Saturday, January 18, 2020

Wenders Watch: Until the End of the World (1991)



Watched:  01/17/2019
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  Third
Decade:  1990's

It was a miracle I even got out of this five hour movie alive.

Way, way back in the 1990's, I saw this movie the first time - I believe - between my junior and senior year of high school.  My vague memory of the film was that it was known for two things - it was a movie directed by the same guy who did Wings of Desire (which I'd never seen), and for the soundtrack full of musicians both huge and indie (back when that meant something in particular).  Ads appeared in Spin and/ or Rolling Stone for the OST, which read as a mixtape from a pal with particular but good taste (Now That's What I Call College Rock vol. 1!).

Friday, January 17, 2020

PODCAST: "The Island" (1980) - a SimonUK Cinema Series Special! w/ Ryan



Watched:  01/05/2019
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1980's


Ahoy! We sail into the NSFW new year with a tale of unlikely adventure and horror as a very 1980-era Michael Caine heads to the Bermuda Triangle to look into some missing boats only to find: a secret civilization of PIRATES. And not fun, yo-ho-ho pirates, but, like, crazy inbred weirdo pirates. It's a whole scene, man.




Music:
Island Magic - Ennio Morricone, The Island OST



SimonUK Playlist



Noir Watch: Raw Deal (1948)



Watched:  01/13/2019
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's

A few months ago, I had purchased a BluRay collection of films, all shot by noir-famous cinematographer John Alton.*  I'd had great intentions, but never made it into the disc.  For whatever reason, I finally did crack open the case and put in the BluRay and I get what the hubbub is about.

This was my first viewing of Raw Deal (1948), a fairly staple noir film, but one that I'd just not made time for before - which is a shame, because I liked a lot of the movie, and would probably use it to illustrate some classic noir tropes and definitely as a teaching tool for the epitome of noir cinematography from the height of the movement.