Best New-to-Me: February 2025

 Late again, very little watched again - I'd say 2025 is shaping up to be a rough year (and it is) but that doesn't necessarily convey where I've been at creatively. I've been reading a ton and writing a bit - I just haven't quite gotten back into the gear of watching new-to-me movies. I did still manage to make it out to the theater several times and I'll write more about that down below. My wife and I wrapped up a watch of the first two seasons of Twin Peaks and that was great. I don't know that I've ever watched them all with the Lynch/Coulson Log Lady intros before each episode. Knowing that it was more or less just the two of them and that they were done some time after the show's finale adds a measure of fascinating context. We'll watch the remainder of the show material throughout the year but I'm on a brief pause for now. 

I know this is highly uncharacteristic for me and this space, but I had the opportunity to preview Daredevil: Born Again so I went for it. I know I almost never talk about television (I don't watch much, either) in the blog and if I was, you'd figure that I would turn my attention to some random genre obscurity from the 70s and not the new streaming series from Marvel. The thing of it is - I was a huge comic book fan as a kid and very specifically a Daredevil fan and even more granularly a massive fan of the Born Again storyline from Frank Miller and Dave Mazzucchelli. I remember so clearly receiving a copy of issue #228 as a birthday gift and found the full cover image of Matt Murdock's shattered visage totally enthralling. I loved masked heroes, but that's not what that slim volume had to offer. Instead it was a lightning strike of a crime story. It was brutal introduction to the kinds of stories I would grow to recognize as noir or hardboiled and I found it intoxicating. It took me a while to collect the complete storyline but I devoured it again and again once I had. In fact, I had to pull it off the shelf again last week and I'm happy to report that it mostly holds up.

So it was with some disappointment that I discovered that Daredevil: Born Again the series actually has very little to do with the beloved story arc from my youth. One thing that the series does borrow from its namesake is that it keeps the masked vigilante business more towards the back burner. At times, it's nearly a straightlaced (if a bit pulpy) NYC crime saga about a underworld heavy (The Kingpin) attempting to hold the reins of conventional urban power. I found it fairly entertaining though I think I may have preferred an entirely super-free version of its promising premise. Vincent D'Onofrio absolutely chews it up onscreen, but he clearly relishes playing the part. I've seen a bit of Michael Gandolfini before and I find him a refreshing screen presence and a solid performer. I hope to see him more in the future. So nothing revolutionary, but maybe it will start the breadcrumb trail for newer Daredevil fans to crack those Miller/Mazzucchelli books.

Enough of the small screen, let's talk movies.

Theatrical Screenings!

Blue Collar (1978) - Paul Schrader's directorial debut remains every bit as potent and desperately relevant as it must have been in the 70s. The montage of auto work while Captain Beefheart growls Hardworkin' Man thrusts you directly into the deeply pessimistic milieu of three friends and co-workers who feel pinned beneath the collapse of the bargain they believed they had entered. Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto are excellent but it's Richard Pryor's performance that shines - distilling so much rage and frustration around race, class, and even family. The last 20 minutes of the film are incredibly bleak and I forget how funny and humane Blue Collar is for a large portion of its runtime. I've loved it for years and seeing it theatrically (in 35mm) was the cinema highlight of the month for me.

Paddington in Peru (2024) - I'm somewhat picky when it comes to preview screenings I attend but if I can bring someone I get much less discerning. So that's how my wife and I joined a crowd of ecstatic children to see the latest adventures of everyone's favorite marmalade enthusiast. It was cute, the kids seemed to dig it (it when on a bit long and the kids were getting restless towards the end), and it contained more Herzog film references than I expected. 

Captain America: Brave New World (2025) - All the above caveats though this was a press and guests only screening. They tend to be a more relaxed atmosphere and critics are (generally) better behaved than toddlers. I'm not a big MCU person but I thought this was an exceptionally lifeless entry into the series. I like the idea of smaller scale Marvel films that explore different themes and genres, but they need to be at least a mid-tier exercise in those genres. You wouldn't have to look too hard to find a better military/political thriller starring Harrison Ford. I'll always kind of love Captain America: The First Avenger and this sorely needed more of that fun and adventure.

The Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts Program - My wife and I have attended this theatrically (to the best of our ability) for many, many years now. I briefly studied animation a long time ago and have an earnest affection for the kind of odd, artistically rigorous animated shorts that used to populate the corners of public television or Nickelodeon (not to mention the wilder channels of Liquid Television or Spike and Mike's). The Academy tends to nominate fairly tame stuff but the shorts program usually contains a "highly commended" segment which is where I find the real gems. This year contained only the five nominees and I have to say it was one of the best programs I've seen in a while (especially compared to last year's mostly awful one). The shorts program has always been a showcase for international studios but this year distinguished itself by only featuring non-US shorts and offered nothing from either Disney or Pixar. I was especially taken with Wander to Wonder which is far stranger than what normally winds up as a nominee. I've seen plenty of shorts that go dark, but they tend to be tied to a specific political message. Wonder is dark and humorous and bizarre without slamming specific messaging in your face. I'd say it's worth seeking out even if animation isn't your go-to.

The Time that it Takes (2024) - This was the opening film for the Italian Film Festival at The Main Theater - I didn't know much about the film but they also host a party with good wine and food on the opening night so we were in attendance. Time is an autobiographical film about director Francesca Comencini's life with her famous director father - Luigi Comencini. It starts strong - taking us behind the scenes of some of the elder Comencini's films and painting a portrait of a largely sympathetic paternal figure. It's hard for me not to be charmed by films about the magic of filmmaking and the Italians especially seem to have a facility for this. Unfortunately, things devolve quickly once we hit troubled years for both Francesca and Italy. There's very little interesting this film has to say about counterculture, family troubles, or the Years of Lead. It comes off frequently as cliche and sometimes even as reactionary. There are still some nice moments and lovely location footage and I do appreciate how much affection this film has for other films. The montage of silent film sequences behind the end credits and footnotes about the film archives in Milan was a nice touch.

Luckily, we also attended one of the IFF repertory screenings and I absolutely loved it. I'll write more about that for the March roundup.

