various artists - Mojo Presents: Glam Nuggets (15 Wham Bam Rarities From The Boogie Children!)

If you know glam, you probably have heard a good number, if not all, of these. If you're more the "Bowie is glam, right?" type, that's totally fine; this is a good place to start.

There are, of course, Bowie-adjacent songs present, with contributions from Mick Ronson and Dana Gillespie's performance of "Andy Warhol". There's also a trio of clear proto-punk cuts: the umpteenth appearance of "Personality Crisis" is most welcome, while reminding folks of or introducing them to the (Hammersmith) Gorillas and Hollywood Brats is a must. Any talk of the era must include Sparks and Suzi Quatro, both of whom chime in with classic cuts.

The most fun part, as is the case with any good Mojo comp, is the trainspottery, the archeology. This is filled out with the one-and-dones, the mostly overlooked, the barely remembered. Despite coming out on big indies or major labels in the UK on initial release, it's fallen to labels like 7Ts, RPM, What's Your Rupture?, and Just Add Water to recover these classics that have gone missing in action. Brett Smiley's "Space Ace", a B-side from a single 45 release in 1974, would have NEVER hit my radar without first appearing on Grapefruit's "Oh! You Pretty Things" collection. JAW is the reason I heard Shakane for the first time; their "Gang Man" shows up here. And while the RAH Band continue to release music, more than 50 years after their first drop, there's zero chance I would have dove far enough into their catalog to dig out "The Crunch".

Oh, and there's a song from the Damned here, but not the one you are expecting.

Discogs

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various artists - Main Sounds (15 Tracks Of The Month's Best Music)

I don't typically fuck with Uncut Magazine. And the price I paid for this reflects what I gather is most folks' interest in the content here. One measly cent American, plus a nominal shipping fee, was all it cost. With all apologies to most of the performers herein, there are only a few cuts here worth that copper.

So, who did I like? Those kids in Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are pretty great, although that wasn't in question before I copped this. Same goes for Sharon Van Etten, whose music I realized I've been casually encountering for a decade and a half. I wasn't familiar with cellist Layla McCalla's background initially, but it's been nice seeking out the catalog of this former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Finally, the Quebecois trio Cola were a nice surprise coming towards the end of the 15 tracks contained herein. They had a real "Tuesday night touring band" vibe coming off their track; with a new record that came out in June, they made my list of Bandcamp Friday pickups for December.

Discogs

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2022: Life Won't Love You Back

If you're reading this, then you've made it. You made it through another year where the world and your brain all tried their damnedest to kill you.

To this, I say, congrats. Have a mixtape.

Discogs says I purchased around 600 pieces of music in 2022. Of those, only 33 were actually released in 2022. This is about par for the course for me these days. So much of what I pick up either comes via the thrift store or via a Bandcamp download. The best thing I got this year was Dischord's "First Six Records" box set; it's up there with any of Numero Group's finest reissues in terms of quality, and a Rosetta Stone of American hardcore. The new Björk and Ed Schrader's Music Beat 12"s are top notch; Ted Leo also did a few digital-only releases which warmed my heart by their existence.

I had planned/still plan to share this via Butterboy's My Compilation Series, an outstanding ongoing weekly that, if you're the kind of cat that avoids streaming and still spends time blogwalking, is worth visiting regularly. The downside to sharing there is there's no room for context, no opportunity to say, "this is why you should hear this." So let's go for the double dip. Let's spell it out and tell you why these were some of my favorite songs from 2022.

