There...

2012-01-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Still sick with this cold thing, and while not a full-blown monster, it’s the more stealth version: exhausted, pounding headaches, and pounding headaches. Did I mention pounding headaches?

The plus side is when not holding my cranium until the Advil kicks in, I can do things, so in addition to more tests with the camera, there was cooking silver beet soup, which may not be heavy on protein, but is almost as soothing as chicken soup (of which I have none because I never replenished the chicken stock that had to be turfed when the fridge died a few months ago. But that’s another story for another cold day).

When Henry Frankenstein decided it was worth risking everything to create his monster, he pretty much deserved everything that ensued; had he stuck to studying mould /mold on cheddar cheese as original planned, he and Elizabeth would’ve wed, and the two could’ve started their own firm, beating Kraft and Black Diamond to the finish line as the dominant cheese manufacturer.

But no, Henry wanted to play with dead things, reanimate them into something better than reconstituted beef, and move on to a bride for his all-singing / all-dancing creation, losing everything he was destined to enjoy had he stayed on the straight and narrow path of orange cheese products.

The theme of wanting to create a vision from spare parts and goo pushed Jeffrey Franken (idiosyncratic James Lorinz) to reconstitute dead love Elizabeth (hot Patty Mullen) into a better bride. Yes, Elizabeth was mulched by an experimental robotic lawnmower, but Jeffrey still had her head and arm, and her discombobulated status gave Jeffrey a prime opportunity to improve upon his beloved’s flawed parts by getting better ones from hookers in New York City, and so begins the story of Frank Henenlotter’s awesomely warped Frankenhooker [M] (1990), which gets its Blu-ray release from Synapse Films. The review’s up, and you’ll find some details regarding the different extras between the Synapse release and the British Arrow edition.

Also uploaded is a review of Ralph Nelson's bullshit cautionary tale Embryo (1976), another example of why sometimes eggheads just shouldn't go 'there' – the middle ground between light and dark immorality, between science good and bad, of things and ideas and really wrong feelings.

Nelson may have earned an Emmy Award (Playhouse 90’s Requiem for a Heavyweight) and directed the Oscar-winning hit Lilies of the Field (1963), but by the seventies he had slipped, and Embryo was a peculiar effort to recapture the moral arguments of earlier & better films, if not the tragic relationships within one of his best: Charley (1968), where a slow-witted man becomes smart due to some brilliant experimental work by eggheads, and then starts to regress.

That film’s final scene is a real slammer, but the sadness & desperation of Charly is constantly bungled in Embryo [M] (1976), right down to the finale where star Rock Hudson realizes Barbara Carrera (who’s frequently nekkid) has done something really bad.

Whereas Frankenhooker is out on Blu, Embryo is a classic public domain DVD title, which means finding a clean widescreen copy is near impossible, unless TCM perhaps airs one. I’ve reviewed the Diamond Entertainment DVD, and you’ll probably be simpatico with my frustrations with Nelson’s clunky film, and Diamond’s absolutely wretched transfer.

Really: the label deserves to be smacked hard with the Idiot Stick for ever thinking they could improve upon a garbage U-matic transfer from 1942.

‘Nuff said.

More to follow shortly, including details of some great stuff coming very soon to the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Horror Tales + Desert Noir

2012-01-10T15:27:00.000-05:00

Normally I’d blather a bit about the thematically grouped film reviews that are now live, but I’m coming down with a cold thingy, and until the mega-dosing of Vitamin C & ginseng kick in, I’m condensing two posts into one, and keeping things brief (which may actually please readers wanting less blather, and just the facts).

First up is a trio of horror films:

-Apollo 18 [M] (U.S.: Anchor Bay; Can: Alliance) – a great technical accomplishment, but a fine example of bungled storytelling.

- Bereavement [M] (Anchor Bay): Stevan Mena’s follow-up to his slasher debut Malevolence is heavy on mood, but its split storylines make for a schizophrenic movie. At least the HD transfer is downright superb.

-Final Destination 5 [M] (Warner Home Video): the sick & twisted franchise moves on, and patient fans are rewarded with a really fun ride full of outrageously choreographed mayhem. A big plus is the classical film direction, and Brian Tyler’s final cue is freaking awesome.

Secondly, desert noir:

-South of Heaven [M] (Synapse Films): I kept setting this one aside due to an assumption it was a minor slasher vehicle. Not so, and fans of pulpy tales with graphic novel sensibilities should give Jonathan Vara’s gem a chance. It’s a strange hybrid that amazingly works, and Shea Whigham (Lincoln Lawyer, Boardwalk Empire) is amazing to watch as he goes full method on a character that’s part noir, part Tex Avery. Shame on me for waiting so long to watch the DVD.

-Delusion [M]: older readers might know I’m referring to Carl Colpaert’s nifty noir film, but everyone else will probably chime in with a coordinated ‘Huh?’ Released on VHS and laserdisc, this lost film deserves a proper rediscovery on Blu. Great cast, cool pacing, and assured direction makes it a shame Colpaert later focused more on producing that directing. Co-star Jennifer Rubin was never better, and the use of Barry Adamson music works swell for this clever little suspense film.

Coming soon: soundtrack reviews, and reviews of Jan Kadar’s Lies My Father Told Me (1975) and Adrift (1971).

Hopefully coming soon: better health, because this bouncing negative-positive temperature swing in Toronto is making everyone sick. Dear Mother Nature: Will you please make up your mind this month?

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Suburban Tales III

2012-01-05T15:07:00.002-05:00

Preamble

Belated wishes for a Happy New Year, as we’re finally rid of 2011 and it’s now a fresh year! I did fulfill a few small resolutions this past weekend, and aim to scratch a few more the list, and among them will be a handful of short films that I’ve been working on.

One’s in the script stage with a few test shots done, another is simple, & just requires a kind of visual simplicity to meet a looming deadline. I’m also taking the plunge in upgrading my ancient gear with a new machine, so everything can be done under one roof.

The manual for the fancy-schmancy i7 chip says it's possible to fry an egg with an optional eYolk peripheral, but I felt was unnecessary for my practical purposes, and some users in the Adobe forum have found slight conflicts when the butter filter heats up and increases the temperature of the CPU, knocking down any overclocking benefits.

I don't make these things up. They just exist.

Why is this all relevant? Because I’m reorganizing the way the updates are going to be done at the site, and may opt for 2-3 major review uploads per month so I can balance the two varieties of work - scribbling, and filming.

The other reason: by saying in print I’m working on some short films, you’ll be expecting updates, perhaps clips, and I’ll be obligated to meet your interest with meaty material instead of just talk.

More than 5 years ago I had planned on getting a Mac, and had started shooting footage for ‘an arty farty mixed media’ short that remains frozen in time because the Mac funds went to more vital things, the camera died, and the writing drifted from scripts to film reviews as the site needed more content.

None of the site's content will diminish because I spent Xmas watching & reviewing a lot of eclectic material, but part of my 2012 resolutions (yes, plural) is to make a series of shorts, a short doc, and work on towards a feature.

The 2005 project may well be resuscitated – part of the footage was shot on an obsolete format for which finding a working camera to transfer the material is tough – but that’s after I get these scripted concepts from paper to 1080p.

In any event, call this a Statement of Intention, where I’ll have a short done within the next 30-odd days. It would be the best birthday present to myself after a long dry spell.

Moving on.

Look! A movie poster that relies on original art in place of fat actor noggins!

Reviews

The latest installment of Suburban Tales (Part 2 dealt with Poltergeist, and Part 1 with Durham County, Season 2.) is up, and features Tod Holland’s classic 1985 shocker Fright Night [M] (1985) which came and sold out on Blu-ray from indie label Twilight Time, plus two retro-suburban shockers: Joe Cornish’s brisk & awesome hairy alien monster tease Attack the Block [M] (Sony), and J.J. Abrams’ ode to Steven Spielberg, Super 8 [M] (Paramount).

Rue Morgue’s January / February double issue is out now, and you can read my review of Twilight Time’s Mysterious Island (1961) Blu-ray edition in the bigger, longer, shinier Cinemarquee section.

