Actress Spotlight: Ewa Aulin

Actress Spotlight: Ewa Aulin

Throughout the history of film, there is the "It" actress  that embodies sexual goddess for that time period. Who that actress is varies from person to person. Sometimes their goddess status does not last long. Some actresses like Sophia Loren are still remembered and have developed a sortof mythical like status. While others for some reason have become forgotten over time for whatever reason.

Today's spotlight is going to go to an actress who seems to be forgotten, but due to specialty home media companies like Arrow that releases older films with a high quality restoration actresses/actors can be rediscovered. Ewa Aulin fits perfectly into that forgotten category, but desperately is in the need to be rediscovered by Cinephiles.

Ewa Aulin, pictured  to the right of Miss Teen International 1967, is a Sweedish born actress who took the world by surprise in 1966. Aulin won the 1966 Miss Teen International, the inaugural show, in front of an international audience across the world on television at the age of 16.

Back then with a lot less channels to choose from, that contest made her an international sensation overnight. Unlike Miss America, she was free to take on projects that would exploit her beauty for money. Trust me the movie industry was knocking on her door before Ewa could even get back home.

Ewa made her film debut at the age of 16 in the Italian Comedy Don Juan in Sicily. That would lead to a career in which she was the main actress next to a list of leading men that would make the average person's mouth drop.

You think me an expert in film history would have heard of Ewa Aulin before now. Nope not the case, even though she starred opposite of Donald Sutherland, Marlon Brando, James Coburn, Gene Wilder, Klaus Kinski, Walter Matthau, and Ringo Starr to name a few. Why haven't I heard of this actress before now?

That is because her films never really caught on in the United States even though she was big in Europe. That is no fault of Ewa, Ewa was taking on roles in the birth of no Hayes Codes and the beginning of the rating system for theaters in the 60s. That meant the ability to take on crazy roles in productions that directors wanted to push the boundaries because of the new found freedom. 

So some of her films can be quite strange and the average person might not understand them. In a sense making it hard to broadcast on tv. So being born in 1979 Ewa was a few years before my time.

My actual discovery of her came when I was watching the TV at the Film Bar AZ, waiting for the theater to open up for the next screening. Andrea Canales the programmer for the Film Bar, has put together a list of clips from films, retrospectives, and music videos from all across the world. Quite honestly it can be an expensive TV for me, because I keep discovering films I want to see that is the fun of being a Cinephile discovering new material.

On that day I saw a music video for the band Cults. In that music video, I saw a film being played in which a man and women were being chased across London including the London Underground with scenes in color and black white. Any film that includes a chase sequence in London grabs my attention that I want to see more of. I left that day not knowing what I saw, but prayed I would see that clip again sometime there while waiting. A 3 month wait, but the clip came up again grabbed the remote and paused it.

Got the name of the video, did the research, and bought a copy of the film. The rest is history Ewa Aulin had become apart of my life in a film called Deadly Sweet. 

Deadly Sweet is weird combination of Giallo, Italian Gangster, and Cinema Fumetti pop art put together by Tinto Brass. At heart a very simple concept a man walks into a room to find his contact dead and a smoking hot lady next to him. The man instead of calling the police is going to protect this women all across the city while he investigates the killers himself to take then down. That doesn't sound weird, but it does when you throw in art from Guido Crepex and 3 way split screens with different action going on at the same time. In a way the first film of

its type that will be popularized by Barbarella.

One thing is for sure Ewa plays a lady who can come across deceptively dumb, but is really smart and cunning. Ewa wants you to think she is the dumb blonde. This is a characteristic she will bring to films for the rest of her career. It is what I love about her.

From there she went on to start in her most known role Candy in the self titled film Candy. A sexual comedy that sends an innocent young high school student on a sexual journey of discovery across the world where everyone wants a piece of Candy. Will she survive or be swallowed whole?

Quite a fun film that I'll do a larger in depth look to later.