1. Poison Ruïn, "Not Today, Not Tomorrow" - let's kick this off with an absolute banger that scratches my metal and crust itches.
2. Brux, "La Mierda De Siempre" - I run with a lot of recommendations that come via Terminal Escape; I find that Robert & I share a number of music tastes in common, so if he writes that he's in love with something, I seek it out. He posted up Mendeku Diskak's latest sampler a couple weeks ago, and wrote this about this Brux track: "shit, if this were a one song cassette with the opening track from BRUX on repeat it would make the essential list." He was right.
3. No Future, "Vampiric Ego Fucker" - this one comes from their 3-song flexi on our local Iron Lung. It's some crusty Mad Max core...perfect for those moments when you're luring QAnonists into a punji pit.
4. Nütt - "Attack! (This Is Our Land)" - self-billed as indigenous hardcore punx from Buena Vista, CA. This is from their first of two cassette releases of 2022, both of which are total jean vest rippers.
5. Soul Glo, "Fucked Up If True" - it's been really rad seeing these cats get recognition for their second full-length. This song really spoke to me, with its theme of the disconnect between privilege and personal politics. It's a topic I'm facing every day now in my work and my personal life, and it's not been easy looking myself in the eye and ensuring I live as true as I speak.
6. Roman Candle, "Gaslighting Isn't Real (You're Just Crazy)" - Sophie's Floorboard is another blog on my roll that I check almost daily. Whether it's to sample someone I've heard of or haven't heard, to fill in a hole in my collection, or to learn about a brand new band without making it out into the clubs, Kevin's kinda awesome for keeping me hip to what the kids are up to. Roman Candle just put out their first EP in October, but drawing from that Ebullition hardcore tradition is a sure way to get me to listen to ya. These cats are down in Vegas, which gives me hope that they'll make their way to the Vera Project in the next year.
7. Stress Positions, "Lust For Pleasure" - Chicago's Stress Positions are another band that debuted this year with a phenomenal EP. "Walang Hiya" is exactly what I'd expect to hear come out of the town that gave us Repos, Los Crudos, and Articles of Faith; a top-notch hardcore outfit that you hope sticks together long enough to tour around and play your local.
8. Snorkel, "Half-Life" - the first of several Earth Girl Tapes-related bands on this mix. Their split cassette with Dumb Idea came out in November and, like so many other things coming out of Hattiesburg, has ended up being a constant play on my headphones at work and my stereo in the car. Just the sort of anti-pro basement punk that I'm always going to adore.
9. Chainsaw, "Emergency" - I think I initially snagged this because I was thinking of the crust-adjacent band from Osaka. These dudes are from Boston, played in bands like Brain Killer, and are drawing the best parts from Anti-Cimex. It's on RoachLeg. If you know, then you know.
10. Puffer, "Live N Die In The City" - another RoachLeg joint, although this one's more No Future Records than Sonarize. I think these folks are from Montreal, making streetpunk fun again with a real rock 'n' roll edge.
11. Foodeater, "Loose Fitting Mask" - hawd-core from Athens, GA. I think I threw this into an order for the ConSec flexi released by Futile Force earlier this year, and was quick pleasantly surprised at how quickly I wanted to mosh it up to this one.
12. The Chisel, "Keep It Schtum" - an emeritus award goes to the Chisel's "Retaliation", which I have been playing hard since it came out in 2021. But this one was a recent purchase, coming from their split 7" with Mess (see track #17) on Mendeku Diskak. As possible outtakes from full-length sessions go, this is a good 'un.
13. Sørdïd, "Blankhead" - yet another RoachLeg jam, this one coming out of their homebase of New York City. If you like D-beat and the hopelessness of existence, then this one is up your alley.
14. Warthog, "Four Walls" - it fucks me up to think that Warthog has been around for ten years. It feels like it was only yesterday that they were flying the flag of "new NYHC band that would fit in perfectly on an ABC No Rio benefit". This is their most vital work, well worth tagging billboards out on I-476 for.
15. Truth Cult, "The Bodies That You Keep" - it's getting harder and harder to keep up with what old friends in Baltimore are up to. I'm staying away from Facebook and Instagram has become nearly unusable. That said, every once in a while, something like Truth Cult's tour tape pokes through the morass, and I'm like, "yeah, I should snag one of those". $10 for four songs feels steep, but if it covers some gas costs on that Turnstile tour, then allow me to chip in.
16. End It, "The Comeback" - speaking of Baltimore buds...these dudes are the standard bearers of the through line of tuff-as-fuk street-level hardcore coming from Charm City that runs back through Trapped Under Ice into Stout into Next Step Up into Gut Instinct. This is their third EP and definitely their best.
17. Mess, "I Don't Like You" - Mexican Oi!, coming from their split with the Chisel. It's a wonderful feeling discovering a band you've never heard of via their side of a split 7" or tape. The mix on their two songs on this split is a little askew...like maybe you could have mixed it slightly more conventionally, but I think that's part of the charm in this recording. It gives it all more of a glammy, British edge that really does it for me.
18. Dumb Idea, "D.H.Y." - from the other side of that Snorkel split. I can't believe I have to write 16 more of these entries.
