There's a lot that can be said about Tina Turner. The music legend, who passed away on May 24th at the age of 83, had been dubbed the "Queen of Rock n' Roll" thanks to her huge impact on that genre while rising to prominence during the '50s and '60s. Her fit, impressive figure became so famous all by itself that she allegedly had her legs insured for $3.2 million. One of her first and biggest hit songs, "Proud Mary," became a hit that dwarfed the original version by Credence Clearwater Revival. Above all else, Turner was a consummate performer.
Given that, it's a crying shame that she graced the silver screen a mere handful of times, and most of those appearances were as herself. No matter who she was playing, Turner showed up and dug into the performance with as much spirit and professionalism as any of her live shows,...
Given that, it's a crying shame that she graced the silver screen a mere handful of times, and most of those appearances were as herself. No matter who she was playing, Turner showed up and dug into the performance with as much spirit and professionalism as any of her live shows,...
- 5/24/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
How does a show resolve its central plot point in the middle of the season?
A lot happened on Your Honor Season 2, Episode 5. Did that sound overwhelming? Because it wasn't. Michael finally came clean to Charlie about how and why he was released from prison, transferring his fears and anxiety to Charlie.
Little Mo was kicked out of the Mo Kingdom after his aunt learned of his disobedience which amounts to betrayal in their line of work. It didn't happen as dramatically for him as it did for us, and a few broken ribs and scars are a testament to this.
The Baxter family did a complete 180 after having a somewhat eventful dinner, and they became one happy family, although that happiness is yet to be verified and quantified.
We were thrown for a loop when Michael got arrested in connection to the murder of his wife.
But first, there...
A lot happened on Your Honor Season 2, Episode 5. Did that sound overwhelming? Because it wasn't. Michael finally came clean to Charlie about how and why he was released from prison, transferring his fears and anxiety to Charlie.
Little Mo was kicked out of the Mo Kingdom after his aunt learned of his disobedience which amounts to betrayal in their line of work. It didn't happen as dramatically for him as it did for us, and a few broken ribs and scars are a testament to this.
The Baxter family did a complete 180 after having a somewhat eventful dinner, and they became one happy family, although that happiness is yet to be verified and quantified.
We were thrown for a loop when Michael got arrested in connection to the murder of his wife.
But first, there...
- 2/13/2023
- by Denis Kimathi
- TVfanatic
Your Honor‘s Michael Desiato is still reeling from last season’s tragic ending as Season 2 opens — but as he soon learns, things can always get worse.
Sunday’s premiere finds Michael rotting away in a prison cell (!), haggard and scrawny and sporting a wildly unkempt beard. He’s so grief-stricken over the death of his son Adam, he has no will to live. He won’t even eat, so the prison staff has to force-feed him a vitamin shake by sticking a tube through his nostril and down his throat. (Ew.) A prison therapist encourages him to find a...
Sunday’s premiere finds Michael rotting away in a prison cell (!), haggard and scrawny and sporting a wildly unkempt beard. He’s so grief-stricken over the death of his son Adam, he has no will to live. He won’t even eat, so the prison staff has to force-feed him a vitamin shake by sticking a tube through his nostril and down his throat. (Ew.) A prison therapist encourages him to find a...
- 1/16/2023
- by Dave Nemetz
- TVLine.com
Celebrated cartoonist and screenwriter Daniel Clowes discusses his favorite formative films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Baxter (1989)
Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Ghost World (2001) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Art School Confidential (2006)
Help! (1965) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966) – John Landis’s trailer commentary,
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Mudhoney (1965) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers! (1968)
Common Law Cabin (1967)
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Seven Minutes (1971)
Black Snake (1973)
An American Werewolf In London (1981) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray reviews
Lady In A Cage (1964) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
The Wild One (1953)
Hush…...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Baxter (1989)
Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1966) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Ghost World (2001) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Art School Confidential (2006)
Help! (1965) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966) – John Landis’s trailer commentary,
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Mudhoney (1965) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers! (1968)
Common Law Cabin (1967)
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Seven Minutes (1971)
Black Snake (1973)
An American Werewolf In London (1981) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray reviews
Lady In A Cage (1964) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review
The Wild One (1953)
Hush…...
- 11/15/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Viewers waiting on the second season of Your Honor will have to wait a little longer.
The 10-episode second season of the series starring Oscar(R) nominee and Emmy(R) winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) will debut on demand and on streaming Friday, January 13, 2023 and on-air on Sunday, January 15 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt.
The series was originally set to return on December 11.
No reason for the delay has been given.
Your Honor stars Cranston as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose upstanding life is derailed when his teenage son's accidental hit-and-run killing of the son of notorious crime boss Jimmy Baxter (SAG Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg) led to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.
Emmy nominee Hope Davis stars as Jimmy's wife, Gina, who is at times more dangerous and driven than her husband, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire) stars as Charlie, a...
The 10-episode second season of the series starring Oscar(R) nominee and Emmy(R) winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) will debut on demand and on streaming Friday, January 13, 2023 and on-air on Sunday, January 15 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt.
The series was originally set to return on December 11.
