Archive for April, 2013
Soundtrack Reviews: Renewed Franchises
Franchises are both a boon for the studios wanting to expand the lifespan of an existing franchises, as well as composers who get a crack at tackling an iconic series, remake, or re-imagining. Just uploaded is a review of Bear McCreary’s Battlestar Galactia: Blood & Chrome, and Roque Banos’ superb Evil Dead (both from La-La Land Records).
Hot Docs 2013, Day One: Terms and Conditions May Apply
The 20th Hot Docs Film Festival is underway, and uploaded is a capsule review of Cullen Hoback’s Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013), a chronology of how we’ve pretty much lost any sense of privacy by clicking on that “Accept” button found on every software, purchase and user aggreement to use free online services like Facebook and Google.
Borgen: Season 2
Just uploaded is a review of Borgen: Season 2, Denmark’s excellent political drama recently released in the UK on DVD and Blu via Spirit Entertainment / Arrow Films.
Nikkatsu Naughties, Part 4: Caged Fairies & the Dewey Fetishes of Koyu Ohara
In Part 4 of our ongoing series of Wrong Erotica on video, we look at a trio of films by Koyu Ohara, the diretor of Fairy in a Cage / Ori no naka no yôsei (1977), True Story of a Woman in Jail: Sex Hell / Jitsuroku onna kanbetsusho: sei-jigoku (1975), and the sequel True Story of a Woman in Jail: Continues / Zoku jitsuroku onna kanbetsusho (1975), all released by Impulse Pictures / Synapse Films.
Soundtrack Reviews: Men of Action!
Just uploaded are reviews of Marco Beltrami’s A Good Day to Die Hard (Sony Classical), Joe Kraemer’s Jack Reacher (La-La Land), John Scott’s underrated Man on Fire (Varese), and Michael Kamen’s Road House (Intrada).
Tyrone Power is the Pony Soldier from Toronto
New review of a little-known Tyrone Power western – Pony Soldier (1952) – where the charismatic actor plays a by-the-books, calm & cool Canadian Mountie from Toronto, sent to the U.S. to bring 1000 Crees back to Canada. Released by Twilight Time on Blu-ray, the disc also features an isolated score track of Alex North’s bouncy, modernist score.
The Killing / Forbrydelsen 3 and the Return of Denmark’s Sweater Girl
Waiting for AMC to play catch-up and produce their own third season of The Killing / Forbrydelsen? Not to fear, because the original Danish series is out on DVD and Blu-ray in the U.K. if you need that crime / human misery / life is just horrible fix. Alongside a review of Season 3, I’ve also added a review of Frans Bak’s new CD, featuring music from Season 1.
Toronto’s Lost Rivers
Happy April Fool’s and all that nonsense. Uploaded is a review of Caroline Bacle’s Lost Rivers (2012), a timely film about the status of buried rivers and tributatries in major industrialized cities like Toronto. Tied to the review are excerpts from a post-screening audience Q&A with producer Katarina Soukup and Lost Rivers Toronto founder Helen Mills.
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