Coming soon: soundtrack reviews, more horror, and reviews of two long unavailable films by Jan Kadar: Adrift (1969), and Lies My Father Told Me (1976), the latter just released in a special edition from Ergo Media.

Plus: a profile of Twilight Time. The company's first year anniversary is approaching, and there's much to discuss and opine about whether home video is dead, dying, or moving into a niche market that still has some years of life in spite of what paid doomsayers keep saying.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Richard Roxburgh’s Rake

2011-12-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

Running a compact 8 episodes, Rake [M] (2010) may be one of the best shows to come out of Australia, and for the present time it seems it's only available on an (obviously) Australian DVD & Blu-ray.

Star Richard Roxburgh plays Cleaver Greene, a human train wreck in-motion, consistently upsetting the personal and pofessional lives of friends, associates, peers, and family. The lead character is more than faithful to the essence and malicious potential of a rake - one who is morally loose, at odds with conventional society, a great big shit.

The series reminds me of a short-lived Canadian show, This is Wonderland, which the CBC slowly destroyed by avoiding a consistent broadcast schedule duing its second and third seasons. Of the 3 years, only Season 1 appeared on DVD, and the show's long forgotten, except by a small coterie of aficionados. (Guess who.) Both series involve oddball solicitors and clients, but Rake is genuinely special for its vicious black humour, and Roxburgh's richly textured performance.

Read the review, seek out the video, and relish the immorality of Rake's Cleaver Greene.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Mutiny on the Bounty (4.0)

2011-12-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

Marlon Brando struggles to defend the crew against a giant, windy Trevor Howard mug.

Previous filmed in 1916 as a silent, in1933 with Errol Flynn (!) making his starring debut as Fletcher Christian, and in 1935 [M] by MGM with the iconic Clark Gable and Charles Laughton battling egos and lapses of politesse, this fourth go-round at Mutiny on the Bounty was treated to a fortune in studio cash in the hope a literary classic would bring major box office rewards.

Filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 (formerly branded as MGM Camera 65), the 1962 production [M] also involved a replica of the famous H.M.S. Bounty (proudly built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) that was slightly longer & wider to accommodate the massive cameras, and allow a full crew to shoot locked and tracking shots on the ship with ease.

MGM’s extravaganza was shot in the rich tropics, and the film certainly captures the visual beauty of Tahiti where the Bounty lay anchored while the crew gathered up maturing breadfruit plants for a trip to Jamaica prior to the classic mutiny which pitted a good Christian soul against a rigid, cruel monster.

As with MGM’s ‘35 film, Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall’s novel was the basis for the story, but not unlike many screenplays based on historical events, the novel's authors tweaked facts and characters to ensure their novel was first & foremost a solid read, which inevitably makes it appear the novel and films are truthful representations of the actual Bounty saga.

As a historical epic, the ’62 version is marvelous – it looks and sounds wonderful on Warner Home Video’s new Blu-ray – but it would take a fifth poke at the story (the 1984 Mel Gibson / Anthony Hopkins version) to present a somewhat more accurate interpretation of the events that split up a crew, sent a captain rowing, and in the end had mutineers losing civility in their newly found island paradise, Pitcairn Island.

There’s also the issue of Marlon Brando’s decision to rethink Christian, interpreting the character a bit too differently than Gable to the point where he apparently irked critics, and perhaps contributed to the film’s status as a modest cinematic dud.

Brando’s characterization may not have pleased fans and critics, but in retrospect, he made the oft-told tale a bit more interesting; it’s not hard to see what he was trying to accomplish, but it doesn’t quite work, and it’s a problem that sometimes affected the iconic historic figures he would play early in his career. As Napoleon (Desiree [M]), he wasn’t able to transcend the caricature of the script, but he was a brooding Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (although one could argue co-stars Anthony Quinn and Joseph Wiseman were much more interesting to watch).

WHV’s Blu-ray replicates the contents from the prior HD-DVD edition, and while the archival extras are fully welcomed by fans, there is a lack of critical analysis, either in the form of a proper making-of doc, featurette, or commentary, but until the film is revisited again on home video in a special edition (realistically, quite unlikely), this sparkling edition will do, although it would be grand to see the film made available in a 70mm print to cinematheques so modern audiences can appreciate the visual and musical scope of this grand production.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

On Being Pleased

2011-12-25T16:07:00.000-05:00

As is typical during the lead-up to Xmas, things pile up, the day job enforces more time, and when the weekend finally hits, there’s a modest list of Things Not Done, which include emails & replies & mailings that simply sat undone and untouched.

Put another way: Where the heck did last week go?

I’ve just managed to watch a number of flicks and write several decent reviews in decent time-frames, which isn’t often when the longer a review gets, the more time it takes to re-read, edit, re-edit, and fix stpd typs that cann occurrr. Good stuff will be up Monday, as I’m giving my fingers a rest from the mounting carpel tunnel syndrome and gradual nerve damage that’s surely been worsening this year.

Not to rain down on the holiday, but if there’s a single memorable event of 2011 for myself, it’s the obvious disintegration of one’s physical skills to the point of pain. Yes, we have a publicly funded health care system, but you don’t’ solve sore fingers by replacing them with titanium digits, muscle and nerve pangs by re-rooting nerves and tissue matter with polyscathine glycomeetote urathol strands (don’t bother looking it up: I’m being amusing), or fix pins & needles in the knees and assorted leg & feet pain by going fully bionic; I’d portentously opine that the transference from flesh to bionics would one day have you walking into the middle of a highway because someone’s app ran on the same Buzzkumber frequency (1080 umms) as the bionic legs.

The ability to recall whole film names has been replaced by the uncanny ability to recall poster art and the font of the title but not the title itself; and my eyes have gradually reverted to defective hybrids of individual defections courtesy of my parents.

Take your finger and hold it a half-foot away from both eyes: not in focus? Used to be. What the fuck?

Used to be able to consume a lot of bread and candy without heartburn; I figure in 2 years I’ll get acid reflux from drinking water, and cough up an intestine after eating a single rice wafer. Aging is not good, and anyone who believes there’s grace in the process is delusional. You’re falling apart, and soon you’ll be a puddle of human goo, housed in a beaker jar, kept in the fridge in the dark, and when mold grows on your gooey nose, they’ll know you’re done.

That is the Scrooge’s perspective of 2011, so let’s move to the something not Cratchity, not Ghosts of Xmas past-y, but a simple observance this week that made me feel really, really good.

Orchidious Fredius Wandilius Purpliosium

Tuesday I took the late train home, and watched an older lady step on with assorted bags, but swaying back & forth in her arms was an orchid plant. She had a frumpish, unsettled expression, as though she’d had to struggle through masses of annoying shoppers before finally beginning the trip home, to where peace and serenity exist in deep density.

Said lady shuffled her bags, repositioned the potted orchid, and kept glancing at it – not annoyed, but not content.

This alternating current of irritation went on for a few stops, and every few beats the lady would look at the rocking orchids blooms, as though she was thinking ‘You made me do this. You stupid fragile thing that can’t be petted or snuggled with. You rock like a drunk, and if I lose a single petal or your spine breaks, I’d have lost a $60+ purchase and wasted time and energy transporting you home intact. What in hell was I thinking?’

My stop was coming up, and she kept glancing away and back to the plant, away again, and back at the plant, trying to assess whether she liked the white & purple & green thing that had no business being transported through public places coursing with foolish, klutzy knuckleheads.

But when I stood up and waited for the train to reach my stop, I watched the lady in the window’s reflection, and I caught the end result of all her fussing, and re-adjusting of said plant on her lap and safe grasp: satisfaction.

Her face was still fairly rigid, and at one point may have been marinated in sourpuss juice, but her mouth loosened, relaxed, and her eyes receded into a calm state. I could very clearly discern she’d realized she made a good move that day, and whatever annoyances happened her way, once she got home, this blooming / blumin’ plant would bring colour, calm, and satisfaction to her home.

Perhaps it was a gift, but there seemed to be a clear, personal attachment between the lady and the plant; they’d become friends, and she’d now be its benefactor of light and water and temperature, and whenever things would get idiotic, all she had to do was look at the orchid flowers, and admire its uniqueness: uncompromising, undemanding, and a simple beautiful thing whose existence just happens to offer someone colour, shape, and a form that’s just plain lovely.

