How does Friday work for the Newsletter for everyone? It’s kinda a nice way for me to wrap up the week. If you feel like we should change it, drop us a line and tell us. Maybe I’ll run a poll. There are a lot of reasons why I’m happy the weekend is upon us. One of the many is the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I’ll have more thoughts on the remake very soon and GTA VI as well. Video games are going to have a big future in this Newsletter. More on that later.
Documentaries are awesome…
Beyond You Can See Everything becoming a must-see Event Film (not on anyone’s bingo card for 2026), there are multiple documentaries that push the boundaries of what many consider “documentaries” and are highly entertaining/worthwhile looking at.
If you’re a Nathan Fielder fan (the You Can See Everything director), bets are that you’re a John Wilson fan too. The creator/star of HBO’s How to with John Wilson has a new documentary that just hit PVOD and is definitely worth a look if you loved You Can See Everything. The History of Concrete is Wilson at his most wily and sardonically sincere. It’s a documentary that’s as alive as anything that Errol Morris has done but funnier … a lot funnier. Read my review here.
Soul Patrol also gives a jolt to the format, adding in a layer of narrative storytelling to aid in its look at Black Soldiers during the Vietnam War. The film by J.M. Harper that directed the strange and electrifying jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy is the best war film of recent memory. Read my review here.
The Passenger [Blu-ray]
Proves that every great film has its time eventually.
An astounding film and Jack Nicholson performance. I wasn’t a fan of Antonioni until this film. I still may not be. This film unlocked something in his work for me. I finally got the overzealous gushing. I was (and still am) an acolyte for this film back when I saw it during its rerelease in 2005. I was going through a particularly emotionally devastating period in my life, and this film spoke to me. The intoxicating thought of leaving your life for another, even if it could cost you everything.
The methodical pace is wonderful, as it allows for more than just tension, but rather life to bleed through the framework of a traditional thriller plot – a journalist takes the identity of an international gun runner. That pace allows you to bake in the Saharan desert sun with David (Nicholson) or the interplay of shadow and light in Barcelona during a languid walk or the devastating beauty of Maria Schneider’s nameless woman in a convertible car, wind abreast. Antonioni lulls you into this world so fully that it can devastate you with an ending that people were not ready for in 1975 and fifty years later may still not be.
Jason Statham is a Chuck by another name…
I was watching the trailer for the newest Jason Statham film (The Beekeeper 2 for reference) it occurred to me that Statham’s formula driven latter half career is very reminiscent of another actor that found super stardom in the latter half of his career … Charles Bronson.
They’re dude’s dudes. Their superstardom didn’t come until late in their lives (both in their 50s). Statham has MGM/Amazon. Bronson had the Canon Film Group. They make mediocre but highly entertaining movies about an avenging angel with some moral compass taking on some supremely bad people. There are some films, the rare exception of which are truly brilliant pieces of B-Movie Fried Gold.
Which leads us to a Bronson B-Movie Fried Gold nugget …
4K UHD Review: Kino Lorber’s 10 To Midnight (Special Edition)
10 to Midnight is one of the 1980s Charles Bronson Cannon films that put it all together. A cop versus Serial Killer epic that pits Bronson’s aging police detective against a younger, smarter killer (played to perfection by Gene Davis). The film, in many ways, is a spiritual cousin to Bronson’s first megahit, The Mechanic, pitting the older Bronson against a younger actor for screen supremacy. Both share the panache for psychological mind games deftly mixed with action, giving Bronson a rarity… a formidable foe.
Director/co-writer J. Lee Thompson gives the film a flair that feels more giallo than standard-issue police procedural. It’s the gothic touches that elevate it even beyond Thompson’s own work as a whole. The way that Stacey kills his victims naked (something Thomas Harris would later steal for his novel Red Dragon). The ornate nature of the kills. Kessler crossing moral lines in order to catch Stacey. All feels like something out of a great giallo starring Franco Nero directed by Sergio Martino.
Though you’re not here for Bronson’s acting abilities. You’re here for the showdown between cop and serial killer. Thompson understands this and constructs a taut and riveting final 45 minutes that actually could have a Seven-style ending. By properly setting up the stakes and showing the cost of Kessler’s hubris, 10 to Midnight gives us a truly thrilling finale that feels like it has real stakes. By its final unforgettable ending, it has become one of the best Bronson films and, by default, one of the best Cannon Films of the era.
The Transfer
Kino’s disc features an all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative that’s literally the bee’s knees. I cannot say enough good things about KL’s discs. They do turn ‘em out, and what is produced are high-quality transfers. Cannon Films were never shy about being cheap, but whoever took care of their film library deserves a medal because it feels like every film that looked like hot garbage on VHS and even DVD has made a turn on Blu-ray or 4K.