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Best New-to-Me: January 2025

 Welcome at last to a profoundly late monthly entry covering stuff I watched in January. Why so late? It could be the work trip I went on - it's a bad excuse and I should use the next one as an opportunity to get more writing done. I think it has more to do with being distracted by other interests. Now that I have a zine in print, I'm even more invested in all the other great zines out there. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on and posting about my favorites on social media. I've also been reinvested in comics in a way that I haven't been in years. Finally, after the passing of David Lynch, I've been spending my viewing hours revisiting his work or work that he deemed influential. All of this is great, but little of it contributes to my usual monthly ramblings. Still, I saw a fair amount of movies and it's time to give them their due.

New to Me!

Cain & Abel (1982) - This Philippine family drama/action thriller was a recent pickup during the Black Friday maelstrom. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of context on this one, so much of what I'm saying is informed by the (excellent) supplements on Kani's disc. I had some understanding that this was a crime/crime adjacent movie, and it is, but it's a long simmer before the film gets there. The first 90ish minutes are mostly composed of a drama centered around a landed family whose matriarch clearly favors one son over the other. Neither son is especially admirable but they are pitted against each other largely through the machinations of their mother. There are class concerns, illegitimate pregnancies, dreams deferred, and interfamily feuding galore. The pressure cooker finally does explode into surprising levels of violence in the last 30 minutes or so as different factions of armed thugs rally around the two brothers - resulting in paramilitary levels of armed conflict. Cain & Abel is very different from anything I've seen in a while and I really loved it. Definitely worth your time.

Japan Organized Crime Boss (1969) - Utilitarian title translation aside, this is an incredibly entertaining yakuza yarn from the great Fukasaku. This is familiar territory for the director, but Crime Boss was released before he fully developed the unhinged, nihilistic style familiar to most. There's still plenty of mayhem in Japan Organized Crime Boss, but the frenetic pitch and roll of Fukasaku's camera is largely more subdued here. There is a pervasive sense of doom, even futility, but this is still operating more or less within the conventions of the 60s chivalry film tradition. I love Fukasaku's classic 70s period but was really taken by this (and it has some fascinating political threads as well). Might be a good one to check out if you find the more ferocious Fukasaku a tad overbearing.

Slap the Monster on Page One (1972) - A deeply cynical political thriller critiquing both right-wing partisan journalism and how the levers of power are manipulated to maintain societal control. My interests in Years of Lead Italy naturally gravitate towards vigilante cops and rogue mafioso, but this is an absolute scorcher fueled by another tremendous Gian Maria Volonté performance. I'm woefully unfamiliar with director Marco Bellochio, but I'd like to remedy that.

My Heart is That Eternal Rose (1989) - I've been meaning to catch up to Patrick Tam's doomed romance by way of Triad showdown for years now and I'm so happy to have finally made the time for it. I don't know if "hesitant" is the right word for how I approached Eternal Rose but I think I was cautious after not really engaging with his much lauded Love Massacre. This was much more my bag and maybe because it's more of a conventional crime story recognizable to any fan of Hong Kong's heroic bloodshed years. My tastes aside, Rose is an easy film to love and of course it was shot, in part, by the great Christopher Doyle and beautifully captures that dreamy yet gritty look. It features both Joey Wong and Tony Leung and balances truly emotional dramatic sequences with hard hitting crime violence including plenty of twisty neo-noir plot points along the way. The main theme will stay with you for weeks, Beware!

Dust of Angels (1992) - More East Asian crime but focusing on a Taiwanese society in crisis. Rather than established gangsters, Hsu Hsiao-Ming centers his story around disaffected kids on the fringes of the underworld. There's a distinct slice-of-life, hangout appeal to Dust but the ideas that take shape in myriad conversations between all strata of criminal life confront a culture in flux, riddled with uncertainty. This is a gorgeous film and features some killer music too. I'd love to have a fully fleshed out physical release that provides some additional context to what plays out on screen.

Kamikaze Taxi (1994) - This isn't my first Harada film but it's the first one to really knock me out. An absolute epic of a film that refuses to conform to anything about the yakuza genre. It's a revenge tale and a road film that tackles both honor code systems and (improbably) the immigrant experience in Japan. There's a certain class consciousness to the proceedings and a brilliant, understated performance from Koji Yakusho. It's one that I definitely need to re-watch which is only challenging due to its nearly 3 hour runtime. Absolutely worthy of more eyeballs in this part of the world.

Pixote (1980) - Another longtime watchlist denizen that I can finally claim to have seen. Pixote is a devastating portrait of youth and poverty in Brazil featuring a heartbreaking lead performance from Fernando Ramos da Silva. Pixote reminds me in many ways of the Quinqui films coming out of Spain from around the same time, but those films featured freewheeling teenagers where Pixote blends that with children just trying to survive and find a place in an unforgiving world. This is bleak stuff and from what I understand, that tragedy extended to da Silva's brief life off camera as well. Aside from the gut wrenching drama that unfolds, Pixote also acts as an incredible snapshot of street life in Rio and São Paulo and features some window into queer life during that time as well.

Experiment in Terror (1962) - My wife and I are planning to re-watch the entirety of Twin Peaks over the next year or so and because I'm me, I put together a list of both TP titles and films that were either directly referenced in the series or that Lynch claimed were influential on his work. One I watched in January that really struck me was this noir-thriller from Blake Edwards. Besides featuring a street sign that reads "Twin Peaks" within the first five minutes of the film, there's plenty of connective tissue. Terror isn't exactly what I would call sleazy, but it dives almost immediately into a strange underworld (largely driven by an asthmatic would-be rapist and bank robber) that strikes a violently discordant tone with the world of order and goodness that reigns during the daylight hours. Terror sags a little at just over two hours but I was totally taken by it. It's kind of goofy, kind of menacing, and altogether weird movie. I'll almost certainly revisit it at some point.

Theatrical Screenings!