For the lady, she ended the day with a simple prize, but for myself, I think I came out just as good by catching that look of being pleased with her potted orchid.

It’s an example of focusing on simple things instead of big events, being anxious over masses of smiley happy people milling about seasonal iconography with glasses of heated glurg, and trying to be perfect because the guests are watching you very carefully (which they’re not, because they’re getting drunk on your booze cabinet).

If you can find that simple, pleasing relationship with a song, a drink, a poem, a candy, or a plant, do so. The resulting smile will cut through even the thickest of bullshit (except foot monsters).

Happy Holidays / Bah Humbug.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Soundtrack News & Reviews

2011-12-17T13:36:00.001-05:00

On the news front, Screen Archives Entertainment have set Twilight Time’s next Blu-rays for pre-order, and both Picnic (1955) and The Roots of Heaven (1958) will contain isolated score tracks of George Duning and Malcolm Arnold’s respective scores. See, some wishes can come true (albeit when there are like-minded people, and music elements still survive).

Coming shortly will be reviews of La-La Land’s final CDs for 2011, including Die Hard, which in the past has been available as a bootleg CD (via the ephemeral Pony Tail brand) around 1996 (with surprisingly great sound, perhaps a sign a proper soundtrack CD was prepped at one time); and as a limited CD from Varese Sarabande in 2002, with better sound, but less oomphy bass. An advance listen reveals (at least from memory) LLL’s 2-disc set has warmer bass, which is important when one listens to both the RV and helicopter tower assaults, of which the latter is perhaps the Greatest Action Cue Ever Written.

Just uploaded are reviews of the compilation song CD for the Hawaii-set drama The Descendants [M] (Sony Classical) and Ludovic Bource’s buoyant music for The Artist [M] (also Sony), of which the CD includes a brief Q&A in English and French. I generally avoid reading any liner notes before writing a review so a score can hit me directly, and I can react to whatever unique nuances I may notice, so it was kind of rewarding to read Bource’s recount of deliberately listening to specific composers from the silent and early sound era. Yes, this is partial ego-stroking, but it is weirdly gratifying you pick out Waxman, Chaplin, and Herrmann references – signs the brain is still working in spite of Over Forty Syndrome.

(Those affected know exactly what I’m talking about. Note: I don’t want to hear what happens when you hit 50, 60, and 70. Hopefully a higher consumption of fish will delay the inevitable assimilation of similar-themed facts, otherwise known as ‘mushing,’ like when your brain takes two movie plots and mushes them into one; or you can’t recall a film title, but you can ‘see’ the poster art and font style of the title, but the movie’s name is a mushy blur.)

Also uploaded are reviews of Bear McCreary’s score for the cancelled series The Cape [M] in a great 2-CD set from LLL, and the label also presents a 2-disc set for Alfred Newman’s A Certain Smile [M] from 1958, and probably one of Newman’s best scores of the late fifties; lovely themes, and clean writing.

* * *

Unrelated (well, sort of), HMV in Toronto (and presumably Canada-wide) is selling that fat Murnau and Borzage at Fox box for $89.99 – almost a third of its original list price. Why? Who cares. It’s 12 classic silent & sound films by two master filmmakers during their tenure at Fox. Some of the films have commentary tracks, and newly recorded film scores. The only title that I think was previously released is Murnau’s Sunrise (1927), which Fox apparently re-transferred for the box and added a newly discovered silent Czech version featuring an alternate European edit of the film.

Britain’s Eureka Entertainment actually released the two Sunrise versions on DVD and Blu-ray (Region B) in 2009 as part of their Masters of Cinema series. Although it’s now OOP, the title has been repressed as a dual BR+DVD release. Eureka’s current catalogue details in-print, OOP, and re-issued titles in this PDF file.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

'All Hail to the God of Carnage'

2011-12-15T16:37:00.002-05:00

Look! It's the stylish French poster which focuses on the bilious mood temperatures within Polanski's angry little movie!

With director Roman Polanski's latest film, Carnage, slated to open in theatres Dec. 30th (yes, he's still trapped in France making movies set in other countries), the TIFF Bell Lightbox have created a thematic lead-in to Polanski's tight adaptation of Yasmina Reza's vicious black comedy of two couples losing their civil artifice as the issue of a maimed child refuses to leave the mind of the affected mother.

People losing sanity seems to be a favourite theme of the director (and mine), and for some, a good day is one where conflicts were minimal, pet annoyances were wholly avoided, and the day consisted of a few genuinely rewarding moments.

No such luck happens to the couples in Carnage, but perhaps that's the point: in real life issues never disappear, resolutions are often strained / tolerated compromises, and old conflicts can easily be drummed back into full force if we just keep poking the smiley person with the same needle again and again until there's a steamy release.

You could argue that it's not in our nature to be nice; we're genetically trained to be annoyed, but unlike our wilder, animal cousins, we don't let the claws pop out and take a warning swipe when someone's pressing an issue beyond one's tolerance. The gem of Reza's play is how our use of manufactured artifice is applicable at dinners with idiotic family members, over a beer with pretentious friends, family gatherings with grating children whose parents don't believe in the word or concept of 'No,' maintaining professional decorum when a client is allowed to be profane, and wanting to drag a texting moron with you as you exit a subway because said moron never learned an exit portal on a train, subway, or streetcar is not a personal communications booth.

People are able to suppress a great deal of anger because the volume of social and petty annoyances are so rampant and profound, but once in a while an incident can trigger a flood - and that's what occurs when the couple of a 'maniac child' is invited for cobbler because the mom & dad of the gashed child refuse to let the offending party leave.

It's the need to ensure things end on a polite and civil note that sets things in motion, and the various conflicts that spew forth within Carnage are both witty and grotesque. For those with a distate for scenes of up-chucking, there's a doozy in Carnage, but it is necessary (much as I hate to admit), and just.

Look... it's the generic English language poster that evokes a banal comedy on DVD. Nicely... done.. oh savvy marketing department....

I've uploaded the Carnage [M] review and will follow-up with reviews of other recent adaptations of Reza's plays, including her recent directorial debut, Chicas. I'll also have a film review of Repulsion, since it'll be playing at the TBL next Wednesday.

I've only seen an ugly TV print way back when, and while the film is out on Blu-ray via Criterion, it is a classic psychological horror film featuring a rare score by jazz great Chico Hamilton. Totally worth seeing on the big screen in the midst of smiley happy Christmas people wearing far too much red & green clothing and accessories.

Those curious about the other Polanski flicks ought to check out the TBL's site, which offers 7 films between Sat. Dec. 17 thru Sunday Dec. 25.

My only qualm: I wish they'd screen Rosemary's Baby on a Sunday. This marks the second time I've missed a chance to catch the shocker on the big screen, goosed with Christopher Komeda's remarkable score. For some reason the Interstellar Scheduling Gods don't want me to see the film, nor any Mario Bava films at the TBL.

What'd I do?

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Soundtrack News & Reviews

2011-12-14T16:49:00.000-05:00

Just uploaded is a quartet of soundtrack reviews, with another handful to appear every two days, as there’s a very large stack of CDs and digital albums (‘virtually’ speaking, of course) in need of being completed before a fat baby in diapers flies across the horizon and nails a long white banner across the sky, reading “2012.” (This is really what happens at the stroke of midnight every December 31st. We regular humans can’t see it, but generations of commercial illustrators and cartoonists have broken the fifth wall and seen how we move into a New Year. Fat, diapered babies with wings. No lies.)

Uploaded is a review of Henry Jackman’s surprisingly punchy & fun score for Puss in Boots [M] (Sony Classical); Trading Places [M] (La-La Land), Elmer Bernstein’s (unintentional) seasonal salute to cruel moral jokes; and a pair of underrated Jerry Goldsmith classics from the early nineties: Forever Young [M], and the ridiculously titled Sleeping with the Enemy [M] (also La-La Land).