19. Klonns, "Crow" - there's something in the way that Jensen Ward writes copy for the bands he puts out that immediately grabs me. Case in point: this four song 7" from Klonns, a Japanese hardcore/noise band likened to Death Side, Bastard, and Lip Cream. Shhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeiiiiiittttt, cousin...that's all you had to say.
20. Kalashnikov, "Zuicide Machine" - I'm not sure I've actually seen a physical copy of this, and I'll also admit that I might be misremembering this whole thing, but apparently this is an Earth Girl release, so I asked Hampton for a copy, and it reminds me of I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism In Your Yearbook.
21. The Real Distractions, "FOSTA/SESTA" - the bonus, digital-only track from R.D.'s 7" on K Records. Tobi Vail made this in between Bikini Kill reunion tours and it fukkin' rules.
22. METZ, "Demolition Row" - one of the few new 7"s I bought this year, and one of two tracks from said 7" appearing in this mix. I've never been a big fan of METZ, but there's something about this song that I keep coming back to. Maybe I was wrong about METZ. Maybe I was wrong about a lot of things...
23. Big Screen, "Count" - eventually I'll run out of songs from Earth Girl releases that I've been obsessing over. But not yet.
24. GEL, "Vibe Fucker" - fukkin' GEL, man. "Violent Closure" was one of my favorites last year, a brutal seven-track banger of a hardcore record that I keep slotted right in between "Age of Quarrel" and "Systems Overload" on my list of "Records That Make Me Want To Run Through A Wall". "Shock Therapy", a split with Bucharest's Cold Brats, hasn't yet hit that level for me, but I've only been listening to it for the past few weeks. And "Vibe Fucker" is such a rad title for a song.
25. Black Dog, "Life Is A Lock" - the last of the RoachLeg releases on my list. This is Discharge worship, with a healthy respect for NWOBHM and early black metal. It's gunslingers sweating in black leather riding a bony stead under an unrelenting sun, like Motörhead scoring a Cormac McCarthy novel. Or if Venom was really good, and they wrote the soundtrack to "Red Dead Redemption III".
26. Daddy's Boy, "Work Won't Love U Back" - Daddy's Boy isn't just a killer outfit from Chicago, and the inspiration to this blog post's title. "Great News" is probably the best record in a lineup of fantastic releases from Drunken Sailor this year, And Jes remains one of the best dudes I've ever had the pleasure to know, a true gem amongst punx.
27. Girlsperm, "Return To Girlsperm" - Olympia keeps on bringing the amazing, but what do you expect when Marissa from the Punks, Layla from Skinned Teen, and Tobi from Frumpies put out a record together, their first in five years? If this is one of the final releases on Thrilling Living, then it's a hell of a climax (more of this in a minute).
28. Judy And The Jerks, "Buford" - you've probably noticed commonalities develop throughout this post. ApeMummy: he loves the Hattiesburg scene, he likes 'em short-fast-loud, he likes to mix the serious and the goofy. And if you've read my blog more than once, you know that I've been beating the drum for Judy And The Jerks for years now. These dudes play like I would want my band to sound. I'm not going to hold them up as some paragon of DIY, but...shit, man...lookit the places they come from, the places they play, the way they present their art. It's what I'm looking for; to be able to deliver meaningful art in an authentic way, with a vitality that can't be faked. This one's a bit of a cheat, since it's been out for a couple of years via the "Bone Spur" tape, but it's allowed; "Music To Go Nuts" came out in August.
29. Adulkt Life, "Book Of Curses" - the title track that didn't make it onto their 2020 full-length. C'mon, like I'm going to pass up a chance to put a new A.L. song on a mixtape.
30. Jawbox, "Grip" - it's a re-recording of a song originally released 31 years ago, with Zach and Brooks replacing Adam and Bill on the track. This is the musical equivalent of when you finally get that Camaro you've been working on for years back on the road. There's a new purr to the engine, a new hum as the frame hugs the curves and you rev it back up to full speed in the straightaway. I'm still thrilled to have heard new life breathed into a song that I've been listening to almost since the day I got into punk.
31. Envy, "Seimei" - like Adulkt Life, I'm going to grant Envy a slot on any best of mix that I make, because I know, even without hearing it, I'm going to fall in love. One of the most powerful bands to ever do it, back with new songs. It's amazing.
32. ConSec, "You're Not Going Anywhere" - you start to run out of interesting things to say in spaces like this, things that aren't just "this punk/HC/oi! band is worth checking out". And that's tough, because a band like ConSec, a band whose discovery led me to other bands and a new scene to explore, deserves better than that. I'll fully admit; I don't have it right this second, tho I'll reserve the right to come back to it at a later date and write more. This song gets right to the fukkin' point in 0:58, a nihilistic napalm attack of a song.
33. Botch, "One Twenty Two" - I cannot even believe this recording exists. A new Botch song in 2022. I guess it was worth sticking around.
34. Fat Jock, "Line Up Eat Shit" - well, if you want to sum up things, I can think of no better song. It's negative as hell and offers not a single thing for the future, but we sing it anyway, because to live with an unbowed back is the finest revenge.

