Darren Jones
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Darren Jones
@darrenmjones.bsky.social
420 followers 350 following 680 posts
Music, films, books, tea.
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My #LastFourWatched on #LetterboxdFriday have an Eastern European feel mostly, with Chantal Akerman's post-1992 travelogue after two 70s Soviet war films. Plus a French brass band film for my film club...
My last four films watched, as recorded on Letterboxd, were From the East (1993, 3 stars), The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972, 4 stars), One-Two Soldiers Were Going (1976, 3.5 stars) and The Marching Band (2024, 3 stars). There are posters for each film.
November 21, 2025 at 11:10 AM
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Week 11: Jack Cardiff: Legend of the Lost (1957). It looked great. Cardiff can shoot a desert scene. A fun adventure film, on the whole, but I wasn't sure about the comedy elements at times.
A still from Legend of the Lost (1957). A wooden door is on one side, a curtain on the other. In the gap between them, John Wayne peers into the room. He is wearing a hat and scarf. A still from Legend of the Lost (1957). It is in the desert. They are camped for the evening. Rossano Brazzi is standing up, Sophia Loren is seated looking up at him, and John Wayne is on his haunches. A golden light shows over a hill of sand behind them. John Wayne and Sophia Loren in Legend of the Lost (1957). Loren is in a green dress. Wayne is in a light brown shirt and shortsleeved jacket. He is wearing a hat. There is a blue sky behind them. Sophia Loren and John Wayne in Legend of the Lost (1957). She is in a green dress, sitting on a rock with her legs in water. Wayne is lying down, with his arms in the water, looking at her.
November 19, 2025 at 10:07 PM
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My #LastFourWatched for #LetterboxdFriday covered the 50s, 60s and 70s, and took me to Yugoslavia, Transylvania, Libya and the Netherlands.
My last four films watched were It Rains in My Village (1968, ***), Young Frankenstein (1974, *****), Legend of the Lost (1957, ***) and The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952, ***). There are posters for each film.
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
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Week 10: Fringe cinema: Melody on Earth (2018). This was a nice surprise. Ultra low budget, but it looked pretty good. The deadpan style worked well, I found it very funny. Watched on Prime.
A scene from Melody on Earth (2018). Melody is standing in a field, looking up. There is the shadow of a tree on the ground. The film is in black & white. A black & white still from Melody on Earth (2018). Melody is in the alien zoo on Neptune or Pluto. There is a brick wall behind her. She has her hand on a piece of glass, behind which is an abducted man. A black & white still from Melody on Earth (2018). Melody and Bertram, her PI, are sitting in an audience waiting to interview someone. A close up of Kristin Mellian as Melody in Melody on Earth (2018).
November 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
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Week 9: A24 Horror: The Monster (2016). I liked the slow build and the difficult mother/daughter relationship. Less keen on the use of flashbacks. And the anticipation of the monster is always better than the reality.
A scene The Monster (2016). It is a close up of Zoe Kazan as Kathy. She is in a car and has a plaster over her eye. She looks worried. A scene from The Monster (2016). It is nighttime. You can see Zoe Kazan standing in a wood, surrounded by trees. She is partly illuminated by the lights from a car. A scene from The Monster (2016). It is a close up of Zoe Kazan, as Kathy, holding Ella Ballentine, as her daughter Lizzy, in her arms. They are in the back of an ambulance. Both are screaming. A close up of Ella Ballentine as Lizzy in The Monster (2016). Her brow is furrowed and she is soaking wet. There may be a monster behind her.
November 10, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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My #LastFourWatched for #LetterboxdFriday all had female leads and covered returning from alien abduction, mother/daughter relationships, outlaws in a French-speaking West and choosing sides in 30s Germany.
My last four films watched were Melody on Earth (2018, 3.5 stars), The Monster (2016, 3 stars), The Legend of Frenchie King (1971, 2.5 stars) and Lissy (1957, 3.5 stars). There are posters for each film.
November 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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#NowListening Living with Ants by Mechanical Bride. I loved Part II EPs, but didn't get this till years later. It's a beauty. #5DebutAlbums0014
Front cover of Living with Ants by Mechanical Bride. It features lots of interlocking lines in variegated colours (reds, yellows, greens, blues) to form triangles, with the artist name and title in white in the centre. The font has an art deco feel.
November 4, 2025 at 11:31 AM
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#NowListening Without Why by Rose Elinor Dougall. Such a great album. I still don't understand why it took 7 years for the follow up. #5DebutAlbums0014
Front cover of Without Why by Rose Elinor Dougall. It has a plain background with her wearing a black dress with lace arms and top of the dress. She has one arm on her hip and the other on the back of her head.