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) - My first cinema trip of the year and my first 2025 movie was the follow up to Christian Gudegast's 2018 heist thriller. The first Den of Thieves felt very much like a pastiche of great films that are markedly better BUT I thought Gudegast managed it faithfully enough that it won me over. If the first chapter was a take on Heat with some Training Day tossed in the mix, DOT2 is more along the lines of Ronin - exchanging L.A. grit for a jauntier, jet-setting affair. The set up is extensive (144 minutes is nearly criminal for a runtime) though some of the hangout vibes are infectious. However, once this thing kicks into heist mode, I was totally on board. I can totally see why some people may miss the gravitas (however hackneyed) of the first film, but I still came away with a smile on my face. I appreciate that these films don't approach their subject like an overlong music video and that Gudegast has enough restraint to not indulge in CGI, comic book buffoonery when it comes to his heists and chases. Honestly, give me one of these every year or two and I'll keep coming.

No Other Land (2024) - This is likely the hardest film to write about in this post. No Other Land is a collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli journalists and activists capturing what amounts to a decades long siege of Masafer Yatta on the West Bank by the Israeli authorities. It's a devastating portrait of senseless authoritarianism and state sponsored violence. At the same time, there's a touching relationship between two young men that propels much of the film. I am generally skeptical of "issue" documentaries because they are always propaganda at the core - either through what they show and tell or what they choose to omit. I imagine No Other Land suffers from this in some ways. These filmmakers are professional activists and I do have some questions about how things were presented. However, that doesn't rob the impact and the outrage anyone would feel after seeing the breadth and depth of abuses heaped on the denizens of Masafer Yatta by the IDF. This was shown as part of the Film Independent Spirit Awards screenings at the Walker and I absolutely commend them for doing so. When this was screened, No Other Land still had a severely limited theatrical run in the US and is only now seeing a wider release schedule. It's a hard watch and I strongly encourage you to seek it out however you can.

Problemista (2023) - Another Film Independent screening and one I had not found the time to catch up to during it's initial run. Julio Torres' coming of age, coming into your own, immigrant, NYC story has a mostly delightful, whimsical feel and features an absolutely fantastic cast. Torres stars and embodies his determined dreamer with just enough edge to keep him from being absurd and Swinton is clearly having the time of her life as the deeply problematic society woman who offers a key to his success. Support from the RZA as Swinton's egg obsessed artist husband was terrific as well. Problemista gets a little too cute for me at times and is very theatrical. There's part of me that kept wondering how it might be adapted to a stage production. Still, very glad to have caught it.

Nickel Boys (2024) - A rewatch for me and I felt it holds up quite well even though I knew the "reveal" before going in. My mind is unchanged after a second viewing - I think RaMell Ross has accomplished something astounding here both in terms of form and in literary adaptation. I can appreciate that the first person perspective is challenging for some viewers but I find it effortlessly immersive and I'm fortunate to have caught it on a screen for a second time. I would like to see what he chooses to do next though I do hope he doesn't become the "POV guy" moving forward.

Presence (2025) - Speaking of POV. I caught Soderbergh's supernatural mystery/family drama at the multiplex while wrapping up my work travel. Though I understand his talent and that he is much beloved, I find Soderbergh's films very hit or miss for me. Presence is not a miss, but I can't say that I was truly taken with it either. The form is interesting but (unlike Nickel Boys) feels a little like an academic exercise. The story is a combination of some genuinely touching moments and more than a few that felt undercooked to me. Overall, a bit slight and not something I'll be thinking about by the end of the year.

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2024 - Year in Review

 Christ, what a year. I know I don't even have it a 10th as rough as some people do, but 2024 still seemed brutal to me in ways and 2025 isn't exactly promising a respite. Despite any turmoil I might be experiencing personally or geopolitically - I can still point to some terrific things that have happened stemming from the writing I do here. 

Importantly, I was able to officially become a member of the Minnesota Film Critics' Association. This is a group of film reviewers - many written but also video creators, podcasters, and people who actually appear on television - based in Minnesota. I haven't been deeply involved just yet, but joining has given me the opportunity to attend many more press screenings, granted me access to publicity lists and screeners, and I'm able to vote in the local critics' film awards. This access played a huge role in my ability to put the Best of Hardboiled Crime - 2024 list together. I don't exactly operate like a standard film critic with my focus on older films and monthly roundups, but I'd really like to continue to stay on top of modern genre films - particularly the crime films - as it's fun and I think too many of those movies fade into obscurity on streaming services. It also afforded me the opportunity to co-host a live screening which I've always wanted to to and wrote more about below.

Zines!!! I was able to kick off the year with a contribution to the Cult Film Collective Member Zine and then republished that article on the blog. It's fun to write reviews and lists online and I love it when people reach out to me regarding posts, but this CFC zine reminded me how cool it is to have a physical object you contributed to. Not long after that, I had the good fortune to be included in a volume of Klon Waldrip's Ghastly Horror Society zine. I wrote about the not very horrific blaxploitation banger, Truck Turner, and Klon did a fantastic job formatting my unadorned word file into something cool looking. It was at some point after this that I decided I needed to work on my own zine. I wanted the satisfaction of making something and I wanted to divorce some of my writing from any corporate online platforms. It took me several months, but I eventually managed to cobble together the first issue of Apache Revolver and I have to admit that I'm very pleased with it. It's a little rough around the edges but I'm hoping it finds its way into the hands of other crime film, noir, and neo-noir fans. With any luck, I'll be able to do further issues and hopefully have some collaborators along the way. 

Watching Trends - This was definitely not my heaviest viewing year but it's also fairly in-line with my 365+ films annually. "Dramas" are almost invariably my most-watched genre of film because so many subgenres are also classified as dramas on letterboxd. Crime films were (unsurprisingly) my second most watched genre and something I was able to explore in a variety of contexts. I'll definitely be piling on more semi-obscure crime films from around the world over the next year, but I'm also excited to spend some time on more recent crime releases. My most watched director in 2024 was Kinji Fukasaku as I watched quite a few of his Yakuza pictures including a full rewatch of Battles Without Honor or Humanity. Hence, my most watched actors are all the dudes that are in all of Fukasaku's films. Hideo Murota leads the pack but Fukasaku essentially worked repeatedly with the same stable over and over again (though surprisingly not as much with Bunta Sugawara as I expected). American films were far and away the bulk of my watching over the last year but I watched significant numbers of films from France and Japan as well. The US/France/Japan/Italy influence on my movie watching is unlikely to fade over the next year, but I do hope to watch more films from other areas. I was very pleased to find some great contemporary crime thrillers from Indonesia, Brazil, Taiwan, and others and I'd like to keep that trend alive. Per usual, I did a list of "Discoveries" for the year and quite a few of these ended up with reviews in the zine if you needed an additional nudge to pick up your copy.