Holy shit, we made it. 34 songs. 77 minutes. This blog is over!

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45 Revolutions: A Birthday Mix

The Simpsons meme, courtesy of frinkiac.com

Originally, I had planned on doing a birthday mix of songs that originated on 45rpm records, which you'd think would have been wildly easy to accomplish. But, clearly, I've done a shit job of tagging which songs came from the little vinyl discs, so I decided to cut bait on that idea.

Instead, you get a mix of stuff I've been listening to regularly for the past six months or so. I don't stream; I load around 50 hours of music at a time onto my phone, listening to it whenever I drive or (more regularly, now that I'm back in an office) at work.

Mrs. Ape bought me a nice bottle of amaro and a sixer of cream ale, some new kicks, some rad vintage shirts. Even a couple days before the grand day, it's been an excellent 45th birthday.

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The Criterion Collection In July

From "Raging Bull" (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

A bit tardy to the party this month, I suppose. But it's all good, as the folks at Barnes & Noble are still running their 50% off Criterion sale right now, and the last of July's releases have just come out. So, you know, get some cheap new Blu-rays and UHDs. And there are some good ones coming to market in July, including a couple of reissues in new formats, the best film of the 70s (don't @ me), and one of the best movies of 2021.

July 5

I remember being really stoked on Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to "Snowpiercer", 2017s "Okja", when it was announced. His second English language feature, with Tilda Swinton opposing the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano, all with An Seo Hyun and a genetically modified superpig caught in the middle.

Pretty high concept, no? But then I went and never finished the movie. Life very much got in the way, not to mention that my days of watching movies solo have run out. So I still have about an hour left to watch.

I suppose the excuses have run thin, with this finally coming to home video after a long, exclusive run on Netflix. You get your choice of UHD/Blu-ray combo pack, Blu-ray, or DVD. And what comes with it? Bong oversaw a 4K digital master of the print, and supervised the Dolby Atmos soundtrack on both the UHD and Blu-ray. While it's missing a director's commentary, this release does provide new interviews between Bong and producer Dooho Choi, as well as a one-on-one featuring lead actor An and supporting actor Byun Hee Bong. Especially in the context of coming between "Snowpiercer" and Academy Award winner "Parasite", we're primed for a closer look at "Okja". I'm ready for it.

"The Virgin Suicides" was Sofia Coppola's debut in 1999. It got the Criterion treatment in 2018 with a lovely Blu-ray and DVD release. However, if you've been holding out for an ultra high definition release, then wait no further. Criterion now has issued a 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo pack, featuring the same great 4K digital restoration in gleaming 4K for that super expensive curved TV you watch all your movies on. Right, you got money, right? Can I have a loan? A gift?

Anyway, you get a bunch of extras, including a making-of documentary from Coppola's mother Eleanor, the "Playground Love" video directed by Coppola, and one of Coppola's earlier short films. Truth be told, this isn't a must have for me; I'm not a huge fan of "Suicides". But if it means we might see a "Lost In Translation" or "Bling Ring" Criterion release, then I'm all for this.

July 12

Dude, it's "Raging Bull". Do I really need to spell out why you, a fan not only of film but of physical media, need to own this? It's the firs time this has come out as a UHD (also featuing a Blu-ray in the combo pack). It's not just one of Scorsese's many master works; it's arguably the best film of the 70s, and one of the greatest films of all time. It's a movie that I can watch time and time again and discover something new about, whether it's a newly-discovered influence in the cinematography that leads me off on a new dive into, say, Russian cinema, or reveling in something previously unnoticed in the performances of Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, and Joe Pesci. I'm not going to whip out my DVD copy from the "Scorsese Collection" to compare extras. I'm just going to buy a combo pack and watch it again.

The second reissue of July is David Lean's "Summertime", starring Katherine Hepburn as an American tourist in Italy who falls in love with a native shop owner. Criterion originally released this on DVD all the way back in 1998, so the re-release, featuring a great new cover by Lauren Tamaki, is long overdue. Criterion has performed a 4K restoration on this classic, a more intimate affair compared to the sprawling Lean epics that followed in the coming years. Also new to this edition: an interview with historian Melanie Williams. She literally wrote the book on David Lean back in 2014.

