Malcom McDowell, IF….
Joan Crawford, JOHNNY GUITAR.
Toni Servillo, THE GREAT BEAUTY.
Karen Allen, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
NorwoodEar 2023
My favorite songs of the year.
The eternal emperor of progressive rock and world music, Peter Gabrial returned this year with the warmly familiar and pop-ethereal “Road to Joy”, my #1 choice of the year.
The Golden Dregs: “Dealer”.
Two from Quasi: “Gravity” and “Last Long Laugh”.
Big Thief: “Vampire Empire”.
Ulrika Spacek: “If The Wheels Are Coming Off, The Wheels are Coming Off”.
Sunny War: “No Reason”.
Lonnie Holley (with Sharon Van Etten): “None Of Us Have But A Little While”.
Iggy Pop: “New Atlantis”.
…And one retro choice I embraced more fully than in 1982: The Waitresses’ “Square Pegs (Theme Song)”. How did I miss this banger when I was 18?
Friday PM
From the poster files.
The marketing team just said, “Go nuts.”
I still don’t understand the artist’s placement of Connery in this image.
Spoiler alert.
Friday
1979 was a hell of a year for horror…
ALIEN.
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR.
THE BROOD.
DRACULA.
NOSFERATU.
PHANTASM.
PROPHECY.
SALEM’S LOT.
TOURIST TRAP.
ZOMBIE.
R.I.P. Frances Sternhagen
I love that in her broad and varied career, one of the many accolades she received was a Saturn award for her terrific supporting role as a no-bullshit medical officer in OUTLAND.
Thursday PM
Esa película en la que todo el mundo cantaba y lloraba: MAGNOLIA.
Thursday
Start to finish, one of the best bits in one of the funniest films of the past 20 years. The Christinith Affair: THE OTHER GUYS.
Wednesday PM
A very brief, very advanced note of negativity about my year in film: these were the 2023 releases that disappointed me the most.
Unpleasant, dull, shrill, irritating. Or, in some cases, just bizarre: how do you make a film about a Cocaine Bear that isn’t a lean 90 minutes of absolute batshit thrills? (Narrator: It wasn’t.)
BEAU IS AFRAID.
SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS.
FAST X.
INFINITY POOL.
THE FLASH.
INSIDE.
65.
COCAINE BEAR.
Wednesday
Oh, how I love Akira Kurosawa’s DREAMS (1990).
Tuesday PM
JODOROWSKY’S DUNE (2013).
Tuesday
BELLADONNA OF SADNESS.
THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO.
WORLD OF TOMORROW 2.
Monday PM
Philip Haas’ 2009 exhibit "Butchers, Dragons, Gods and Skeletons”.
Monday
MY DINNER WITH ANDRES.
Sunday PM
If you were looking for a nifty Lee Marvin triple feature, I would suggest THE PROFESSIONALS, POINT BLANK, and PRIME CUT.
Sunday
One of my favorite films of the last 20 years: Pawel Pawlikowski’s exquisite IDA (2013).
Saturday PM
General appreciation for Sidney Lumet.
Saturday
Friday PM
Will we ever see Juno Mak’s SONS OF THE NEON NIGHT? It’s been so, so long…
Friday
General appreciation for an old favorite I first saw when I was far too young to understand it all: QUATERMASS AND THE PIT.
The exquisitely wackadoo American poster.
The slightly more subdued English version.
Thursday PM
General appreciation for the late great Buck Henry.
Behind the scenes on the JU-ON set, no one held a grudge.
A great film, but this scene really tears me up: 25TH HOUR.
