last movie you watched

[Greystoke]

I watched Touch of Evil again tonight, although it's only a few months since last watched this film. But it's a major favourite of mine, and a film I find infinitely fascinating. And even in comparison to Citizen Kane, this is Orson Welles on scintillating form. The story is terrific, but around this tale of murder and corruption across the US/Mexican border, is bravura direction and ace cinematography. Superb performances, too. And a memorable score by Henry Mancini.

The opening shot is legendary, of course, but the use of mounted cameras and crane shots throughout, along with Russell Metty's camera movement and Orson's compositions, makes every scene engrossing. Charlton Heston is all wrong as a Mexican character, but his performance is sharp and energetic, whilst Welles, himself, is imposing and grubby as the detective with an intuition for crime.

Janet Leigh, during the richest period of her career, brings personality to a role that doesn't give her a lot to work with, and the same is true of Marlene Dietrich's character. Although the cast is littered with fine actors doing great work in small roles. It's just brilliant filmmaking and the Eureka 4K Blu-ray release is marvellous.

[pmp]

I watched Touch of Evil again tonight, although it's only a few months since last watched this film. But it's a major favourite of mine, and a film I find infinitely fascinating. And even in comparison to Citizen Kane, this is Orson Welles on scintillating form. The story is terrific, but around this tale of murder and corruption across the US/Mexican border, is bravura direction and ace cinematography. Superb performances, too. And a memorable score by Henry Mancini.

The opening shot is legendary, of course, but the use of mounted cameras and crane shots throughout, along with Russell Metty's camera movement and Orson's compositions, makes every scene engrossing. Charlton Heston is all wrong as a Mexican character, but his performance is sharp and energetic, whilst Welles, himself, is imposing and grubby as the detective with an intuition for crime.

Janet Leigh, during the richest period of her career, brings personality to a role that doesn't give her a lot to work with, and the same is true of Marlene Dietrich's character. Although the cast is littered with fine actors doing great work in small roles. It's just brilliant filmmaking and the Eureka 4K Blu-ray release is marvellous.

It's strange, I've never really got to grips with Touch of Evil. I'm not sure why. I do turn to it from time to time hoping I'll see in it what everyone else does (beyond the wonderful opening), but it never seems to happen!

[Greystoke]

This morning I watched The Criminal Code, which I had been meaning to watch again after watching Convicted and Escape from Alcatraz earlier in the year. The former being a remake and the latter drawing some influence from The Criminal Code; and this particular film certainly features some of the tropes and ideas that would become staples of the prison movie genre.

Directed by Howard Hawks, who hadn't yet found the kind of male camaraderie in unique situations that would become a hallmark of his films, The Criminal Code, nonetheless, does lean in that direction, especially with a solitary female character central to the main plot.

Walter Houston is terrific as the D.A. turned prison warden, who finds among his inmates a young convict he previously jailed on a murder charge. Phillips Holmes plays the young man, who shares a cell with Boris Karloff's imposing figure, both of whom are doing time for terrible strokes of misfortune.

Hawks keeps the story riveting, and there's a keen balance between morality and a sense of justice, along with drawing a gaze upon a fine line between the letter of the law and criminal codes within the walls of a penitentiary. It's superbly written, and effective in abstaining from preaching and moralising.

The great James Wong Howe was the D.P. here, and he does terrific work, especially when Hawks draws on German expressionism, and there's certainly allsuions to Metropolis in the depictions of mass humanity.

Constance Cummings is good as Huston's daughter, and there are some moments of levity amidst the toil, turmoil, and darker aspects of a film that might have succumbed to being hokey at times, if not for such assured work from Hawks and a fine cast. The Indicator Blu-ray is excellent.

[Greystoke]

Next film for me this morning was Retribution, which stars Liam Neeson in familiar territory as a father and a husband who is in a perilous predicament that's threatening his family. And he spends most of the film talking on a phone, which has become a trait pushed beyond the realms of absurdity in Neeson's films over the past decade. But Retribution might be the worst to date.

Not that the premise couldn't work, and this film is based on a Spanish movie that I haven't seen. But it certainly harks back to Speed, with Neeson and his kids stuck in a car that's rigged with a bomb. If he doesn't follow the instructions of the man on the phone, they all die.

Nimród Antal directs what ultimately turns into a hapless spectacle of generic nonsense, that doesn't even make sense to itself, never mind anything else. Although Neeson doesn't phone it in, if you'll pardon the pun, but I found the perpetrator to be obvious from the first scene, and when bombs start going off in the city, it isn't a case of credulity being strained. Because the premise isn't the problem. It's how stupid and inconsistent everyone and everything around the plot is.