Ewa remained in the Spotlight for 6 years, but didn't like the leading roles she was getting and called it quits from the industry at the age of 24. She settled down got married, had a few kids, and a became a teacher. Who knows maybe she was Van Halen's inspiration for Hot for Teacher. She came out of retirement for one role in 1996, but has since disappeared from the Spotlight again.

Luckily for us Ewa Aulin has had two of her films recieve a long awaited release this year.

Death Laid an Egg and Death Smiles on a Murderer.

Death Laid an Egg's release marked the first time the Director's fully restored cut was released onto any video format. About 14 extra minutes of footage. With an English/Italian score to choose from the English audio will switch to Italian with English Subs for those 14 additional minutes that were restored makes it very easy to tell the scenes you have never seen before.

Death is probably the strangest Giallo I have seen that is hard to describe, but has alot in common with April Fool's Day. Anna and Marco run an automated state of the art facility for a poultry farm that recently fired a bunch of its employees. On hand is a scientist who is determined to develop a mutant chicken. Marco is under pressure from his organization to make sure the experiments succeed and a successful ad campaign happens. Marco to release stress has an insane fetish that he does in private.

Anna on the other hand his her self a live in companion (Ewa) that seems to be there for a threesome and her diabolical plans. That seem to keep changing by the minute. Either way it seems like she wants to do experiments of her own as well. Yet Ewa has her own plans.

All this comes to a climactic full circle that will leave many people scratching their heads with the fast unexpected ending.

Honestly that is what I love about Ewa Aulin she is just in fun, unique, and in groundbreaking films. As I write this spotlight on Ewa Aulin, I am excited because tonight I'll be watching her in Joe D'amato's film Death Smiles on a Murderer starring Klaus Kinski. It's the only film Joe D'Amato was proud enough to be billed under his real name Aristide Massaccesi. I hope you catch her in a few of these releases myself.

For more info on Ewa Aulin I suggest checking out the Daughters of Darkness podcast and Kat Ellinger's Diabolique Magazine. 

Spotlight Release Look: Criterion's Ingmar Bergman's Cinema

Ingmar  Bergman's  Cinema Boxset

Initial Thoughts: I have held off buying Bergman films for awhile  because I own quite a few already and have to be in the right mood for them. Plus I had a sneaky suspicion a 100 year Birthday may have been coming since he is one of their top 3 most represented directors with releases from them and they honored another director with a massive boxset.

Off the so called 39 films on this set I have only seen maybe ten of them with Fanny and Alexander and Seventh Seal being the two I have seen the most. My love of Bergman films is simply Ingmar was the best of having people show their emotions and what is going on in those people's heads.

Honestly if I could take Bergman's DNA, combine it with Kurosawa's for storytelling, and Nicolas Roeg's for cinematography I would be in heaven. So you can tell I am excited for what is inside this set. So much stuff that I was unsure what the extras and transfers were until I opened the set.

The opening of the set: Let's just say my jaw dropped a few times for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yes there is at least one thing about this set that is inexcusable.

The Good: This set is loaded and when I mean loaded it is loaded. I could make Bergman 101 from this set into a real college course. 39 films with 2 alternate versions as well to watch makes each movie come to 7.31 far better than the 40 retail price tags of most Criterion releases.

Mix in all films except, Seventh Seal (4K) in this set included a 2K restoration. Quite a few of these films were making their US Debut on BluRay like Hour of the Wolf.

Then there is this book at nearly 2" thick of interviews, retospectives, and gorgeous behind the scenes photographs of people like Max Van Sydow and Liv Ullman. It's breathtaking and I could spend hours reading the book at home or work.

That does not include the supplemental material which is contained on their own disc unless it was a commentary for a film.

The bad: Well because of liscensing rights not every Bergman film is included, so I bummed Face to Face is not in this set in which Bergman won a Golden Globe for and Liv Ullman was nominated for best actress at the Oscars.

