Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.3, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# Cagey Films

K. George Godwin - Film Editor

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.cageyfilms.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://www.cageyfilms.com/blog/)
- [Ghosts Good and Bad](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/ghosts-good-and-bad/) - Two Italian classics and an imaginative new movie offer differing thematic takes on survival after death.
- [Re-evaluating Italian horrors on Blu-ray from 88 Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/reevaluating-italian-horrors-on-blu-ray-from-88-films/) - Collector's Editions from 88 Films provide an opportunity to re-evaluate two familiar Italian horror movies. My opinion of Pupi Avati's creepy Zeder (1983), always favourable, has been confirmed, while I now have a new appreciation of Mario Bava's Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970), which I'd always seen as a minor and not entirely successful addition to his filmography.
- [Winter viewing 2026: hitmen, sinister surgeons and corrupt cops](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2026/01/winter-viewing-2026-hitmen-sinister-surgeons-and-corrupt-cops/) - I recently revisited three more old favourites - two in new 4K editions - two dealing with human monstrosity (Orson Welles' final studio picture Touch of Evil [1958] and Georges Franju's influential poetic horror Eyes Without a Face [1960]), while the other, John Woo's The Killer (1989), paradoxically finds redemption in bloody violence.
- [John Huston's <i>The Dead</i> (1987): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2026/01/john-hustons-the-dead-1987-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - John Huston's final film, The Dead (1987), made as he was dying, is an exquisite adaptation of James Joyce's story about loss, mortality, and the ways in which people are haunted by the past. Criterion's new 4K restoration captures this masterpiece in all its subtlety, from the material textures of its precisely observed social setting to the many emotional shadings of characters portrayed by a remarkable ensemble cast.
- [Winter viewing 2026: horror, betrayal, imperialism and worker exploitation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2026/01/winter-viewing-2026-horror-betrayal-imperialism-and-worker-exploitation/) - Over the transition to a new year I've been revisiting some old favourites - Wim Wenders' The American Friend (1977), John Milius' The Wind and the Lion (1975) and Peter Hyams' Outland (1981) - and one new movie by a favourite filmmaker, Larry Fessenden's Blackout (2023), with a side trip ito Italian Gothic with Severin's latest Danza Macabra box set.
- [Catching up with Twilight](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/05/catching-up-with-twilight/) - Four Blu-rays from Twilight Time showcase exceptional performances by actors in a wide range of styles from classical Hollywood to raw naturalism.
- [Boxed In](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/12/boxed-in/) - From trash to art, boxed sets enhance the viewing experience by providing a broader context for individual movies - here, four more features from William Castle, The Trilogy of Life by Pier Paolo Pasolini, and a grab bag of five horrors from poverty row distributor Hemisphere.
- [British genre movies from the 1950s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2026/01/british-genre-movies-from-the-1950s/) - I end 2025 (and begin 2026) with a collection of movies made in England around the time I was born. Hammer films was still working out the company's image when it made the mystery Whispering Smith Hits London (1952) and their first colour film The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954), while Columbia was producing low-budget supporting features to use funds tied up by currency restrictions, six of which are included in Indicator's Columbia Noir 7: Made in Britain (1955-57).
- [Crime and Horror from Radiance](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/12/crime-and-horror-from-radiance/) - A sampling of releases from new U.K. label Radiance covers a range of favourite genres from the 1960s and '70s - from classic Japanese yakuza film Big Time Gambling Boss (Kôsaku Yamashita, 1968), to the American indie horror Messiah of Evil (Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz, 1973); from the Swedish police procedural Man on the Roof (Bo Widerberg, 1976) to a pair of Italian Gothic horrors separated by a decade, the perverse The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (Riccardo Freda, 1962) and The Night of the Devils (Giorgio Ferroni, 1972), a contemporary retelling of the final story from Mario Bava's Black Sabbath (1963); topped off with a revisit to Gordon Hessler's Scream and Scream Again (1970), which seems to get better every time I see it. All of them come with excellent presentations and a wealth of extras, including commentaries, documentaries, interviews and visual essays.
- [<i>Cinefantastique</i>: nostalgia for print](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/cinefantastique-nostalgia-for-print/) - I was recently rooting through a stack of boxes in my mother's basement and came across my old collection of Cinefantastique magazines. I can't recall exactly how I first heard about it – I think it might have been a brief announcement by Baird Searles in his occasional movie column in The Magazine of Fantasy
- [Year End 2025](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/12/year-end-2025/) - It's that time of year again - time to look back at what I've spent my time watching and evaluate how well the time's been spent. Although I certainly didn't get around to many things I'd meant to watch now I'm retired, there have been a lot of worthwhile disks and sets this year.
- [The Pathology of Power:<br>Elio Petri's <i>Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/01/the-pathology-of-power-elio-petris-investigation-of-a-citizen-above-suspicion/) - Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion provides one of the most incisive dissections of the pathology of power ever committed to film.
- [More recent Indicator releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/07/more-recent-indicator-releases/) - A pair of colourful Robin Hood adventures from Hammer Films and an atypical home-invasion thriller from action specialist Enzo G. Castellari are showcased in two recent releases from Indicator.
- [Late Fall viewing 2025, Part Three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/12/late-fall-viewing-2025-part-three/) - I've recently watched a range of movies new to me, though spanning six decades, from low-budget indie horror (Charles R. Rondeau's The Devil's Partner [1960]) to prestige literary adaptation (Franklin J. Schaffner's Islands in the Stream [1977]), giallo (Paolo Cavara's Plot of Fear [1976]), late spaghetti western (Bruno Mattei's Scalps [1987]), post-apocalypse dystopia (David Webb Peoples' The Salute of the Jugger [1989]), nihilistic Japanese crime (Toru Murakawa's The Resurrection of the Golden Wolf [1979]), and a pair of recent Canadian first features (Sasha Louis Vukovic’s Flora [2017] and Kim Albright's With Love and a Major Organ [2023]).
- [What I haven't been writing about](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/05/what-i-havent-been-writing-about/) - Although I write regularly here about the movies I watch, there are a lot more I don't get around to mentioning - the reasons for what write about or ignore are not entirely clear.
- [Late Fall viewing 2025, Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/12/late-fall-viewing-2025-part-two/) - More notes on movies I've recently revisited, as much because I've acquired new editions as from any compulsion to watch them again. These range from cheesy genre horror to more thoughtful genre movies, a musical, a strange Spanish experimental feature, an early found-footage black comedy and a surreal Japanese fantasy.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>Fellini Satyricon</i> (1969)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/02/criterion-blu-ray-review-fellini-satyricon-1969/) - Criterion's edition of Fellini Satyricon goes a long way towards establishing this epic work as one of the director's most creatively significant films.
- [Late Fall viewing 2025, Part One](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/12/late-fall-viewing-2025-part-one/) - Even though I've been trying to pare down my movie collection, I somehow continue to accumulate new disks, some of which are upgrades from ones I already own. Re-watching familiar movies on shiny new formats can evoke a comfortable sense of familiarity which edges into nostalgia, while occasionally affording an opportunity for re-evaluation. Herein a random selection of genre movies reflecting the scope of my interests and taste, from early Hitchcock to epic fantasy, made-for-television horror and a modern take on the classical ghost story.
- [The transition to sound: Arthur Robison's <i>The Informer</i> (1929)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/07/the-transition-to-sound-arthur-robisons-the-informer-1929/) - The BFI Blu-ray release of Arthur Robison's The Informer (1929) offers a fascinating glimpse of the sometimes rocky transition from silent cinema to sound.
- [Recent Asian releases from Eureka](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/08/recent-asian-releases-from-eureka/) - Eureka, and their specialty label Masters of Cinema, continue to release a range of Asian films, from pulp action to classical tragedy. Among recent releases are a two-disk set of four sequels to Rickay Lau's Mr. Vampire (1985), Cynthia Rothrock's first lead role in Mang Hoi & Corey Yuen's Lady Reporter (1989), and a pair of very different samurai epics: Tadashi Imai's bleak dissection of the Bushido code in Revenge (1964) and Kenji Fukasaku's mix of history and supernatural horror in Samurai Reincarnation (1981).
- [Genre play in Germany](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/05/genre-play-in-germany/) - Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972) and Kamikaze '89 (1982), a pair of made-in-Germany genre-bending thrillers, get excellent Blu-ray releases: .
- [Year End 2017](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/01/year-end-2017/) - Some comments about the past year's DVD and Blu-ray releases.
- [<i>Wrack and Ruin: The Rubble Film at DEFA</i> from Masters of Cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/12/wrack-and-ruin-the-rubble-film-at-defa-from-masters-of-cinema/) - Masters of Cinema's fourth box set of post-war German movies in the most interesting of the series. Wrack and Ruin: The Rubble Film at DEFA collects five films produced by the East German studio, all of which try in one way or another to come to terms with the horrors of recent German history and point a way forward as the country began to rebuild in the shadow of Nazism.
- [Remembering Udo Kier - <i>Polizeiruf 110: Mit anderen Augen</i> (2006)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/11/remembering-udo-kier-polizeiruf-110-mit-anderen-augen-2006/) - With news of the recent death of Udo Kier, I revisited an episode of a long-running German TV series in which the actor guest starred. With a character tailored to Udo's distinctive personality, this police procedural gave him a role which embodies his screen persona - a little strange and otherworldly, yet beneath the surface deeply human with a wry sense of humour tempered by melancholy.
- [More Fall viewing: action and horror from Asia and elsewhere](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/11/more-fall-viewing-action-and-horror-from-asia-and-elsewhere/) - Recent viewing includes a mix of Lovecraftian horrors, apocalyptic fantasy and Asian action.
- [Fall viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/11/fall-viewing-part-one/) - A round-up of recent viewing, as usual heavy on horror and exploitation.
- [Recent viewing: April & May 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/05/recent-viewing-april-may-2016/) - An eclectic selection of recent viewing, from a fondly remembered BBC sci-fi series to an unsettling French thriller and a pair of atypical Rossellini features.
- [Pandemic viewing, Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/pandemic-viewing-part-two/) - Social isolation and "working from home" mean a lot of time for movie-watching ... and the volume far outstrips my ability to say anything substantive about many of the films I do watch: so here I mostly just acknowledge what I've been viewing in the past 4-6 weeks. Part two of four.
- [Winter 2024 viewing, part two: Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/02/winter-2024-viewing-part-two-vinegar-syndrome/) - Recent Vinegar Syndrome releases offer a range of genres and styles and widely varying degrees of satisfaction - there's Hong Kong action, Indonesian horror, experimental indie sci-fi, neo-noir and feminist vigilante violence, giant rats, Biblical horror and quite a bit of sex and violence.
- [Luis Buñuel's <i>Él</i> (1953): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/11/luis-bunuels-el-1953-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Honing his craft during his exile in Mexico, Luis Buñuel managed to transform the limitations imposed by the industry's commercial demands by instilling his own personal obsessions and distinctive comedic perspective into several of his early masterpieces, none more personal than Él (1953), which blends melodrama and psychological horror in the story of a woman who finds herself trapped in a nightmare marriage with a respectable bourgeois man who descends into jealousy-fuelled paranoia. Beautifully restored in 4K in Criterion's new release, Él establishes many of the themes and stylistic characteristics of Buñuel's better-known mature work.
- [Late Fall viewing: Oh, the horror!](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/10/late-fall-viewing-oh-the-horror/) - Three new movies and one classic make the most of ghosts, monsters and demons.
- [Fall viewing from the BFI and Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/11/fall-viewing-from-the-bfi-and-indicator/) - Several releases from the BFI and Indicator throw lights on odd corners of cinema history and the work of some prominent figures - early quota quickies by Michael Powell, a commercial turn by Barbet Schroeder, and a brief diversion into television by Vincent Price. The fourth volume of Flipside's Short Sharp Shocks series offers an eclectic selection of amateur and professional work, and two Australian genre films get 4K upgrades.
- [Vinegar Syndrome October releases, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/11/vinegar-syndrome-october-releases-part-two/) - Vinegar Syndrome's October package included a stylish but frustrating Uruguayan giallo, a catalogue title about a high school girl's romance with a T-Rex and a box set of three Italian movies from the early '70s featuring performances from Camille Keaton.
- [Recent releases from Radiance: crime, ghosts and Ninja](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/11/recent-releases-from-radiance-crime-ghosts-and-ninja/) - Radiance continues to release exemplary editions of genre films from various countries - most recently, I've watched their three-disk set of crime films by Alain Corneau and a two sets and one stand-alone disk from Japan featuring vengeful ghosts, convoluted period politics and dazzling displays of martial arts.
- [Unwatched, but not necessarily unwanted](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/10/unwatched-but-not-necessarily-unwanted/) - It turns out there are something like a thousand un-watched movies and TV shows in my collection; sorting through them raises some questions about this impulse to collect and reminds me about the changing nature of my interests over the past couple of decades.
- [Ghosts, Monsters and Swordplay](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/12/ghosts-monsters-and-swordplay/) - Asian martial arts and fantasy movies can be exhilarating in their strangeness and invention, unbound by Western insistence on rational explanations. Arrow's new box set Yokai Monsters Collection presents a world in which supernatural presences exist alongside human reality, while in Eureka's release of Ching Siu-tung's Duel to the Death (1983) martial artists defy the laws of physics in elaborately choreographed sword fights.
- [Year End 2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/01/year-end-2013/) - The annual look back at the past year's movie watching highlights disks from England and from the Criterion Collection.
- [Clearing the docket: Summer 2025](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/07/clearing-the-docket-summer-2025/) - Recent acquisitions from Arrow and Radiance cover a range of genres from Japanese B-movie crimes to traditional ghost stories, lingering traces of German fascism, a Poe adaptation filtered through pandemic anxieties, a pair of Italian genre movies, and Sam Raimi's masterful neo-noir A Simple Plan (1998).
- [Recent Arrow box sets](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/08/recent-arrow-box-sets/) - Three recent box sets from Arrow will satisfy a wide range of genre appetites with five thrillers from Italy in the '70s, four spaghetti westerns from the '60s, and Daiei's 1966 trilogy of period fantasies featuring a statue which comes to life to punish various cruel warlords who oppress local peasants.
- [Revolution was in the air in the '70s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/10/revolution-was-in-the-air-in-the-70s/) - A pair of movies which have resurfaced as I dig into my unwieldy collection present widely varied views of resistance and revolution rooted in the social upheavals of the 1960s and the political collapse of Watergate. Ivan Dixon's The Spook Who Sat By the Door (1973) depicts an organized uprising against racial oppression, which Tom Huckabee & Kent Smith's Taking Tiger Mountain is an oblique experimental feature in which an underground feminist movement programs young men to carry out violent attacks on the patriarchal status quo.
- [Hammer Films <i>noir</i> on 4K](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/10/hammer-films-noir-on-4k/) - Hammer Films' two most recent 4K restorations are drawn from the studio's early days as a producer of low-budget B-movies. Both Francis Searle's The Man in Black (1950) and Terence Fisher's Blood Orange (1953) are modest but enjoyable mysteries, atmospherically photographed and well-acted, and each gets stellar treatment in both visual presentation and substantial supplements, including 120-page books which contribute to the history of Hammer being compiled through these collector editions.
- [Sergio Leone's <i>Dollars Trilogy</i> (1964-66) restored by Arrow](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/10/sergio-leones-dollars-trilogy-1964-66-restored-by-arrow/) - Restorations of the three iconic westerns in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy are a reminder of both the Italian director's huge influence on the genre and his remarkable filmmaking talent; his control of visual space and narrative pace were second to none.
- [Early Fall viewing: old favourites and new discoveries](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/10/early-fall-viewing-old-favourites-and-new-discoveries/) - Despite my best intentions, I've been re-acquiring quite a few movies already in my collection, now in new restorations released in elaborate special editions, ranging from Japanese fantasy to Australian genre movies from the '70s, conspiracy thrillers to horror, science fiction and martial arts; a documentary about a forgotten Peter Sellers comedy and gialli made for Italian TV; and a previously unknown low-budget thriller by Cy Endfield.
- [Farewell to a good friend: Howard Curle](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/08/farewell-to-a-good-friend-howard-curle/) - Howard Curle, one of my oldest and dearest friends, passed away on August 12 after a four year fight with cancer. It will take a long time, of ever, before I can come to terms with this loss - but he has left me with decades of wonderful memories and an incalculable impact on my own work as a filmmaker and writer.
- [Two '70s classics in 4K from Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/09/two-70s-classics-in-4k-from-criterion/) - Two recent releases from Criterion recognize the importance of a pair of features from the 1970s which were both critical and commercial failures on their original release but are now acknowledged classics: Arthur Penn's Night Moves (1975) and William Friedkin's Sorcerer (1977).
- [Pizza, beer and revenge](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/04/pizza-beer-and-revenge/) - On a recent evening, my friend Steve and I washed down a Death Wish triple bill with an excess of pizza and beer ... I know it wasn't healthy, but we had a good time.
- [Unearthing forgotten movies from my collection](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/09/unearthing-forgotten-movies-from-my-collection/) - Going through my collection looking for movies to discard has provided an opportunity to rediscover some disks I bought long ago but never got around to watching. My only excuse for the delay is that I've always been prone to buy more than I have time for. The upside is that my shelves already contain plenty to occupy me without having to go shopping for something new - like these three older DVDs: R.W. Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore (1971), Chris Marker's Level Five (1997) and Albert Serra's Honour of the Knights (2006).
- [Random notes: August 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/08/random-notes-august-2016/) - Brief thoughts on some genre movies released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video, plus two interesting books about the making of Zulu and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.
- [Lizzie Borden's <i>Born in Flames</i> (1983): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/09/lizzie-bordens-born-in-flames-1983-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's timely release of Lizzie Borden's Born in Flames (1983) comes as its message of cooperative resistance to state oppression seems more pertinent than ever. A mixture of documentary and speculative fiction, its radical feminist critique argues persuasively against acquiescence to the terms set by a repressive government more concerned with its own privilege than with the equality of all citizens.
- [Recent disks from England, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/06/recent-disks-from-england-part-one/) - BFI Flipside release of Bill Forsyth's That Sinking Feeling is like a cross between a gritty Ken Loach working class story and a CFF fantasy of kid empowerment.
- [<i>World Noir Vol. 3</i> from Radiance](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/09/world-noir-vol-3-from-radiance/) - Volume 3 of Radiance's World Noir series contains three fascinating movies from post-war Europe - Hasse Ekman's Girl With Hyacinths (1950) from Sweden, in which a writer investigates the life of his neighbour who has committed suicide; Henri Decoin's Not Guilty (1947), in which Michel Simon gives one of his best performances as a small-town doctor by chance becomes a serial killer; and the only film directed by Peter Lorre, The Lost One (1951), in which the actor returned to Germany to confront the recent horrors of Nazism. All three films are given excellent presentations with an array of informative supplements.
- [Pete Walker, master of British exploitation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/pete-walker-master-of-british-exploitation/) - Two new box sets from 88 Films provide an opportunity to re-visit the work of Pete Walker, arguably the best exploitation filmmaker working in England from the late-'60s to the end of the '70s. The Flesh and Blood Show collects the seven horror movies which are his best-known work, while the Pete Walker Sexploitation Collection includes his first playful features which grew out of years of making sex loops as well as his final film of the '70s in which the sex takes on a much darker tone.
- [Recent miscellaneous viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/10/recent-miscellaneous-viewing/) - A random selection of recent viewing, from Nazi propaganda to British Angry Young Men, from classic sci-fi to the 1960s revival of a French criminal mastermind as slapstick pastiche.
- [Nigel Kneale & British genre television](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/05/nigel-kneale/) - British TV has always been primarily a writer's medium; since the '50s, the biggest stars have tended to be the writers, with writers' names attached possessively to projects. Television production was often built around writers such as Alan Bennett, Alan Bleasdale and Dennis Potter, who was one of the biggest, with each of his new
- [Watching vs collecting: Hammer 4K restorations](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/09/watching-vs-collecting-hammer-4k-restorations/) - Not for the first time, I've been thinking about the relationship between my love of the experience of watching movies and the somewhat different passion for actually owning physical copies - two quite different obsessions which are nonetheless inextricably interwoven. Recently they've come together quite forcefully around the release of a series of 4K restorations by the revived Hammer Films, which have so far included two of their most significant movies, Val Guest's The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and Quatermass 2 (1957), as well as more obscure features which cumulatively are providing a history of the company's evolution and significance to mid-century British commercial cinema.
- [George A. Romero 1940-2017](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/07/george-a-romero-1940-2017/) - George A. Romero, a master of the horror film who died on July 16, was influential far beyond the movies, having introduced zombies to pop culture.
- [The up- and down-sides of collecting: French crime movies from Kino](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/08/the-up-and-down-sides-of-collecting-french-crime-movies-from-kino/) - Digging through my pile of unwatched disks, I recently came across a number of French crime movies spanning four decades; watching them all back-to-back made for an interesting tour through the evolution of French genre cinema from the classical period, through the New Wave and beyond.
- [Binging on Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/binging-on-twilight-time/) - Recent binging on Twilight Time Blu-rays ranges from politics to comedy to science fiction, absurd studio productions and idiosyncratic independents.
- [Compulsive Viewing: A Personal Pathology Part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/06/compulsive-viewing-a-personal-pathology-part-2/) - Part two of a survey of one month's movie watching.
- [Murder, demons, superheroes and martial arts: recent viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/08/murder-demons-superheroes-and-martial-arts-recent-viewing/) - Psycho-sexual threats in New York, demons in Eastern Europe and the horrors of medieval witch-hunting from Vinegar Syndrome; a superhero and an alien threat in Japan, and martial arts in contemporary and historical Hong King from 88Films.
- [Recent deaths: Tobe Hooper and others](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/08/recent-deaths-tobe-hooper-and-others/) - The older I get, the more often I hear of the death of people who have touched my life in some way. This summer seems to have been worse than most.
- [Crime, class and <i>noir</i> in '50s British cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/08/crime-class-and-noir-in-50s-british-cinema/) - Three black-and-white British films reflect social change in the post-war years with varying degrees of success in excellent new 4K restorations. Basil Dearden's The Gentle Gunman (1952) addresses the history of English oppression in Ireland and the morality of the IRA's violent resistance, while his The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) uses allegory to approach the instability of the class system. Guy Hamilton's adaptation of J.B. Priestley's play An Inspector Calls (1954) also takes an allegorical approach to the injustices of a rigid class system, though here in the years just before World War One when that system had not yet been shaken to its foundations.
- [Euro Pulp](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/05/euro-pulp/) - A selection of European genre movies from the 1970s and '80s ranges from sadistic killers to cannibals to elegant vampires, from bad fashions and electro-pop music to old families sinking into decadence, from masters of exploitation like Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi and Ruggero Deodato to the artful Harry Kümel.
- [Clearing the docket: Summer 2025, part three - Kino Lorber](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/08/clearing-the-docket-summer-2025-part-three-kino-lorber/) - Continuing my round-up of recent viewing, here are some brief comments about half-a-dozen Kino Lorber releases which include John Frankenheimer's final theatrical feature, the bleak heist movie Reindeer Games (2000); one of Bert I. Gordon's cheap '70s monster movies, The Food of the Gods (1976); Jacques Deray's Los Angeles-set French noir The Outside Man (1972); Umberto Lenzi's Italian Dirty Dozen knock-off Battle of the Commandos (1969); and a pair of two-disk sets of Golden Age poverty row B-movies, Republic Pictures Horror Collection (1944-46) and the Mr. Wong Collection (1938-40) starring Boris Karloff as the Chinese detective investigating crimes in San Francisco.
- [The transgressive art of William Friedkin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/10/the-transgressive-art-of-william-friedkin/) - William Friedkin's death in August prompted a look back at his most significant work from the '70s and '80s, a run of movies which were controversial and only intermittently commercially successful. At his best, Friedkin's cool, detached approach to dangerous subjects resulted in powerful movies which influenced the direction of popular genres and his work from that period remains challenging today.
- [German genre movies from Masters of Cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/07/german-genre-movies-from-masters-of-cinema/) - Three new box sets from Eureka's Masters of Cinema gather together an interesting range of genre movies made in East Germany at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and '70s. Four colourful sci-fi epics compete with Hollywood's greater resources in Strange New Worlds: Science Fiction at DEFA, while a fascination with crime and film noir is on full display in Mabuse Lives!: Dr. Mabuse at CCC 1960-64 and Terror in the Fog: The Wallace Krimi at CCC.
- [Listmania redux: The Greatest Documentaries of All Time, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/09/listmania-redux-the-greatest-documentaries-of-all-time-part-three/) - I finally get around to comparing my own choices for great documentaries with the poll in Sight & Sound, finding some points of overlap and others of disagreement.
- [Listmania redux: The Greatest Documentaries of All Time, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/08/listmania-redux-the-greatest-documentaries-of-all-time-part-two/) - Inspired by Sight & Sound's recent list of great documentaries, in this second of three posts I consider some more of my personal favourites.
- [Lost films and alternative histories](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/01/lost-films-and-alternative-histories/) - Film restoration is usually seen as an effort to preserve the canon, but there are vast areas of film history which may be less reputable, but still represent significant aspects of the past century's most popular art form. In their recent six-disk, ten-movie set Lost Picture Show, Vinegar Syndrome highlight their own efforts to unearth and give new life to cheap, obscure, frequently disreputable examples of movies made far from the mainstream - sex. violence, politics and an occasional talking animal are on display in this ragged, sometimes enlightening, sometimes frustrating collection.
- [Year End 2024](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/01/year-end-2024/) - It's that time of year again - have to look back and think about whether the time I've spent watching movies has been worthwhile. Here, I glance back at eleven disk releases which stood out for me.
- [Monsters and <i>noir</i> from Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/07/monsters-and-noir-from-criterion/) - A classic monster is revived in Kazuki Omori’s Godzilla vs Biollante (1989), while monsters of a more human sort make life hell in a pair of female-centred noirs from 1945, Michael Curtiz's Mildred Pierce and John M. Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven, all available in excellent Blu-ray editions from Criterion.
- [Mike Nichols' <i>Carnal Knowledge</i> (1971): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/07/mike-nichols-carnal-knowledge-1971-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Written by Jules Feiffer and directed by Mike Nichols, Carnal Knowledge (1971) was way ahead of its time with its blackly comic dissection of toxic masculinity as it follows two friends from their post-WW2 college years to the end of the '60s, using and abusing women as social attitudes evolve around them. Newly restored in 4K, Criterion's release includes extensive supplements to provide historical context and critical evaluation of what remains Nichols' most perfectly formed movie.
- [Greg Hanec's <i>Think at Night</i> (2024)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/07/greg-hanecs-think-at-night-2024/) - Three decades in the making, Winnipeg musician and filmmaker Greg Hanec's feature Think at Night (1992-2024) is a challenging work which assaults the viewer with aggressively abrasive sounds and images as an embittered man (played by Hanec) who, for some reason, has given up on art, wanders the city at night, encountering acquaintances whose continuing creative practices he takes as a personal affront. The film's style reflects and embodies the character's existential state, confused and angry, before resolving in a moment of contemplative calm.
- [Another eclectic week](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/another-eclectic-week/) - This week, I revisited several classic horror and sci-fi movies, plus a few more recent exploitation movies.
- [A week of DVDs](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/a-week-of-dvds/) - It's been a bigger than average week for DVDs, thanks to a couple of packages from Amazon UK, plus the usual Tuesday field trip to the local stores. (I first learned that Tuesday is “new release day” from my friend Sheldon when we were at the Canadian Film Centre together in 1998 and have quite
- [Ealing Studios](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/03/ealing-studios/) - I recently got to see the final film produced by Ealing Studios, The Siege of Pinchgut (1959), a tense hostage drama made far from the cozy English countryside and villages the studio is often associated with. Directed and co-written by Harry Watt, starring an American (Aldo Ray) and shot on location in Australia, it seems
- [Clearing the docket: Summer 2025, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/07/clearing-the-docket-summer-2025-part-two/) - Another eclectic selection of movies I've watched in the past few months, ranging from a politically nuanced spaghetti western to spectacular action, lush anime, a big-screen travelogue, various horrors from low to relatively high-budget, a charming coming-of-age comedy, a nightmare with uncanny life-sized puppets, and a rediscovered vérité comedy from the late-'60s.
- [John Huston's <i>Let There Be Light</i> (1946)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/06/john-hustons-let-there-be-light-1946/) - John Huston's documentary about the psychological problems of returning WW2 vets was suppressed by the War Department until 1980
- [My one sad shot at stardom](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/01/my-one-sad-shot-at-stardom/) - In 1993, I got a few days work as an extra on a TV movie shot in Winnipeg, which is how I became the least convincing state trooper ever to appear on screen.
- [British fringe cinema from the BFI](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/06/british-fringe-cinema-from-the-bfi/) - Four releases from the BFI offer excellent presentations of a pair of features from the 1970s which didn't leave much of a mark at the time but are well worth rediscovering - Richard Loncraine's Flame (1975) and Simon Perry's Eclipse (1977) - and two recent experimental features - Bait (2019), Enys Men (2022) - by Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin, which provide a hand-crafted glimpse of disruptive social change in a timeless landscape.
- [Orson Welles' <i>Othello</i> (1952/55): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/10/orson-welles-othello-195255-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's exemplary Blu-ray release of Orson Welles' Othello presents both versions of this important film with an impressive collection of supplements.
- [Summer grab-bag, part two: Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/08/summer-grab-bag-part-two-vinegar-syndrome/) - Horror, drug-dealing surfers, women-in-prison, violent revenge, lab-created monsters, musical zombies and aliens crowd Vinegar Syndrome's summer release schedule.
- [Edgar G. Ulmer's <i>Detour</i> (1945): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/03/edgar-g-ulmers-detour-1945-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - For the first time on home video, Edgar G. Ulmer's minimalist film noir masterpiece, Detour (1946), gets the treatment it deserves; a stunning 4K restoration brings out every nuance in this story of a man and a woman ensnared by a malevolent Fate.
- [Personal landmark: my 1000th post](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/06/personal-landmark-my-1000th-post/) - It's hard to believe, but this is my 1000th post since I started writing this blog back in October 2010. Not having missed a single week since that first post - and often posting more than once a week - my writing here has been the most sustained activity I've ever undertaken. While there's no doubt an element of ego involved in putting this much personal opinion out into the world, the blog has served something of a self-therapeutic purpose, providing focus and a personal challenge to off-set the tedium of the federal government clerical job I landed after my editing career dried up. Having retired six months ago, I'm finding myself wondering whether the blog has served its purpose and the time has come to look for other creative pursuits.
- [Tobe Hooper's mangled career](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/tobe-hoopers-mangled-career/) - As a filmmaker, Tobe Hooper's creative interests were not always in sync with audiences and critics. His mixture of theatrical performance and constructed-in-studio settings are on full display in the generally disdained Stephen King adaptation The Mangler (1995), whose uneven dramatic execution undermines an often impressively menacing horror-fantasy about the bloody appetite of capitalism, an inhuman force which devours those doomed to serve it. Hooper's Spontaneous Combustion (1990), on the other hand, is a half-baked mess which mostly lacks any visual interest to make up for its many narrative inadequacies.
- [Terry Gilliam's <i>Brazil</i> (1985): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/06/tery-gilliams-brazil-1985-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new edition of Terry Gilliam's masterpiece Brazil (1985) presents an impressive new 4K restoration which highlights the dense, endlessly inventive production design of Gilliam's blackly comic dystopian vision of a world run by an oppressive but utterly incompetent bureaucracy, even more pertinent now than it was in the middle of Reagan's presidency. The three-disk, dual-format set includes a comprehensive history of the production and the controversy surrounding Gilliam's fight to get the film released, as well as the truly awful alternate "Love Conquers All" cut put together by Universal in a misguided attempt to make the film "more commercial".
- [Monsters, killers and existential dread on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/12/monsters-killers-and-existential-dread-on-blu-ray/) - Recent releases cover a range of horrors, from a 4K restoration of the classic Canadian working class slasher My Bloody Valentine (1981) to a 4K restoration of Stephen King's mad dog tale Cujo (1983) to a pair of low-budget '70s monsters - Creature From Black Lake (1976) and Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973) to Ashkal (2022), a haunting Tunisian police procedural with supernatural overtones, and World of Giants (1959), an obscure, short-lived TV series about a six-inch tall secret agent.
- [Theatrical viewing, early 2025](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/06/theatrical-viewing-early-2025/) - One of the benefits of retirement is being able to go to weekday matinees, which means seeing movies in almost empty theatres - the best way as far as I'm concerned. So this year I've already seen more movies than all of last year or the year before . But that also means I've seen a few movies I probably wouldn't have bothered with before. Among the duds, though, have been some good - or at least interesting - movies I'm glad I saw on a big screen.
- [British archive television from Network](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/05/british-archive-television-from-network/) - A pair of DVDs from the now-defunct Network Releasing unearth forgotten artefacts from British television history; The Frighteners, an anthology of concise half-hour psychological thrillers from 1972-73, and three one-hour dramas displaying the range of the influential writer Nigel Kneale - The Crunch (Michael Elliott, 1964), a political thrillers, Ladies' Night (Herbert Wise, 1986), a satirical comedy about a conservative establishment crumbling in the face of feminism, and Gentry (Roy Battersby, 1987), in which a bourgeois couple cashing in the decline of an East End community are confronted by the anger of those being displaced.
- [DVD of the week: <I>Duffer/The Moon Over the Alley</I>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/03/dvd-of-the-week-dufferthe-moon-over-the-alley/) - One of the real pleasures of the BFI's Flipside series of DVDs and Blu-Rays is the sheer eclecticism of the choices being made available. The series' mandate is to present fringe works, movies outside the mainstream. So far, we have gained access to early thrillers by Pete Walker (Man of Violence, The Big Switch); three
- [The mind-bending paradox of Nacho Vigalondo's <i>Timecrimes</i> (2007)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/05/the-mind-bending-paradox-of-nacho-vigalondos-timecrimes-2007/) - Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes (2007) is one of the best - and most mind-bending - time travel paradox movies, a rigorous, darkly comic puzzle in which cause and effect are twisted in knots as a middle-class man finds his identity fragmented by repeated short jumps in time.
- [Summer viewing: short takes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/08/summer-viewing-short-takes/) - A round-up of recent viewing ranging from classic fantasy to low budget horror to rugged adventure and a western.
- [The rise of boutique DVDs: The Flipside](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/07/the-rise-of-boutique-dvds-the-flipside/) - Although patterns of video distribution are constantly changing, boutique labels continue to release interesting, sometimes obscure titles
- [Wrapping up 2022](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/01/wrapping-up-2022/) - Hunkered down in the depths of winter, I spent a lot of December immersed in genre movies from around the world - it's a dizzying mix of violence, perversion and unexpected cinematic delights.
- [The destructive power of fragile masculinity: Terence Fisher's <i>Four Sided Triangle</i> (1953)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/05/the-destructive-power-of-fragile-masculinity-terence-fishers-four-sided-triangle-1953/) - In 1953 Hammer Films took the first step on a path which would soon give the company an international reputation as a key purveyor of horror movies. Terence Fisher's Four Sided Triangle, a modest production which combined science fiction, psychological horror and romantic melodrama in a prosaic English village setting laid the groundwork which would lead two year later to Val Guest's The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), and two more years beyond that to Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), the movie which changed the course of modern horror cinema. Hammer's 4K restoration of Four Sided Triangle will hopefully dispel the film's rather low reputation, with a beautiful new transfer, two commentaries and three interview featurettes which argue for its value as a pioneering contribution to British genre cinema.
- [David Cronenberg contemplates mortality in <i>The Shrouds</i> (2025)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/05/david-cronenberg-contemplates-mortality-in-the-shrouds-2025/) - In his latest film, The Shrouds (2024), David Cronenberg has made his most personal work since The Brood (1979), transforming grief into a meditation of mortality which, while at times uncomfortably revelatory, is nonetheless shot through with a dark vein of humour.
- [Richard Lester's <i>Musketeers</i> (1973-74): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/05/richard-lesters-musketeers-1973-74-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - After his radical influence on film comedy in the 1960s, with movies like A Hard Day's Night (1964), The Knack ... and How to Get It (1965) and How I Won the War (1967), Richard Lester remade himself as a skilful creator of mainstream entertainments in the 1970s, beginning with The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). The mix of history, politics and violence is in constant tension with irreverent comedy and slapstick, while the large cast epitomizes the '70s attraction to big-name ensembles. Criterion's new two-disk set - available in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray - has been mastered from a gorgeous restoration by StudioCanal, supported by more than three hours of extras which detail the unconventional production.
- [Avery Crounse's <i>Eyes of Fire</i> (1983)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/02/avery-crounses-eyes-of-fire-1983/) - Severin's All the Haunts Be Ours box set resurrects an interesting independent American feature from the early '80s, Avery Crounse's Eyes of Fire (1983) uses folk horror elements as a metaphor for colonialism and the violence inherent in Manifest Destiny.
- [Fantasy, horror and crazed killers on the exploitation fringes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/fantasy-horror-and-crazed-killers-on-the-exploitation-fringes/) - I'm drawn to movies made on the fringes, far from the industry centre, and these have recently included low-budget '60s noir, ultra cheap '70s horror and ambitious '90s direct-to-video sword-and-sorcery fantasy. Whatever their technical short-comings, all these movies exhibit the creative ingenuity essential to completing a feature with inadequate resources.
- [Discovering a Japanese master: Tai Katô](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/05/discovering-a-japanese-master-tai-kato/) - Despite a career spanning from the 1930s to the mid-'80s, I hadn't even heard of Tai Katô until a recent flurry of disk releases from Radiance in England and Film Movement in the States, yet he produced significant work in some of my favourite genres - particularly chambara and yakuza films, both of which are represented in these releases, with excellent editions of postwar crime stories (By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him [1966] and Eighteen Years in Prison [1967]), police procedural noir (I, the Executioner [1968]), and period swordfighting (Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza [1966]).
- [The One, True <i>Doctor</i> and the Passage of Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/the-one-true-doctor-and-the-passage-of-time/) - The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and the experience of Christian Marclay's The Clock reflect multiple experiences of time.
- [Horrors old and new](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/04/horrors-old-and-new-2/) - Horror is a flexible genre, capable of using science fiction, history, adventure, action and terrible real-life events to touch on existential questions as well as provide escape with a frisson of pleasurable fear. Three recent releases span a broad range of the possibilities - Roger Corman's X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), arguably his best film; Brian Clemens' Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), one of the best late films from Hammer Films; and Nick Kozakis's Godless: The Eastfield Exorcism (2023), a bleak examination of the dangers of fundamentalist religious beliefs based on a tragic case which occurred in Australia in 1993.
- [<i>Zatoichi</i>, still incomplete](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/08/zatoichi-still-incomplete/) - The good news is that Criterion is releasing the Zatoichi series on Blu-ray in November; the bad news is that one film is missing from the set.
- [Late winter/early spring Arrow viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/04/late-winter-early-spring-arrow-viewing-part-two/) - Some recent Arrow releases provide an opportunity to revisit a few familiar movies and - perhaps - reevaluate them. Each of them presents some problems, but Tarsem Singh's The Cell (2000), Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects (1995) and Mike Hodges' The Terminal Man (1974) were all worth another look.
- [Perverse Families & Dysfunctional Kids](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/perverse-families-dysfunctional-kids/) - While they form one of the main building blocks of society, families are often mysterious when viewed from the outside, providing opportunities for mystery, suspense and horror since we began telling ourselves stories. Outsiders who penetrate the strange membrane between community and family may be faced with codes and rituals which can turn dangerous ... as in four recently viewed movies: Curtis Harrington's Night Tide (1961) and Games (1967), Freddie Francis' Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly (1970) and Ted Post's The Baby (1973).
- [Genre On Disk, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/12/genre-on-disk-part-one/) - Recent Blu-ray releases give new life to some classic genre movies, both familiar and obscure.
- [Claude Berri's <i>Jean de Florette</i> and <i>Manon des Sources</i> (1986): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/04/claude-berris-jean-de-florette-and-manon-des-sources-1986-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion have released an excellent two-disk edition of Claude Berri's adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's epic tragedy of idealism brought down by greed and petty rivalries in early 20th Century rural Provence. New 4K restorations of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources (both 1986) are visually ravishing, while the drama is embodied in superb performances from Gérard Depardieu, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Béart and an excellent supporting cast.
- [Kiyoshi Kurosawa's <i>Cure</i> (1997)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/05/kiyoshi-kurosawas-cure-1997/) - Masters of Cinema's new Blu-ray of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure (1997) drew me back for another attempt to understand this maddeningly enigmatic horror film; like its mysterious killer, it exerts an almost hypnotic hold on the viewer.
- [Late winter/early spring Arrow viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/04/late-winter-early-spring-arrow-viewing-part-one/) - Recent Arrow disks offer an alien invasion (Oliver Hirschbiegel’s The Invasion [2007]), stylish horror (Rampo Noir [2005]), a classic western (Don Siegel's The Shootist [1976]) and a note-perfect homage to '70s low-budget exploitation (Francis Galluppi’s The Last Stop in Yuma County [2023]).
- [Recent viewing, part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/recent-viewing-part-1/) - Since reading Chris Fujiwara's book about Jacques Tourneur, The Cinema of Nightfall (Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore and London, 1998), I've been searching out films by the director, particularly ones unconnected with the genres he's best known for, horror and noir. I recently got hold of a cheap VCI disk featuring a double bill of
- [Culling the collection](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/03/culling-the-collection/) - In beginning the process of reducing the size of my movie collection, trading in disks at my favourite local store, I've paradoxically added some new collector editions of other movies thanks to the generous credit I've received.
- [Peak paranoia: two classics on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/04/peak-paranoia-two-classics-on-blu-ray/) - Two key films from the era of peak paranoia, the late-'60s and early '70s, are given exemplary disk releases - Theordore J. Flicker's darkly comic The President's Analst (1967) on Blu-ray from Imprint and Francis Ford Coppola's nightmarish The Conversation (1974) on 4K in a dual-format edition from StudioCanal.
- [Digital resurrection](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/08/digital-resurrection/) - Digital tools put in service of restoring films from a century ago produce spectacular results with Blu-rays of Carl Th. Dreyer's uncanny Vampyr (1932) and Louis Feuillade's serial Tih-Minh (1919).
- [S.F. Brownrigg's regional horrors](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/10/s-f-brownriggs-regional-horrors/) - Regional filmmakers working on limited budgets have to rely on ingenuity and imagination; Texan S.F. Brownrigg managed to turn out a number of effective horror movies in the 1970s, the two most notable - Don't Look in the Basement (1972) and Don't Open the Door (1974) - now available in a dual-format double-feature edition from VCI Entertainment.
- [Dipping another toe into the online stream, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/03/dipping-another-toe-into-the-online-stream-part-two/) - My recent streaming seems to lean heavily into horror, with a few animated movies to lighten the tone.
- [The <i>wuxia</I> epics of King Hu](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/04/the-wuxia-epics-of-king-hu/) - Eureka has recently released two of director King Hu's influential martial arts epics featuring excellent restorations commissioned by the Taiwanese government.
- [Ishiro Honda: Masters of Cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/12/ishiro-honda-masters-of-cinema/) - Eureka's Masters of Cinema honour Japanese filmmaker Ishiro Honda with two new releases, one showcasing one of his most appealing kaiju eiga - Mothra (1961) - the other a two-disk set of a pair of lesser-known movies - The H-Man (1958) and Battle in Outer Space (1960).
- [Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/fall-2024-viewing-round-up-part-two/) - A pair of Jonathan Demme features and several box sets are among my Fall movie watching, featuring various genre titles ranging from the Hollywood prestige of The Silence of the Lambs (1991) to the cheap regional horror of Doug Robertson’s HauntedWeen (1991), early '70s Brit exploitation including Jack Palance sacrificing women to an African idol in Freddie Francis' Craze (1974) and four Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi made-for-television ghost stories in Cauldron's Houses of Doom collection.
- [Henri-Georges Clouzot's <i>The Wages of Fear</i> (1953): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/03/henri-georges-clouzots-the-wages-of-fear-1953-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new dual-format 4K UHD/Blu-ray release of The Wages of Fear (1953) presents an opportunity to revisit Henri-Georges Clouzot's classic and examine just why it troubled its U.S. distributor and some critics with its political and sexual implications.
- [Dipping a toe into the online stream](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/03/dipping-a-toe-into-the-online-stream/) - Until fairly recently I've avoided streaming - I like nothing better than handling physical media, taking small shiny disks out of their case and putting them back on the shelf as part of my collection after watching their contents. But various factors have been pushing me towards rethinking my collector mentality and in the past few months I've found myself mixing and increasing amount of streaming into my viewing. This has included a number of (limited) series as well as quite a few older and newer movies. And I've become aware that I haven't been writing about these shows because - that collector mentality again - I have kind of ghettoized them: somehow I haven't taken a streamed movie as seriously as the ones I own. So perhaps it's time to consider them here...
- [Dipping another toe into the online stream, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/03/dipping-another-toe-into-the-online-stream-part-one/) - My plunge into streaming has been more rewarding than not, catching up with a slew of recent action movies as well as a variety of older movies I missed decades ago, or remember from television screenings back in the '70s.
- [David Lynch on life, art and <i>Eraserhead</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/02/david-lynch-on-life-art-and-eraserhead/) - Back in December of 1981 I had the remarkable experience of meeting David Lynch to interview him about the making of Eraserhead. I had been commissioned by a magazine called Cinefantastique because I'd written what appeared to be the first in-depth analysis of David's debut feature and, having appreciated what I had written, he agreed
- [A zombie romance, Nazis vs vampire, and sex and death in a Manhattan highrise from Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/03/a-zombie-romance-nazis-vs-vampire-and-sex-and-death-in-a-manhattanhighrise-from-vinegar-syndrome/) - With the end of my Vinegar Syndrome subscription, I'll be getting a lot fewer disks from them this year, but there are still a few leftovers from last year to consider - I won't miss things like Phillip Noyce's Sliver (1993), but without the subscription I might never have seen Fred Burnley's romantic-horror oddity Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972). Only a brand-new 4K restoration of Michael Mann's flawed second feature, The Keep (1943), gives me a twinge of regret. Still, although I'll have to be much more judicious about ordering without the subscription, hopefully there'll be other interesting releases like this in the future.
- [Fall 2023 viewing: Arrow Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/11/fall-2023-viewing-arrow-video/) - A selection of new and slightly older Arrow releases range from '70s Japanese gangster movies by Kinji Fukasaku to David Cronenberg's icy adaptation of J.G. Ballard's Crash (1996), from an early feature by John Mackenzie combining a satire of class with psychological suspense to a sampler of sci-fi and horror movies produced in the '80s by Charles Band's Empire International Pictures.
- [Vinegar Syndrome Partners](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/09/vinegar-syndrome-partners/) - Vinegar Syndrome distributes a number of smaller labels which offer a wide range of genre releases, from the ultra-low-budget Wakaliwood productions of Nabawana I.G.G. in Uganda to the impressively polished small-budget sci-fi of Chris Caldwell and Zeek Earl's Prospect (2018), from the gritty '80s exploitation of Norbert Meisel's Walking the Edge (1983) to the mythic spaghetti western-noir of Roland Klick's Deadlock (1970).
- [Pandemic viewing, Part Three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/pandemic-viewing-part-three/) - Social isolation and "working from home" mean a lot of time for movie-watching ... and the volume far outstrips my ability to say anything substantive about many of the films I do watch: so here I mostly just acknowledge what I've been viewing in the past 4-6 weeks. Part three of four.
- [Horrors, Old and New](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/08/horrors-old-and-new/) - Watching several recent Blu-rays sparks some thoughts about changing fashions in horror: Lifeforce and The Howling, and American Mary and Antiviral.
- [Late summer viewing, part two: Thrills and Chills](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/late-summer-viewing-part-two-thrills-and-chills/) - Recent viewing includes Mel Gibson as an angry father, Chinese marines fighting in Africa, cops tracking drug dealers and violent bank robbers, and a couple of American International horrors.
- [Serendipity at the mall: disk discoveries from England and Australia](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/06/serendipity-at-the-mall-disk-discoveries-from-england-and-australia/) - A recent trip to one of the last places in Winnipeg where you can actually buy movies on disk, armed with a bag full of DVDs and Blu-rays to trade, netted an interesting assortment of items, new and used, including some from the UK and Australia; it brought back the pleasures of in-store shopping and immediately being able to go home and watch what I'd just bought.
- [Matthew Rankin's <i>Universal Language</i> (2024)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/02/matthew-rankins-universal-language-2024/) - Matthew Rankin's Universal Language (2024) is a delightfully witty comedy of intertwined cultures, a blend of Winnipeg and Tehran, sparking surprising moments of recognition which affirm a shared humanity. Formally inventive, its layered comedy gathers a deepening emotional resonance as its non-linear narrative gradually brings a disparate collection of characters together in a surprisingly moving final act. One of the finest films ever made in Winnipeg.
- [Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg's <i>Performance</i> (1970): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/02/donald-cammell-nicolas-roegs-performance-1970-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Performance (1970), co-directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, is one of the key films to emerge from Britain towards the end of the 1960s, a turbulent decade during which the post-war order was challenged by a generation seeking to redefine society; the film's radical style - with disorienting editing and a rejection of conventional linear narrative - both reflected and embodied the chaos in a story which deconstructed class, sexuality and individual identity in a welter of violence clashing with art and music. More than fifty years later, the film seems fresher and more pertinent than ever.
- [DVD diary: another eclectic week – part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/dvd-diary-another-eclectic-week-part-two/) - Christopher Smith is an English director whose first feature, Creep (2004), was an attempt to emulate Gary Sherman's Raw Meat (aka Deathline, 1973) and Douglas Cheek's C.H.U.D. (1984); it had a woman trapped overnight in the London Underground, pursued by the mutant remnants of some medical experiments in a hidden lab, but it never quite
- [Winter viewing: Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/03/winter-viewing-vinegar-syndrome/) - Bingeing has been my default viewing mode for some time, but it's only more recently that it's come to encompass indulging in multiple releases by a particular company - which in turn is a result of those company's offering regular sales and discount packages of monthly releases. The most prominent examples of this are Vinegar Syndrome and Severin Films, both of which specialize in genre and exploitation titles, pulling me into deep, often sordid, black holes.
- [Summer grab-bag, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/08/summer-grab-bag-part-one/) - As usual, there's no coherent pattern to what I spend my time watching. In the past few months, I given my overtaxed attention to quite a few movies from the '70s and '80s - British sex comedies and cop movies, Italian gialli, French and Spanish thrillers, Chinese martial arts movies and an Australian superhero musical - plus a pair of recent Korean action movies and two ultra-low-budget do-it-yourself movies from the '90s.
- [Winter 2024 viewing, part one: Severin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/02/winter-2024-viewing-part-one-severin/) - Time again to catalogue what I've been watching over the past couple of months, but haven't yet mentioned. First, a mix of throwaway low-brow entertainment and more interesting genre movies from Severin - Italian horror spanning from the '60s to the '90s, some low-budget exploitation, and a box set of minor movies featuring Peter Cushing.
- [Late summer viewing 2014, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/10/late-summer-viewing-2014-part-one/) - Horror, action, mindless violence and exploitation: summer viewing has involved a lot of switching off my brain and watching undemanding genre movies.
- [More folk horror, old and new](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/02/more-folk-horror-old-and-new/) - Three recent releases from England explore the survival into the modern world of ancient mystical forces, illustrating different aspects of folk horror. In Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre (2023) a pagan entity brings tragedy to a family; in Robert Wynne-Simmons’ The Outcasts (1982), villagers in 19th Century Ireland believe a farm girl is a witch: and in Peter Sasdy's The Stone Tape (1972), scripted by Nigel Kneale, a research team believe they've found the mechanism behind hauntings.
- [Sidney Lumet, from stage to screen](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/06/sidney-lumet-from-stage-to-screen/) - The Offence and Equus, two play adaptations from the 1970s, highlight Sidney Lumet's strengths and weaknesses as a filmmaker.
- [<i>Three Films by Luis Buñuel</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/01/three-films-by-luis-bunuel-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - By the end of his career Luis Bunuel had perfected a style both allusive and precise in its details, giving his work a unique charm fully on display in Criterion's new Blu-ray set of the final three features: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977).
- [A world of horror from Arrow and Severin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/02/a-world-of-horror-from-arrow-and-severin/) - Two recent box sets - Arrow's J-Horror Rising and Severin's All the Haunts Be Ours Vol. 2 - provide a dizzying range of horror and fantasy movies from multiple cultures and cinematic traditions. Each set includes a range of extras which illuminate not only the cultural differences but also similarities in theme and emotional impact displayed by these movies.
- [Summer grab-bag, part four: (almost) all the rest](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/09/summer-grab-bag-part-four-almost-all-the-rest/) - A quick survey of four dozen disks watched over the summer months.
- [Todd Haynes' <i>The Velvet Underground</i> (2021): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/todd-haynes-the-velvet-underground-2021-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Todd Haynes' documentary The Velvet Underground (2022) is as dense and illuminating as the band's music, providing a kaleidoscopic account of the creative explosion in music, art and film in New York in the 1960s out of which the band emerged for a brief, transformative moment of cultural change.
- [New limited editions from Second Sight, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/01/new-limited-editions-from-second-sight-part-two/) - Four new limited edition releases from Second Sight gave me a reason to revisit and to some degree re-evaluate movies I was quite familiar with. While my opinions may not have changed radically, each set did give me a new appreciation for the filmmakers' work, most particularly in the case of Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez's influential The Blair Witch Project (1999). The care and attention the company lavish on genre films - here, in addition to Blair Witch, the Ginger Snaps Trilogy (2000-04), Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor (2020) and Ti West's The Sacrament (2013) - is exemplary.
- [Looking back: Jeff Erbach's <i>The Nature of Nicholas</i> (2002)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/10/looking-back-jeff-erbachs-the-nature-of-nicholas-2002/) - It's a strange experience to find yourself looking back at work done more than two decades ago and finding yourself face-to-face with what now amounts to a different self. I got the opportunity this week when I attended a screening of Jeff Erbach's The Nature of Nicholas, a feature I edited in 2001 and hadn't seen in twenty years.
- [David Lynch 1946-2025: a very personal loss](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/01/david-lynch-1946-2025-a-very-personal-loss/) - The death of David Lynch has been deeply felt by countless fans and admirers around the world. For me, this is not just the loss of a hugely influential and original artist; it's the loss of a generous man whom I met through a chain of implausible events and whose generosity had a transformative effect on the course of my life and also on shaping the person I've become. The sense of loss is immeasurable.
- [<i>Combat!</i>  Television's Last "Good" War](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/12/combat-televisions-last-good-war/) - The classic series Combat! remains a landmark production; impressive scripts, cast and directors combine action with the moral and psychological impact of war.
- [Brief viewing notes, Winter 2019](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/02/brief-viewing-notes-winter-2019/) - A brief survey of recent viewing ranging from classics to contemporary, from class to cheese: thrillers, sci-fi and horror featuring black magic, killer robots, demons, evil stepdads and retro-'50s rock-n-roll biker gangs.
- [Compulsive Viewing: A Personal Pathology Part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/06/compulsive-viewing-a-personal-pathology-part-1/) - A survey of one month's movie watching.
- [New limited editions from Second Sight, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/01/new-limited-editions-from-second-sight-part-one/) - Two recent limited editions from Second Sight approach horror from very different angles - classic Hammer Gothic in Terence Fisher's Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974), and contemporary Right-wing violence in Jeremy Saulnier's Green Room (2015).
- [Ghostly excess](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/02/ghostly-excess/) - Ashley Thorpe's Borley Rectory (2017) is an eccentric, hand-crafted "animated documentary" about the notorious "most haunted house in England", using a small cast shot against green screen who are embedded in richly layered images reconstructed from old photographs. Calling up memories of silent film and spirit photography, Borley Rectory is a uniquely immersive spectral experience.
- [<i>Kubo and the Two Strings</i> (2016)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/09/kubo-and-the-two-strings-2016/) - With Kubo and the Two Strings, Laika Entertainment continue to expand the possibilities of stop-motion animation in a fantasy about the nature of storytelling.
- [George A. Romero's <i>The Amusement Park</i> (1975)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/10/george-a-romeros-the-amusement-park-1975/) - The rediscovery of a film commissioned by Lutheran Services from Pittsburgh's The Latent Image company in 1975 shines a light on a transitional stage of George A. Romero's career. The Amusement Park transforms a PSA about neglect of the elderly into a bleak nightmare of abuse and paranoia as Lincoln Maazel (Tata Cuda in Martin [1976]) is subjected to disdain, neglect and outright violence at a rundown amusement park.
- [The amateur passion of Michael J. Murphy](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/07/the-amateur-passion-of-michael-j-murphy/) - Although I've so far only watched four of the ten disks in Indicators monumental Magic, Myth & Mutilation: The Micro-Budget Cinema of Michael J. Murphy 1967-2015, it's time to say a few words about this remarkable English outsider artist whose ambition consistently outpaced limited resources; the set is an amazing act of recovery and preservation of a body of work which has survived only in compromised form, covering multiple genres and displaying the development of a genuine filmmaking talent. The most impressive release yet from one of the world's finest companies.
- [Claudio Simonetti's Goblin live](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/claudio-simonettis-goblin-live/) - Claudio Simonetti's Goblin ended their world tour with a dynamic show at Winnipeg's Park Theatre on December 10, 2018, playing the entire score of Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) live, followed by more than an hour of Goblin's greatest horror themes.
- [Basil Dearden, Humphrey Jennings, and the fires of London](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/basil-dearden-humphrey-jennings-and-the-fires-of-london/) - Basil Dearden's wartime drama The Bells Go Down bears a surprising similarity to Humphrey Jennings' propaganda documentary Fires Were Started.
- [Jean Eustache's <i>The Mother and the Whore</i> (1973): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2025/01/jean-eustaches-the-mother-and-the-whore-1973-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new release presents a stunning restoration of Jean Eustache's intimate epic The Mother and the Whore (1973), a bleak epitaph for the failed promise of social change which climaxed and crashed with the May 1968 uprising in Paris: a few years later, the film's characters are adrift and trying to rebuild a sense of themselves in a society which has rejected them and their dreams.
- [The exploitation art of Frederick R. Friedel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/06/the-exploitation-art-of-frederick-r-friedel/) - Severin's Blu-ray showcases the low budget art of independent filmmaker Frederick R. Friedel with excellent transfers of his two mid-'70s movies.
- [Two more British Films from Network](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/two-more-british-films-from-network/) - Network unearths two interesting titles from the '60s, Michael Winner's excellent West 11 and Christopher Morahan's strange anti-comedy All Neat In Black Stockings.
- [Sex in Movies: narrative interruptus](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/08/sex-in-movies-narrative-interruptus/) - Sex runs through the history of the movies as both spectacle and disrupter of narrative; Russ Meyer reveled in it, while Charlie Kaufman finds sadness.
- [Holiday viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/01/holiday-viewing/) - Yet another mixed bag of viewing from classic westerns to Asian fantasy/horror, black comedies and science fiction, musicals and monsters.
- [Fellini's <i>8½</i> (1963): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/fellinis-8½-1963-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Following the international success of La dolce vita (1960), Federico Fellini faced a crisis of confidence fuelled by the expectations of producers, critics and audiences waiting to see what he would do next; plunging into that uncertainty he transformed creative paralysis into the defining film of his career, an exuberant, prodigiously inventive fantasia which reinvented him as an artist. Throwing off the last traces of Italian Neorealism, in 8½ he embraced the messy chaos of life which became his enduring theme in all the films which followed. Criterion's 4K restoration once more makes the film fresh and vital.
- [Innocence and corruption in the films of Alexander Mackendrick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/04/innocence-and-corruption-in-the-films-of-alexander-mackendrick/) - Alexander Mackendrick (1912-1993), who was born in the United States but grew up in Scotland from the age of five, made only nine features between 1949 and 1969, when he took up a teaching position at the California Institute of the Arts. But within that limited output, he managed to create several masterpieces, including his
- [Discovering Theo Angelopoulos](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/01/discovering_theo_angelopoulos/) - Theo Angelopoulos' first feature is stylistically assured, confidently playing with narrative time as it deals with the investigation of crime in remote village
- [Byron Haskin's <i>The Power</i> (1968)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/10/byron-haskins-the-power-1968/) - Produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin, The Power (1968) is a low-key sci-fi thriller with a strong cast and a no-nonsense style, which was barely noticed when it was released in the same year as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes.
- [<i>It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World</i>: Stanley Kramer's struggle to be funny](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-world-stanley-kramers-struggle-to-be-funny/) - Wanting to make a comedy to end all comedy, serious-minded Stanley Kramer produced a bloated compendium of comedy styles which stubbornly refused to be funny.
- [Speed reviewing: 50 Capsule Comments](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/12/speed-reviewing-50-capsule-comments/) - Very brief comments on several dozen disks viewed over the past few months.
- [Peter Yates (1929-2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/peter-yates-1929-2011/) - Peter Yates died in London on January 9, aged 81. His two best-known films were Bullitt (1968) and Breaking Away (1979), and that perhaps indicates why he was not as widely known as many of his contemporaries. He directed a wide range of movies in many different genres, and for that reason never established a
- [Blu-rays from Network](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/blu-rays-from-network/) - Britain's Network are releasing a lot of previously hard to find movies on disk. Two new Blu-rays resurrect a couple of interesting titles from the '60s.
- [Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part five](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/fall-2024-viewing-round-up-part-five/) - Yet more notes on recent viewing, featuring horror - both high and low end - some documentaries and action movies, gritty realism and slick fantasy ... eclectic and somewhat random.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part ten](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-ten/) - Part eight of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers my introduction to the great Greek filmmaker Theodoros Angelopoulos, who addresses the fraught political history of 20th Century Greece in four thematically rich and visually stunning features made between 1972 and 1980.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part eight](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-eight/) - Part eight of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers German films groaning under the weight of history and the pressing need to construct an identity free of the past.
- [Too big to read ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/12/too-big-to-read/) - Anyone who has grown up around books, for whom reading is a vital activity, loves books not just for their content but as objects in and of themselves.
- [Pulp Epics](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/10/pulp-epics/) - Big budgets don't necessarily guarantee success in genre filmmaking; in fact, the bigger the budget the more likely a genre movie will be met with derision.
- ["Art films" and the nature of boredom](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/art-films-and-the-nature-of-boredom/) - An exchange between critics and readers in the NYTimes prompts some thoughts about the nature of boredom and why so many people get defensive about "art films".
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part nine](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-nine/) - In this, the longest section of my notes from the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival, I cover the English-language films from Britain, Australia and the U.S., which include documentaries, mainstream movies, films about sexuality and toxic chauvinism, class conflict and ennui.
- [Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part four](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/fall-2024-viewing-round-up-part-four/) - A few more of the movies I've been watching this Fall - the feature-length versions of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse homages; David Fincher's breakthrough thriller Se7en; David Wickes' two-part TV movie about history's most famous serial killer Jack the Ripper; Chuck Norris tackling an army of terrorists single-handed in Joseph Zito's Invasion U.S.A.: John Carpenter's disappointing remake of Village of the Damned; William Malone's stylishly confused on-line thriller fear dot come; and Maurice Devereaux's effective low-budget horror about the Biblical apocalypse End of the Line.
- [Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/12/fall-2024-viewing-round-up-part-three/) - Recent viewing includes a mix of horror, sci-fi and social commentary, from George A. Romero's Bruiser (2000), about an office drone whose social invisibility enables him to exact revenge on his abusers, to a pair of Mexican Gothic fantasies about a vampire count; from an Aussie Indiana Jones rip-off to late effects artist David Allen's passion project The Primevals, left unfinished at his death in 1999 but now completed by his friends.
- [Oh, the horror!](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/12/oh-the-horror/) - Recent viewing runs the horror gamut from low-budget exploitation to George Romero's bid for studio respectability to a really creepy Australian first feature.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part seven](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-seven/) - Part seven of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers Western European films charged with doses of Romanticism and existential despair.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part six](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-six/) - Part six of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers a handful of Eastern European films which range across history and politics and into fantasy.
- [Book Review: <i>They Came From Within</i> by Caelum Vatnsdal](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/book-review-they-came-from-within-by-caelum-vatnsdal/) - Caelum Vatnsdal argues that there's a distinctly Canadian genre of horror movies in his entertaining book They Came From Within
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>Ride the Pink Horse</i> (1947)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/03/criterion-blu-ray-review-ride-the-pink-horse-1947/) - Criterion's Blu-ray of Ride the Pink Horse is a revelation; the noir-inflected movie critiques post-war despair and finds a way to redeem its war-damaged hero.
- [<i>Columbia Horror</i> from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/columbia-horror-from-indicator/) - Indicator's new Columbia Horror box set collects six B-movies from the '30s and '40s, only half of which can honestly be called horror - the other three are adventure/crime movies. But all of them provide breezy, atmospheric entertainment, with strong casts (including Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Edward Van Sloan, Ralph Bellamy, Rose Hobart, Nina Foch and Fay Wray) and noirish cinematography.
- [Life and Death in the films of George A. Romero](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/12/life-and-death-in-the-films-of-george-a-romero/) - With the release of Second Sight's massive edition of George A. Romero's genre-defining Dawn of the Dead - all three cuts restored in 4K, plus commentaries and a supplementary disk with almost seven hours of new and archival documentaries and featurettes, and no less than three CDs of music including the complete Goblin soundtrack and hours of library tracks - the late, great director is given his due. Arrow's 2017 three-disk set of early features, Between Night and Dawn, illuminates how he got there.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part five](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-five/) - Part five of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers a pair of Latin American features.
- [Howard Hawks' <i>Scarface</i> (1932): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/howard-hawks-scarface-1932-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Howard Hawks' Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932), newly restored in 4K and released by Criterion in a dual-format edition as well as a stand-alone Blu-ray, is in many ways the most modern of the 1930s gangster movies, filled with Paul Muni's infectious energy as the ambitious Tony Cramonte, balanced by two string female characters (Karen Morley and Ann Dvorak), blending dark tragedy with streaks of comedy, and pushing violence as far as was possible in the years just before Hollywood established the Production Code.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part four](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-four/) - Part four of my account of the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival in 1981 covers a handful of Japanese films.
- [Fall 2024 viewing round-up, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/fall-2024-viewing-round-up-part-one/) - My Fall viewing has been the usual varied mix, with a number of new and classic Japanese movies, John Boorman's fantasy sequel to The Exorcist, Alex Garland's uncomfortably prescient depiction of America tearing itself apart, a slice of anti-drug exploitation from the late-'60s, and a surprising discovery from none other than Bert I. Gordon.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/11/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-three/) - The third instalment of my reviews from the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers three films from India and one from Pakistan.
- [Grindhouse rediscovery: Christina Hornisher's <i>Hollywood 90028</i> (1973)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/grindhouse-rediscovery-christina-hornishers-hollywood-90028-1973/) - Grindhouse Releasing have done a stellar job of resurrecting a little-known low-budget exploitation movie from the early '70s. Set on the fringes of the film business in Los Angeles, Hollywood 90028 (1973) was the only feature directed by Christina Hornisher who approached the story of a homicidal film cameraman with the cool detachment of a European director and an emphasis on the experience of women being exploited by the industry.
- [Flipside: the Art of Andy Milligan](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/07/flipside-the-art-of-andy-milligan/) - Despite a low reputation, exploitation filmmaker Andy Milligan exhibits obsessive filmmaking talent in BFI Flipside DVD release
- [Andrei Tarkovsky's <i>Stalker</i> (1979): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/07/andrei-tarkovskys-stalker-1979-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's Blu-ray presents Andrei Tarkovsky's masterpiece Stalker in a stunning new restoration which does full justice to its rich imagery and subtle soundscape.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-two/) - The second instalment of my review of what I saw at the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival in 1981 covers films from Thailand, Turkey, China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
- [Recent viewing - video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/recent-viewing-video/) - Catching up with some recent Blu-ray releases from the BFI. The surrealism of Jan Svankmajer and the Quay Brothers, plus early Barbet Schroeder and Pete Walker
- [An evening of Guy de Maupassant on film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/06/an-evening-of-guy-de-maupassant-on-film/) - Criterion's Blu-ray of Jean Renoir's A Day in the Country and an older DVD of Robert Wise's Mademoiselle Fifi represent the best of Guy de Maupassant on film.
- [The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/the-5th-hong-kong-international-film-festival-part-one/) - I recently unearthed a lengthy manuscript which I wrote when I attended my first film festival ' in Hong Kong in 1981 - reviewing, or at least commenting on, all fifty-six movies I saw over a sixteen day viewing marathon. These were some of my earliest critical writings and I'll risk embarrassing myself by presenting here, partly as an illustration of my still-forming understanding of cinema, partly because some of these movies seem to have vanished into complete obscurity. In part one, I cover the movies made in Hong Kong.
- [Sam Peckinpah's final western: <i>Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid</i> (1973)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/sam-peckinpahs-final-western-pat-garrett-and-billy-the-kid-1973/) - Criterion gives Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Sam Peckinpah's final, unfinished Western, stellar treatment in a two-disk Blu-ray set (also in a 4K UHD edition) with three different cuts plus extensive extras. The original theatrical release is presented alongside Peckinpah's final preview cut and a more polished 50th Anniversary edit which restores and refines much of the material originally removed after the director walked away from the project.
- [Seeing the world in black-and-white ... and shades of grey](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/01/seeing-the-world-in-black-and-white-and-shades-of-grey/) - The pleasures of B&W cinematography are on full display in Ken Hughes' Small World of Sammy Lee, shot on the streets of Soho by the great Wolfgang Suschitzky
- [Masahiro Shinoda's <i>Demon Pond</i> (1979): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/masahiro-shinodas-demon-pond-1979-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Japanese New Wave filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda uses a range of styles and registers to evoke Japan's tumultuous Twentieth Century history in the allegorical fantasy Demon Pond (1979), newly restored in 4K and released in dual formats by Criterion.
- [Hong Kong's Studio One cinema club](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/10/hong-kongs-studio-one-cinema-club/) - During an eight-month visit to Hong Kong in 1980-81, I took out a membership in a cinema club called Studio One. I recently came across the eight monthly schedules for their screenings and discovered that my memory of the movies I'd been to see varied widely. What makes one thing stick while another fades away? Damned if I know!
- [Viewing notes, March-April 2015: part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/05/viewing-notes-march-april-2015-part-two/) - Some impressions of the eclectic variety of movies I've watched in the past couple of months.
- [Robots "R" Us](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/08/robots-r-us/) - Fantasy and science fiction have long offered a means to explore what makes us human by having inventors create replicas of ourselves which in turn confront us.
- [Recent releases from the BFI](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/05/recent-releases-from-the-bfi/) - Recent BFI releases offer a selection of amateur and professional short films from the 1950s to the '80s in volume 3 of Flipside's Short Sharp Shocks series, as well as a provocative documentary lecture from filmmaker Nina Menkes which asserts that the apparatus of cinema itself is gendered and weighted against women.
- [Collecting in the time of plague](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/04/collecting-in-the-time-of-plague/) - A contest launched by Canadian distributor Unobstructed View has spurred me once again to take a look at my own movie collection ... another reminder that I have a seriously out-of-control habit!
- [Remember Paul Wendkos?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/remember-paul-wendkos/) - Although a very prolific director (of mostly television) from the 1950s to the '90s, Paul Wendkos isn't a well-known name today, though at his best he had a real flair for unsettling visuals which suited the burgeoning paranoia of the '70s. That style is well showcased in The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970) and The Mephisto Waltz (1971).
- [Late Boris Karloff on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/09/late-boris-karloff-on-blu-ray/) - Two new Blu-rays showcase excellent restorations of a pair of late Boris Karloff movies - Daniel Haller's Die, Monster, Die! (1965) from the BFI, Michael Reeves' The Sorcerers (1967) from 88 Films. Despite being unwell and in constant pain, in both Karloff gives committed performances which illustrate why he remained a beloved star for four decades.
- [Gerry O'Hara's <i>The Brute</i> (1977)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/02/gerry-oharas-the-brute-1977/) - Filmmaker Gerry O'Hara tackled the difficult subject of marital violence in the mid-'70s, at a time when such things weren't discussed in polite company. His use of exploitation tropes offended critics at the time for "trivializing" a serious subject which almost no one else was examining in popular media. Actually, O'Hara's treatment is quite intelligent and well-crafted.
- [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/08/andrei-tarkovsky/) - Criterion's recent Blu-ray release of Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972) spurred me to watch the film again for the first time in almost a decade. I originally saw Solaris in London in 1975, my initial experience of Tarkovsky, and while I now recognize that it's not his best work, I was enthralled. I've always liked films
- [Preliminary Notes on <i>Twin Peaks</i> 2017](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/12/preliminary-notes-on-twin-peaks-2017/) - By turns funny and frightening, gripping and frustrating, David Lynch's revival of Twin Peaks is a prodigiously inventive television epic.
- [Tod Solondz's <i>Happiness</i> (1998): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/09/tod-solondzs-happiness-1998-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - The cultural climate has changed in the quarter-century since the theatrical release of Tod Solondz's second feature and it's virtually impossible to imagine Happiness (1998) being made today. Controversial at the time, it seems even more explosive now. Its comedy of dysfunctional relationships is still pertinent, but its cool, even empathetic treatment of paedophilia and mass shootings forces the audience to engage in ways which bypass habitual responses and recognize the human element in monsters.
- [Roberto Gavaldón's <i>Untouched</i> (<i>Sombra Verde</i>, 1954) on Blu-ray from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/09/roberto-gavaldons-untouched-sombra-verde-1954-on-blu-ray-from-indicator/) - Indicator have taken a break from their recent spate of Mexican genre movies by dipping a little deeper into the Calderón family archives. Untouched (Sombra Verde, 1954) is a torrid romantic melodrama with allegorical notes which trades in the urban noir of a movie like Emilio Fernández's Victims of Sin (1950) for the primal jungle of Veracruz. Both were produced by Guillermo Calderón and show him pushing against the boundaries of censorship and testing how far cinema could push a frank depiction of sexuality in a society still very much under the sway of the Catholic Church.
- [Spanish horror, Gothic and modern](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/09/spanish-horror-gothic-and-modern/) - Severin's third Danza Macabra box set contains four Spanish movies from the early 1970s; it's a mixed bag, from the arty anthology Cake of Blood (1971) and the poorly realized Necrophagous (Miguel Madrid, 1971) to John Gilling's Cross of the Devil (1975), which echoes Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead movies (1972-75), and León Klimovsky's The Night of the Walking Dead (1975), in which a dying noblewoman is attracted to the vampire lifestyle. A more modern range of Spanish horrors is presented in Lionsgate's 3-disk DVD set 6 Films to Keep You Awake, a collection of short features produced in 2006 by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, who recruited other well-known genre filmmakers for a revival of his 1960s television anthology series Tales to Keep You Awake.
- [Intimidated by Art](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/09/intimidated-by-art/) - Two modest documentaries delve into the compulsion to create and the fraught relationship between creator and creation.
- [Recent big-screen viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/08/recent-big-screen-viewing/) - I don't get out to a theatre very often these days, so my choices of what to see are more judicious than they used to be, generally the work of directors I'm particularly interested in. The one dud is the latest superfluous entry in a franchise I've quite liked - Wes Ball's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - but the rest have been satisfying to some degree: George Miller's latest apocalyptic action epic, Furiosa; M. Night Shyamalan's Trap, which as usual I liked in contrast to the predictable critical derision: MaXXXine, the conclusion of Ti West's trilogy starring Mia Goth: and the small Canadian drama The Burning Season by sometime Winnipegger Sean Garrity.
- [Video Nasties Revisted](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/10/video-nasties-revisted/) - Jake West's doc about Britain's panic over the evils of home video is a fascinating examination of the political intentions and consequences of censorship.
- [Claude Autant-Lara's wartime romances: Eclipse #45](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/02/claude-autant-laras-wartime-romances-eclipse-45/) - Criterion have followed their fine Eclipse set of Julien Duvivier films with a collection of features by another French director pushed into obscurity by the New Wave: Claude Autant-Lara, represented here by four films made during the German Occupation.
- [Fede Alvarez's <i>Alien: Romulus</i> is a fine franchise reboot](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/08/fede-alvarezs-alien-romulus-is-a-fine-franchise-reboot/) - Bypassing Ridley Scott's tediously pretentious attempts to reboot the Alien franchise, co-writer/director Fede Alvarez strikes gold with Alien: Romulus, a relentlessly-paced, well-designed return to basics which manages to reference all four of the original movies while creating something which feels fresh and original.
- [Recent Severin viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/recent-severin-viewing/) - It's taken me a while to work through some of the many Severin box sets that have been piling up over the past year - the folk horror set All the Haunts Be Ours, House of Psychotic Women and the latest set of Italian movies Violent Streets: The Umberto Lenzi/Tomas Milian Collection - along with some 4K special editions of movies by Dario Argento and Alex de la Iglesia.
- [Brief comments, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/11/brief-comments-part-one/) - Brief notes on recent random viewing choices; a mixed bag of horror, fantasy, action, genre revisionism, satire and political thrillers.
- [Recent Viewing part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/05/recent-viewing-part-2-2/) - Notes on recently viewed DVDs
- [Murder, witchcraft, doppelgangers and stranded astronauts from Imprint](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/08/murder-witchcraft-doppelgangers-and-stranded-astronauts-from-imprint/) - A batch of new releases from Imprint in Australia introduced me to the first feature of Gordon Hessler, a noirish mystery called Catacombs (1965), and provided an opportunity to revisit Sidney Hayers' excellent supernatural tale Night of the Eagle (1962), Basil Dearden's doppelganger thriller The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), and for the first time since its theatrical release in 1970 John Sturges' Marooned, a movie which bridges the gap between science fiction and naturalistic drama which happens to involve a space mission.
- [Bill Duke's <i>Deep Cover</i> (1992): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/bill-dukes-deep-cover-1992-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Director Bill Duke uses a mixture of film noir and blaxploitation tropes to explore the political complexities of being Black in the U.S. in Deep Cover (1992), his neon-tinted crime drama about an undercover cop (Laurence Fishburne) infiltrating the West Coast cocaine trade, now released in an extras-loaded 4K restoration by Criterion.
- [<i>Columbia Noir #6: The Whistler</i>: Indicator Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/08/columbia-noir-6-the-whistler-indicator-blu-ray-review/) - Indicator's latest box set of noir B-movies is devoted to Columbia's series adapted from a popular radio show in which the mysterious Whistler observes and comments on the fates of various characters whose lives go off the rails. In the first seven movies, character actor Richard Dix suffers a variety of situations, sometimes as victim, sometimes as the perpetrator of murder; after the actor's death, the studio made one more film, replacing him with the bland Michael Duane, before retiring the Whistler for good.
- [Aussie horror and Mexican <i>luchadores</i> and <i>luchadoras</i> from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/08/aussie-horror-mexican-luchadores-and-luchadoras-from-indicator/) - Indicator continue to raise Mexican genre movies from obscurity with three recent limited editions of films by the prolific Rene Cardona Sr.: The Panther Women (1967), The Bat Woman (1968) and Santo vs the Riders of Terror (1970). In addition, they give substantial upgrades to a pair of early Ozploitation features - Richard Franklin's Patrick (1978) and Simon Wincer's Snapshot (1979).
- [Found-footage Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/10/found-footage-horror/) - A few years back, Francis Ford Coppola predicted that the future of film was an adolescent girl in the mid-west armed with a cheap camcorder. That hasn't exactly happened (yet[1]), but ever-evolving video technology has definitely had an effect on the movies we see. While new hi-def equipment is being used more and more frequently
- [Alfred Hitchcock's <i>PSYCHO</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/10/alfred-hitchcocks-psycho/) - Seeing Psycho again on the big screen is a reminder of what great movies can be
- [Mario Bava and Italian genre film: <i>Gialli</i> and Thrillers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/09/mario-bava-and-italian-genre-film-gialli-and-thrillers/) - Visual master Mario Bava virtually invented the Italian genre called giallo, influencing generations of filmmakers who built on his stylistic & thematic example.
- [The limits of list-making](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/07/the-limits-of-list-making/) - Any attempt at making a list of movie best-ofs opens a door for endless arguments because ultimately all value judgments are subjective.
- [Resurrecting a disparaged monster: <i>Reptilicus</i> (1961) in 4K](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/07/resurrecting-a-disparaged-monster-reptilicus-1961-in-4k/) - Frequently derided as the worst giant-monster-on-a-rampage movie ever made, Reptilicus (1961) gets a 4K restoration from Vinegar Syndrome in a three-disk, dual-format set which presents both the more familiar, shorter U.S. cut credited to Sidney W. Pink and the longer Danish-language version directed by Poul Bang. The effects are bargain-basement, but the movie has genuine charm and a few surprisingly impressive sequences.
- [Italian murders and Ninja intrigue from Radiance](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/07/italian-murders-and-ninja-intrigue-from-radiance/) - Recent Radiance releases include a pair of Italian police procedurals - Pietro Germi's neorealist noit The Facts of Murder (1959) and Luigi Comencini's satire on bourgeois hypocrisy The Sunday Woman (1975) - and some traditional and new wave martial arts from Japan with Yasuharu Hasebe's pop-art Black Tight Killers (1966) and a set of the first three movies in Daiei's Shinobi series of bleak Ninja movies, Satsuo Yamamoto's Band of Assassins (1962) and Revenge (1963) and Kazuo Mori's Ressurection (1963). And speaking of Ninjas, Neon Eagle have released a deluxe two-disk set of Godfrey Ho's patch-job Ninja Terminator (1964) and the original Korean movie cannibalized by Ho, Kim Si-hyun's The Univited Guest of the Star Ferry.
- [Kurt Maetzig (1911-2012)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/kurt-maetzig-1911-2012/) - The great East German director Kurt Maetzig died on August 8, 2012.
- [Glauber Rocha's <i>Black God, White Devil</i> (1964): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/07/glauber-rochas-black-god-white-devil-1964-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's two-disk Blu-ray release of Glauber Rocha's Black God, White Devil (1964) not only presents and impressive restoration of a key film in Brazilian cinema; it anchor's an impressive survey of the Cinema Novo movement which transformed that cinema in the early 1960s, with two feature-length documentaries - on Rocha himself and the larger movement - a commentary by the film's restoration supervisor, and a 1964 documentary about the cangaceiro outlaws who formed a crucial element in the background of Rocha's feature.
- [Representing Violence: <i>The Manson Family</i> (2003)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/representing-violence-the-manson-family-2003/) - Jim Van Bebber's 15-year obsession with the Manson Family murders results in a disturbing film digging deeply into the psychology and representation of violence
- [Sam Peckinpah's swansong: <i>The Osterman Weekend</i> (1983)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/07/sam-peckinpahs-swansong-the-osterman-weekend-1983/) - Imprint's two-disk limited edition of Sam Peckinpah's final film, The Osterman Weekend (1983), presents both the theatrical cut and the version Peckinpah initially handed to the producers - while there are numerous differences in the editing, neither version can make the murky story coherent. Some well-staged scenes and an interesting cast fail to breathe life into the Cold War paranoia and the filmmaker's career ends with an air of disinterest and exhaustion.
- [Early winter viewing, part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/12/early-winter-viewing-part-1/) - As the winter turns cold, I take another plunge into the depths of horror, exploitation, sex and death with a range of releases which vary widely in style and nationality. I just can't stay away from this stuff - maybe I need therapy?
- [Miguel Llansó's trash aesthetic](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/11/miguel-llansos-trash-aesthetic/) - Once again, Arrow Video introduces me to a previously unknown filmmaker whose work is wildly imaginative, playful and challenging. Their two-disk set of Miguel Llanso's Crumbs (2015) and Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (2019) is one of the year's most engaging releases.
- [Indicator's Hammer vol. 3: Imperialism, War & Race](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/09/indicators-hammer-vol-3-imperialism-war-race/) - Indicator's third box set of Hammer movies highlights some interesting issues about the treatment of race in popular culture.
- [Organized crime, political corruption and bourgeois complicity: four Italian Mafia movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/07/organized-crime-political-corruption-and-bourgeois-complicity-four-italian-mafia-movies/) - Radiance maintains its high standard with a pair of releases devoted to Italian films which tackle the intricate interconnections between organized crime, politics and civil society. Cosa Nostra (1968-75) is a three-disk set of collaborations between director Damiano Damiani and star Franco Nero which approach the theme using different genre tropes, while Pasquale Squitieri's The Iron Deputy (1977) presents historical context with the fact-based story of a crusading official who uses brutal methods to break the hold of the Mafia on Sicilian society in the 1920s.
- [<i>Paddington 2</i> (2017)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/01/paddington-2-2017/) - Paul King's second adaptation of Michael Bond's childrens' books about Paddington, a good-natured bear and his positive influence on the world around him, is every bit as good as the first film.
- [Catching up, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/03/catching-up-part-two/) - Continuing my notes on recently watched movies which I haven't written about in depth ...
- [Joseph Losey's <i>The Servant</i> (1963): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/07/joseph-loseys-the-servant-1963-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new 4K restoration of Joseph Losey's The Servant (1963) provides an excellent showcase for this pitch-black satire about the collapse of the British class system after World War Two and the dissolution of Empire. Harold Pinter's script (adapted from Robin Maugham's novella), Losey's direction, Douglas Slocombe's rich black-and-white cinematography and and a superlative cast - Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Wendy Craig and Sarah Miles - combine to create one of the defining British films of the 1960s.
- [Trawling the Internet](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/03/trawling-the-internet/) - With a little time and patience, it's possible to dig up obscure and interesting movies on the Internet - some public domain, others no doubt illegitimate, some in pretty poor shape, others looking just fine. Here's a collection of ones I recently discovered and generally enjoyed.
- [Genre On Disk, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/12/genre-on-disk-part-two/) - Smaller disk labels like Shout! Factory and Olive Films are taking up the slack left by big companies abandoning lower profile movies.
- [Recent viewing: miscellaneous disks](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/09/recent-viewing-miscellaneous-disks/) - A round-up of recently viewed disks from rediscovered classics to throwaway mainstream action; from horror and comedy to documentary.
- [More from Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/11/more-from-twilight-time/) - Twilight Time continues to release an interesting assortment of titles, often now with excellent commentaries and impressive supplemental material.
- [Cronenberg in transition: <i>Scanners</i> (1981)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/08/cronenberg-in-transition-scanners-1981/) - With Scanners, his occasionally gory telepath thriller, David Cronenberg made a significant move from low-budget horror towards the mainstream.
- [<i>The Alligator People</i>: Tragedy in the Key of B](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/the-alligator-people-tragedy-in-the-key-of-b/) - Roy Del Ruth's embarrassingly titled '50s B-movie is well written and atmospherically shot by Karl Struss, raising it above the level of its title.
- [Oscar who?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/oscar-who/) - I gave up on the Oscars in the late '70s, but find the power of marketing which has kept the Academy Awards internationally prominent fascinating.
- [Edgar G. Ulmer, B-movies, and the art of the low budget](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/08/edgar-g-ulmer-b-movies-and-the-art-of-the-low-budget/) - Edgar Ulmer, King of the Bs, brought a rigorous visual imagination to all his projects including Ruthless, a biting dissection of American capitalist obsession
- [Criterion Blu-ray review:</br>Luis Garcia Berlanga's <i>The Executioner</i> (1963)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/10/criterion-blu-ray-reviewluis-garcia-berlangas-the-executioner-1963/) - Criterion release Luis Garcia Berlanga's subtle masterpiece The Executioner (1963), a dark critique of life under Franco disguised as a domestic comedy.
- [Emilio Fernández's <i>Victimas del pecado</i>  (<i>Victims of Sin</i>, 1951): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/06/emilio-fernandezs-victimas-del-pecado-victims-of-sin-1951-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Emilio Fernández's Victimas del pecado (Victims of Sin, 1951), newly restored in 4K from the original nitrate negative, is a Mexican musical melodrama loaded with tragedy punctuated with ecstatic dance numbers from star Ninón Sevilla, who plays a cabaret dancer whose life is upended when she takes responsibility for an abandoned baby. Taut direction by Fernández and stunning photography by the masterful Gabriel Figueroa provide a remarkable showcase for Sevilla's considerable talent.
- [Seeing the world in black-and-white ... again](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/02/seeing-the-world-in-black-and-white-again/) - Three more black-and-white movies in excellent Blu-ray editions: Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die!, Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow and John Baxter's Love on the Dole.
- [Terence Fisher and science fiction](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/11/terence-fisher-and-science-fiction/) - Renowned British horror director Terence Fisher rarely tried his hand at science fiction; Blu-ray editions of his two best SF films have recently been released.
- [Recent viewing, part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/recent-viewing-part-2/) - You could make an interesting double bill out of Daniel Barber's Harry Brown (2009) and Joe Cornish's Attack the Block (2011). Both are set in crime-ridden British housing estates where residents are terrorized by youth gangs, both have a gritty tone which strives to create a sense of relevance and immediacy. But while they have
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Herk Harvey's <i>Carnival of Souls</i> (1962)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/07/criterion-blu-ray-review-herk-harveys-carnival-of-souls-1962/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray edition of Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (1962) restores the haunting power of this low-budget classic's mysterious imagery.
- [Roger Ebert 1942-2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/04/roger-ebert-1942-2013/) - Prominent movie critic Roger Ebert, made famous by his thumb on the PBS TV show Sneak Previews with fellow critic Gene Siskel, died on Thursday, April 4.
- [Leonard Cohen, Robert Altman and an elegy to a national myth](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/11/leonard-cohen-robert-altman-and-an-elegy-to-a-national-myth/) - Robert Altman's masterpiece, McCabe & Mrs Miller, finally gets a worthy disk release with a wonderful transfer and almost three hours of informative supplements
- [Masculinity under stress: late films by Sam Peckinpah and William Friedkin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/06/masculinity-under-stress-late-films-by-sam-peckinpah-and-william-friedkin/) - Two veteran directors, late in their careers, revisit their explorations if masculinity and violence in a pair of films which weren't well-received by critics: Sam Peckinpah's sole venture into the war movie genre Cross of Iron (1977) and William Friedkin's wilderness thriller The Hunted (2003)
- [Camp Losey](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/03/camp-losey/) - In the middle of a career striving for artistic seriousness, Joseph Losey took a diversion into camp with three movies in the late 1960s. Gorgeously photographed and rife with scenery-chewing, one s a dud, one a great Gothic psychodrama and the third ... well, it's simply unclassifiable.
- [Spring 2024 viewing, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/06/spring-2024-viewing-part-three/) - Yet more recent viewing, ranging from several documentaries about the intertwining of personal identity and the cultural products we attach ourselves to and consume to unsettling explorations of sex, violence and misogyny and an ambitious, though not entirely successful, work of folk horror from Switzerland.
- [Alex Cox's <i>Walker</i> (1987): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/05/alex-coxs-walker-1987-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's Blu-ray release of Alex Cox's masterpiece Walker (1987) revives this deconstruction of America's self-mythologizing at a time when its themes are more pertinent than ever; imperial attacks on domestic and foreign societies driven by a toxic mixture of religious self-righteousness and unfettered capitalist greed have been on the rise for decades and Walker traces the roots back to the mid-19th Century doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
- [Smart Sci-Fi](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/02/smart-sci-fi/) - Quiet, contemplative character-based science fiction movies feel like a refreshing oasis in a desert of big, loud, empty franchise blockbusters. James Gray's Ad Astra (2019), Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja's Ad Astra (2018), Sion Sono's The Whispering Star (2015) and Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer (2008) provide satisfaction on many levels.
- [Back to the '70s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/back-to-the-70s/) - Revisiting movies from the early 1970s, I recently watched Howard W. Koch's rather ugly cop feature Badge 373 (1973), with Robert Duvall as a rule-breaking, racist misogynist NYC detective; Willard (1971), Daniel Mann's adaptation of Stephen Gilbert's dark horror novel Ratman's Notebooks; and two features by George Roy Hill, his faithful adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut Jr's Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) and his most personal, and best, film The Great Waldo Pepper (1975).
- [Looking back ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/looking-back/) - A lot of my recent viewing has been catching up on a range of movies from the '60s through the '80s, some of which I saw when they were first released, while others weren't accessible to me at the time. These include some foreign classics ... and quite a bit of trash.
- [The revival of Flipside](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/06/the-revival-of-flipside/) - After a two year hiatus, the BFI has revived the Flipside series with three notable releases: Expresso Bongo, Beat Girl and the "lost" horror film Symptoms.
- [<i>Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/06/three-revolutionary-films-by-ousmane-sembene-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion follow their 2021 edition of Ousmane Sembène's Mandabi (1968) with a three-disk set showcasing the features he made in the 1970s, works which continued his exploration of African identity in the shadow of centuries of colonial oppression. Emitaï (1971), Xala (1975) and Ceddo (1977) range across two centuries, from the pre-colonial incursions of Christianity and Islam to the brutality of French colonial oppression and on to the political corruption of the post-colonial era.
- [Ousmane Sembène's <i>Mandabi</i> (1968): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/02/ousmane-sembenes-mandabi-1968-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Known as the "father of African cinema", Ousmane Sembene's films grapple with issues of identity in the complex social and political conditions of post-colonial Africa. His second feature (and first in colour) Mandabi (1968) is a tragi-comedy about a proud man clinging to an outmoded patriarchal role whose life is upended when a nephew working in France sends him a money order for 25,000 francs.
- [Ghosts, demons and cinematic experiments](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/05/ghosts-demons-and-cinematic-experiments/) - The new MUBI seven-disk set of Lars von Trier's The Kingdom provides an opportunity to re-visit the original two seasons from 1994 and 1997 and finally see the elaborate blend of satire, soap opera and ghost story reach some kind of conclusion with the third season made in 2022; while it proves impossible to attain the unique energy of the original, which achieved a perfect balance between horror and comedy, The Kingdom: Exodus does tie up many of the loose ends left dangling for twenty-five years. An even stranger piece of experimental horror has been restored by Le Chat Qui Fume with their 4K edition of Leslie Stevens' Incubus (1966) in which a pre-Kirk William Shatner confronts demons while speaking Esperanto.
- [Dan Ireland and <i>The Whole Wide World</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/04/dan-ireland-and-the-whole-wide-world/) - Dan Ireland, director of The Whole Wide World (1996), died on April 14, aged 57.
- [Spring 2024 viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/05/spring-2024-viewing-part-two/) - Continuing my survey of what I've been watching this Spring... Mondo Macabro Mondo Macabro is a label I haven't mentioned much here, though they specialize in genre movies from around the world and I've discovered some real oddities through them – like H. Tjut Djalil's Mystics in Bali (1981) and Juan Lopez Moctezuma's Alucarda (1975).
- [Rhyming Pairs](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/03/rhyming-pairs/) - Recent viewing has included three pairs of movies - two Anime features from 2016, two thrillers from 1967 and 1972 by English directors, and a pair of gritty horror-tinged thrillers from 1979 and 1981 which transcend their exploitation roots.
- [The short career of Michael Reeves](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/03/the-short-career-of-michael-reeves/) - British director Michael Reeves was only 25 when he died of a drug overdose in 1969. This fact has placed quite a burden on the work which he left behind – three low-budget features made in three years. For a long time fans in particular of his final film, Witchfinder General, lamented the loss of
- [Speed reviewing, Nov. 2019](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/speed-reviewing-nov-2019/) - Horror, westerns science fiction, crime, magic, demons, vampires, zombies, witches, a one-legged detective, people trapped in a deadly house, a damsel in distress and a film editor driven mad by cheap exploitation movies ...
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>Vengeance is Mine</i> (1979)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/09/criterion-blu-ray-review-vengeance-is-mine-1979/) - Shohei Imamura's chilling fact-based film. on Criterion BRD, about a serial killer is shot through with anger and satirical jabs at post-war Japanese society.
- [Spring 2024 viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/05/spring-2024-viewing-part-one/) - Springtime viewing includes monsters and murderous mayhem, found-footage rawness and classical Hollywood craft, psycho killers and ancient evil, along with a couple of westerns with different attitudes towards violence on the frontier.
- [Acting Up a Storm](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/03/acting-up-a-storm/) - Three recent disks showcase performances by interesting actors - Klaus Kinski, Udo Kier, and Peter Cushing - in less-than-reputable movies.
- [Recent releases from the BFI, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/05/recent-releases-from-the-bfi-part-two/) - A wildly varied selection of recent releases from the BFI, with Pat Jackson's Western Approaches (1944) transforming propaganda into art via Jack Cardiff's Technicolor photography; Roddy McDowall's The Ballad of Tam Lin (1970) infusing folk horror with the Hollywood glamour of Ava Gardner; and Ken Russell turning the famous 1816 house party presided over by Lord Byron on the shores of Lake Geneva into a fever dream of the Romantics' fascination with love and death in Gothic (1987)
- [Chad Crawford Kinkle's folk horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/12/chad-crawford-kinkles-folk-horror/) - Arrow's recent two-disk Blu-ray set showcases Chad Crawford Kinkle's distinctive approach to folk horror in his subtle and disturbing features Jug Face (2013) and Dementer (2019), both of which centre on women whose lives are overshadowed by dark religious forces.
- [Art of the Comic Strip: <i>Dear Mr. Watterson</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/art-of-the-comic-strip-dear-mr-watterson/) - First-time documentary filmmaker Joel Allen Schroeder sketches the history of a popular art form through his enthusiastic love letter to Calvin & Hobbes.
- [The "good German" in war movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/the-good-german-in-war-movies/) - in the 1950s, with Germany an important ally against the Soviet bloc, popular culture made an effort to rehabilitate the former enemy by showing "good Germans".
- [Late winter 2023: Vinegar Syndrome and partners](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/04/late-winter-2023-vinegar-syndrome-and-partners/) - Emerging from the depths of winter, I glance back at a motley collection of movies watched over the past few months -- this batch all from Vinegar Syndrome: sleaze, horror, sex and violence, war, comedy, action, fantasy and lo-fi science fiction, plus the first feature I've ever seen from Tunisia.
- [Exiles at war](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/10/exiles-at-war/) - Two German emigre directors avoid Hollywood war movie cliches in a pair of Blu-rays from Masters of Cinema: Fritz Lang's anti-nuclear Cloak and Dagger (1946) and Billy Wilder's suspenseful character drama Five Graves to Cairo (1943).
- [Mikhail Kalatozov's <i>I Am Cuba</i> (1964): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/04/mikhail-kalatozovs-i-am-cuba-1964-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Mikhail Kalatozov's I Am Cuba (1964) uses the striking cinematography of Sergei Urusevsky to create a fever dream version of the Cuban Revolution, a series of archetypal moments of oppression and resistance leading to an ecstatic explosion of justified communal violence. Filled with heightened emotions rendered in breathtaking images and seemingly impossible camera movements, the film looks gorgeous in a 4K restoration on Criterion's Blu-ray.
- [Sophie Compton & Reuben Hamlyn's <i>Another Body</i> (2023): deep-fake porn and stolen identity](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/04/sophie-compton-reuben-hamlyns-another-body-2023-deep-fake-porn-and-stolen-identity/) - Sophie Compton & Reuben Hamlyn's Another Body (2023) is an unsettling documentary which is also a horror movie and a detective story; when a college student discovers that she's a victim of deep-fake revenge porn and that the legal authorities can't/won't do anything about it, she sets about tracking down the identity of her victimizer - which takes her to really disturbing corners of the Internet - and regains some control over her own identity.
- [The lasting pleasures of second-tier golden age Universal horror movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/04/the-lasting-pleasures-of-second-tier-golden-age-universal-horror-movies/) - Three two-disk sets from Eureka provide an overview of Universal Studios' horror movies from the mid-'30s to the early '50s, in the period when the first wave of early sound horrors petered out and briefly flourished again as low-budget B-movies as the Depression gave way to World War Two. Karloff and Lugosi are joined by notable, if lesser, genre figures like Lionel Atwill and Rondo Hatton in a mix of science fiction and the supernatural, with gangsters and Gothic trappings spicing the mix.
- [The subjectivity of watching: Bertrand Tavernier's <i>Death Watch</i> (1980)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/11/the-subjectivity-of-watching-bertrand-taverniers-death-watch-1980/) - Sometimes sharing a favourite movie with a friend produces unexpected responses.
- [Buddy Giovinazzo's American Nightmares](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/04/buddy-giovinazzos-american-nightmares/) - Severin's recent release of Buddy Giovinazzo's fourth feature, The Unscarred (2000), on disk reconfirms this outsider as an intriguing auteur; a chamber piece in which the psychological games of four old friends grown increasingly darker is a taut, polished piece of work which sent me back to watch his raw first feature, Combat Shock (1986), again. As technically different as the two movies are, both reveal a filmmaker with a bleak view of the world tempered by a deep empathy for broken people.
- [Movie Ad Mania](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/07/movie-ad-mania/) - Going through old newspaper archives stirs nostalgic memories about movie-going in pre-home-video days
- [See Max, see Max run ... in his underwear](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/08/see-max-see-max-run-in-his-underwear/) - Some movies are so odd it's hard to see how they came to be made ... like The Night Visitor (1971), with its pulpy plot and cast of major international stars.
- [<i>Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers</i> on Blu-ray from Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/03/tod-brownings-sideshow-shockers-on-blu-ray-from-criterion/) - Criterion's two-disk Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers showcases three of the director's best movies, including the peak of his long collaboration with Lon Chaney in The Unknown (1927) and Browning's masterpiece Freaks (1932) along with the lesser-known The Mystic (1925). Fine 2K transfers and some illuminating extras leave you hoping that more of Tod Browning's work will turn up on disk in restored versions.
- [William Dieterle's <i>All That Money Can Buy</i> (1941): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/03/william-dieterles-all-that-money-can-buy-1941-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - William Dieterle's All That Money Can Buy aka The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) mixes self-aggrandizing national myth with a dark allegory of Capitalism in which a desperate New England farmer sells his soul to the Devil for wealth and power which he learns too late doesn't bring happiness. Criterion's new 4K restoration is visually stunning.
- [<i>John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958</i>: Indicator Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/05/john-ford-at-columbia-1935-1958-indicator-blu-ray/) - Indicator's four-disk John Ford at Columbia 1935-1958 box set raises some interesting questions about the nature of auteurism and how the ways in which a filmmaker comes to be defined influence how different films are viewed. Two of the movies in the set - The Whole Town's Talking (1935) and Gideon's Day (1958) - tend to be seen as minor and extraneous to Ford's core body of work, yet both are among his most entertaining even if they don't advance his familiar thematic preoccupations.
- [Exploring the nature of artistic inspiration: Alexandre O. Philippe's <i>Lynch/Oz</i> (2022)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/03/exploring-the-nature-of-artistic-inspiration-alexandre-o-philippes-lynch-oz/) - Alexandre O. Philippe's Lynch/Oz explores the connections between Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz (1939) and the works of David Lynch through interviews with six filmmakers and a critic, discovering numerous reference points though the the ways in which inspiration affects meaning remain frustratingly unclear.
- [DVD of the Week: <i>The World, the Flesh & the Devil</i> (1959)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/02/dvd-of-the-week-the-world-the-flesh-the-devil/) - Many of us who live in relative urban comfort enjoy experiencing a vicarious struggle for survival through books and movies. This goes back at least as far as 1719 and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (how many times has that been filmed?). Crusoe, like many wilderness narratives, focuses on an individual separated from society, having to
- [Winter 2024 viewing, part four: More other labels](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/03/winter-2024-viewing-part-four-more-other-labels/) - Yet more wide-ranging genre viewing - from classic and modern samurai to spaghetti western and '40s supernatural noir and '70s hard-boiled romance, '50s exploitation horror to Hitler, Bigfoot and haunted 12" vinyl.
- [Winter viewing: Severin Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/03/winter-viewing-severin-films/) - Bingeing has been my default viewing mode for some time, but it's only more recently that it's come to encompass indulging in multiple releases by a particular company - which in turn is a result of those company's offering regular sales and discount packages of monthly releases. The most prominent examples of this are Vinegar Syndrome and Severin Films, both of which specialize in genre and exploitation titles, pulling me into deep, often sordid, black holes.
- [Walter Matthau, man of action?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/walter-matthau-man-of-action/) - The series of ten Martin Beck novels written by Swedish husband and wife Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall between 1965 and 1975 are not entirely conventional mysteries. They are police procedurals which focus on the tedious sifting of facts and clues which may or may not lead anywhere, in which accident and coincidence often abruptly
- [Winter 2024 viewing, part three: Other labels](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/03/winter-2024-viewing-part-three-other-labels/) - More recent viewing, with excellent restorations of classic fantasies by Arrow - Roger Vadim's Barbarella (1968) and John Milius' Conan the Barbarian (1982); a pair of impressive German film school projects - Tilman Singer's Luz (2018) and Lukas Feigelfeld's Hagazussa (2017); a couple of entertaining Australian features which mix fiction and documentary in interesting ways - Brian Trenchard-Smith's Stunt Rock (1978) and Aaron McCann and Dominic Pearce's Top Knot Detective (2017): and Shredder Orpheus (1990), a low-budget indie version of the Orpheus myth made by Seattle musicians and skateboarders.
- [Euro Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/10/euro-horror/) - Minor Euro-horror gets the deluxe treatment in several releases from Blue Underground, Grindhouse Films and Severin; three features by Dutch director Dick Maas - De Lift (1983), Amsterdamned (1988) and Down (2001) - and three from Lucio Fulci - Cat in the Brain (1990), Aenigma (1987) and Demonia (1990) - along with Simone Scafidi's Fulci for Fake (2019), an illuminating documentary about Fulci.
- [Book Review: <i>Showmen, Sell It Hot!</i> by John McElwee](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/book-review-showmen-sell-it-hot-by-john-mcelwee/) - Greenbriar Picture Show's John McElwee has written a fascinating study of movie marketing from the exhibitor's POV in Showmen, Sell It Hot!
- [<i>Kaiju</i> mania](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/12/kaiju-mania/) - Like a monumental battle between formidable rival kaiju, Criterion and Arrow have released competitive Blu-ray sets devoted to Japanese monster movies. Criterion's Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films 1954-1975 and Arrow's Gamera: The Complete Collection offer eight disks of monster mayhem in packages too big to fit on my shelves. Binging more than two-dozen of these movies dragged my brain blissfully back to childhood.
- [<i>Lost Soul</i>: Richard Stanley vs Hollywood commerce](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/08/lost-soul-richard-stanley-vs-hollywood-commerce/) - Lost Soul tells the fascinating story of Richard Stanley's failed attempt to film The Island of Dr. Moreau, a quirky artist falling foul Hollywood commerce.
- [Recent Viewing 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/recent-viewing-2/) - A selection of recently viewed movies, ranging from Pasolini's Gospel According to Matthew to Ken Burns' documentary Prohibition.
- [Johnnie To's <i>The Heroic Trio</i>/<i>Executioners</i> (1993): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/02/johnnie-tos-the-heroic-trio-executioners-1993-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Before attaining international critical success with a series of cool, formally precise thrillers, Johnnie To made a pair of wildly inventive superhero movies fraught with anxiety about the approaching hand over of Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997. The Heroic Trio and Executioners (both 1993) mix fantasy, science fiction, traditional martial arts and modern action into a potent dystopian stew centred on three of Hong Kong's biggest female stars - Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh and Maggie Cheung. Criterion's three-disk dual-formal edition showcases stunning restorations by L'Immagine Ritrovata.
- [Satyajit Ray's <i>Apu Trilogy</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/02/satyajit-rays-apu-trilogy-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy, which follows the life of its titular character from birth to a difficult adulthood, from an impoverished rural village to India's crowded cities, recognized as a masterpiece of world cinema, shines in Criterion's new dual-format edition.
- [Fall 2023 viewing, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/10/fall-2023-viewing-part-three/) - Something for everyone this week - killer clowns, sea monsters, Gothic horrors, a high-speed ambulance and haunted buildings, werewolves, Nazi cannibals and anatomical abnormalities, murder and madness.
- [Recent Documentary Viewing, Part 1:</br> <i>Paradise Lost Trilogy</i> (1996-2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/09/recent-documentary-viewing-part-1-paradise-lost-trilogy-1996-2011/) - Taken together, Berlinger and Sinofsky's documentary trilogy about the West Memphis Three constitute a profound analysis of the fragility of proof and certainty
- [Who are we to laugh at the past?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/who-are-we-to-laugh-at-the-past/) - We tend to feel superior to the styles, attitudes and behaviour of earlier generations, forgetting that we'll probably look ridiculous to those who come after us. Two Kino Lorber Blu-rays, Julian Roffman's The Bloody Brood (1959) and Robert Thom's Cult of the Damned (1969), offer interesting time capsules.
- [Fessenden and Stanley, together again](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/07/fessenden-and-stanley-together-again/) - Having recently watched the latest features of Richard Stanley and Larry Fessenden, I decided to revisit their earlier work via Blu-ray upgrades of my DVD copies of Stanley's Hardware (1990) and Fessenden's No Telling (1991), Habit (1995), Wendigo (2001) and The Last Winter (2006). All these movies remain fresh and showcase their respective director's skill in using genre to explore larger themes.
- [New features by two favourites](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/new-features-by-two-favourites/) - The label "visionary" gets tossed around far too easily, but it does apply to two filmmakers whose work begins in genre conventions yet rises to explore themes of horror and human fallibility in complex and original way: too long absent from the screen, Richard Stanley and Larry Fessenden have returned with some of the best work they've ever done - the former with the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out Of Space and the latter with Depraved, a modern meditation on the narrative and themes of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
- [The early films of Sydney Pollack](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/01/the-early-films-of-sydney-pollack/) - In his early work, Sydney Pollack explored various genres from a distinctly literary perspective before becoming a maker of prestige, middlebrow Hollywood entertainments; excellent Blu-ray presentations of his best features reveal a promise not entirely fulfilled in a long career.
- [Movies and reality intersect in two recent releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/01/movies-and-reality-intersect-in-two-recent-releases/) - Our relationship to movies is complex; we know that we're watching illusions, yet the intellectual and emotional responses we experience are very real. Movies give us access to a seemingly infinite range of experiences which take us out of out immediate lives. Two recent releases delve into this phenomenon in visceral ways -- Giuliano Montaldo's Closed Circuit (1978) addresses the metaphysics of movie watching with humour and suspense, while Charlie Victor Romeo (2013) provides disturbing access to an aspect of real life we might prefer not to think about: the moments during which flight crews try to deal with catastrophic technical failures immediately preceding air crashes.
- [Winter viewing 2: Vinegar Syndrome partners](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/winter-viewing-2-vinegar-syndrome-partners/) - Recent releases from various Vinegar Syndrome partner labels offer a wide range of styles, from low-budget direct-to-video horror (Ronnie Sortor's Sinistre [1995], Charles Pinion's Red Spirit Lake [1993] and We Await [1996]) to a rediscovered slice of Cold War sci-fi/espionage from Switzerland (Jean-Louis Roy's The Unknown Man of Shandigor [1967]).
- [Arrow's <i>Savage Guns: 4 Classic Westerns</i> on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/01/arrows-savage-guns-4-classic-westerns-on-blu-ray/) - Arrow's third collection of spaghetti westerns, Savage Guns, brings together another four movies which display the range and flexibility of the genre, from Lucio Fulci's elegiac and mystical The Four of the Apocalypse (1975) to Mario Camus' veiled political criticisms of the Franco regime in Wrath of the Wind (1970) and Paolo Bianchini's intersection of personal motives and historical events in I Want Him Dead (1968). Edoardo Mulargia’s El Puro (1969), about a drunken gunfighter forced back into action, is the most conventional of the four features.
- [Thanksgiving viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/10/thanksgiving-viewing/) - Thanksgiving weekend brought an excess of eating and drinking (but no turkey!) and three great movies - plus one dud.
- [Boxed in ... the urge to collect](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/01/boxed-in-the-urge-to-collect/) - Special editions of movies on disk, accompanied by all manner of ephemera, enhance the pleasure of watching for those of us infected with the collector bug.
- [<i>The Criminal Acts of Tod Slaughter</i> on Blu-ray from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/01/the-criminal-acts-of-tod-slaughter-on-blu-ray-from-indicator/) - Indicator closed 2023 with one of their finest offerings yet - a four-disk, eight film box set of blood-and-thunder melodramas produced, and mostly directed, by George King and starring the inimitable Tod Slaughter as a roster of heinous villains portrayed with gleeful enthusiasm by an actor who devoted his long career to preserving an art form incubated on Victorian stages and largely fallen out of favour by the time these films preserved it with such relish. With striking restorations, mostly from original nitrate negatives, supplemented with commentaries, interviews and Slaughter-related ephemera, this is definitely the highlight of the past year. What's in a name? Most don't evoke any particular impression before you meet the person, but some conjure up such a strong image that you have to believe they were bestowed with a purpose. Hearing the name Tod Slaughter and knowing that he was an actor who specialized in Victorian-style melodramas, on both stage and Indicator closed 2023 with one of their finest offerings yet - a four-disk, eight film box set of blood-and-thunder melodramas produced, and mostly directed, by George King and starring the inimitable Tod Slaughter as a roster of heinous villains portrayed with gleeful enthusiasm by an actor who devoted his long career to preserving an art form incubated on Victorian stages and largely fallen out of favour by the time these films preserved it with such relish. With striking restorations, mostly from original nitrate negatives, supplemented with commentaries, interviews and Slaughter-related ephemera, this is definitely the highlight of the past year.
- [Year End 2019](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/year-end-2019/) - The usual year-end round-up - not necessarily the best movies or disks, but some of the ones I most enjoyed, from high art to entertaining trash. The sheer range of what's available should lay to rest any lingering rumours about the demise of physical media.
- [Year End 2023](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2024/01/year-end-2023/) - It's that time of year again ... a glance back to see whether time has been well-spent or wasted watching a daunting array of movies.
- [Elia Kazan's <i>A Face in the Crowd</i> (1957): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/05/elia-kazans-a-face-in-the-crowd-1957-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - The Criterion Collection presents a new 4K restoration of Elia Kazan's best film, A Face in the Crowd (1957). The excellent image showcases two of the finest performances of the 1950s: Andy Griffith in his screen debut as the countryboy-turned-demagogue Lonesome Rhodes and Patricia Neal as the smalltown radio reporter who discovers him and facilitates his rise to national stardom.
- [Vinegar Syndrome January releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/02/vinegar-syndrome-january-releases/) - Vinegar Syndrome begin 2023 by casting a wide net to gather a range of exploitation movies from Hong Kong, Mexico and the U.S. It's a mixed bag encompassing Stuart Gordon's classic H.P. Lovecraft adaptation From Beyond (1986), three extreme horrors featuring iconic actor Anthony Wong, a sordid Mexican movie about a psychopath killing and raping for Satan, and Tom Chaney's Frostbiter (1995), a derivative low-budget horror from Michigan featuring ambitious special effects, miniatures, stop-motion animation and Evil Dead-inspired excess.
- [DVD diary: another eclectic week – part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/dvd-diary-another-eclectic-week-part-one/) - If anything, my viewing seems to be becoming more random these days. I mean to apply some order to what I watch – to view the new Silent Naruse set from Criterion Eclipse, or the Columbia Sam Fuller Collection from two years ago which I recently got hold of – but there are so many
- [<i>Martin</i> (1976): George A. Romero's masterpiece](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/04/martin-1976-george-a-romeros-masterpiece/) - Although overshadowed by his hugely influential cycle of zombie movies, Martin (1976), George A. Romero's treatment of vampirism, is his finest work, a complex and subtle meditation on myth, madness, violence and social collapse in mid-'70s America. Second Sight's 4K restoration finally gives this masterpiece the release it deserves.
- [Damned Treason](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/10/damned-treason/) - Rene Clement's The Damned and the Boulting Brothers' High Treason offer fascinating insights into the post-war world and the beginning of the Cold War.
- [Notes on melodrama and film history](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/10/notes-on-melodrama-and-film-history/) - Criterion releases some high-end trash with an extras-packed edition of Valley of the Dolls, and Graham Greene offers interesting insights on movies in the '30s
- [Allen Baron's <i>Blast of Silence</i> (1961): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/12/allen-barons-blast-of-silence-1961-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - In the early days of cinema in the United States, production was centred on the East Coast, but, dependent on weather and reliable sunshine, it didn't take long before filmmakers moved West to Southern California. New York remained the key centre for theatre, which became important in the post-war years as television emerged as a
- [Dario Argento in decline](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/02/dario-argento-in-decline/) - Four of Dario Argento's later movies reveal a filmmaker in decline - but they all get excellent Blu-ray releases with pristine transfers and lots of extras. This is a mixed blessing for fans of Argento's great movies from the '70s and '80s, who can see the movies' weaknesses, but nonetheless appreciate occasional flashes of visual and narrative invention.
- [Five Shades of B](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/10/five-shades-of-b/) - Since the end of the studio system, the term B-movie has come to refer more to content than budget; recent viewing covers a range of styles in this loose category.
- [Nelson Pereira dos Santos' ethnographic satire: <br><i>How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman</i> (1971)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/05/nelson-pereira-dos-santos-ethnographic-satire-how-tasty-was-my-little-frenchman-1971/) - With the recent death of Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos, I've just re-watched his feature How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971), an ethnographic/historical/satirical depiction of the beginnings of European colonization of South America in the 16th Century.
- [Quality control](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/quality-control/) - Bootleg editions of John Baxter's 1941 Love on the Dole and Nigel Kneale's 1954 TV adaptation of 1984 offer technically problematic copies of important films
- [Recent Noir releases from Indicator and Arrow](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/12/recent-noir-releases-from-indicator-and-arrow/) - Indicator's Universal Noir #2 box set gathers six minor movies from the late 1940s, most of which can only qualify as noir if the definition is severely stretched, while William Wyler's consummate craft lifts B-movie tropes to the level of art in The Desperate Hours (1955), beautifully restored on Arrow's new Blu-ray edition.
- [Rethinking Kane and Chain Saws](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/rethinking-kane-and-chain-saws/) - However many times you watch a movie, there's always a possibility to see something new and find new responses which surprise you out of complacent familiarity - two recent cases in point: Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
- [Winter viewing 3: Severin and Fractured Visions](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/winter-viewing-3-severin-and-fractured-visions/) - Continuing my quick survey of genre movies I watched over the past couple of months, I move on to a number of Severin releases, which include a few transgressive titles from the '80s, pulpy kitsch from the '60s and a couple of bargain-basement Italian zombie movies. There are also two excellent poliziotteschi from a relatively new label in the UK.
- [Recent viewing: March-April 2018, Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/04/recent-viewing-march-april-2018-part-two/) - More eclectic recent viewing, from 1970s detective noir to an Italian anthology from the '60s to Japanese horror and classic '50s sci-fi.
- [Don Shebib's Canadian working class poetry: <i>Goin' Down the Road</i> (1970) and its sequel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/11/don-shebibs-canadian-working-class-poetry-goin-down-the-road-1970-and-its-sequel/) - Don Shebib, who died on November 5 at the age of 85, left an indelible mark on Canadian cinema with his first feature, Goin' Down the Road (1970), a raw, realist depiction of the country's economic inequalities and the failed dreams of a pair of working class friends who leave impoverished Nova Scotia for the promised land of Toronto.
- [Claude Chabrol's <i>La cérémonie</i> (1995): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/11/claude-chabrols-la-ceremonie-1995-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Four decades into a career which began with the New Wave, Claude Chabrol delivered a masterpiece with La cérémonie (1995), a psychological mystery adapted from a Ruth Rendell novel. Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert play a pair of working class women whose bitterness and resentment drive them on a collision course with the bourgeois Lelievre family. Criterion's new Blu-ray edition provides some illuminating supplements on the director and his two stars.
- [More from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/05/more-from-indicator/) - Recent disks from Indicator present a wide variety of styles and genres from bleak '60s espionage to slick 1970s big studio exploitation, charming period comedy to enjoyable if less-than-scary horror.
- [Watching Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/03/watching-horror/) - The Halloween franchise flogged an already weak concept to death, but smaller films like Stuart Gordon's Dolls offer more genuine horror.
- [Ken Russell (1927-2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/ken-russell-1927-2011/) - Obituary for film director Ken Russell, focusing on his 1971 historical drama The Devils
- [More genre viewing - late Fall 2018: Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/more-genre-viewing-late-fall-2018-part-two/) - Recently viewed Blu-rays from Severin films include a range of Italian horrors featuring zombies, necrophilia and Lovecraftian gods, a revisionist vampire tale from the golden age of Ozploitation, and an unsettling experimental adaptation of a Lovecraft story from Sweden.
- [Recent viewing: November 2015](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/12/recent-viewing-november-2015/) - A grab-bag of recently watched movies, some old, some new, covering a wide range of genres and styles.
- [Recent Arrow viewing, Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/05/recent-arrow-viewing-part-two/) - Yet another wide range of titles from Arrow Video from a restored silent classic to aliens over Tokyo, woods infested with zombies, food which consumes those who eat it, apocalypse in an alternate future Los Angeles, friendship destroyed by political conflicts, rich people facing the loss of their wealth and a naively admiring time capsule of the U.S. on the brink of the '60s.
- [A 3D New Year](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/01/a-3d-new-year/) - Finally getting a chance to test home 3D viewing, I found it had some novelty value, but may not hold much long-term interest.
- [Two Godzilla novellas by Shigeru Kayama](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/11/two-godzilla-novellas-by-shigeru-kayama/) - The publication of a pair of novellas aimed at young adults, first published in 1955 and now translated for the first time into English, adds an interesting footnote to the history of Godzilla and restores writer Shigeru Kayama to his key place as the creator of the original story which was adapted by Ishiro Honda and Takeo Murata into the classic Gojira (1954).
- [Fall 2023 viewing, part four](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/11/fall-2023-viewing-part-four/) - Crime, violence, sports, noir, international intrigue and political allegory from Kino Lorber and Arrow Video.
- [Disk discovery: Paul Fejos' <i>Lonesome</i> (1928) from Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/08/disk-discovery-paul-fejos-lonesome-1928-from-criterion/) - Video streaming and the "cloud" are unlikely to replace DVD and Blu-ray as the format choice for enhanced movie viewing.
- [The Roxy Theatre, Neepawa](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/the-roxy-theatre-neepawa/) - When I moved from Newfoundland to Manitoba in the spring of 1973, I spent the first two months in the small town of Neepawa – a community of about 4000, 110 miles north-west of Winnipeg. There wasn't much there; mostly a lumber yard and numerous farm equipment dealerships. But it had both a movie theatre
- [Fall 2023 viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/10/fall-2023-viewing-part-two/) - This week marks the thirteenth anniversary of the blog and there's still no clear pattern to what I watch and write about! The first post went up on October 22, 2010. Hard to believe it's been going this long, with almost 900 posts and over 3200 reviews so far. I don't think I've ever stuck with anything this faithfully in my entire life! Thanks for reading!
- [Fall 2023 viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/10/fall-2023-viewing-part-one/) - As always, writing falls behind viewing and I've missed mentioning some disks that deserved at least a comment - so here are some quick notes on recent releases from Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome and some smaller labels covering a wide range of genres from spaghetti westerns to East European animation, from low-budget sci-fi to documentary, from comedy to horror to exploitation.
- [Recent Viewing: horror from Arrow Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/02/recent-viewing-horror-from-arrow-video/) - Arrow Video has quickly become one of my favourite sources for both genre and art films, with impressive editions of a wide range of titles.
- [Year End 2018](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/01/year-end-2018/) - Despite continuing rumblings about the demise of movies-on-disk, numerous companies continue to produce excellent editions on disk of a vast range of movies covering the entire history of cinema. Once again in 2018 there were far more releases than even an obsessive viewer could keep up with.
- [Arrow's <i>American Horror Project</i>, vol 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/12/arrows-american-horror-project-vol-1/) - Volume 1 of Arrow's American Horror Project presents three movies of varying quality in dual-format editions enhanced with informative supplements.
- [Reading movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/reading-movies/) - The recent guest post here about William K. Everson by my friend Howard Curle reminded me that I have a copy of Everson's Classics of the Horror Film (Citadel Press: Secaucus, N.J., 1974), which I hadn't looked at ... well, probably in a couple of decades. Dipping into it and re-reading some of the chapters,
- [Recent Viewing part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/05/recent-viewing-part-1-2/) - Notes on recently viewed DVDs
- [Criterion Blu-ray Review: <i>Master of the House</i> (1925)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/criterion-blu-ray-review-master-of-the-house-1925/) - Criterion introduces the great Carl Theodor Dreyer to Blue-ray with their release of his remarkable chamber drama Master of the House (1925).
- [Project Update: End of the Journey ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/12/project-update-end-of-the-journey/) - After a year of work, today I premiered by documentary feature about the history and experience of movie-going in Winnipeg.
- [One-Shot Wonders: samurai slaughter and zombies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/05/one-shot-wonders-samurai-slaughter-and-zombies/) - When filmmakers attempt to tell a story in a single sustained shot they encounter a number of technical issues because they have to abandon many of the tools developed over the history of cinema. Two recent Japanese movie approach the challenge in very different ways, one (Yuji Shimomura’s Crazy Samurai Musashi [2020]) succumbing to the inherent limitations, the other (Shin’ichiro Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead [2017]) interrogating those limitations with great comic effect.
- [Cheap sci-fi and hardboiled noir in 3D](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/09/cheap-sci-fi-and-hardboiled-noir-in-3d/) - A 3D restoration of Phil Tucker's ultra-cheap Robot Monster (1953) doesn't really help this oddly endearing slice of poverty row sci-fi, but Classicflix's 4K restoration of Harry Essex's adaptation of Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury (1953) is a revelation of what a great cinematographer could accomplish with first-wave 3D technology; Spillane's brutal noir was shot by John Alton, a master of light and shadow, and the sense of space and imagery which plays on multiple planes in almost shot makes this one of the most impressive looking 3D movies of its time.
- [Orson Welles's <i>The Trial</i> (1962): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/09/orson-welless-the-trial-1962-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Made between Touch of Evil (1958) and Chimes at Midnight (1965), Orson Welles adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Trial (1962) has long had a lesser reputation than the filmmaker's better-known films; Criterion's new 4K restoration should prompt a reassessment of this visually stunning evocation of the 20th Century totalitarian nightmare.
- [Summer viewing: the serious stuff](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/09/summer-viewing-the-serious-stuff/) - Two recent releases uncover fascinating fragments of cinema history: G.W Pabst's Westfront 1918 and Kameradschaft and Film, Samuel Beckett's sole foray into movies
- [Summer viewing, 2023: Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/09/summer-viewing-2023-vinegar-syndrome/) - Another assortment of horror, fantasy, murder, madness and general mayhem from Vinegar Syndrome.
- [Blu-ray Review: <i>Mama</i> (2013)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/blu-ray-review-mama-2013/) - The seriously creepy atmosphere conjured by director Andy Muschietti in his ghost story Mama overcome the story's more conventional elements.
- [Flipside: <i>The Black Panther</i> (1977)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/flipside-the-black-panther-1977/) - The Black Panther is a chilling exploitation film about killer and kidnapper Donald Neilson who terrorized Yorkshire for several years in the mid '70s
- [Interesting releases from Australia's Imprint](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/09/interesting-releases-from-australias-imprint/) - The Australian company Imprint has been releasing extras-laden special editions on Blu-ray of movies which strangely remain elusive in North America. Among some recent acquisitions are Mike Hodges' I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2002), Barbet Schroeder's Charles Bukowski-scripted Barfly (1987), a minor but interesting B-movie by prolific journeyman Lesley Selander, The Catman of Paris (1946), and Walter Hill's The Warriors (1979), thankfully in a two-disk set which includes the superior theatrical cut as well as the misconceived "ultimate director's cut" from 2005.
- [Genre Viewing 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/12/genre-viewing-2/) - Flawed in different ways, Wong Kar-Wai's The Grandmaster is ravishingly beautiful while Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners is tediously clumsy.
- [October viewing notes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/10/october-viewing-notes/) - Some fairly random thoughts on an old TV show, a couple of violent satires, and large-A Acting in the films of Bennett Miller.
- [More random notes: September 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/09/more-random-notes-september-2016/) - Revisiting old favourites and familiar genres is like eating comfort food, triggering familiar emotions; even Satanic horrors can paradoxically soothing.
- [Documentary and the evolution of movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/09/documentary-and-the-evolution-of-movies/) - The documentary impulse was integral to the evolution of film, applying the new technology to the 19th Century impulse to conquer exotic places and cultures.
- [Miyazaki's swan song: <i>The Wind Rises</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/03/miyazakis-swansong-the-wind-rises/) - In what Miyazaki has announced is his last feature, the great animator tells the story Jiro Horikoshi, who designed Japan's devastating WW2 fighter, the Zero.
- [Grefé, Shatner and the resurrection of <i>Impulse</i> (1974)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/08/grefe-shatner-and-the-resurrection-of-impulse-1974/) - Grindhouse Releasing have resurrected one of Florida exploitation master William Grefé's best films with an impressive two-disk set showcasing Impulse (1974), starring William Shatner as a con-man/killer, along with two other features plus hours of extras.
- [<i>Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema</i> from Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/08/bo-widerbergs-new-swedish-cinema-from-criterion/) - Criterion's new four-disk Blu-ray set Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema introduces the work of a filmmaker who deserves to be better-known; a critic who rebelled against the dominant work of filmmakers like Ingmar Bergman which ignored issues of politics, economics and class, Widerberg drew on the French New Wave and New British Cinema to create politically engaged and expressive films which reflected contemporary Swedish society and recent history.
- [Twilight Crime](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/05/twilight-crime/) - Twilight Time has recently released a strong selection of crime-related Blu-rays: from Roy Ward Baker's Don't Bother to Knock to Sam Fuller's Underworld USA, from Larry Peerce's The Incident to Richard Fleischer's The New Centurions and Philip D'Antoni's The Seven-Ups.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Krzysztof Kieslowski's <i>Blind Chance</i> (1981)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/09/criterion-blu-ray-review-krzysztof-kieslowskis-blind-chance-1981/) - Criterion release Blind Chance, a key film for Krzysztof Kieslowski as he moved from documentary realism towards his better known abstract, philosophical films.
- [<i>Mexico Macabre</i>: four horror classics from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/08/mexico-macabre-four-horror-classics-from-indicator/) - Indicator give a fine new polish to four classic Mexican Gothic horror movies from the late '50s and early '60s, ranging from the deranged invention of Chano Urueta's The Brainiac (1960) to Fernando Méndez’s elegant masterpiece The Black Pit of Dr. M (1959), in an impressive box set featuring their usual thoughtful extras, plus a 100-page book of essays.
- [<i>Giallothon!</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/04/giallothon/) - Severin's box set of Sergio Martino's All the Colors of the Dark (1972) and Federico Caddeo's documentary All the Colors of Giallo (2019) provides a masterclass in the poetically sordid Italian genre which flourished so briefly from the late 1960s to early 1980s. The collection of eighty-two giallo trailers with a four-hour commentary by Kat Ellinger are alone worth the price, but there's a lot more - including two CDs of giallo scores and several informative interviews, as well as a supplementary disk which surveys the German krimi genre.
- [Recent Viewing: April and May, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/05/recent-viewing-april-and-may-part-one/) - '60s political agitprop, mind-bending time travel, demonic possession, cheesy B monster movies, Cold War submarines and futuristic trains: recent disk viewing.
- [The low-budget art of Edgar G. Ulmer](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/07/the-low-budget-art-of-edgar-g-ulmer/) - A pair of recent Blu-rays from Kino Lorber bookend the career of "King of the Bs" Edgar G. Ulmer, who began his off-Hollywood career with a social issues drama about syphilis called Damaged Lives (1933) and ended it with a pair of cheap sci-fi movies, The Amazing Transparent Man and Beyond the Time Barrier (both 1960), with one of the highlights between being The Man from Planet X (1951), the latter three included in KL's Edgar G, Ulmer Sci-Fi Collection triple-bill.
- [When "bad" can be good ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/09/when-bad-can-be-good/) - There are bad movies and then there are "bad" movies; our relationship with the latter is more complicated than it first appears.
- [<i>Columbia Noir #3</i> from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/columbia-noir-3-from-indicator/) - With their third box set of Columbia Studios films noirs in just over half a year, Indicator again gather together six entertaining B-movies made in the shadow of Cold War paranoia; crime, violence and personal demons evoke a world destabilized by fear, betrayal and uncertainty. As before, the set is packed with commentaries featurettes and short films which illuminate the context from which the features emerged.
- [Recent fantasy and horror on disk](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/08/recent-fantasy-and-horror-on-disk/) - A couple of new releases and a pair of slightly older disks offer a range of fantasy and horror from Julian Duvivier's made-in-Hollywood anthology Flesh and Fantasy (1943) to three movies from Spain in the early '70s in Vinegar Syndrome's Villages of the Damned box set, from the inventive low-budget sci-fi of Yedidya Gorsetman’s Empathy, Inc. (2018) to Ben Wheatley's folk-horror-tinged pandemic movie In the Earth (2021),
- [<I>Hangover Square</I> and the mysteries of adaptation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/02/hangover-square-and-the-mysteries-of-adaptation/) - Given the vast differences between the written word and the moving image, it's not surprising that the translation from text to screen can sometimes produce strange results. David Selznick treated source text as gospel, using Margaret Mitchell's novel as a virtual script for his massive and very popular 1939 adaptation of Gone With the Wind
- [Dino de Laurentiis (1919-2010)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dino-de-laurentiis/) - My personal acquaintance with Dino de Laurentiis was very brief. While I was working on David Lynch's Dune in 1983, I saw Dino a number of times on his occasional visits to Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City. But only once were I and my co-documentarian Anatol Pacanowski introduced to him. We were working in our
- [Carl Franklin's <i>One False Move</i> (1992): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/07/carl-franklins-one-false-move-1992-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - One False Move (1992), a slow-burn character study of small-time criminals and a small-town cop punctuated by disturbing burst of violence, gave Tom Paxton his best role and launched the careers of director Carl Franklin and writer-actor Billy Bob Thornton. This low-budget independent production gets an impressive restoration from the Criterion Collection in a dual-format 4K UHD/Blu-ray release.
- [Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/ray-harryhausen-1920-2013/) - Master stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, who died May 7 at age 92, left a legacy of magical movie imagery.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Carol Reed's <i>Odd Man Out</i> (1947)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/04/criterion-blu-ray-review-carol-reeds-odd-man-out-1947/) - Criterion's Blu-ray release of Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947) should help to establish this masterpiece as the equal of Reed's more famous The Third Man.
- [<i>The Exotic Ones</i>: exploitation and religion from the Ormond family](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/07/the-exotic-ones-exploitation-and-religion-from-the-ormond-family/) - The film business being what it is, it's not surprising that there are many odd corners still waiting to be explored - one of the oddest being the Ormond family, dad Ron, mom June and son Tim. After a successful career in vaudeville, June and Ron turned to independent production in the late '40s with a string of poverty row westerns starring Lash LaRue, followed by a wide range of exploitation movies for the drive-in circuit - jungle adventure, hicksploitation featuring bootlegging, stock car racing, country music, spiced with sex and violence. Then in the late '60s, they found God and made a series of evangelist movies, using all their exploitation skills to warn churchgoers about the evils of Communism and the inevitability of Hell. All of this is gathered together in Indicator's box set From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family, compiled in collaboration with filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn and biographer Jimmy McDonough.
- [Tripping, shopping and the airborne multiplex](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/01/tripping-shopping-and-the-airborne-multiplex/) - A recent trip to England produced stacks of new disks, some interesting books, and several in-flight movies.
- [More in-flight entertainment](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/7230/) - A trip to England offers less than satisfying in-air viewing
- [In-flight entertainment](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/10/in-flight-entertainment/) - I recently took a one-week trip to Beijing to attend my brother's wedding. The city itself is fascinating, built on a monumental scale (or as dissident artist Ai Weiwei puts it, “inhuman”), and Beijing traffic is one of the most terrifying things I've ever encountered. I didn't have a lot of time to explore, but
- [(Faulty) Memory and the formation of a passion for movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/faulty-memory-and-the-formation-of-a-passion-for-movies/) - I recently got together with a group of friends to look back at our earliest memories of the movies and the ways in which our love of film evolved.
- [Summer viewing: short takes, part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/09/summer-viewing-short-takes-part-2/) - More notes on recent viewing, from a sadistic thriller to emotionally resonant anime, from a literary adaptation to two investigations of racism in America.
- [Thinking About Genre, part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/thinking-about-genre-part-2/) - The fundamental concept of genre has existed since human beings first began to create, but it seems to be breaking down in mainstream movie making.
- [Thinking About Genre, part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/thinking-about-genre-part-1/) - The fundamental concept of genre has existed since human beings first began to create, but it seems to be breaking down in mainstream movie making.
- [Summer Viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/summer-viewing/) - A diet of summer blockbusters, action movies and thrillers leaves a distinctly unsatisfying residue
- [<i>John Dies At the End</i> ... and that's not a bad thing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/john-dies-at-the-end-and-thats-not-a-bad-thing/) - Ten years after Bubba Ho-Tep, Don Coscarelli returns with his most assured film yet, a chaotic sci-fi horror comedy with a pair of stoners facing alien invasion
- [Why do I do it?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/why-do-i-do-it/) - It's a puzzling personal aberration, but I continue to find myself drawn to bad movies because they become available on disk in attractive packages. This time out, Arrow's substantial box set of the four features in the completely disposable House franchise.
- [Adapting Clive Barker](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/02/adapting-clive-barker/) - Clive Barker's distinctive prose style, while it creates vivid and highly visual stories, is difficult to transform into movies because the themes and meanings of the stories are strangely abstract. While Barker himself has been his own most successful adapter, there have been many attempts to capture his vision on film - some better than others. George Pavlou's Rawhead Rex (1986) misses the mark, but Bernard Rose's Candyman almost succeeds but is diverted by moving the story from Liverpool to Chicago.
- [<i>Establishing Shots</i> by Kevin Nikkel: book review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/05/establishing-shots-by-kevin-nikkel-book-review/) - In Establishing Shots: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Film Group (University of Manitoba Press), Kevin Nikkel pieces together the fifty-year history of the WFG through a collection of interviews recorded for the documentary Tales From the Winnipeg Film Group (2017), which he directed in collaboration with Dave Barber.
- [Dragons and ghosts, resurrected in 4K](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/06/dragons-and-ghosts-resurrected-in-4k/) - A pair of new 4K restorations resurrect two neglected films which deserve to be better known - Matthew Robbins' Dragonslayer (1981), one of the finest fantasy films ever made which has never fared well on home video, but looks wonderful in this new edition; and Richard Loncraine's atmospheric Full Circle (The Haunting of Julia, 1977), adapted from Peter Straub's first horror novel, featuring Mia Farrow as a mother traumatized by the death of her child, who becomes immersed in a decades-old mystery when she moves into a haunted house.
- [John Cassavetes' <i>Husbands</i> (1970): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/john-cassavetes-husbands-1970-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion have released John Cassavetes' Husbands (1970) in a 4K restoration; the restoration is fine, but the film remains a problematic and unpleasant display of toxic masculinity which is pretty hard to sit through at almost two-and-a-half hours.
- [Year End 2012](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/01/year-end-2012/) - Some thoughts on the state of mainstream cinema and the availability of an eclectic variety of home video releases spanning the history of the medium.
- [Michael Powell's <i>Peeping Tom</i> and other horrors](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/09/michael-powells-peeping-tom-and-other-horrors/) - Michael Powell's final masterpiece, Peeping Tom (1959) virtually ended his filmmaking career, but it's rediscovery in the 1970s and '80s restored him to the pantheon of cinematic greats. Revisiting the film on Blu-ray reinforces my appreciation of a film which was ahead of its time.
- [Down Memory Lane](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/down-memory-lane/) - Digging into the detritus of a lifetime unearths some interesting memories.
- [Blu-ray Review: <i>The Awakening</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/blu-ray-review-the-awakening-2011/) - Steeped in the traditions of the English ghost story, The Awakening with its strong protagonist digs into the national social trauma which followed World War 1.
- [DVD Review: <i>Death Race 3: Inferno</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/dvd-review-death-race-3-inferno/) - Roel Reine's popcorn action movie displays the remarkable possibilities available to low-budget filmmakers with sophisticated new digital equipment.
- [Comedy, disasters, crime and horror: more new releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/06/comedy-disasters-crime-and-horror-more-new-releases/) - I've been revisiting some familiar movies in upgraded editions, with new transfers and extras; some I haven't seen in years, even decades, They run the gamut from horror to comedy, thrillers to superheroes, zombies and monsters.
- [Anthony Hinds 1922-2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/10/anthony-hinds-1922-2013/) - Through Hammer Films producer Anthony Hinds transformed the horror genre and began seismic changes in film censorship in Britain.
- [Miklós Jancsó ... and others: RIP](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/02/miklos-jancso-and-others-rip/) - 2014 has started off with some major film-related deaths: Miklos Jancso, Maximiliam Schell, Riz Ortolani, Gordon Hessler, Mike Vraney, and now Philip S. Hoffman
- [Miklós Jancsó and the abuses of power](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/miklos-jancso-and-the-abuses-of-power/) - Two early features by Hungarian director Miklos Jancso use striking formal techniques to reveal the arbitrary nature of political violence.
- [A DVD Addict In Paris](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/02/a-dvd-addict-in-paris/) - Last summer I had the excellent experience of being sent to Paris for six weeks as assistant editor on the Milla Jovovich movie Faces In the Crowd, which was shooting here in Winnipeg. This was purely a matter of luck and coincidence: because of the tax credit rules here and the divvying up of personnel
- [Murder, robbery and paranormal activity: three new releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/06/murder-robbery-and-paranormal-activity-three-new-releases/) - Three recent releases spanning nine decades offer radically different viewing experiences, from James Whale's pre-Code courtroom drama The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933), rife with bourgeois misogyny, to Patrice Leconte's Man on the Train (2002), steeped in existential weariness, to Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's Something in the Dirt (2022), in which the residents of a nondescript Los Angeles apartment discover a portal to cosmic horror.
- [Marlon Brando's <i>One-Eyed Jacks</i> (1961)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/12/marlon-brandos-one-eyed-jacks-1961/) - Criterion's Blu-ray release of One-Eyed Jacks is one of the disk highlights of the year, its restored image and sound confirming this great western's stature.
- [Action and politics in '70s thrillers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/05/action-and-politics-in-70s-thrillers/) - Thrillers may exploit real-world issues for story material, but often distort and trivialize reality in their quest to entertain. The terrorism which erupted and spread during the 1970s is used in quite different ways in Otto Preminger's Rosebud (1975), John Frankenheimer's Black Sunday (1976) and Andrew V. McLaglen's North Sea Hijack (1980).
- [Beware the children!](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/08/beware-the-children/) - In the past year or so I've seen five “evil kids” horror movies. Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan (2009) uses the classic “cuckoo” storyline: a couple with one young child decide to adopt a needy orphan, in this case a strangely moody girl. It's not long before she begins to torment the couple's biological child, not to
- [Cary Joji Fukunaga's <i>Beasts of No Nation</i> (2015):<br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/09/cary-joji-fukunagas-beasts-of-no-nation-2015criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Cary Joji Fukunaga's adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala's novel Beasts of No Nation (2015), a problematic depiction of child soldiers in Africa gets an impressive release on Blu-ray from Criterion. Fukunaga's skills as cinematographer and director of actors are on full display, but the film falters in its treatment of of some of the moral issues it raises.
- [<i>World Cinema Project 3</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/10/world-cinema-project-3-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - With volume 3 of their World Cinema Project box sets, Criterion has released another treasure trove of largely unknown (in the West) features spanning five decades and six countries, from the Expressionist horror of Mexico's Dos Monjes (1934) to the Neo-realist horrors of life on Brazil's streets in Hector Babenco's Pixote (1980), with stops in between in Indonesia, Iran, Mauritania and Cuba.
- [Recent Viewing: the New Wave](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/01/recent-viewing-the-new-wave/) - Three films by Agnes Varda and Claude Chabrol illustrate the range and diversity of what came out of the French New Wave.
- [Cauldron Films, round three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/09/cauldron-films-round-three/) - The latest releases from Cauldron Films are a pair of little-known found-footage horror movies which both have their moments, but suffer from the genre's frequent shortcomings. Mike Costanza's The Collingswood Story (2002) was the first movie to use on-line video chat as a storytelling medium, while Victor Dryere’s 1974: La posesión de Altair (2016) goes back to pre-video times, using super-8 home movies to show a young married couple under supernatural attack in rural Mexico.
- [Seijun Suzuki's <i>Branded to Kill</i> (1967): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/05/seijun-suzukis-branded-to-kill-1967-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new dual-format release of Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill (1967) showcases a 4K transfer of this radical deconstruction of the yakuza genre starring the idiosyncratic Joe Shishido as hit man who finds himself disappearing down a rabbit hole of paranoia and violence.
- [Benjamin Christensen's <i>Häxan</i> (1922): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/benjamin-christensens-haxan-1922-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray edition of Benjamin Christensen's Häxan (1922) reveals a startlingly complex and modern work; a multi-layered essay on the subject of the European witch craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries, the film is richly detailed exploration of religion, power and madness which still has relevance today.
- [The alpha and omega of Walter Hill](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/04/the-alpha-and-omega-of-walter-hill/) - Like many filmmakers of his generation, Walter Hill began his career with strong, individualistic work, but somehow eventually drifted into aimlessness. His directorial debut, Hard Times (1975), still holds up, but his most recent film, The Assignment (2016), is transgressive but unfocused.
- [You can't go home again](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/you-cant-go-home-again/) - Blade Runner 2049 attempts to be a respectful follow-up to Ridley Scott's ground-breaking original, but it ends up long, drab and ultimately unmemorable.
- [Román Viñoly Barreto's <i>El vampiro negro</i> (1953)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/05/roman-vinoly-barretos-el-vampiro-negro-1953/) - Flicker Alley and the Film Noir Foundation have released another fascinating Argentine movie from the early 1950s on the heels of two revelatory releases last year. Román Viñoly Barreto's El vampiro negro (1953) is even more intriguing than Viñoly Barreto's The Beast Must Die (1952) and Fernando Ayala’s The Bitter Stems (1956), being a reworking of Fritz Lang's M (1931) from a very different perspective - that of a mother whose daughter is at risk from the serial child murderer.
- [Philip Ridley's <i>The Reflecting Skin</i> (1990)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/philip-ridleys-the-reflecting-skin-1990/) - A new Blu-ray makes Philip Ridley's elusive feature The Reflecting Skin available in a beautifully restored edition which includes several excellent supplements
- [Arrow Video, part three: <i>Runaway Train</i> (1985)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/07/arrow-video-part-three-runaway-train-1985/) - Andrei Konchalovsky's Runaway Train, although an American production, has a distinctly Russian tone in its mix of action and existential allegory.
- [More Italo-horror: The Good, the Bad and the Gory](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/05/more-italo-horror-the-good-the-bad-and-the-gory/) - Several new (and a couple of slightly older ) releases restore a range of Italian horrors from the '60s, '70s and '80s, including a pair of artless movies by Bruno Mattei, Hell of the Living Dead (1980) and Rats: Night of Terror (1984); one of Mario Bava's finest (and most perverse) Gothics, The Whip and the Body (1963), as well as his final made-for-television work, La Venere d’Ille (1979), co-directed by his son Lamberto; and a 4K restoration of Lucio Fulci's gore masterpiece City of the Living Dead (1980).
- [Memories of monochrome England](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/01/memories-of-monochrome-england/) - Network and the BFI deliver a potent mix of wartime propaganda and post-war crime in atmospheric black-and-white with Blu-ray releases of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942) and Lewis Gilbert's The Good Die Young (1954), and a massive 20-disk DVD set of B-movie thrillers from the early 1960s mostly adapted from the novels of Edgar Wallace.
- [Folk horror and Argentine noir](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/01/folk-horror-and-argentine-noir/) - The year gets off to an interesting start with a pair of excellent Argentinian films noirs - Román Viñoly Barreto's The Beast Must Die (1952) and Fernando Ayala's The Bitter Stems (1956) - beautifully restored by the Film Noir Foundation; Prana Bailey-Bond's Censor (2021), a disturbing British psychological horror; and Kier-la Janisse's Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021), an epic documentary exploring the folk horror genre.
- [<i>Inner Sanctum Mysteries</i> on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/03/inner-sanctum-mysteries-on-blu-ray/) - Universal's series of minor B-movies based on Simon & Schuster's line of fiction and NBC's long-running radio show called Inner Sanctum gave third-string horror star Lon Chaney Jr. a brief opportunity to get away from the monsters he played in the 1940s. Despite a low critical reputation, these atmospheric little movies are quite entertaining and receive a nice showcase in Eureka's two-disk Blu-ray set.
- [Kinji Fukasaku's Yakuza epic](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/01/kinji-fukasakus-yakuza-epic/) - Arrow releases yet another impressive limited edition box-set with their dual-format edition of Kinji Fukasaku's Battles Without Honor and Humanity.
- [Steve McQueen's <i>Small Axe</i> (2020): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/04/steve-mcqueens-small-axe-2020-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Small Axe (2020), Steve McQueen's five-part film series for the BBC, corrects a glaring omission in British film and television's treatment of the post-war history of social and political struggle and change; while the lives of the working class became increasingly visible in the '60s and '70s, issues of race remained largely unaddressed until this belated project created something like a parallel history to go alongside the classic work of filmmakers like Ken Loach and Alan Clarke. Criterion's three-disk Blu-ray set also includes Uprising (2021), McQueen's powerful three-part documentary (co-directed by James Rogan) about the New Cross fire and the subsequent Brixton Riots, which gives added context to the stories told in Small Axe.
- [<i>Mexican Gothic: The Films of Carlos Enrique Taboada</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/04/mexican-gothic-the-films-of-carlos-enrique-taboada/) - A new two-disk set from Vinegar Syndrome provides an impressive introduction to an unfamiliar Mexican filmmaker. Mexican Gothic: The Films of Carlos Enrique Taboada includes two atmospheric horror movies and a powerful drama about a man driven to extremes by the poverty that has trapped him his whole life.
- [DVD of the Week: <i>Colin</i> (2008)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dvd-of-the-week-colin/) - I recently opined about the trend in “found-footage” horror movies, a sub-genre which makes explicit reference to its own origins in the availability of inexpensive video equipment. But of course, not all filmmakers who pick up a small camcorder are interested in that kind of self-reflexive activity. Some just want to make a movie. This
- [Political thrillers, horror and metaphor](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/02/political-thrillers-horror-and-metaphor/) - Three recent releases blend reality and fiction to explore political themes, with varying success. Alain Jessua's Les Chiens (1978) is an allegory of Fascism, while Jean-Claude Lord's Mindfield (1989) and Jayro Bustamante's La llorona (2019) are both rooted in real crimes, the former turning history into pulp entertainment, the latter into a haunting exploration of national trauma.
- [Random viewing, short takes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/05/random-viewing-short-takes/) - and a bloated, enervatingly pretentious remake of a genre classic (Suspiria, 2018).
- [Reading early film history](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/05/reading-early-film-history/) - Rachel Low's multi-volume History of the British Film provides a vivid portrait of a new, complex art form being invented moment-by-moment.
- [Death and madness from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/04/death-and-madness-from-indicator/) - A pair of recent Indicator releases resurrect a couple of all-but forgotten features with major stars. Richard Widmark plays a Western lawman whose time has passed in Death of a Gunfighter (1969), the first movie credited to phantom director Alan Smithee, while George C. Scott is a former New York judge dealing with grief by taking on the identity of Sherlock Holmes; his therapist just happens to be named Dr. Watson (Joanne Woodward).
- [<i>The Complete Jacques Tati</i> on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/11/the-complete-jacques-tati-on-blu-ray/) - The Criterion Collection have outdone themselves with their magnificent, jam-packed seven-disk Blu-ray set of the work of the great French director Jacques Tati
- [Indicator Blu-rays, part two: America in the 1970s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/07/indicator-blu-rays-part-two-america-in-the-1970s/) - Two Blu-ray releases from Indicator represent shifts occurring in American filmmaking at the end of the '60s, with Don Siegel's near-perfect heist movie Charley Varrick (1973) quietly trashing all the rules once imposed by the Production Code and Alan Arkin's directorial debut with Jules Feiffer's Little Murders (1971) offering an unsettling, blackly comic dissection of the violence at the heart of American society.
- [Indicator Blu-rays: England in the '60s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/06/indicator-blu-rays-england-in-the-60s/) - Recent Blu-ray editions from Indicator in the UK call attention to a couple of interesting but largely forgotten movies from the '60s: Sidney Lumet's John le Carre adaptation The Deadly Affair (1966) and Jack Gold's The Reckoning.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>Here Is Your Life</i> (1966)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/criterion-blu-ray-review-here-is-your-life-1966/) - Criterion offer a real discovery, Swedish director Jan Troell's debut feature Here Is Your Life (1966), a richly evocative coming-of-age story.
- [Antonio Pietrangeli's <i>I Knew Her Well</i> (1965): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/02/criterion-blu-ray-review-antonio-pietrangelis-i-knew-her-well-1965/) - Criterion's I Knew Her Well Blu-ray reinforces the impression that Antonio Pietrangeli has been almost criminally neglected as a major figure in Italian film.
- [Random viewing, short takes - part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/06/random-viewing-short-takes-part-two/) - More Italian genre movies from the 1970s - horror, giallo and poliziotteschi - along with a gritty American exploitation movie hich owes something to the giallo.
- [Video Nasties, Part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/video-nasties-part-2/) - After a brief prologue in which a cult of Satanists is banished from Spain by the Inquisition, Evilspeak (Eric Weston, 1981) transports us to an American military academy where a much abused cadet (Clint Howard, younger brother of director Ron and former child star of TV's Gentle Ben) discovers a large “hidden” room in the
- [DVD of the Week: <i>Video Nasties, The Definitive Guide</i> (2010)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/dvd-of-the-week-video-nasties-the-definitive-guide-2/) - Issues of censorship and freedom of speech are always more complicated than we'd like. It's never just simply a clear cut question of “this” or “that”. The complete denial that certain elements of pop culture, for instance, can't possibly do anyone any harm under any circumstances, doesn't really hold up – of course some people
- [Joan Micklin Silver's <i>Chilly Scenes of Winter</i> (1979): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/joan-micklin-silvers-chilly-scenes-of-winter-1979-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - The passage of time has complicated Chilly Scene's of Winter (1979), Joan Micklin Silver's well-observed comedy-drama about a broken romance; the behaviour of obsessed romantic Charles (John Heard) now seems much darker and more troubling than it may have when the film was first released.
- [Recent Viewing: July 2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/recent-viewing-july-2013/) - A selection of recently watched movies ranging from Golden Age Hollywood to contemporary horror.
- [Recent viewing, May-June 2016, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/07/recent-viewing-may-june-2016-part-two/) - Nazis and vampires have been popular subjects for exploitation for decades in a range of genres from the Gothic to epic SF and paranoid b-movie thriller.
- [More from Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/02/more-from-twilight-time-2/) - Twilight Time release several disks which serve as time capsules of attitudes and filmmaking styles which were once mainstream but have now largely disappeared.
- [Recent Arrow releases, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/recent-arrow-releases-part-two/) - More recent releases from Arrow: Nightmare at Noon (1988), a horror-thriller from prolific Greek filmmaker Nico Mastorakis; The Righteous (2021), a bleak, Bergman-influenced study of guilt and grief with supernatural intimations from Newfoundland actor/filmmaker Mark O'Brien; and a superb hi-def restoration of Mike Hodges' late career masterpiece Croupier (1997) in a two-disk set which includes an engaging documentary in which the 89-year-old filmmaker reminisces about his life and career.
- [The disappearance of real-world disk retail](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/04/the-disappearance-of-real-world-disk-retail/) - With HMV Canada going bankrupt and closing down, a disk addict gets two months of increasingly cheap deals, leading to some great and some not-so-wise purchases.
- [Out of sync yet again ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/out-of-sync-yet-again/) - Despite the critical consensus Skyfall is a dour, thinly plotted attempt to make the Bond franchise seem like serious drama
- [One of these things is not like the others](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/04/one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others/) - In 1964, Sidney Lumet's serious movie about nuclear paranoia, Fail-Safe, had a tough time competing with Stanley Kubrick's manic black comedy Dr. Strangelove, but it holds its own today as a portrait of a particular moment in social and political history. Meanwhile, Franklin Adreon's pair of no-budget time travel thrillers from 1966, Cyborg 2087 and Dimension 5, are empty-headed entertainment which offer a touch of nostalgia to genre fans.
- [He was still alive? Bert I. Gordon 1922-2023](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/he-was-still-alive-bert-i-gordon-1922-2023/) - In a career lasting six decades, Bert I. Gordon co-wrote, produced, directed, sometimes photographed and created the special effects for a couple of dozen cheap-and-cheerful horror and sci-fi movies. He died this week at age 100, having directed his final feature in 2015 at age 93, a pretty good record for someone who mostly worked on shoestring budgets.
- [Miscellaneous viewing - March 2018](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/03/miscellaneous-viewing-march-2018/) - Recent viewing includes a range of genre movies, from bloated big-budget international productions to scrappy low-budget independents, from large-scale fantasies to lo-fi science fiction, from horror remakes and sequels ... all available on Blu-ray.
- [Recent Arrow releases, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/recent-arrow-releases-part-one/) - Recent Arrow releases include Japanese ghosts (a deluxe box set of Takashi Shimizu's Ju-On movies) and gangsters (Shinji Somai's genre-bending Sailor Suit and Machine Gun [1981]) and one of the best early adaptations of an H.P. Lovecraft story (Daniel Haller's The Dunwich Horror [1969]).
- [Late summer viewing: Spies, Killers and Terrorists](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/late-summer-viewing-spies-killers-and-terrorists/) - Four typical thrillers centred on grim men expressing themselves through violence are offset by two thrillers in which strong women control events ... through violence.
- [Being human: two new Criterion releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/06/being-human-two-new-criterion-releases/) - Two very different new releases from Criterion explore what it means to to maintain one's humanity in the face of inhuman systems. Masaki Kobayashi's overwhelming 9 1/2-hour epic The Human Condition (1959-61) follows a conscientious socialist into the brutal horrors of Japan's occupation of Manchuria during the Second World War, while Martin Bell's Streetwise (1984) and it's sequel Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell (2016) document the lives of homeless kids on the streets of Seattle during the Reagan era and the aftereffects of that experience in later life.
- [January releases from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/03/january-releases-from-indicator/) - Indicator start the new year with some impressive Blu-ray sets, including a massive 10-disk tribute to amateur filmmaker Michael J. Murphy whose five-decade career produced three dozen features in multiple genres; a two-disk set of the first two adventures of Mexico's most famous masked wrestler, Santo, which includes a fascinating history of popular cinema in Mexico; and another two-disk set with three different cuts of Sergio Sollima's first western, The Big Gundown (1967).
- [<i>Disneyland Dream</i> (1956)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/dsineyland-dream/) - In his December 26 New York Times column, Frank Rich calls our attention to a fascinating "home movie documentary" called Disneyland Dream. Shot by a Connecticut man named Robbins Barstow, a diligent amateur documentarian who apparently made numerous films about his family's life and activities, this particular work was named to the Library of Congress's
- [<i>Two Films by Marguerite Duras</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/02/two-films-by-marguerite-duras-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion has released a two-disk set of Marguerite Duras' mid-'70s features India Song (1975) and Baxter, Vera Baxter (1977), highlighting the novelist's idiosyncratic approach to cinema, particularly striking in the separation of image from sound in the earlier film, though the languid pacing and slow, exploratory camerawork gives both a hypnotic effect in their exploration of bourgeois marriage, infidelity and ennui.
- [DVD of the Week: <i>Vampire Circus</i> (1972)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/dvd-of-the-week-vampire-circus/) - Although Britain's Hammer Films was first formed in the 1930s, initially in an attempt to expand a theatre chain into areas of production and distribution, only five films were made before the war – comedies and mysteries. Production resumed after the war with more comedies, mysteries and thrillers. It was 1953 before the company took
- [Asian action and fantasy from 88 Films and Eureka](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/02/asian-action-and-fantasy-from-88-films-and-eureka/) - Asian genre movies often contain a dizzying mix of exhilarating action, slapstick comedy, graphic violence and gore, and wild supernatural horror - all of which are on display in recent releases from 88 Films and Eureka.
- [Adapting Lovecraft](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/adapting-lovecraft/) - While his stories have remained popular for 80 years, H.P. Lovecraft's work presents difficulties to filmmakers who try to translate his work into movies.
- [More late winter viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/04/more-late-winter-viewing-part-two/) - Style trumps substance in several recently viewed movies: from Stefano Sollima's troubling depiction of mythic threats on the U.S. southern border in Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) to Julius Avery's disappointing exploitation of World War Two horrors for cheap thrills in Overlord (2018), from Drew Goddard's ersatz Tarantino-like narrative play in Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) to Kenneth Branagh's glossy rehash of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (2017).
- [In real life, resetting is more difficult ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/06/in-real-life-resetting-is-more-difficult/) - The consequences of one man's decision in Steven Knight's Locke outweigh the fate of the world in Doug Liman's Edge of Tomorrow.
- [Second David Lynch eBook published](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/10/second-david-lynch-ebook-published/) - Cagey Films publishes vol 2 of The David Lynch Files, focused on the production of Dune and featuring previously unpublished interviews with Lynch and others.
- [David Lynch book now available](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/09/david-lynch-book-now-available/) - Cagey Films begins to issue content from the site in a projected series of eBooks, beginning with a volume devoted to David Lynch and the making of Eraserhead.
- [Andrei Tarkovsky's <i>Andrei Rublev</i> (1966):<br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/10/andrei-tarkovskys-andrei-rublev-1966-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray release of Andrei Tarkovsky's second feature, Andrei Rublev (1966), not only features a superb restoration of the director's preferred 183-minute cut, but also a (much weaker) transfer of the original 205-minute version and a comprehensive selection of new and archival supplements which cover the production and meaning of this, the greatest of all historical epics.
- [Back to the multiplex](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/02/back-to-the-multiplex/) - Two new movies by directors who interest me offer a mixture of pleasure and slight disappointment. Both Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool (2023) and M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin (2023) have a strong strain of psychological horror somewhat compromised by endings which are not fully satisfying.
- [Catching up](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/02/catching-up/) - A quick survey of movies I watched recently which I haven't already commented on ...
- [The Passion of Mel Gibson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/03/the-passion-of-mel-gibson/) - Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ turns the story of Jesus into a grueling depiction of physical torture which negates the central message of the gospels.
- [Film Review: <i>Resident Evil: Retribution</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/film-review-resident-evil-retribution/) - The erratic Paul W.S. Anderson turns in a disappointing fifth installment of the video-game-based series pitting Milla Jovovich against zombies and mutants.
- [Henri-Georges Clouzot's <i>La vérité</i> (1960): </br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/02/henri-georges-clouzots-la-verite-1960-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Henri-Georges Clouzot's La vérité (1960) is less well-known than Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, but it's one of his finest features, a complex, emotionally wrenching work which gave Brigitte Bardot her greatest role. Criterion's excellent new Blu-ray presents the film in a spectacular restoration, with substantial supplements.
- [Cursed by Warner Brothers:<br />The Strange Fate of Ken Russell's <i>The Devils</i> (1971)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/cursed-by-warner-brothers-the-strange-fate-of-ken-russells-the-devils-1971/) - The BFI release of Ken Russell's masterpiece The Devils is compromised by Warner Brothers continued hostility to the film.
- [Lars Von Trier's <i>Europe Trilogy</i> (1984-1991): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/01/lars-von-triers-europe-trilogy-1984-1991-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion start 2023 with an excellent three-disk set of Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy, the three aggressively confrontational movies with which he began his career by digging into the lingering traces of Fascism which plagued the continent in the second half of the 20th Century. Impressive new transfers are given context by commentaries and seven hours of documentaries and interviews with and about von Trier, his intentions and creative process.
- [<i>Mad Max</i>: from B-movie to Myth](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/mad-max-from-b-movie-to-myth/) - George Miller's Mad Max trilogy, released in a new Blu-ray box set, remains one of the most impressive achievements in action cinema.
- [Christmas, noir and Christmas-noir from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/01/christmas-noir-and-christmas-noir-from-indicator/) - A couple of Christmas movies showcase Barbara Stanwyck's range in comedy and drama, while Indicator's fifth Columbia Noir set focuses on Humphrey Bogart's screen persona in several routine movies and one classic.
- [Pier Paolo Pasolini's <i>Teorema</i> (1968): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/02/pier-paolo-pasolinis-teorema-1968-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion has released Teorema (1968), one of Pier Paolo Pasolini's most engaging yet enigmatic films, in an excellent Blu-ray edition, featuring a 4K restoration, a commentary and several interview featurettes which tackle the film's ambiguous allegory of Capitalism and religion.
- [2022 reading](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2023/01/2022-reading/) - Three books which I read last year connect with my love of genre film, particularly horror: Tony Dalton's hefty biography Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema from FAB Press; Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin, edited by Samm Deighan and now available as an e-book from Spectacular Optical; and - somewhat more esoteric - Powers of Darkness, an alternate version of Dracula first published in a Swedish newspaper from 1899 to 1900 and recently unearthed and translated back into English, published in an impressive limited edition by Centipede Press.
- [Recent Eureka/Masters of Cinema releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/12/recent-eureka-masters-of-cinema-releases/) - Two recent two-disk sets released by Eureka in England provide two very different forms of popular entertainment. Two Films by John Woo contains a pair of top-notch martial arts movies from the first stage of Woo's career, before he hit it big with the gangster films of the mid-'80s, while the three movies in their Bela Lugosi/Edgar Allen Poe set present some of the most deliriously perverse horrors of the pre-Code era. While the crown jewel is Edgar Ulmer's expressionist masterpiece The Black Cat, the set's revelation is the Easter egg inclusion of a "virtual director's cut" of Robert Florey's Murders in the Rue Morgue, which follows Tim Lucas' suggestions, based on internal evidence, or what the film might have been before studio tampering made it a disjointed mess.
- [Volker Schlöndorff's <i>Baal</i> (1970): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/03/volker-schlondorffs-baal-1970-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - A critical, but long-suppressed film from the New German Cinema, Volker Schlöndorff's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's first play Baal (1970) gets an impressive release on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. This aggressively unsettling film is packaged with an excellent selection of contextual supplements.
- [Blu-ray Review: Harold Lloyd's <i>The Freshman</i> (1925)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/03/blu-ray-review-harold-lloyds-the-freshman-1925/) - Harold Lloyd was the most commercially successful silent comedian and The Freshman was his biggest hit: Criterion's Blu-ray does Lloyd and his movie justice.
- [More Recent Viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/01/more-recent-viewing/) - Robert Aldrich's last great movie, Twilight's Last Gleaming, rediscovered; Harry Nilsson's The Point revisited; Spielberg's War Horse fails spectacularly.
- [Viewing notes, September 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/09/viewing-notes-september-2016/) - Dipping into the '60s and '70s with Criterion BRDs of major works by Orson Welles, a couple of Robert Altman's signature titles, and a J.G. Ballard adaptation.
- [Recent viewing, part 3](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/recent-viewing-part-3/) - Jalmari Helander's Rare Exports (2010) began as a couple of shorts (2003 and 2005) which were a success on the Internet. In the form of industrial training films, they depicted the hunting, taming, and training of wild Santa Clauses in Northern Finland. These are strong, rather vicious creatures which end up being marketed around the
- [Dreams of Dracula](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/09/dreams-of-dracula/) - Jess Franco's Count Dracula (1970) is a dull and unnecessary version of the story, but Pere Portabella's "making of" Cuadecuc, Vampir (1971) is a fascinating meditation on the story.
- [Andrei Tarkovsky's <i>Mirror</i> (1975): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/andrei-tarkovskys-mirror-1975-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion have just released Andrei Tarkovsky's most personal Film, Mirror (Zerkalo, 1975), in an exemplary two-disk edition. The 2K restoration supplied by Mosfilm has been supplemented with four-and-a-half hours of new and archival documentaries, including a superb feature-length survey of Tarkovsky's life and work made by his son, Andrei A. Tarkovsky, in 2019.
- [Year End 2022](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/year-end-2022/) - It's that time of year, and as usual coming up with a "best of" list - having seen somewhere around five-hundred movies in 2022 - seems impossible; so here are just a few which remained vivid in my memory, plus an unexpected and charming movie with which I ended a stressful year.
- [Vinegar Syndrome closes out 2022](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/vinegar-syndrome-closes-out-2022/) - Vinegar Syndrome wraps up 2022 with a very mixed bag of releases, including no less than four grubby, bottom-of-the-barrel slasher movies, a dynamic Hong Kong martial arts movie, and loaded special editions of Freeway (1996), Matthew Bright's reworking of Little Red Riding Hood as serial killer black comedy, and Rowdy Herrington's red-neck action-romance Road House (1989).
- [Boys in War: Bernhard Wicki's <i>Die Brücke</i> (<i>The Bridge</i>, 1959)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/06/boys-in-war-bernhard-wickis-die-brucke-the-bridge-1959/) - Criterion's impressive new blu-ray of The Bridge presents Bernhard Wicki's landmark film depicting the futile waste of young lives in the final days of WW2.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Polanski's <i>Macbeth</i> (1971)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/10/criterion-blu-ray-review-polanskis-macbeth-1971/) - Polanski's Macbeth is one of the finest film adaptations of Shakespeare, seamlessly blending poetry and harsh realism in its tale of the futility of ambition.
- [DVD Review: Jean-Luc Godard's <i>Weekend</i> (1967)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/12/dvd-review-jean-luc-godards-weekend-1967/) - After almost a decade of radical experimentation, Godard blew up the very idea of narrative film with his abrasive, apocalyptic Weekend in 1967.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Jack Garfein's <i>Something Wild</i> (1961)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/01/criterion-blu-ray-review-jack-garfeins-something-wild-1961/) - Criterion resurrects an important American independent film with a stunning Blu-ray of Jack Garfein's Something Wild (1961), a showcase for the Actors Studio.
- [Arrow Video, part two: <i>White of the Eye</i> (1987)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/07/arrow-video-part-two-white-of-the-eye-1987/) - Britain's Arrow Video has released an excellent edition of Donald Cammell's little-seen White of the Eye, a marital drama disguised as a serial killer movie.
- [Resurrecting a pre-tax shelter classic: <i>The Rainbow Boys</i> (1973)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/resurrecting-a-pre-tax-shelter-classic-the-rainbow-boys-1973/) - A relatively new label, Canadian International Pictures, has resurrected Gerald Potterton's light and charming character-based comedy The Rainbow Boys (1973) in a fine Blu-ray edition with substantial extras. Another CIP release showcases Potterton's National Film Board short The Railrodder (1965), a travelogue starring Buster Keaton towards the end of his life, along with John Spotton's documentary about the making of the short, Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965), and another NFB travelogue, Eugene Boyko's Helicopter Canada (1966), made to mark the country's centennial.
- [The enigmatic Albert Finney](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/12/the-enigmatic-albert-finney/) - Two early films from the career of Albert Finney receive excellent releases from Indicator. Finney's Charlie Bubbles (1968) and Stephen Frears' Gumshoe (1971) showcase the actor's strengths and weaknesses.
- [Tired ageing badmen: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/10/tired-ageing-badmen-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - We love stories about bad people; even better, we love stories about bad people who begin to have doubts about themselves and the lives they've lived. Two new releases from Criterion explore that self doubt in genres tailor-made for such characters - the western (Henry King's The Gunfighter, 1950) and the gangster film (Stephen Frears' The Hit, 1984).
- [Viewing notes July-August 2015](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/08/viewing-notes-july-august-2015/) - A round-up of recent disk-watching ranges from comedy to horror, mockumentary to documentary, a poverty row classic and a major discovery from the silent period.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Harold Lloyd's <i>Speedy</i> (1928)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/12/criterion-blu-ray-review-harold-lloyds-speedy-1928/) - With an impressive Blu-ray of Speedy (1928), Criterion continue to prove that Harold Lloyd was the equal of Chaplin and Keaton in the art of silent comedy.
- [Post-Op, week one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/post-op-week-one/) - A week of intensive viewing following surgery provides a mix from classics to trash and everything in between - crime, horror, sci-fi, art and exploitation.
- [George A. Romero's <i>Night of the Living Dead</i> (1968): restored at last](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/02/george-a-romeros-night-of-the-living-dead-1968-restored-at-last/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) affords this scrappy, independent production the high degree of respect it has earned not only as one of the key American films of the 1960s, but as a work which almost single-handedly redefined the horror genre.
- [The pleasure of not knowing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/the-pleasure-of-not-knowing/) - Sometimes the best movie experiences depend on knowing as little as possible about what you're watching. This was certainly true recently when I discovered the work of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead in Arrow Video's excellent two disk set of Resolution (2012) and The Endless (2017).
- [Blu-ray Review: <i>Things to Come</i> (1936)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/blu-ray-review-things-to-come-1936/) - Although a complete version of Things to Come is unlikely to surface Criterion's Blu-ray presents the longest existing version as good as we're likely to see it
- [<i>Universal Noir #1</i> from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/universal-noir-1-from-indicator/) - After five box sets devoted to film noir B-movies from Columbia Studios, Indicator have embarked on a follow-up covering Universal Studios crime films from the same mid-'40s to late-'50s period. The inaugural set of six titles covers a range of styles, from the classic noir of Michael Gordon's The Web (1947), Norman Foster's Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) and Jerry Hopper's Naked Alibi (1954) to the docu-noir of Joseph M. Newman's Abandoned (1949) and the shot-in-Italy neorealist melodrama of Robert Siodmak's Deported (1950). With a host of contextual and critical extras, Universal Noir #1 inaugurates another great series of releases from Indicator.
- [The Adventures of Tintin, boy reporter](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/the-adventures-of-tintin-boy-reporter/) - With the Steven Spielberg-Peter Jackson motion-capture version of Tintin due for release next Christmas, the British Film Institute has shown good timing in unearthing, and releasing on all-region DVD, the only two live-action movies ever made featuring Herge's quiff-haired boy reporter. Apparently, Herge himself had been dissatisfied with previous animated adaptations and approved of plans
- [Miscellaneous May 2022 viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/06/miscellaneous-may-2022-viewing/) - Bertrand Tavernier's epic eight-part documentary Journeys Through French Cinema (2017) offers a personal and idiosyncratic history rooted in the filmmakers personal passions; Enzo G. Castellari's The Big Racket (1976) and The Heroin Busters (1977) showcase the cynical, violent action of Italian genre movies of the '70s; Andreas Marschall turns homage into effective horror in the retro-giallo Masks (2011); and Puloma Basu and Rob Hatch Miller’s documentary Other Music (2019) captures an experience all-but-lost today with their account of the final days of a great independent record store in New York City.
- [Pandemic viewing, Part One](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/04/pandemic-viewing-part-one/) - Social isolation and "working from home" mean a lot of time for movie-watching ... and the volume far outstrips my ability to say anything substantive about many of the films I do watch: so here I mostly just acknowledge what I've been viewing in the past 4-6 weeks. Part one of four.
- [Can it really be that long ago?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/can-it-really-be-that-long-ago/) - Twenty-seven years ago this week, I shot my short film The Adventures of Stella Starr of the Galaxy Rangers in the 23rd Century, Chapter 7: Falling Starr! at the Winnipeg Film Group with a bunch of dedicated friends and co-workers. What was I thinking!
- [Art and action in the films of King Hu](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/art-and-action-in-the-films-of-king-hu/) - New restorations of movies from early and late in the career of King Hu reconfirm his influential position in Chinese cinema as a master of martial arts and swordplay films: action and poetry blend seamlessly in Come Drink With Me (1966), The Fate of Lee Khan (1973) and Raining in the Mountain (1979).
- [Hammer adventures from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/hammer-adventures-from-indicator/) - Indicator's fifth box set of Hammer movies moves away from the famous horrors to the fringes of the studio's production, gathering a mediocre contemporary thriller by Michael Carreras and three entertaining historical adventures by John Gilling.
- [Bleak Britain](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/bleak-britain/) - The British have a tendency to indulge in miserablism, a characteristic that filmmakers have been turning into powerful dramatic art for decades. Bryan Forbes' The Whisperers (1967) and Ray Davies' Return to Waterloo (1984) approach it from very different directions, but both create powerful portraits of people living depressing lives.
- [Elem Klimov's <i>Come and See</i> (1985): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/elem-klimovs-come-and-see-1985-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's Blu-ray edition of Elem Klimov's searing depiction of war Come and See (1985) is a superb presentation of one of the most emotionally harrowing films ever made.
- [A post-Covid 3D evening](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/06/a-post-covid-3d-evening/) - To mark our emergence from the Covid lockdown, my friend Steve and I ate barbecued bratwurst and watched a couple of movies which emerged from his big 3D TV screen: Owen Crump's Korean war docudrama Cease Fire (1953) and John Brahm's B-movie horror The Mad Magician (1954), Vincent Price's threadbare follow-up to the hit House of Wax.
- [Another mixed bag ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/07/another-mixed-bag/) - Another seemingly random collection of movies, this time including some cheap exploitation, cheesy fantasy, horror and noir. I revisit an old favourite, re-evaluate a low-budget Canadian film from the '70s, and finally catch up with a couple of movies I've wanted to see for decades.
- [Catching up on Arrow](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/catching-up-on-arrow/) - My collecting obsession leads me to Arrow's Ring Collection -- Hideo Nakata's hugely influential Ringu (1998), two divergent sequels, George Iida's Spiral (1998) and Nakata's own Ring 2 (1999), plus the prequel Ring 0: Birthday (2000). While the three follow-up movies can't match the effectiveness of the original, Arrow present them all in excellent transfers, with a lot of supportive extras.
- [Speed reviewing, Nov. 2019 - part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/speed-reviewing-nov-2019-part-two/) - International hit men, a widescreen travelogue, Asian action, World War Two, sex with an immortal monster, the zombie apocalypse, necrophilia and interstellar space travel ... another mixed bag of recent viewing.
- [Speed reviewing, Nov. 2019 - part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/speed-reviewing-nov-2019-part-three/) - More recent viewing, heavy on the sci-fi, fantasy and horror - the latter including an ambitious Netflix series and a grim documentary about violence in America.
- [Joseph L. Mankiewicz's <i>All About Eve </i> (1950):<br> Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/12/joseph-l-mankiewiczs-all-about-eve-1950-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion release the definitive edition of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950), the pinnacle of sophisticated wit from Hollywood's Golden Age, in a two-disk set packed with extras.
- [More Arrow ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/12/more-arrow/) - Among recently viewed Arrow Blu-rays are a classic Italian political satire, a scrappy independent from Dayton, Ohio, a dark children's fantasy, an end-of-the-world romance, and a violently stylish Japanese series of women-in-prison movies.
- ["Folk Horror"](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/folk-horror/) - "Folk horror" is one of those categories which is hard to define - but you know it when you see it, like film noir.Two very different features and two dubious documentaries seem to fit the category - Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973), Erik Blomberg's The White Reindeer (1953), Malcolm Leigh's Legend of the Witches (1970) and Derek Ford's Secret Rites (1971) - all available in excellent Blu-ray editions.
- [Indicator's <i>Hammer Vol. 4: Faces of Fear</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/indicators-hammer-vol-4-faces-of-fear/) - With Hammer Vol. 4: Faces of Fear, Indicator continue to prove themselves one of the finest companies producing exceptional Blu-ray editions of a wide variety of genres. This new set includes three of the studio's finest features, each very different from the others, plus an interesting misfire. As always, there's an almost overwhelming quantity of supplementary material to provide background and critical assessments for each film.
- [A Kino Lorber miscellany](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/a-kino-lorber-miscellany/) - In the past few years Kino Lorber has become one of the most prolific disk producers with a remarkably varied catalogue representing every imaginable genre. Here, I look at a half dozen KL releases by a range of interesting directors - Robert Fuest, Ken Russell, Alain Robak, Harold Becker, Don Siegel and Sam Peckinpah.
- [<i>Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman</i>:<br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/02/three-fantastic-journeys-by-karel-zemancriterion-blu-ray-review/) - A new three-disk Blu-ray from Criterion showcases three fantasies by the great Czech animator Karel Zeman, whose unique, inventive style creates a child-like sense of wonder in even the most jaded viewer. The superb restorations provided by the Karel Zeman Museum in Prague are supplemented with some terrific extras, including an excellent feature-length documentary about Zeman's career and four of his early short films.
- [Lynch in print](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/03/lynch-in-print/) - I'm proud to announce that my two books about David Lynch, Eraserhead and Dune have now been released in print editions by BearManor Media, available now from the publisher and Amazon.
- [Poetic <i>noir</i> from Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/03/poetic-noir-from-criterion/) - Although separated by fifteen years, the Depression and World War Two, Stephen Roberts' The Story of Temple Drake (1933) and Frank Borzage's Moonrise (1948) have quite a bit in common, stylistically and thematically; each centres on an outsider character brought low by guilt, who ultimately finds redemption through self-knowledge, and each uses richly Expressionistic black-and-white photography to create a feverishly claustrophobic atmosphere to trap its protagonist in a seemingly hopeless situation.
- [Asia extreme](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/04/asia-extreme/) - Although there are obviously differences from culture to culture, many Asian movies share a tendency to to ignore the kind of “realism” Western, and particularly American, movies so often feel is necessary – which is one reason so many U.S. remakes of Asian genre movies take on a pedestrian quality nowhere evident in the originals. Three recent Asian movies – from Korea, Japan and China – use different approaches to explore societies in which economic and social inequality engender violence and to some degree madness. One uses blackly comic satire, one pushes genre tropes to absurd extremes, and one pushes neorealism into the realm of nightmare.
- [More genre viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/04/more-genre-viewing/) - More genre viewing, from low-end '80s slashers, to off-the-wall Italian horror, to adaptations from Robert A. Heinlein and Stephen King.
- [Sergei Bondarchuk's <i>War and Peace</i> (1966-67):<br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/sergei-bondarchuks-war-and-peace-1966-67-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's two-disk Blu-ray release of Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace showcases a restoration of what may well be the most expensive film ever made. Truly epic in scale, this adaptation of Tolstoy's revered novel balances awe-inspiring spectacle with emotionally charged character drama. The 7+ hour feature is supplemented with three hours of informative new and archival extras.
- [The Magic Kingdom](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/the-magic-kingdom/) - Images from the arthroscopic camera used in my recent rotator cuff surgery show a strange, almost surreally beautiful alien landscape.
- [Post-Op, weeks two and three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/post-op-weeks-two-and-three/) - Some more brief comments on recent viewing: classic horror, Italian crime action from Umberto Lenzi, gender-bending art from France and exploitation from Australia, the U.S. and the Philippines.
- [Binging](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/binging/) - Binge viewing can for some reason make movies you don't really like individually seem entertaining when watched back-to-back ... case in point: the Transformers series.
- [Alan Pakula's <i>Klute</i> (1971): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/alan-pakulas-klute-1971-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's exemplary Blu-ray release of Alan Pakula's second feature, Klute (1971), offers a superb 4K scan from the original negative and extensive extras which highlight the film's importance in the evolution of American cinema at a particularly turbulent time in both politics and popular culture, with a particular emphasis on Jane Fonda's development as both actor and activist.
- [Marcel Pagnol's <i>The Baker's Wife</i> (1938):<br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/marcel-pagnols-the-bakers-wife-1938criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion once again showcases the prodigious talent of French writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol with their Blu-ray release of The Baker's Wife (1938), considered to be his best film.
- [All-time favourite music video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/all-time-favourite-music-video/) - A haunting version of New Order's Blue Monday.
- [Twilight Time spies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/twilight-time-spies/) - Three Blu-rays from Twilight Time span the espionage genre from World War Two to the fall of Communism in the late 1980s, each mixing personal drama with larger political issues in their own distinct ways.
- [Guest Post: Considering Anthony Asquith](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/guest-post-considering-anthony-asquith/) - Guest contributor Howard Curle examines The Net (1953), a little-known film by Anthony Asquith which combines elements of science fiction and Cold War thriller with a drama about a troubled marriage. Howard finds stylistic links which hearken back to Asquith's brilliant silent films from the late '20s.
- [Ozu Yasujiro's <i>The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice</i> (1952):<br> Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/08/ozu-yasujiros-the-flavor-of-green-tea-over-rice-1952-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Ozu Yasujiro's melancholy social comedy The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), which reflects major shifts in Japanese life in the post-war period, receives an excellent release from the Criterion Collection.
- [Abbas Kiarostami's <i>The Koker Trilogy</i> (1987-94): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/09/abbas-kiarostamis-the-koker-trilogy-1987-94-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Abbas Kiarostami's multi-layered triptych of films dubbed The Koker Trilogy begins with a neorealist depiction of childhood in a small Iranian village and continues with an increasingly complex blend of documentary and fiction in which the director interrogates the nature of cinema itself through the impact of a devastating earthquake on the lives of the people who appeared in the first film. Criterion's Blu-ray set showcases this masterpiece with excellent transfers and a substantial array of supplements.
- [Ernst Lubitsch's <i>Cluny Brown</i> (1946): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/10/ernst-lubitschs-cluny-brown-1946-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's Blu-ray release of Ernst Lubitsch's final completed feature, Cluny Brown (1946), presents this richly layered comic gem in a luminous 4K restoration. This underrated romantic comedy which skewers rigid British class attitudes on the eve of World War Two is one of Lubitsch's masterpieces.
- [Bill Forsyth's <i>Local Hero</i> (1983): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/10/bill-forsyths-local-hero-1983-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Following the surprise international success of Gregory's Girl (1980), writer-director Bill Forsyth was given greater resources by producer David Puttnam and made what on the surface was a whimsical comedy reminiscent of Ealing Studios in the '50s; three-and-a-half decades later, the delightfully charming Local Hero (1983) can be seen as a subtly prescient warning about the most urgently pressing issues we now face - climate change and the need to find sustainable ways to inhabit the planet.
- [Recent miscellaneous viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/10/recent-miscellaneous-viewing-part-two/) - More random viewing: two obscure independent films from the BFI, Margaret Tait's poetic Blue Black Permanent (1992) and Maurice Hatton's gritty fake-umentary about the film business, Long Shot (1977); and three from Twilight Time - George Sluizer's interesting Americanization of his existential thriller The Vanishing (1993), Terrence Young's straightforward fact-based crime saga The Valachi Papers (1972), and D.W. Griffith's monumental but deeply troubling Birth of a Nation (1915).
- [Recent miscellaneous viewing, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/10/recent-miscellaneous-viewing-part-three/) - Yet more recent random viewing: Joseph L. Mankiewicz's movie-biz tragedy The Barefoot Contessa (1954); Lucio Fulci's first and (almost) last gialli, One on Top of the Other aka Perversion Story (1969) anf The New York Ripper (1982); Ivan Nagy's oddly poetic serial killer movie Skinner (1993); and some cheap bargains from the local drugstore.
- [Michael Radford's adaptation of George Orwell's <i>1984</i> (1984)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/michael-radfords-adaptation-of-george-orwells-1984-1984/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of Michael Radford's 1984 (1984) offers an impressive 4K restoration of this grim and gritty dystopian fantasy faithfully adapted from George Orwell's novel.
- [Julien Duvivier's <i>Panique</i> (1946): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/julien-duviviers-panique-1946-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion have continued their efforts to restore the reputation of eclectic French filmmaker Julien Duvivier by following their Eclipse set of features from the 1930s with a stunning Blu-ray edition of his first post-war feature, Panique (1946), adapted from a very dark novel by Georges Simenon.
- [Don Siegel's <i>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</i> (1956)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/01/don-siegels-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1956/) - Olive Films' Signature edition of Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) does full justice to this classic of 1950s sci-fi/horror with an excellent transfer and a rich collection of extras, which include two commentaries and a stack of featurettes about the film, director Siegel and producer Walter Wanger.
- [B-horror nostalgia: Ryan Schifrin's <i>Abominable</i> (2005/2018)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/01/b-horror-nostalgia-ryan-schifrins-abominable-2005-2018/) - MVD Entertainment Group's Blu-ray release of Ryan Schifrin's ’80s horror homage Abominable (2005/2018) offers an exemplary treatment of a niche title, with excellent technical treatment and stacked with extras which honour the filmmaker's respect for the genre.
- [Italian cops and killers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/01/italian-cops-and-killers/) - Inspired by the international success of Dirty Harry and The French Connection in 1971, the Italian poliziotteschi quickly became a versatile genre reflecting the political paranoia and nihilism of the '70s; three recently viewed movies show a range of approaches to the genre.
- [Elaine May's <i>Mikey and Nicky</i> (1976): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/01/elaine-mays-mikey-and-nicky-1976-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's release of Elaine May's one-of-a-kind Mikey and Nicky (1976) on Blu-ray calls attention to one of the most unjustly neglected movies of its era, a devastatingly raw dissection of masculinity, friendship and betrayal by a filmmaker who was too distinctively original to fit comfortably into the business of Hollywood.
- [Agnès Varda 1928-2019](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/03/agnes-varda-1928-2019/) - Agnès Varda, whose remarkable career spanned from 1955's La Pointe Courte to the recently released Varda by Agnès (2019), has died at the age of 90. In six-and-a-half decades, she created a body of work rooted in a fascination with human beings and the social forces which shape them, in features and documentaries full of acute insights and humour.
- [More late winter viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/04/more-late-winter-viewing-part-one/) - Entertainment knows no bounds in terms of style or quality: recent viewing ranges from Walter Hill's gripping Vietnam allegory Southern Comfort (1981) to Kinji Fukusaku's pulp sci-fi The Green Slime (1968), from Richard Franklin's Ozploitation horror Patrick (1978) to Robert Amram's perplexing End Times "documentary" The Late Great Planet Earth (1979).
- [Hammer on Blu-ray from Indicator, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/04/hammer-on-blu-ray-from-indicator-part-two/) - Indicator's first box set of Hammer films on Blu-ray is an uneven selection of the studio's mid-'60s output, including two of their best along with two of their weakest releases. Alongside Michael Carreras' mediocre Maniac (1963) and The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964), we get The Gorgon (1964), on of Terence Fisher's finest Gothic horrors along with Silvio Narizzano's debut feature, Fanatic (1965, aka Die! Die! My Darling!), the best of Hammer's psychological horrors, all sporting excellent transfers and informative special features.
- [An evening with '50s monsters](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/05/an-evening-with-50s-monsters/) - Blu-ray technology is lavished on a pair of cheap 1950s sci-fi/horror movies with Shout! Factory's The Deadly Mantis (1957) and Kino Lorber's The Maze (1953), the latter is superbly restored 3D. Both movies get informative commentaries and other extras - and both probably never looked this good even in their original theatrical releases.
- [Demons and vampires from the '70s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/05/demons-and-vampires-from-the-70s/) - A pair of recent Blu-rays from Shout! Factory bookend '70s horror with John Hayes' Grave of the Vampire (1972), a too-little-known cheap exploitation feature which revitalizes vampire mythology and William Girdler's The Manitou (1978), a low-budget studio movie with a better-than-average cast which plays a variation on demonic possession but fails to find an effective tone.
- [Recent Brit disks](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/06/recent-brit-disks/) - Recent viewing includes an obscure arty film by the producer of Blow-Up and a pair of lesser known horrors from the heyday of British Gothic.
- [Victor Erice's <i>El Sur</i> (1983): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/07/victor-erices-el-sur-1983-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of Victor Erice's second feature, El Sur (1983), presents this exquisite depiction of childhood innocence and loss in a breathtakingly rich hi-def transfer, with excellent, informative supplements.
- [Michael Powell's <i>A Matter of Life and Death</i> (1946): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/07/michael-powells-a-matter-of-life-and-death-1946-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) uses a 4K restoration by Sony from the original three-strip Technicolor negative and the film looks absolutely ravishing.
- [Recent viewing, Summer 2018 - Weird Stuff](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/recent-viewing-summer-2018-weird-stuff/) - Imagination, if followed honestly, can easily trump coherence and plausibility; what matters is how sincerely a filmmaker follows the narrative ideas out of which a movie arises. Three relatively recent movies offer a great deal of pleasure as they disappear enthusiastically down their own respective rabbit holes.
- [Robert M. Young's <i>The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez</i> (1982): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/robert-m-youngs-the-ballad-of-gregorio-cortez-1982-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's Blu-ray release of Robert M. Young's The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) gives new life to a remarkable but too-little known film which takes on greater urgency in the current political climate in the U.S.
- [A Terence Stamp double-bill](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/10/a-terence-stamp-double-bill/) - Two recent Blu-ray releases from Indicator showcase the idiosyncratic intensity of Terence Stamp's acting. William Wyler's The Collector (1965) is a prestigious Hollywood production, while Alan Cooke's The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970) is a little-known low-budget Amicus feature.
- [Recent Arrow Blu-rays](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/11/recent-arrow-blu-rays/) - I've recently sampled a broad range of movies from Arrow Video, from Japanese classics to obscure gialli, recent horror and an original and disturbing Mexican movie which combines marital drama, dark eroticism and a very disturbing alien.
- [The legendary Dick Miller](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/the-legendary-dick-miller/) - Winnipeg filmmaker and author Caelum Vatnsdal spent several years researching the life of everyone's favourite ubiquitous supporting actor Dick Miller and the resulting biography is every bit as entertaining as the roles Miller has played through six decades in the movie business.
- [More genre viewing - late Fall 2018](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/more-genre-viewing-late-fall-2018/) - Classic television horror, geriatric action and an off-the-wall Canadian horror from Kino Lorber and Severin; five recent disks present thrills, chills, strained comedy and some problematic post-colonial politics.
- [David Byrne's <i>True Stories</i> (1986): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/david-byrnes-true-stories-1986-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - David Byrne's True Stories is a utopian vision of America as it would like to see itself, the mythic melting pot in which it’s possible for anyone to achieve fulfillment of their personal dreams. Criterion's new Blu-ray release delivers a superb visual and audio treatment of this charming movie.
- [Miscellaneous notes: Severin Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/02/miscellaneous-notes-severin-films/) - Severin Films' recent Blu-ray special edition of Robert S. Baker & Monty Berman's Jack the Ripper (1959) is ambitious but compromised; three different versions all have serious transfer issues. More satisfying is Severin's Blu-ray edition of Richard Stanley's typically idiosyncratic documentary The Otherworld (2013).
- [Ken Loach's <i>I, Daniel Blake</i> (2016): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/02/ken-loachs-i-daniel-blake-2016-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion has released an excellent Blu-ray of Ken Loach's Palme d'or-winning I, Daniel Blake (2016), supplemented with a commentary track from Loach and writer Paul Laverty, an illuminating behind-the-scenes documentary, and a feature-length account of the director's life and career.
- [Ishiro Honda: Father of Godzilla ... and more](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/02/ishiro-honda-father-of-godzilla-and-more/) - A recent biography of Godzilla-director Ishiro Honda reveals far more facets than his image as a creator of giant monster rampages.
- [Sinatra x 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/03/sinatra-x-2/) - Frank Sinatra, a star and celebrity, could also be an impressive actor when he cared to make the effort: two of his best performances from the 1960s reveal a willingness to play flawed characters and expose their weaknesses.
- [John Murray Anderson's <i>King of Jazz</i> (1930): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/03/john-murray-andersons-king-of-jazz-1930-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - The ambitious and very expensive early sound-era musical King of Jazz, featuring Paul Whiteman and his band, gets a spectacular restoration which makes the most of the original two-strip Technicolor process on Criterion's extras-packed Blu-ray.
- [King Hu's <i>Legend of the Mountain</i> (1979)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/04/king-hus-legend-of-the-mountain-1979/) - A new digital restoration of King Hu's epic period ghost story Legend of the Mountain (1979) from Masters of Cinema reveals this languid masterpiece in all its pictorial glory; a stunning dream of a movie.
- [Recent viewing: March-April 2018](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/04/recent-viewing-march-april-2018/) - A round-up of recent reviewing across multiple genres - western, black comedy, musical, animation, road movie.
- [Recent theatrical viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/05/recent-theatrical-viewing/) - Recent theatrical viewing has included some very dark comedies and fantasies, but the real horrors were supplied by the faceless corporate types who have transformed movie going into an unpleasant ordeal.
- [Nuclear war and the movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/05/nuclear-war-and-the-movies/) - 20 years after the BBC commissioned and then suppressed The War Game, Peter Watkins' devastating depiction of a nuclear attack on England, the Corporation produced Mick Jackson's Threads, an even more powerful film on the theme. Synapse has released Threads on an impressive new Blu-ray.
- [Jim Jarmusch's <i>Dead Man</i> (1995): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/05/jim-jarmuschs-dead-man-1995-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of Dead Man (1995) presents a luminous transfer of Jim Jarmusch's masterpiece, a western which is also a poetic contemplation of the conflict between a material world and spiritual survival.
- [Haunted by the past: <i>Karl Marx City</i> (2016)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/06/haunted-by-the-past-karl-marx-city-2016/) - Karl Marx City (2016) is a strange, disturbing documentary exploration of family history in the context of an oppressive police state, East Germany. In uncovering the story of her father, co-director Petra Epperlein reveals how powerful political forces distort and control people's everyday lives.
- [The cinematic art of Cristian Mungiu](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/06/the-cinematic-art-of-cristian-mungiu/) - Two recent Criterion releases, Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills (2012) and Graduation (2016), illustrate the richness of the Romanian New Wave; formally rich, morally complex, and dramatically powerful, they both look superb on Blu-ray and Criterion supplements them with substantial contextual material which reveal Mungiu to be one of the finest artists working in film today.
- [The storytelling art of Sadao Yamanaka](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/06/the-storytelling-art-of-sadao-yamanaka/) - Film history is full of lost movies and forgotten filmmakers, but the case of Sadao Yamanaka is one of the saddest; a brilliant director in 1930s Japan, he died young and all but three of his twenty-seven features are lost. The three that remain are all great works of narrative art.
- [Dr. Seuss' Nightmare: <i>The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T</i> (1953)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/06/dr-seuss-nightmare-the-5000-fingers-of-dr-t-1953/) - Indicator's Blu-ray finally does justice to The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953), Dr. Seuss' nightmarish musical plunge into childhood anxieties.
- [Summer viewing: science fiction](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/08/summer-viewing-science-fiction/) - Technical accuracy is not necessarily what makes science fiction satisfying; more important is storytelling, as illustrated by two older and one recent movies.
- [Michael Curtiz's <i>The Breaking Point</i> (1950): </br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/08/michael-curtizs-the-breaking-point-1950-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - An almost lost masterpiece resurfaces in Criterion's excellent Blu-ray release of Michael Curtiz' The Breaking Point (1950) starring John Garfield.
- [Sacha Guitry's <i>La poison</i> (1951): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/08/sacha-guitrys-la-poison-1951-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Sacha Guitry's La poison (1951) is a deceptively light, witty comedy about murder; beneath the surface it is a bitter dissection of a society devoid of morality.
- [<i>David Lynch: The Art Life</i> (2016): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/09/david-lynch-the-art-life-2016-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - The Art Life is a relaxed and nuanced portrait of filmmaker David Lynch's evolution as an artist which, like his work, is both revealing and enigmatic.
- [No, it's definitely not a rom-com](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/09/no-its-definitely-not-a-rom-com/) - Darren Aronofsky's mother! (2017) is a religious allegory disguised as a horrific comedy of social unease, original and completely unhinged.
- [David Lynch/<i>Eraserhead</i> interview](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/10/david-lyncheraserhead-interview/) - I was interviewed this week by Nathan Wardinski for his show Sounds of Cinema, broadcast on a couple of public educational radio stations in southern Minnesota. The topic was David Lynch and the making of Eraserhead and I was initially a bit intimidated – both by the idea of being interviewed (I’ve interviewed quite a
- [Fractured dream: Georges Franju's <i>Spotlight on a Murderer</i> (1961)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/10/fractured-dream-georges-franjus-spotlight-on-a-murderer-1961/) - Arrow Video has released an excellent Blu-ray edition of Georges Franju's little-known third feature, Plein feux per l'assassin (Spotlight on a Murderer, 1961).
- [Twilight Time goes West](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/twilight-time-goes-west/) - Recent Twilight Time releases trace the western from the frontier myth to post-'60s cynicism, with a side trip to post-war racial tension in Los Angeles.
- [A mixed bag from Screen Archives](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/a-mixed-bag-from-screen-archives/) - The discovery of a previously unknown documentary, plus a rough-and-ready exploitation B-movie, outweigh a bloated mainstream Cinerama showcase.
- [Further down Memory Lane](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/further-down-memory-lane/) - Digging into the detritus of a lifetime unearths some interesting memories of a movie career which didn't quite happen
- [Terry Gilliam's <i>Jabberwocky</i> (1977): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/11/terry-gilliams-jabberwocky-1977-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of Jabberwocky draws out every detail of a richly imagined Medieval world of blood, filth and horror viewed through Gilliam's comic lens.
- [Hometown Talent](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/12/hometown-talent/) - A new documentary by Dave Barber and Kevin Nikkel tries to rein in the long and unruly history of the Winnipeg Film Group.
- [Barbet Schroeder's <i>General Idi Amin Dada</i> (1974): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/12/barbet-schroeders-general-idi-amin-dada-1974-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion releases a new Blu-ray edition of Barbet Schroeder's fascinating and problematic documentary about Ugandan dictator Idi Amin..
- [Agnes Varda's passion for life](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/12/agnes-vardas-passion-for-life/) - In Visages Villages (2017), 88-year old Agnes Varda, made with photographer JR, continues to explore the lives of "ordinary" people the process of her own aging.
- [Art and Identity: Jeff Malmberg's <i>Marwencol</i> (2010)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/01/art-and-identity-jeff-malmbergs-marwencol-2010/) - Jeff Malmberg's Marwencol (2010) tells the remarkable story of Mark Hogancamp, a man almost beaten to death, who creates an alternate world to help himself heal.
- [Melodrama from Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/01/melodrama-from-twilight-time/) - Some recent Twilight Time releases showcase the value of melodrama as social critique and character study.
- [Evil and dead](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/02/evil-and-dead/) - Paul W.S. Anderson wraps up his 15-year zombie apocalypse with one of the best episodes in the series, while Train to Busan scales the zombie heights in style.
- [Twilight Time round-up](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/02/twilight-time-round-up/) - Although it's impossible to keep up with all the disks from Twilight Time, I've recently been binging on some of their newer releases.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review:</br>Ermanno Olmi's <i>The Tree of Wooden Clogs</i> (1978)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/02/criterion-blu-ray-review-ermanno-olmis-the-tree-of-wooden-clogs-1978/) - Criterion have released a gorgeous restoration of Ermanno Olmi's 1978 masterpiece The Tree of Wooden Clogs, his immersive epic of 19th Century peasant life.
- [Hammer Horror on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/hammer-horror-on-blu-ray/) - The Hammer Horror Collection on Blu-ray supplies colourful transfers of a mixed-bag of major and minor releases from the studio, unfortunately with no extras.
- [A Poverty Row evening](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/a-poverty-row-evening/) - An evening of pizza and movies plunged me and my friend Steve into the depths of no-budget horror with a double dose of Ed Wood and Andy Milligan.
- [Viewing notes, March 2017: Part One](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/viewing-notes-march-2017-part-one/) - A round-up of recent Blu-ray viewing, with some classics, an occasional dud, and a few old favourites.
- [The Key to <i>Eraserhead</i>?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/the-key-to-eraserhead/) - Jon Fairhurst offers an original approach to film analysis by proposing the influence of a classic text on David Lynch's Eraserhead in a graphic novel,
- [Andrew Haigh's <i>45 Years</i> (2015): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/andrew-haighs-45-years-2015-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Andrew Haigh's 45 Years (2015) is a subtle character study which showcases career-best performances from Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay.
- [<i>Canoa, A Shameful Memory</i> (1976): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/canoa-a-shameful-memory-1976-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's release of Felipe Cazals' Canoa (1976) makes available a key film in Mexican cinema history, a devastating depiction of political violence.
- [CageyFilms Documentaries now on Vimeo](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/cageyfilms-documentaries-now-on-vimeo/) - Cagey Films launches two documentaries on Vimeo-on-Demand.
- [Viewing notes, March 2017: Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/03/viewing-notes-march-2017-part-two/) - A random sample of recent viewing, from Ken Russell's debut feature through Andrew Bujalski's retro-video experiment to David Mackenzie's Oscar-nominee.
- [Classic Howard Hawks on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/04/classic-howard-hawks-on-blu-ray/) - His Girl Friday and Only Angels Have Wings, two of Howard Hawks' most critically acclaimed movies, have received excellent treatment from Criterion on Blu-ray.
- [Criterion's complete <i>Lone Wolf and Cub</i> 1972-74](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/04/criterions-complete-lone-wolf-and-cub-1972-74/) - Criterion adds another landmark of Japanese popular cinema to their collection with an impressive Blu-ray release of the complete Lone Wolf and Cub series.
- [Juzo Itami's <i>Tampopo</i> (1985): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/04/juzo-itamis-tampopo-1985-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Juzo Itami's prodigiously inventive comedy about our relationship with food, Tampopo (1985), a gets an excellent Blu-ray release from Criterion.
- [Random thoughts: May 2017](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/05/random-thoughts-may-2017/) - A collection of random thoughts about recent viewing and reading, including an ambivalent excursion into Netflix streaming.
- [<i>World Cinema Project 2</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/06/world-cinema-project-2-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's World Cinema Project 2 box set opens windows on a number of unfamiliar national cinemas with an eclectic selection of six distinctive features.
- [Desert <i>noir</i> and 3D from Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/06/desert-noir-and-3d-from-twilight-time/) - Two recent Twilight Time Blu-ray releases place film noir narratives in bright desert landscapes, one in 3D, the other in panoramic widescreen.
- [Random thoughts: Summer 2017](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/07/random-thoughts-summer-2017/) - Brief comments on several recent deaths and recently watched Blu-rays in various different genres.
- [Recent Twilight Time releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/08/recent-twilight-time-releases/) - Twilight Time offer a thriller maligned on its initial release, a harsh western directed by an Englishman in Spain, and a big Hollywood roadshow epic.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Orson Welles' <i>The Immortal Story</i> (1968)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/08/criterion-blu-ray-review-orson-welles-the-immortal-story-1968/) - The Immortal Story (1968), Orson Welles' last completed fiction feature, adapted from an Isak Dinesen story, gets a gorgeous Blu-ray release from Criterion .
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Kenji Mizoguchi's <i>The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum</i> (1939)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/09/criterion-blu-ray-review-kenji-mizoguchis-the-story-of-the-last-chrysanthemum-1939/) - The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939), one of Mizoguchi's earliest masterpieces offers a remarkable display of long takes and composition in depth.
- [Discovery and loss: Pierre Etaix 1928-2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/10/discovery-and-loss-pierre-etaix-1928-2016/) - French comic Pierre Etaix, whose film work from 1961 to '71 vanished for 40 years before being rediscovered and restored in 2010, has died at the age of 87.
- [Time, paradox and loss](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/12/time-paradox-and-loss/) - Artsploitation Films releases Counter Clockwise, a new low-budget time travel paradox movie; and several notable cinema personalities have recently departed.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Laurie Anderson's <i>Heart of a Dog</i> (2015)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/12/criterion-blu-ray-review-laurie-andersons-heart-of-a-dog-2015/) - Laurie Anderson's Heart of a Dog (2015) is a charming, discursive, ultimately deeply moving exploration of death, loss, grief and life.
- [Year-end ruminations: 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/01/year-end-ruminations-2016/) - 2016 was an impressive year for movies on disk, with many new and classic releases, prestige productions and exploitation, and some interesting rediscoveries.
- [M. Night Shyamalan's <i>Split</i> (2017)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/01/m-night-shyamalans-split-2017/) - M. Night Shyamalan's Split (2017) in one of his most accomplished films yet, a tense psychological thriller in which every character elicits audience sympathy.
- [M. Night Shyamalan's <i>The Visit</i> (2015)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/01/m-night-shyamalans-the-visit-2015/) - Despite facing a seemingly unending barrage of derision, M. Night Shyamalan continues to put out fine, underrated movies: The Visit is one of his best.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Jan Troell's <i>The Emigrants</i> (1971) and <i>The New Land</i> (1972)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/02/criterion-blu-ray-review-jan-troells-the-emigrants-1971-and-the-new-land-1972/) - Criterion releases a superb Blu-ray edition of Jan Troell's 2-part epic about poor Swedish farmers looking for a new life in the US in the mid-19th Century.
- [Joshua Oppenheimer's <i>The Look of Silence</i> (2014)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/02/joshua-oppenheimers-the-look-of-silence-2014/) - Viewing the Indonesian genocide from the victims' point of view, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence is more devastating than The Act of Killing.
- [Andrzej Zulawski 1940-2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/02/andrzej-zulawski-1940-2016/) - Polish director Andrzej Zulawski has died, age 75, just as a restored version of his ambitious science fiction epic On the Silver Globe premieres in New York.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Edward Yang's <i>A Brighter Summer Day</i> (1991)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/criterion-blu-ray-review-edward-yangs-a-brighter-summer-day-1991/) - Criterion make available Edward Yang's legendary, little-seen masterpiece A Bright Summer Day in a superb 2-disk extras-rich Blu-ray edition.
- [Late winter viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/late-winter-viewing-part-one/) - Kids and monsters, kids in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and a couple of cousins from Israel who tried to take over Hollywood in the '80s.
- [Changes at Cagey Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/changes-at-cagey-films/) - We here at Cagey Films are making some changes, beginning with a new index function to make it easier to search through our 400+ blog posts.
- [Late winter viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/03/late-winter-viewing-part-two/) - A mixed bag of recently viewed disks, from an obscure, poetic b&w drama to some garishly perverse Greek exploitation, from gialli to Japanese SF animation.
- [Recent discoveries on disk](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/04/recent-discoveries-on-disk/) - Three fascinating rediscovered movies suggest once again that the demise of DVD and Blu-ray isn't happening anytime soon.
- [Mining a shrinking vein: <i>The Vincent Price Collection III</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/04/mining-a-shrinking-vein-the-vincent-price-collection-iii/) - The 3rd volume of Shout! Factory's Vincent Price Collection seems more threadbare than the previous volumes, although there are still points of interest.
- [Two More from Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/05/two-more-from-twilight-time/) - Twilight Time have released two very different movies: Ralph Nelson's religious parable Lilies of the Field and Richard Fleischer's bleak 10 Rillington Place.
- [The art of silent film: Anthony Asquith's <i>Shooting Stars</i> (1928)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/05/the-art-of-silent-film-anthony-asquiths-shooting-stars-1928/) - The new BFI release of Anthony Asquith's Shooting Stars (1928) shows that it's still possible to discover a previously unknown yet major film from the silent era.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>In a Lonely Place</i> (1950)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/05/criterion-blu-ray-review-in-a-lonely-place-1950/) - Criterion releases Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place in a superb Blu-ray edition with plentiful special features to illuminate this masterpiece.
- [The pleasures of transgression](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/06/the-pleasures-of-transgression/) - Two recent disks present transgressive sexuality from very different perspectives: Candy, a glossy big budget production, Thundercrack! a scrappy underground epic
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>Here Comes Mr. Jordan</i> (1941)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/06/criterion-blu-ray-review-here-comes-mr-jordan-1941/) - Alexander Hall's 1941 romantic comedy about death, Here Comes Mr. Jordan , gets an impressive Blu-ray release from Criterion.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Jean Renoir's <i>La Chienne</i> (1931)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/06/criterion-blu-ray-review-jean-renoirs-la-chienne-1931/) - Criterion's release of a key but little-known feature by Jean Renoir, the conceptually and stylistically sophisticated La Chienne, is essential viewing.
- [Recent viewing, May-June 2016, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/06/recent-viewing-may-june-2016-part-one/) - Recent viewing ranges from smart B-horror to magic realist-inflected neo-realism, with excellent disks from Blue Underground, Shout! Factory and Arrow Video.
- [Brief viewing notes, July 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/07/brief-viewing-notes-july-2016/) - Recent viewing ranges from classic noir to mediocre '80s thriller, from low budget horror to a documentary about one of the great craftsmen of fantasy film.
- [Viewing notes July-August 2015, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/08/viewing-notes-july-august-2015-part-two/) - Brief comments on a selection of recently watched movies, ranging from classic science fiction to a Danish western, world war two tank combat and Aussie zombies
- [Blu-rays from Kino Lorber](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/08/blu-rays-from-kino-lorber/) - Kino Lorber have been offering a range of movies from poverty row exploitation classics to arthouse obscurities and titles from lesser-known byways of the '70s.
- [Twilight Time: Fantasies of romance](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/09/twilight-time-fantasies-of-romance/) - Two very different '60s romantic comedies arrive on Blu-ray from Twilight Time, one large and prestigious, the other small and whimsical; the latter remains fresh.
- [Mario Bava and Italian genre film: Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/09/mario-bava-and-italian-genre-film-horror/) - Visual master Mario Bava virtually invented the Italian horror film, influencing generations of filmmakers who built on his stylistic and thematic example.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>The Honeymoon Killers</i> (1969)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/10/criterion-blu-ray-review-the-honeymoon-killers-1969/) - The Criterion Collection has released an impressive hi-def upgrade of Leonard Kastle's gritty, blackly comic true-crime feature The Honeymoon Killers (1979).
- [Italian genre beyond Bava](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/10/italian-genre-beyond-bava/) - While Mario Bava paved the way for Italian horror, directors who followed him pushed the limits of violence, foremost among them Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci.
- [Aleksei German's <i>Hard to Be a God</i> (2013)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/10/aleksei-germans-hard-to-be-a-god-2013/) - Hard to Be a God (2013), Aleksei German's final film, is a dense, obscure, visually stunning science fiction epic set in a brutal alternate medieval world.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Ettore Scola's <i>A Special Day</i> (1977)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/11/criterion-blu-ray-review-ettore-scolas-a-special-day-1977/) - Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977) is a subtle, emotionally resonant chamber film featuring Sofia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni in two of their finest roles.
- [Random notes: two films and a book](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/11/random-notes-two-films-and-a-book/) - A variety of approaches to horror are on display in Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak, a book about Kubrick's The Shining and a 1983 Austrian film, Angst.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Richard Brooks' <i>In Cold Blood</i> (1967)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/11/criterion-blu-ray-review-richard-brooks-in-cold-blood-1967/) - Criterion's Blu-ray of Richard Brooks' In Cold Blood highlights the film's innovative technical accomplishments and illuminates Capote's approach to the story.
- [<i>Julien Duvivier in the Thirties</i>: Eclipse 44](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/11/julien-duvivier-in-the-thirties-eclipse-44/) - The latest Eclipse set showcases a neglected master of pre-New Wave French film, Julien Duvivier; with four stylistically adventurous films of great emotional depth.
- [The joy of B: Sam Katzman's 1950s horrors](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/12/the-joy-of-b-sam-katzmans-1950s-horrors/) - Sony's Icons of Horror: Sam Katzman presents an entertaining selection of low-budget genre movies from the mid-'50s. Not art, but undeniably entertaining.
- [Year End 2015](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/12/year-end-2015/) - Although I saw fewer movies in theatres than ever, this year offered a rich array of films on disk, belying continuing prophecies of the medium's demise.
- [Blast from the past: a 28-year-old term paper](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/01/blast-from-the-past-a-28-year-old-term-paper/) - A recently unearthed university paper explaining why Frank Capra's work rubbed me the wrong way gives a glimpse of where I came from as a writer about film.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Giuseppe De Santis' <i>Bitter Rice</i> (1949)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/01/criterion-blu-ray-review-giuseppe-de-santis-bitter-rice-1949/) - Giuseppe De Santis' Bitter Rice expands the possibilities of neo-realism by incorporating elements of melodrama and film noir into the lives of working women.
- [The pleasures of hand-made animation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/04/the-pleasures-of-hand-made-animation/) - Despite current dominance of computer animation, there are qualities in hand-made animation which offer a richer, more aesthetically pleasing viewer experience.
- [More recent animation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/04/more-recent-animation/) - Studio Ghibli's Isao Takahata creates a masterpiece in his final feature, while Hiroyuki Okiura seems a worthy successor with A Letter to Momo.
- [Val Guest on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/04/val-guest-on-blu-ray/) - Surprisingly, the underrated director Val Guest has recently been represented by a flurry of Blu-ray releases, two of which highlight some of his finest work.
- [Viewing notes, March-April 2015: part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/04/viewing-notes-march-april-2015-part-one/) - Recent viewing includes the big-budget Furious 7 and the smaller but better It Follows, as well as a collection of older genre movies on disk.
- [The return of Mad Max ... kind of](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/05/the-return-of-mad-max-kind-of/) - Spectacular action reminiscent of the original Mad Max trilogy can't quite overcome a disappointing script and weak lead performance in George Miller's Fury Road.
- [David Cronenberg, now ... and then](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/05/david-cronenberg-now-and-then/) - Arrow Video's spectacular Blu-ray of Rabid is a reminder of just how good and natural a filmmaker David Cronenberg is.
- [Piracy paranoia](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/piracy-paranoia/) - Fear of piracy increasingly sees entertainment industries viewing their customers as enemies.
- [Late summer viewing 2014, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/10/late-summer-viewing-2014-part-two/) - A selection of recently viewed films ranges from revisionist horror to horror-comedy to experimental to Hitchcock imitation (or homage), presented on Blu-ray.
- [Late summer viewing 2014, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/10/late-summer-viewing-2014-part-three/) - Recent viewing ranges from classic Italian and Eastern European films to a pair of 1970s BBC sci-fi/fantasy productions newly released on disk by the BFI.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review:</br>Frank Capra's <i>It Happened One Night</i> (1934)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/11/criterion-blu-ray-reviewfrank-capras-it-happened-one-night-1934/) - Criterion's Blu-ray offers a visually rich, extras-packed presentation of Frank Capra's classic Depression-era romantic comedy It Happened One Night.
- [Rewriting the West:</br>Monte Hellman's <i>The Shooting</i> and <i>Ride In the Whirlwind</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/12/rewriting-the-westmonte-hellmans-the-shooting-and-ride-in-the-whirlwind/) - The Criterion Collection resurrects Monte Hellman's two radical, innovative westerns from the mid-'60s, supported by a substantial set of special features.
- [The resurrection of Clive Barker's <i>Nightbreed</i> (1990/2014)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/12/the-resurrection-of-clive-barkers-nightbreed-19902014/) - Shout Factory have made an enormous effort to recover Clive Barker's Nightbreed from the oblivion into which studio interference sent it 25 years ago.
- [Val Guest and <i>The Day the Earth Caught Fire</i> (1961)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/12/val-guest-and-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-1961/) - Val Guest instills story and characters with gripping realism in The Day the Earth Caught Fire, now released in an excellent Blu-ray edition by the BFI.
- [Subverting propaganda:</br><i>Keisuke Kinoshita and World War II</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/01/subverting-propaganda-keisuke-kinoshita-and-world-war-ii/) - Criterion's Eclipse release Keisuke Kinoshita and World War II opens a window on a previously little-seen world: the Japanese home front during World War 2 .
- [<i>CarFree</i> premiere](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/01/carfree-premiere/) - After a year of work, the documentary CarFree which I've been working on with Janine Tschuncky is complete and starting on its way out into the world.
- [Oh, the horror! part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/01/oh-the-horror-part-two/) - Styles of movie horror have evolved, a process well-illustrated by comparing several new releases with the second Vincent Price Collection from Shout! Factory.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>The Sword of Doom</i> (1966)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/01/criterion-blu-ray-review-the-sword-of-doom-1966/) - Criterion's Blu-ray of Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom (1966) provides a spectacular transfer of this difficult, idiosyncratic samurai film.
- [Twilight Time again ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/02/twilight-time-again/) - Recent releases from Twilight Time include two Hollywood classics; an oddball excursion by a great Hollywood director; and a devastating animated fable .
- [A bear, a detective and the big city](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/02/a-bear-a-detective-and-the-big-city/) - A cute CG bear and a likable stoner detective are at the centre of two of the most entertaining movies to be released recently: Paddington and Inherent Vice.
- [An unforeseen drawback of digital projection](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/an-unforeseen-drawback-of-digital-projection/) - The full automation of movie projection has resulted in a new kind of laziness among theatre staff which would outrage traditional projectionists.
- [Criterion Blu-ray Review: <i>Riot In Cell Block 11</i> (1954)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/criterion-blu-ray-review-riot-in-cell-block-11-1954/) - Criterion offers a strong presentation of Don Siegel's breakout movie, Riot In Cell Block 11 (1954), a powerful docudrama which avoids all prison movie cliches.
- [Spectrum of Horror: from class to crass](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/spectrum-of-horror-from-class-to-crass/) - Two disks illustrate the spectrum of British genre production in the '70s and '80s: Pete Walker's Frightmare and David Rudkin's epic BBC fantasy Artemis 81.
- [Twilight Time X 3](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/twilight-time-x-3/) - Recent disks from boutique label Twilight Time offer large scale mainstream epics and the most personal film Sam Peckinpah ever made.
- [Styles of Horror, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/05/styles-of-horror-part-three/) - Nazi zombies, 3D vampires and '80s serial killers: recent disks troll the lower regions of horror.
- [A picture needs a thousand words ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/05/a-picture-needs-a-thousand-words/) - Flicker Alley's welcome Blu-ray edition of The Most Dangerous Game garners real interest from the inclusion of the 1931 exploitation travelog Gow The Headhunter
- [Recent Viewing: April and May, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/05/recent-viewing-april-and-may-part-two/) - Recent movies by Ron Howard and the Coen Brothers are among their best; the Russian In the Fog deals with the moral chaos of WW2; and Wolf Children is great anime.
- [Recent Viewing: April and May, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/05/recent-viewing-april-and-may-part-three/) - Wheatley's A Field In England and Perry's The Swimmer use realistic performance and imagery to dig below material reality to strange psychological depths,
- [The good and the bad of Warner Brothers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/06/the-good-and-the-bad-of-warner-brothers/) - Warners, once a pioneer of disk supplements, offers bare bones releases of movies that cry out for commentaries and documentaries to illuminate their importance.
- [Criterion DVD Review: <i>Judex</i> (1963)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/06/criterion-dvd-review-judex-1963/) - Franju's remake of Feuillade's silent serial Judex is a mysterious dream of a movie which evokes the silent era through beautiful surfaces and ephemeral moods.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>Hearts and Minds</i> (1973)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/06/criterion-blu-ray-review-hearts-and-minds-1973/) - Peter Davis' Oscar-winning 1973 documentary Hearts and Minds remains the single finest investigation of U.S. motivations and actions in Vietnam.
- [Recent disks from England, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/07/recent-disks-from-england-part-two/) - New disks from England, including restored versions of Violent Saturday, The War Lord and The Long Goodbye, plus a quietly devastating film from Sono Sion.
- [Recent disks from England: Arrow Video, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/07/recent-disks-from-england-arrow-video-part-one/) - England's Arrow Video, while still largely focusing on genre titles, is rapidly becoming the equal of the BFI and Criterion in the quality of their releases.
- [Rough Cut's Third Anniversary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/10/rough-cuts-third-anniversary/) - After three years, 244 posts and more than 400,000 words I find I still haven't run out of things to say about the movies I watch.
- [October 30, 1938: When Welles Unleashed Wells](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/10/october-30-1938-when-welles-unleashed-wells/) - PBS American Experience documentary convincingly explains the cultural impact of Orson Welles' 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast.
- [Rossellini & Bergman: a collision of life and art](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/rossellini-bergman-a-collision-of-life-and-art/) - Criterion's box-set of films made by Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman is one of their most impressive releases; a valuable historical and critical package.
- [The sad conclusion to my NFB career ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/the-sad-conclusion-to-my-nfb-career/) - After four years I've finally seen what happened to the last project I worked on at the NFB and it was a dispiriting experience.
- [Haunting Classic: <i>The Uninvited</i> (1944)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/11/haunting-classic-the-uninvited-1944/) - Lewis Allen's The Uninvited was one of the first Hollywood movies to take ghosts seriously and remains one of the finest filmed ghost stories today.
- [TCM Remembers 2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/12/tcm-remembers-2013/) - TCM's annual tribute to the passing of actors, directors, writers, producers and anyone else connected with the movies is, as always, elegant and moving.
- [The Lure of <i>Paradise</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/01/the-lure-of-paradise/) - Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy is a fascinating, disturbing, funny look at the complexities of erotic desire and the confusions that result from it.
- [Ghosts of Television Past, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/01/ghosts-of-television-past-part-one/) - British television has had a long, close relationship with the traditional ghost story and the BFI has issued an impressive array of disks devoted to the genre.
- [Ghosts of Television Past, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/01/ghosts-of-television-past-part-two/) - Leslie Megahey's Schalcken the Painter, released on disk by BFI Flipside, is a remarkable blend of art history and horror, based on a story by J.S. LeFanu.
- [Notes on Recent Viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/02/notes-on-recent-viewing-part-one/) - A survey of recent viewing covers approaches to realism, metaphor, horror and war in a range of films from the 1920s to the 2010s.
- [Harold Ramis 1944-2014](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/03/harold-ramis-1944-2014/) - Harold Ramis, who died on Feb 24, seemed like a modest guy with a quietly effective comic talent as a performer and pleasantly old-fashioned style as a director
- [Alain Resnais 1922-2014](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/03/alain-resnais-1922-2014/) - The great French filmmaker Alain Resnais died March 1st at the age of 91, leaving behind a remarkable body of emotionally and intellectually resonant work.
- [Recent Disks From England](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/recent-disks-from-england/) - Low-key British restraint adds tension and suspense to two thrillers from the '50s, the Boulting Brothers Seven Days to Noon and Seth Holt's Nowhere To Go.
- [Project Update: <i>GOING</i> Public](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/06/project-update-going-public/) - Two screenings of my documentary GOING: Remembering Winnipeg Movie Theatres this weekend at the Cinematheque received enthusiastic audience and media responses.
- [More Recent Disks From England: The Return of Flipside](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/06/more-recent-disks-from-england-the-return-of-flipside/) - Resuming their Flipside series, the BFI have released a collection of short films by poet and novelist B S Johnson and a military training film by John Krish.
- [Aspect Rati-woes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/aspect-rati-woes/) - DVD manufacturers continue to release disks with movies transferred in an incorrect aspect ratio, insulting both the filmmakers and their audience.
- [Face To Face With Evil: <i>The Act of Killing</i> (2012)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/08/face-to-face-with-evil-the-act-of-killing-2012/) - Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary The Act of Killing comes as close as may be possible to making genocidal violence comprehensible.
- [Recent Documentary Viewing, Part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/09/recent-documentary-viewing-part-2/) - Kim Longinotto and Marc Isaacs are two English documentarians whose subjects differ widely, but who share a fascination for the small details of people's lives.
- [Everyday magic: Goro Miyazaki's <i>From Up On Poppy Hill</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/09/everyday-magic-goro-miyazakis-from-up-on-poppy-hill/) - Goro Miyazaki's second animated feature is a visually rich, emotionally subtle romance which examines the effects on identity of our relationship with the past.
- [Late Summer Viewing, part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/09/late-summer-viewing-part-1/) - A round-up of recent Blu-rays and DVDs from England and the U.S.
- [Late Summer Viewing, part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/09/10264/) - A roundup of recently viewed Blu-rays
- [<i>Death Hunt</i> (1981): entertainment vs. history](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/10/death-hunt-entertainment-vs-history/) - While Death Hunt is an enjoyable outdoor adventure, it plays fast & loose with history, transforming northern Canada into a facsimile of the American west
- [Haunting Television: <i>The Secret of Crickley Hall</i> (2012)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/10/haunting-television-the-secret-of-crickley-hall-2012/) - BBC adaptation of James Herbert's novle The Secret of Crickley Hall is an effective addition to the traditional English ghost story centred on doomed children.
- [<i>When Horror Came to Shochiku</i>: from absurd to apocalypse ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/01/when-horror-came-to-shochiku-from-absurd-to-apocalypse/) - Criterion's Eclipse sub-division gifts us with When Horror Came to Shochiku, four strange Japanese fantasies from the late '60s.
- [Additional Recent Viewing ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/additional-recent-viewing/) - Three different films, two recent, one decades old, display a wide range of creative approaches to storytelling.
- [Being Tweeted](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/being-tweeted/) - Being an old fogey, I haven't really taken to social media ... I still try to communicate through email, though that means I've actually lost touch with several people over the past few years as they've switched to other methods. But I guess I'll have to start moving with the times. Since starting this blog,
- [Sean Garrity and Bill Fugler's <i>Blood Pressure</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/sean-garrity-and-bill-fuglers-blood-pressure/) - Winnipeg filmmaker Sean Garrity teams with local writer Bill Fugler for an intriguing psychological thriller about a suburban woman being drawn into a mystery.
- [DVD Review: <i>Compliance</I> (2012)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/dvd-review-compliance/) - Craig Zobel's fact-based Compliance is a chilling reminder of what ordinary people will do when authority demands obedience.
- [Miscellaneous Thoughts](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/miscellaneous-thoughts/) - A book about Ken Russell's The Devils, the 10th anniversary re-release of Jim Van Bebber's The Manson Family, and movie endings which ruin good stories.
- [Gerry Anderson 1929-2012](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/gerry-anderson-1929-2012/) - Gerry Anderson, whose puppet creations for television fired the imaginations of kids around the world throughout the '60s, died on December 26, 2012.
- [Paul Thomas Anderson's <i>The Master</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/paul-thomas-andersons-the-master/) - PT Anderson's formally elegant study of two very different men in the years after WW2 is a refreshing antidote to the empty visual frenzy of current cinema.
- [Over-consumption and Diminishing Returns Part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/04/over-consumption-and-diminishing-returns-part-2/) - I exchange some thoughts with artist Gord Wilding about the ways in which our experience of watching movies have changed in recent years.
- [Deconstructing Hollywood ... for laughs: <i>Hellzapoppin</i> (1941)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/04/deconstructing-hollywood-for-laughs-hellzapoppin-1941/) - In 1941, vaudevillians Olsen and Johnson tore apart studio filmmaking in Hollywood and came up with the comedy masterpiece Hellzapoppin.
- [DVD Review: <i>Masaki Kobayashi Against the System</i> (Eclipse)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/dvd-review-masaki-kobayashi-against-the-system-eclipse/) - The latest Criterion Eclipse release, Masaki Kobayashi Against the System, provides valuable context for The Human Condition director's better known films.
- [DVD Review: <i>Laddaland</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/dvd-review-laddaland-2011/) - Thai ghost story Laddaland is more effective depicting the economic stresses tearing a family apart than the spectral threat driving them from their home.
- [Binge Viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/binge-viewing/) - There are satisfactions in watching entire TV series in concentrated sessions which emphasize larger narrative issues than are apparent in individual episodes.
- [DVD Review: <i>Appropriate Adult</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/dvd-review-appropriate-adult-2011/) - Chilling British TV drama based on the crimes of Fred and Rosemary West.
- [Project Update: Trailer](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/project-update-trailer/) - The trailer for my documentary about the history of Winnipeg movie theatres has been posted on YouTube.
- [Recent Viewing 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/recent-viewing-2-2/) - An eclectic collection of recently reviewed movies from Ti West's The Innkeepers to Sono Sion's Himizu.
- [Two Years of <i>Rough Cut</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/two-years-of-rough-cut/) - It's the second anniversary of launching my blog Rough Cut, and posting regularly about films and film history remains a satisfying activity.
- [Unearthed Treasure: Greg Hanec's <i>Downtime</i> (1985)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/unearthed-treasure-greg-hanecs-downtime-1985/) - Greg Hanec's Downtime, one of the best films ever made in Manitoba, having languished in obscurity for two decades, is finally released on DVD
- [Cronenberg, Body-Horror and <i>The Brood</i> (1979)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/cronenberg-body-horror-and-the-brood-1979/) - There's a regressive strain in David Cronenberg's horror films in which the body and sexuality, particularly female, is seen as monstrous.
- [Project Update: Deleted Scenes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/12/project-update-deleted-scenes/) - I've posted a dozen additional brief scenes from my documentary Going: Remembering Winnipeg Movie Theatres on YouTube.
- [Steamy Screen: The Melodramas of Gainsborough Pictures](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/12/steamy-screen-the-melodramas-of-gainsborough-pictures/) - Criterion's Eclipse set of Gainsborough's entertaining melodramas offer a glimpse of the changing social attitudes on the Home Front of WW2.
- [Otto Preminger and <i>Anatomy of a Murder</i> (1959)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/otto_preminger_and_anatomy-of-a-murder-1959/) - Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder remains the quintessential trial movie, with an ambiguous view of the law and truth.
- [DVD of the Week: <i>A Night to Remember</i> (1958)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/dvd-of-the-week-a-night-to-remember-1958/) - Made in 1958, A Night to Remember remains the best and most authentic account of the sinking of the Titanic
- [<i>Titanic</i>: a personal footnote](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/titanic-a-personal-footnote/) - My parents knew Charles Lightoller, 2nd Officer on the Titanic; these photos show my father on a trip to Calais in 1939 with the Commander.
- [DVD of the Week: <i>The War Room</i> (1993)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/dvd-review-the-war-room-1993/) - Pennebaker and Hegedus' documentary about the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign remains dramatic and exciting 20 years after the event.
- [DVD review: <i>The Scarlet Worm</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/dvd-review-the-scarlet-worm-2011/) - Michael Fredianelli's The Scarlet Worm is a revisionist western which examines the morality of killing in a culture rooted in violence.
- [DVD of the Week: <i>Letter Never Sent</i> (1959)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/05/dvd-of-the-week-letter-never-sent-1959/) - Mikhail Kalatozov's Letter Never Sent (1959) is a simple story about prospectors searching for diamonds in remote Siberia, rendered in a riot of extreme visuals
- [Recent Viewing part 3: brief notes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/05/recent-viewing-part-3-brief-notes/) - Notes on recently viewed DVDs
- [Entering Other Worlds, part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/05/entering-other-worlds-part-1/) - Certain mainstream directors have each made a single science fiction movie.
- [Project Update: the editing process ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/06/project-update/) - Progress report on my documentary about the history and experience of movie-going in Winnipeg
- [Entering Other Worlds, part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/06/entering-other-worlds-part-2/) - Continuing to examine single science fiction films by mainstream directors, Fassbinder's World on a Wire, Hitchcock's The Birds and Elio Petri's 10th Victim
- [DVD Review: <i>The Disco Exorcist</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/06/dvd-review-the-disco-exorcist-2011/) - Richard Griffin's Disco Exorcist, a pastiche of '70s exploitation gets the tone and look just right but ends up not being as entertaining as what it's parodying
- [Entering Other Worlds, part 3](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/07/entering-other-worlds-part-3/) - Continuing to examine single science fiction films by mainstream directors, Robert Altman's Quintet, Andrzej Zulawski's On the Silver Globe, David Lynch's Dune
- [Project Update: my part's done ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/project-update-2/) - Editing is completed on my documentary about Winnipeg movie theatres. Time to start thinking about the next project.
- [DVD Review: <i>The Sword Identity</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/dvd-review-the-sword-identity-2011/) - Xu Faoheng's The Sword Identity is a moody deconstruction of the Chinese martial arts genre.
- [Winnipeg's vanished movie theatres](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/12/winnipegs-vanished-movie-theatres/) - I recently gave a speech based on my documentary about the history of movie theatres in Winnipeg; this is the text.
- [Damnation and the Fields of Ambrosia](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/damnation-and-the-fields-of-ambrosia/) - Nostalgia can be an odd thing. As I've been working on my documentary about the history of movie-going in Winnipeg, and thinking about how much time I spent in the old theatres which no longer exist, and what it felt like to sit down in the dark to see something I'd heard or read about
- [Flipside: extreme male anxiety](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/flipside-extreme-male-anxiety/) - The latest pair of releases from the BFI's Flipside series offer a fascinating snapshot of what was happening to the male sense of identity at the height of the feminist impact on filmmaking in the '70s and early '80s. While people like Sally Potter, Lizzie Borden and Marleen Gorris were dissecting and reformulating the ways
- [TCM Remembers 2011](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/tcm-remembers-2011/) - TCM's annual memorial to movie biz deaths is an elegant and deeply emotional tribute to people who have touched us even if we never actually met them
- [Lionel Rogosin: <i>On the Bowery</i> (1956)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/lionel-rogosin-on-the-bowery-1956/) - Lionel Rogosin used neo-realist techniques to document and dramatize the lives of people pushed to the fringes of American society.
- [Lionel Rogosin: part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/lionel-rogosin-part-two/) - Lionel Rogosin was committed to using film to spur social change, examining apartheid in South Africa and attitudes to war.
- [Year End 2011](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/01/year-end-2011/) - Year end review of movies seen in theatres in 2011.
- [Stanley Kubrick 3: The Missing Piece - <i>Fear and Desire</i> (1953)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/01/stanley-kubrick-3-the-missing-piece/) - Stanley Kubrick's first feature, Fear and Desire (1953), is an amateurish war movie with a pretentious script and some visually striking photography.
- [Theo Angelopoulos (1935-2012)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/01/theo-angelopoulos-1935-2012/) - The sudden death in a road accident of Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos is a great loss to world cinema
- [Recent viewing - theatrical](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/recent-viewing-theatrical/) - Three recent releases worth seeing, Roman Polanski's Carnage, Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- [Stanley Kubrick 4A: America in England - <i>Lolita</i> (1962)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/kubrick-4a-america-in-england/) - After Spartacus, Stanley Kubrick moved to England, staying the rest of his life to make studio-backed films, first Lolita, with complete creative independence.
- [DVD of the Week:<br /><i>The Moment of Truth</i> (1965) by Francesco Rosi](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/dvd-of-the-week-the-moment-of-truth-1965-by-francesco-rosi/) - Francesco Rosi uses his neo-realist approach to tell the story of the rise and fall of a famous matador
- [Jerry Lewis in <i>The Jazz Singer</i> (1959)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/jerry-lewis-in-the-jazz-singer-1959/) - In a bid for respect as a serious actor, Jerry Lewis starred in a live TV production of The Jazz Singer (1959)
- [DVD of the week: <i>War of the Arrows</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/dvd-of-the-week-war-of-the-arrows/) - Korean historical epic War of the Arrows is a colourful and exciting story with relentless and visceral action.
- [An evening with Craig Baldwin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/an-evening-with-craig-baldwin/) - San Francisco experimental filmmaker Craig Baldwin visits Winnipeg for a workshop and screenings
- [Sabu and the Kordas](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/sabu-and-the-kordas/) - Sabu, a young Indian boy, was an unlikely candidate for movie stardom, but producer Alexander Korda transformed him into a celebrity in a series of exotic movies
- [Film(ed) poetry: <i>The Song of Lunch</i> (2010)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/03/filmed-poetry-the-song-of-lunch-2010/) - Witty and moving adaptation of Christopher Reid's narrative poem The Song of Lunch about a lunch between two old lovers who last saw each other 15 years ago
- [Stanley Kubrick 5B: Science Fiction – <i>A Clockwork Orange</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/03/stanley-kubrick-5b-science-fiction-a-clockwork-orange/) - Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is his most controversial film, its treatment of violence still disturbing more than 40 years after it was released.
- [March viewing: <i>John Carter</i>, <i>The Hunger Games</i>, <i>Chronicle</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/04/march-viewing-john-carter-hunger-games-chronicle/) - John Carter, The Hunger Games and Chronicle offer different fantasy worlds in which ordinary people are confronted with violence
- [Googie Withers (1917-2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/googie-withers-1917-2011/) - Sad news this weekend. The inimitable Googie Withers has died at the age of 94 after a long and varied career in film, theatre and television. Although she worked with directors like Alfred Hitchcock (a small part in The Lady Vanishes [1938]), Michael Powell (a member of the resistance in One of Our Aircraft Is
- [Terrence Malick's <i>The Tree of Life</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/terrence-malicks-the-tree-of-life/) - As a longtime admirer and fan of Terrence Malick's work, I've been hesitant to write about The Tree of Life because it's the first of his films that I haven't loved at first sight. There are many things I liked about it on a first viewing, but there are other things which don't seem to
- [Damn cellphones!](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/damn-cellphones/) - A few weeks ago, in a post about things I dislike in movies, I mentioned the death of narrative at the hands of modern communications technologies. I just came across this July 28 column by Joe Queenan in the Guardian on-line edition, in which he elaborates on the same issue. I'm glad to know I'm
- [Lost and Found](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/09/lost-and-found/) - I recently re-read two of my favourite film books. The first was published in 1971, and I've read it maybe five times since then. The second was published twenty years later, in 1991, and I'd only read it once before, back in the early '90s; I just read a reprint put out a few years
- [In the beginning ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/10/in-the-beginning/) - I recently started work on a documentary about the history of movie theatres and movie-going in Winnipeg. A brief article about the project in the Winnipeg Free Press has brought an amazing number of calls and emails from a wide range of people who have quite passionate memories of the old neighbourhood theatres and the
- [<i>Rough Cut</i>: one year old](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/10/rough-cut-one-year-old/) - Hard to believe, but I posted my first entry on this blog one year ago today. At first there was a bit of frenzied activity, with posts going up every day or two. Back in February, I went to once every five days, then in March just once a week. I hadn't done this amount
- [Zombie addendum: <i>The Dead</i> (2010)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/zombie-addendum/) - A few days after watching Zack Snyder's dissatisfying remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004), a copy of Howard J. and Jon Ford's The Dead (2010) arrived from England. This small film made by an English director in West Africa reminded me that I prefer my zombies low budget and slow moving. But why, I
- [DVD of the week: <i>The Four Feathers</i> (1939)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/dvd-of-the-week-the-four-feathers/) - Time was – longer ago than I care to contemplate – I would have devoured a movie like Zoltan Korda's The Four Feathers (1939) as nothing more than a thrilling adventure that appealed to a boy's imagination. Watching it now in Criterion's lush new edition, I found various parts of myself in conflict for the
- [<i>Sci-Fi Savant</i> by Glenn Erickson: book review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/sci-fi-savant-book-review/) - I've been reading, and appreciating, the DVD Savant on-line column for years. Apart from Glenn Erickson's almost terrifyingly prolific output, it's the scope of his work that impresses. He writes in an accessible, conversational style, and yet avoids the superficiality which a lot of web-based criticism is prone to. He has a remarkable knowledge of
- [Stanley Kubrick part 1: Becoming Kubrick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/stanley-kubrick-part-1-becoming-kubrick/) - My first encounter with Stanley Kubrick's work came before I was ten years old. Sometime in the early '60s, my parents took me to see Spartacus, probably at the Odeon in Chelmsford. For years afterwards, two things stuck with me: the gladiators training in a kind of cage and Jean Simmons, holding her baby, riding
- [Disk error: <i>No Blade of Grass</i> (Warner Archive)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/disk-error-warner-archives-edition-of-no-blade-of-grass/) - There are always risks involved when revisiting a movie that impressed you years ago, when you were a lot younger and no doubt more arrogant but less wise. But it's hard to resist taking the chance. Last year I was pleasantly surprised to find that Andrew Marton's Crack in the World was not only just
- [DVD of the week: <I>West of the Tracks</I> (<I>Tie Xi Qu</I>)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/03/dvd-of-the-week-west-of-the-tracks-tie-xi-qu/) - West of the Tracks (Tie Xi Qu) would be a remarkable film under any circumstances. But the fact that it was the first project of a young filmmaker, Wang Bing, essentially working alone with a digital video camera, shooting over a period of two years, then editing over several more years (the film appeared at
- [DVD of the week: <I>Shopping</I> (1994)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/03/dvd-of-the-week-shopping/) - In my rather long film-going life, I have often been out of sync with generally held opinions. I didn't much like the Star Wars movies when they transformed popular culture, I found myself laughing at Titanic while surrounded in a crowded theatre by sniffling people who bought into it completely ... So it doesn't surprise
- [Plumbing the depths of pulp](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/05/plumbing-the-depths-of-pulp/) - John Carpenter has had a long, uneven career, the chief foundation of which (after a couple of very good small features, Dark Star and Assault on Precinct 13) was the highly successful and influential Halloween. Personally, I've never understood that movie's reputation and success. Apart from his facility with the widescreen frame and a strong
- [Two worthwhile websites](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/05/two-worthwhile-websites/) - While looking for information about a couple of movies, I recently came across two websites I hadn't previously been aware of, both of which are packed with interesting material. Midnight Eye, co-edited by Tom Mes, ubiquitous expert on all things cinematically Japanese, is a great-looking site devoted to Japanese film. It's got a rich selection
- [DVD of the week: <i>The Feathered Serpent</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/dvd-of-the-week-the-feathered-serpent/) - British television in the '60s and '70s was limited by a lack of money, a fact which resulted in certain distinctive characteristics. Most shows were shot in studio, on videotape, with quite obviously flimsy sets. These limitations forced creators to follow a theatrical, rather than cinematic, model; at their worst, these shows seemed like creaky
- [The two sides of Shintaro Katsu](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/the-two-sides-of-shintaro-katsu/) - I first encountered the actor Shintaro Katsu back in 2002 when I picked up the first two movies in his long, defining series about the blind masseur/master swordsman Zatoichi. Although Katsu had a long and prolific career (IMDb lists 119 titles in 35 years of acting), having made 25 features about Zatoichi between 1962 and
- [Not so <i>Super 8</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/not-so-super-8/) - I don't spend a lot of time these days wondering why my personal taste in movies is so often completely out of sync with popular and critical opinion, but every now and then something comes up that makes me pause for a moment. On Friday, I went to see J.J. Abrams' Super 8, even though
- [DVD Review: <i>The Making of the President: The 1960s</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/8972/) - In the 1960s several factors came together to change the way American politics was both played and perceived, and the journalist Theodore H. White played an important role in the second part of that equation. With his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Making of the President 1960, he brought the processes of presidential electoral politics out
- [<i>DUNE</i> page update](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dune-page-update/) - While going through some old storage boxes recently, I came across a fat folder of documents from my time working on Dune. Mostly daily call sheets for the first and second units, plus some weekly schedules, memos, etc. I've added some five dozen of these to the appropriate pages of my journal as Jpegs and
- [DVD of the Week: <i>La Habanera</i> (1937)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dvd-of-the-week-la-habanera/) - Astree Sternhjelm, an attractive Swedish woman vacationing in Puerto Rico with her matronly aunt, Ana, is seduced by the music, colour and apparent freedom offered by life in the tropics. Her humourless aunt, on the other hand, can't wait to catch the boat home to Stockholm and “civilized life”. Towards the end of their visit,
- [Bad news from Arrakis](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/bad-news-from-arrakis/) - I just received some sad news this morning in response to the Dune production diary I have posted here on my site. Jerome Wybon, a director of numerous "making of" and behind-the-scenes documentaries for French DVD releases, just sent me the following e-mail: Hello I have just began reading your blog about your work on
- [<i>Dune</i> addendum](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dune-addendum/) - An e-mail this morning from correspondent Jerome Wybon made me realize that it's unclear from my journal just what format Anatol Pacanowski and I were using to document the production of Dune. Although Anatol initially had wanted to use 16mm film, we ended up with a newly developed combination camera/recorder just being put on the
- [The Perils of New York](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/the-perils-of-new-york/) - I wrote this story a few years ago after re-watching one of my favorite movies. As winter has descended rather bitterly over Winnipeg, and the stores are now inundating us with non-stop Christmas Muzak, I thought I'd share it here in the spirit of the season. - K. George Godwin It was a knockout blow.
- [Jim Thompson's "A Christmas Carol"](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/jim-thompsons-a-christmas-carol/) - Many years ago, I became kind of obsessed with the novels of Jim Thompson, one of the best mid-century American writers. Although he mostly wrote short crime novels intended for sale on drugstore paperback racks, he definitely wasn't a pulp writer: a) he had just about the blackest view of life and human behaviour of
- [DVD (actually Blu-Ray) of the Week: <i>Battle Royale</i> (2000)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/dvd-actually-blu-ray-of-the-week-battle-royale/) - It was unfortunate that until the very end of his career, the Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku was known in North America mostly for his worst film: The Green Slime. This was an “international” production, shot in Japanese studios with an American and European cast, a very bad script and even worse special effects. But even
- [Year End 2010](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/year-end-2010/) - I find that my viewing habits in recent years have become so random and eclectic that the idea of coming up with a “year's best” list is not only difficult – it borders on the arbitrary and meaningless. Much of what I watch these days consists of older films either just caught up with, or
- [<i>Jodorowsky's Dune</i>: the triumph of imagination](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/06/jodorowskys-dune-the-triumph-of-imagination/) - Frank Pavich's remarkable documentary allows the audience to see Alejandro Jodorowsky's unfilmed Dune as one of the greatest movies never made.
- [Race, class and crime in New York](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/02/race-class-and-crime-in-new-york/) - Two movies from the early 1970s illuminate class and race divides in New York City - Sidney Lumet's Sean Connery starring caper film The Anderson Tapes (1971) and Gordon Parks Jr's hugely influential Super Fly (1972), starring Ron O'Neal with a landmark score by Curtis Mayfield.
- [What makes a "bad" movie good?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/09/what-makes-a-bad-movie-good/) - Sometimes something authentic can shine through the incompetence of a "bad" movie; that's the case even in something like William A. Levey's clumsy Blackenstein (1973).
- [Italian Gothic horror on Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/italian-gothic-horror-on-blu-ray/) - Arrow's Gothic Fantastico box set gathers together four lesser-known Italian genre movies from the mid-'60s from the period when Gothic horror flourished between Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960) and the rise of the giallo later in the decade, while Sergio Bergonzelli’s Blood Delirium (1988) from Vinegar Syndrome is a garish throwback long after the Gothic had faded away.
- [Brief Notes, December Part Two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/12/brief-notes-december-part-two/) - A few more comments on recent viewing, which includes a couple of interesting older horror movies and two overblown recent Hollywood blockbusters.
- [Thorold Dickinson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/thorold-dickinson/) - In his Biographical Dictionary of Film, David Thompson has a very brief entry on the English director Thorold Dickinson. He implies that Dickinson was a kind of failure, unable to make films and so turning to teaching. Thompson sees him as a sad character, his talent wasted on unworthy students no doubt unaware of who
- [Brief Notes, December Part One](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/11/brief-notes-december-part-one/) - A few notes about disks from a couple of companies I've previously had little experience with - 88 Films and 101 Films, both from the UK - plus three box sets from Arrow.
- [Listmania redux: <br>The Greatest Documentaries of All Time, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/08/listmania-redux-the-greatest-documentaries-of-all-time-part-one/) - Inspired by Sight & Sound's recent list of great documentaries, in this first of three posts I consider some of my personal favourites.
- [Background Detail](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/08/background-detail/) - Viewing the DVD of Antonioni's I Vinti raises questions about the meaning, intentional or not, of details lurking behind the foreground narrative.
- [In dreams](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/08/in-dreams/) - Three movies from the 1980s rooted in the intersection of dreams and reality are rescued from obscurity with excellent Blu-ray editions -- two in recent Arrow releases, Harley Cokeliss' Dream Demon (1988) and Mike Hodges Black Rainbow (1989), and one, Bernard Rose's Paperhouse (1988), on a now out-of-print French disk.
- [New releases from the BFI, 2016: Part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/11/new-releases-from-the-bfi-2016-part-2/) - Two BFI releases view the 20th Century through the relationships of people in rural Britain to the land, evoking physical hardship and mystical connections.
- [New releases from the BFI, 2016](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/11/new-releases-from-the-bfi-2016/) - Two excellent recent Blu-ray releases from the BFI illuminate the extremes of high and low art in British film of the early 1970s.
- [Revisiting two more old favourites](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/11/revisiting-two-more-old-favourites/) - Excellent Blu-ray editions from Criterion and the BFI respectively do full justice to Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944) and Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear (1953), two very dark examinations of the post-war crisis of masculinity.
- [Law, disorder and cynicism in the '70s](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/05/law-disorder-and-cynicism-in-the-70s/) - Two recent Blu-ray releases highlight very different attitudes to the crime thriller in the '70s: Robert Culp's Hickey and Boggs and Douglas Hickox's Brannigan.
- [The <i>Infernal Affairs</i> trilogy (2002-03): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/11/the-infernal-affairs-trilogy-2002-03-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Soon after Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain, filmmakers Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak embarked on an ambitious project to revitalize a film industry in disarray. The result was the Infernal Affairs trilogy, which has its roots in the HK action movies of the 1980s, using familiar narrative tropes as a springboard for a complex meditation on identity amidst new political and economic uncertainties. Criterion's three-disk Blu-ray set showcases the trilogy with an array of new and archival extras.
- [My adventure with Jack Nance on the fringes of Hollywood](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/08/my-adventure-with-jack-nance-on-the-fringes-of-hollywood/) - In 1985, I had a bizarre experience in Las Vegas when Jack Nance and I met with a representative of rich Oklahoma ranchers looking to invest oil profits in a movie.
- [Will this ever end?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/05/will-this-ever-end/) - With Star Trek Into Darkness JJ Abrams continues his nefarious plan to destroy Gene Roddenberry's legacy through bad writing and overblown action scenes.
- [Random viewing: a grab-bag](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/10/random-viewing-a-grab-bag/) - Classic 3-D revivals, bloated CG action rooted in video games and recycled superhero and monster cliches, and a brooding contemplation of emotional and sexual repression in post-war England.
- [Stanley Kubrick 7: <i>The Shining</i> (1980)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/stanley-kubrick-7-the-shining-1980/) - Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's novel is both magnificent and frustration, packed with powerful imagery but narratively incoherent.
- [<i>Room 237</i>: an obsessive search for meaning<br> in Stanley Kubrick's <i>The Shining</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/07/room-237/) - Rodney Ascher explores the mysteries of Stanley Kubrick's horror film through the eyes of five viewers who see secrets and codes buried beneath the surface.
- [Revisiting some old favourites](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/11/revisiting-some-old-favourites/) - Revisiting some old favourites recently has taken in an eclectic selection ranging from a classic BBC television production to Spanish zombies, New York cops, a Las Vegas heist and an oblique alien invasion.
- [Cannibal feast](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/09/cannibal-feast/) - In popular culture, and exploitation movies, cannibals are the disreputable cousins of the zombie; they have the embarrassing habit of eating unsuspecting people without any supernatural justification. There's a distinct difference, though, between American and Italian cannibal movies - the former adhering to tropes related to serial killer stories, while the latter draw on anthropological ideas to provide a gloss of realism to graphic exploitation imagery. The contrast can be seen clearly between Andrew van den Houten's Offspring (2009) and Lucky McKee's The Woman (2011) and Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust (1980) and Umberto Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox (1981).
- [William Wyler's <i>The Heiress</i> (1949): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/06/william-wylers-the-heiress-1949-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray offers a superb presentation of William Wyler's greatest film, The Heiress (1949), a subtle yet scathing dissection of the ways in which money distorts and destroys human relationships.
- [They don't make 'em like that any more ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/they-dont-make-em-like-that-any-more/) - Seeing both Sunset Blvd and The Incredible Shrinking Man on big screens this past week raises questions about what has changed in mainstream movie-making.
- [James Whale's <i>Show Boat</i> (1936): music and race in Golden Age Hollywood](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/11/james-whales-show-boat-1936-music-and-race-in-golden-age-hollywood/) - Although now he's best-known for his four witty Gothic horror movies, Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein, Show Boat (1936) is arguably James Whale's crowning achievement as a filmmaker. One of the decade's great musicals, it is also one of the most complex and nuanced treatments of race and its impact on American culture produced at the height of Hollywood's studio era. Criterion's Blu-ray does full justice to the film's intrinsic qualities and historical importance.
- [Marcel Pagnol's <i>Marseilles Trilogy</i> (1931-36): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/07/marcel-pagnols-marseilles-trilogy-1931-36-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's Blu-ray edition of Marcel Pagnol's Marseilles Trilogy is a revelation, a vibrant, humanistic display of the dramatic possibilities of sound cinema.
- [Disk of the Week: <i>My Son John</i> (1952)</br> - Bad craziness in Hollywood](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/12/disk-of-the-week-my-son-john-1952-bad-craziness-in-hollywood/) - Leo McCarey's notorious anti-communist screed My Son John offers some insights into underlying themes in contemporary conservative ideology.
- [Two Mexican westerns from Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/10/two-mexican-westerns-from-vinegar-syndrome/) - Mexico looms large in the Western genre, in both its Hollywood and spaghetti iterations, but until now it hadn't occurred to me that Mexican filmmakers might have made their own Westerns; that unasked question is firmly answered by the recent Vinegar Syndrome release of a pair of movies which seem to straddle the boundary between the classical Hollywood and Italian versions of America's defining myth of masculinity and violence.
- [Back to the future: <i>2001</i> revisited](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/08/back-to-the-future-2001-revisited/) - The limited 50th anniversary re-release of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is a reminder of the power of grand, ambitious filmmaking to transport an audience into complex imaginary worlds.
- [Stanley Kramer and the limits of liberalism](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/11/stanley-kramer-and-the-limits-of-liberalism/) - Three movies from producer-director Stanley Kramer, spread across two decades, highlight his liberal sensibilities ... and expose the limits of that liberalism in the face of a messy world.
- [Brief comments, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/11/brief-comments-part-two/) - More brief notes on recent random viewing choices; another mixed bag of classic fantasy, generic thrillers, dramas drawn form real life, spectacular martial arts and gritty war action, and a scattershot, off-the-wall satire by "the world's worst living director".
- [Book Review: <i>House of Psychotic Women</i> by Kier-La Janisse](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/book-review-house-of-psychotic-women-by-kier-la-janisse/) - Review of Kier-La Janisse's highly personal volume of film criticism, linking her own personal experience with horror and exploitation movies.
- [Stanley Kubrick 8B: Male Anxiety and Marriage</br> - <i>Eyes Wide Shut</i> (1998)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/stanley-kubrick-8b-male-anxiety-and-marriageeyes-wide-shut-1998/) - Stanley Kubrick's final film deals directly with the issues of sexuality and male anxiety which exist as undercurrents in much of his work.
- [Stanley Kubrick 4B: America in England<br /> - <i>Dr. Strangelove</i> (1964)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/02/kubrick-4b-america-in-england-dr-strangelove-1964/) - in 1964 Stanley Kubrick hit his stride as a director with Dr Strangelove, establishing the style and attitude which defined his filmmaking career
- [Stanley Kubrick 8A: Male Anxiety and War<br/> - <i>Full Metal Jacket</i> (1986)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/stanley-kubrick-8-male-anxiety-full-metal-jacket-1986/) - Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam war movie Full Metal Jacket divides critics, yet provides a fascinating dissertation on the psychological effects of war.
- [Sex-Death-Exploitation-Art](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/02/sex-death-exploitation-art/) - Jörg Buttgereit’s transgressive films are notorious for their gore and disturbing subject matter - murder, suicide, necrophilia - yet for all their graphic exploitation imagery, they display genuine artistry and a serious perspective on life, death and the emotional and psychological ties which bind being and non-being.
- [Stanley Kubrick 2: The Business - <i>Spartacus</i> (1960)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/12/stanley-kubrick-2-the-business/) - Directing the Hollywood epic Spartacus in 1960 was a turning point in Stanley Kubrick's career, spurring his desire for creative independence.
- [David Lynch's <i>Lost Highway</i> (1997): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/10/david-lynchs-lost-highway-1996-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new 4K restoration of David Lynch's Lost Highway (1996) captures all the film's dark and unsettling mysteries with an impressive image and ominous soundscape.
- [Stanley Kubrick 5A: Science Fiction – <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/03/stanley-kubrick-5a-science-fiction-2001-a-space-odyssey/) - Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey marked a turning point in the history of filmed science fiction, bringing a new sense of realism to the genre.
- [Harry Dean Stanton's swansong: <i>Lucky</i> (2017)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/harry-dean-stantons-swansong-lucky-2017/) - John Carroll Lynch's Lucky (2017) is a portrait of a man coming to terms with his own mortality, which is also a tribute to actor Harry Dean Stanton, on whose life much of the script was based. Generous and emotionally rich, the film surrounds Harry Dean with a flawless cast which forms a supportive community within which he comes to accept without fear or anger the idea of his own inevitable death.
- [Michael Winner 1935-2013](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/01/michael-winner-1935-2013/) - Director Michael Winner didn't get much critical respect, but his early career in England produced a small masterpiece in The System.
- [Reading Movie History](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/03/reading-movie-history/) - Reading great critics of the past - Agee, Farber, Kauffmann - sheds interesting light on the ways our perception of film history has been formed.
- [Anderson vs Anderson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/09/anderson-vs-anderson/) - Armond White makes some interesting points by juxtaposing Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution with Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master
- [The Pemini Organisation on Blu-ray from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/10/the-pemini-organisation-in-blu-ray-from-indicator/) - Indicator unearth an obscure corner of '70s British cinema with a box set of the three movies made by recent filmschool graduates who formed a production company called The Pemini Organization. Despite extremely low budgets, director Peter Crane and writer Michael Sloan benefited from skilled technicians and high-profile casts who give the films professional polish; but the vagaries of commercial distribution made them disappear until this revival on disk fifty years later.
- [Styles of Horror, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/styles-of-horror-part-one/) - New Blu-ray editions of Day of the Dead (1985) and Cat People (1982) may help these films gain the respect they deserve; but Beneath (2013) is beyond redemption.
- [The Director as Sociopath ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/01/the-director-as-sociopath/) - With Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino seems to have forgotten how to tell a story while raising troubling questions about his treatment of slavery.
- [Michael Dowse's <i>Goon</i>: Made in Winnipeg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/05/goon-made-in-winnipeg/) - Michael Dowse's bone-crunching hockey comedy Goon has a soft, sweet centre.
- [<i>World Cinema Project 4</i>: Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/09/world-cinema-project-4-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - With their fourth set of World Cinema Project restorations, Criterion again present a fascinating collection of films from different periods and different cultures: two features from post-colonial Africa which illuminate the complex effects of tradition distorted by colonial influences; a South American movie which also deals with colonialism and the exploitation of labour; a pre-war Hungarian feature about two women struggling to survive in a city towards the end of the Depression; an Indian film exploring myth and the politics of Independence and partition through music and dance; and a pre-revolutionary film from Iran which uses melodrama as a metaphor for the nation’s transition from feudalism to modernity.
- [Recent Brit disks, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/06/recent-brit-disks-part-two/) - Recent viewing features stylized violence, classic martial arts, western noir and political Ozploitation on more disks from England
- [Miscellaneous viewing - Summer 2019](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/miscellaneous-viewing-summer-2019/) - Recent viewing includes a stark western (compared to the work of Dreyer by Bertrand Tavernier), an entertaining adventure souffle from frequent collaborators John Huston and Humphrey Bogart, and a ground-breaking satirical drama from Robert Aldrich which dealt sympathetically with lesbianism in the late 1960s.
- [Wim Wenders' <i>Until the End of the World</i> (1991): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/12/wim-wenders-until-the-end-of-the-world-1991-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Wim Wenders' most ambitious film, Until the End of the World (1991) was a huge commercial failure when released in 1991 in a severely truncated version; the almost five-hour director's cut gets a stunning restoration on Criterion's two-disk Blu-ray release - visually gorgeous, fascinating and frustrating, this sci-fi epic now looks prescient in its depiction of our solipsistic attachment to out personal electronic devices.
- [Three recent losses](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/three-recent-losses/) - Oswald Morris. one of the finest British cinematographers, distinctive actress Kate O'Mara, and screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr all died at the end of March.
- [Alfred Hitchcock's <i>The Birds</i> (1963)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/10/alfred-hitchcocks-the-birds-1963/) - Despite truly dismal digital projection a recent big-screen viewing of The Birds reconfirms its status as one of Hitchcock's finest films
- [Edgar G. Ulmer's <i>Cossacks in Exile</i> (1938)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/09/edgar-g-ulmers-cossacks-in-exile-1938/) - Thanks to the Provincial Archives of Alberta I've been able to fill in another small gap in my experience of Edgar G. Ulmer's eclectic filmography; although scanned from a very ragged print, the Archives' upload of the Ukrainian-language musical Cossacks in Exile (1938) reveals some interesting connections between the 18th Century history of Ukraine and what's happening there today.
- [Aleksandr Ptushko's epic fantasies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/09/aleksandr-ptushkos-epic-fantasies/) - Deaf Crocodile has released two of Aleksandr Ptsuhko's epic fantasies in gorgeous Blu-ray editions which restore the films to their original form after decades of only being available in badly-dubbed, re-edited versions. Ptushko's practical and optical special effects create impressive worlds which blend folk tales and historical events, clashing armies and fantastic creatures, romance and sorcery.
- [Recent releases from the BFI Flipside](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/09/recent-releases-from-the-bfi-flipside/) - Two recent BFI Flipside releases unearth an odd assortment of movies from the fringes - the standalone feature The Appointment (Lindsey C. Vickers, 1981) and volume 2 of the Short Sharp Shocks anthology series which includes the allegorical horror of Ian F.H. Lloyd's The Face of Darkness (1976), a mix of crime and ghosts in John Gillings Escape from Broadmoor (1948), horror as feminist thesis in The Mark of Lilith (1986), the proto-music video Jack the Ripper with Screaming Lord Sutch (1963), a couple of unsettling PSAs and other ephemera.
- [Patrick Macnee and Christopher Lee, 1922-2015](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/06/patrick-macnee-and-christopher-lee-1922-2015/) - Two distinguished British actors, Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee, passed away in June after long and varied careers in film and television, both at age 93.
- [The political cinema of Costa-Gavras](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/06/the-political-cinema-of-costa-gavras/) - In excellent new Blu-ray editions, Costa-Gavras' The Confession and State of Siege examine political repression and violence on both the Left and Right.
- [Rainer Werner Fassbinder's <i>Eight Hours Don't Make a Day</i>:<br> Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/11/rainer-werner-fassbinders-eight-hours-dont-make-a-day-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder's early television series Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (1972-73) is a real discovery, a warm, funny, richly layered melodrama depicting the lives of a working class family navigating personal relationships in the context of economic and political constraints in post-war capitalist Germany.
- [Summer grab-bag, part three: Vinegar Syndrome partners](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/08/summer-grab-bag-part-three-vinegar-syndrome-partners/) - In addition to their own regular schedule of releases, Vinegar Syndrome serves as an umbrella for an eclectic (and seemingly ever-growing) collection of small labels, many of which specialize in titles so far out on the fringe that their appeal lies in their strangeness and sheer audacity -- like Pathogen (2006), a zombie movie made by 12-year-old schoolgirl Emily Hagins, or Final Flesh (2009), an experiment in which copies of a script were sent to producers of on-demand fetish porn who were free to film Vernon Chatman's absurd apocalyptic family drama however they saw fit. The latest batch I received includes these, plus a sordid made-in-Florida slice of exploitation called Satan's Children (1975), the faux '80s local TV broadcast WNUF Halloween Special (2013), and a pair of more polished movies closer to the mainstream: Out of Order (1984), a claustrophobic German thriller about four people trapped in an elevator, and We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021), about an isolated teenager seeking connection in a potentially dangerous on-line cult.
- [DVD of the week: <i>Messiah of Evil</i> (1973)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/04/dvd-of-the-week-messiah-of-evil/) - Better known for his work with George Lucas, Willard Huyck directed an independent horror movie in 1973 which shows more promise than his career ever fulfilled.
- [Marcel Carné's <i>Hôtel du Nord</i> (1938): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/08/marcel-carnes-hotel-du-nord-1938-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Doomed romance is offset by a vibrant sense of community in Marcel Carné’s Hôtel du Nord (1938), one of the filmmaker's remarkable string of poetic realist masterpieces from the late 1930s to the mid-'40s. The film's rich atmosphere comes to life in the 2K restoration used by Criterion for their new Blu-ray release.
- [Recent BFI releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/03/recent-bfi-releases/) - Two new BFI releases present a variety of movies from the fringes of the industry - John Parker's surrealist noir Dementia (1953), aka Daughter of Horror (1957), and Short Sharp Shocks, a collection of British theatrical shorts with an emphasis on horror and the uncanny made between 1949 and 1980.
- [Blaxploitation and historical counter-narrative](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/04/blaxploitation-and-historical-counter-narrative/) - Watching Blacula (1972) while reading James Baldwin's The Devil Finds Work turns up some surprising depths in the cheap blaxploitation horror movie.
- [Seeing in the New Year](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/01/seeing-in-the-new-year/) - This year's New Year's Eve movie binge with my friend Steve spanned from '50s 3D Red Menace sci-fi to '70s blaxploitation horror to a political thriller about right-wing apocalyptic political paranoia which, while dating from 1972, suggested the atmosphere of the coming 2020 presidential election year.
- [The English-language invisibility of Alfred Döblin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/06/the-english-language-invisibility-of-alfred-doblin/) - Remarkably, despite the fame of Fassbinder's adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), author Alfred Döblin remains little known among English-speaking readers, with few of his monumental novels translated. My brother Chris has made it his mission to change that situation with the launch of Beyond Alexanderplatz, a website devoted to his own on-going translation project.
- [From the department of “what the hell?!”](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/03/from-the-department-of-what-the-hell/) - An obscure silent melodrama reveals an odd niche in British social history: Trapped By the Mormons (1922) was a fumbled piece of propaganda intended to warn English women of the dangers posed by the misunderstood American sect.
- [Jim Jarmusch's <i>Ghost Dog</i> (1999): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/11/jim-jarmuschs-ghost-dog-1999-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Jim Jarmusch explores the melding of multiple genres and disparate cultures in his meditative tragicomedy Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), given a fine restoration on Criterion's new Blu-ray.
- [Cauldron releases, summer 2022](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/07/cauldron-releases-summer-2022/) - Cauldron Films casts a wide net with their recent releases: Contraband (1980), a violent thriller by Lucio Fulci, is joined by Eloy de la Iglesia's homage to A Clockwork Orange, Murder in a Blue World (1973), Jordan Graham's mysterious folk horror Sator (2019) and Karoly Ujj Meszaros wistful Hungarian fantasy Liza the Fox Fairy (2015).
- [Remaking and undoing horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/11/remaking-and-undoing-horror/) - For some reason, I just watched Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004). I'd seen it when it first came out and found it pointless, but since then have discovered an odd, inexplicable appeal in Snyder's work. He's a lousy storyteller, with little sense of narrative pacing, but has an undeniable talent for
- [Murder, mayhem, sex and madness from Arrow](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/07/murder-mayhem-sex-and-madness-from-arrow/) - Two new Arrow releases - and one older one - plunge into sexual confusion, insecurity, violence and romantic longing: Robert Day's TV movie The Initiation of Sarah (1977) riffs on themes from Stephen King's Carrie; Gérard Kikoïne’s Edge of Sanity (1989) gives Anthony Perkins a chance to unleash his inner demons in a career-topping dual performance as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; and Kathleen Turner is fearless as a businesswoman who moonlights as a prostitute inspires romantic passion in one man and murderous passion in another, the latter another ferocious, jittery performance from Anthony Perkins.
- [Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's <i>Drive My Car</i> (2021): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/07/ryusuke-hamaguchis-drive-my-car-2021-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Taking its time, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's award-winning Drive My Car (2021) begins with a sense of detached observation and gradually draws you into emotional depths as its characters come to know each other and themselves during the process of rehearsing a performance of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima. Criterion's Blu-ray presentation features a beautiful image, supplemented with a making-of, an interview with Hamaguchi and a press conference from Cannes.
- [David Lynch's <i>Dune</i> redux](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/david-lynchs-dune-redux/) - With a new 4K restoration of David Lynch's Dune (1984), Arrow Films and Koch Media have given us pretty much the final word on this magnificent, yet almost fatally crippled, epic, surrounding it with hours of new and archival extras (including two commentaries on the Arrow, and Daniel Griffith's feature-length making-of on the Koch). The Koch edition claims primacy, though, for including not only a soundtrack CD, but also the remarkable, unofficial fan-edit by the anonymous Spicediver, who has used all publicly available material to construct an intelligent, thoughtful three-hour version which reveals that so many of the theatrical cut's acknowledged problems were the fault of Dino De Laurentis and Universal Studios, and not Lynch; there really is a coherent, comprehensible narrative in what was shot, yet it was ruined by idiots whose only concern was keeping the movie under 135 minutes.
- [Zale Dalen's <i>Skip Tracer</i> (1977) <br>& the Canadian tax shelter era](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/07/zale-dalens-skip-tracer-1977-the-canadian-tax-shelter-era/) - Writer-director Zale Dalen made one of the most distinctive Canadian features during the tax shelter years, but Skip Tracer (1977) all but disappeared with the tide of low-budget disaster movies and slasher films produced by financial support from the government between 1975 and 1982. Dalen ended up doing mostly episodic television, though he did briefly return to features in the '90s, culminating in the absurd but entertaining sci-fi martial arts potboiler Expect No Mercy (1995).
- [Unearthing memories: BBC's Maigret and rural Canadian violence](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/07/unearthing-memories-bbcs-maigret-and-rural-canadian-violence/) - A couple of things seen long ago have resurfaced on disk, tugging at vague memories: Network's 11-disk set of all 52 episodes of the BBC's classic series based on Georges Simenon's novels about Superintendent Maigret (1960-63), and Brian Damude's scrappy Canadian thriller Sudden Fury (1975) from Vinegar Syndrome reveal just how flawed my memory is.
- [Notes on Recent Viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/02/notes-on-recent-viewing-part-two/) - Continuing a review of the past month's disk viewing; contemporary and classic thrillers, Czech animation, British cult TV, and a French dream of New York.
- [Recent disks from Arrow Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/recent-disks-from-arrow-video/) - Arrow Video has become my favourite source for high quality releases of both serious films and exploitation titles.
- [Truffles, a blood-fuelled car, zombies and a family in retreat from the modern world: recent viewing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/06/truffles-a-blood-fuelled-car-zombies-and-a-family-in-retreat-from-the-modern-world-recent-viewing/) - Spanish zombies, rural American zombies, a Korean serial killer, monsters and illicit mindbending drugs, a blood-fuelled car, small-town fascism, an eccentric family in retreat from the modern world, and a man with a truffle-hunting pig - there's no pattern here in my recent movie-watching other than a restless search for the original and the entertaining.
- [Andreas Marschall's <i>Tears of Kali</i> (2004)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/06/andreas-marschalls-tears-of-kali-2004/) - I had to overcome numerous unforeseen difficulties to see Tears of Kali (2004), the first feature by German director Andreas Marschall (Masks, 2011), a stylish and artful collection of three loosely connected horror stories linked to a dangerous cult; each story centres on a couple of characters caught in psychologically tense conflict with occasional eruptions of graphic physical violence.
- [Stanley Kwan's <i>Rouge</i> (1987): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/06/stanley-kwans-rouge-1987-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Rouge (1987), Stanley Kwan's meditation on romance, the passage of time and the imminent return of Hong Kong to China after almost two centuries of British colonial rule, gets a luminous restoration for Criterion's new Blu-ray edition, which also includes an interview with Kwan and two documentaries by the director which explore issues of gender in Chinese cinema and his own identity as one of the first openly gay Chinese directors.
- [The Apprenticeship of Steven Soderbergh:</br> <i>King of the Hill</i> (1993)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/02/the-apprenticeship-of-steven-soderbergh-king-of-the-hill-1993/) - Criterion's excellent edition of King of the Hill and The Underneath throws some interesting light of the development of Steven Soderbergh as a filmmaker.
- [My movie map of Winnipeg -- part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/my-movie-map-of-winnipeg/) - When I first arrived in Winnipeg back in 1973, I took a room in a boarding house in the Wolseley area, within walking distance of downtown. I quickly formed a mental map of the city which was anchored by two elements: bookstores and movie theatres. Although I've since had many addresses in Winnipeg and other
- [My movie map of Winnipeg -- part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/my-movie-map-of-winnipeg-part-two/) - Continuing my personal tour of Winnipeg's vanishing downtown movie theatres ... In the late '70s, the city got its first multiplex. In the downtown Eaton Place mall, just across Graham Avenue from the Eaton's department store, seven very small screening rooms were built just off the second floor food court (average capacity about 65 seats).
- [Nuclear Madness](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/01/nuclear-madness/) - Government propaganda in the early 1960s tried to normalize the idea of nuclear war in order to minimize public resistance to the build up of national nuclear arsenals.
- [The future crimes of David Cronenberg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/06/the-future-crimes-of-david-cronenberg/) - David Cronenberg returns to his roots with a new movie which borrows its title and major themes from his early experimental feature Crimes of the Future (1970); once again nature responds to destructive human activity by accelerating the mutability of the body. This time Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) transforms his continually mutating body into an object of performance art, infusing the body horror with a powerful note of black comedy in the director's best film since Crash (1986).
- [Stumbling down Memory Lane](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/07/stumbling-down-memory-lane/) - David Lynch's new biography/memoir Room to Dream triggers memories of my first meetings with him and the months I spent working on Dune in Mexico City in 1983.
- [DVD of the Week: <I>Loving Memory</I> (1970)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/02/dvd-of-the-week-loving-memory/) - Of the two Scott brothers, I've always had a preference for Ridley. No doubt the writers of Cinema Scope would attribute this to my innate middle-brow pretensions, but I've never managed to grasp their argument for Tony's superiority (editor Mark Peranson on Unstoppable: "it is the key Hollywood film of this typically weak quarter, thanks
- [Over-consumption and Diminishing Returns Part 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/04/over-consumption-and-diminishing-returns/) - I exchange some thoughts with artist Gord Wilding about the ways in which our experience of watching movies have changed in recent years.
- [Alien sex and the comedy of self-destruction: two documentaries](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/06/alien-sex-and-the-comedy-of-self-destruction-two-documentaries/) - A pair of eccentric characters - a man who creates an alter-ego who performs dangerous stunts for a local cable access show, and a man who claims a lifetime of alien encounters (including intense sexual experiences) - are given sympathetic consideration in two strange and entertaining documentaries: Jay Cheel's Beauty Day (2011) and Brad Abrahams' Love and Saucers (2017)
- [Joseph Losey's <i>Mr. Klein</i> (1976): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/05/joseph-loseys-mr-klein-1976-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray release of Joseph Losey's chilling allegory of identity disintegrating under the pressure of anti-Semitism in Occupied France features a new 4K transfer from the original negative and includes three-and-a-half hours of supplements about the production and the real history in which the story is grounded.
- [I love a deal ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/09/i-love-a-deal/) - I'm a sucker for sales and recently spent a lot on-line buying stacks of Blu-rays from Arrow Films and Severin at discount prices, adding a lot of titles to my backlog. In recent weeks, I've started making my way through the new Arrow titles, which include an assortment of genre offerings, some completely unknown, others old favourites.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Whit Stillman's <i>Barcelona</i> (1994)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/04/criterion-blu-ray-review-whit-stillmans-barcelona-1994/) - Criterion release Whit Stillman's Barcelona (1994), the final part of a triptych about young Americans trying to define themselves in an uncertain world.
- [Winter 2022 Arrow viewing, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/05/winter-2022-arrow-viewing-part-two/) - More genre viewing from Arrow, including a bleak French Western, a silent film noir which recapitulates the history of Japanese cinema, a pair of low-budget '80s slasher movies, a mash-up of anime and low-budget live-action post-apocalypse, and two box sets: Kenji Fukasaku's Battle Royale and Battle Royale II and the Children of the Corn trilogy.
- [Winter 2022 Arrow viewing, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/05/winter-2022-arrow-viewing-part-one/) - Recent viewing of Arrow Blu-ray releases includes horror, sci-fi, comedy, martial arts and murder from directors Terry Gilliam, John Landis, King Hu, Robert Altman, Takashi Miike and Mario Bava.
- [Juan Diego Escobar Alzate’s <i>Luz: The Flower of Evil</i> (2019)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/juan-diego-escobar-alzates-luz-the-flower-of-evil-2019/) - Colombian filmmaker Juan Diego Escobar Alzate’s first feature Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019) is a poetic slice of folk horror with striking imagery and moments of disturbing violence rooted in a very dark vision of Christian patriarchy.
- [Early Mexican horror from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/early-mexican-horror-from-indicator/) - Two new releases from Indicator illuminate the origins of Mexican horror (best known from the work of filmmakers like Chano Urueta, Fernando Mendez and Rafael Baladon in the 1950s and '60s) in the early days of sound in the 1930s when filmmakers first strove to create an indigenous industry rooted in Mexican history and culture. Ramon Peon's La llorona (1933), rooted in a local folk legend, was the country's first sound horror movie, while Fernando de Fuentes' The Phantom of the Monastery (1934) uses a Twilight Zone-like narrative to teach three characters a moral lesson. Both films have been impressively restored on disks which include a commentary and informative featurettes which illuminate their position and influenbce in Mexican cinema.
- [Budd Boetticher's <i>A Time for Dying</i> (1969) from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/budd-boettichers-a-time-for-dying-1969-from-indicator/) - Indicator's recent Blu-ray of A Time for Dying (1969) resurrects the final feature of writer-director Budd Boetticher and actor-producer Audie Murphy, and odd, slightly crippled western made quickly to pay off some debts. Mixing the naivety of young, inexperienced characters with amoral brutality, it ends on a disturbingly note more in tune with end-of-the-'60s cynicism than the moral certainties of an earlier era's westerns in which this movie superficially seems to have its roots.
- [Winter viewing 1: Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/04/winter-viewing-1-vinegar-syndrome/) - A long cold winter, a working-from-home schedule and pandemic-induced malaise means I've been watching a lot of undemanding genre movies over the past few months. One of my primary sources in the past couple of years has been Vinegar Syndrome, a company whose dedication to unearthing obscure, often forgotten genre movies equals my own passion for watching them. Although by no means a complete account of my VS viewing, here are brief notes on two dozen titles.
- [DVD of the week: <i>Lunopolis</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/10/dvd-of-the-week-lunopolis/) - There are two main types of time travel story. The first treats time as little more than another spatial dimension, with the traveler heading off to see something in the past or future as if going to another country. H.G Wells' The Time Machine was of this type, the title machine essentially just a device
- [John Paskievich's <i>Special Ed</i> debuts at Hot Docs](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/03/john-paskievichs-special-ed-debuts-at-hot-docs/) - John Paskievich's remarkable documentary portrait of Winnipeg eccentric Ed Ackerman debuts at Hot Docs at the end of April.
- [A frustrating evening](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/07/a-frustrating-evening/) - When my friend Howard came over for an evening of movie-watching recently, we ended up with a highly idiosyncratic double-bill of problematic features, one representing self-conscious art, the other polished commercial craft - neither entirely satisfying: Josej Von Sternberg's The Saga of Anatahan (1953) and Sidney Gilliat's Endless Night (1972).
- [In Memoriam](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/in-memoriam/) - A friend recently sent me a link to Turner Classic Movies' annual tribute to people from the film industry who died this past year. It's an elegantly assembled montage (far superior to the similar annual Oscar tributes): (Unfortunately, TCM doesn't appear to archive these videos, so the link no longer functions.) I was surprised to
- [Whatever Happened to Jim McBride?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/whatever-happened-to-jim-mcbride/) - After an impressive start with David Holzman's Diary, two personal documentaries and the post-apocalyptic Glen & Randa, Jim McBride's career failed to take off.
- [Music video uploaded](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/12/music-video-uploaded/) - I recently completed a music video for Winnipeg artist Töt Bête Lögn. The track is The Duel from his self-released album Noire.
- [The Fabulous World of Karel Zeman](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/09/the-fabulous-world-of-karel-zeman/) - Czech animator Karel Zeman created a series of unique features which combined the possibilities of film with the qualities of pre-cinematic visual storytelling.
- [Francoise Romand: <i>The Camera I</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/10/francoise-romand-the-camera-i/) - French filmmaker Francoise Romand debuted in 1986 with a remarkable documentary called Mix-Up ou meli-melo. In telling the story of two English families whose lives were tangled by fate when their babies were inadvertently switched at birth, Romand used a number of striking visual and structural techniques to evoke the psychological and class elements of
- [Why blog?](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/04/why-blog/) - When I started writing this blog last year, I did it on the advice of the friend who had helped me set up my website. The primary purpose of the website was essentially to provide an on-line resume of my editing work, while also offering a resting place for the work I had done years
- [Late summer viewing: more short takes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/10/late-summer-viewing-more-short-takes/) - An eclectic assortment of recent viewing, including an obscure short feature from England, a couple of westerns old and new, and a pair of Elmore Leonard adaptations.
- [DVD diary: September - part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/09/dvd-diary-september-part-one/) - There’s still no recognizable pattern to my DVD watching, but maybe I shouldn’t worry about it. If my viewing became more systematic, it would probably start to feel like work. I finally finished getting through the British TV series Department S, which I mentioned a while back. It never really improved, though perhaps the production
- [Old horrors, newly packaged](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/11/old-horrors-newly-packaged/) - Shout! Factory releases Blu-ray editions of John Carpenter's The Thing and William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III, with new 2K transfers and plenty of extras.
- [Styles of Horror, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/styles-of-horror-part-two/) - Recent disks display a wide range of approaches to the horror genre, from commercial exploitation to committed artistic expression and whatever lies between.
- [The collector's lament](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/the-collectors-lament/) - Glenn Erickson over at DVD Savant has put up his annual “wish list” of titles he'd like to see on DVD, a reminder that no matter how many movies have been released over the past decade, there are still many more that remain unavailable. His introductory essay provides a very good overview of the situation
- [Artsploitation Films and the boundaries of horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/artsploitation-films-and-the-boundaries-of-horror/) - Artsploitation Films is a distributor with a taste for offbeat horror as represented in two recent Blu-ray releases, Der Samurai and Horsehead.
- [An evening with Jonathan Rosenbaum](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/03/an-evening-with-jonathan-rosenbaum/) - An opportunity to meet my favourite film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum, turned out to be a rich evening of films from around the world.
- [DVD Review: <i>Medium Cool</i> (1969)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/06/dvd-review-medium-cool-1969/) - Haskell Wexler's potent mixture of drama and documentary, shot during the 1968 police riots in Chicago, remains a key expression of politics in American film.
- [Guest post: William K. Everson & British Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/06/guest-blogger-howard-curle/) - When my friend Howard Curle offered to write a guest post for my blog, I was happy to accept. Howard has taught film here in Winnipeg for many years, initially at the University of Manitoba and now at the University of Winnipeg, and we occasionally get together to watch and discuss movies from my collection
- [Project Update: October](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/10/project-update-october/) - My documentary on Winnipeg movie theatres is finished just as Russ Gourluck's book about Manitoba theatres is published
- [Heads Up](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/07/heads-up/) - FAB Press announces publication of Kier-La Janisse's House of Psychotic Women a personal critical survey of female madness in the movies
- [Year End 2011: video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/01/year-end-2011-video/) - Not surprisingly, given the amount of time I spend watching movies at home, I came across quite a few worthwhile titles during the year.
- [DVD diary: September - part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/09/dvd-diary-september-part-two/) - Dark Of The Sun (Jack Cardiff, 1968) The great cinematographer Jack Cardiff, responsible for the dazzling imagery of Michael Powell's A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948), and Albert Lewin's Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), among many others, was also a director. One of my earliest
- [Vin Diesel: fitting in](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/05/vin-diesel-fitting-in/) - I stopped off on my way home from work the other day to catch a screening of Fast Five. It was a Tuesday, so the ticket was half price. I guess I'd have to say I got my money's worth. I'd only previously seen the fourth movie in the series, Fast & Furious (also directed
- [Raro Video and Italian genre cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/04/raro-video-and-italian-genre-cinema/) - In the short history of DVD, many companies have come and gone. The major distributors are still around, of course, and public domain companies like Mill Creek seem to be surviving despite the generally poor quality of their output. But for collectors, it's the smaller “boutique” companies that have offered some of the most exciting
- [<I>Vampire Circus</I> footnote](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/03/vampire-circus-footnote/) - By coincidence, having recently finally caught up with Robert Young's Vampire Circus, I've just come across a short film he wrote and directed six years later for the British government's Central Office of Information. Twenty Times More Likely (1978) is a motorcycle safety film included in the BFI's fourth volume of COI documentaries – Stop!
- [DVD of the Week: <i>All White in Barking/Men of the City</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/02/dvd-of-the-week-all-white-in-barkingmen-of-the-city/) - I envy Marc Isaacs. Not just because he's one of the best documentary filmmakers now working in Britain (or anywhere, for that matter), but because he's found a sympathetic producer in Nick Fraser of the BBC who understands what Isaacs is doing and encourages and supports him in his work. After the past few years
- [The Genius of Matthew Rankin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/the-genius-of-matthew-rankin/) - Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin's short documentary on the fallout of a random encounter at Seven-Eleven illuminates the city's deep-rooted insecurities.
- [Mikio Naruse](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/01/mikio-naruse/) - In her January 1 post, the Self-Styled Siren pays homage to the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine, who died December 28 at age 86. The Siren's warm comments immediately sent me off to watch When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960), which Takamine stars in as the bar hostess Keiko. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that
- [Restoration and Revisionism](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/restoration-and-revisionism/) - In their joint commentary track on the Masters of Cinema DVD/Blu-Ray release of the newly restored Metropolis, David Kalat and Jonathan Rosenbaum express some concern that this new version will cause the disappearance of all previous versions. Why should this be a problem? After all, the “restored” Metropolis is the closest we'll ever get to
- [DVD Addiction](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dvd-addiction/) - I'm addicted to DVDs, and like many addicts I'm somewhat ambivalent about my substance of choice. Back in the day (and I am old enough to use that expression) I got a pleasure out of watching movies that I don't seem to get so much any more. In some ways this seems strange because in
- [DVD of the Week: <i>Petropolis</i> (2009)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/dvd-of-the-week-petropolis/) - The camera drifts above endless miles of mist-shrouded forest, following the meandering course of an old river. The soundtrack is rich with the sounds of birds and other wildlife. Then, as it rises over a tree-covered ridge, a different view opens up before us: what looks like an obliterated landscape stretching to the horizon. We
- [Video Nasties, Part 3](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/video-nasties-part-3/) - There is a long, if not necessarily venerable, tradition in the arts of creating confrontational, deliberately offensive work to challenge received ideas and to make people conscious of their own conventional assumptions. When work like this is created, it doesn't make a lot of sense to get indignant at people who are genuinely offended; in
- [Mackenzie Valley gas pains](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/02/2421/) - Two years ago, I edited a documentary for Les Productions Rivard here in Winnipeg. The English title is One River, Two Shores: Reflections on the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline (in French, the more awkward Au pays du fleuve Mackenzie, Un gazoduc au coeur d'un peuple) and it was directed by Yellowknife resident France Benoit. Over the
- [The real pleasure of fake commentaries](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/05/the-real-pleasure-of-fake-commentaries/) - Back in the dark days before DVD, when elitists spent large sums on laserdisks because the quality was so superior to the ubiquitous VHS tapes of home video, the commentary track was born. This was a terrific innovation, enhancing the value of a movie by providing context and opinions from the actual filmmakers or from
- [Stanley Kubrick 6: Odd Man Out - <i>Barry Lyndon</i> (1975)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/08/stanley-kubrick-6-odd-man-out-barry-lyndon-1975/) - Although somewhat neglected, Barry Lyndon is Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece
- [Clive Rees' <i>The Blockhouse</i> (1973) and other recent Indicator releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/clive-rees-the-blockhouse-1973-and-other-recent-indicator-releases/) - Recent releases from Indicator have seemed oddly random - from an unexceptional genre movie (Kostas Karagiorgis' The Devil's Men [1076]) to an arthouse war film (Clive Rees' The Blockhouse [1973]), a ghost story that comes across like a television play (Kevin Billington's Voices [1973]) to an interesting if unsuccessful literary adaptation (Anthony Friedmann's Bartleby [1970]) and a revisionist detective story which plays with the tropes of the English country house mystery (Chris Petit's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman [1982]).
- [Updating Cagey Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/updating-cagey-films/) - CageyFilms has added some new design features to aid visitors in exploring our large archive of content - a million-and-a-half words accumulated over eleven years - including a new sister site called FlickNotes which provides a searchable graphic index with metadata about the more than 2500 movies written about on the blog.
- [Bias and preconception in movie-watching](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/05/bias-and-preconception-in-movie-watching/) - We bring our whole personal history to every movie we see; as we're in a constant state of change, even familiar movies seem to change with each viewing.
- [The cinema of Alain Robbe-Grillet](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/03/the-cinema-of-alain-robbe-grillet/) - The BFI Blu-ray set of Alain Robbe-Grillet's first six features provides a superb introduction to this artist's radical and frequently controversial work.
- [Viewing notes: June 2017 - Arrow Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/06/viewing-notes-june-2017-arrow-video/) - Arrow Video's commitment to genre releases is on full display in a selection of recently viewed Blu-rays, each featuring informative supplements.
- [Viewing notes: May 2017](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/05/viewing-notes-may-2017/) - Two recent Japanese animated features and an early low-budget horror from Mario Bava offer a range of styles and content in fantastic film.
- [Notes on Recent Viewing, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/02/notes-on-recent-viewing-part-three/) - Continuing a brief survey of the past month's disk viewing; sci-fi, horror and an animation discovery which is one of the best current series.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: <i>The Killers</i> (1946/1964)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/07/criterion-blu-ray-review-the-killers-1946-1964/) - Criterion's Blu-ray of The Killers, with two excellent new hi-def transfers, is a fascinating study in the process of adapting literature to film.
- [Hammer thrillers on Blu-ray from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/03/hammer-thrillers-on-blu-ray-from-indicator/) - Indicator lavish attention on four less well-known, non-Gothic Hammer Films productions in their second box set devoted to the company: Criminal Intent focuses on a range of bad behaviour from murder to bank robbery and child molestation in four films which, while not all entirely successful, illuminate the studio's versatility.
- [Jean-Pierre Melville's <i>Le cercle rouge</i> (1970): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/jean-pierre-melvilles-le-cercle-rouge-1970-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion have re-released Jean-Pierre Melville's masterful heist movie Le cercle rouge (1970) in a new dual-format 4K UHD/Blu-ray edition based on a 4K restoration by StudioCanal. Although there are no new extras (supplements adding up to almost two hours date back to the company's original 2003 DVD release), the film looks better than ever, its narrative stripped to essentials as a meditation on professionalism, fate and the moral ambiguity of characters on both sides of the law.
- [Jean Rouch, Edgar Morin, <i>cinema verite</i> and the problem of “actuality”](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/06/jean-rouch-edgar-morin-cinema-verite-and-the-problem-of-actuality/) - Rouch and Morin's Chronicle of a Summer, recently released on Blu-ray by Criterion, is the quintessential cinema verite documentary.
- [Criterion Blu-ray review: Wim Wenders' <i>The Road Trilogy</i> (1974-76)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2016/07/criterion-blu-ray-review-wim-wenders-the-road-trilogy-1974-76/) - In Wim Wenders' The Road Trilogy, one of their finest releases in some time, Criterion showcase three key early works of the New German Cinema.
- [Recent viewing, Summer 2018](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/07/recent-viewing-summer-2018/) - Recent viewing includes a range of genre titles, high and low-end, from Vinegar Syndrome and Arrow Video: serial killers, Japanese vampires, sewer-dwelling mutants, zombies and a schizophrenic woman struggling to maintain a tenuous hold on reality.
- [<i>Columbia Noir 4</i> from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/11/columbia-noir-4-from-indicator/) - Indicator add another volume to their series devoted to Columbia Studios films noirs, with an eclectic selection of six moves covering post-war espionage, the activities of organized crime and a cop easily turned to the darkside by an attractive woman. Excellent transfers are supplemented with commentaries, March of Time shorts, featurettes on key cast and crew members ... and, of course, half-a-dozen Three Stooges shorts.
- [British black-and-white fantasies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/03/british-black-and-white-fantasies/) - Two excellent recent Blu-ray releases illuminate different strains of British fantasy. They Came to a City (1944), written by J.B. Priestley and directed by Basil Dearden is a Utopian political fable proposing a new Socialist society for post-war Britain, while Nigel Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit (1959) spins an epic tale of human evolution and our innate propensity for violence through the story of an ancient spaceship discovered buried beneath London.
- [The myth of Orson Welles' failure](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/08/the-myth-of-orson-welles-failure/) - Forty years after Pauline Kael wrote her hatchet job Raising Kane (The New Yorker, Feb. 20-27, 1971), the myth of Orson Welles' arrogance and failure is apparently still alive and kicking. In his August 13 column, Glenn Erickson over at DVD Savant passed on a link to a Wall Street Journal article by their resident
- [Podcasting again ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2018/09/podcasting-again/) - I was recently contacted by Swedish filmmaker Henrik Möller with an invitation to talk to him for his podcast Udda Ting (Other Things) about my experiences with David Lynch. That conversation is now available on-line on SoundCloud and YouTube.
- [Watching genre, in black-and-white](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/03/watching-genre-in-black-and-white/) - Three very different features - Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946), John Guillermin's Town on Trial (1957) and Wolf Rilla's Village of the Damned (1960) - illuminate the varied pleasures offered by genre in the hands of seriously committed filmmakers.
- [The National Film Board of Canada](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/11/the-national-film-board-of-canada/) - These days, whenever I see items in the news about the National Film Board, I feel a bit of sadness. It seems to have fallen quite far from its days of greatness. When I took an Editing Masterclass in Rockport, Maine, in 1997, I was pleasantly surprised at the reaction of the other students, from
- [Five things that annoy me in movies ...](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/07/five-things-that-annoy-me-in-movies/) - While watching Charles B. Griffith's Eat My Dust! the other day, I found myself getting annoyed. Not by the sheer silliness of the film -- a small-town sheriff's son (a very young Ron Howard) steals a hot-rod to impress a girl and ends up in a cross-country chase which is merely an excuse for endless
- [Editing and Representation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/04/editing-and-representation/) - A YouTube clip from a BBC nature show illustrates a problem with manipulative editing in documentary.
- [<i>CarFree: Stories From the Non-driving Life</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/10/carfree-stories-from-the-non-driving-life/) - CarFree is a one-hour documentary about urban dwellers who consciously choose not to drive and how that decision affects the ways in which they live their lives
- [Year End 2014](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2014/12/year-end-2014/) - Despite perennial predictions of the demise of movies-on-disk, 2014 offered a rich and varied selection of new and old titles in often impressive editions.
- [William Castle's horrors from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/12/william-castles-horrors-from-indicator/) - Indicator showcase four of producer-director William Castle's best-known movies in their first box set devoted to the showmen, better known for his marketing gimmicks than his cinematic accomplishments. With excellent transfers and copious extras, the set confirms that Castle was a great entertainer.
- [Recent disks from England, part two: Arrow](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/03/recent-disks-from-england-part-two-arrow/) - Arrow's big pre-Christmas sale brought a wide range of titles, some old, some new: Juan Simon Piquer's Spanish slasher Pieces (1982), Chelsea Stardust's horror comedy Satanic Panic (2019), Giancarlo Santi's spaghetti western The Grand Duel (1972), Lee Min-jae's horror comedy Zombie for Sale (2019), Jill Gevargizian's psycho horror The Stylist (2020),Nico Mastorakis incoherent first feature Death Has Blue Eyes (1976), a Japanese double bill of sci-fi crime movies, Nobuo Adachi's The Invisible Man Appears (1949) and Mitsuo Murayama's The Invisible Man vs the Human Fly (1957), Riccardo Freda's mix of melodrama and giallo Double Face (1969), Jacques Tourneur's late film noir Nightfall (1956), and Giorgio Ferroni's atmospheric Gothic horror Mill of the Stone Women (1960).
- [Recent disks from England, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/02/recent-disks-from-england-part-one-2/) - Recent disks from England include Franco Parolini's late spaghetti western Sabata Trilogy (1969-71), the classic Ray Harryhausen Sinbad fantasies (1958-77), Carl Franklin's revisionist neo-noir Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Tsui Hark's influential martial arts fantasy Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), and David Greene's tense submarine disaster movie Gray Lady Down (1978).
- [Another <i>Titanic</i> footnote](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/02/another-titanic-footnote/) - The French Titanic Society has just published an article about the Titanic's Second Officer Charles Lightoller and his yacht Sundowner with photos of my father.
- [Pure Genre Pleasure: <i>The Man With the Iron Fists</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/pure-genre-pleasure-the-man-with-the-iron-fists/) - The RZA writes and directs a perfect, and perfectly satisfying, homage to Chinese martial arts movies
- [DVD Review: <i>Silenced</i> (<i>Do-Ga-Ni</i>)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/dvd-review-silenced-do-ga-ni/) - Wrenching story, based on fact, about child abuse in a Korean school for the deaf.
- [DVD Review: <i>The Forgiveness of Blood</i> (2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/dvd-review-the-forgiveness-of-blood-2011/) - Joshua Marston's second feature is a strange and disorienting story about two teenagers caught in a blood feud in rural Albania.
- [DVD Review: <i>Robert Conrad Double Feature</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/11/dvd-review-robert-conrad-double-feature/) - Review of a pair of '70s exploitation movies starring TV actor Robert Conrad
- [Gualtiero Jacopetti (1919-2011)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/08/gualtiero-jacopetti-1919-2011/) - Italian journalist and filmmaker Gualtiero Jacopetti died August 17, at age 91. Together with co-director Franco Prosperi, Jacopetti invented what became known as the “mondo” movie – after the title of their first collaboration, Mondo Cane (Dog's World, 1962). The essence of the genre was shock – documentaries that displayed strange, disturbing aspects of human
- [Reviewing documentary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/08/reviewing-documentary/) - A while back, I signed up with BlogCritics. The idea was that writing regular reviews for them would keep me from getting lazy; in addition, cross-linking with my blog would, I hoped, boost traffic for my own site. But I've only posted four reviews with them since February, while keeping up a regular weekly schedule
- [The Coen Brothers' <i>Miller's Crossing</i> (1990): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/02/the-coen-brothers-millers-crossing-1990-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - With their new Blu-ray release, Criterion add the Coen Brothers' third feature, Miller's Crossing (1990), to the Collection. One of the darkest, most sombre films in the Coen canon, this moody gangster story updates hardboiled noir as a complex meditation on male fragility and violence. Sumptuously shot by Barry Sonnenfeld, it features a superb cast of great character actors.
- [Recent Viewing: more horror from Arrow](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2015/03/recent-viewing-more-horror-from-arrow/) - More releases from Arrow range from the reality based and historical horror of Deranged and Mark of the Devil to the flawed black comedy of The 'Burbs.
- [Thomas Vinterberg's <i>Festen</i> (<i>The Celebration</i>,1998): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/02/thomas-vinterbergs-festen-1998-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion give a stellar release to Thomas Vinterberg's Festen (The Celebration, 1998), the first feature completed under the Dogme 95 manifesto rules; a brilliant, emotionally raw exploration of masculine trauma, it retains all its power to shock and move a quarter century after its release and stands as perhaps the most lasting result of Dogme's reaction to the complacency of bourgeois cinema.
- [D.A. Pennebaker's <i>Original Cast Album: "Company"</i> (1970): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/08/d-a-pennebakers-original-cast-album-company-1970-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray of D.A. Pennebaker's Original Cast Album: "Company" (1970) is a fascinating glimpse of the intense physical and mental labour which goes into the process of artistic creation, closely observing the recording of the original cast performing the songs from Stephen Sondheim's breakthough Broadway show Company in one long fourteen-hour session. Tense, exhausting and exhilarating, it depicts dedicated professionals doing their jobs under intense pressure to deliver under a near-impossible deadline.
- [Movies in Your Head](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2013/04/movies-in-your-head/) - The brain's ability to conjure images from sound can turn music and radio drama into vivid subjective mind-movies.
- [The martial arts of Joseph Kuo](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/01/the-martial-arts-of-joseph-kuo/) - Eureka's Blu-ray box set Cinematic Vengeance gathers together eight movies by Taiwanese director Joseph Kuo in the 1970s, an independent specialist in low-budget martial arts movies. These films are packed with great action scenes; the fight choreography, camerawork and editing are exceptional and, although Kuo throws in occasional bits of broad comedy, the tone is often quite dark, with endings that refuse to offer battered characters any final sense of triumph.
- [Early winter viewing, part 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/01/early-winter-viewing-part-2/) - I continue my cold-weather plunge into the cheap, cheesy and outre depths of exploitation, finding a few gems among the dross of low-budget horror, science fiction, fantasy and comedy, ending up with an unsettling documentary about someone who devoted his life to filmmaking at the expense of everything including his identity.
- [Year End 2021](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/01/year-end-2021/) - It's been a good year for movies on disk, with a remarkable range of releases from many companies which are devoting considerable resources to rediscovering, restoring and preserving movies in numerous genres. Ranging across nationalities and spanning cinema history, there was plenty to divert attention from a real world which has become so depressing and exhausting.
- [Paul Morrissey's Gothic horrors](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2022/01/paul-morrisseys-gothic-horrors/) - It's been a long time coming, but Paul Morrissey's two unique Gothic horror movies from the early 1970s - Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974) - have finally arrived on disk in superb restorations, the former from Vinegar Syndrome, the latter from Severin. Both editions are packed with hours of extras, and Flesh for Frankenstein is finally available in 3D (both digital and anaglyphic) as well as flat. Together, the home video highlight of 2021.
- [Spooky](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/03/spooky/) - I can now say from personal experience that watching horror movies a week after having a heart attack (even a relatively minor one) may not be the smartest idea - but I did enjoy these five eerie features.
- [Chinese action and fantasy from Eureka](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/02/chinese-action-and-fantasy-from-eureka/) - Recent releases from Eureka/Masters of Cinema showcase a range of Chinese martial arts movies, from Sammo Hung's traditional The Iron-Fisted Monk (1977) to Tsui Hark's genre redefining Once Upon a Time in China trilogy (1991-92) to Ricky Lau's horror-comedy Mr. Vampire (1985) and Ronny Yu's visually ravishing fantasy The Bride With White Hair (1993).
- [Gordon Parks' <i>The Learning Tree</i> (1969): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/12/gordon-parks-the-learning-tree-1969-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray revives Gordon Parks' semi-autobiographical film The Learning Tree (1969), significant as the first movie produced by a Hollywood studio directed by a Black filmmaker. In this coming-of-age story set in a small Kansas town in the 1920s, the typical problems faced by a boy leaving childhood are complicated by the deeply embedded racist attitudes which surround him.
- [The Hughes Brothers' <i>Menace II Society</i> (1993): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/12/the-hughes-brothers-menace-ii-society-1993-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - The Hughes Brothers' Menace II Society (1993), an aggressively stylish debut made when the twins were just twenty, is a nihilistically violent depiction of life in Watts in which kids grow up surrounded by violence and learn that there are few other ways to deal conflict. Criterion's new Blu-ray, mastered from a 4K restoration, is vividly colourful, with a collection of excellent new and archival supplements,
- [Vinegar Syndrome October releases, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/11/vinegar-syndrome-october-releases-part-one/) - Vinegar Syndrome's October releases offer a satisfyingly eclectic selection of occasionally obscure genre titles -- from mid-'80s gialli to Southern Gothic crime to mutant bugs and a Mayan death cult.
- [Shameless exploitation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/07/shameless-exploitation/) - Shameless is a British label dedicated to exploitation movies (with a mission statement emphasizing sleaze and outrage) which has been issuing mostly Italian genre titles for more than a decade with mixed results in terms of quality; thanks to a recent on-line sale, I just binged some of their releases which cover the spectrum in terms of quality (both technical and creative).
- [Recent Kino Lorber releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/01/recent-kino-lorber-releases/) - Kino Lorber's prolific slate of releases is making a wide range of genre of genre titles available, some for the first time in decades - including some from the golden age of made-for-television movies like Paul Wendkos' Fear No Evil (1968) and Jerry London's Killdozer (1974)
- [Post-Op, week four](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/07/post-op-week-four/) - Another eclectic week - Italian gore from Joe D'Amato, regional American exploitation, a pair of Amicus horrors from director Roy Ward Baker, a documentary about Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis, and a glorious restoration of the Russian folk-horror Viy.
- [Creeps be creeping](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/09/creeps-be-creeping/) - Pete Schuermann's The Creep Behind the Camera (2014) is an odd hybrid, begun as a documentary and incorporating interview clips, but mostly a dramatization of the story of Art Nelson aka Vic Savage, a talentless sociopath who dreamed of being a movie director but was sunk by a lack of talent and his own increasingly violent sociopathy. Synapse's Blu-ray includes along with the feature, a wealth of extras including a 2K scan of Nelson's no-budget monster movie The Creeping Terror (1964).
- [Summer viewing: all the rest](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/09/summer-viewing-all-the-rest/) - In addition to all the movies I've reviewed here in the past three or four months, I've watched many more; here I acknowledge more than seven dozen movies and television series I've seen over the summer.
- [Noriaki Yuasa's intimate Yokai horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/11/noriaki-yuasas-intimate-yokai-horror/) - Arrow releases the uncanny horror-fantasy The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch (1968), showcasing this mix of Japanese folktale and western fairytale directed by Noriaki Yuasa between episodes in Daiei's Gamera series in a Blu-ray edition featuring a moody transfer and illuminating extras.
- [September Arrow releases](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/11/september-arrow-releases/) - New Blu-ray releases from Arrow revive an effective Satanic panic movie from the early '70s and unearth a forgotten regional slasher from 1982. The former, Bernard McEveety's The Brotherhood of Satan, is an atmospheric gem; the latter, David Nelson's Death Screams, is kind of clumsy, though it does have a few effective moments.
- [Lynne Ramsay's <i>Ratcatcher</i> (1999): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/10/lynne-ramsays-ratcatcher-1999-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Lynne Ramsay's emotionally devastating first feature, Ratcatcher (1999), is given a superb new 4K transfer on Criterion's Blu-ray, which includes all the extras from their 2002 DVD with the addition of new interviews with Ramsay and cinematographer Alwin Küchler.
- [Jack Arnold's <i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i> (1957): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/10/jack-arnolds-the-incredible-shrinking-man-1957-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion showcase a key '50s sci-fi movie with their extras-loaded Blu-ray of Jack Arnold's The Incredible Shrinking Man. The 4K restoration makes this the definitive visual presentation of the film, while the numerous special features - commentary, interviews, documentary - cover the production and the critical importance of the movie in detail.
- [<i>Hammer Vol. 6: Night Shadows</i> from Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/10/hammer-vol-6-night-shadows-from-indicator/) - Indicator's sixth box set of Hammer movies, Night Shadows, is a bit of a mixed bag, with a silly but entertaining Old Dark House throwback in John Gilling's The Shadow of the Cat (1961), an overwrought psycho thriller in Freddie Francis' Nightmare (1964), a historical adventure in Peter Graham Scott's Captain Clegg (1962), and a pseudo-Gothic horror in Terence Fisher's The Phantom of the Opera (1962).
- [The films of Eloy de la Iglesia](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/10/the-films-of-eloy-de-la-iglesia/) - Severin introduces the work of Eloy de la Iglesia, a little-known Basque filmmaker with three releases spanning the period from the end of the Franco regime to the transition to democracy in Spain. Two thrillers with a satirical edge made in the early '70s give way to a trilogy of violent, neo-realist depictions of youth crime and drug addiction in the early '80s. Dynamic and visceral, these films are deeply empathetic to members of the underclass - workers and dispossessed adolescents - and unflinching in their treatment of addiction and homosexuality in a repressive society.
- [Luchino Visconti's <i>The Damned</i> (1969): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/09/luchino-viscontis-the-damned-1969-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Criterion's new Blu-ray presents Luchino Visconti's darkly perverse The Damned in a new 2K restoration whose dense colours emphasize the gloom hanging over a powerful German industrial family collapsing under the weight of its own decadence as the Nazis consolidate their political power in the early 1930s.
- [Found-footage addendum](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2011/10/found-footage-addendum/) - In light of this week's post on Matthew J. Avant's "found footage documentary" Lunopolis, it seems like fortuitous timing that Glenn Erickson over at DVD Savant has just passed on a couple of links dealing with Les documents interdits, a series of found-footage shorts by French filmmaker Jean-Teddy Filippe. For anyone who enjoys the form,
- [Speaking of David Lynch ... again!](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/09/speaking-of-david-lynch-again/) - I recently spoke with Chicago-based podcaster McKenzie Wilkes about my experiences with David Lynch in the early 1980s. That conversation can now be heard on McKenzie's On Lynch podcast.
- [Peter Fonda's <i>Idaho Transfer</i> (1973)](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2019/09/peter-fondas-idaho-transfer-1973/) - The late Peter Fonda briefly interrupted his acting career in the 1970s by directing three features, only the first of which is recognized now as a classic: The Hired Hand (1971). But the second, a no-budget science fiction movie called Idaho Transfer (1973), deserves to be rediscovered both for its sparely poetic treatment of time travel and its prescient vision of imminent ecological catastrophe. Unfortunately, it can now only be viewed as a lo-res, open-matte YouTube video.
- [Vinegar Syndrome summer binge, part three](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/08/vinegar-syndrome-summer-binge-part-three/) - I wrap up my recent Vinegar Syndrome binge with surfer dudes tackling zombies, deadly telepaths and a roving musician fighting his way across the desert to vie for the position of King in post-apocalyptic Lost Vegas ... but this is not the end as I've already received the next batch of releases!
- [Farewell to a good friend: Dave Barber](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/farewell-to-a-good-friend-dave-barber/) - Long-time friend Dave Barber, programmer of the Cinematheque and heart and soul of the Winnipeg Film Group died on Monday July 26 after six hard weeks in hospital, leaving behind a local and national film community which owed him an enormous debt for his unceasing work to get Canadian independent cinema seen by audiences across the country. For those close to him, the loss is more personal and painful; Dave's decency and humour affected us all deeply and its absence now leaves a painful hole which will be impossible to fill.
- [Vinegar Syndrome summer binge, part two](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/08/vinegar-syndrome-summer-binge-part-two/) - I continue my Vinegar Syndrome binge with an even more varied collection of movies across many genres, with monsters and Nazis, ghosts and a traditional vampire, cannibalism among shipwreck survivors, and a female vigilante facing down a vicious gang.
- [Not exactly back to normal](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/not-exactly-back-to-normal/) - Wanting to see the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, I braced myself and went to a theatre for the first time in more than a year-and-a-half. The movie was effectively creepy, but the theatre was scarier - almost deserted, with a haunting air of the End Times about it. A staff person checked my vaccine status, but no one even bothered to look at my ticket and after the show I got an email from the theatre chain thanking me for going and pleading with me to come again soon.
- [Vinegar Syndrome summer binge, part one](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/vinegar-syndrome-summer-binge-part-one/) - I've recently been binging a lot of Vinegar Syndrome releases, including a box set of made-for-TV mysteries, an odd bit of exploitation-horror made in Florida by a French director, and one of the most brain-bendingly bad movies I've ever seen.
- [<i>Karloff at Columbia</i> on Eureka Blu-ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/07/karloff-at-columbia-on-eureka-blu-ray/) - Eureka's new two-disk Blu-ray release Karloff at Columbia is a real treat for fans of the iconic actor. Although it begins with Roy William Neill's atmospheric period Gothic The Black Room (1935), the bulk of the set is devoted to what became known as the Mad Doctor Cycle, five extremely low-budget sci-fi tinged horrors in which Karloff plays scientists dabbling in research which the establishment frowns on; the authorities' resistance tends to push him over into madness and murder and mayhem ensue. Long held in low esteem, these cheap movies are all entertaining and Karloff delivers sincere performances no matter how silly the trappings occasionally become.
- [Disappointment of the week: <i>Prometheus</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2012/06/disappointment-of-the-week-prometheus/) - Ridley Scott confuses the audience by changing the mythology of the Alien series with this ponderous, dull reboot
- [Recent Arrow viewing, Part One: William Grefé](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/04/recent-arrow-viewing-part-one/) - With their new box set He Came from the Swamp, Arrow provide an impressive showcase for the low-budget exploitation movies of Florida filmmaker William Grefé, which feature cheap monsters, violent criminals, hippies and drugs and killer sharks.
- [<i>Weird Wisconsin</i>: the movies of Bill Rebane](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/06/weird-wisconsin-the-movies-of-bill-rebane/) - A recent Arrow box set showcases yet another regional filmmaker who built a career on determination and very little money. Bill Rebane built his own studio in rural Wisconsin and beginning in the 1960s made a series of genre movies whose reputation echoes that of Ed Wood. The big surprise of the Weird Wisconsin set is that some of them are genuinely effective and entertaining.
- [<i>Home-Grown Horrors</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/06/home-grown-horrors/) - Vinegar Syndrome's Home-Grown Horrors box set presents three ultra-low-budget regional movies on Blu-ray, really entertaining and looking better than they ever deserved to, and accompanied by surprisingly substantial extras about the fun and frustration of making movies without sufficient resources.
- [Getting serious](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/06/getting-serious/) - Another eclectic selection of recently watched Blu-rays, from two atmospheric French mysteries starring Jean Gabin as Maigret (1958-59) to the nightmarish horrors of war in Eastern Europe in an adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski's controversial novel The Painted Bird (2019), from violence tourism in near-future Brazil in Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’s Bacurau (2019) to tenderness and violence on the American frontier in Kelly Reichardt's First Cow (2020) and children faced with the threat of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War in Frank Perry's Ladybug Ladybug (1965).
- [Kelly Reichardt's <i>Certain Women</i> (2016): Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2017/09/kelly-reichardts-certain-women-2016-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women is a jewel of the art and craft of filmmaking, an intensely emotional and ultimately heartbreaking study of character and landscape.
- [The second coming of Cauldron](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/06/the-second-coming-of-cauldron/) - With their second pair of releases, the folks at Cauldron Films have again dug deep into the fringes of genre movie-making, this time unearthing Sergio Pastore's The Crimes of the Black Cat (1972), an Italian giallo from the peak period of that genre, and Tomas Aznar's Beyond Terror (1980), a Spanish film which begins as a nihilistic story about a gang of vicious criminals and morphs into a supernatural revenge narrative.
- [Pandemic viewing, Part Four](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2020/05/pandemic-viewing-part-four/) - Social isolation and "working from home" mean a lot of time for movie-watching ... and the volume far outstrips my ability to say anything substantive about many of the films I do watch: so here I mostly just acknowledge what I've been viewing in the past 4-6 weeks. Part four of four.
- [Edmund Goulding's <i>Nightmare Alley</i> (1947): <br>Criterion Blu-ray review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/2021/05/edmund-gouldings-nightmare-alley-1947-criterion-blu-ray-review/) - Continuing their recent run of classic Hollywood restorations, Criterion have released an excellent edition of Edmund Goulding's Nightmare Alley (1947), a sordid story of madness and criminality starring Tyrone Power in his best role as an opportunistic carny who cons his way to the top of respectable society only to plunge back down to the lowest depths. A remarkably grim movie to have been made by a major studio on an A-picture budget, it still remains a potent glimpse of existential horror.

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.cageyfilms.com/) - Kenneth George Godwin is a film and video editor based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with 20 years experience cutting documentaries and dramas
- [<i>CarFree: Stories from the Non-Driving Life</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/carfree-stories-from-the-non-driving-life/) - The documentary CarFree: Stories from the Non-Driving Life is now available for rent on Vimeo-on-Demand.
- [Shop](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/) - CageyFilms launches a series of eBooks with 2 volumes devoted to David Lynch. The 1st is an account of the making of Eraserhead, the 2nd about the making of Dune
- [<i>CarFree: Stories From the Non-driving Life</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/carfree-stories-from-the-non-driving-life/) - CARFREE: STORIES FROM THE NON-DRIVING LIFE (2014, HD, 54mins, colour) Made in collaboration with Janine Tschuncky, who co-produced and wrote (it's based on her own idea), CarFree: Stories From the Non-driving Life, is a one-hour documentary about what it’s like to live in a city which has been built around the needs of traffic when
- [ERASERHEAD: The David Lynch Files, Volume 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/eraserhead-the-david-lynch-files-volume-1/) - The full story of the making of David Lynch's debut feature Eraserhead, including extensive interviews with many of those involved, including Lynch himself.
- [CV](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cv/) - 2018 "THE DUEL" Cagey Films Music Video (HD Video, 5 minutes) Producer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor: Kenneth George Godwin 2014 CARFREE: STORIES FROM THE NON-DRIVING LIFE Cagey Films/MTS Stories From Home Documentary (HD Video, 54 minutes) Producer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor: Kenneth George Godwin 2013 PISS ON YOU: WINNIPEG'S EARLY PUNK ROCK SCENE Documentary Feature (HD Video, 87 minutes) Produced & Directed by
- [<i>Going: Remembering Winnipeg Movie Theatres</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/going-remembering-winnipeg-movie-theatres/) - The documentary Going: Remembering Winnipeg Movies Theatres is now available for viewing on Vimeo-on-Demand.
- [Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/) - Between 1989 and 1996, I made four short films, the first three through the Winnipeg Film Group, the fourth at Video Pool. All of them got a certain amount of festival play and television exposure. After 1995, my attention turned almost exclusively to editing professionally and, although I have since written a number of scripts,
- [<i>Incident at Pickerel Fillet</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/incident-at-pickerel-fillet/) - INCIDENT AT PICKEREL FILLET (1991, 16mm, 8.5mins, colour) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqFldG-SCs0 Although I’d been writing about film since my days as a reviewer on the University of Winnipeg student newspaper in the late ’70s (and had actually written my first attempts at film scripts in the early ’70s), it was only after several years of working in
- [<i>The Exquisite Corpse</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/the-exquisite-corpse/) - THE EXQUISITE CORPSE (segment)(1992, 16mm, 3mins, B&W) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQVfiUSp90 The year after I completed Incident at Pickerel Fillet, I was working as an administrator at Video Pool, an artist-run co-operative in Winnipeg, when I was suddenly presented with an opportunity to make my second short film. A group of filmmakers and artists under the leadership of
- [<i>The Man Who Ran Away to Sea</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/the-man-who-ran-away-to-sea/) - THE MAN WHO RAN AWAY TO SEA (1996, video/Super-8/Avid, 8mins, colour) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0d34vU2J0A The stresses involved in completing The Adventures of Stella Starr stifled my interest in filmmaking for a while – apart from the physical effort and the struggle to put together enough funds to finish it, I felt pretty guilty about what I’d put
- [<i>The Making of Stella Starr</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/the-making-of-stella-starr/) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg8dOuHkgVI During the shooting of The Adventures of Stella Starr, a young Winnipeg Film Group member named Matthew Etches showed up with a VHS camcorder to document the insanity …
- [<i>Going: Remembering Winnipeg Movie Theatres</i> - Deleted Scenes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/going-remembering-winnipeg-movie-theatres/going-remembering-winnipeg-movie-theatres-deleted-scenes/) - Selection of 12 short deleted scenes from the rough cut of my feature-length documentary about Winnipeg's vanished movie theatres.
- [Publications](https://www.cageyfilms.com/publications/) - Eraserhead: The David Lynch Files Volume 1, BearManor Media, 2020 Dune: The David Lynch Files Volume 2, BearManor Media, 2020 "You Don't Know Me, But You Love Me: The Lives of Dick Miller by Caelum Vatnsdal: review", Prairie Fire On-line Book Review, March 12, 2019. "Silver Screens on the Prairie: An Illustrated History of Motion
- [Demo Reel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/demo-reel/) - DOCUMENTARY Going: Remembering Winnipeg Movie Theatres (Cagey Films/Farpoint Films, 83 mins.) Dir.: Kenneth George Godwin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwDfhyp22pY The Gypsies of Svinia (NFB, 95 mins.) Dir.: John Paskievich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYEH2874aoc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KoldpxkXoY My Mother's Village (NFB, 101 mins.) Dir.: John Paskievich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfiisSqN4AQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4asLb-6lqBs Unspeakable (NFB, 89 mins.) Dir.: John Paskievich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6peMotI74 Unnatural Nature (proposed project, not filmed) Dir.: John
- [About](https://www.cageyfilms.com/about/) - I have been editing a wide range of film and video projects, both documentary and drama, for two-and-a-half decades. I started at the Winnipeg Film Group, cutting on Steenbeck 16mm flatbeds, adopted Avid in 1995, and have used FinalCut Pro quite extensively over the past ten years. Projects I have worked on have screened –
- [DUNE: The David Lynch Files, Volume 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/dune-the-david-lynch-files-volume-2/) - The troubled production of David Lynch's Dune as seen by an inexperienced writer who was lucky enough to spend six months on-set and behind the scenes.
- [DUNE: The David Lynch Files, Volume 2](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/) - A personal account of the making of David Lynch's Dune by one of the video crew who recorded the entire six months of production in Mexico in 1983
- [ERASERHEAD: The David Lynch Files, Volume 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/eraserhead/) - A definitive account of David Lynch's early career and the making of Eraserhead, including in depth interviews with Lynch and key personnel
- [<i>Stella Starr</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/stella-starr/) - THE ADVENTURES OF STELLA STARR OF THE GALAXY RANGERS IN THE 23rd CENTURY, Chapter 7: "Falling Starr!" (1994, 16mm, 16mins, B&W) ?? I quite naturally wanted to make another film quite quickly after the enjoyably speedy experience of The Exquisite Corpse. I’m not sure now how it eventually took shape, but the initial impetus for
- [ERASERHEAD: The David Lynch Files, Volume 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/eraserhead/the-making-of-eraserhead/) - A history of the making of David Lynch's debut film Eraserhead, with extensive interviews with Lynch, Jack Nance, and other cast and crew members.
- [ERASERHEAD: The David Lynch Files, Volume 1](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/eraserhead/essay/) - An analysis of David Lynch's debut film Eraserhead.
- [Lynchiana](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/) - Collection of interviews, articles and personal diary entries about the making of David Lynch's Eraserhead and Dune.
- [<i>DUNE</i> JOURNAL](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/) - A personal account of the making of David Lynch's epic adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune in Mexico in 1983
- [<i>DUNE</i> GALLERIES](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-galleries/) - It was forbidden to take unauthorized photographs on the sets of Dune, a ban which I adhered to initially. But later on I did start taking my Nikon with me to the studio and the Aguilas Rojas location on the edge of Mexico City. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a
- [<i>Going: Remembering Winnipeg Movie Theatres</i>](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/going-remembering-winnipeg-movie-theatres/) - GOING:REMEMBERING WINNIPEG MOVIE THEATRES (2012, HD, 83mins, colour) For nearly a century, from the invention of movies to the rise of home video and the Internet, going to the theatre was the major form of entertainment in cities like Winnipeg. In their heyday, there were almost fifty theatres operating in the city at one time,
- [the "Cafe Universal" script](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/the-cafe-universal-script/) - Written while working on David Lynch's Dune, George Godwin's script was intended to star Lynch as an American artist caught up in political chaos in Paris.
- [Adios, Elvis</br>or The Secrets of the Universe Revealed](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/adios-elvisor-the-secrets-of-the-universe-revealed/) - by Kenneth George Godwin & Stephen R. George What do Elvis, H. P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu, the Elder Gods, Orgone Energy, a North Dakota saucer crash, a dimension-hopping nymph, the West Hawk Lake monster, and spontaneous human combustion have in common? Intrepid paperback original writer Willard Baxter is about to find out. When author Willard Baxter,
- [MONKEY and other stories](https://www.cageyfilms.com/cageyfilms-books/monkey-and-other-stories/) - Monkey and other stories is a collection of short fantasy and horror fiction, in which characters struggle to deal with strange, horrific supernatural forces.
- [Director Index](https://www.cageyfilms.com/director-index/) - Directors and the posts that refer to them. A Aarniokoski, Doug A 3D New Year Aarniokoski, Douglas Styles of Horror, part three Aaron, Wil A world of horror from Arrow and Severin Abernathy, Lewis Why do I do it? Abrahams, Brad Alien sex and the comedy of self-destruction: two documentaries Abrahams, Jim Speed reviewing: 50 Capsule Comments Abrahamson, Lenny Speed reviewing: 50
- [Movie Index](https://www.cageyfilms.com/movie-index/) - Movies and the posts that refer to them. # 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Brief viewing notes, July 2016 10 Rillington Place (1971) Two More from Twilight Time 10 to Midnight (1983) Twilight Time round-up 100 Monsters (1968) Ghosts, Monsters and Swordplay 10th Victim, The (1965) Entering Other Worlds, part 2 Shameless exploitation 11.22.63 (2016) Recent viewing: March-April 2018, Part Two 12 Monkeys
- [June 27-July 10, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-fifteen/) - Monday, June 27: DAY NINETY-NINE (9 hrs) Just spoke to Tim – he’s coming down here next month. Friday, July 1: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-THREE (11 hrs, 12 hrs, 9 hrs) My desire to keep this journal has all but fizzled. Armstrong is obviously going to fuck us – no intention of talking – just take our
- [August 22-30, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-twenty-three/) - Monday, August 22: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-FIFTY-FIVE (6 hrs) Anatol has backed off considerably about the script – I don’t know why. Seems to accept that if I can sell it, it’ll be up to the producer who directs. Greg Gubi likes it (with a few reservations about specific points); Eric really likes it. I gave a
- [May 2-8, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-seven/) - Tuesday, May 3: DAY FORTY-FOUR (14 ½ hrs; 10 ½ hrs) Apparently I didn’t miss much Sunday evening. There were quite a few people there, but it was pretty dull. Saturday evening, Anatol was out with Fred – linked up with a bunch of crew people and Raffaella – wound up partying at Raffaella’s suite
- [April 25-May 1, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-six/) - Monday, April 25: DAY THIRTY-SIX (9 hrs) It’ll be a very long day today. A car to the studio at ten. Shoot Judy Miller and the seamstresses. Look at what we shot last week. Maybe unpack the editing system. Meet with Raffaella. Supposedly meet with Anne Strick. Go to the location and shoot all night....
- [July 11-24, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-seventeen/) - Monday, July 11: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-THIRTEEN (9 ½ hrs) Wednesday, July 13: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-FIFTEEN (7 ½ hrs, 9 hrs) Thursday, July 14: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-SIXTEEN (2 hrs) The flight to Zihua was quite an experience – an old twin-engine Convair which seemed to crawl rather than fly. It took two hours to make the usually fifty-minute flight.
- [August 15-21, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-twenty-two/) - Monday, August 15: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-FORTY-EIGHT (3 ½ hrs, 8 hrs) Saturday we got a very good interview with Kit West. I’m finally beginning to see a few things which actually can be cut together. Today, we went to Azteca Stadium where Jimmy Devis’ unit was doing a shot with a foreground miniature. Devis is very
- [August 8-14, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-twenty-one/) - Monday, August 8: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-FORTY-ONE (7 ½ hrs) Well, I couldn’t make the copies today – I got up to page twenty-seven and the copier broke down. Nothing personal, I hope. I actually took the plunge this evening and went to a movie (theatres here are awful). By myself. Peter Yates’ Krull. Awful. Dumb script,
- [July 25-August 7, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-nineteen/) - Monday, July 25: DAY ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-SEVEN (9 hrs) It’s possible we’ll be staying on here longer than expected. We spoke with Raffaella this afternoon. The idea is to cover the model and effects work on Dune after principal photography has been completed – and periodically cover the production of Conan at the same time (much of
- [June 20-26, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-fourteen/) - Monday, June 20: DAY NINETY-TWO (8 hrs) Talk about strange coincidences – this time an unhappy one. Last Wednesday, out of nowhere, I flashed on the idea of doing Lowry’s Under the Volcano with Jack in the lead. Today at lunch, Cyril (one of the people in wardrobe) mentioned that he’d been asked to do
- [June 13-19, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-thirteen/) - Tuesday, June 14: DAY EIGHTY-SIX (11 ½ hrs, 10 ½ hrs) Ups and downs, crises and annoyances, problems and what have you. Anatol just “missed us” on Sunday – but he doesn’t trust Jack anyway. And Gordon’s a nice guy – he promised we’d do well on this deal, and so there’s no reason to
- [June 6-12, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-twelve/) - Monday, June 6: DAY SEVENTY-EIGHT Didn’t go to work today. Hardly slept all night – had the runs (mostly water). In between shitting, vomiting violently (almost dry), and almost passing out, I finished outlining the Paris story. A bit thin I’m afraid – but it can be fleshed out in the writing. Talked to Jack
- [May 30-June 5, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-eleven/) - Tuesday, May 31: DAY SEVENTY-TWO (8 hrs, 9 ½ hrs) The job moves smoothly on. Good words from Armstrong. I’m on good terms with Paul Sammon who just came down for two days (it helped me to see just how much confidence I’ve gained). But he brought down a new book (one of three) which
- [May 23-29, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-ten/) - Thursday, May 26: DAY SIXTY-SEVEN (7 hrs, 13 hrs, 8 hrs, 7 ½ hrs) Anatol ran into Jack with Fred Sunday evening, told him I was down here. Monday, I introduced myself to him in the office – he didn’t make the connection at first. He hadn’t read the article (I lent him a copy
- [May 16-22, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-nine/) - Monday, May 16: DAY FIFTY-SEVEN (9 ½ hrs) Things changed a little today. As we were driven to the studio this morning, Anatol explained an idea he had: rather than waste Pablo we should make maximum use of him – that is, not shut him away in our office. He could record sound as Anatol
- [May 9-15, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-eight/) - Tuesday, May 10: DAY FIFTY-ONE (13 hrs, 8 hrs) We went to the studio yesterday afternoon, after a late breakfast with Fred – still pale and weak from a bout of some bug (the strain of this situation is wreaking havoc on his health). Right away, we discovered that the first cassette from Sunday afternoon
- [April 18-24, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-five/) - Tuesday, April 19: DAY THIRTY Yesterday was a long day. Fourteen hours at the studio (Anatol got there ninety minutes before me). But it went quite well. We shot off eight-and-a-half cassettes. Anatol has a very unstructured approach; he finds a vantage point (difficult on the tight set they were filming yesterday – the Harkonnen
- [April 11-17, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-four/) - Monday, April 11: DAY TWENTY-TWO Finally made contact with the Customs people this afternoon. Through Belinda, one of the women at the office (very friendly and helpful), we had to go through the manifest virtually item by item over the phone. We were told they’d release it all Wednesday. It remains to be seen. Saw
- [April 4-10, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-three/) - Monday, April 4: DAY FIFTEEN So much to write – but I’m exhausted. I’ll have to try to catch up tomorrow. But we were at the studio today, saw the sets, met David – a brief, friendly greeting in the midst of an amazingly busy schedule. What we saw was a knockout. The sets are
- [March 21-27, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983/) - Monday, March 21: DAY ONE Not a good day, I have to confess. So, I can deal with the would-be producer on the bus from the airport, a man getting old fumbling around for a last chance to make something of himself. But I was simply not ready for my first foray into corporate-land. Down
- [March 28-April 3, 1983](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-journal/dune-diary-1983-week-two/) - Tuesday, March 29: DAY NINE Yesterday, we had a brief chat with Armstrong – he came in, red of face (wind burn from skiing) saying, as we’d anticipated, “I thought you guys were in Mexico!” So we explained the equipment question, the lack of information from Mexico City, our unease. He put a call through
- [<i>Dune</i>: After the Battle](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-galleries/dune-after-the-battle/) - The aftermath of the final battle between the Fremen, led by Paul, and the Harkonnen and Imperial troops, led by the Emperor himself, was shot at night on the backlot at Estudios Churubusco.
- [<i>Dune</i>: Riding the Worm](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-galleries/dune-gallery-1-3/) - One component of Paul Atreides' initiation into the Fremen culture involved him having to harness and ride one of the giant sandworms of Arrakis. This sequence consisted of a number of elements, which included some shots from the location shoot in the actual desert outside Juarez; some bluescreen work shot on one of the stages
- [Contact](https://www.cageyfilms.com/contact/) - I welcome any enquiries or comments about the content of this website. Email: info@cageyfilms.com If you are inquiring about using photographs or other content on this site, please be aware that all original content is licensed under a Creative Commons license (see notice at foot of page). Please note, some material on this site is
- [Exquisite Corpse Gallery](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/the-exquisite-corpse/exquisite-corpse-gallery/)
- [Pickerel Fillet Gallery](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/incident-at-pickerel-fillet/98-2/)
- [Rabban at the Arrakeen bridge: Aguilas Rojas](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-galleries/dune-gallery-3/) - After the Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen and the defeat of the Atreides forces, the Baron's nephew Rabban amuses himself by throwing captured soldiers off a bridge outside the city wall. Here, Paul Smith (Rabban) rehearses for the night shoot at the Aguilas Rojas location just outside Mexico City.
- [The Attack on Arrakeen: Aguilas Rojas](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-galleries/dune-gallery-4/) - A climactic moment during the battle at Arrakeen, representing a series of bomb strikes outside the city wall as the Harkonnens crush Atreides resistance, involved an army of extras running among a series of explosions. The charges were placed in canisters set into the rocky ground, designed to shoot their naphtha fireballs straight up and
- [Arrival at Arrakeen: Azteca Stadium](https://www.cageyfilms.com/links/dune/dune-galleries/dune-gallery-2/) - The arrival of the Atreides family at Arrakeen was accomplished using a beautifully detailed foreground miniature constructed by one of the masters of the technique, Emilio Ruiz del Rio. The process uses a model placed close to the camera (in this case on a high tower in the parking lot of the Azteca Stadium in
- [Stella Starr Gallery](https://www.cageyfilms.com/filmography/stella-starr/stella-starr-gallery/)

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://www.cageyfilms.com/category/uncategorized/)
- [Obituary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/category/obituary/)
- [Review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/category/review/)
- [Commentary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/category/commentary/)
- [Cagey Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/category/cagey-films/)

## Tags

- [DVD](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dvd/)
- [Directors](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/director/)
- [Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/horror/)
- [Science Fiction](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/science-fiction/)
- [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alfred-hitchcock/)
- [John Carpenter](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/john-carpenter/)
- [Thorold Dickinson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/thorold-dickinson/)
- [Ealing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ealing/)
- [Television](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/television/)
- [Nigel Kneale](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/nigel-kneale/)
- [Dune](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dune/)
- [Eraserhead](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/eraserhead/)
- [David Lynch](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/david-lynch/)
- [Douglas Sirk](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/douglas-sirk/)
- [Dino de Laurentiis](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dino-de-laurentiis/)
- [Fiction](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/fiction/)
- [Amateur Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/amateur-film/)
- [Kinji Fukasaku](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/kinji-fukasaku/)
- [Japanese Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/japanese-film/)
- [Film Criticism](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/film-criticism/)
- [BFI](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/bfi/)
- [Criterion](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/criterion/)
- [Masters of Cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/masters-of-cinema/)
- [Second Run DVD](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/second-run-dvd/)
- [Movie Theatres](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/movie-theatres/)
- [Hammer Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/hammer-films/)
- [Actors](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/actors/)
- [Patrick Hamilton](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/patrick-hamilton/)
- [Italian Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/italian-film/)
- [British Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/british-film/)
- [Home Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/home-video/)
- [Classics](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/classics/)
- [John Baxter](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/john-baxter/)
- [Rudolph Cartier](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rudolph-cartier/)
- [Peter Cushing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/peter-cushing/)
- [Donald Pleasance](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/donald-pleasance/)
- [Digital Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/digital-video/)
- [Found-footage](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/found-footage/)
- [National Film Board](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/national-film-board/)
- [John Paskievich](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/john-paskievich/)
- [Chernobyl](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/chernobyl/)
- [Silent Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/silent-film/)
- [George Romero](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/george-romero/)
- [Mario Bava](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/mario-bava/)
- [Fritz Lang](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/fritz-lang/)
- [Anthony Asquith](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/anthony-asquith/)
- [Buster Keaton](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/buster-keaton/)
- [Marcel L'Herbier](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/marcel-lherbier/)
- [Raffaella de Laurentiis](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/raffaella-de-laurentiis/)
- [Federico Fellini](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/federico-fellini/)
- [Documentary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/documentary/)
- [Peter Mettler](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/peter-mettler/)
- [Oil](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/oil/)
- [Jennifer Baichwal](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jennifer-baichwal/)
- [Philip Leacock](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/philip-leacock/)
- [James Cameron](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/james-cameron/)
- [Charles Crichton](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/charles-crichton/)
- [M. Night Shyamalan](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/m-night-shyamalan/)
- [Hollywood blacklist](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/hollywood-blacklist/)
- [Frank Launder](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/frank-launder/)
- [Sidney Gilliat](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/sidney-gilliat/)
- [Juraj Herz](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/juraj-herz/)
- [Harry Watt](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/harry-watt/)
- [Lance Comfort](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/lance-comfort/)
- [Robert Shaw](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/robert-shaw/)
- [Cy Endfield](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/cy-endfield/)
- [Stanley Baker](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/stanley-baker/)
- [Zarah Leander](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/zarah-leander/)
- [German film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/german-film/)
- [AVI](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/avi/)
- [Universal Studios](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/universal-studios/)
- [Lindsay Anderson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/lindsay-anderson/)
- [Stanley Kubrick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/stanley-kubrick/)
- [William Friedkin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/william-friedkin/)
- [Wes Craven](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/wes-craven/)
- [3D](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/3d/)
- [Dave Barber](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dave-barber/)
- [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/andrei-tarkovsky/)
- [Claude Chabrol](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/claude-chabrol/)
- [Bernardo Bertolucci](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/bernardo-bertolucci/)
- [Rocky Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rocky-horror/)
- [Bob Clark](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/bob-clark/)
- [Richard Fleischer](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/richard-fleischer/)
- [Western](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/western/)
- [Dario Argento](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dario-argento/)
- [Terrence Malick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/terrence-malik/)
- [Ron Howard](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ron-howard/)
- [Wolfgang Petersen](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/wolfgang-petersen/)
- [Wachowski Brothers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/wachowski-brothers/)
- [David Fincher](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/david-fincher/)
- [Music](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/music/)
- [Robert Hamer](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/robert-hamer/)
- [Googie Withers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/googie-withers/)
- [William K. Everson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/william-k-everson/)
- [Film History](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/film-history/)
- [Pauline Kael](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/pauline-kael/)
- [Robert Altman](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/robert-altman/)
- [Bill Warren](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/bill-warren/)
- [Michael Powell](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/michael-powell/)
- [George King](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/george-king/)
- [Tod Slaughter](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tod-slaughter/)
- [Manohla Dargis](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/manohla-dargis/)
- [A.O. Scott](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/a-o-scott/)
- [Art Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/art-film/)
- [Wang Bing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/wang-bing/)
- [Derek Jarman](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/derek-jarman/)
- [Henri-Georges Clouzot](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/henri-georges-clouzot/)
- [Christopher Smith](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/christopher-smith/)
- [British Television](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/british-television/)
- [James Hill](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/james-hill/)
- [Michael Sarne](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/michael-sarne/)
- [Donald Sutherland](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/donald-sutherland/)
- [Molly Dineen](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/molly-dineen/)
- [Exploitation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/exploitation/)
- [Jess Franco](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jess-franco/)
- [Japanese Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/japanese-horror/)
- [J.J. Abrams](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/j-j-abrams/)
- [Fantasy](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/fantasy/)
- [Blockbusters](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/blockbusters/)
- [Steven Spielberg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/steven-spielberg/)
- [Zatoichi](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/zatoichi/)
- [Rutger Hauer](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rutger-hauer/)
- [Phillip Noyce](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/phillip-noyce/)
- [Patrick Troughton](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/patrick-troughton/)
- [Doctor Who](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/doctor-who/)
- [Comedy](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/comedy/)
- [Werner Herzog](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/werner-herzog/)
- [Peter Jackson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/peter-jackson/)
- [Vin Diesel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/vin-diesel/)
- [Short Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/short-films/)
- [Writers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/writers/)
- [Trash Cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/trash-cinema/)
- [Michelangelo Antonioni](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/michelangelo-antonioni/)
- [Alexander Mackendrick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alexander-mackendrick/)
- [Michael Balcon](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/michael-balcon/)
- [Harry Watts](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/harry-watts/)
- [CharlesFrend](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/charlesfrend/)
- [Alberto Cavalcanti](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alberto-cavalcanti/)
- [Basil Dearden](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/basil-dearden/)
- [Film Noir](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/film-noir/)
- [Val Guest](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/val-guest/)
- [Warner Archive](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/warner-archive/)
- [DVD Savant](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dvd-savant/)
- [Don Siegel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/don-siegel/)
- [Swedish Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/swedish-film/)
- [Stuart Rosenberg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/stuart-rosenberg/)
- [Joseph Sargent](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/joseph-sargent/)
- [Walter Matthau](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/walter-matthau/)
- [Thrillers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/thrillers/)
- [Boris Karloff](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/boris-karloff/)
- [Suspense](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/suspense/)
- [Michael Apted](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/michael-apted/)
- [Disney](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/disney/)
- [Blu-Ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/blu-ray/)
- [Violence](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/violence/)
- [Yakuza](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/yakuza/)
- [F.W. Murnau](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/f-w-murnau/)
- [Restored Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/restored-films/)
- [Remakes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/remakes/)
- [Tim Lucas](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tim-lucas/)
- [Directors Cut](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/directors-cut/)
- [Richard Kelly](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/richard-kelly/)
- [Alex Proyas](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alex-proyas/)
- [Harry Kuemel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/harry-kuemel/)
- [Ridley Scott](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ridley-scott/)
- [George Lucas](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/george-lucas/)
- [Meir Zarchi](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/meir-zarchi/)
- [Roger Ebert](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/roger-ebert/)
- [Slasher Movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/slasher-movies/)
- [Ruggero Deodato](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ruggero-deodato/)
- [Banned Movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/banned-movies/)
- [Abel Ferrera](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/abel-ferrera/)
- [Tobe Hooper](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tobe-hooper/)
- [Censorship](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/censorship/)
- [Terence Fisher](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/terence-fisher/)
- [Peter Sykes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/peter-sykes/)
- [Vampires](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/vampires/)
- [Roy Ward Baker](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/roy-ward-baker/)
- [Robert Young](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/robert-young/)
- [War Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/war-films/)
- [Experimental Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/experimental-film/)
- [Winnipeg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/winnipeg/)
- [Adventure Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/adventure-films/)
- [Comic Books](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/comic-books/)
- [French Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/french-film/)
- [RKO](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rko/)
- [Val Lewton](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/val-lewton/)
- [Robert Wise](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/robert-wise/)
- [Jean Renoir](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jean-renoir/)
- [Nicholas Ray](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/nicholas-ray/)
- [Gloria Graham](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gloria-graham/)
- [Edward Dmytryk](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/edward-dmytryk/)
- [Laird Cregar](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/laird-cregar/)
- [Adaptation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/adaptation/)
- [John Brahm](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/john-brahm/)
- [Tony Scott](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tony-scott/)
- [Chinese Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/chinese-film/)
- [Safety Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/safety-films/)
- [John Mackenzie](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/john-mackenzie/)
- [Independent Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/independent-film/)
- [Musicals](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/musicals/)
- [Vincent Price](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/vincent-price/)
- [Paul W .S. Anderson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/paul-w-s-anderson/)
- [Action](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/action/)
- [Burt Lancaster](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/burt-lancaster/)
- [Tony Curtis](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tony-curtis/)
- [Children](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/children/)
- [Politics](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/politics/)
- [Russian Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/russian-film/)
- [Technology](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/technology/)
- [Orson Welles](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/orson-welles/)
- [Sherlock Holmes](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/sherlock-holmes/)
- [Animation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/animation/)
- [Mexican Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/mexican-film/)
- [conspiracy](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/conspiracy/)
- [Time Travel](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/time-travel/)
- [Parallel Worlds](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/parallel-worlds/)
- [Anthony Mann](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/anthony-mann/)
- [Pee-Wee Herman](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/pee_wee-herman/)
- [Phillip Yordan](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/phillip-yordan/)
- [Dustin Hoffman](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/dustin-hoffmanharry-alan-towers/)
- [Nicholas Roeg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/nicholas-roeg/)
- [Joel McCrea](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/joel-mccrea/)
- [Zack Snyder](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/zack-snyder/)
- [Rob Zombie](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rob-zombie/)
- [Christopher Nolan](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/christopher-nolan/)
- [Zombies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/zombies/)
- [Ken Loach](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ken-loach/)
- [Guillermo De Toro](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/guillermo-de-toro/)
- [Aliens](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/aliens/)
- [Melodrama](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/melodrama/)
- [Roald Dahl](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/roald-dahl/)
- [Anthony Newley](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/anthony-newley/)
- [Charles Laughton](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/charles-laughton/)
- [Gore](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gore/)
- [Gene Wilder](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gene-wilder/)
- [Ken Russell](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ken-russell/)
- [Historical Epic](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/historical-epic/)
- [Marlon Brando](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/marlon-brando/)
- [Gender](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gender/)
- [Philip K. Dick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/philip-k-dick/)
- [Nicolas Cage](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/nicolas-cage/)
- [Lars von Trier](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/lars-von-trier/)
- [Propaganda](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/propaganda/)
- [nuclear war](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/nuclear-war/)
- [Peter Watkins](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/peter-watkins/)
- [Film festivals](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/film-festivals/)
- [Theo Angelopoulos](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/theo-angelopoulos/)
- [TIFF](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tiff/)
- [Peter Sellers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/peter-sellers/)
- [James Mason](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/james-mason/)
- [Lolita](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/lolita/)
- [Valdimir Nabokov](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/valdimir-nabokov/)
- [George C. Scott](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/george-c-scott/)
- [Sidney Lumet](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/sidney-lumet/)
- [Francesco Rosi](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/francesco-rosi/)
- [Budd Boetticher](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/budd-boetticher/)
- [Neo-realism](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/neo-realism/)
- [Jerry Lewis](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jerry-lewis/)
- [Ralph Nelson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ralph-nelson/)
- [Live TV](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/live-tv/)
- [Roman Polanski](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/roman-polanski/)
- [Tomas Alfredson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/tomas-alfredson/)
- [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/steven-soderbergh/)
- [Pete Walker](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/pete-walker/)
- [Jan Svanmajer](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jan-svanmajer/)
- [Quay Brothers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/quay-brothers/)
- [Barbet Schroeder](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/barbet-schroeder/)
- [Surrealism](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/surrealism/)
- [Sabu](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/sabu/)
- [Zoltan Korda](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/zoltan-korda/)
- [Alexander Korda](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alexander-korda/)
- [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/arthur-c-clarke/)
- [Artificial Intelligence](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/)
- [Martial Arts](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/martial-arts/)
- [Asian Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/asian-film/)
- [Anthony Burgess](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/anthony-burgess/)
- [Black comedy](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/black-comedy/)
- [Satire](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/satire/)
- [Poetry](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/poetry/)
- [Craig Baldwin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/craig-baldwin/)
- [Winnipeg Film Group](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/winnipeg-film-group/)
- [Mondo Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/mondo-film/)
- [Fred Zinnemann](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/fred-zinnemann/)
- [Jean Rollin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jean-rollin/)
- [Gualtiero Jacopetti](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gualtiero-jacopetti/)
- [Franco Prosperi](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/franco-prosperi/)
- [Hayao Miyazaki](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/hayao-miyazaki/)
- [Mel Gibson](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/mel-gibson/)
- [Biblical Epics](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/biblical-epics/)
- [Religious Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/religious-films/)
- [Otto Preminger](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/otto-preminger/)
- [James Stewart](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/james-stewart/)
- [courtroom drama](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/courtroom-drama/)
- [American film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/american-film/)
- [paranoia](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/paranoia/)
- [Lee Remick](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/lee-remick/)
- [Ben Gazzara](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ben-gazzara/)
- [Alan Birkinshaw](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alan-birkinshaw/)
- [Michael Berryman](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/michael-berryman/)
- [Mikhail Kalatozov](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/mikhail-kalatozov/)
- [Titanic](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/titanic/)
- [Charles Lightoller](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/charles-lightoller/)
- [Oliver Reed](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/oliver-reed/)
- [Historical Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/historical-film/)
- [Sports](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/sports/)
- [Literary Adaptation](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/literary-adaptation/)
- [Rainer Werner Fassbinder](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rainer-werner-fassbinder/)
- [Elio Petri](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/elio-petri/)
- [Andrzej Zulawski](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/andrzej-zulawski/)
- [Alien](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/alien/)
- [Movie Ads](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/movie-ads/)
- [Parody](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/parody/)
- [Flipside](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/flipside/)
- [Crime](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/crime/)
- [Ghosts](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/ghosts/)
- [Thai film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/thai-film/)
- [Asian horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/asian-horror/)
- [Nazism](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/nazism/)
- [Cop Shows](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/cop-shows/)
- [H.P. Lovecraft](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/h-p-lovecraft/)
- [True Crime](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/true-crime/)
- [Gangster Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gangster-films/)
- [Giallo](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/giallo/)
- [Hollywood](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/hollywood/)
- [Digital Cinema](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/digital-cinema/)
- [Docu-drama](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/docu-drama/)
- [Canadian Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/canadian-film/)
- [Jean-Luc Godard](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/jean-luc-godard/)
- [Eclipse](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/eclipse/)
- [GOING documentary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/going-documentary/)
- [New Wave](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/new-wave/)
- [Stephen Volk](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/stephen-volk/)
- [Awards](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/awards/)
- [Bela Tarr](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/bela-tarr/)
- [Gord Wilding](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gord-wilding/)
- [rev](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/rev/)
- [American Television](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/american-television/)
- [Hungarian Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/hungarian-film/)
- [Cinema Verite](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/cinema-verite/)
- [Sexuality](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/sexuality/)
- [South American Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/south-american-film/)
- [Coen Brothers](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/coen-brothers/)
- [Editing](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/editing/)
- [David Cronenberg](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/david-cronenberg/)
- [Erotic Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/erotic-film/)
- [Twilight Time](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/twilight-time/)
- [Arrow Video](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/arrow-video/)
- [Romance](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/romance/)
- [Obituary](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/obituary/)
- [Review](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/review/)
- [B-movies](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/b-movies/)
- [Underground Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/underground-film/)
- [podcast](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/podcast/)
- [Mystery](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/mystery/)
- [Indicator](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/indicator/)
- [Korean Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/korean-film/)
- [Severin](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/severin/)
- [Vinegar Syndrome](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/vinegar-syndrome/)
- [Eureka](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/eureka/)
- [Gothic Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/gothic-horror/)
- [Radiance Films](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/radiance-films/)
- [Indian Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/indian-film/)
- [Folk Horror](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/folk-horror/)
- [Spanish Film](https://www.cageyfilms.com/tag/spanish-film/)