John Sayles, the Don of American independent cinema, has dedicated much of his career to examining and exploring buried and ‘unofficial’ histories. This fascination, this need to tell, has taken Sayles far, from the coal-mining hollers of West Virginia (Matewan) to the tundras of Alaska (Limbo) to Latin/Central America (Men with Guns) and out […]
Western
Eureka (2024) The Glorious Antithesis of the Issue Movie (Review)
Slow, slow, slow. That is the word, the descriptor, that has been repeated over and over in reviews of Argentinian director Lisandro Alonso’s masterpiece, reoccurring with fevered intensity even in those most positive of responses, and usually attached to a warning that the audience will need to recalibrate their expectations. […]
Black God, White Devil (1964) – An Unforgettable Brazilian Classic (Review)
Savage Guns – Four Classic Westerns (1968-1975) A Quartet of Bleak and Gritty Late Period Spaghetti Westerns (Review)
Four of the Italian western’s hardest, cruelest, bloodiest classics are released to Blu-ray this week in Arrow’s ongoing limited edition series of Spaghetti Western boxsets. Under the umbrella title Savage Guns, this third volume brings four unsung classics of the genre aficionados of heavily dubbed, violent and sun-baked horse operas: Paolo […]
Sam Raimi’s Fantastic and Dynamic Western: The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Johnny Cash in a Gunfight – Pop Screen 90
Some pop stars like to take the easy route into acting by starring opposite lightweight co-stars. And then there’s Johnny Cash, whose acting debut in 1971’s A Gunfight sees him playing alongside no less than Kirk Douglas, with Karen Black, Jane Alexander and a young Keith Carradine in support. It […]
The Sisters Brothers (2018) A Great Characterful Western for Fans New & Old (Review
Savage Justice (2022) Justice has been served, I guess? (Review)
There is a scene in Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon 2 when Danny Glover’s Roger Murtaugh dispatches some hoods with a nail gun, after which he quips ‘Nailed them both’. This scene contains more wit, drama, tension and filmmaking competence than the entire 101 minutes of Savage Justice, which is also […]
Dragon’s Return (Drak sa Vracia) 1968: Pure Cinematic Storytelling (Blu-Ray Review)
“A jaw-dropping masterpiece, an exercise in pure cinematic storytelling that captivates, enchants and terrifies in each scene” Yes, it would be remiss of me not to point out that this quote from The Geek Show‘s Graham Williamson adorns the cover of the latest Blu-ray release from Second Run, the 1968 […]
Man without a Star (1955)The Most Brutal Western in the Old Studio System? (Blu-Ray Review)
Many Classical Hollywood directors have fallen victim to the passage of time. For every revered director like Alfred Hitchcock or Howard Hawks, there is an Edgar G. Ulmer or Jacques Tourneur. Like the latter, King Vidor has become less and less talked about over time despite being quite a successful […]