As soundtrack fans may have noticed, Varese Sarabande’s mega-set Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century-Fox was available for pre-order and pretty much sold out in 2-3 days, which is astonishing when the barometer seems to have inferred Golden Age soundtracks are no longer selling as much as before, and people are broke. In truth, it may simply be a case where Herrmann is inherently ‘golden’; and the set was a rare chance to acquire in one shot previously released, newly expanded, and premiere music by a temperamental genius whose work for Fox also ranks as some of the best produced by said studio.

The $200 price tag was / is daunting, but that’s what VISA is for, isn’t it? Flippant remark aside, it is good to see the hard work of the set’s producers & label paying off fast enough to cover current and planned endeavors, but it shows what a crap shoot limited editions are; as some posts at the FSM message board have shown, it seemed less would be willing to spend so much when there is an ongoing wealth of soundtrack music and economic times aren’t great, but apparently the uniqueness of the set were too hard to pass up. I just hope this doesn’t mean fans will have to hit the Purchase button as soon as pre-order card is uploaded; you want a reasonable time to weight the decision to buy.

Intrada’s latest (and much-anticipated) year-end sets aren’t limited editions, which means there will be time to snap up the new 2-CD set of Jerry Goldsmith’s Sand Pebbles (one of his best scores, and probably the most gut-wrenching Main Title music of the sixties); Leonard Rosenman’s chiming, clanging, and rambunctious Star Trek IV; and the album few figured would ever get a restoration – John Barry The Wrong Box.

Frankly, anything from the old Mainstream LP catalogue always sounded like an impossible feat because the label itself seemed rather disorganized, releasing split-run mono and stereo LPs, with the latter sometimes hybrids of stereo/mono/bullshit stereo cues.

Wrong Box was in fact a top collectible LP, and I got lucky when I unearthed a mono copy in the used bin at Peter Dunn’s Vinyl Museum when I was in high school. It was cheap, dinged up, and the sound quality was so wan that I didn’t care for Barry’s score. I ultimately sold the LP without any guilt, but perhaps now is the time to reassess the score (and maybe the film) in what is probably its best possible release. Congrats to Intrada for persevering on this one, and perhaps they’ve now got an in towards releasing other gems in the Mainstream catalogue. Would love to see a full release of Malcolm Arnold’s The Heroes of Telemark (1965).

Little by little the Most Valuable and Rarest LPs are being superseded by CD releases, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Twilight Time’s upcoming Roots of Heaven might have a stereo track of Arnold’s isolated score. (The LP was once valued at between $250-$500, but the platter was in fact a straight, flat, mono mix-down from the original stereo elements.)

While my review of Twilight Time’s Mysterious Island Blu-ray will run in the January issue of Rue Morgue magazine, coming soon to KQEK.com will be reviews of the new BR’s for Tom Holland’s Fright Night, and John Guillerman’s Rapture, which I’ve never seen, but will run alongside some related film reviews.

Coming really shortly, a review of Roman Polanski’s Carnage, and news of upcoming tributes and retros in and around T.O.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Genre Benders

2011-12-12T12:22:00.000-05:00

Not unlike the American exploitation realm during the seventies and eighties, weird genre fusions was also apparently in Italy (perhaps by the truckload), and it’s natural that what remains in the unreleased and neglected realm are often really, really odd films that were either passed over by other larger labels, too obscure, or perhaps regarded as not quite noteworthy.

Critics and collectors have had some issues with the print sources and transfers from One 7 Movies, and while there’s a need for improvement in areas such as subtitling (both accurate translations and proper synchronization) and background notes (the addition of basic text cards providing some filmmaker and production data would be a helpful boost), I get the feeling the sourced prints, in most cases, may be all that’s available, unless a producer happens to have a negative buried in the closet under his adult periodicals and conquest trophies from 1970-1978.

Joe D’Amato made so many films in his career, one suspects the vast lot in his final years were largely cranked out as disposable fodder, never deemed to be worthy of any kind of preservation, whereas Nello Rossati’s output was quite modest, and he didn’t make any breakout works that challenged genres with dramatic directorial touches nor transcended programmatic material.

They may be cult directors – D’Amato excelled in fusing horror + erotica / porn, and Rossati’s main claim-to-fame is The Sensuous Nurse (1975) – but like Jess Franco, their surviving work remains appreciated by connoisseurs - not a big market, but not a negligible one, either.

Eleonora quickly discovers gathering cocnuts can be an abrasive experience.

The tough part in assessing Rossati’s Erotic Escape [M] (1985) and D’Amato’s Exotic Malice [M] (1980) is seeing beyond the roughed up prints and oddly framed aspect ratios to see both directors making earnest efforts to not make crap.

Exotic Malice is billed (according to the box copywriting) as “the first official hardcore outing of Italian cinema,” but there’s a strangely compelling tale of a self-destructive man amid the interludes of graphic bonking; and the outright wrongness of Rossati’s terribly misogynistic Erotic Escape is nevertheless directed with skill that makes one ponder why he didn’t succeed in bigger & better productions (unless, like Tinto Brass, he was content training his lens on bare bodkins).

Both reviews are up, with a critical eye towards their flaws, conventions, and moments of unexpected skill buried in the remains of surviving 35mm prints.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Canada's Top Ten & Packaged Goods series

2011-12-08T13:19:00.000-05:00

Canada's Top Ten

This past Tuesday, TIFF announced winners of Canada’s Top Ten, the annual tally of best features and short films which essentially give Canuck filmmakers a spotlight prior to the inevitable barrage of For Your Consideration Oscar-touted stuff that’ll dominate theatre screens very soon.

Snipped from the official press sheet, here are the winners, with links to related video releases / sample online clips / announcements (not that you shouldn’t see them on the big screen first, if possible):

Canada’s Top Ten feature film selections for 2011 (in alphabetical order, including release dates where applicable)

Café de flore — Jean-Marc Vallée (Alliance Films) November 2011
A Dangerous Method — David Cronenberg (Entertainment One) January 2012
Edwin Boyd — Nathan Morlando (Entertainment One)
Hobo With a Shotgun — Jason Eisener (Alliance Films) March 2011
Keyhole — Guy Maddin (Entertainment One)
Marécages — Guy Édoin (Mongrel Media) --- to be released on DVD February 28, 2012
Monsieur Lazhar — Philippe Falardeau (Entertainment One) January 2012
Starbuck — Ken Scott (Entertainment One) July 2011
Take This Waltz — Sarah Polley (Mongrel Media) May 2012
Le Vendeur — Sébastien Pilote (Entertainment One) February 2012

Canada’s Top Ten short film selections for 2011 (in alphabetical order):

Choke — Michelle Latimer
Doubles With Slight Pepper — Ian Harnarine
The Fuse: Or How I Burned Simon Bolivar — Igor Drljaca
Hope — Pedro Pires (Phi Group)
No Words Came Down — Ryan Flowers and Lisa Pham
Ora — Philippe Baylaucq (National Film Board of Canada)
Rhonda's Party — Ashley McKenzie
La Ronde — Sophie Goyette (Locomotion Films)
Trotteur — Arnaud Brisebois and Francis Leclerc (Phi Group and Cirrus Communications)
We Ate the Children Last — Andrew Cividino

Further details on each film and screening dates (starting January 5) are available at the official website. Also note there will be a panel discussion Sat. Jan. 7 at 7pm in which directors Guy Maddin (Keyhole), Nathan Morlando (Edwin Boyd), and Jason Eisner (Hobo with a Shotgun) will discuss their efforts to rework the gangster / crime genres.

Yup, that's a head doing something normal in a very abnormal place...

Packaged Goods

Also coming soon – next Wednesday, Dec. 14 – is the latest installment of Packaged Goods, featuring beautiful and wacked-out ads, shorts, and music videos from 2011.

The roughly 70 min. programme features an eclectic mix of material, spanning Nike’s “Write the Future” where soccer star commercialism is oddly satirized in a lengthy corporate spot; Willem Dafoe’s face is layered onto multiple characters (including a Sumo wrestler) in a crafty Jim Beam ad (“Parallels”); and a VW ad, showing a guy driving round and round the block before presenting an engagement ring to his intended, features what may be the most pleasant utterance of VW’s patented “Das Auto” phrase. (Usually the narrator sounds like we interrupted his afternoon beauty sleep.)

