It has been a long road to get this review finished. Several months ago I finally got up the nerve to bug local film critic Colin Covert of the Star Tribune about checking out my site. Over the years I have attended numerous screenings that he has also been at and naturally we’ve discussed many of these films afterwards. After enough time we’ve developed enough of a rapport to occasionally rag on each others preferences but I’ve never pimped out anything of my own, as that would require gumption, so I was a bit apprehensive when I approached him that fateful Saturday morning.

It turns out that I had nothing to worry about as Colin was immediately interested in my little undertaking. We talked about the goals of my site and some of the movies I had enjoyed so far for a good solid 15 minutes when he quickly offered up his own recommendation for me to watch, The Saragossa Manuscript. He quickly described the film and remarked that not only was it Jerry Garcia’s favorite film, but that it had an ending that would “Peel your brain back!” Now I didn’t quite know what that meant, but it sure sounded awesome. All that was left was for me to simply track down this rare gem.

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You haven’t truly suffered until you’ve survived at least one Minnesota winter. Between the stifling sub-zero temperatures (coldest day for me so far is -67) and the copious amounts of snow (Minnesota averages over 60 inches per winter) you re left with a perfect storm of winter wonderland that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, let alone myself. Yet year after year I am somehow still content to remain in the frozen wasteland that is Minneapolis and suffer not all that silently.

Take for instance today, as we here in Minnesota are currently being hit by our second major storm … of the week. To add insult to injury, this previous weekend it was 40 degrees outside, offering a bit of an unusual respite for all of us. Unfortunately, that warm weather resulted in a rain storm yesterday, and when the thermometer dropped well below zero over the evening, you can imagine the result. But wait, the joke isn’t finished. You see due to the relatively balmy weather I incorrectly assumed that my car would be fine and I wouldn’t need to start it during the night. But when I woke up to a temperature of -18 (not including the lovely 30 mph winds) I ran into a bit of a problem when I tried to head to work at 5am.

Sure enough the car wouldn’t start, and as an added bonus all the doors were frozen shut so it took me five minutes just to get into the thing so I could find out the fruits of my labor were thoroughly spoiled. Thus I was left with no further option but to awaken the sleeping giant, Anna.

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Next I tackle what has become a Christmas gift to myself, as when I spied it on Amazon during their ridiculous Black Friday sales I simply had to have it, whatever the cost. For next week I will be watching Star Knight (El Caballero del dragón), which follows a midieval priest (Fernando Rey), a knight (Harvey Keitel) and an alchemist (Klaus Kinski) as they attempt to save their kingdom from a dragon. Only the dragon is actually a spaceship, and it seems as if its pilot (Miguel Bose) has fallen in love with the king’s daughter (Maria Lamor) and has plans to start a new life with her … in outerspace.

Unfortunately due to the complete lack of a trailer anywhere all you get is a really mediocre photo of the poster. Suck it up and deal.