It's set in Berlin, where there's a significant police presence and video surveillance, yet suspicion falls completely on Neeson's character, despite the obvious and because there's a clear communication issue between Liam and anybody he speaks to. Which isn't a case of language, but more a problem with atrocious writing that has characters talking in riddles and failing to respond in any sensible way to what the other is saying.

Police units also conveniently appear, disappear, let him escape, disappear again, and then suddenly reappear just because they have to be there at certain times in the plot. It is mercifully short, all the same, and although the first act sets the premise up at least competently, by the end, this was beyond brainless and tedious. Whilst a momentary flashback during the film's final shot only drove home how empty-headed this movie is.

[Greystoke]

One more film for this morning, and that was Quiz Lady, which stars Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as two sisters brought together after several years, when they're wrongly informed that their mother has died.

Oh and Awkwafina are quite wonderful together as opposites who bond in the discovery that their mother has fled the country, and that she owes a massive amount of debt that gangsters are looking to have returned. And when the quiz show-loving character Awkwafina plays is secretly recorded and put online by her sister, the wheels go in motion for her to take part in a quiz she's watched religiously for the past 29 years.

Directed by Jessica Yu, this is a film that certainly plays out in familiar fashion, but I found it very funny at times and incredibly endearing. And the premise is good, and does have a lot of original beats, as these two disparate sisters deal with family trauma through heady doses of black comedy.

Will Ferrell plays the quiz show host and is really well cast in a minor role, and whilst it stretches credulity and belies authenticity at times, it's also sharp and witty. And sails on the presence of Oh and Awkwafina. Very likeable, and whilst this isn't the breakout role Sandra Oh has been needing for years, Awkwafina continues to be a strong presence in the films she is finding.

[Tang Lungs side kick]

Pink Panther 4.5/6
A shot in dark 4/6
The Queen 4/6 (which is more about the period princess Di died than about the Queens life)

[Mister Mike]

Saw this on TV back in 1971 and it stuck with me ever since. Dated in many ways but still fascinating to watch.

[pmp]

I've not watched much over the last few days, as I'm trying to get a book finished. But I did watch Tales from the Darkside: The Movie a couple of nights back. I'm not sure if I've seen it before, but I don't think so. It's lightweight for the most part, but a nice throwback to the portmanteau movies of the past such as Tales of Terror and Twice Told Tales. This is aided and abetted by the the inclusion of Lot 249 (that story pops up everywhere right now) by Arthur Conan Doyle and the Cat From Hell, which has shades of both Edgar Allan Poe and the early 1960s film Shadow of the Cat, which I'm really rather fond of. The cat episode is rather silly, but works fine in this context in a film that certainly doesn't take itself seriously. It's an enjoyable 90 minutes or so.

Tonight I revisited The Cabin in the Woods, which is showing on Mubi, and is probably something I should have on my blu ray shelves. There is much to enjoy here, and it's a brain-scratcher as to why it sat unreleased for three years. I liked it much more this time around than the previous time I saw it (in the cinema). I still think the fact that the protagonists are being played should have been held back from the viewer until the halfway mark, as it would have provided a genuine WTF twist, but clearly that was never the intention, and the viewer is on on the secret from the very beginning. But it's a fun film, which still feels relatively unique, even if other films have gone down similar routes (not least the Escape Room movies), and it probably holds up so well a decade after its release because it hasn't been remade, rebooted, or had a sequel.

[Greystoke]

I've not watched much over the last few days, as I'm trying to get a book finished. But I did watch Tales from the Darkside: The Movie a couple of nights back. I'm not sure if I've seen it before, but I don't think so. It's lightweight for the most part, but a nice throwback to the portmanteau movies of the past such as Tales of Terror and Twice Told Tales. This is aided and abetted by the the inclusion of Lot 249 (that story pops up everywhere right now) by Arthur Conan Doyle and the Cat From Hell, which has shades of both Edgar Allan Poe and the early 1960s film Shadow of the Cat, which I'm really rather fond of. The cat episode is rather silly, but works fine in this context in a film that certainly doesn't take itself seriously. It's an enjoyable 90 minutes or so.