The Spanish “Braids” ad involves a dinner where the honored guest notices each family member inexplicably grows a set of lengthy braids; Australia’s Carlton Draught “Slow Mo” beer advert features calamitous beer-spilling set to a popular Three Tenors opera piece with replacement nonsense lyrics (“I want to sing in slo-mo-tion”); the Nokia N8 phone was used for the elaborate animation ad “Gulp” by Aardman; and Japan’s NTT Docomo “Xylophone” ad showcases the inventive building and execution of a giant xylophone snaking down a forest incline, and a wooden ball rapping out a classical piece.

More serious material is found in Chipotle’s “Back to the Start” with flipping stop-motion animated landscapes; MTV Exit’s “Planet Better” uses striking stop-motion and layered CGI animation to bring attention towards sexual slavery; and 3-dimensional animation has ADCC’s “Love / Hate” campaign show’s how hatred for one’s job is ‘all a matter of perspective’ (which for some in today’s wonky economy may find rather naïve).

In the realm of music videos, the most striking are Raphael Saadiq’s “Good Man” (featuring booming bass that’s ably exploited by the TBL’s sound system); Foster the People’s “Helena Beat” which riffs post-apocalyptic films / parables Lord of the Flies, Mad Max, and The Omega Man, with little nods to slasher icons; Bon Iver’s “Holocene” music video features gorgeous, otherworldly Icelandic scenery as a boy grabs a walking stick and goes on a kind of vision quest; Duck Sauce’s “Big Bad Wolf” is brilliant and wrong on so many levels (see above still) with sexual urges and activities played out by heads instead of genitalia; a slow-motion car crash for Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math” is a brilliant little exercise in thematic editing and experimental filmmaking; and Battles’ “Ice Cream” stitches together trippy old-school film effects (I’ve always loved solarization) and brilliant editing and dissolves. The last two alone are worth examining for their modernist editing styles.

The final short is a film by Spike Jonze and Simon Chan using felt animation, and borrows heavily from old Warner Bros. cartoons where characters from book covers spring to life once the store lights have dimmed for another work day. In “Mourir Aupres de Toi,” the story has a skeleton enticing Mina from Bram Stoker’s "Dracula," an adventure into a whale, and an unusual twist to eternal love.

Packaged Goods is part of the TBL’s The Year’s Best series, and is worth catching in the bass-friendly Cinema 2 next Wednesday Dec. 14. (TIFF’s byzantine website doesn’t offer further screening details, but hopefully the assembled films will get a few repeat screenings before year’s end.)

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

A Gathering of Xmas Schmaltz

2011-12-07T15:51:00.000-05:00

Every one has their favourite Xmas TV special or movie (sometimes several) which they watch every year to get them into the ‘spirit’ of the holidays, regardless of religious denominations or lack of, although mine still stands as 1988’s Die Hard (see piece from 2008): a brisk tempo, choral-peppered music and some classical extracts to boot, and intertwining tales of redemption with elegant choreography in human, RV, and helicopter form going full throttle.

Second favourite would probably be Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny & Alexander (1978), which, if I actually had time, would watch again, but alas, as things go each holiday season, there’s less time to appreciate a 5 hour mini-series, let alone multiple TV specials.

The nature of TV holiday specials is to hit all the sentimental marks so you, the audience, click off the idiot box feeling warm & fuzzy inside; a sense of goodness about humanity; anticipation of your own family gathering; seeing predictable dramas unfold and issues resolved so you too can handle your idiot brother, egotistical sister, detail-oriented mother, and yapping father before a single slice of turkey is cut.

Seasonal films are in some way coping mechanisms, because they reassure adults that no matter how annoying family will be, nor the gigantic mess leftover from guests, nor the segment of visiting relatives you’d like to accidentally forget to pick-up from airport, nor the lecturing you’ll get from an elder or big mouth, You Will Prevail. You will remain your own Special Person. And when New Year’s chimes in, you’ll be satisfied you fulfilled your familial obligations, and are fully entitled to pickling your brain in sparkling wine.

Case in point: The Gathering [M], a 1977 teleplay with a name cast from top to bottom (except the two kids – they’re nobodies), including writer, director, and executive producers (Hanna-Barbera Productions). It's a perfect example of how to transcend the schmaltz genre without wallowing in its horrid excess. The Gathering is indeed manipulative, but it works because the camera always flips back to its central figure – aging father and all-around grumpyman Adam Thornton (Ed Asner) – instead of the younger, hotter cast members. It’s about the parents, and with a terminal disease thrown in to give ‘the gathering’ at Xmas extra gravitas.

Now, you have in fact seen this schmaltz before: that thing called Family Stone (2005), except in Gathering we’re told right from the first scene the familial hero is gonna die. No disease is specified, and no details are given beyond a time limit, so the plot essentially involves Adam’s need to redeem himself before he reaches his expiration date. He’s also still alive by the end credits, and we’re left with a portrait of a clichéd but swell family.

When originally released, the makers of Family Stone played a dirty trick: it was sold to audiences as a comedy, with much wacky hijinks in the trailer montage. Reality: around a 1/3 into the film, they drop a bomb that mom is dying of cancer, which is essentially the filmmakers grabbing you by the throat and shaking you like a rag doll, screaming ‘This is sad! You must cry now! She will die soon!’ and repeat the process via different manipulative scenes until mom is stone cold dead, but her spirit lives on in the cheap blinky-blinky star that peaks the Xmas tree.

Gathering and Family Stone are linked by the same themes (or perhaps, the latter stole from the former), but whereas one managed to deliver schmaltz with more discretion, the other went for your throat and sometimes administered melodrama like punishment with a metal baseball bat. There are those who need to be bludgeoned with clichés in order to achieve their catharsis, but sometimes simplicity works better, which is why Gathering deservedly joins the pantheon of acceptable seasonal schmaltz.

It has dated, and is designed to reach specific dramatic peaks prior to ad breaks (as it was original made for TV), but unlike Family Stone and its ilk, at least when it’s over, you won’t find bruises around your neck, or a big bump on the head because the screenwriter felt you weren’t sniffling & snuffling hard & loud enough.

Coming soon: Why, more blather! Plus review of socially impolite dramas, and sundries.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Maniac Cop 2 + 3

2011-12-07T02:37:00.002-05:00

I was extremely surprised to discover William Lustig’s sequel to his mighty B-film classic Maniac Cop [M] (1988) boasts even better stunts and montages than the first. Actually, that’s not really fair to the first film, because Maniac Cop 2 [M] (1990) is unique for possessing its own crazy DNA.

MC2 is quite frankly an awesome little B-movie, filled with a marvelous cast of character actors, cameos, and some casting choices that pay off really well in the otherwise less-than satisfying follow-up, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence [M] (1993).

First Look released the two sequels on DVD a few years ago, but the pair is ripe for their own special edition Blu-rays, with commentaries and the usual goodies. I’d frankly love to hear screenwriter Larry Cohen explain his character arcs across the three films; and Lustig talking about casting not one but three actors from the original Die Hard in little memorable roles.

Efforts to remake MC have popped up over the years, including Chris Notarile’s 2008 promo short. Should it be remade? NO, because its cast is perfect, the script is smart & snappy, and Lustig’s direction is inimitable… and yet plans are underway, with a scrip co-written by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, with Franck Khalfoun in the director’s chair.

The trio’s last theatrical effort was 2007’s P2.

Not a good omen.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

More Batman and Mortal Kombat on Blu

2011-12-07T01:39:00.000-05:00

New on Blu-ray via Warner Home Video is a pair of unlikely comic-toned productions: another effort to bring Batman from the page to the HD screen, and an earnest effort to get the ball rolling on a re-imagined Mortal Kombat (cue the screaming man now!) franchise.

Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One [M] (2011) essentially covers the early years where Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham and decides to fight crime, encounters newly minted Catwoman, and “honest cop” Lt. James Gordon, who loses some of his own blood as he attempts to route out corruption in the police force. Included on the BR are many extras that delve into the Batman mythos, teaser featurettes for upcoming DC animated productions, and a bonus Catwoman short that includes pole-licking. Oh, I'm not joking.