The box set  is also massive in size so you might have a difficult time trying to find the right home for it in your house.

Then there is no rhyme and reason to how they ordered the films in the set. It's like Criterion in many ways wants to control what order you watch the films in. I would have preferred if they were placed in year of release or alphabetically. These are really just minor complaints.

The Ugly: I can never forgive Criterion or in that matter any company who puts their discs in a holder that may scratch the discs. So yes all my discs have been removed and put in a wallet holder for the time being. I am just not going to chance damaging the discs.

Ending Thoughts: This is a set that should easily be getting a 9.5/10 from me because of the lack of Face to Face. Yet that case holder is unforgivable causing me to take another point away.

8.5 out of 10.

In the coming weeks I'll be doing individual reviews of films in this set starting with Hour of the Wolf.

For those who can't wait check out BS Movies Podcast for their Bergman Centennial picks.

Creed II: An In Depth Look Caution Spoilers

Creed II

Directed by Steven Caple Jr.
Written by Cheo Hodari Coker
Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone

Cast
Michael B Jordan - Adonis Johnson
Tessa Thompson - Bianca
Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa
Dolph Lundgren - Ivan Drago
Florian Munteanu - Viktor Drago
Phylicia Rashad - Mary Anne Creed
Russell Hornsby - Buddy Marcelle
Ludmilla Drago - Brigitte Nielsen
Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. - Commentator

Theater Saw Film in AMC Digital Cinema theater
A state of the art theater with explosive sound and seats that will react with the action on the screen.

Initial Thoughts Going In: I am big of Rocky, but I was disappointed in Creed as a film. Creed to me was just a remake of Rocky and Rocky Balboa so getting the same overall film two films in a row was a let down. Honestly, Creed is the only film in the series I don't own on home media. So my expectations were low going in.

Then throw in the Rocky IV element. I am not going to lie IV was my favorite film as a kid, but slowly faded to being one of my least favorites in the series. I still love the Russian aspect of the film, but the film is more of a musical of eye candy than anything else. The film lacked substance there I said it shoot me.

So here we go again getting ready to watch a film that is made more for nostalgic throwback purposes then giving us a story that I think we deserve. Lets us see if the film can prove me wrong.

Plot: Over 30 years has passed since Rocky last stepped in the ring with Ivan Drago. Both fighters lives have changed drastically since that fight. Drago was shunned by the state. Drago lost all his support and his arranged marriage is now in shambles. All that Drago has left is his son, Viktor, and his failures from the past that Drago hopes his son can restore the family name.

Rocky on the other hand lost alot of his social skills and has mentally never been the same since that fight. Rocky still caries the guilt inside that he is the reason why Apollo died. While Rocky can connect with Adonis, Rocky can't connect with his own son.

Adonis Johnson may be a fighter, but Adonis suffers from trying to break free of Apollo's legacy. The demons Apollo is fighting and carrying with him is both a blessing and curse. Those demons allow him to fight with anger not heart.

The past is about to catch up to them all when promoter Buddy Marcelle wants to exploit them all for his own financial gain. The only question who walks away for the better?

Review

Story 3.5 out of 5

Creed II marks the 8th film into the Rocky franchise. So with 7 previous films, it can be hard to come up with something original for the 8th. Just look at Friday the 13th part VIII send Jason to Manhattan. So that far into a series alot of films tend to drag and are meant for diehard fans.

With Creed II, the filmmakers wanted to rehash an old storyline from Rocky IV. True that is what they did, but to say Creed II is just Rocky IV part II is not fair. The film actually borrows from bits and pieces from Rocky II - Rocky Balboa. To be honest I think this film has more in common with Rocky II and Rocky III than Rocky IV.

That said the first act of this film was very predictable and somewhat boring at times. The most interesting parts of the first act actually involved the story of Ivan and Viktor Drago. Dragos' story was refreshing and new in many ways. You sympathize with them and honestly that is what saved the first third of the film.

