Twin Peaks, Season One (TV 1990)

Twin Peaks Season One (1990)
8 episodes including pilot

The David Lynch Project Part IV

Looking at Twin Peaks, you get the feeling that David Lynch was like a kid placed in a room with an enormous amount of toys. Not an unlimited number of toys, but enough to keep him interested for a long, long time. A television series also gave Lynch a longer format to work with, allowing him and co-creator Mark Frost to develop characters and themes, to experiment, to take risks and to explore. Sure, there were restrictions; this was network TV in the early 90s, after all, but it may not be too much of a stretch to say that with Twin Peaks, Lynch was at least partially responsible for pushing boundaries and exploring some unchartered television territory.

Nominate The Comics Alternative Podcast

The 10th Annual People’s Podcast Awards show is coming up soon and you can nominate your favorite podcasts right now. (As you can see, you can nominate in several categories.) I know that some of the readers of Journeys in Darkness and Light also either read The Comics Alternative blog, listen to the podcast, or both, so if you enjoy the podcast, I hope you’ll consider nominating us. Just select the category you think best fits the podcast (Entertainment, Cultural/Arts, etc.) and cast your nomination. We certainly appreciate it!

And speaking of the podcast, Derek and I will be recording February’s webcomics episode this weekend, so keep an eye out for it and other upcoming episodes on our calendar! 

The Driver (1978) Walter Hill

The Driver (1978) Walter Hill
(1:31)
20th Century Fox
Studio Canal Blu-ray (Region B)

The Driver (Ryan O’Neal) pulls his car around to the front of a casino and waits patiently until two masked men rush into the car. The three of them make their getaway… at least for a few seconds, until they’re chased by a police car. The high-speed chase is edge-of-your-seat stuff, yet the Driver never utters a word or even lets on that this is anything other than a routine ride around the block. He loses the cops, only to have two more patrol cars on his tail. Pretty soon you realize there’s no way the Driver is gonna get out of this, right?

News from The Comics Alternative Podcast

  

Yesterday Derek and I recorded a podcast that is now up at The Comics Alternative Podcast covering the new graphic novel Vapor by Max (from Fantagraphics), as well as two new titles, Feathers #1, an all-ages title by Jorge Corona (Boom! Studios), and The Dying and the Dead #1, a 60-page issue with writing by Jonathan Hickman, art by Ryan Bodenheim, and colors by Michael Garland (Image). If you’re a comics fan, all three of these titles – while all very different – are definitely worth your consideration. We hope you’ll give us a listen, then join in the discussion on our forum.

Also our interview with Ian Edginton (The Kingdom of the Wicked) is up now.

If you haven’t checked us out for awhile, you should know that The Comics Alternative Podcast also discusses webcomics. On each webcomics podcast, we cover two current ongoing webcomics and one completed webcomic. You can check out our first show from December, 2014 as well as our most recent show from earlier this month. Derek and I will be recording the February webcomics podcast very soon, so stay tuned.

Il sorpasso (1962) Dino Risi

Il sorpasso (1962) Dino Risi
(1:45)
Criterion Collection
Hulu Plus streaming

It’s hard not to love Dino Risi’s Italian road comedy Il sorpasso. It’s filled with laughs, excitement, danger, fights (both verbal and physical), music, romance, adventure and sadness. Although audiences didn’t exactly love it upon its initial release, time has been good to the film and I’m delighted that new audiences can experience it via streaming and recent Blu-ray and DVD releases from Criterion.

Upcoming Reviews

 

The Criterion Collection                              Warner Archive

It may take awhile, but I hope to review several films in the next few days. Many of these have been brewing for awhile, so I’ll have to refer to my notes (or just watch them again). My current “To Review” list is as follows:

Snowpiercer (2013) Joon-ho Bong

Under the Skin (2013) Jonathan Glazer

The Lusty Men (1952) Nicholas Ray

Twin Peaks Season One (1990)

Desperate (1947) Anthony Mann

Il Sorpasso (1962) Dino Risi

The Driver (1978) Walter Hill

Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) Fritz Lang

Let me know the ones you’d most like to see soon and I’ll try to move them to the top of the list.

Interviews and Reviews

  

Derek and I will have lots to discuss in the next week or so over at The Comics Alternative Podcast. For Monday, January 26, we have scheduled an interview with comics writer Ian Edginton, who has an upcoming reissue of his 2004 book Kingdom of the Wicked.

  

Then on Wednesday, January 28, Derek and I will discuss a new graphic novel titled Vapor from Max, published by Fantagraphics, as well as Feathers #1 by Jorge Corona from Archaia, plus one other title.

Be sure to click on The Comics Alternative calendar in the center of the page for more interviews and reviews. Also consider dropping by The Comics Alternative forums and getting in on the discussions of comics, webcomics, graphic novels and more.

Union Station (1950) Rudolph Maté

Union Station (1950) Rudolph Maté
(1:21)
Paramount Pictures
Olive Films Blu-ray

A woman (Nancy Olson) watches as two men board her Chicago-bound train, both looking a bit suspicious. She notices one of them concealing a pistol, which causes her to alert the authorities at Chicago’s Union Station. The head of railroad security, Lt. William Calhoun (William Holden), is initially suspicious, but decides to check it out.

It turns out the woman was onto something. Calhoun discovers that the daughter of a local millionaire has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. But that’s just about all Calhoun does know.

Hollywood Frame by Frame (2014) Karina Longworth

Hollywood Frame by Frame: The Unseen Silver Screen in Contact Sheets, 1951-1997 (2014) Karina Longworth
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover, 208 pages
Footnotes, index, photo credits, acknowledgments
ISBN 9781616892593

Hollywood Frame by Frame chronicles a time past, but not so long past that it has no significance to movie lovers in 2015. In fact, the book has lasting significance and value for anyone interested in how films were made and promoted in the 20th century. Contact sheets – photo images printed from developed film – were used by still photographers (who usually had nothing to do with the actual film production crews) to promote films, taking pictures of movie stars while on the set or on location. Yet their value was also recognized as a method of documenting the working life of the stars, often with their guard down, showing each film’s (and sometimes each star’s) facade.

Interview with Brian K. Vaughan

 

I can’t tell you what a blast it was to interview comics writer Brian K. Vaughan recently. I just don’t have the words. But rather than listening to me talk about it, I hope you’ll listen to the interview Derek, Andy K. and I did with Vaughan over at The Comics Alternative Podcast. And after you’ve listened, we hope you’ll join us on the forums to discuss more of Vaughan’s work or any other comics-related topics. Enjoy!