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After Hours (BLU)
Martin Scorsese
Nice update for a film with challenging cinematography. For me the mid 80s was a golden era in the sudden ability to rent cult movies from the video shops. Caught this blindly on release and unlike tons of movies I can’t even remember seeing, this one left a mark.
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Black Classical Music (LP)
Yusef Dayes
Nicely caffeinated jazz fusion. A bit of a departure from the yacht-hop vibe of Night Rider and more of a return to the Yusef Kamaal record vibe. RIYL Thundercat, Mansur Brown etc.
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Better Luck (LP)
The Plugz
First reissue of second album by The Plugz. Always has been hard to find the original of this. Great LA punk band who played the Masque! Survival research – SVVRCH081
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Art Gallery (LP)
The Artwoods
New issue of the 1966 classic Art Gallery. Incredibly rare record. Band features Ronnie Wood's older brother, Art Wood on vocals. Guerssen Records – GUESS237
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Music From Hell (LP)
Nervous Gender
New deluxe version of Nervous Gender, Music From Hell. Live tracks and demos that were previously unreleased. Dark Entries – DE-295
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Spin Age Blasters (LP)
Electric Eels
Double vinyl compilation with lots of great Electric Eels tracks. Scat Records – 89
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The Doom Generation (BLU)
Director Gregg Araki's first "heterosexual movie" (his words not mine) got a nice new restoration and blu-ray release from Strand. I think this is one of the quintessential edgy/angsty teen movies. It has a kick ass soundtrack and it's super moody and weird and everyone's looking sharp.
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Killer Condom (BLU)
This is a title that I skipped past for many years. It sounds dumb... almost too dumb. And Troma put it out so I didn't have high hopes. Thanks to Vinegar Syndromes recentish release I finally read more about it and found out it's a German film, shot almost entirely in New York City in the 90s. This movie is way weirder than you'd ever image. It's based on 2 different graphic novels published in Germany. At it's heart it is an oddly (for the time and genre) sympathetic portrayal of a homosexual detective, his trans ex-partner and, yes, killer condoms. I was not expecting the often more serious tone, and kinda loved it. Oh, and H.R. Geiger worked on this movie. Crazy, right?
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Magic Crystal (BLU)
One of the more purely fun HK action flicks. The humor was better than average, it had tons of great fights, lots of weird gags I hadn't seen before and some crazy stunts.
Richard Norton (and his Cantonese dubber) were great in this. Cynthia Rothrock get's plenty to do as well.
For a movie that has a little kid and a magical crystal it's pretty great! One of my favorite watches of the past year.
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Existenz
Cronenberg's most Cronenberg film. When this came out in 1999 I wasn't a huge fan. His last movie was Crash, and I kinda thought he was on a downhill trend. I was so wrong. I rewatched Existenz at a retrospective in LA a few years ago and this movie blew me away. This new release looks better than ever with its new 4K transfer. If you let yourself get into this world of virtual reality video games played on biological blob devices and people acting like they're in a trance half the time, you are in for a treat of extraordinary creativity. The design work that went into this is just ... gross in the best way. Top 3 Cronenberg for me.
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Pied Piper / Cat City / Visitors From the Arkana Galaxy (BLU)
3 releases from the Deaf Crocodile label.
Pied Piper is a Czech animated take on the classic story of the man who saves the town from a hoard of rats. This time it's done in this crazy carved wood looking animation. It looks like no other movie I've seen. It's kinda nuts.
Cat City is a Hungarian animation from the 80s about a world run by evil Bond Villain cats and the crafty mice that have to fight back. It's got musical numbers, Bond-esque gadget filled cars, culturally insensitive mariachi bats, and some great bonus short films.
Visitors From the Arkana Galaxy is a Czech/Yugoslavian film where a sci-fi author's writings become reality as a group of aliens descend on an island near Dubrovnik. Weird stuff happens, but the real kicker is a lengthy dinner party massacre featuring a large weird alien creature designed by famed animator Jan Svankmayer.
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Archangel / Tales from the Gimli Hospital (BLU)
Guy Maddin is one the most creative filmmakers alive. These first 2 features of his have recently been restored and newly released on blu-ray. The show off his love of silent film tropes and design, and his ingenious camera work and editing. The re-release trailer for Archangel is only 35 seconds and it's just fantastic. Can't wait for his third movie, "Careful", which I think should be next.
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Phase IV
My favorite intelligent ant sci-fi movie of the 70s is getting a swanky new box from Vinegar Syndrome. I can't wait to see the new restoration. The ant photography in this is just beautiful. I just love this movie. This will mark the first time where Saul Bass' original ending will be included in an extended cut of the film. Previously it was only a special feature on the excellent UK release from 101 Films.
You may know Saul Bass from his extremely famous poster work (Man With the Golden Arm) or his always excellent opening title sequences (Seconds, Psycho). Well this is his only feature film.
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