To be honest, I do feel that things like YouTube videos, online streaming, or unlimited access to the internet has affected my attention span for films. I’m ashamed to say, but when I’m watching a movie online I find it incredibly easy to open a new tab and look at something else. I’m incredibly grateful there are so many movies available online since they’ve let me see a ton more Spaghetti Westerns than I would have ordinarily, but I do appreciate how having a physical copy of something makes me sit and actually watch it.
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Besides the Western, one of my favorite genres is Sword and Sorcery and one of the best quotes I heard on the genre was that it’s O.K. if it isn’t always popular because, “It’s not a genre for all time or all seasons.” While I do think the western is making a slight comeback, I also think it’s O.K. if it’s not always they aren’t the most popular films around.
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I do agree with that, and I don’t really think it’s a problem wether the genre enjoys mainstream popularity or not. The bother, for me, is that several people I’ve talked with about film classics have claimed themselves to be cineasts, only to later confess they’ve never seen anything of or even heard the name Sergio Leone. If I were to bring up almost any other classic film (The Godfather Trilogy, Goodfellas, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest, Vertigo, Casablanca , the list goes on…) they’d be quick to declare their knowledge or love of it, but as fast as you mention a film of similar fame which happens to be a western it takes a sudden end. Even other western-inspired directors like Kurosawa and Peckinpah tend to be much more commonly recognized among “young” (born from the 1970s and on) amateur “cineasts”, and they’re probably thought of more as action moviemakers. Some slightly older people are familiar with older Hollywood westerns such as High Noon or The Magnificent Seven, but not with Leone besides GBU, and perhaps, if you’re lucky, the other Dollars films, but very rarely OUATITW, even though it’s comparable to GBU in film rankings. Most people seem to know of Once Upon a Time in America, but assume it’s a Scorcese or De Palma film.
Even among more deep-going cineasts, other cult genres such as Horror or Eurocrime seem to be a good bit more popular, and many of those who do explore the western genre, somewhat strangely, seem to go for the older Hollywood cult classics rather than Corbucci or Sollima. Maybe this is simply because all westerns made after the 70s have basically been throwbacks rather than cornerstones in filmmaking. It seems like most young people’s perceptions of westerns has degenerated to thinking of it as old-style, US-flag-waving, cliched films - that is, just the kind of stagnation the Spaghetti/American revisionist western arose to counter.
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Yeah, it’s a shame to see a master like Leone not get the attention he deserves. I remember being amazed after I finished Once Upon a Time in America the first time that there wasn’t more discussion on it online. Probably not a fair tradeoff, but I suppose at least it gives people a chance to be surprised by some brilliant cinema they haven’t uncovered before.
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A grown man asked what my favourite film was. When I said Once Upon a Time in the West, he thought I was talking about the Will Smith film, Wild Wild West…
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For anyone interested in the unique work of Film Director, Robert Eggers (‘The Lighthouse’, and ‘The Witch’), here is the trailer for his latest offering, ‘The Northman’, which is a Viking saga due out in cinemas soon…If Eggers previous endeavours are anything to go by, then this will be a must-see…
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I have a proposition for all of my friends in England. It has come to my attention that the U.S. and England match up in World Cup play on Friday, the 25th of November so I propose a little wager. Should England win, you get to round up whatever famous people from the U.S., currently residing in England, that are annoying the crap out of you guys and send them back for us to deal with…no questions asked. However, should the U.S. prevail, we get to round up Prince Harry, Meghan Markle*, and James Corden, slap some postage stamps on their heads, and ship them back to you.
At least this way, only one of us will be left to suffer.
*Yes, I know Meghan is “technically” a product of the U.S. but once you allowed her to marry into the Royal Family, I feel that she became your burden to deal with.
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Most people in England would rather die than allow James Corden to return 
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I was afraid that might be the case. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
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So I’m interested in buying some stuff from the Arrow sale, but I haven’t ordered anything from their website since Brexit happened. Can someone from the EU tell me how much it is for shipping (more or less), and how long it will take to arrive?
The sale ends on Monday, so I can’t wait too long.
My order total was £122.50, and I paid an extra £12.50 for delivery. Additionally I had to pay € 31,02 in customs clearance charges.
€31 just for customs? That’s quite a lot. How come I don’t have to pay this kind of money when I buy from Amazon UK?
Amazon UK price match most of the stuff in Arrow sale so it would be worth comparing shipping on there
Yeah, I try to buy most stuff on Amazon, but some things are not available there for me, like the Vengeance Trails boxset.
When you buy from amazon UK you pay your countrys VAT upfront to Amazon and they handle that part for you. Arrow doesn’t do that so their shipments are potentially caught in customs where you have to pay your countrys VAT rate (e.g. 25% in Denmark) and whatever fee they charge for doing that (something like 22 euro in Denmark).
Zavvi seems to have a dutch warehouse so checking out their sales may work better for EU customers
Pretty sure this is incorrect. My parcels from them came from Jersey, sometimes even via Sweden, to arrive in The Netherlands weeks later. They do have a Dutch language website though.
Hm, my last Zavvi orders were shipped out of NL… the German Zavvi website (at least the one ending in .de)
That’s crazy! My Suspiria Blu-ray Disc came from abroad and took 6 weeks to arrive.