A nice little bonus appears on the secondary market when Criterion releases one of these revised editions. The earlier versions suddenly become a lot cheaper to acquire, giving us, the viewer, a chance to check out something like this at a really low price. So, whether you cop this new version, or hunt down a $5 copy on eBay, check this one out.

July 19

I don't have anything clever to say about "Drive My Car", Ryusuke Hamaguchi 2021 masterwork, nominee for Best Picture at last year's Academy Awards, and generally regarded as a mighty fine film. I have yet to watch the film; I fully admit that I'm a bit intimidated by the three hour run time (no explosions? no boobs? NO!). And I've been shying away from subtitled films recently; the unfortunate outcome from eye strain bordering on farsightedness. I just haven't been able to hang with the idea of watching a 180 minute adaptation of Haruki Murakami stories. It's a failing; I acknoledge it.

You get a director's approved special edition when you pick up your copy of "Drive My Car". Hamaguchi signed off on a 2K digital master (sadly, a UHD wasn't released initially), and contributed an exclusive interview as a bonus. There's also a making-of featurette, press coverage from Cannes 2021, and a new English language SDH translation. You can probably tell this isn't at the top of my list, but I anticipate that, for those of us who still buy physical media, I'm probably in the minority.

Last, but certainly not least in July, comes the second Criterion/Denzel Washington release of 2022: 1995's "Devil In A Blue Dress", directed by Carl Franklin. I didn't appreciate it during its initial run, but "Devil" is one of my favorite neo-noirs of the past 40 years, a film that's up there with "The Nice Guys", "Blood Simple", and "Bound" in my rolls. Denzil's portrayal of Easy Rawlins has had me tracking down Walter Mosley paperbacks regularly over time; the cast also includes an iconic Don Cheadle role, as well as standout work by Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, and Maury Chaykin. It also has a killer Elmer Bernstein score, and a soundtrack populated with 40s jump blues, R&B, and bop.

Franklin approved this special edition, which replaces Twilight Time's 2015 Blu-ray release. There are a ton of new features, from the new 4K restoration and sound mix, to new interviews with Franklin, Mosley, and Cheadle, to Cheadle's screen test. And I might be mistaken, but it sure looks to me like Carver Center graduate, Ziggy Sobotka himself, James Ransome contributed the cover. Cool as hell.

From "Okja" (Bong Joon Ho, 2017)

I cannot tell a lie; it was with some relief that I viewed July's release lineup, especially after a jam-packed last few months of Criterion releases. Sure, I could save some bread getting these now via Barnes & Noble, but the titles I'd typically buy Day 1 ("Raging Bull", "Devil In A Blue Dress") are ones that I already own in previous editions. There's a nice little gap of three weeks between "Devil" and "Drive"s releases, and the first August drops. It's a perfect time to stack some paper and get excited for an early Safdie Brothers film, a cult favorite from a longtime Safdie collaborator, a pair of French and Mexican cinematic luminaries, and an all-time classic from the late, great Sidney Poitier. I may even be back to preview them ahead of the first of August. Watch this space to find out!

The Criterion Collection in June

 

From "Shaft" (Gordon Parks, 1971)

You hope, and you pray, and you cross your fingers that, one day, the niche art you grew up with, that you adore, that inspires you and raises you up, will be acknowledged, thus acknowledging your own superior taste and validating your existence.

Or is that just me?

At any rate, June's releases from the Criterion Collection count two of my all-time favorite movies. One, the long-awaited revival of an old Criterion laserdisc title, debuting on Blu-ray for the first time. The second, an all-time favorite of mine whose theme song served as my radio show's theme throughout its lifespan. Tack on a new restoration of a Powell & Pressburger classic, new cinema from the US and Norway, and a Chinese New Wave reissue, and it's another damned good month in what's been a great year so far from Criterion.

June 7

Mrs. Ape is the one who brought me to an appreciation of the works of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. I knew nothing of their collaborations 15 years ago, and were only familiar with their names as a result of Martin Scorsese's and George Romero's name-dropping. It's been super cool over the space of our relationship to get exposed to such a wide body of work. She's a mega-fan of "The Red Shoes", and through her influence, I've really gotten to love "The Life And Death Of Captain Blimp" and "A Matter Of Life And Death".