Theatrical Experiences!

I say this every year, but I continue to believe that the Twin Cities punches way above its weight as a film metro. Even as an enthusiast, I can't attend everything I'd like to considering the variety of repertory screenings, film festivals, and special events that happen throughout the year. Still, I was able to attend quite a lot and that's reflected below. I was also able to do some traveling and managed to catch some terrific screenings during those trips as well. I think this might be my longest annual list so far for screenings and something worthy of inclusion was happening every month (frequently more than one) - which is something I have not been able to say in previous years.

Winter Kills (1979) - A supremely nutso sort-of spoof that never quite lives up to the promise of its totally bananas cast, though I have to say that I was consistently entertained throughout. It's outrageous enough and so stacked with people I love to see that it would be hard not to engage with it. This entry is less about the quality of the film and more to do with the fact that the Cult Film Collective was able to lay hands on the brand new 35mm print of this somewhat forgotten film curiosity that was commissioned by Quentin Tarantino. There's a genuinely fascinating backstory to the production of Winter Kills and we're fortunate to have programmers looking for unique opportunities to snag something so weird.

Daisies (1966) - This was a screening at the Walker Art Center that ran in conjunction with an exhibition on avant-garde art in the Eastern European Soviet Bloc countries during the 60s through the 80s. This was sold out or nearly sold out (I believe it was student night) and the crowd was exceptionally lively for an art museum showing (I go to a lot of these and it's usually the NPR tote bag set). A popping crowd and a well loved 35mm print is possibly one of the best way to experience the 76 minutes of madcap antics Daisies has to offer. The adjoining exhibition also offered some great context to the film. I'm not nearly as well-versed in Czech New Wave as I'd like to be so that might be something to work on in 2025.

We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974) - This is a film I had been dying to see for years and I was beyond thrilled when it was slated as part of the annual Italian Film Festival here in Minneapolis. The festival largely focuses on contemporary cinema but they also schedule at least one "classic" film and I always try to attend if I can. An expansive story of friendship between three men and one woman (who they all wind up loving in some fashion) during the thirty years following the end of WWII. We All Loved Each Other So Much is supposedly extremely influential in Italy and it truly is a brilliant marriage of structural ingenuity by way of arthouse cinema with the sensibilities of a mass market film. It's  ostensibly a comedy and an extremely funny one but the overarching themes are those of loss, melancholy, and even betrayal. The friends betray each other, they betray their families, and they betray their ideals - intellectualism fails, the bravest of them becomes a corrupt capitalist, and leftist reform politics do little to change the circumstances of working people. It's also a movie obsessed with postwar film - De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, and Rosselini all get their due and there are some excellent cameos throughout the picture. 

As a sidenote, I was able to attend a screening of La Chimera during the same festival (one of my favorite films this year) and they offered an aperitivo beforehand. This is something I'd love to see more of for any aspiring festival organizers out there.

From Beyond (1986) - We headed out to NYC during springtime in 2024 and unlike our usual trips, we were largely left to our own devices. With me being me, that meant several visits to cinemas throughout the city to catch whatever we could during our short time there. We saw some great stuff, but I have to give the nod to From Beyond on 35mm at the Prospect Park Nitehawk Cinema with screenwriter Dennis Paoli in attendance. I love From Beyond so simply seeing it in a great theater in 35mm in all of its gooey, perverse, purple glory was treat enough. Dennis Paoli was absolutely fantastic, too. He had some terrific behind the scenes anecdotes and even had a slideshow presentation put together! The screening was organized by the Brooklyn Horror Society and I'll have to keep an eye out for their other events the next time I'm in town. 

1980s Action Extravaganza - Another nod to the excellent Cult Film Collective who organized their first ever 80s action mini-marathon. Four surprise films (3 of which were on 35mm) by the same folks who run the overnight Horrorthon every October. I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this but I knew I could handle four films much easier than an all-nighter and I wasn't disappointed. The film selection was not the deepest of deep cuts (I was more intrigued by some of the trailers shown between features) but how can I not celebrate a screening of The Killer (1989) on film to an absolutely ecstatic crowd of action enthusiasts. I had not seen it in ages and it still hits so hard despite having seen it dozens of times as a teenager/twentysomething. My only complaint is that practically nothing in a marathon can follow it so after checking what the next film was (Predator) we called it a night. Still, this was a really well run event and I'd be interested in attending another one in 2025.

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) - This screened at the Walker Art Center as part of a series they programmed in conjunction with their Keith Haring exhibition (essentially NYC cinema from the late 70s through the early 80s). I'd only seen Laura Mars once before and recalled it not having the strongest plot in the world - that's correct but it's nearly impossible to care with the cast, the music, the locations, and the fever pitch thriller action that plays out. The Walker is such an interesting venue for films about art or adjacent to the art scene and there was something special in watching the bath house fashion shoot with "Let's All Chant" booming through the auditorium. It's late 70s perfection pulsing with cocaine and fashion and garbage lined city streets and while it's only tangentially related to Haring - there's some kindred spirit there.

Play it as it Lays (1972) - Another 35mm screening and a return to the Trylon for Frank Perry's strange, melancholic adaptation of Joan Didion's novel. Prints of Play it as it Lays are vanishingly rare and I don't know of any current effort to restore it or revive it. I never thought I'd have a chance to see one unless I made a specific trip or managed to luck out in L.A. or NYC, so this was a real joy for me. Much like Tuesday Weld's character, it's not an easy movie to love. There's a lot of pain and grief laid bare on the screen even and Didion's caustic wit doesn't balance the experience by much. Still, seeing it with an audience and absorbing the stunned silence during the devastating penultimate scene is the reason we go to the cinema.