Tonight I revisited The Cabin in the Woods, which is showing on Mubi, and is probably something I should have on my blu ray shelves. There is much to enjoy here, and it's a brain-scratcher as to why it sat unreleased for three years. I liked it much more this time around than the previous time I saw it (in the cinema). I still think the fact that the protagonists are being played should have been held back from the viewer until the halfway mark, as it would have provided a genuine WTF twist, but clearly that was never the intention, and the viewer is on on the secret from the very beginning. But it's a fun film, which still feels relatively unique, even if other films have gone down similar routes (not least the Escape Room movies), and it probably holds up so well a decade after its release because it hasn't been remade, rebooted, or had a sequel.

I had much the same issue with The Cabin in the Woods. I was also reminded of From Dusk Till Dawn, which didn't let the audience in on how it was going to materialise in the final act. And there's certainly some great ideas in The Cabin in the Woods. Good performances, too.

[pmp]

Hmv have substantial discounts on bfi Blu rays right now.

https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/bfi-label-promotion?sort=most_relevant%20desc&quantity=24&page=2&view=grid

[Greystoke]

Hmv have substantial discounts on bfi Blu rays right now.

https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/bfi-label-promotion?sort=most_relevant%20desc&quantity=24&page=2&view=grid

Nice spot. There's a few there I might have to get hold of. I did just get Criterion's 4K Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher box set and Kino's new 4K release of Three Days of the Condor. Indicator's Scott/Boetticher Blu-ray set was really good, but I couldn't resist a double dip with superior source material and new restorations featuring in Criterion's set.

[Greystoke]

I'm pretty excited about Criterion's latest announcement for February, which includes 4K releases of The Roaring Twenties, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and both The Heroic Trio and Executioners. This, on a day when Disney also revealed a slate of James Cameron films for release on 4K -- including True Lies, which never got a Blu-ray release. This said, Cameron does seem to be fond of DNR, so I guess we'll see what these look like. Titanic, The Abyss, Avatar, and Aliens are the others.

Criterion also announced an Eric Rohmer box set. Whilst Sony have added The Raid to their future slate as a new 4K title. It will be interesting to see what Gareth Evans has done with that one. It's a terrific film, in my opinion. Second Sight's 4K release of Dead Man's Shoes also has my attention.

All of this and Eureka has an announcement due tomorrow, too. Good times for physical media.

[Greystoke]

This is a release I've been eagerly awaiting to hear about. Due for release in March.

20231116_154557.jpg

[pmp]

I have to admit that there's nothing to excite me in the Eureka announcement, which is Yazuka Wolf 1&2, Paths of Glory, Slaughter in San Francisco, and some films by Zulawski.

Tonight I got around to watching Renfield, starring Nicholas Hoult as the title character and Nicholas Cage as Dracula. I didn't expect to like this a whole lot, but it's actually a real hoot, mixing comedy, horror and action to produce a really entertaining movie. The opening sequence, with Cage and Hoult recreating scenes from the Lugosi Dracula is a nice move that no doubt pleased many classic horror buffs, and it's fun all the way from there. Hoult seems to be channelling a kind of action-hero version of Hugh Grant for much of the time, and doesn't even seem to care that he's drawing on that idea. Cage is fine as Dracula, although, to be honest, he doesn't have all that much to do. But I'm not a Nicholas Cage fan. However, this really is a popcorn movie. It's all over and done with in ninety minutes, and I certainly would not object to a sequel. And if anyone likes this, it's worth checking out Vicious Fun. There's no Dracula in that, but the style and feel of the film is quite similar.

Interestingly, Hoult is appearing as Thomas Hutter in the remake of Nosferatu next year with Bill Skarsgard as Count Orlock - which certainly feels like casting from heaven, but I guess we'll see when it finally appears. He's also the lead in the next Clint Eastwood film, although, going by what I've heard of Eastwood's latest movies, that may not be so exciting a prospect.

[Greystoke]

I have to admit that there's nothing to excite me in the Eureka announcement, which is Yazuka Wolf 1&2, Paths of Glory, Slaughter in San Francisco, and some films by Zulawski.

Tonight I got around to watching Renfield, starring Nicholas Hoult as the title character and Nicholas Cage as Dracula. I didn't expect to like this a whole lot, but it's actually a real hoot, mixing comedy, horror and action to produce a really entertaining movie. The opening sequence, with Cage and Hoult recreating scenes from the Lugosi Dracula is a nice move that no doubt pleased many classic horror buffs, and it's fun all the way from there. Hoult seems to be channelling a kind of action-hero version of Hugh Grant for much of the time, and doesn't even seem to care that he's drawing on that idea. Cage is fine as Dracula, although, to be honest, he doesn't have all that much to do. But I'm not a Nicholas Cage fan. However, this really is a popcorn movie. It's all over and done with in ninety minutes, and I certainly would not object to a sequel. And if anyone likes this, it's worth checking out Vicious Fun. There's no Dracula in that, but the style and feel of the film is quite similar.

