Flavours of the Month: September 2014...

Jaw dropping WW2 television drama, neo-giallo style, transgressive fiction, surgery, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag have been some of this month's flavours.

Click "READ MORE" below for the looks, sounds, vibes & flavours of my September 2014...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Mucky Movies, Hollywood Wannabes, and Remorseful Buyers...

Don Jon:
What's it about?
The titular porn addict meets a 'ten' (a romcom obsessive), but his penchant for mucky movies comes between them.
Who would I recognise in it?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johanson, Julianne Moore, Brie Larson, Tony Danza.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
JGL's debut as writer/director is not only confident, but it's efficient. The premise is clear, the set-up is pin sharp in its directness, and the presentation is immaculate and lively. Jon's life is one of routine, whether it's confessing his same old sins and repenting for them while pumping iron, or doling out road rage and cleaning his apartment ... or 'losing himself' in his favourite online past-time. JGL is wise not to condemn nor condone the actions and outlooks of his central characters, instead allowing the viewer to observe their respective lives and revelations (or lack thereof) objectively, and yet never at a distance. As debuts go - and characters studies in general - this is a particularly strong outing. Great.

Click "READ MORE" below for a so-called comeback and a mixed bag of tricks...

Yellow (Ryan Haysom, 2012) DVD Review

Find more giallo reviews here.

“One Hunter. One Killer.” During the 1970s and 80s it was boom time for Italian cinema, and one of its most popular and enduring creations was the “giallo” film. “Giallo” means “Yellow”, which was the colour of the covers for lurid murder mystery paperbacks. A few cinematic highlights of the genre include: What Have You Done To Solange?, The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, Tenebrae, and The Case of the Bloody Iris. Such was the effectiveness of giallo, they went on to inspire the slasher film. Come the 1990s however, the giallo movement ground to a halt, but in recent years there has been a resurgence of the form – the 'neo-giallo'. Films such as Tulpa, Sonno Profondo, and The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears have shown that there is still a distinct taste for killers clad in black leather, gleaming razors, and beautiful victims.

Click “READ MORE” below to continue the review and see more screenshots…

Double Bill Mini Musings: Neo-Giallo Curiosity and Wacky Belly Laughs Galore...

The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears:
What's it about?
A curious mystery-cum-horror in which man returns from a business trip to discover that his wife is missing and their apartment is locked from the inside.
Who would I recognise in it?
Erm...
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
From Bruno Forzani and Helene Cattet, who previously gave us the giallo-tinged Amer, this is a dream-like experience, much like Dario Argento's Inferno, where the hallucinatory and fragmented presentation seeks to disorientate viewers as much as entice them. The directors ramp up their sensory approach to eleven, crafting a film which boasts astonishingly exquisite visuals and haunting aural soundscapes. The architecture of the apartment building is put to grand use, particularly in a kaleidoscopic introduction that suggests darkness and danger lie in wait, and sequences akin to the photographic approach of La Jetee stun the viewer. Many of the visual and thematic touchstones of gialli are present - the black leather gloves, the razor, the mix of sexuality and violence, the gorgeous soundtrack (cherry-picked Tarantino-style from a selection of 1970s Italian scores) - so fans of the genre will be in heaven. This all said, the narrative is hard to follow, fractured as it is by diversionary vignettes and sparse plotting. It would be fair to say that, similar to Amer, there isn't quite enough content to fill the running time, but this also feels like a film that will benefit from multiple viewings. Populated by curious characters - such as a detective with a deeply dark voyeuristic past - it's certainly not for everyone. Some have decried it, and it's predecessor Amer, as pretentious art-house guff, but this is too dismissive. It's niche market, absolutely, but it's one of the most richly textured cinematic experiences in a long, long time. There has been somewhat of a resurgence in the long lost giallo genre in recent years, and The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears is a grandiose highlight in the Neo-Giallo movement. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for newsreaders doing battle...

"The Making of George A. Romero's Day of the Dead" by Lee Karr - book review...

"George A. Romero's name is synonymous with many things, but above all else it is synonymous with "zombies". Building on voodoo legends and the allusions of literary work such as Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Romero birthed the flesh-eating ghoul – the zombie – which has, particularly in recent years, become a cultural icon. Zombies were once a niche subject matter, appealing only to horror nerds and gore hounds, now it's as if everyone and their grandmother is getting in on the act. However, even with the proliferation of walking (sometimes, curiously, running) corpses, Romero's place in cinematic history – and his importance to the zombie movement – is secured. It is with the help of the fans that milestones in the story of the undead do not end up forgotten and, on the specific subject of Day of the Dead (1985), Romero's third zombie film, it is Lee Karr who has penned what will surely stand as the definitive word..."

You can read the rest of my review by visiting Homepage of the Dead - click HERE to continue.

"Sleb" is into the quarter finals!

Good news on this Sunday morning - the screenplay version of "Sleb" has reached the Quarter Finals of the Screenwriting Goldmine Awards Competition 2014! Click HERE to see the list of Quarter Finalists.

Click "READ MORE" for, well, more...