The second act and on after the first fight between the two is really where the rest of the film picks up steam. Adonis has to pick himself back up, learn to deal with outside the ring issues, and figure out why he is fighting and for who. All leading up to the training montage and final fight which is original and unique in many ways.

Actors 4 out of 5
Michael B. Jordan - A decent performance especially in the last half of the film outside the ring. It is an emotional performance and probably the best I have seen from him in the last half.

Tessa Thompson - The studio needs to look at her performance in the film and strongly push for her to be nominated as Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress. Tessa gives the best performance of this film and honestly she is given a character that is just so much more than Adrian. Sure she has Adrian characteristics, but she doesn't whine. The one thing I notice is Tessa knows how to allow her body to do the expressing

Sylvester Stallone - Stallone seems at times tired of playing Rocky throughout the films at moments like he wants to move on from this role. He definitely took a smaller role. I am glad though he didn't ignore the events of Rocky V. The parts of his acting and character that involved that were his best moments in the film

Dolph Lundgren - I am not going to say more than Lundgren when given great dialogue can actually be more than a meathead Mr. Stallone. Lundgren's performance in this film is the best of his career and an essential part of why this film works.

Florian Munteanu - Well he had the right body for this role and rage. He has very few lines so I don't know how well he can act overall, but that said he comes through when needed.

Brigitte Neilsen - As cold and icy as I remember from the 80s. She is this film's real villain. She would make a good Dalek. Damn you Brigitte you make me people feel for Drago and son.

Max Kellerman - Stallone if you do another film he is good, but you need an analyst who is fun and can explain the fight and backgrounds in layman's terms use Stephen A. Smith please instead of Roy Jones Jr..

Cinematography and Music - 5 out of 5
Honestly I think this is the best shot film since the first Rocky. It's a breath of fresh air to see the fight shot and training montages differently. Music wise the composer kept the film his own, but threw in elements of Conti where he felt necessary.

Theater Experience: Yeah the Dolby Cinema's ticket was 20 bucks, but well worth it. The audio system actually blocked out alot of talking. Then you had the seats pow, bam, and Kapow. I felt like I took every punch thrown in the film and was right there in the middle of the fight with Adonis and Viktor. It was the most exciting experience I have ever had during Rocky fight sequence. This is the way you should see Creed II if you can

Overall Ending Thoughts 8/10

The film delivers on many levels, but honestly since the story is rehash of many previous ones and the dragging of the first third of the film. I can't give the film any higher of a score. What the film does do is give a satisfactory end story to every character involved though. I honestly think this is where the series should end unless you want to give us a prequel to Rocky that focuses on Apollo Creed's backstory leading up to him becoming champion.

Otherwise the only thing left you can do in this series is give us

Creed III: Creed Vs. The Predator

Yes the idea for The Predator came after the writers saw Rocky IV. Who could Rocky beat next?

Black Friday Home Media Sales

It's Black Friday weekend again and like every place there are alot of deals to be taken advantage of on the internet. That makes the perfect time to get caught up on your back collection of specialty video label releases.

If you are a fan of great Exploitation films then your first stop should be at severin-films.com

A great company who releases some of the harder to find B Films from all across the world from directors like Franco, Martino, and much more.

Severin Films is offering 50 percent off most of their stock if you use the code listed on their website.

Another company to focus on is rarovideousa.com

Check out their Facebook page for a code that gets you 50 percent off all their stock.

Raro Video specializes in Italian films only anything from dramas, action films, horror, comedy to science Fiction. They also have the best selection of Fernando de Leo films the master of Italian gangster movies.

I am always an advocate of buying directly from the video label when possible, but sometimes you have to go through a regular retailer. For those occasions I recommend  DiabolikDVD.com
They are a specialty retailer that mostly focuses on bringing the smaller labels to public. It's companies like Diabolikdvd that makes sure some films stay alive and make it to your hands.