Criterion has slowly been reissuing their Powell & Pressburger releases from the past on Blu-ray. The latest is 1951's "The Tales Of Hoffmann", starring "Red Shoes" lead Moira Shearer opposite Robert Rousenville. This mix of music, dance, and effects is one of the few marriages of opera and film that's ever held my attention; like the rest of Powell and Pressburger's catalog, it's magic, the likes of which can only exist on film. "Hoffmann" gets a new 4K digital restoration for this reissue; it looks to be the key difference between this Blu-ray and the original 2005 Criterion DVD release. If you don't already own this, it's worth checking out the George Romero interview. Commentary comes courtesy of Mssr. Scorsese; critic Bruce Eder, present for the original 1992 recording, apparently has added new insights to the commentary track. It's a good opportunity to upgrade your 2005 DVD or your Essential Art House copy with some superior visuals and sound.

June 14

It's always dope when Criterion releases a contemporary film from a director I've not heard of before, so I know to keep an eye out from when their next film comes out. 2020's "Farewell Amor" is the latest of those. The feature debut from director Ekwa Msangi, "Farewell Amor" tells of a story of immigrant reunion, set in the African-American diaspora. It's not the sort of thing that I'm typically drawn to, but the Criterion label is enough a seal of approval that I want to seek this out. Msangi oversaw production of this special edition, providing commentary as well as three of her previous shorts to the release. Critic (and Raptors fan) Tiana Reid also provided an essay for the included booklet; she wrote a piece on a Basquiat exhibition at the Guggenheim a few years back that blew my mind a bit and that I suggest you check out. So that's one more reason to check this out.

June 21

Stanley Kwan always seems to be the next name I've encounter (after Wong Kar-Wai) when reading about Hong Kong's Second New Wave. Unlike his well-known contemporary, Kwan's works haven't ever been easily found her in the States. So it's great to see his best known work, 1987's "Rouge", get a director-approved special edition on Blu-ray and DVD. This love story, set in both 1930s and pre-Handover Hong Kong, features the late Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung in the two lead roles as a pair of fated lovers. Like the best works of Douglas Sirk, this lusciously-filmed tale is a coded queer love story that will enrapture any film lover. I saw this years ago at a film festival, half paying attention in the first 15 minutes before falling head-over-heels into it; I'm thrilled to peep it again. Two of Kwan's later works are included in this release: his 1997 documentary on queerness in HK cinema, "Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema", and his memoir from the same year, "Still Love You After All These". Dennis Lim, who programs for the Film Society at Lincoln Center and wrote The Man From Another Place about David Lynch, provides an essay on Kwan and "Rouge". All in all, here's one I cannot wait to watch.

I'm inclined to wax truly poetic about Gordon Parks' "Shaft", and its place within film history. I think I have my senior thesis somewhere around here on a flash drive that I could copy verbatim. But I'll instead speak about what it means to me. I came to it as a teenager who'd seen "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and was drawn to the action interwoven with the score. So many of the films that had influenced "Sucka" were available for purchase (not just rental) on VHS, so I'd take my paycheck from Taco Bell and split it between punk rock records and tapes of "Superfly" and "Dolemite". I picked up "Shaft" fairly early on, drawn to star Richard Roundtree's picture on the cover, aiming a revolver directly at me. It began a love affair with the film; a genre movie starring a clear outsider pulled between opposing factions, soundtracked by some of the coolest music I'd ever heard. How are you going to idolize Bruce Willis once you've encountered John Shaft? Michael Kamen could never hold a candle to Isaac Hayes. Later aided by resources like Darius James "That's Blaxploitation!", I'd continue to dive deep into Black cinema, coming to admire how influential these low-budget one-offs could be.

It's wild to me to see "Shaft" added to the Criterion Collection, and yet totally appropriate. 51 years on, the success of Gordon Parks's second film tore down many barriers between the white and Black film worlds, and opened following generations up to a level of grit and realism that had previously never been represented. While most of the principals have passed away, this release is incredibly comprehensive. Producer Isaac Hayes III, son of soundtrack artist Isaac Hayes, has remastered the previous stereo soundtrack for the 4K digital restoration. That restoration itself is most welcome; previous scans have looked like total dogshit, so I'm hyped to check out what has been adjusted. There are a number of documentary pieces I've never seen before, featuring the likes of Nelson George and Walter Mosley. There's also a bunch of archival work available, with the late Parks and Hayes speaking alongside Roundtree. The 1972 sequel, "Shaft's Big Score", comes as an extra on both the UHD/Blu-ray combo pack and the Blu-ray; a welcome addition considering how underseen "Big Score" has been, relative to "Shaft". Add in a fresh new cover from Bill Sienkiewicz, and THIS become a must have in any action or genre fan's library.

