It has been an absolute pleasure to help programme a series of hand selected “Hidden Gems of British Cinema” at the @bfi from the one and only Martin Scorsese.
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) August 1, 2024
During the early days of the Covid lockdown, uncertain of when life would return to normal, I retreated into film. I… pic.twitter.com/0F2aOUgqtR
Category: Film
Posts about Billy Wilder
Martin Mull 1943-2024
IndieWire ranks the top 100 Westerns
My favorite is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (#10)
Some others I like are #90 The Good, The Bad, The Weird:
#72 Lone Star
#71 True Grit (2010)
#70 Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is certainly the most bizarre Western I know. It’s not very coherent. #44 The Wild Bunch is much better.#36
#36 Treasure of the Sierra Madre
#22 Red River
#20 The Wind. I haven’t seen this in 50 years but remember it was excellent. It have never been on DVD or Blu-ray
#16 The Searchers
#5 McCabe & Mrs. Miller
#1 Johnny Guitar – I wouldn’t put in #1 but it’s a strange film well worth seeing
I recommend this article on Val Lewton’s horror films
Ranking Val Lewton’s Scariest RKO Movies
All nine are on DVD in a box set with two documentaries about Lewton
Most are on Blu-ray:
| 1 | Cat People | Criterion Collection |
| 2 | The Leopard Man | Shout |
| 3 | I Walked with a Zombie | |
| 4 | The Seventh Victim | |
| 5 | The Ghost Ship | Warner Archive with Bedlam |
| 6 | The Curse of the Cat People | Shout |
| 7 | Isle of the Dead | Warner Archive |
| 8 | The Body Snatcher | Shout Factory |
| 9 | Bedlam | Warner Archive with The Ghost Ship |
| Shadows in the Dark (documentary) | (on The Body Snatcher) | |
| Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (documentary) | (on Cat People) |
LOLA is an excellent film
I watch a lot of movies on Blu-ray and DVD. A film has to really be out there for me to call it unique.
LOLA (2022) is unique. It’s a smartly assembled film that mixes found footage and science fiction. It’s in black and white and skillfully incorporates old news footage.
A young English woman in the 1930s invents Lola, a machine that can access radio and TV signals from the future. She and her sister use it to hear music like David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. They’re having fun and the film is light until World War II breaks out. Lola is used to help the English military. It’s helpful until something goes wrong and the future is drastically changed.
The Blu-ray also has two shorts by the same director which are silent. They’re worth seeing too.
The Stop Making Sense Blu-ray is terrific
A24 has released their re-release of Stop Making Sense (1984) on Blu-ray and 4K. I have the Blu-ray and it’s outstanding. It comes in a case with a long booklet. The film, which I had never seen, is an excellent document on the 1983 Talking Heads concert tour. (I saw them in 1982.) The entire film focuses on the show. The music and performances are great. The photography enables the viewer to see what a good time the musicians had.
Stop Making Sense merchandise from A24
I have the t-shirt of art from Ghana based on Stop Making Sense
Roger Corman – films on streaming services
I’m a big believer in physical media. Many of these films are on Blu-ray and DVD.
Sad! 