The Super Spook Show Spectacular! - Cinema of the Macabre did their first SSSS! in 2023 and I included it in my list that year while hoping that they would return in 2024. My wish was granted and they put on another fantastic event with a seriously cool lineup of films. I wrote a whole damn post about it, so you can check that out here.

Suffer, Little Children (1983) - We made a trip out to Seattle this year and managed to fit in a screening of this positively bonkers satanic panic SOV horror from the UK that was sufficiently deranged to land it on the infamous "video nasties" list and was banned for years. I am not a shot on video obsessive but I love to try and work some in every October. What I almost never get a chance to do is witness this brand of murderdrone insanity in the company of other human beings. Little Children is only barely comprehensible but is overflowing with weirdo supernatural vibes and surprisingly brutal violence inflicted on children. Fascinatingly, its origins stem from some kind of school film project so Children comes by its sensibilities honestly. This was part of a series programmed by some folks from Scarecrow Video (which I also made the trip out to see) and was held at the absolutely gorgeous SIFF Egyptian in Capitol Hill. It is such a fantastic venue and I was absolutely heartbroken to learn that it is currently closed due to a pipe leak resulting in significant damage to the building. I hope they find a way to repair and reopen the theater and in the meantime, you can follow their updates and find ways to help here.

Little Murders (1971) - My wife and I decided to take the train to Chicago for the first time and we made sure our timing intersected with a screening of Little Murders that was being hosted by Samm Dieghan and the Oscarbate Film Collective. I've been a fan of Samm's writing, audio commentaries, and podcasts for years now and though we've chatted a bit online, this was a chance to meet in person. Little Murders is a film I absolutely adore and I have long wanted to attend something at the Music Box. It was genuinely terrific - the Music Box is a gorgeous theater, the film was every bit as great as I remembered, Samm was terrific, and I also got to meet Brian from Weekend Nachos who I had previously picked up an insanely cool Cercle Rouge t-shirt from. I should mention that the screening was in support of the book Samm co-edited and contributed to: Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990 . It's a tremendous resource for anyone interested in leftist politics in cinema and I found it to be an entertainingly brisk read - not at all some dry tome or textbook. 

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) -  Last and certainly not least, I have to add the screening of The Asphalt Jungle that I got to co-host with Tim Holly as part of Emagine's Secret Movie Night. I had an absolute blast doing this. I love Asphalt Jungle and had never actually seen it on the big screen before. Tim was a terrific and generous co-host and the audience had some great questions. I did prepare for this but I was lucky in that I'm fairly well entrenched in the heist movie genre and it's research that is both a joy to do and not too hard for me to retain. This was another opportunity afforded to me through my association with MNFCA so I couldn't be happier about that. I'd love to do more of these and while I don't think they have presenters return very often for Secret Movie Night, I might have to find some other screening outlet so that I can force unsuspecting crowds to listen to me ramble about movies.

So that's 2024 in the books, movie-wise, I hope that despite what else may be happening in the world, I'll be able to attend more great events and that my film writing will keep lurching forward it its herky-jerky fashion. If you like what I do here, I'd love to hear from you. I'd also love to hear what your big film moments were in the last year. Finally, I'd love if you picked up a copy of the zine or share it with the crime film fanatics in your life. Happy New Year!

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Apache Revolver #1

 Hello to what may be the last Kino Ventura blog post for 2024! It's been an exciting year for me in regards to what I do here - I've been able to contribute to a couple of zines, I was able to join the Minnesota Film Critics' Association, and I was even able to host a live screening of one of my favorite films. I wasn't sure that this additional project would be ready to launch before the month was out but it appears that the stars have aligned so I'm happy to announce the release of my new crime film zine: Apache Revolver!

This is a collection of film writing and reviews, a couple of lists, and some artwork by yours truly covering my favorite genre of film. The selections are what you might already expect from me: older, relatively underseen, largely hardboiled genre pictures from all over the world. It's 26 digest pages of writing and artwork plus the color cover and I'm selling it online for 6 bucks plus tax and shipping. If you are a fan of 70s genre pictures, yakuza films, poliziotteschi, French gangster pictures, or my writing in general, I think you'll find something to appreciate here. Even if that's not your bag, I'd love if you could help spread the word to the crime film fanatic in your life. Hopefully this goes well and there will be future issues and collaborations with other genre folks.

If you do pick it up, I'd love to hear what you think. Don't hesitate to send me an email or poke me on bluesky or instagram

It's been a hard year for a lot of people and next year doesn't look like it will be letting up on any of us. I hope you're able to stay safe, stay sane, and stay healthy and I hope you can still find time to appreciate things like wild old genre pictures. Thanks as always for checking out my stuff!

The Working Class Goes to Hell - Thief (1981)

Criterion announced Thief on 4K and Robert Prosky would have turned 94 today so I thought I would revisit and republish this older review of mine. I removed the final paragraph about availability but otherwise left this unchanged.

Two things are immediately striking upon first viewing Michael Mann’s Thief (1981)—the immaculately constructed world and the singular style in which it is presented. Everything physical in Thief feels real, seems plausible. The tools that Frank (James Caan) and his crew use, the methods they employ, and the locations they maneuver through have a tremendous authenticity to them. 

One of the keys to that authenticity is that Mann employed “technical consultants” on Thief (something he would continue to do throughout his career) that consisted of actual thieves and police. Not only did these consultants inform the methodology of the fictional robbers, but in some cases lent them the actual tools of the trade. The magnetic drill Frank hefts to penetrate a safe door in the opening sequence was a real 200 lb drill and he really drilled through that safe door.

In contrast to this realism, the stylistic elements of Thief are fantastic and alien. The city is all blacks and greens, eternally raining. Streetlights and neon line the skies and are reflected in surfaces of cars and wet asphalt. The pulsing electronic score by Tangerine Dream echoes the industrial heartbeat of the Chicago underworld (parts of the score are actually keyed to match the machine whir of the tools used for the heists). With the level of craft on display, it’s remarkable that this was a first feature both for Mann and his cinematographer Dave Thorin.

