Accattone (1961)
Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1925. His mother was a primary school teacher, and his father was a lieutenant in the Royal Italian Army. A year later, Pasolini’s father was arrested for gambling debts, and his mother moved in with her family. In time, Pasolini’s father would embrace Italian fascism.
Continue reading “Movie Review – Accattone”
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Written by Sergio Citti
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
His body was nearly unrecognizable when it was found on a beach in Ostia, near the edges of Rome. Pier Paolo Pasolini had been savagely beaten and run over multiple times with his own car. Additionally, the director had his genitals crushed with a metal bar and had been doused in gasoline and set ablaze. He was 53 years old when his life was taken. He hadn’t started making movies until he was 35, having helped write dialogue for Federico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria. Fellini brought him back for the La Dolce Vita script. Before films, Pasolini was known as a poet & a painter, both finding a potent presence in his cinematic work. His murder appeared to have been part of an extortion attempt by the mafia, stealing reels of Salo and demanding large sums of money in return. There was certainly hate behind it, too.
Continue reading “Movie Review – Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom”
Cat-Eyed Boy: The Perfect Edition Volume One and Volume Two (2023)
Written & Illustrated by Kazuo Umezz
Kazuo Umezz is one of the most famous Japanese horror manga authors and started his career in the 1950s. Bucking the trends of the time, Umezz incorporated gory & grotesque imagery often associated with Japanese folklore, especially the Yokai – the umbrella term for ghosts, demons, and other nefarious spirits. One of his most well-known series was Cat-Eyed Boy, initially serialized in the pages of Shōnen Gaho, an anthology magazine. Like most manga that prove to be a success, there was an anime series (though it was more like voiceovers and little paper cutouts) as well as a live-action series in the mid-2000s. While the title character does prove to be an important part of each story arc, the stories were more like serialized horror anthology tales, a la American Horror story.
Continue reading “Comic Book Review – Cat-Eyed Boy”
A aging star goes to extreme lengths to become young again. A teenage girl goes on a camping trap with her dad & his friend only to discover the disappointing realities of growing up.
Continue reading “PopCult Podcast – The Substance/Good One”
The Electric State by Free League Press
Swedish painter Simon Stålenhag has become prominent in the last decade because of his evocative retro-science fiction artwork. Tales from the Loop was turned into an Amazon series set in an alternate reality where humanity made significant technological advances. Things From the Flood was an artbook about a world where the water rose and brought strange creatures into the lives of ordinary people. The Labyrinth focuses on an ash-covered world of ruins where the apocalypse ravaged Earth. Like Tales and Things, the Electric State has been turned into a tabletop roleplaying game by Free League Publishing. Included in the core book are solo rules. I haven’t dipped my toes into Free League’s Year Zero system yet, so I thought this one would be a good start.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – The Electric State Part One”
Read the previous chapter here
Plot Thread: Time Cops on Patrol
[Begin a Session: External factors create new danger, urgency, or importance for a quest]Oracle: Capture Greed
Tempus Wright got a ping on his wristband. He had returned from a meeting with the police commissioner and Aiden Bell a couple hours earlier. Posing as Thomas Wright, a former CIA operative, he’d convinced them to give him access to the Victory Academy and its files. All that mattered was finding exactly where Jude Olmeda/Kismet altered the timeline to become Epoch in the future. This ping seemed problematic, though.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Supersworn: The Victory Academy Part Eight”
Film Series
[The Films of Pier Paolo Pasolini – Nov 5 through Nov 21]
Salo or 120 Days of Sodom, Accattone, Mamma Roma, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Oedipus Rex, Theorem, Medea, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, and The Arabian Nights
TV Reviews
Nov 10 – Northern Exposure Season Five
Comic Book Reviews
Nov 2 – Cat-Eyed Boy
Nov 9 – Sideways
Nov 16 – Squadron Supreme
Solo Tabletop RPG Reviews & Actual Plays
Nov 3, 10, 17, 24 – The Electric State Solo
Podcast Episodes
Nov 3 -The Substance/Good One
Nov 10 – Last Summer/Green Border
Nov 17 – The Apprentice/Megalopolis
Features
[Patron Pick] Quigley – Matt
[Patron Pick] Inside Out– Bekah
[Patron Pick] Saw 3– Matt
[Patron Pick] Babes – Bekah
Book Update – September/October
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I had this recommended when I asked for people’s science fiction novel recommendations on a social media platform. I can’t say I loved it as intensely as I’ve seen others, but it has some incredible ideas and moments that have stuck with me. The parts I liked appealed to some existential ideas I have been thinking about for years, particularly humans, disregarding that they are ultimately just a type of animal who benefited (or were cursed) by being taken down an intense path of evolution.
Continue reading “Book Update – September/October 2024”This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Bekah Lindstrom.
Babes (2024)
Written by Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz
Directed by Pamela Adlon
I went into this film with not the highest of expectations. I wanted to enjoy it, though. Ilana Glazer was hilarious on Comedy Central’s Broad City, though I haven’t been incredibly impressed with her work outside of that series. Pamela Adlon is an actress I’ve enjoyed the performances of, from voicing Bobby Hill to her more recent live-action turns. Better Things, her now-concluded FX show, is on my TV list to watch from beginning to end. All this to say, I wanted to give Babes a fair show, but my god, this is one of the worst films I have seen in a very long time. It has me reeling about how infantile media made for adults is becoming in the States, but maybe it’s always been like this, and I’m just perceiving it now.
Continue reading “Patron Pick – Babes”
PopCult Reviews 