I would never have rented The 4th Man (1983) by Paul Verhoeven, director of such Hollywood schlock as Showgirls, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers, though I admit, Robocop was a fun treat. But Joe said our friend Johannes in Rotterdam had recommended it, and we're glad he did! Filmed in his native Holland before Verhoeven hit Hollywood, The 4th Man is a taut psycho-thriller with shades of the surreal (the main man has crazy visions) and lots of male full-frontal. Great editing and special effects that teeter on the line between incredible and cheesy. Thanks Johannes!
Speaking of surreal, incredible, and cheesy, we finally got the 2nd season of Twin Peaks (disc 1) on DVD! It hasn't been available until just recently, and believe or not, I hadn't seen any of it back in the day when it was on TV. I didn't have cable back then, and I was making an effort not to buy into the hype (and frankly, I hadn't liked any Lynch film since Eraserhead). Silly me! Years later, when Joe and I watched Season One on DVD, well, we couldn't get enough. Season Two starts out weirder than ever, in fact, seemingly weird for the sake of weird, but by the third episode, we were once again sucked in. More, more!
Finally, we just finished Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960), the sequel to his earlier Testament of Dr. Mabuse, and his last film. Fritzy, old boy, you've done it again! A brilliantly orchestrated, twisty thriller. And interestingly, a lot of silence in this film, something you rarely find nowadays. So much of film music soundtracks are manipulative and unnecessary, so it was pleasing to hear the action unfolding without benefit of the orchestra. Thanks, Fritz.
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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