However, there’s more than mere style on display here. Thief is very much a character driven narrative and has the performances necessary to draw the viewer in. Caan’s Frank is successful. He maintains his independence, steals only cash or unset jewels, and puts his money into small businesses he can control: a car lot and a bar. He’s unattached and answers to no one. Jessie - beautifully portrayed by Tuesday Weld—is a woman with a dark past. While she seems far too glamorous to be a diner cashier, her humdrum life is one she built herself and something she can rely upon.

In one of Thief’s best scenes, the two lay their cards out on the table and decide to start a life together. This kind of confessional conversation and abrupt decision making would normally strain credulity but Caan and Weld are totally convincing as two people looking for something better and running out of time to find it.  As Frank says, “let's cut the mini-moves and the bullshit, and get on with this big romance.” 

To jump-start this new life chapter, Frank compromises his independence to work for local crime boss, Lou. Robert Prosky brings the faustian Lou vividly to life. He’s both affably paternal and later chillingly brutal, like some kind of folksy satan. Lou offers Frank and Jessie everything they’re dreaming of—money, a home, even a child—if only Frank does things Lou’s way. Of course, Frank’s not the kind of guy who can do things anyone else’s way for long. No longer unattached, Frank has to decide to submit to Lou’s yoke or risk losing everything.

Thief is a tremendously assured debut feature that’s clearly the product of meticulous preparation. Mann set the story in his hometown of Chicago and built on his experience with convicts from his television movie: The Jericho Mile. Thief contains many of the hallmarks that would define Mann’s style as a film-maker throughout his career - the way he focuses on professional details, his use of real people and locations, and his attention to the music in his films. 

Mann also has a terrific eye for supporting cast and Thief features Willie Nelson as Frank’s prison buddy, as well as solid film debuts for Jim Belushi and Dennis Farina. As sparse as the actual plot beats may be, Thief only grows in my estimation each time I revisit it. Some may find it too stylized, maybe even pretentious, but I find myself completely won over by this expertly crafted slice of genre film-making. 

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Best New-to-Me: November 2024 (The Oops! All Screenings Edition)

 Another whirlwind of a month as we all hurtle towards the end of 2024. Despite my typically sluggish rate of output on the blog, I've been watching movies and writing reviews like a man possessed. Hopefully you've had a chance to check out my Top 10 2024 Hardboiled Crime Movie List and then I am putting the absolute finishing touches on a project that I'm desperately hoping I can announce before the end of the year. With all that reviewing energy already spoken for, I thought I would focus on theatrical screenings this month as there have been quite a few of those as well. I managed to fit in a bit of everything in November - Cinema of the Macabre, press previews, MSP Film Club, Cult Film Collective, and even a road trip (rail trip, actually) to Chicago that included a movie. It's easy to feel powerless in the face of everything that's going on in the world so it's a real sanctuary to have films and creative projects to focus on. Let's get into it.

Tenebre (1982) - Dario Argento's climax of stylized violence and last great statement on the giallo film he was so integral in pioneering. Argento would still make some good films post-Tenebre but nothing quite as affecting ever again. Much like Suspiria, one of the great joys of seeing Tenebre theatrically is that the (essentially) Goblin music is so loud in the mix that it's nearly deafening in a cinema sound system. Argento also provides some deliriously blood drenched imagery to pair with the pulsing soundscape. The result may be more nightmare logic than murder mystery but I never tire of it.

The Last Thing She Saw (2024) - This wild and gruesome short played before Tenebre and the co-directors were in attendance. This was a fun surprise and absolutely the right crowd for it. 

Gladiator II (2024) - The latest epic from Ridley Scott and sequel to the film that turned me off the Academy Awards for the rest of my life. Scott claims this is his finest work and I actually thought its strength was the realization that it was a big, dumb spectacle without taking itself too seriously. Paul Mescal (who I loved in Aftersun and All of Us Strangers) is grossly miscast as the grim faced lead, but otherwise Gladiator II seems to be having a lot of fun. Killer baboons, a rhino riding champion, friggin' sharks in the Colosseum? Denzel Washington is clearly having a blast as the ambitious Macrinus and the ancient Rome depicted in the film looks good for the most part (those baboons are rough). I think this should win best picture and then none of us need to care about the Oscars anymore. 

The Brutalist (2024) - Yes, the runtime is completely daunting but there's an immensity to The Brutalist that I think justifies the length. From a craft and scope perspective, it's an astonishing film. Colossal, chaotic, transcendent, discordant, and brilliantly composed. The sound design is impeccable and the VistaVision photography is an absolute stunner. I do think, ultimately, that it is ideologically muddled. Not in the way in which the world is filled with complicated people and ambiguities, but in the way that it touches on things without offering a perspective. I also think the ending sucks. It's brilliantly executed (to look like real archival materials) but commits the opposite sin of over-explaining the meaning of the architectural works featured in the film at you. It's still an amazing film and I'm so glad I saw it in the theater.

Anora (2024) - I'm not sure how to approach this one. Everyone loves it, but I do not. I found the first act largely uninteresting, thought the second picked up admirably, but not enough to really care about the finale. There are some good performances and nice photography, but I do not find Anora revelatory the same way other people seem to. I did see this at 11am and there were some issues with the presentation, so that could possibly have soured me on it. I'm going to have to give it another watch, but I found this my least favorite Sean Baker joint so far. 

Little Murders (1971) - My wife and I decided to take the train down from the Twin Cities to Chicago, in part because Samm Deighan was going to be at the Music Box to introduce and discuss Little Murders. Murders is one of the many films in the book Samm co-edited and contributed to, Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990. First of all, the book is great and you should definitely snag a copy - I read most of it on the train and my watchlist has grown tremendously as a direct result. I have long wanted an excuse to visit the Music Box and it didn't disappoint. It's a gorgeous theater and I especially love the little side lounge providing that much needed space to congregate before or after a movie. I have seen Little Murders before but never with an audience and I couldn't help but be reminded of my experience watching De Palma's Hi, Mom! Both films are made in the same era of NYC and have some politically connective tissue - I like them both but think Murders is the smarter film. Most importantly, both are at times wildly hilarious while being deeply sobering at others. The audience was erupting in raucous, cathartic laughter throughout Murders but you could practically hear a pin drop by the finale. 