The story of how Mortal Kombat returned in web form is an odd one: Kevin Tancharoen made a short film to entice Warner Bros. into funding a feature film, but the possibility of restarting the franchise was re-directed into a series of glossy episodes available on YouTube throughout 2011.

All 9 episodes plus featurettes are included on the BR, but the real star is the Red camera, which captures many fine details and rich colours. I want a Red camera for Christmas. It would make my current project look oodles better.

Based on the positive reception by fans, Tancharoen seems to be getting his wish, and is working on a new feature film. Hopefully he’ll keep the same core stars and film the choreography in the same classic style as Legacy. In one of the BR's featurettes, he attributes his respect for choreography from directing dance films, like Fame and… Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.

Had he not made Mortal Kombat: Legacy [M], Tancheroen may well have been doomed to an eternal ‘glee’ hell, surrounded by insipid smiley faced moppets singing the show’s entire songbook over and over again, but his soul is safe again… unless he makes another Glee film....

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Festivals-a-Go-Go: Dec.1 – 9, 2011

2011-12-03T02:12:00.000-05:00

Today's post is quick and belated , but I'll have several review clusters shortly.

First the bad news: there's about 3 weeks left to Christmas, which means you have that much time to find the perfect gift, hint to friends / family / partner of your perfect gift, and develop a strategy to ensure you know how you'll lose the dough from the chocolate, the pie, the cookies, and the beer before the end of January, or the new pants will not fit.

Now the sad news: actor Bill McKinney has passed away at the age of 80. Don't recognize the name? McKinney played the lead sodomizer in John Boorman's Deliverance (1972), and later became a member of Clint Eastwood's stock company. Even if McKinney had acted in 100 films and brilliantly portrayed tragic Shakespearean heroes on the stage, he'll always be remembered as the sick dude to made Ned Beatty squeal like a little piggy.

Now the so-so news: as it's getting closer to Xmas, there are less film festivals overlapping, which probably is a deliberate tactic by festival planners to ensure they too have a semblance of a vacation. Below is the current festival tally, plus ongoing & upcoming screenings at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

One highlight this month: critic Adam Nayman will host a Q&A after the Sunday Dec. 18th screening of Roman Polanski's Chinatown, part of the TIFF Bell Lightbox's tribute to the ingenue-happy director whose latest work, Carnage, opens in theatres at the end of the month.

I've never seen the film on the big screen, so I'm game, particularly with Jerry Goldsmith's lush, deeply melancholy theme, which ranks as one of his best early seventies scores. Besides, you may have to see it on the big screen because you can't buy it: Paramount's Blu-ray never happened, and the special edition DVD was deleted weeks after it streeted without any explanation. Bah humbug, indeed.

A second highlight this month: Hot Docs has announced one can buy advance ticket packages for the 2012 festival which will run April 26 - May 6. Early Bird pricing remains in effect until March 19th. If last year's sampling is any indication of the goodies offered at the world's biggest documentary film festival, it'll be easy to pick at least five films of interest.

Also from Hot Docs is the new membership & discount cards available for purchase for the re-christened Bloor / Hot Docs Cinema. Details about the cinema's programming is still mum, but the inference is sometime in January.

Finally, the Toronto Underground Cinema's announced a Hockey on the Big Screen day (Saturday Dec. 17). Early arrives can watch the Leafs at 7pm, and a 35mm print of Slap Shot will screen at 10:30pm.

An ultimate double-bill (in my eyes) would be the 1971 CanCon classique Face-Off, recently rescued from oblivion and released on DVD courtesy of VSC. Never heard of 'Canada's Love Story'? Nul problemo, because a review will be up soon, weighing the gravitas of hockey and soapy scenes between Art Hindle (Black Christmas) and hottie Trudy Young (The Starlost).

Lastly, before we move on to this week's festival tally & screening series, today is Nino Rota's birthday. The Maestro would've been 100 today, and while most know Rota for his carnival-styled music for most of Frederico Fellini's films, he also scored a number of fine dramas, of which The Leopard is a masterpiece in film + score (sparse as it is).

Rota's music for the "Toby Dammit" sequence in Spirits of the Dead is equally potent, and I'm thinking in honor of the composer I should indeed treat myself to the new Blu-ray available in the U.K. from Arrow. It's region free, and apparently looks smashing.

Film Festivals & Screenings on-the-go in T.O.:

Pomegranate Film Festival: Armenian Youth Centre, Thurs. Dec. 1 - Sun. Dec. 4

TIFF Bell Lightbox:
Hollywood Classics: The Cinema is Nicholas Ray: ending Tues. Dec. 13

Roman Polanski: Sat. Dec. 17 - Sun. Dec. 25

Films in 70mm this month: Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang (Sun. Dec. 25) + 2001: A Space Odyssey (Sun. Dec. 25 - Wed. Jan. 4)

Current Exhibit Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess: ending Jan. 22, 2012

Non-Festival / non-series / venues still really good & worth checking out:

The Projection Booth

Toronto Underground Cinema

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Sundry News & Soundtrack Reviews

2011-11-29T02:26:00.001-05:00

Before I get to the latest soundtrack reviews, this past Black Friday La-La Land Records revealed their year-end limited releases, and it's a pretty alluring quartet: Michael Kamen's Die Hard (2CDs), Ennio Morricone's Fat Man & Little Boy (2CDs), Danny Elfman's Scrooged, and Jerry Goldsmith's Tora Tora Tora.

Of the 4 releases, Die Hard should sell out really, really soon, since the prior Varese release came out in 2002 - that's 9 years one of the best action scores ever written has been off the market, which has undoubtedly spawned high eBay sales, and bootlegs.

Like The Poseidon Adventure, Tora was peviously released by Film Score Monthly, and one suspects there will be more reissues from their catalogue, since early releases such as Tora came out 11 years ago, and there have been a few leaps & bounds in audio restoration and mastering.

While we're on the subject of FSM, there's also been a few posts at the magazine's Message Board regarding Twilight Time's Blu-ray release of Mysterious Island, where the tone, to put it politely, sometimes dips into pure crazy juice about transfer quality.

I just reviewed the Blu-ray for Rue Morgue (the piece will run in the January issue), and here are some simple specifics regarding the film and audio transfer created by Sony and licensed to Twilight Time:

Image: very crisp, but but due to the higher details in HD, you do see a higher grain level for layered optical effects. It's the nature of the original effects and film processing, but the colours are stable and balanced, and more importantly, Sony matted the film to 1.66:1, which is more reasonable than the terrible 1.85:1 matting the studio applied to their 2002 DVD.

Sound mixes: there's the original mono, and a 5.1 mix that tries to create a balance between the mono mix, the music and effects track (which was present on the unmatted laserdisc), and surviving stereo music stems which were also used for the Cloud 9 stereo CD.

The laserdisc featured a 2.0 surround sound mix, whereas the BR's 5.1 mix sounds like a fresh reconfiguration of the same available elements, although one can hear where the mono-only materials have been lightly enhanced; where they've been blended with the stereo cues; and where the stereo cues boom all on its very own.

To some extent, I still love the mono mix, but the 5.1 mix has been designed to exploit the parameters of a wider surround image without any trick-oriented directional effects. The sense is more of a stereophonic experience, which is arguably better than an effects-tweaked 5.1 mix because it doesn't dampen the impact of Bernard Herrmann's immaculate score.

The isolated music track contains both stereo and mono M&E material, but it feels like a 70/30 split, which isn't so bad. Those accustomed to M&E mixes as the sole source of a score - like Jerry Goldsmith's The Satan Bug - won't be phased, but those expecting a miracle track might feel disappointed.

Here's another way of looking at the reconstruction of Herrmann's score: it still contains the same stereo cues as the Cloud 9 album, so there's no loss of material. When the Rue Morgue review runs, I'll have a follow-up review at KQEK.com with more details on the Blu-ray, prior video editions, and of course, the film within the Ray Harryhausen canon.

Coming soon at KQEK.com will be a Q&A with members of the Twilight Time team. The label's first year anniversary is coming up in 2012, and I'm keen to use the label profile to promote discussion about the major changes in home video as it pertains to classic films, and what may lie in store in the near future.

