THE DANMAN CAN

I finally got around to seeing this and it's excellent, despite a studio mandated ending. I only wish  David Bowie   had more screen time. And why did  Tony Scott  never make any more art films? Scott's brother  Ridley  was clearly a big influence because  The Hunger  (1983) is basically the vampire version of  Blade Runner  (1982) (complete with slow motion dove shots).

Focus On Film   Episode 36  is up! Download the MP3  HERE In this episode: March 2016  Criterion Collection   Titles Announcement Best & Worst Of The Month  –  KRAMPUS  (2015), THE NIGHT BEFORE (2015), THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN (1995), STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS  (2015) Criterion Most Wanted "Focus On Film Theme"  & commercial music:  Daniel Sardella

The best Italian STAR WARS / FLASH GORDON / BARBARELLA   rip-off ever.

Fresh off re-reading the novel  and having not seen Hannibal  (2001) for over 10 years, I have to say that, while I still think it's great, it's not nearly as great as I remember. Gary Oldman is a scene stealer, but  Mason Verger 's demise is much  more interesting in the novel. Margot Verger 's   omission was a poor choice. And the climax of the film is but a shadow of the novel. In general, everything just feels truncated. The sequence where Hannibal  is caught by Mason 's hired thugs is completely different in the film as well and stems from a whole newly-written sequence which just isn't terribly good. All that said, I don't expect films based on books to be 100% beholden to their sources and there is much to savor here - including facial expressions, the still-excellent Mason  makeup, and some dialogue made more concise.

*SPOILERS* This was my first time re-reading Hannibal  (1999) since its release and I had forgotten some details but remembered a good deal, as I've seen the 2001 film adaptation more than once. I like the film very much and have always found it underrated so I'm interested (and excited) to see how a revisit will fare, since I'd forgotten that numerous characters were left out of the celluloid adaptation. Some of them, like Jack Crawford and Ardelia Mapp, aren't essential to this story, like they were to The Silence Of The Lambs  (1988). But then there's Margot Verger. How (and why) on earth did writers  David Mamet   and Steve Zaillian   leave her out of the film?? She is so integral to the novel - her relationship with Barney, her plot against her brother, her walnut-cracking... Fortunately, her character made her way into the television series  (2013-2015), still as a lesbian but not a bodybuilder. The TV series also included Crawford's wife Bella and

Focus On Film   Episode 35  is up! Download the MP3  HERE In this episode: February 2016  Criterion Collection   Titles Announcement Best & Worst Of The Month  – RETURN OF THE FLY (1959), MULHOLLAND DR. (2001), TOMORROWLAND (2015), STEVE JOBS (2015) Criterion Most Wanted "Focus On Film Theme"  & commercial music:  Daniel Sardella

I'm very proud to present this  Movie Matters  Gialloween  episode, which I co-hosted. Details of the episode and the download link are below, and please follow  Movie Matters  on  Facebook  and  iTunes ! For this, the sixth annual  Movie Matters Halloween Special ,  Lee Howard  and  Michael Mackenzie  welcome back to the hosting chair  Demented Danman aka Focus On Film 's Daniel Sardella . On this occasion we give our autumnal 'frightivities' a twist of yellow as we hand-pick three gialli to dissect and discuss. The movies under the analytical knife in this 'Gialloween' triple bill are: Paolo Cavara 's stylishly sadistic THE BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA  (1971), Massimo Dallamano 's undeniably sleazy but still deeply affecting 'schoolgirls in peril' mystery WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?  (1972), and finally an 'American giallo', the deliriously unhinged and highly controversial psychosexual thriller DRESSED TO KILL  (198