Hello! Time, as always, has been flying by and figuring the balance between the job that keeps my cats fed and the work I actually enjoy remains the riddle of my existence. I missed putting out a July newsletter largely due to that conundrum and partially because I had a few things half-done. I wanted to get something out this month because of some things I thought were worth mentioning. I have a dwindling number of copies of issue #2 of Apache Revolver left to order directly from me if that interests you (https://kino-ventura.square.site/) but they have mostly either sold or gone to shops/theaters around the country. Thank you so much if you ordered either or both issues and I hope you enjoyed them! I posted a couple of things up on the blog, I published a list of Summertime Crime Films that readers of Apache Revolver #1 will already be familiar with. It was so hot and smoky and awful and I felt like it was time to release that one to the wider world. I also did a review of MOTOR CITY which I found to be fairly compelling if not perfect. I don’t necessarily love “gimmick” movies but was surprised how drawn into Potsy Ponciroli’s dialogue free crime drama I became. As an aside, if you’ve never seen Ponciroli’s Western siege flick, OLD HENRY, I would highly recommend it. I was on a couple of podcasts in July which was a lot of fun. Anthony and Matt over at the Cult Movies Podcast invited me to talk with them about one of my absolute favorite movies, The American Friend. They run a great show, I had a blast talking with them, and indulging in Highsmith-ian noir in preparation is absolutely my idea of a good time. I also made a return appearance (it’s been a lot of times now) on Trylove, the local cast centered largely on films shown at the might Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis. Always a joy to talk to those fellas and it gave me a fantastic excuse to actually make it down for the 4K restoration of Mamoru Oshii’s The Red Spectacles which is a wild-ass living cartoon of a film. We remain incredibly fortunate to have such a fantastic resource like the Trylon and John, Barry, and the crew are doing amazing things. Speaking of The Trylon, I was just there yesterday to attend the fundraising kickoff for the The Video Store MPLS, one of several efforts to get a brick and mortar video rental store up and running in Minneapolis. I encourage you to scope out their Kickstarter Campaign and consider throwing them a few bucks. It’s been ages since Minneapolis had a great (at this point, any) video store and these guys are talking about a screening space as well. There’s a lot of potential for a new, cool spot where burgeoning film fans and crusty old chunks of coal like myself can explore and find community. Other than that, I’ve been watching A LOT of new releases and mostly blabbing about them on letterboxd. Feel free to give me a follow over there before it’s acquired by Netflix or something.
I feel like I’m behind on reading but it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve been re-reading Stark’s Parker books and finished The Mourner and The Score. I also re-read Darwyn Cooke’s comic adaptation of Score. It stuns me that nobody made a movie out of that one, it’s such a cinematic conceit. Luckily there was a film made of The Outfit and I did pick up the new Arrow release (currently half-off at B&N). It’s a terrific disc and I’m already enjoying the essays included in that. I’ve truly come full-circle on John Flynn’s adaptation of arguably my favorite Parker story. The first time I watched it, I liked it but I missed the intricate reveal of syndicate operations and the ingenious schemes the independents brought to bear against them. Flynn dispenses with all of that professional acumen and focuses on the flinty, hardboiled grit behind it which was tough for me to accept. I’m totally on-board now and would happily place Outfit among the likes of Charley Varrick or Prime Cut. On the comics front I read the first volume of Kerberos Panzer Cops in preparation for the Red Spectacles cast. Not a particularly strong manga, but some terrific artwork and it did give me the smallest bit of context for the film. I snagged the new collection of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec and devoured it completely. I had an older edition of one of the Blanc-Sec stories but it was great to have the continuing thread of her pulp Parisian escapades. It’s a Jacques Tardi comic, so the art and visual storytelling is immaculate, but I really love the turn-of-the-century pulp serial milieu he worked in. Mad science, spiritualism, early paleontology, cults, mummies, and murder. I have no doubt that Mike Mignola was a big fan of these even if the stories run a bit more Screw On Head than they do Hellboy.