Lucrecia Martel / Lynne Ramsay

There is always a chance I will misspell one or both of their names.

Both directors have made five features in roughly the same 25-year period.

Personally, I think they exemplify the reason for Criterion box sets.

Kudos.

Always Make Time for John Swab

Since 2019’s Run with the Hunted, I’ve been watching John Swab’s variety of low-budget, gritty thrillers and dramas, all reliable, solid films. He loves giving work to Melissa Leo and Frank Grillo, which I think is a very cool thing.

Consistency goes a long way with me, and when I stumble across one of his movies I drop it in the queue double-quick. Added Long Gone Heroes on Tubi tonight.

Mr. Answer-Man 080926

Here to provide answers to questions you didn’t ask:

A BlueSky user has stated “Nicholas Winding Refn is actually doing important, beautiful work in an era of imperial collapse.”

Mr. Answer-Man responds: “I liked his Viking film, but he is insufferable and his work, largely, grotesque and despondent.”

I Am an Uglier Bird - Nowhere To Be Found

In December of last year I caught a song on Shazam while listening to KXT, the coolest local station I know. The artist’s name is Pierre Braun, and the song’s title, as reflected in Shazam, was “I Am an Uglier Bird”…and when I got home that first day, I went to my then Apply Music account, looked up the song, and found nothing. A month or so later I had given up Apple and moved on to YouTube music, and there was no listing there, either. There was no result when I did a basic web search. There was nothing to be found in music stores. In the following months I continued all of these searches, over and over, with no luck. Had it been a brand new/unreleased song in December 2025, I thought, surely by August 2026 someone would have referenced it somewhere in the vastness of the internet.

No. No, they have not.

It’s been so long now, I don’t even recall what the song sounded like. No idea what the genre was, the tempo, the general vibe. But I’ll be damned, I cannot erase my Shazam listing until I find the thing.

R.I.P. Robert Carradine

The sad news hit today of Robert Carradine’s death, which immediately made me think of the actor alongside Belinda Balaski in Cannonball (1976), playing a couple of sweet surfer kids taking part in a road race. Their gee-whiz approach, kindness to other drivers, and giddy shock when they end up winning through a bizarre string of circumstances, all make for an incredibly winning part of a film that seems to get lost between Death Race and The Cannonball Run. It’s a favorite of the genre.

Carradine was best known for Revenge of the Nerds, but I loved his work in films like The Long Riders and The Big Red One. He will be missed.

Peter Hujar's Day

The second film of 2026, and it was a sublime 77 minutes of character and textures. I loved this thing so much.

Poor Limey

Just thinking about how The Limey, a Great Film and easily my favorite of Soderbergh’s entire roster, has that exquisite ending utilizing a scene from Ken Loach’s Poor Cow. Its some of the best cinematic punctuation I can recall.

NorwoodEye: 2025 Hat Tips & Other Gestures

HAT TIPS

SISTER MIDNIGHT

SORRY, BABY

EEPHUS

ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL

SINNERS

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

TRAIN DREAMS

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

GRAND TOUR

BLACK BAG

ORWELL 2 + 2 = 5

NOUVELLE VAGUE

EX-HUSBANDS

SPLITSVILLE

 

BREAKOUT STAR OF 2025

Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

 

NOTABLES

CAUGHT BY THE TIDES

FREAKY TALES

WAKE UP DEAD MAN

KILL THE JOCKEY

HARVEST

28 YEARS LATER

HOT MILK

STEPPENWOLF

 

STUFF

CLOUD - A brief, pristine shot of darkness enveloping a home. It is beautiful and fleeting, but it may be my favorite single visual moment of the whole year.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER - Every second of banter between DiCaprio and del Toro was a tonic for the urgent threats facing their characters.

EEPHUS, KILL THE JOCKEY, and SORRY, BABY - For me, the best surprises of the year. Films that I went into cold, no knowledge or expectations, and they absolutely walloped me.

FRANKENSTEIN - When the creature touches Elizabeth’s gloved hand; delicate, intimate, chaste. A lovely moment.

WEAPONS - That finale: a rip-roaring chase that is as delirious as its result is horrific.

SINNERS - Sammie playing Charlie Patton’s guitar in the car, and Stack’s reaction when he starts to sing. Priceless.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER - The moment that made me jump more than any horror film or thriller gotcha was the death of Mae West (Alana Haim). Even on re-watch, BAM. Yikes.

