For over 55 years, legendary composer Pino Donaggio has been in the forefront of the Italian popular music scene; 40+ years of his career have spanned an impressive line of film scores as well. This orchestral album, Canzoni per il Cinema, is a testament to the composer’s versatility, featuring some of his most popular songs for cinema in brand-new orchestral arrangements.

Recorded with The Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maurizio Abeni, the program—personally selected by Donaggio—focuses on two different types of compositions: it naturally includes some of Donaggio’s most beloved theme songs written for movies (Don’t Look Now, Carrie, Blow Out, Trauma, Cin cin, etc.), but it also includes some of his pre-film-scoring hits that were subsequently used in various films (immortal songs such as “Io che non vivo,” “Come sinfonia” or “Una casa in cima al mondo”). The selection thus comprises not only fan favorites, but also some lesser-known pieces that merit a second look in the decades-spanning career of Pino Donaggio.

Jones replies, "For a very specific reason, because Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow just did a movie about him. They worked on that film for about four years. I asked [De Palma] and he said he wanted to save what he thought about Hitchcock for their movie. We just showed the documentary [De Palma] at the New York Film Festival. Noah and I are pretty good friends, and we kind of exchanged movies at a certain point and we both were amazed at how much they just talked to each other. That’s what their movie is, just Brian and nobody else. He’s talking about his craft, and he’s talking a lot about Vertigo. In fact, the movie begins with a clip from Vertigo. That seemed like a very compelling reason for [De Palma] to not be in [this] film."

Also at RogerEbert.com, Odie Henderson reviews Hitchcock/Truffaut. Henderson concludes in his review, "One interview subject you might be expecting is missing from Hitchcock/Truffaut. Brian De Palma declined to appear in the film, but he had a good reason. He was busy sitting with Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow for their one-man interview/documentary, De Palma. That film, which is also quite good, would make a great double feature with Hitchcock/Truffaut. Both films feature a director talking to another director about his body of work. The similarities are complementary, and I can think of no better way to waste an afternoon if you love movies."

Brian de Palma // Split Diopter Shot from Jaume R. Lloret on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, Gordon's episode of Fargo last week, "Loplop", features a heavy amount of split screen work (a running visual style through every episode of the season), a suspenseful pan from a TV screen and then around a character's head, leading to an uh-oh reveal, and a crazy, hilariously outrageous performance from Kirsten Dunst.

Phantom of Winnipeg Indiegogo from Malcolm Ingram on Vimeo.

Ingram and his producer have started an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the film. Ingram's first film, Small Town Gay Bar, premiered at Sundance in 2006. His other films are Bear Nation, Continental, and Out To Win.

In issue #45 of Shock Cinema last year, Loggia told Tony Williams that "Scarface was one hell of a movie. We had six weeks of rehearsal-- that was unheard of then. With Al Pacino, Brian De Palma, and a good budget, we had everything in our favor."

However, back in 2011, Loggia expressed some irritation with De Palma's direction of where to hold the gun, etc., telling QMI Agency's Bruce Kirkland that he felt De Palma was too fussy with, as Kirkland writes, "picayune details that the veteran actor felt should be left to the performers." Loggia stated, "I hate to knock a director, but you don't want a director to say, 'Do this, do that, hold the gun up there, higher, higher.' It was difficult working with (De Palma) ... for me. But he's got a career going and I don't want to say anything negative." Despite this, Loggia told Kirkland, "I think we turned out a pretty damned good movie," counting it among the reasons he loves his acting career. "Acting in general is a feeling of being transported to the heavens," Loggia said. He adds that the film has two separate styles: "The first half of the movie is impressionistic," he told Kirkland. "The second half of the movie, after I die, is expressionistic. It's completely different. I don't think that was ever articulated (during the shoot) but that was the truth of the matter. We just did it. It was obvious."

Atanasov writes, "This is a film with endless twists, but the majority of them are actually irrelevant. The bulk of the lines that are exchanged in it are also irrelevant. That's right. What matters here is the style that blends everything together and the mood that emerges from it.

"The events that ensue after Jake moves into the luxurious house send the film into two drastically different realities. In the first hordes of mainstream actors try hard to become stars while the wealthy enjoy the very best Los Angeles has to offer. This is the clean and healthy reality most people want to spend their time in. In the second a different group of actors are making the type of films the other reality does not recognize. It is here that Jake meets Holly Body (Melanie Griffith), a bubbly beauty and prolific adult actress, who agrees to help him get the mysterious man.

"The film's charm comes from De Palma's ability to effectively target various cliches that characterize the two realities. (See the incredibly funny sequence where Holly Body humiliates the mainstream actress). And while he does it, he also plays with the many genre rules Hitchcock's films established. The end result is truly remarkable. Despite the intended overstylization, or perhaps because of it, the film offers a strikingly accurate summation of Los Angeles from the 1980s and its people. This is a place of remarkable contrasts, wealth and power, beauty and cruelty, and people with admirable ambitions and dangerous desires.

"Pino Donaggio collaborated with De Palma on a number of different projects during the years, but his contribution to this film remains his best work. There are various sequences where the light electronic music -- not the visuals, the camera movement, or the actors -- actually changes the rhythm of the film. Also, there is a fantastic sequence that uses Frankie Goes To Hollywood's monster hit Relax."

And in his conclusion, Atanasov states, "I think that Brian De Palma's Body Double is similar to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive -- it offers a very unusual but strikingly accurate summation of Los Angeles, its culture, and its people during a particular moment in time. Like most of De Palma's best films, Body Double is full of fascinating contrasts and over-the-top visuals which together with Pino Donaggio's stunning soundtrack create a truly unforgettable experience. French label Carlotta Films' technical presentation of the film is excellent. I must also say that this new deluxe set is the most elegant Blu-ray release to reach my desk this year. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. (In addition to the deluxe set, Carlotta Films will have available for sale a standard Blu-ray edition of Body Double. However, we have not tested it yet and at the moment cannot confirm its region code status)."