Interestingly, Hoult is appearing as Thomas Hutter in the remake of Nosferatu next year with Bill Skarsgard as Count Orlock - which certainly feels like casting from heaven, but I guess we'll see when it finally appears. He's also the lead in the next Clint Eastwood film, although, going by what I've heard of Eastwood's latest movies, that may not be so exciting a prospect.

I almost bought Kino's 4K release of Paths of Glory last week, but decided to hold off, so I was glad to see Eureka's announcement. I'll wait for their release. I'll also get the Yakuza Wolf set. Incidentally, 88 Films also announced a 4K release of The Blood on Satan's Claw, which I'm also quite excited about.

I'm eager to see how the Nosferatu remake develops. I really like Robert Eggers' work and it's easy to see the appeal here, and to imagine what he might bring to this story. Great cast, too.

Clint, on the other hand, has been quite hit and miss with his films over the past decade, or so. But he is 93 now, and I think his films are always interesting to some degree, even if it's predominantly the prospect of him doing something special once again. And it's incredible how fast and efficiently he still works.

[Greystoke]

I watched Three Days of the Condor tonight, which is one of my favourite conspiracy theory movies from an era when films of this nature were popular and prolific. And this was - and is - one of the best, with Robert Redford starring as the CIA researcher who inadvertently avoids an assassination and lives on his wits to stay alive over the next three days.

Sydney Pollack, who worked several times with Redford in the 1970s, directs with an assured hand in creating a net that gradually closes in on Redford's "Condor." And whilst there's bursts of action and gunfire, those in pursuit of Redford largely do so from behind office desks and in business suits. Which gives aspects of the film an aloof, chilling quality, that still feel authentic and ring true in spite of its narrative quirks.

Faye Dunaway brings a timid and slightly neurotic quality to the woman Redford holds hostage to escape the pursuit, although that terrific exchange in Out of Sight is very much right about how easily they seem to fall for each other. Although there's some grit and ingenuity to Dunaway's character, too.

Max Von Sydow is cool and efficient as an assassin for hire, and Cliff Robertson is very good as the calculating beaurocrat who is at the centre of a plot that grows increasingly labyrinthine as more is discovered. Whilst New York City is used superbly as the film's primary location, both on city streets and from skyscraper views, including the Twin Towers. Kino Lorber's 4K release is absolutely splendid.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw last year's film "The Magic Flute" - not a film version of Mozart's opera but a fantasy movie in which a music student finding a portal into the world of Mozart's opera. The word "batshit" has been used a great deal this week in Britain's politics, but the word was meant for this film. It is completely and utterly insane. It looks like it's going to be a fantasy drama not dissimilar to Amazon's The Gryphon, or maybe The House with a Clock In Its Walls. Or something of that nature. And it starts off that way. And then, when the student finds himself in the world inhabited by characters from The Magic Flute, the whole thing is sung. And it's sung very badly - imagine Mozart sung in the style of a Disney princess. It's just downright weird. Even weirder is how F Murray Abraham ended up in it (not singing, thankfully), alongside Iwan Rheon (who, unfortunately, does sing). It's so bad, I expected James Corden to appear at some point. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

About fifteen years ago, there was an indie queer film called Were the World Mine, which kind of tries a similar thing with A Midsummer Night's Dream. Cheap and cheerful, and rough around the edges, that film might have been, but it's considerably better than this mess. I guess full marks should be given for trying something different, but The Magic Flute is a once in a lifetime experience, I think. Thankfully.

[Greystoke]

Sticking with the conspiracy theory theme, and certainly existing in the political thriller realm, next for me tonight was Blow Out. Which is one of my favourite Brian De Palma films, and one of his very best, in my opinion. And the same applies to John Travolta, who is quite excellent here.

There's a lot of themes and elements at play in Blow Out, and whilst De Palma's hallmarks are writ large, from split screens and split diopters, to shades of Hitchcock and fascinating juxtaposition. This film is unmistakably De Palma. But this was probably his most original film at that time, too, even though it refers to Blow-Up and even The Conversation.