Afterwards, I had a chance to meet Samm and Brian (Weekend Nachos drummer, bootleg shirt wizard, and fellow Eros + Massacre listener), chat a little and take some photos. Unfortunately, we couldn't hang out too late as we had a train to catch in the morning. Still, it's always great to connect with people after getting to know them online. 

…All the Marbles (1981) -  I have been DYING to see Marbles for ages and I can't imagine a better way to do it than on 16mm in the back room of the Eagles Lodge while eating pierogies and drinking beers. Robert Aldrich's final film before his untimely demise and both a thrilling and pessimistic look into women's professional wrestling and what it takes to hustle in this country. Aldrich shot the shit out of this film and the wrestling sequences look amazing. Apparently the training and fight choreography was managed by wrestling legend Mildred Burke and it's all very convincing. The cast is absolutely stacked with character actors from my favorite period of American filmmaking and though there's plenty of studio shot sequences - there's some fantastic location footage from Chicago, Reno, and some towns in Ohio. Marbles is essentially an underdog sports film but there is a prevalent dark undercurrent to it. The Hollywood Dolls have to navigate murky waters to achieve their dreams and the rust belt backdrop gives everything an air of industrial collapse. Marbles is a much more interesting film than it needs to be and I'm so glad to have finally caught it.

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Best of Harboiled Crime - 2024

For Noirvember this year I decided to do something a little different. Rather than burrow into classic and obscure noir films from the past, I wanted to watch, re-watch, and review some of 2024s crime film output. Film noir and neo-noir are slippery enough genres to get one's hands around and "hardboiled" crime might be trickier yet, but I think the following films contain sufficient explicit crime content to distinguish them from broader categories.

10. American Star - American Star is a character driven, atmospheric approach to the contemplative aging assassin canon. Gonzalo López-Gallego's reserved filmmaking places significant weight on Ian McShane's force of personality as well as beautifully desolate footage of Fuerteventrua, but I found myself willing to take the ride. McShane's Wilson is forced to wait for an anticipated target and spends his time exploring the island and interacting with both fellow travelers and the locals. Events take a turn when a fellow assassin from his past lands on the island to ensure the job is done correctly. The titular American Star refers to an actual ocean liner that wrecked off of Fuerteventura's coast and presents an object of fascination for Wilson. American Star is not a genre thrill ride but is enjoyable on its own terms if you understand what you're getting into. I found it thoughtful and lyrical and there are some wonderfully delicate scenes. The film ultimately cannot escape violence anymore than Wilson can so blood is definitely shed before the credits roll.

9. Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In - Arguably more martial arts throwdown than capital "C" crime film, Soi Cheang's Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is still enough of a triad brotherhood drama to land it a spot on this list. Raymond Lam plays a mainland refugee with formidable fighting prowess who manages to find sanctuary and a surrogate family in the Kowloon Walled City. Living legend, Sammo Hung, plays an avaricious crime boss who wants to carve out his own territory in the City so he can profit on its eventual redevelopment. I sometimes struggle with 21st Century HK cinema - it's too glossy for my preferences and often leans into CGI in unfortunately ways. The Kowloon Walled City setting adds some much needed lived in texture in Twilight to contrast the larger than life action sequences. The city (naturally) needed to be recreated for the film and its labyrinthine, multistory immensity provides a interesting backdrop for the innovative, hard hitting fight sequences. Twilight does escape the gravity of reality for more of a comic/manga sensibility at times, but it's having so much fun doing so it's impossible not to get swept up in it.

8. Borderless Fog - Modern Indonesian action and horror seem to be having a moment, but Edwin's Borderless Fog largely dispenses with genre excesses to deliver a straightlaced, steely police procedural. Putri Marino plays a Jakarta detective who is travels to investigate a series of macabre killings along the Indonesian-Malaysian border. There is a unique socio-political context operating in Borderless Fog and I don't pretend to understand all of the nuances. Significant tension surrounds the Dayak people in the film and their autonomy in the face of Indonesian authority as well as the oversight of jurisdiction between Indonesia and Malaysia. Even if I don't have the context to interpret all of this - I do love a border noir and I found these details added some interesting wrinkles to the proceedings. While there is nothing overtly supernatural in Borderless Fog - it is still very dark, mysterious, and even strange at times. I found myself hooked into it immediately and it also features multiple severed heads for anyone questioning its hardboiled bona fides.

7. LaRoy, Texas - Shane Atkinson makes his feature debut with a Texas noir trip down to Coen Bros. territory. LaRoy is a ranging detective story starring John Magaro as a depressed hardware store manager (Ray) who is mistaken for a traveling hitman (Dylan Baker) and slips into a knotty conspiracy of infidelity, blackmail, murder, and betrayal. Steve Zahn plays a wannabe detective sporting a bolo tie and an oversized cowboy hat who bullies Ray into investigating the mystery only to sink further into trouble. None of this is strikingly original territory but it's rendered exceedingly well. Buoyed by a terrific ensemble - Zahn is as good here as I've ever seen him - and amidst the absurdity there's a lonesome darkness at the heart of this tale. LaRoy offers a distinctly evocative noir look - bleak earth tone days give way to expressive red and blue nights - and I believe this is cinematogrpaher Ming Jue Hu's feature debut as well.

6. The Shadow Strays - The all-violence MVP of this list. Timo Tjahjanto's epic assassin vengeance tale blends some Besson-ian plot threads into a exhaustingly brutal series of fight scenes and action set-pieces. Aurora Ribero stars as 13, a young member of an elite squad of trained killers (they're basically ninjas) known as the Shadows. After fumbling during a mission to Japan, 13 is sent back home to lay low where she becomes nearly instantaneously embroiled in a criminal conspiracy involving the kid living next door. The Shadow Strays employs only the barest skeleton of a plot or character motivations but makes up for that with a non-stop supply of gory, pulpy gangster insanity. Ribero's 13 is convincingly capable and resolute but the real fun is in the rogues' gallery of antagonists: A giggling psychopathic cop, a shotgun wielding madam, an inhuman hulk of an assassin, and spoiled rich kid sporting a gimp mask and a white Tony Montana suit. There are plenty of vfx "enhanced" sequences in Strays but the bedrock of the film is made of bone crunching fighting and stunt work. Some people definitely got set on fire to make this movie happen. At nearly two and a half hours, burnout is an understandable reaction to the marathon of onscreen mayhem and there's a postscript that I'm not sure how I feel about. Still, the action goes to such extremes that I was shaking my head in disbelief until the very end.