June 28

Things I know about "The Worst Person In The World":

• Nominated for the 2021 Palme d'Or and two Academy Awards
• Directed by Joachim Trier as part of his "Oslo Trilogy"
• Described as a "dark romantic comedy"
• Everyone I've spoken to who's seen it loved it, and told me "it's right up your alley"
• NEON released this in the US, and I've liked every acquisition they've made so far

So, yeah, I think I'm going to dig this. The Blu-ray seems a bit bare bones: interviews with all the key players, a bit of behind-the-scenes, some deleted scenes, an essay from Sheila O'Malley (Film Comment). But that won't scare me away from copping this soon.

There's nothing complicated about my feelings for John Waters. Falling in love with his movies in my teens with "Cry-Baby", moving to Baltimore weeks before "Serial Mom" came out, quickly discovering so many things about my new hometown as a result of seeing them onscreen in his movies...John was my tour guide to the real Charm City. I went to watch movies in the places where he went to watch them, rented them from the same video stores that appeared in his films, drank at the same bars he visited, bought books and records from the store where he had his mail delivered. His work became a shibboleth; if you knew "Hag In A Black Leather Jacket" or "Polyester", we were probably going to be friends.

"Pink Flamingos" is 50 years old this year. It was Waters' third feature, a break-out film for him and nascent distributor New Line Pictures. Criterion released a laserdisc a quarter century ago, and New Line did a DVD a few years later. But this special edition, overseen like the previous three Criterion/Waters releases by the Pope Of Trash, is the first time its been available on Blu-ray. While the two commentary tracks are repurposed from the laserdisc and DVD releases, there's a new conversation between Waters and Jim Jarmusch included, as well as an essay by critic/misanthropologist Howard Hampton that I can't wait to read. The Cookie Mueller essay about the making-of appeared in "Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black" (back in print for the first time in decades), but is a great read if you haven't done so before. This also includes Steve Yeager's documentary "Divine Trash", a must-see if you're a fan of Waters' art. I don't need to dive into the content of the film too deeply; if you can't pick up what you might see in a movie about the filthiest person alive, it's probably not for you. It's funny and profane and sick and wonderful and has influenced everything great and creative and insane over the past five decades.

From "Pink Flamingos" (John Waters, 1972)

It sucks being out of work, because June is a month where I'd preorder every single release. But instead, I need to be judicious with my purchases. It'll probably come down "Shaft" and "Pink Flamingos" on the preorder front, with "Worst Person" and "Rouge" coming as soon as I sell some stuff on Discogs. Things don't get easy in July, when work from the likes of Scorsese, Coppola, Bong, and Hamaguchi all join the Collection. Be there in 30...aloha!

The Criterion Collection in May

From "Chan Is Missing" (Wayne Wang, 1982)

One of my very esteemed readers noted that they wished I still did previews of upcoming Blu-ray releases. Now, I stopped doing these back in February of last year, not because I suddenly stopped liking movies. No, it was because I had, for the past few months, been working for an e-commerce platform as a buyer, and really didn't have the inclination, after a long day of setting up preorder codes and resizing images, to write a couple thousand words about Blu-rays. Better to leave it to people who were getting promos and getting paid to blog.

That said, I found out Friday that my time in that position would be ending in a couple weeks. Between that, and always wanting to honor the wishes of one of my few irregular readers, I figured, "yeah, let's spit about the new Criterion jonz." So welcome, my friends, to the soon-to-be-regular-again Criterion preview for May. Once again, I'm disappointed by the lack of a "My Cousin Vinny" Criterion Blu-ray, but I guess we can't have it all.

May 10

May's new releases kick off with a thriller I've never seen or heard of before. It's 1976's "Mr. Klein", directed by the blacklisted American expatriate Joseph Losey and starring Alain Delon. I know Losey via his 1951 adaptation of "M" for Columbia, and apparently I've seen a few of his 60s movies that he made in the UK ("The Criminal", "The Damned"). Delon is Delon, man...the epitome of French cool, a man so bad he inspired Chow Yun-Fat. This film, while not a day one purchase, hits a few interest points for me: mistaken identities, World War II, the decadent French. The 4K restoration, as well as contemporaneous interviews with Losey and Delon also pique my fancy. Yeah, I'll keep an eye open for this.