As far as big retailers go don't forget to checkout Barnes and Noble  Criterion and Arrow month 50 percent of all the titles from these labels, including the Bergman Cinema Boxset that normally retails for 300 for 150.

 

So take advantage of the deals!

Spotlight Home Media Release of the Week: First Blood 4KUHD Lionsgate

Release Date: 13/Nov/18
Company: Lionsgate
My Cost: $15.00

Opening Thoughts: In the last year, studios have been going to their back catalog, scanning in films to 4K, and then releasing them on to 4KUHD. With fantastic to mixed results. Lionsgate is no exception to this. Earlier this year releasing Terminator 2, now following that up with the first three films in the Rambo series.

Honestly, this is a film I would have skipped buying on 4KUHD except my current version was a 1st generation dvd release. So it was time to upgrade.

Synopsis: First Blood has one of the most simplistic plots out of all the films I have ever seen and does not require much explanation.

John Rambo, a Vietnam veteran, decides to visit a person he was stationed with in Nam. When Rambo arrives at Delmar's residence, Rambo finds out Delmar is dead and he is the last of his team from Nam still alive. Rambo leaves Delmar's residence, to drift to the next town for something to eat.

That town just happens to be Holidayland, Washington. In real life, the town used to film at was Hope, British Columbia. Holidayland falls underneath the jurisdiction of Sheriff Teasle. Teasle rules this town with an iron thumb. Nothing happens in this town unless Teasle wants something to happen.

While on patrol, Teasle comes across a drifter in town. The last thing Teasle wants in this town is to become a home for drifters and homeless people. Teasle picks up the drifter and drives him to the edge of town telling him he can get something eat at a diner up the road about 14 miles.

That drifter decides to walk back into town in defiance of Teasle. Teasle arrests the drifter and decides to bring him in. What Teasle didn't count on was arresting a vietnam veteran by the name of John Rambo.

Rambo is a former green beret, medal of honor recipient, who is suffering from PTSD. One of the side effects is that Rambo's mind slips in and out of present day to tense situations he was in Vietnam and at times cannot tell if he is in a war at the moment with the enemy or back stateside. One thing is for sure though he is a killing machine.

After mistreatment from the police and their failure to understand just how bad Rambo's psychological condition is. Rambo escapes in the woods nearby. Teasle decides that Rambo is his pray and that all his resources will go in to bring Rambo down.

The question is who the hunter and who is the prey in this Mexican standoff.

Video quality: 3.5/5

I am not going to lie there is no question this is the best the film has ever looked on a home media release. The backgrounds of the mountains, forest, and mist are simply gorgeous with the depth of detail provided. The last half of the film which is mostly dark sequences is where the 4K release has its advantages. In which, honestly  all you have to watch is the very opening moments of the title First Blood black card transitioning into the background to know what you will be in for here.

The issue you run into is the first half of this film with bright sequences and the color bump the film recieved. You just can't hide any of the film's flaws anymore.

Rambo's green jacket looks like it is brand new no wear or dirt. Teasle's jacket doesn't show any dirt on it later after a long sequence of chasing Rambo in the woods. Then there is a scene in which is supposed to be shocking by Rambo surprising an officer coming out of the bushes which was always effective before, but now I could cleary see Rambo night and day before the attack. His camouflage loses the effectiveness that it is supposed to have in the film. Then there are other sequences in which you can now tell when a stunt actor is being used vs. the real actor most notably the infamous helicopter sequence.

Myself I find this release as a distractingly annoying at times, but awarding at times. So as a viewer you have to decide for yourself is the payoff worth more than the distractions. I found myself as a Cinephile for the first half of the film more distracted by the first half losing my ability to focus on watching the film. While the second half I was blown away by the detail.

Unfortunately that is my experience with older films from the 80s back being released onto 4K. Kind of a mix bag of good and bad to where it evens itself out. That is why this release gets a C for Video Quality.