Where Blow Out thrives, is in how meticulous and intelligent it is, without failing to ratchet up the tension as Travolta's character gets embroiled in a political conspiracy involving the death of a presidential candidate. With him being there at the scene of the accident, capturing sounds in his job as a foley artist for a small time film studio that makes horror movies.

Nancy Allen is sympathetic and quite tragic as the girl he strikes up a relationship with, and the film's cinematic language and understanding also stretches to her character, a budding make-up artist. Who comments that big stars like Barbra Streisand don't do their make-up properly.

The plot is dense and captivating, and De Palma keeps it on a knife edge, but doesn't shy away from quirks and idiosyncrasies, as what is being publicised as an accident, may indeed have been something else. There's also subplots that work well and are involving in their own right, including a clever opening scene, and an extended flashback sequence.

Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography is quite marvellous, as is Paul Hirsch's editing, which compliments De Palma's compositions brilliantly, through cross-cutting, parallel editing, jump cuts, etc. And expectedly, in a film that's very much about sound, the sound editing is outstanding. As is the score, by frequent De Palma collaborator, Pino Donaggio. Criterion's 4K Blu-ray is excellent.

[Greystoke]

I made a start on Criterion's 4K Randolph Scott box set this morning, and there's no doubt that the first two films I watched, The Tall T and Decision at Sundown, offer a marked improvement over the Indicator Blu-rays. The source material is obviously superior, whilst the restorations themselves are just wonderful. Especially The Tall T, with those gorgeous blue skies and foreboding desert landscapes.

Both films are terrific, and I am especially fond of Scott's Ranown cycle of westerns, although it's unfortunate that the first of these seven films, 7 Men from Now, doesn't appear here, and wasn't included in the Indicator set. Which is due to different rights holders. Hopefully a Blu-ray will materialise at some point, or even a 4K release. Although the DVD is very good.

[Greystoke]

I watched The Kill Room this afternoon, which was and is primarily interesting because it reunites Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson for the first time since Pulp Fiction. Here, in another crime film which, on this occasion, aspires to be a satire on the art world.

Directed by Nicol Paone, from a script by Jonathan Jacobson that feels inspired by Elmore Leonard, The Kill Room centres around an art gallery, run by Thurman's character. Jackson's deli bakery owner, who is in league with the mob. And a serial killer, played by Joe Manganiello, who is first seen listening to a true crime podcast before duping a bodega owner that he subsequently murders.

There's little rhyme nor reason as to how and why Manganiello's character is a serial killer, other than it serving the plot as the remnants of his work as the "Bagman" is sold as art by the down-on-her-luck Thurman. Which sounds like it might have some potential for a dark and quirky crime film, but this was a major misfire, in my opinion.

Not only is it populated by vacuous characters who are impossible to side with, the writing and direction are so flat, that nobody and nothing is able to rise above how risible this all is. Jackson almost does, with his expected turns of phrase, but a miscast Thurman is all wrong as the neurotic and highly strung gallery owner who is at first nonplussed about the art she's selling, then is wholly onboard in spite of everything else about such an inane and unbelievable scheme.

There's also a complete lack of intelligence and energy to the film, which might have aspired to Tarantino in casting Thurman and Jackson, but this isn't even up to Guy Ritchie's lesser work.

[LSP-4445]

Last movie I saw was Oppenheimer.
I liked it much better than Nolan`s last films….Dunkirk and Tenet.

[pmp]

Sticking with the conspiracy theory theme, and certainly existing in the political thriller realm, next for me tonight was Blow Out. Which is one of my favourite Brian De Palma films, and one of his very best, in my opinion. And the same applies to John Travolta, who is quite excellent here.

There's a lot of themes and elements at play in Blow Out, and whilst De Palma's hallmarks are writ large, from split screens and split diopters, to shades of Hitchcock and fascinating juxtaposition. This film is unmistakably De Palma. But this was probably his most original film at that time, too, even though it refers to Blow-Up and even The Conversation.

Where Blow Out thrives, is in how meticulous and intelligent it is, without failing to ratchet up the tension as Travolta's character gets embroiled in a political conspiracy involving the death of a presidential candidate. With him being there at the scene of the accident, capturing sounds in his job as a foley artist for a small time film studio that makes horror movies.

Nancy Allen is sympathetic and quite tragic as the girl he strikes up a relationship with, and the film's cinematic language and understanding also stretches to her character, a budding make-up artist. Who comments that big stars like Barbra Streisand don't do their make-up properly.