May 17

I know the late Jûzô Itami best as the director of "Tampopo". It's a movie that's much loved in the Ape Mummy household, something I think we own in three or four different formats. I've not seen Itami's directorial debut, which came a year earlier in 1984 in the form of "The Funeral" ("Osôshiki"), but it sounds like it presages "Tampopo" pretty well. It's a dark comedy set around the death and burial of a family patriarch, drawing tension and humor from the clash between old Japanese custom and new attitudes. Someone on imdb describes this as having a lot of Tatiesque scenes. So I guess if you're into Itami's other work, or you're into Jacques Tati, you'll probably be into this. Me? I'm a sucker for just about any comedy set at a funeral. After all, tragedy is when I fall down and break my leg; comedy is when you fall down and break your neck. Itami stars Nobuko Miyamoto and Manpei Ikeuchi are interviewed as part of the extras; there are also apparently some ads for Ichiroku Tart that Itami directed.

May 24

It's with no small sense of relief that we finally encounter a film I can discuss with some level of expertise. It's been a long time since I've seen "Mississippi Masala", so while I'm familiar with it, I'm really looking forward to watching it with fresh eyes. Mira Nair has always been a great storyteller, and her work here with Sarita Choudhury and Denzel Washington as a pair of star-crossed lovers is something that EVERYONE should experience at least once. Nair hits a lot of topics that I know I wasn't ready for in 1992 when this first came out; thirty years later, speaking honestly about racism, colorism, immigration, and cross-cultural romance is even more of an issue (sadly). I'm really looking forward to seeing this in a 4K restoration, as I think I saw this after it'd already been circulating for several months, and I can't imagine Samuel Goldwyn minted more than a couple dozen prints of this back in the day. There's a bunch of interviews with cast and crew included as extras, and the Blu-ray features a reproduction of Nair's production diaries. Fun trivia: imdb says Nair is directing the first episode of the Disney+ "National Treasure" revival.

May 31

The last day of May brings a pair of titles that I think I'm going to need on day one. The first is Wayne Wang's "Chan Is Missing". I've like just about every film on Wang's I've seen, from "Smoke" and "The Joy Luck Club" to "Maid In Manhattan" (a top-five J.Lo performance, IMHO). The plot is straight out of a film noir: two aspiring cabbies search Chinatown to find their missing business partner and their $4,000. The difference, and what makes "Chan" so important, is the dive into Chinese American culture, with an iconic San Francisco setting. It's a film that is just as important now as it was upon release 40 years ago, a reminder that representation matters, the kind of movie that paved the way for the 80s and 90s indie revolution, and a really entertaining flick. Wang oversaw the restoration and transfer on this one (its debut on Blu-ray, if memory serves), and sits for commentary, as well as interviews with Ang Lee and critic Hua Hsu. I'm also hyped to check out Debbie Lum's behind-the-scenes documentary, "Is Chan Still Missing?" This one might show up on the Criterion Channel in May, so I might hold off until the month's streaming offerings get announced before preordering. But it's one I definitely want to own.

Speaking of which...May's lone UHD release is also the lone, sure-fire, Day One Criterion release for this month. Billy Wilder's 1944 classic noir, "Double Indemnity", starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson, is getting the royal treatment with a comprehensive 4K digital restoration. This is one of my all-time favorite movies; it's probably one of the first Wilder movies I saw, has some crackling dialogue and an aces plot courtesy of Raymond Chandler, and one of the best femme fatale performances ever via Stanwyck's Phyllis Dietrichson. It's a stone-cold classic, a must-have for anyone who loves thrillers, and arguably Wilder's first great film. The late Richard Schickel provides the commentary track on this one; I don't have my Universal DVD handy, but I assume it's the same one. On the new front, there's a conversation with Eddie Muller and Imogen Sara Smith, an interview with writer Noah Isenberg, and radio adaptations of the script dating from 1945 and 1950. Even if, like me, you don't have a 4K TV and UHD player yet, I definitely recommend copping the combo pack on this one, if only to future proof and plan for a REALLY good looking transfer in the coming days when you do get that sick tax refund back.

That's May, my friends. There's a ton of excellent releases dropping, so save those nickels and dimes. June has already been announced, what with the likes of another pair of my favorite films coming to the Collection. I suppose I'll be back in around 30 days to talk about tohse; sooner if I don't get a new gig between now and then. Happy watching; be there...aloha!