5. The Last Stop in Yuma County - Francis Galluppi's remarkably assured feature debut certainly shows influence from filmmakers in a similar milieu but also features a wonderfully charismatic ensemble, dark humor that actually lands, and a genuine facility for building suspense until it boils over in a thrillingly brutal climax. The early phase of the film consists of travelers stranded in a nowheresville service station/diner with a pair of fugitive bank robbers due to the lack of gas. Not everyone is aware of the criminals' true identity and this uncertainty propels much of the drama until things inevitably detonate in a satisfyingly gnarly standoff. From there ill-considered plans turn apocalyptically awful resulting in a soberingly grim conclusion. Yuma County's cast is solid all the way through featuring Jim Cummings as a anxiety ridden salesman wondering how he found himself in such a mess and Richard Brake positively exuding menace as one of the bank robbers. Yuma County is the kind of smaller, smart, stylish genre exercise I find easy to root for and I hope Galluppi turns his talents towards more crime features down the line.

4. The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon - Wong Ching-Po's The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon starts as a plausible, if high octane, action/crime thriller - gangsters, cops, foot chases through narrow corridors, bone shattering close range fisticuffs - and then takes a breath before becoming a much weirder movie. The plot is very loosely based on Zhou Chu and the Three Scourges: Ethan Juan is a notorious gangster (Chen Kui-lin) with a terminal diagnosis hanging over his head who decides to take on the other two most wanted men in Taiwan before he turns himself in or dies in the effort. The first leg of his journey is a nighttime vigilante mission where he meets a young woman essentially enslaved by his first target. The second part eschews neon lights and city streets for blinding daylight and pastoral scenes involving a spiritual organization/cult. Further mysteries are revealed before Pigeon erupts in one of the bloodiest, most nihilistic climaxes I've seen all year. It's a moment that truly harkens back to the East Asian cinematic insanity of the late 20th Century. Great, magnetic performances - not only from Juan but from the gangsters as well. Pigeon is unrelentingly violent, some of it coursing with adrenaline and other moments are startlingly abrupt. The plot certainly isn't predictable and even if the denouement goes on a little long - it hits like a ton of bricks by the end.

3. Love Lies Bleeding - Rose Glass' neon and synth drenched neo-noir revenge saga set around a New Mexico bodybuilding gym looks and sounds tremendous. It's swimming in blood, drugs, food, sweat, muscles, and guns. Irrepressibly carnal at times but also pervasively gross - including touches of body horror. Katy O'Brien's athletic stature clearly fits the needs of the story and she delivers an excellent performance as well - especially during some of the quieter moments before things get increasingly heightened. Kristen Stewart continues to be a supremely compelling screen presence and her instincts and line deliveries are impeccable here. I'd also say Ed Harris is brilliantly weird and sinister every time he's on screen. I'm 98-99% totally infatuated with Love Lies Bleeding. I think the first hour of scenario and character building is unimpeachable and I'm still on board as Bleeding follows Jackie (O'Brien) down a steroid and violence fueled trajectory of instability becoming increasingly surreal. However, I struggle with the level of magical realism employed in the finale. The stakes are ratcheted up ferociously and I crave something less fanciful in the resolution. Still, everything leading up to that is masterful and I rate Love Lies Bleeding highly for the year.

2. Outlaw - Electric, visually chaotic, and bursting with streetwise authenticity, João Wainer's Outlaw may, in fact, be the most hardboiled film I've seen this year. Based on Raquel de Oliveira's 2015 memoir, Outlaw features Maria Bomani as Rebeca, a street kid in the Rocinha favela who grows up to be one of the most feared drug lords in Rio de Janeiro. The subject matter unyieldingly brutal - Rebeca is sold to a drug dealer and pedophile by her gambling addict grandmother after being abandoned by her mother. She narrowly avoids the sex trade but is no less indoctrinated into the world of gangs, drug trafficking, and violence. Wainer renders the ensuing tale of crime, money, love, power, and betrayal with an anarchic, maximalist approach to filmmaking. Outlaw careens through aspect ratios, color, black & white, high def, low res video, archival footage, and even back and forth through time like a hail of bullets through the favela. It's an explosive, disorienting approach but it suits the onscreen bedlam perfectly. Maria Bomani is an absolute revelation in the role of Rebeca - tough as nails, smart, sexy, and capable in the midst of a firefight as well as the thoughtful narrator of the film. Outlaw is reminiscent of 90s L.A. street gang stories as far as its driving narrative arc, but it's a much grimier style and the focus on a female protagonist still feels singular today.

1. The Order - Based on the real events involving the titular group of radical white supremacists, Justin Kruzel's The Order is a magnificently taut heist thriller/police procedural in the vein of Michael Mann or Peter Yates. Jude Law plays FBI agent Terry Husk who instead of finding a quiet post away from high profile cases starts pulling threads connected to an increasingly dangerous group of domestic terrorists. Nicholas Hoult plays the young leader of the burgeoning militia and manages to be chillingly threatening without becoming a caricature. The crime content of the film is outrageously good. Bombings, heists, and shootouts are executed with white knuckle tension set to the metronomic score from Jed Kurzel. This is a period piece and it does feel like a bit of a nod to crime films of the 70s and early 80s - The Order is played perfectly straight and shows a professional fascination with how both criminals and law enforcement operate. My initial reaction was that the white separatists were shown as too competent - but reading into the backstory, they were actually frighteningly organized and effective. Jude Law is admirably grizzled as Husk and the supporting cast (especially Tye Sheridan and Jurnee Smollett) lend sturdy performances as well. Overall just the kind of intelligent, impactful genre filmmaking I love to see.

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