The plot is dense and captivating, and De Palma keeps it on a knife edge, but doesn't shy away from quirks and idiosyncrasies, as what is being publicised as an accident, may indeed have been something else. There's also subplots that work well and are involving in their own right, including a clever opening scene, and an extended flashback sequence.

Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography is quite marvellous, as is Paul Hirsch's editing, which compliments De Palma's compositions brilliantly, through cross-cutting, parallel editing, jump cuts, etc. And expectedly, in a film that's very much about sound, the sound editing is outstanding. As is the score, by frequent De Palma collaborator, Pino Donaggio. Criterion's 4K Blu-ray is excellent.

I really liked Blow Out when I saw it a year or two ago. It's certainly worn much better than Blow Up, where it kind of takes its inspiration from.

[Greystoke]

Tonight I watched Visible Secret, Ann Hui's supernatural tale that's on one hand, a comedy horror, and on the other, a parable about disenfranchised youth in Hong Kong at the dawn of the millennium.

In some respects, it harks back to the supernatural films the Shaw Brothers made in the seventies and eighties, although Hui has a deft touch and a keen interest in the characters more than scares and gore. Here, with Eason Chan's "Peter," hooking up with Shui Qui's "June," after meeting in a nightclub.

He's unemployed, and she's odd and enigmatic, and she sees ghosts out of her left eye -- which she often covers with an eye patch or modified shades. Chan and Qui are both well cast, and Hui makes great use of a Hong Kong that she presents as quite desolate at times. Whilst Arthur Wong's cinematography, which occasionally feels inspired by The Shining, adds a lot of flavour and style to a film that does shift its tone quite abruptly. And isn't afraid to get dark.

Hui, however, never loses sight of what she wants to say, even if the narrative rambles on occasion. And whilst Peter and June find a connection between them that's influenced by spectres, spirits, and ghosts of the past, the film ultimately finds a lot of tender and sad notes amidst how bizarre it often gets.

[Greystoke]

I saw Saltburn last night, which is the second feature from Emerald Fennell, and it's a film I've been looking forward to after her smart and provocative debut, Promising Young Woman. Fennell clearly has a voice and a style as a filmmaker that's very much in full force throughout Saltburn, which is stylish, ascerbic, and beautifully shot in Academy Ratio by Linus Sandgren.

I've really liked Sandgren's work in the past, and here, there's a sense of voyeurism in how the audience is given a look into the seductive and dangerous lifestyle enjoyed by Jacob Elordi's Felix and Barry Keoghan's Oliver. With Oliver, a less well-off young Oxford student, falling under the allure of Elordi's Felix, whose family mansion is a veritable playground for the two young men.

Elordi and Keoghan are both superb, and whilst I haven't seen much of Elordi, he's clearly very able and well cast here, as is the always fascinating Keoghan. Who continues to impress in his young career. Whilst Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike are also effective as Felix's parents.

In some respects, I could say that there's some depth wanting in the two central characters, but their relationship is complex and fascinating in ways akin to Bruno and Guy in Strangers on a Train, for example. And this is where and how Saltburn thrives. I found it quite compelling,

This is a really solid sophomore effort from Fennell, and between "Priscilla" finding an audience and this being one of the most interesting films of the year, things are looking good for Elordi, and also for Keoghan. I might try to see Saltburn a second time while it's on release.

[Greystoke]

I watched Ran tonight, which is always great to watch again. Especially with a pretty solid 4K release from Studio Canal, which gives a great representation of the same restoration that was shown in cinemas around seven years ago.

It's a magnificent film, with Akira Kurosawa still on mesmerising form at the later stages of his career. Here, leaning into King Lear for inspiration, with this epic and intimate story of deceit, deception, decent into madness, and bloody war in feudal Japan, always gripping no matter how many times I've seen it.

Nobody shot battle scenes quite like Kurosawa, and he does some of his finest work here, in particular, a castle raid that's silent for around ten minutes, other than Toru Takemitsu's evocative score. With this scene being, in some respects, similar to moments in Vertigo where the lack of sound and the style of music makes the visuals quite surreal and very compelling.

Tatsuya Nakadai is outstanding as the warlord who divides his kingdom among his three sons, only for them to squabble and for him to fall into exile as he's pushed to the side. It's one of Nakadai's great performances, whilst Mieko Harada stands out as the manipulative Lady Kaede. Although the entire cast is great. And so is this film.