I’ve watched a lot of Ozu films recently and I’m about to make my own films depicting contemporary Taiwan - Hou Hsiao Hsien, TALKING WITH OZU Early Summer / Good Men, Good Women Below is a companion/sequel to last year's post on the visual similarities between the work of Yasujiro Ozu & Hou Hisao Hsien (click here to see part one). Like the first entry, these comparisons are a combination of intentional homages (Cafe Lumiere, Good Men Good Women) and unintentional/coincidental homages (it is speculated that Hou did not discover the work of Ozu until midway in to his filmmaking ..read more

Frankenstein / Ghost Dog Ghost Dog is now 25 years old! Instead of writing some retrospective piece about how it’s a great film dealing with race relations between Black Americans & Italian Americans or how it’s a misunderstood meditative masterpiece – I’ve decided to compile my personal favorite homages in the film. Outside of the obvious sources like Le Samourai & Branded To Kill, Ghost Dog is full of references which is sort of Jim Jarmusch’s motto… Meditation On Violence / Ghost Dog GHOST DOG is obviously heavily informed by LE SAMOURAI- Jim Jarmusch, louder ..read more

Hey, everyone. I've released a collection of old and new instrumental music on the Three Dollar Pistol label. This music is inspired by my love of cinema and low tempo instrumental hip-hop in the lane of 90s DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, Push Button Objects & Boards Of Canada. In addition to being available on all streaming platforms (bandcamp is preferred)... Night Music by Marcus Pinn We are also putting out a limited cassette release (click here to order). There are only 50 tapes available and a large chunk have already been claimed so don't miss out ..read more

It is my personal opinion that Joel Potrykus’ feature debut Ape should be mentioned in the same breath as the early films of Richard Linklater & Kevin Smith. Before reading up on Potrykus and his influences, I knew Ape was, in part, the subconscious result of a healthy obsession with at least one of the affromentioned filmmakers. The subject matter, the settings, the low budgets, certain specific shots, etc. I think what draws me in to Portrkus’ films so much is because even thought he’s so open about his cinematic influences, his movies are still very much his own. They’re also strange ..read more

This was originally published for cutprintfilm.com back in March of 2015. But since the site/publication has apparently vanished - I'm posting it here with a few updates. Enjoy...  Before going in to Jauja – Lisandro Alonso’s latest multinational semi-surrealist period drama, please erase any & all comparisons to the cinema of David Lynch. Between the initial film festival reports and the IMDB message board discussions, I found that Lynch was the most commonly used reference point in a lot of early reviews of this film. While David Lynch is certainly one of the greatest modern surr ..read more

Halloween II / Juice I know I’m getting carried away but here are some more visual comparisons that didn't make it in to the initial entry (click here to read part one which contains a bunch of homages and speculations) The cinematographers who have influenced me have been guys who have used color heavily. Jack Cardiff, a British Technicolor cinematographer, his use of color was awesome, even in later films that were minor, like GHOST STORY: a minor entry, [but] the color in it is gorgeous. BLACK NARCISSUS, one of the most beautiful color films ever made - Ernest Dickerson, Mil ..read more

The Killer has become my comfort movie. It's what I throw on when I can't sleep or just need something to watch. I don’t think it’s a masterpiece or any great cinematic achievement. It’s just a fun slick hitman thriller (emphasis on “fun” as there’s quite a bit of underrated humor that flows all throughout the film). I shared my initial thoughts on it last year (click here to read), but now that I’ve watched it ten more times or so – I have a little more to say. First of all – this post is absolutely an excuse to share my throwaway Hitchcock/Fincher comparisons that didn’t make it in to my ..read more

Last month we looked at Cowards Bend The Knee - Guy Maddin’s semi-autobiographical love letter to both Canada and some of his personal favorite filmmakers (click here to read). To me - this film serves as a buffer for My Winnipeg. Like Cowards, My Winnipeg is also an autobiographical love letter to his home country but this time, instead of Bunuel & Lynch, he pays homage to the likes of Abel Gance, Fritz Lang, The Lumiere Brothers and Dziga Vertov… I was totally inspired by just how far [Abel] Gance was willing to go - Guy Maddin, cineaste magazine J'accuse / My Winnipeg I ..read more

This entry isn't anything significant. I just felt like highlighting some of the standout references and homages from the latest season of True Detective. I've shared these on my twitter account but since I'm still shadowbanned, no one really sees them except for the bigger accounts that steal my tweets and passed them off as their own (none of these homages were hard to miss so I'm not that bent out of the shape about people stealing from me). The folks responsible for this season were quite open about their inspirations. All I did was make the comparisons based off of their own words (wit ..read more

Guy Maddin is a unique mixture of a wholesome amount of Canadian pride and immense self-depreciation due to what he feels is always being in perpetual second place to the Americans (his words, not mine). Maddin’s films are sometimes so specifically Canadian that I often need someone from there to explain some of the humor or references I felt like I didn’t catch at first. That isn't a complaint. The relationship between Americans and English-speaking Canadians has always been fascinating to me. We're essentially like bickering first cousins always taking jabs at each other. Over a decade a ..read more