To coin the phrase of fellow WordPress blogger MMC! (Make Mine Criterion!) “Arrow Made Mine”, and that’s exactly what Arrow Video has done with a foursome of awesome Italian Westerns. Vengeance and Revenge in its various forms play a huge role in the Italian Westerns, and Arrow has appropriately titled there set Vengeance Trails, and all four films feature the protagonists going on journeys to avenge past injustices. Featured in the set are: Le Colt Cantarono la Morte e Fu…Tempo di Massacro (Massacre Time), Due Once di Piombo (Il Mio Nome Pecos/2 Ounces of Lead/My Name is Pecos), Bandidos, and E Dio Disse a Caino (And God Said to Cain), all very good, dark, and gritty Westerns that exemplify the genre well. Arrow will include its usually high quality book/booklet, a small poster, and a slew of extras including interviews with genre icons Franco Nero and George Hilton.
I do have Massacre Time on Blu Ray in a cool Mediabook/Digibook from Germany and My Name is Pecos in a DVD boxset, again from Germany, but as a collector and lover of the Italo West genre, this is a must buy as I don’t have Bandidos and And God Said to Cain in my collection yet. The only negatives I can find with the set is that Robert Woods’ interview about Pecos from the Wild East DVD and the German set and one of Hilton’s interviews from the Massacre Time German Blu Ray will likely not be included, but this isn’t a deal breaker as I don’t plan on selling the earlier purchases. The price is also a little on the high side, but given the current times, this is to be expected, and of course sales and price drops always happen.
Arrow Video has really outdone themselves with this release and I hope they do a lot more like it in the coming months and into 2022.
Hello to my Followers, those I’m Following, and any Curious Visitors,
Today is a little bit of somber post for me, as I had really hoped I wouldn’t have to write it, at least for a while longer. Just now I learned that one of my favorite Classic Rap artists of my teen years, Earl “DMX” Simmons, has passed away at the age of 50 from a drug related heart attack that left him in a vegetative coma. While I did lose a lot of interest in Rap music as I matured into college, DMX and Snoop Dogg were two of the guys I still took time to listen to on YouTube, something about their songs and styles that just struck me as great listening. Like any teen, you kinda wanna try your hand as what people you like do, and for a while I had Rap aspirations to work with the artists I listened to, especially Snoop, X, and Eve (Philly born like myself). I never wanted to exactly emulate any of the Rap guys I listened to as I never found getting into trouble Romantic in any way, but I tried not to pass judgements on them either.
As we all know, most Rap artists have their problems and controversies, but I think DMX was a little different in that he did try not to repeatedly fall into the same holes his contemporaries did, but the demons of his childhood and teen years proved to be very powerful foes that just wouldn’t leave him alone. This certainly doesn’t justify many of his own wrongdoings, but that he never denied anything he did I think made others less harsh on him.
I’m certainly sad that DMX is no longer around and making music, but I do want to thank him for giving me something to like during a period where I was trying all sorts of things figuring out what I wanted to do for a career. Like a lot of people during this crazy COVID time, I’ve felt all out of sorts, and what happened with DMX did put things back into perspective and reality, and helped me a great deal to see that the Pandemic will eventually come to an end.
RIP DMX, you will be missed and always remembered
Earl “DMX” Simmons (1970-2021)
(This is probably the most personal I’ve ever gotten with a post, but something was compelling me to write it the moment I knew DMX passed away. It’s always a little sad when something like someone’s passing or troubles is what puts everything back in perspective when you’re feeling low, but at the same time those same individuals help you in that they give you the strength to pull yourself out of your funk, move forward, and think more positively.)
All images courtesy of Google.com/Google Images and their respective owners
Hello to all my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
The New Year has gotten off to a slow start for me here on MOVIE FAN MAN, the Lockdowns because of COVID 19 have made my usual groove of writing and watching movies go a little haywire, from the usual 360 degrees to whatever anyone would consider a loopy number. For a little while posts may be infrequent, but rest assured I’ll be back to my usual form soon. I do apologize to anyone and everyone who eagerly looks forward every week to what I’ll be writing about, but as we’re all in the same boat I’m sure everyone can relate and understand. A big thanks to everyone for the continued support of of the blog, it’ll only be bumpy on here for a time, soon a big wave of exciting new stuff will be posted here.
I do plan on finishing up my Follower Appreciation Special this month, I’ve got about two or three more selectees to give the spotlight to.
In other interesting news, today I got the first dose of the COVID vaccination. So far I’m feeling pretty good, and I will update if I feel the common side effects of headaches and sluggishness associated with it, but I have a pretty good constitution when it comes to my health, but I’ll still be keeping a careful on how I feel in the coming days. I get the second and last dose on the 22nd of this month.
Stay safe and stay healthy everybody, and thanks again for the support and interest of my blog.