There is no such thing as "Ultraphonic High Fidelity" - only MONO.

And while we're finishing up on the topic of Twilight Time, the label also revealed some of the new titles for 2012 for Blu-ray: Picnic, and my personal favourite, The Roots of Heaven, which may feature an isolated track of Malcolm Arnold's score. See TT's Facebook page for more info + cover art.

I've avoided the Spanish Roots DVD in the hopes the film might materialize in Region 1 land, but the Blu-ray has made the wait quite worthwhile. The only other format I've seen Roots was as a grainy 16mm TV print on TVOntario, so to see and hear this underrated classic by John Huston in its original ratio and a stereophonic mix will be a treat.

Idle thought: I wonder if my mono Roots LP with be worth anything after the DVD streets? I paid a mint for what was once branded one of the most valuable soundtrack LPs on the market.

Once...

R.I.P. KEN RUSSELL

Lastly, enfant terrible of British cinema Ken Russell has died at the age of 84, leaving behind a lengthy canon of mischievous work, and several modern classics such as Women in Love, the shallow but stylish Billion Dollar Brain, the trippy Altered States, and of course The Devils, which the BFI are planning to release on DVD in March of 2012.

Russell's final work was a mediocre segment for the flat horror anthology Trapped Ashes (2008), and I'd like to remember him not in grotesque drag (really; it's a horrid image) but as the naugty boy if cinema, with his wicked humour, bizarre taste for combining distressed nuns, over-sized Christ iconography, and snakes in highly inappropriate montages, not to mention getting some of the finest composers around to write music for his film.

Rue Morgue has a great snapshot of Russell and a trio of links, and Shade Rupe wrote a fitting tribute to the late director at Indiewire, and he's also posted additional stills and links at his Facebook page.

Russell's autobiography, A British Picture, is one of the funniest books I've read because he's so unbridled in his recollections, yet one quickly gets a sense of an artist constantly struggling against tightwaddedness in the film world, be it the BBC, or American studios. His fight to turn Altered States into a finished film was bloody valiant, although there are two images that remain indelible: Russell (under the supervision of 'an expert') tripping out after an isolation tank immersion, and screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky taking a chainsaw to the expensive sets because he was having a drradful tantrum.

SOUNDTRACK REVIEWS

Just uploaded are a trio of videogame soundtracks: Greg Edmonson's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception [M] (La-La Land), Steve Jablonsky's Gears of War 3 [M] and Cris Velasco & Sascha Dikiciyan 's Warhammer 40,000: Spacemarine [M] (both from Sumthng Else).

Coming shortly: a review of Warner Home Video's Batman: Year One Blu-ray, plus Bear McCreary's music from the TV series The Cape, via La-La Land.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

The Hitchhiker – The (In)Complete Collection

2011-11-25T13:53:00.001-05:00

Over the past year, Alliance has re-issued parts of their TV catalogue on DVD in budget-priced lines, but a major headache for fans of eighties CanCon TV includes some very elemental questions:

What’s in the damned set?

Is it in stereo?

What are the specific episodes?

The reason these questions are frustrating are really quite elemental: Alliance rarely sends out review screeners of their catalogue material, and more crucial, the packaging is often bereft of any substantive details.

Case in point: LEXX, the original mini-series. Most websites are forced to parrot whatever details are supplied by Alliance, and in most cases it’s woefully insufficient.

LEXX was produced by Salter Street Films, released and released by them on DVD via KOCH. Salter Street was then gobbled up by Alliance, but the show wasn’t reissued in Canada. It was licensed to Mill Creek in the U.S., who reproduced the same blah box copy typical of Alliance, and failed to indicate the show was in mono. In actual fact, they were given a shoddy master; while the Mill Creek logo which headlined each disc was in stereo, the audio for all 4 LEXX teleplays was mucked up.

Fault: Alliance, whose video division isn’t ideal, particularly when it comes to promoting and publicizing product to niche and fan groups. No one seems to care that part of marketing a title is to provide the kind of details that are standard on A-list titles. It's just common sense, and fair to buyers.

"(In)Complete"

Case in point: The Hitchhiker: The Complete Series, which consists of 6 dual-layer DVDs divided into 3 volumes, and of which no details are present on the box art. The episode tally only appears silk-screened on the DVDs, but for fan edification, what follows is a semi-retentive breakdown of what's there, what's been left off, and what's still MIA on home video.

THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (Note: titles in bold denotes episodes already present on a prior Canadian 3-volume set from KOCH.)

Vol.1, Disc 1: Last Scene / Nightshift / The Miracle of Alice Ames / Ghostwriter / Man’s Best Friend

Vol. 1, Disc 2: W.G.O.D. / The Legendary Billy B. / Homebodies / Why are you here? / In the Name of Love

Vol. 2, Disc 1: O.D. Feelin’ / True Believer / Perfect Order / Cabin Fever / A Whole New You

Vol. 2, Disc 2: Dead Heat / The Curse / Out of the Night / Secret Ingredient / Man of Her Dreams

Vol. 3, Disc 1: Man at the Window / Dead Man’s Curve / Made for Each Other / Joker / Videodate

Vol. 3, Disc 2: Best Shot / My Enemy / Tough Guys Don’t Whine / Riding the Nightmare / Cruelest Cat

Total hours (as stated on box): just over 12. Total episodes: 30

* * *

"(In)Complete, Too"

Episodes unique to the prior Canadian DVD release (erroneously branded "The Complete First Season") are the following 13, bringing the total released on DVD up to 2011 (in Canada) as 43:

Disc 1: When Morning Comes / Shattered Vows / Split Decision / Remembering Melody / Face to Face / And if we Dream / Petty Thieves / Hired Help

Disc 2: Murderous Feelings / A Time for Rifles / Love Sounds / One Last Prayer

Disc 3: Killer

* * *

Episodes still unavailable on video (in Canada), as outlined in the IMDB series tally:

From Season 4: Minuteman / Doctor’s Orders

From Season 5: The Martyr / In Living Color / Dark Wishes / Garter Belt / Shadow Puppets / Renaissance / Code Liz / Her Finest Hour / Together Forever / Phantom Zone / Spinning Wheel / Square Deal / Part of Me / Fashion Exchange / Hootch / Coach / The Verdict / Hit and Run / Studio 3X / Striptease / The Dying Generation / My Enemy / Power Play / Pawns

From Season 6: Fading Away / Strate Shooter / Hard Rhyme / Toxic Shock / New Dawn / A Function of Control / Trust Me / Windows / Working Girl / White Slaves / Tourist Trap / Homecoming / Living a Lie / Made in Paris / Offspring / Secrets / New Blood

* * *

To avoid getting into heavy details, The Hithhiker was an international co-production of which 85 episodes were made, and rolled out in seasons in an order at the discretion of member broadcasters, so while the prior Canadian 3-volume set released by KOCH in 2004 contains selections from Seasons 1-3, these seasons reportedly correspond to Seasons 1-3 + 5 in the U.S.

The series was (again reportedly) trimmed of violence for its syndicated run. Sampling of episodes on both the prior KOCH & new Alliance DVDs reveals little change in running times, but while the KOCH DVDs bear the Alliance logo, Alliance’s Complete Collection actually replicates the same masters used by HBO for their own 2-disc, 3 volume sets from 2005, which contain only the HBO DVD logo.

"(In)Complete Three"

Unlike the KOCH release,which features mono 2.0 and bullshit stereo 5.1, the Alliance Complete Collection contains mono 2.0 sound mixes on all episodes except on Vol. 2, Disc 2, which offers mono 1.0 and 2.0. Each episode also comes with English, French and Spanish subtitles.

The prior KOCH DVDs contained no extras, whereas the Complete Collection, as originally produced by HBO, offers the following audio commentary tracks from a melange of directors:

Vol.1, Disc 1: Last Scene ( Paul Verhoeven) / Nightshift (Phillip Noyce & producer / writer Lewis Chesler) / Ghostwriter (Carl Schenkel) / Man’s Best Friend (Phillip Noyce & producer / writer Lewis Chesler)

Vol. 2, Disc 1: True Believer (Carl Schenkel)

Vol. 2, Disc 2: The Curse (Phillip Noyce & actor Harry Hamlin)

Picture quality is still ringy, largy due to the original broadcast masters probably being on ¾” U-matic. The Alliance / HBO sets seems to have some smoother & more stable colour, but the difference is only slight.

