THE DANMAN CAN

40th anniversary restoration looks pristine and even cleaned up, the film loses none of its unease.

Pretty dumb. The best part of this film is Goblin' s score.

I finally got around to seeing this. I think I avoided it for a long time because I figured it was going to be another LOST IN TRANSLATION (based on the bland advertising), but it's not. The tone is different (it definitely feels like a Jarmusch film) and it's funnier (and better). I was worried about Murray just doing his "older Bill Murray emotionless except for extremely subtle facial expressions" thing and he does, but I wasn't bothered by it. But it's actually the other characters (and actors) that interested me more - Jeffrey Wright steals the scenes that he's in, Christopher McDonald is hilarious, Sharon Stone is great, Alexis Dziena is just...wow, and Frances Conroy , Jessica Lange and Tilda Swinton all round out the film nicely. Very pleasantly surprised.

Focus On Film   Episode 18 is up! Download the MP3  HERE . In this episode: September 2014 Criterion Collection   Titles Announcement Best/Worst Of The Month  – MYSTIC RIVER (2003), THE DANCE OF REALITY (2013), 22 JUMP STREET (2014), I DRINK YOUR BLOOD (1970) "Criterion Most Wanted" "Focus On Film Theme"  & other music:  Daniel Sardella

1/2 * less, just because I prefer the original French version. Original post.

I finished reading the book recently and wasn't aware that there was a film version of TOUCH (1997) until then. Despite Paul Schrader   writing the screenplay and directing and a decent cast ( Bridget Fonda , Christopher Walken , Tom Arnold ), this one really fails to capture that  Elmore Leonard  feel the way that GET SHORTY , JACKIE BROWN   and OUT OF SIGHT   (still the best Elmore adaptation IMO)   did so well in the 90s. Which might have been hard to do anyway, as the book is quite different from most of Leonard's  typical fare. Regardless, the tone of this film is scattershot, most of the actors were miscast and/or poorly adapted and the score (by Dave Grohl ) is all wrong for a Leonard  adaptation. Some fun facts: Schrader originally wanted to adapt Leonard's   'Rum Punch' , but when Tarantino   obtained   the rights and made JACKIE BROWN , Schrader  decided to adapt 'Touch' instead. AND Fonda  had rol...

Another winner from  Andrzej Żuławski , a director of many unsettling, inexplicable, yet fascinating and intriguing films. I haven't regretted blind buying a single one of his films from Mondo Vision   and at this point I will buy any movie with his name on it.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014) is solid. Better than solid, a lot of the time. One flat-out movie-stealing sequence with Quicksilver. But a bunch of wasted characters/actors (Bishop, Storm, Colossus, Kitty Pryde), a few dodgy CG sequences, some filler, some eye-rolling stuff. And if I can just be nit-picky, it still bothers me that Wolvie's chops practically touch. It just doesn't look right. Not as good as First Class   (2011), but about on par with X2   (2003).

A very uneven film, but certainly interesting and not a lazy remake.

We bring you the latest instalment of the Movie Matters [Music] podcast -- the spin-off series where soaring, bombastic, introspective and timeless film scores reverberate. If you've an avid appreciation of film scores or perhaps more simply a passing interest in the art of film music, hopefully this fourth volume of Movie Matters [Music], consisting of another eclectic mix of composers' work, will offer something of interest for you. Lee is thrilled to welcome friend of the Movie Matters podcast, and recurring guest host, the musical maestro himself, Mr. Daniel Sardella ( Focus On Film ,  The Fitted Shirt ) onto the show for his Movie Matters [Music] debut. We kick off proceedings by hearing more about Dan and his podcasting and musical endeavours. We then reveal more of our tastes in film scores by sharing and discussing a mixture of chosen tracks from a variety of composers. As is our custom, we've deliberately omitted the track listing from this post in an attemp...

An interesting but completely different take on Jim Thompson 's novel 'Pop. 1280' .

The Dance Of Reality   (2013) is another indescribable, mind-boggling, thought-provoking, beautiful and gruesome, poetic and unique film from Alejandro Jodorowsky . An early scene featuring some dodgy CGI had me slightly worried, but my fears were quickly absolved. None of his films are easy to digest and many may not know how to react to them. I'm glad that there are still some filmmakers making strange and deeply personal cinema out there. Watch this clip . If it bothers you in any way, you have no business watching a Jodorowsky film.

Touch  (1987) is another solid Leonard novel. Actually, this one is a bit different than the typical Elmore novel (the characters, the action). And I had NO idea that a film version was made, directed by Paul Schrader , starring Christopher Walken and Bridget Fonda and with a score by Dave Grohl no less!! I have a feeling it's probably not that great, but I added it to my Netflix queue regardless.

Pop. 1280  (1964) is the fourth Jim Thompson book I've read and my least favorite so far, but still very good. I hope to see the film version, Coup De Torchon , soon.