Happy New Year to all my Followers, those I’m Following, all Curious Visitors,
and a very welcome “get the #@$% out 2020 and stay out” (boy that feels good)
from RunSignUp
As a treat, next week I plan to kick off my return to posting with a special month of selecting some of my Followers, and picking a film from my collection that fits the content their blog, do my standard write up of the film, and include why I felt the film compliments the selected person’s blog. I think this is a nice way of saying thank you to the people who take the time to check out my content and are keeping up with it. I’ll be keeping the chosen one’s a surprise until I post each write up.
Here’s to a much better 2021.
Image from Google.com/Google Images and their respective owners
MERRY CHRISTMAS to my Followers, those I’m Following, all Curious Visitors, and my Relatives and Friends,
Here’s what I’ve gotten so far this Holiday Season
Please excuse the glare in the photos, that was the best spot to showcase my gifts. The tripod will be used for photo taking all future Christmas and Birthday hauls. To all relatives and friends, I’m gonna be replacing my iPhone soon as it won’t let me take anymore pictures and certain functions aren’t working at all now, and this was the best way to show everyone what I’ve received so far.
Hello to all my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
I’m still enjoying my Holiday Break from regular posting, but I’ve had this idea on my mind for a couple of days now and this Season is the right time to share it.
The COVID-19 Epidemic as we all know has practically affected everybody World Wide, but non more than the small business owners, including Blu Ray release companies. Now many of these fine companies have been able to persevere in spite of this chaotic time, thanks primarily from being able to buy directly from their websites or Amazon and its European branches, but still I believe these companies deserve praise and a shout out to keep their spirits high and fan interest up, so here are some of my favorites
ARROW VIDEO
88 FILMS
CAULDRON FILMS
FRACTURED VISIONS
EUREKA!
MONDO MACABRO
SHAMELESS FILMS
EXPLOSIVE MEDIA
KOCH MEDIA
LE CHAT QUI FUME (THE SMOKING CAT)
ARROW ACADEMY
SEVERIN FILMS
VINEGAR SYNDROME
Now the majority of these companies we all know to some degree already, but I’d like to take the time to highlight a couple.
CAULDRON FILMS was started by Jesse Nelson, the owner of Word-Wide Blu Ray and DVD distribution company DIABOLIKDVD, with the intent of bringing back from obscurity some of the smaller and less focused on genre films from Europe, mainly from Italy and Spain from the looks of their first 4 releases. I have already pre-ordered their recent restored edition of the Mystery Giallo The Crimes of the Black Cat, and from the looks on both their website, and the info on the GRINDHOUSE CINEMA DATABASE, they’ve put in quite a lot of time and effort in the restoration which shows they really plan on giving every release their all for fans to enjoy.
FRACTURED VISIONS originally began as a yearly Film Festival in the United Kingdom, and has recently announced they plan on moving into Blu Ray releases as well. Their first release will be the Italian Action Crime Thriller Silent Action with Tomas Milian, Luc Merenda, and Mel Ferrer, slated for retail release March 25th 2021. I highly encourage everyone to give this company support and help them to make more of these releases a possibility in the future.
88 FILMS, MONDO MACABRO, and SHAMELESS FILMS we all know pretty well, but I wanted to give them an extra bit of a shout out as their limited crew run companies that deserve a lot more love and attention so they can continue to grow and expand.
Now I know this last year has been a tough one for everybody, including is cinema lovers as we had be relatively selective when it comes to buying Blu Rays and DVDs as many of us weren’t able to work as much as we wanted to and be able to put aside some of our paychecks to indulge every once in a while, but I hope as we return to normal throughout 2021 we’re able to give these companies an extra dosage of support so they can get that extra push that they didn’t necessarily lose on account of the Pandemic, but definitely experienced a few curveballs from it. Just by supporting them directly via purchasing their products, or recommending them to people in and around where they’re located is more than enough to give them a hand.
All images courtesy of Google.com/Google Images and their respective owners
I’ve also included the SEVERIN and VINEGAR SYNDROME Facebook pages as their websites are currently offline and down as they sort and ship everything out from their big Black Friday sales.
To all my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!
Hope you are all safe, and are enjoying the Day with those you love. I’m thankful for my family, my closest friends, and everyone who supports me here on WordPress.
Hello to my Followers, those I’m Following, and all Curious Visitors,
The Time has come for my two month Holiday Break, so you won’t be seeing much posts from now until 2 or three days after New Years. This past year has been a tough one for all of us with COVID-19 and any other stuff going on in our private lives, but that we’ve been able to our share our passions with others to keep the spirits up has made being a part of this community all the more enjoyable. I’ll be having a load of cool stuff to write about in the coming New Year: a new season of The Melodic Gialli, a couple of Obscure and Unique films, and a few surprises along the way.
I’ll still be posting my yearly greetings for the upcoming holidays and if something I hear or read about sounds interesting enough to spread around, a quickie will pop up.
See you all in (the hopefully not as hectic/crazy/scary) 2021
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