Bottom line: those still in possession of the older Canadian DVDs from KOCH should hold onto them, whereas label should be ashamed of themselves for using terms like ‘Complete’ when they’re clearly not.

The irony: I’ve never seen a full episode of The Hitchhiker. I simply loathe misleading packaging and the ensuing confusion which sets such as “The Complete Collection” present when merchants are faced with queries by confounded fans, and reviewers may mistakenly presume a set is in fact complete when there is much, much lacking.

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Festivals-a-Go-Go: Nov. 24 – Dec.1, 2011

2011-11-25T02:28:00.000-05:00

"It STILL swings!"

Before we get to this week's tally of festivals, series, etc., it seems Hot Docs have set Wed. Dec. 7 as the official opening of the Bloor Cinema. As recounted back in September at Torontoist, the Bloor was in the midst of a major interior / exterior overhaul, and had just added KinoSmith founder Robin Smith as Hot Doc's chief programmer.

The Doc Soup series returns to the Bloor Dec. 7 with Pamela Yates' Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, and the assumption - if the Bloor's ready to handle patrons - will be the gradual roll-out of regular programming, following the organization's desired 4:1 ration of docs / other.

I'm certainly keen to see how the cinema's been upgraded, but hope it will remain another viable source for second run, cult, and essentially affordable movies which students and those enraged by the major chain's pricing depend on to get their movie fix. As a colleague remarked, the Bloor also maintained a casual atmosphere, which I hope Hariri Pontarini Architects have preserved in some tangible fashion.

Next: on Tues. Dec. 6th, the TIFF Bell Lightbox will announce their selections of Canada's Top Ten in feature & short films, of which I'll do my usual tally of what is & isn't on DVD.

Why is this important? Because there is a contingent of filmgoers who seek out some films on DVD to A) decide whether it's worth seeing a specific film on the big screen; B) balance their budget with rental & theatrical viewings; and C) sometimes buy / rent the DVD for extras that will add further info on a film of interest (such as those loaded Criterion editions).

It's all symbiotic, really.

Lastly: Rue Morgue's next Cinemacabre is slated for Jan. 19, 2012, and the new year begins with a screening of The Dead, via the Toronto Underground Cinema.

Coming this Sunday: a quick wrap-up of notable news posted at RM's site, although I'm going to jump ahead and alert fans who were unable to secure the beautiful poster for the Guillermo del Toro In Conversation at the TBL back in November that limited quantities are still available in gold and silver coloured editions. Visit the RM post for further info about where to get em', how much, and what other cool posters are available.

Film Festivals & Screenings on-the-go in T.O.:

Amnesty International Reel Awareness Film Festival: NFB, Thurs. Nov. 24 - Sun. Nov. 27

Canadian Labour International Film Festival: Innis Town Hall, ending Sun. Nov. 27

European Union Film Festival: The Royal, ending – Wed. Nov. 30

TIFF Bell Lightbox:
Hollywood Classics: The Cinema is Nicholas Ray: ending Tues. Dec. 13
Icy Fire: The Hitchcock Blonde: ending Thurs. Dec. 1
Wages of Fear: The Films of Henri-Georges Clouzot: ending Tues. Nov. 29
Current Exhibit Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess: ending Jan. 22, 2012

Non-Festival / non-series / venues still really good & worth checking out:

The Projection Booth

Toronto Underground Cinema

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

Samuel Bronston, Part I

2011-11-24T14:36:00.000-05:00

---CHARLTON HESTON thinks: 'How the blazes do I get away from this drunken bitch?'

--- AVA GARDNER aspires: 'If I run RIGHT NOW, neither Nick nor Sam will see me escape this mess!'

--- DAVID NIVEN fantasizes facetiously : 'There must be some way to feed Yordan a slice of broken glass pizza for making me sound like Heston.'

The career of Samuel Bronston may be short and tragic, and while many might not recognize the name, the handful of titles that bore his imprimateur represent the top historical epics ever made: King of Kings (1961), El Cid (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and Circus World (1964).

Yes, Kings is bizarre, El Cid has a cadaver saving Spain, Peking killed its director’s career, Roman Empire killed the Bronston empire, and Circus World tests the mettle of audiences who found Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) an interminable melodramatic bore, but these are epics in the fullest sense of visual scope, physical production values of extreme nature, a cast of the best actors around, and thousands of extras on the payroll.

This past Sunday, as part of the TIFF Bell Lightbox’s series Hollywood Classics: The Cinema is Nicholas Ray, a print of Peking was screened to a small but generally appreciative audience. Most seemed to know what they were in for; a few took extra w.c. breaks, and a handful seemed to walk out, perhaps thinking Peking was supposed to be an epic drama about the origins of soylent green.

I’d made a point in holding off seeing the film on DVD (available everywhere in Europe) in the hope that maybe it would one day appear in a rep cinema.

Originally released in 70mm, Peking, along with Circus World, should’ve been part of the next two films released on DVD by the distribution rights holders of the Bronston catalogue – the Weinsteins - and while they did come through with El Cid and Roman Empire, they’ve fallen back on their old habit of just…sitting… on… properties… and… doing… absolutely… nothing... with... them, a practice going back to the brothers snapping up Asian action films and locking them up for years or worse - as in the case of the modern slasher All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) - letting it rot for 5 years.

Hopefully their rights agreement for the Bronston catalogue will expire soon, and allow a company with greater finesse to handle the remaining two titles, because while Europe has enjoyed the aforementioned pair on DVD, they’ve yet to make their debut here. Even more ridiculous: El Cid and Roman Empire being available on Blu-ray in Germany and Britain, bearing the same extras produced for the Region 1 DVD release.

The problem is that while Peking is deeply flawed, it is deserving of a proper restoration like its brethren. Issues may lie in the cost of restoring its obsolete exhibition film format – Super Technirama 70mm – not to mention restoring the original film mix elements and ironing out its distribution agreements. I’m actually going to hold off on a lengthy essay because there will be a Part II in this series, featuring a review of Circus World and Mel Martin's 2007 biography of Bronston, The Magnificent Showman. That's when formal blather will commence.

Boom-De-Boom

Also related: while the Weinsteins, via their Genius Products (ahem) have yet to touch Peking, the folks at La-La Land Records have just released a new 2-CD set featuring every note of Dimitri Tiomkin's eruptive score. I have a soundtrack album review [M] of that baby, and YouTube links to clips of Tiomkin’s appearance on the Jack Benny Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Tiomkin really was the prototype for Hans Zimmerlisch bombast, you know.

Peking

I’ve also uploaded a film review [M] of Peking, based on the recent TBL screening. The available print was a 35mm ‘scope knock-down from the 70mm version, but contained the Roadshow Overture and most of the Exit Music. The film was unfortunately in mono, but that seems to be the thing with some of the vintage knock-downs I’ve seen, such as the shorter version of Raintree County (1957), or even The Young Lions (1958).

Print quality was pretty good, considering it was vintage, and besides the obvious scratch marks at the reel changes, the images were stable, colours were mostly strong (if not a bit muted), and only one reel showed an inconsistency in timing.

Downside: one scene was missing due to print damage, so for those puzzled as to why Capt. Lewis (Charlton Heston) appears as a witness to the killing of some German dude, it’s because he did see it: the MIA scene has Heston grabbing binoculars in his hotel suite and seeing Prince Qing silently dispatching a coterie of Boxers with large swords to hack up the German minister. After Heston sees the dead German, he tells Ava Gardner he can’t leave Peking with her, and heads off to see the British minister, played by David Niven, who escorts him to the Empress's court.

There. Now you know the full story!

More Nicholas Ray

Coming soon: reviews of videogame soundtracks, and film reviews of the remaining Nicholas Ray flicks in the TBL series: In a Lonely Place (1950), On Dangerous Ground (1951), and Party Girl (1958).

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )