So as I write this I am missing the last performance I would ever see of Planes Mistaken For Stars, one of my favorite bands. It's a shame they will be no more. Gared, the lead singer, luckily has two other projects going on right now. One is called Hexes, which apparently a continuation of the direction PMFS was headed for (and also contains two PMFS band members) and the other is Hawks and Doves, an obvious homage to the Neil Young album title, and is I am assuming a much mellower Gared like that of the amazing last track, Penitence, from the Planes last record Mercy. Here's hope some of each projects tunes will hit the net in the not so distant future.

So on to film talk. I caught the latest from the Coen Brothers, No Country for Old Men, the other day and can safely say it will be fighting for the number one spot on my best of 2007 list. Unfortunately this list may not be completed until February 5th. Why you ask? Why that is the first time I will more than likely be able to catch my much hyped The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford. Yes, my dumb ass missed my chance to catch the flick around and now much wait for hit dvd.

In the next few weeks I hope to make a trip or two both Columbus and Cleveland to catch some flicks. What films, you say? Well, I hope to catch La Chinoise and Pierrot Le Fou both by Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Doulos, and Michelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point. I own both of the Godard flicks and love them but how can you really pass up his flicks on the big screen. The other two films I have been dying to see for a long time. If nothing else I will make an effort to catch Zabriskie Point because I have passed it up about three time now and a widescreen copy on dvd is nearly non-existent (the film has never been released in the States on disc and only widescreen elsewhere).

So I guess the unthinkable happened. Well, okay lets not be so drastic. I will just come out and say it. I was too big on the new Takeshi Kitano film, Glory to the Filmmaker!. It's a shame really, cause I really loved his last 3 films, which have been very hit or miss with most people. Come to think of it there has been only one other Kitano film I was extremely disappointed with and that was his stab at American film, Brother. I love for his films started where most people's admiration had with his film Sonatine, which was released in Japan in in '93, but not until '98 in the US, courtesy of Quentin Tarantino defunct distribution label Rolling Thunder Pictures. Immediately after watching and loving the film ,I went on a search for his previous film and one of his most well known pictures, Hana-Bi also known as Fireworks. My personal favorite lies in his more quieter piece, Kikujiro, but I still had alot of love for is insanely abstract Takeshis'.

The latest, however, I just didn't get. The first half was pure Kitano genius to me. He represented a film full of filmmaking homages to some of the true greats of Japanese cinema and still managed to outdo himself. However, the second half just simply didn't seem to go nowhere. Maybe I need to give it more of a chance though, I just really which the rest of the film continued with the pattern he led it with. He instead ops for his comedy roots which don't always come out on the funny side. Oh, well. You win some you lose some, I guess. Nonetheless, I will be ready for what else he has in store in the future. What can I say, I love the guy.

Let's start things off with a nice little review of Eureka! Entertainment's Masters of Cinema release of the definitive version of the 1922 horror classic Nosferatu in a very satisfying 2-disc set.

Quite honestly, where do I start with this one. The thing is a true wonder. I am sure everyone is familiar with the story of Nosferatu but allow me to elaborate a bit. Countless interpretation of the writings of Bram Stoker have been representative on film but F.W. Murnau is the first and in the eyes of many, the best. The story follows just has many have over and over a man and his run in with a very un-human being who is not only out for his blood but also the blood of his loved one. Possibly one of the most terrifying performance of the great blood sucking vampire ever contained on film, Murnau's Nosferatu set the bar pretty high when he created this legendary film.

Now on to Eureka! Entertainment's release of the film. This thing is the most, and probably will stay the most, pristine transfer of the film ever released. For starters, the cover art is one of the coolest damn images I have ever seen gracing the front of a dvd box. The transfer and restoration of the film is in a whole other league all its own. A few US companies whom will remain nameless have attempted to do the film justice but have never reached this level of purity. The tinted print has been remastered to created, in my mind, hands down the best look of the film to ever see the light of day. This Masters of Cinema release even managed to not only add the original German intertitles (with English subtitles, of course), instead of newly created English language ones but they also were able to dig up the original Hans Erdmann score, which many release before it has instead chosen to reconstructed it by a more recent composer. The Erdmann original has not been heard for over 85 years until now.

Finally, there is the great extra features found on this disc. To start things off on disc 1 we are fortunate enough to have the pleasure of hearing silent film historian Dixon Smith along with film critic Brad Stevens talk exclusively about the film and silent films in general. Disc 2 sheds more light on the film with a the nearly hour long documentary The Language of Shadows which gives us even more information on the making of Nosferatu and the work of director F.W. Murnau. Finally the disc treats us to a mini restoration of this fantastic edition of the film. But that's not all, also found in the set is a 80 page booklet which is just a absolute pleasure to read after watching the film.

So what are you waiting for. Go and buy this baby right now. Where can I get this, you say? For your easy and comforted, I have listed a handful of links below:

HMV

Play

SendIt

All the online shops are highly reliable UK based sites.