November 4, 2025 at 10:24 AM
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Some favourite first watches from October
Film poster for Nightshift (1981). A woman sits behind a hotel reception desk with a faraway look in her eyes. The desk is red and there is a red telephone. The film title is written in red on the front of the desk. Film poster for The Peach Thief (1964). It has a yellow background with white fence posts and lines of barbed wire attached. In front of that there is a man looking intently at a woman. At the very front, on the left, is the silhouette of the shoulder and half the head of a soldier, wearing a German helmet. A film poster for It Takes Two (1988). It has a photo of a man in a dinner jacket with a frilly shirt and black bowtie. On one side of him is a woman in a bridal gown looking at him. On the other side is a woman with short blonde hair and a leather jacket with her hands on his shoulder. There are two superimposed images of his head facing each of the women. The tagline at the top of the poster reads "three in a wedding is a crowd". A film poster for The McKenzie Break (1970). There is an enlarged picture of some barbed wire in the middle of the poster. A German officer in navy uniform is standing and pointing. A British officer is standing next to him, holding a baton in one hand. To the side and underneath are superimposed images from the film featuring German prisoners in the camp and men in boats paddling out to sea.
November 1, 2025 at 10:53 PM
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My #LastFourWatched for #LetterboxdFriday featured three very different films from the 80s and a classic from the 50s.
My last four films watched were The Good Wife (1987), It Takes Two (1988), Nightshift (1981) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). There are film posters for all of them.
October 31, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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#NowListening Measures of Joy by Virginia Wing. It has quite a Broadcast/Stereolab vibe. Really liked it when it came out. Then they became a two-piece and went more electronic. Also great. #5DebutAlbums1014
Front cover of Measures of Joy by Virginia Wing. It has a black background with an abstract picture with various red, green, blue and yellow shapes. There are wavy coloured lines around the edge
October 29, 2025 at 2:58 PM
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It's half term, so I ended up with time to kill before work this morning. Watched Nightshift (1981) by Robina Rose. That was 68 minutes well spent. Loved it.
A still from Nightshift (1981). Most of the frame is dark. The reception desk is dimly lit. There is a red telephone on it. Jordan, as the hotel receptionist, sits in the corner drinking a cup of tea or coffee. A close up of Jordan as the hotel receptionist in Nightshift (1981). She is staring at the camera like a renaissance painting. A scene from Nightshift (1981). Three women in white nightgowns are having a pillow fight in a hotel bedroom. Feathers are flying. Jordan, as the hotel receptionist in Nightshift (1981), is lying on a sofa. Her dress and the sofa are a similar beige colour. Her knees are tucked up and she is crossing her arms under her chest.
October 29, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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Remembered a favourite album from 2010, Relayted by Gayngs. A soft-rock supergroup featuring nobody I had heard of, apart from Bon Iver. Reminds me of fun times at work, singing along to their cover of Cry by Godley & Creme #5DebutAlbums1014
Front cover of Relayted by Gayngs. It's a gold circle with intersecting lines inside.
October 28, 2025 at 4:53 PM
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Week 8: 80s trash horror: The Strangeness (1985). Ridiculously low budget, but strangely effective. Made good use of its setting in a mine, although it was often too dark to see much. I liked its talky nature and the stop motion monster. Watched on Prime.
A scene from The Strangeness (1985). A group of four people in a mine. They are wearing hard hats. One is carrying a lamp. There is another person behind them, but it's too dark to make them out. A scene from The Strangeness (1985). A woman is in the mine, holding a torch and looking through a magnifying glass. Her face is magnified. A scene from The Strangeness (1985). A man and woman are lying down in the mine, peering over a ledge. He had a hard hat with a torch attached to it and has a red flare in one hand. The whole image is red. A scene from The Strangeness (1985). A woman is in the mine, wearing a hard hat and holding a camera to her face. It is pointed towards us.
October 27, 2025 at 9:56 PM
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My #LastFourWatched for #LetterboxdFriday were from the 60s and 70s. Ukrainian poetic cinema, British WW2 doomed heroics, 70s remake of a 50s classic and a 1970 film where Roger Moore references James Bond a few years before he became him.
My last four films watched were Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), 633 Squadron (1964), Sorcerer (1977) and The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)
October 24, 2025 at 3:46 PM
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I watched Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) with my daughter tonight. Haven't seen it for nearly 10 years, but it's still astonishing to look at. The camera angles and movement, the colours, the music (those trembitas!). Just incredible.
A scene from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). A man swings an axe towards the camera. A thick band of red blood covers part of the lens. A scene from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). Marichka's face appears in the frame of a window. Her hands are pressed against it. A scene from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). It is Ivan and Palagna's wedding. Their eyes are covered with scarves. They have a yoke over their heads A scene from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965). The camera is underwater, looking up at Ivan and Marichka. Their hands are in the water and their faces are blurred by the ripples. There is a tree branch in the water between them.
October 23, 2025 at 10:39 PM
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Week 7: Multiple Roles: The Whole Town's Talking (1935). Screwball meets gangster flick, with Edward G Robinson playing a clerk and the gangster he resembles. Jean Arthur is great, but it drags slightly when she's not in it. But there were some great moments and lovely noirish lighting in parts.