Overall Thoughts: At 15 dollars I am not going to complain much. I think people who have the DVD or lower grade media should upgrade if they want to. Otherwise for those with the Blu Ray Edition that is more than an adequate release for you unless you are a diehard fan then upgrade if you feel like it. While I was rewarded with great backgrounds and the last half of the film being an improvement, that first half felt like a chore to get through the distractions

Arrow Academy's Cinema Paradiso

There are alot of reasons to love, relate, or identify with certain films. In alot of ways, the films that you connect with the most are the ones you can relate to a personal experience in life. Trust me I have a few of those films in my collection. Rocky, Sybil, and The Deer Hunter are a few that I personally relate with.

Yet there are very few that I can relate with for each stage of my life. There is problem no other film that does this as much as Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso.

Paradiso is a film that won many of the most prestigious awards including the Oscar for Best Foriegn Language Film, BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the film. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary Arrow Academy released a special version of the film on BluRay making its US Home Media Premiere is the 174 minute Director's Cut.

So this marks the first time I have seen this film outside of its International Cut at 124 minutes.

Synopsis: Salvatore is a successful man who lives in Italy. Salvatore receives a call from his mother in Sicily asking him to come home. Salvatore's other relatives don't think he will, but his Mom thinks he will because of the mention of the name Alfredo.

Flashback to World War II Sicily, Salvatore  is a young, annoying, and curious boy who has a love for film. He sneaks into the local theater to watch the films as the local priest previews any film that will be showing in this theater. The priest gets ultimate say in what scenes will get cut.

Salvatore curious in this process sneaks up to the projection booth to watch the process in person. In the projection booth is Alfredo the theater's projectionist for years. Alfredo comes across as a bitter old man similar to Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men.

Alfredo doesn't seem to appreciate Salvatore's curiosity and willingness to touch anything without permission. Alfredo makes a promise to Salvatore that he can have all the film clips Alfredo was unable to splice back in, but he has to promise to leave the clips there and never come back up to the booth. That is the start of strange, but beautiful friendship.

Salvatore will come to the theater and watch the crowd's reactions, while Alfredo gets to watch Salvatore grow up and eventually become a father like figure to Salvatore since his dad is missing. Alfredo eventually starts showing Salvatore how to operate the booth, make cuts, and while at the same time giving him life lessons.

One day a fire breaks out and Alfredo becomes blind and the only person who can operate the booth is a young 10 year old Salvatore. Salvatore is given the job as projectionist in the upgraded theater and continues this for years.

Flash forward about 7 years Salvatore is a teenager in a new stage of life. He has fallen inove with the new girl in town Elena. Yet her family  disapproves of the relationship and forbids her from seeing him. Yet that doesn't stop them from trying to get together. In decisions, that will ultimately lead to Salvatore asking Alfredo for relationship advise in his darkest hour. Advise that will effect the rest of his life.

It's present day and Salvatore arrives back in his hometown. Salvatore spends the rest of his time trying to tie up loose ends and questioning did he make the right decision to leave all those years ago. A decision that only he can judge once he has all the information he can obtain from the people in his past who affected his life as a kid and young adult.

BluRay Review: For this being my first time watching the Director's Cut, I can honestly say this is the must watch version of the film. The cut spends almost 60 minutes on each stage of Salvatore's life. What that means for the viewer, is you get to see more of Salvatore's backstory a larger focus on his relationship with Alfredo and his love Elena. Honestly most of my favorite scenes from this film comes from the 1st third of Salvatore's story. The performance from Salvatore Cascio as Salvatore and his screen chemistry  with Alfredo portrayed by Phillipe Noiret, is pure cinematic gold. It's like Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson, sure they are friends yet the friendship can get rocky at times because of the age gap. I love that I get to watch more of that relationship. That is what is great with this release the film finally feels complete.

