Film &Vinyl

Hi yall! It's been a very long time since I've updated this blog with my work. I just posted two articles that were published on Film Cred last year. Now I want to share links to the various podcast appearances I made last year too. All of these podcasts are fantastic. If you are a movie lover, I highly recommend you give them a listen, subscribe, and show these podcasts some love. Btw, I'm only posting links to their Spotify but you can find all these podcasts on Itunes, as

Originally published on Film Cred on December 6, 2021 “Omissions are betrayals”  –  Barbra Cambell-Done (played by Holly Hunter in  Little Black Book ) To be blunt, being cheated on, manipulated, or just flat-out deceived in a relationship sucks. It’s not a fun place to find yourself in. One day, you are planning to marry someone you love. Somebody who you thought would be “your forever.” The next day, you learn that your significant other is seeking attention from someone e

Originally published in Film Cred May 18, 2021 “ It’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses. “ –  Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson in  Hidden Figures ) Other than movies, a few topics have always fascinated me: space exploration, archeology, and history to name a few. It’s even better when I get to watch these subjects portrayed on film, whether it be a period piece, a biographical film, or just a regular documentary about the people who cont

Originally Published on Talk Film Society , Jun.25, 2019 When it comes to movies, sometimes sound is much worse than the visuals on the screen. Personally, I'm a person who is easily affected by sounds. Even as a horror fan, I cringe at the sound of stabbing and crunching of bones in a film. There are times you can tell if a kitchen knife was pierced through a melon. But if the effects are realistic enough, the sounds will stay with me for a while. So coming across Peter Str

I like old things. Not because they are old but because they have witnessed certain emotions, certain situations, when people acted in highly emotionally charged situations. They touched these objects in these situations and charged them with their emotions. I collect these objects, use them as lead characters in my films and try to somehow evoke these sensual emotions in my films.- Jan Svankmajer With any relationship, communication is vital. It is how we form or strengthe

Animation is, so far, the only way of breathing life into inanimate things. Children’s games work with the same magic. This kind of magic is the point where childhood and animation intersect with each other. - Jan Svankmajer Anyone who loves literature, fantasy books, or even childhood fairy tales has come across Lewis Carroll’s "The Jabberwocky" at some point in their lives. It is a strange poem featured in that talks about the slaying of a dragon called the Jabberwock. C

In 2013, the nostalgic 80s synth-electronica craftwork from Belbury Poly (Jim Jupp) collaborated with fellow Ghost Box records artist Jon Brooks from Advisory Circle as The Belbury Circle to create a mellow, dreamy synthpop E.P titled Empty Avenues . The E.P features Ultravox lead singer John Foxx's whose distinct, wispy vocals deliver haunting melodies and romantic lyrics on finding one's self and envisioning an idealized life. Thankfully, The Belbury Circle called him back

Men sometimes have strange motives for the things they do. - Matthew Hopkins In 1644, Matthew Hopkins and his assistant John Stearne made their way across East Anglia. Their goal was to rid the region of witchcraft. The thing is, they had no authorization from the British government. During 1644 and 1647, England saw a rise in witch trials, which caused the deaths of over 300 people. The majority were women. Three centuries later, author Ronald Bassett penned a fictionaliz

After doing my review on Jan Svakmajer's short film last year, I felt compelled to talk about my other favorite Czech animator. Along with Jan Svankmajer, Jiri Barta is one of the best animators from former Czechoslovakia. Years ago I would check out Barta's  Labyrinth of Darkness (1978) on Netflix whenever it was available. I was already obsessed with Svankmajer's The Ossuary and other Tales (1994) at the time. So, I figured Barta's work would impress me too. And it did!  Ev

You must have patience, even while people die. Only thus can the whole evil be destroyed. You must let it grow. - The Judge Folk horror- one of my favorite film sub-genres. It’s was a short-lived period in both British television and film during the 60's and 70's. There is an emphasis on mood, Gothic landscape, and British folklore. Witchcraft and paganism are often the central themes. I first came across folk-horror in a different way: music. Last year or so, I got in Haun

I knew the day I started this blog I wanted to talk about Czech surrealist filmmaker Jan Svankmajer. His stop-motion (claymation) and live action films made me a fan of surrealism and stop motion for life. I first saw his 1987 film "Alice", an otherworldly adaptation based on Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", back in college. I never looked back since! Some of his works often look grotesque and have a humorous tone. His tales contain a whimsical charm to th

A year before he made his iconic adventurous classic "A Trip to The Moon", George Méliès created a darker tale called  Blue Beard , based on the French folktale by Charles Perrault. In 1899, Méliès adapted Perrault's other famous story, "Cinderella", into a six-minute short film. It was met with praise in Europe and in the U.S. By the 1900s, Méliès started to create much longer features with more elaborate settings and costumes. In 1897, he directed The Haunted Castle but his

Hey Guys! I wanted to share with you a trailer that I’ve been waiting for to come out for at least a good year and a half. The indie horror film “Creep”, starring actors Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice, who also directed the film, was released back in 2015. It tells a story about a young videographer named Aaron (Brice) visiting a lonely man named Joseph (Duplass) who posted an ad on Craigslist. Without spoiling anything, “Creep” turned out to be a great surprise. Since its r

Nosferatu. Does this word not sound like the midnight call of the Bird of Death? Do not utter it, or the images of life will fade – into pale shadows and ghostly dreams will rise from your heart and feed your Blood – opening title card from Nosferatu I remember the first time I saw F.W. Murnau’s expressionist masterpiece Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror .  I was a twenty-year-old college kid and, at the time, there was an enormous amount of hype around the Twilight films. Pe

Happy October everyone! To get into the Halloween spirit, I thought I’d share another Chomon short with you called The House of Ghosts . The 1908 short film is known for two things: its innovative stop-motion and is one of the first films ever to use the concept of a haunted house. Two men and a woman decide to stay in a house when they got lost in the forest. Immediately, the group is greeted with plenty amounts of paranormal activity. Aside from the typical disappearin

Time for another silent film. This time I’m taking a break from George Melies to take a look at a piece from one of his rivals, Spanish film director Segundo De Chomon. Much like Melies, De Chomon created short films with optical illusions and camera stop tricks. He started off working at the Pathe Freres company in Spain. Eventually, he developed colored stencil prints as well as mastering his trick short films. In 1905 he moved to Paris. Up until 1912, De Chomon collabora

Film & Vinyl may be more of a film blog but I still intend to talk about music here like I did with Outsider’s Music. I was debating on whether or not I should put this here because ideally, I want to use this space to talk about music from the past or movie soundtracks. But since I’m a fan of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s music and it’s been at least six years since the release of  Stage Whisper and eight years since IRM,  I wanted to do a very brief write up. “Rest” is the new

Hey, guys! I’m back to take a look at another silent film, The Merry Frolics of Satan  or by George Melies. Whether you call it The Merry Frolics of Satan  or  Les Quat’Cents Farces du diable  ( The 400 Tricks of the Devil ), this film is probably one of George Melies most famous work other than A Trip to the Moon . You may be more familiar with the film’s sequence of a magical horse carriage flying through a starry night sky. I initially wanted to talk about this movie inst

Hey, guys! I’m back with some horror movie trailers. These are the ones I’m excited about, other than IT remake. So, here we go: Jigsaw is back! Get ready for the 8th installment of the Saw franchise directed by brothers, Peter and Michael Spierig. The story takes place ten years after the spoiler death of the killer Jigsaw. It appears somebody is following in his footsteps as a string of gruesome murders take place across the city. As noted in the trailer, John Kramer is

I wanted to take a look at another silent film, (1896) directed by George Melies. This time more horror-focused, though this film isn’t really scary. Its origins in the genre are important and I want to talk about why here. I’m going to spoil the movie anyway since this film is super short. George Melies’  three-minute film opens up in a medieval castle where we are greeted with a giant flying bat who transforms into Mephistopheles ( played by either George Melies himsel