We will be back next week with another edition of The Media Lab
Welcome to The Media Lab
How does Friday work for the Newsletter for everyone? It’s kinda a nice way for me to wrap up the week. If you feel like we should change it, drop us a line and tell us. Maybe I’ll run a poll. There are a lot of reasons why I’m happy the weekend is upon us. One of the many is the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I’ll have more thoughts on the remake very soon and GTA VI as well. Video games are going to have a big future in this Newsletter. More on that later.
Documentaries are awesome…
Beyond You Can See Everything becoming a must-see Event Film (not on anyone’s bingo card for 2026), there are multiple documentaries that push the boundaries of what many consider “documentaries” and are highly entertaining/worthwhile looking at.
If you’re a Nathan Fielder fan (the You Can See Everything director), bets are that you’re a John Wilson fan too. The creator/star of HBO’s How to with John Wilson has a new documentary that just hit PVOD and is definitely worth a look if you loved You Can See Everything. The History of Concrete is Wilson at his most wily and sardonically sincere. It’s a documentary that’s as alive as anything that Errol Morris has done but funnier … a lot funnier. Read my review here.
Soul Patrol also gives a jolt to the format, adding in a layer of narrative storytelling to aid in its look at Black Soldiers during the Vietnam War. The film by J.M. Harper that directed the strange and electrifying jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy is the best war film of recent memory. Read my review here.
The Passenger [Blu-ray]
Proves that every great film has its time eventually.
An astounding film and Jack Nicholson performance. I wasn’t a fan of Antonioni until this film. I still may not be. This film unlocked something in his work for me. I finally got the overzealous gushing. I was (and still am) an acolyte for this film back when I saw it during its rerelease in 2005. I was going through a particularly emotionally devastating period in my life, and this film spoke to me. The intoxicating thought of leaving your life for another, even if it could cost you everything.
The methodical pace is wonderful, as it allows for more than just tension, but rather life to bleed through the framework of a traditional thriller plot – a journalist takes the identity of an international gun runner. That pace allows you to bake in the Saharan desert sun with David (Nicholson) or the interplay of shadow and light in Barcelona during a languid walk or the devastating beauty of Maria Schneider’s nameless woman in a convertible car, wind abreast. Antonioni lulls you into this world so fully that it can devastate you with an ending that people were not ready for in 1975 and fifty years later may still not be.
Jason Statham is a Chuck by another name…
I was watching the trailer for the newest Jason Statham film (The Beekeeper 2 for reference) it occurred to me that Statham’s formula driven latter half career is very reminiscent of another actor that found super stardom in the latter half of his career … Charles Bronson.
They’re dude’s dudes. Their superstardom didn’t come until late in their lives (both in their 50s). Statham has MGM/Amazon. Bronson had the Canon Film Group. They make mediocre but highly entertaining movies about an avenging angel with some moral compass taking on some supremely bad people. There are some films, the rare exception of which are truly brilliant pieces of B-Movie Fried Gold.
Which leads us to a Bronson B-Movie Fried Gold nugget …
4K UHD Review: Kino Lorber’s 10 To Midnight (Special Edition)
10 to Midnight is one of the 1980s Charles Bronson Cannon films that put it all together. A cop versus Serial Killer epic that pits Bronson’s aging police detective against a younger, smarter killer (played to perfection by Gene Davis). The film, in many ways, is a spiritual cousin to Bronson’s first megahit, The Mechanic, pitting the older Bronson against a younger actor for screen supremacy. Both share the panache for psychological mind games deftly mixed with action, giving Bronson a rarity… a formidable foe.
Director/co-writer J. Lee Thompson gives the film a flair that feels more giallo than standard-issue police procedural. It’s the gothic touches that elevate it even beyond Thompson’s own work as a whole. The way that Stacey kills his victims naked (something Thomas Harris would later steal for his novel Red Dragon). The ornate nature of the kills. Kessler crossing moral lines in order to catch Stacey. All feels like something out of a great giallo starring Franco Nero directed by Sergio Martino.
Though you’re not here for Bronson’s acting abilities. You’re here for the showdown between cop and serial killer. Thompson understands this and constructs a taut and riveting final 45 minutes that actually could have a Seven-style ending. By properly setting up the stakes and showing the cost of Kessler’s hubris, 10 to Midnight gives us a truly thrilling finale that feels like it has real stakes. By its final unforgettable ending, it has become one of the best Bronson films and, by default, one of the best Cannon Films of the era.
The Transfer
Kino’s disc features an all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative that’s literally the bee’s knees. I cannot say enough good things about KL’s discs. They do turn ‘em out, and what is produced are high-quality transfers. Cannon Films were never shy about being cheap, but whoever took care of their film library deserves a medal because it feels like every film that looked like hot garbage on VHS and even DVD has made a turn on Blu-ray or 4K.
We will be back next week with another edition of The Media Lab
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