Hug of Thunder (Patreon)

Something for my fellow BSS fans. Anyway, after twice getting clobbered heads-up, Rolling Thunder finally prevailed in this week's request poll, ironically beating Taxi Driver which was likewise written by Paul Schrader. I don't know a damn thing about it, apart from now having been informed that it's one of Tarantino's all-time faves or something. I trusted his recommendation of Chungking Express 27 years ago and that worked out well. Not streaming anywhere, but digitally rentable through Vudu/Fandango, looks like.

September's random selections are two films I didn't remember having been requested—it's been a while in both cases, and neither stuck around for long. The Black Cat, which I saw at Film Forum in 1997 (double-billed with She), did the minimally-qualifying four-week run I want to say from where it was buried probably at least two years ago; "spooky season" doesn't officially kick off for another week-plus, but close enough, algorithm. It seems to be available via something called Classix that I guess I should look into (and can also be rented). [UPDATE: Classix essentially is just a branded rental service, from what I can tell. Though a whole bunch of true B-movies are free. Not The Black Cat.] A Fugitive From the Past, which had a nine-week run slightly more recently, will be my belated introduction to Tomu Uchida (thanks for the nudge); that one, too, is rentable. 

As always, my ardent thanks to each of you for being swell enough to constitute what is still for the moment my entire income. Had tentatively started playing poker again and then suddenly three different people I knew almost simultaneously announced they had Covid. (I remain convinced that there is no faster way to get sick with anything transmissible than spending hours at a poker table.) Gotta schedule the latest booster.