As far as the release itself what can I say, but it is different from the Lionsgate release of the film on BluRay. The Lionsgate release seemed to have richer and brighter colors as well as less grain. This is not uncommon for studios to do they tend to give releases a color bump and grain reduction through digital means to give that film a bit of pop in your face. Studios do this for many reasons the main reason is they are tying to appease a mass audience who may not understand the grain is supposed to be there.

Arrow is a video distributor different from your big studios. Yes they are going to go in and clean up the film from the best negative they can get their hands on removing thousands of instances of dirt, scratches, and fallout. Arrow will even do a color correction themselves and a grain reduction. Yet it will be a minor grain reduction if they feel the grain might get accentuated for them at home display. The color correction is done to make sure the scenes are uniform and look proper.

So what you have here while the colors are darker with this release is a much more natural presentation purists and cinephiles  will enjoy over the Lionsgate release. Both the international cut and directors cut have the same video quality so if you are not in the mood for the 3 hour version you can watch the 2 hour version on this release.

Arrow Academy finally gave the love to Cinema Paradiso that both the film deserved and the US audiences deserved to see.

This release gets a 10/10

Spotlight Home Media Pick of the Week: Daisies

Daisies, a Czech film from the 1960s, directed by the first lady of Czech cinema Vera Chytilova. A film in many ways that is so absurd that to try and describe the film in anyway to a person who has not seen the film, will make that person think you belong in a looney bin.

Yet I am going to try give a brief synopsis of the film. Yes some of my friends do I think I belong in the looney bin. It's the 1960s and society has expectations on women. The expectation is to settle down, get married, and become subservient to her husband. The expectations also means acting certain ways in public and dressing in a certain manner.

To the two main characters, Marie I and Marie II, who are besties for life and young adults they hate these expectations. The Maries are going to do what they want, how they want to, and when they want to. The girls are not afraid to make fun of these zombie like women. Honestly, they are scared for their day of reckoning whenever it will come.

Honestly, I really don't need to give much more of a synopsis. The film in many ways is a kick in the nards to the expectations men put on women during that period. Chytilova just wanted to show absurd women were accepting of these expectations during the time. Why let yourself become  a depressed zombie subservient to man?

The film a psychedelic new wave experience, with no major plot. That honestly  just says  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Ironically Cyndi Lauper could have easily passed as a Marie in this film.

Daisies was for the longest time only available in an Eclipse boxset packaged with a bunch of other films for the Region 1 market. Making it somewhat of a harder film to get individually unless you had a setup that could play any region or you wanted to fork over the money for a dvd set in which you may have only wanted to see one film.

That officially changed a few weeks back with Second Run's Blu Ray release of Daisies. Second Run's release can play in all Blu Ray players. The film recieved a new HD Scan transfer, and clean up from the original materials. In my opinion, finally getting the love it deserves. Some of the great special features is a documentary on Vera Chytilova and an audio commentary done by the Daughters of Darkness podcast Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan two women who are as mischievous as the two Maries.

Daisies while maybe not widely known, is the most important film of 20th century that focuses on and tackles society's unreal expectations  on women. Daisies should be experienced by everyone at least once in their life.

Daisies is that rare film that gets a 10/10 from me.

Amazon's New Order Policy

On popular new releases, Amazon has taken a new stance with films. In order to place an order for a popular new release on films you must be a member of Amazon Prime.

              So imagine the shock when I found out this new policy. I couldn't  believe it. I've ordered through Amazon for years and never an issue with them, but this policy felt like they put a dagger through my heart. 

Why do I need to pay for a service to get a non exclusive 4K BluRay through Amazon? I already have Shudder, Hulu, and the WWE Network. There is a reason I don't have Prime, because I don't need every streaming service. I am already getting enough through the others to keep me busy, not to mention my own home media collection I can barely keep up on.

All Amazon has proven to me is that they are greedy and no longer care about their customers.  Amazon has officially entered the Wally World Zone.

Join me back for my next post as I take an in depth look at Arrow Academy's 2017 release of Cinema Paradiso.