WALTZING WITH BRANDO - Billy Zane accomplishes the year’s best imitation, a visually on-point Marlon Brando.

GOOD BOY - The year’s best animal performance? I was worried sick about that dog.

QUEER - The best film I watched a year too late.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT - The year’s best trash? Say what you want about this derivative, messy, noisy film…but I had a blast from start to finish.

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER - “Bob?” When the clerk can’t get “Jim Parker” to pay attention. It’s such a flawless moment, no pause, just a line of questioning and then freedom.

THE MASTERMIND - The film with the briefly-met tertiary characters I would have gladly watched an entire film about: John Magaro and Gaby Hoffman’s old acquaintances of Josh O’Connor’s drifting loser were instantly intriguing, and I cared far more about finding out what their deal was than the aimless protagonist.

 

MY FAVORITE TV SHOW

DYING FOR SEX

 

THE EXCEPTION CLUB

(Films I wanted to love, had every reason to love, but one or more elements gave me pause.)

CLOUD

MISERICORDIA

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

WEAPONS

THE SPARROW IN THE CHIMNEY

THE DAMNED

FRANKENSTEIN

KOLN 75

THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE

 

THE REP

My favorite never-before-seen films from the past 12 months:

Ikarie XB1, Louie Blouie, Planet of the Vampires, Porco Rosso, and The Red Light Bandit

 

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES…

The films I didn’t get a chance to see which will have to be part of the 2026 catch-up:

PETER HUJAR’S DAY

THE SECRET AGENT

PREDATOR: BADLANDS

HALLOW ROAD

Radu Jude’s DRACULA

Luc Besson’s DRACULA

NO OTHER CHOICE

DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT

BLUE MOON

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

NorwoodEar 2025

Favorite songs from this year.

Orbital, “Deepest”

Pete Tong, MoBlack, Max Zotti (featuring MonoLink), “Apocalypse”

Wet Leg, “mangetout”

Geese, “100 Horses”

Ron Gallo, “Checkmate”

Andrew Bird, “Blood”

Morcheeba, “We Live and Die”

Loaded Honey, “Tokyo Rain”

Laufey, “Silver Lining”

Little Simz, “Flood”

…and a few older songs I discovered this year:

“Mondo Bongo” - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros

“Shortnin’ Bread” - Tokyo Cramps

“Where Eagles Dare” - Atom and His Package

“The Worst Band in the World” - 10cc

Fridge Magnet Glory

The only things on mine are the only things I could ever want on mine. #perfection

Goddam Algos

For some reason, spam arrives in the guise of women to whom I have been married, or dated.

I know Wife #2 or That Artist I Briefly Spent Time With are not sending me photos that go directly to junk mail.

More than the deletions, the reminders hurt.

Best Use Of A Song In A Movie...?

“Ordinary World” appears at a critical moment in Layer Cake, and not for Daniel Craig’s nameless protagonist, but for his buddy/colleague Morty (George Harris). Morty is confronted by a former partner, now down on his luck and asking for a meal and some cash…but it’s also the man who caused Morty to be sent to prison years before. Morty’s strained kindness finally breaks - spectacularly and brutally - as the Duran Duran song blares into play. The kicker is when the playback starts to warp in time with the inflicted damage. A fleeting but wicked use of a lovely song.

Tough Cull

A couple of months back I spent two weeks culling old poetry. Years and years, hundreds upon hundreds of poems, now destroyed. I have a few dozen keepers left. It's simultaneously freeing and scary to do a massive re-evaluation of your work, your ego, your memories. It also got me started writing again, following a block gap of almost three years. So, silver lining?

Shrug Emoji #593

I'm also annoyed that it's called sunrise and sunset when we're rotating and moving around the sun.

100%

Been more than a year since I discovered Yard Act, who I really enjoy, but when I found their video for "100% Endurance" starring the immensely watchable David Thewlis, my appreciation rose considerably. Kudos.

SM Memories

Perspective is critical.

"Deepest" Love

I hadn't made it all the way through Orbital's "Deepest" after two tries (it's 6:52, sue me), so when I finally did and got to Tilda Swinton reciting "Oliver!" lyrics, I had a nice, loud gut-laugh.