A scene from The Whole Town's Talking (1935). Edward G Robinson as Jones the clerk is standing behind his desk with paper in one hand and what looks like a typewriter in the other. Behind him are others in the office, sitting or standing at their desks. A scene from The Whole Town's Talking (1935). Edward G Robinson as Jones is with Jean Arthur at a restaurant table. He is surrounded by policemen and has his hands up. Two policemen are pointing guns at him Jean Arthur in The Whole Town's Talking (1935). She is being interviewed by two detectives sitting in front of her, with two uniformed policemen behind her. She has a cigarette in her mouth. Edward G Robinson as both Jones and Killer Mannion in The Whole Town's Talking (1935). They are in Jones's apartment, facing each other over a table. There is a big lamp and a typewriter on the table.
October 22, 2025 at 10:30 PM
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Off to see Sorcerer (1977) at my local cinema shortly. It's been on my watchlist for years. Can't wait!
Film poster for Sorcerer (1977). It shows a lorry leaning wildly on a very rickety bridge.
October 19, 2025 at 1:51 PM
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My #LastFourWatched for #LetterboxdFriday were war or war adjacent. The three I saw this week had an unintended POW theme, with Germans trying to escape from Scotland in WW2, a Serbian prisoner falling for the Bulgarian camp commandant's wife in WW1, and an American POW returning from Vietnam.
My last four films watched were The McKenzie Break (1970), The Peach Thief (1964), Rolling Thunder (1977) and Beachhead (1954)
October 17, 2025 at 10:34 AM
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Limping for a Generation by The Blow Monkeys. I had this on cassette and loved it for a time. Then they mutated into something else. Or I did. #5DebutAlbums8084
Front cover of Limping for a Generation by The Blow Monkeys. The band are wearing suits and standing or sitting in an art gallery. Their pictures have been altered to look cubist.
October 16, 2025 at 11:21 AM
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Gyrate by Pylon. Came across them on the Athens, GA: Inside/Out doc on VHS in the late 80s. Took until the mid 90s to find a copy of this in a secondhand shop. #5DebutAlbums8084
Front cover of Gyrate by Pylon LP. It is blue, with a pink line drawing in the middle. The band name and title are in orange. Back cover of Gyrate by Pylon. It is blue, with four b&w pictures of the band members in the middle. Song titles are in pink on either side of the images.
October 16, 2025 at 9:56 AM
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We went to see Robert Forster in Brighton and both bought The Go-Betweens Songcomics book. I had to leave to catch my train, but my friend stayed and now I have a signed copy.
Front cover of Thank You afor a Lovely Day: 11 The Go-Betweens Songcomics. It has a pink cover. There are comic drawings of Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. They are dressed in suits and bowing, with their arms around each other. Grant is holding the neck of his guitar in one hand. Robert's guitar is around his shoulder. There is an amp in the corner, with a white lead that goes around the book, and spells out the title, before ending up in Grant's guitar. Signed copy of Thank You for a Lovely Day: 11 The Go-Betweens Songcomics. It says "To Daz Thanks for spreading the word. Robert Forster"
October 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM
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Met up with my oldest bookshop buddy last week. Told him I wasn't reading much now. Have just received these in the post.
Four books laid out in pairs on the floor. North Woods by Daniel Mason, Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead, Golden Hill by Francis Spufford and Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.
October 15, 2025 at 10:18 AM
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The Peach Thief (1964). A love story set at the end of WW1 between a Serbian prisoner and the Bulgarian camp commandant's wife. Very well done. It felt like a mix between Soviet cinema and French New Wave at times. It's on Arte UK.
Rade Markovic as Ivo in The Peach Thief (1964). He is leaning against some barbed wire, holding stolen peaches in his hat. Rade Markovic as Ivo and Nevena Kokanova as Lisa in The Peach Thief (1964). They are looking at each other. There is barbed wire behind them. He is in uniform and she is in a dress. He is holding some food she has given him. Rade Markovic as Ivo and Nevena Kokanova as Lisa in The Peach Thief (1964). He is shielding her eyes from the sun with his hand. Nevena Kokanova as Lisa and Rade Markovic as Ivo in The Peach Thief (1964). They are looking at each other and there is a stone wall behind them. At the bottom of the image is subtitled text that reads "It's absurd to talk about happiness".
October 14, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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Week 6: Early talkies: Lonesome (1928). This was fascinating. Mostly silent, but with sound effects and a soundtrack. Then three short talking scenes, too. Plus a bunch of effects, including superimposed images, tinting and colour. And a sweet story about two lonely people meeting. Lovely.
Glenn Tryon as Jim in Lonesome (1928). He is standing up on a crowded subway train, holding on to a ceiling handle with a half eaten pastry in his hand. A close up of Barbara Kent as Mary in Lonesome (1928). She is working on a telephone exchange, wearing a headset with a mouthpiece in front of her. The image of a clock face is superimposed over the top A scene from Lonesome (1928). You can see Mary and Jim sitting on a bench on the beach in the dark. Behind them you can see the coloured lights of fairground rides An image from Lonesome (1928). You can see a fairground attraction lit up with pink, silver and yellow lights. There are two towers. In between are the words Dragons Gorge in pink lights.
October 12, 2025 at 3:48 PM