EIGHTH TOWER'S OVERLOOK: MUSIC INSPIRED BY STANLEY KUBRICK'S THE SHINING

Eighth Tower Records (courtesy of mastermind Raffaele Pezzella) has unleashed a new, impressions-of album, celebrating the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, as directed by Stanley Kubrick. 

The musical compilation is called Overlook: Music Inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and it saturates the soul with unearthly emotion.

As with any Eighth Tower release, its transformational tracks are composed by the best of the best, and the artists (listed on the left) have created weird wonders (listed on the right) that are as ethereal as they are fearsome:

1.) Llynn Y Cwn - Sidewinder Ascent

2.) Mark Hjorthoy - The Frozen Maze Could Save Your Life

3.) Rapoon - Descent

4.) Stefan Klaverdal - The haunting

5.) Mario Lino Stancati - The Geometry of Madness

6.) Henrik Meierkord - Redrum

7.) Joel Gilardini - Everlasting Hallways

8.) 400 Lonely Things - The Overlooked

9.) Oubys - The Gold Room

10.) Michael Bonaventure - Freeze

11.) David Kovacs - detnemeroT mind

12.) Browning Mummary - other kinds of traces

The titles say it all--all, that is, with a sinister, Nicholson sneer--but to know the full depths of the Overlook's chill, one must surrender one's ears and listen ...

https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/album/overlook-music-inspired-by-stanley-kubrick-s-the-shining

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: IMAGI-MARQUEE (& MORE) 1982

 

I SAW THE UPRISING

As I mentioned in my The Death of Robin Hood review (see June '26 post) and insinuated in my MGM+ Robin Hood review (see January '26 post), I reside in NJ, a sovereignty where "taxation without representation" is the hip, cool thing, except for those who suffer under it. Any story, allegorical or factual, that captures the unjust practice interests me. 

Writer/director Paul Greengrass (known for his Bourne contributions, as well as the factual United 93 and Captain Phillips) has created one such stirring example, a back-story inspiration to the Robin Hood legend, fashioned along the lines of Ron Howard's Moby Dick precursor, In the Heart of the Sea, while based in inexact part on William Langland's medieval poem, "Piers Ploughman," which does, in fact, reference Robin Hood. 

The movie is called The Uprising and in this case, depicts diligent folks bled dry by a self-proclaimed, "benign" regime, led by adolescent King Richard II's council, which harms more than it helps (like certain high-ranking, NJ pundits who defame kings, while behaving like the worst imaginable monarchs). 

Andrew Garfield portrays the protagonist, "(the) Ploughman" (no other name is attributed), who prompts his tax-wrought neighbors to shout "Enough is enough!" in dreary 1381. To underscore the rebellion, the Black Death has left a mournful stain among the commoners, making it hard for these poor "deplorables" to take their stand, but by golly, they do, going so far as to inundate London to unveil their angry petition to young Richard. However, there are times when the rebels grow so incensed that they emulate their oppressors, and with this comes a profound warning: In the fight for what's right, one mustn't ever lose sight of one's virtue.  

Even with this warning staked, The Uprising works as an unaffected, underdog fable, packed with cloak-and-dagger segues and rough-edged battles aimed to please action fans. There also comes a point when the Ploughman appears in full, "merry" gear, conveying how action legends are born. (With this, there's room for a sequel, I'd imagine, if box-office and creative conditions should permit.) 

Garfield is outstanding in the lead, dispatching his compassionate, from-the-gut style, as he did in Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge and Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man set, not to mention Jon Watt's Spider-man: No Way Home. He makes the Ploughman's fight not only the character's communal pledge, but the viewer's, and that resonates a hundredfold when driving home the yarn's empathetic intent.

The rest of the cast is tiptop, too, and includes Cosmo (Shogun) Jarvis, Thomasin McKenzie, Jamie Bell, Jonny Lee Miller, Sky Yang, Stanley Townsend, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Katherine Waterson and Woody Norman as the anguished but reticent, kid-holding-the-fateful-cards Richard, among other cultivated and impactful performers. They each help fortify the period with grimy gleam and thus accentuate its doleful, brave heart. 

By the time the end credits roll, it doesn't matter if one perceives The Uprising as an official, Robin Hood adaptation. The movie works on its own to  inspire those in the present to fight for what's theirs. Now, if only NJ's disingenuous magistrates would take note. It's not so far-fetched that an insurrection could plague them someday, if they so choose not to change their covetous ways.🏹

PINUP TIME: FARRAH FAWCETT IS ALEX

 

HAPPY STAR TREK DAY 2026 (9/8) 60 YEARS!

 

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER:

 

I SAW BATMAN: KNIGHTFALL, PART 1

Jeff Wamester's Batman: Knightfall, Part 1, adapted by Jeremy Adams, is the first animated feature in an overlap of famous, Batman comics, which depict one of the most significant, pop-cultural stretches in the Dark Knight's legacy. (Back in the day, it was second only to The Death & Return of Superman, and that's saying a lot, considering how consuming the latter was and still remains.) 

In the case of Knightfall's R-rated intro, we get the essential groundwork for the intense, Bane-breaks-Batman's-back storyline, which intersects with other DC passages, including Bane's prison-based upbringing, his venom-fueled alteration and his unleashing of Arkham's madmen to wear Bruce Wayne down, accompanied by the advent of Azrael, aka Jean-Paul Valley, a regal but relentless, Dark Knight proxy. 

The juxtaposing of the saga's established chapters could have been confusing, but at least with Part 1, the combination stays coherent. (One needn't have experienced the comic saga to get the gist of where one portion ends and another begins.) 

For flavor, the setup draws from a number of Batman's iconic compatriots, including Timothy Drake's Robin, Jason Todd's Robin (via flashback), Alfred Pennyworth, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya and Jim Gordon, in addition to some of the Caped Crusader's top, fiendish foes: the Riddler, Victor Zsasz, the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, Firefly, Catman, Two-Face, Franco Bertinelli and the Ventriloquist and Scarface.

This cameo novelty is a fun additive, but it's secondary to the segments that expand upon Bane and Azrael (in the former, with early, foreboding tenderness; and in the latter, a surreal, anguished metamorphosis), but make no mistake: Knightfall is Batman's story. 

As with any such story, this one emphasizes the character's strength and endurance, his need to thrive on principle (in particular when it comes to his no-kill policy). At the same time, he does requires help, which surfaces in his behavioral sessions with Dr. Shondra Kinsolving. We see a hero who's put upon to a suffocating cut-upon-cut extent, a crusader who's criticized for his overabundant efforts, and yet he finds the mettle, the fortitude, to overcome, to survive, to make a difference, despite the incomprehensible disdain aimed at him. That, my friends, is what Batman is all about, and Knightfall (in whole) captures it to the respectable, vigilante tee. 

Knightfall, Part 1 can be viewed on a number of streaming platforms; it can also be purchased on disc. No matter the preference, Batman fans are assured to get more than their money's worth.