No reason for the delay has been given.
Your Honor stars Cranston as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose upstanding life is derailed when his teenage son's accidental hit-and-run killing of the son of notorious crime boss Jimmy Baxter (SAG Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg) led to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.
Emmy nominee Hope Davis stars as Jimmy's wife, Gina, who is at times more dangerous and driven than her husband, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire) stars as Charlie, a...
- 11/1/2022
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
Showtime has pushed the premiere date for Season 2 of Your Honor to January 2023. The 10-episode second season starring Bryan Cranston will now bow on demand and on streaming Friday, January 13, 2023, and on-air on Sunday, January 15 at 9 pm. It was initially scheduled to premiere on streaming/on demand on December 9 and on linear December 11.
As for the reasoning behind the move, Showtime pushed the show because of its serialized nature that is best watched week after week and wanted it to air without the interruption of the Christmas holidays.
The first season of Your Honor ranks as the top debut season ever on Showtime, according to the network.
This is one of the first major scheduling decisions since David Nevins announced his departure as Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks, and Chris McCarthy would be taking over at the helm of the premium cabler.
Your Honor is based on the Israeli...
As for the reasoning behind the move, Showtime pushed the show because of its serialized nature that is best watched week after week and wanted it to air without the interruption of the Christmas holidays.
The first season of Your Honor ranks as the top debut season ever on Showtime, according to the network.
This is one of the first major scheduling decisions since David Nevins announced his departure as Chairman and CEO of Showtime Networks, and Chris McCarthy would be taking over at the helm of the premium cabler.
Your Honor is based on the Israeli...
- 10/31/2022
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
C3 Entertainment, rights holders to "The Three Stooges" slapstick comedy brand, continue to develop the feature "The Three Little Stooges", starring young teens, who will hit each other with hammers and poke each other in the eyes, as the original 'Curly Howard', 'Larry Fine' and 'Moe Howard':
After a nation-wide casting call, Luke Clark has been cast as 'Little Curly', Liam Dow as 'Little Larry' and Gordy Destjour as 'Little Moe'.
Screenplay for the live-action feature is written by Harris Goldberg ("Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo") and Sean McNamara ("Even Stevens").
"Keeping 'The Three Stooges' legacy alive for new generations is vital for the franchise," said C3 Entertainment.
"We are excited to bring 'The Three Little Stooges' to life to entertain kids, families and our global fan base..."
Click the images to enlarge…...
After a nation-wide casting call, Luke Clark has been cast as 'Little Curly', Liam Dow as 'Little Larry' and Gordy Destjour as 'Little Moe'.
Screenplay for the live-action feature is written by Harris Goldberg ("Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo") and Sean McNamara ("Even Stevens").
"Keeping 'The Three Stooges' legacy alive for new generations is vital for the franchise," said C3 Entertainment.
"We are excited to bring 'The Three Little Stooges' to life to entertain kids, families and our global fan base..."
Click the images to enlarge…...
- 9/27/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
The end of Your Honor begins before the end of 2022.
Showtime announced today that the Your Honor, starring and executive produced by Oscar® nominee and Emmy® winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) will return on Friday, December 9 on streaming before making its on-air debut on Sunday, December 11 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt.
The series is executive produced by Emmy nominees Robert and Michelle King and Liz Glotzer, with Joey Hartstone (The Good Fight) serving as showrunner and executive producer for the second and final season.
Your Honor Season 1 ranks as the top debut season ever on Showtime, the cabler says.
Your Honor stars Cranston as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose upstanding life is derailed when his teenage son’s accidental hit-and-run killing of the son of notorious crime boss Jimmy Baxter (SAG Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg) led to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.
Emmy...
Showtime announced today that the Your Honor, starring and executive produced by Oscar® nominee and Emmy® winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) will return on Friday, December 9 on streaming before making its on-air debut on Sunday, December 11 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt.
The series is executive produced by Emmy nominees Robert and Michelle King and Liz Glotzer, with Joey Hartstone (The Good Fight) serving as showrunner and executive producer for the second and final season.
Your Honor Season 1 ranks as the top debut season ever on Showtime, the cabler says.
Your Honor stars Cranston as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose upstanding life is derailed when his teenage son’s accidental hit-and-run killing of the son of notorious crime boss Jimmy Baxter (SAG Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg) led to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.
Emmy...
- 9/20/2022
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
The September release slate from Severin Films has been announced and detailed today, this latest batch of new releases headlined by 1980 classic The Changeling on 4K Ultra HD.
Severin Films will be haunting disc players across the continent with a new 4K edition of Peter Medak’s beloved ghost story The Changeling, along with landmark Spanish television series Tales to Keep You Awake, My Grandpa Is a Vampire via the Severin Kids imprint, and the entire Plaga Zombie Trilogy through sublabel Intervision Picture Corp.
As if that isn’t enough, Severin will also be putting out a Blu-ray double feature of Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Brain of Blood as a standalone release.
Read on for everything you need to know about Severin’s September slate…
The Changeling: It has been called “remarkable” (Paste Magazine), “utterly terrifying” (Mondo Digital) and “a ghost story guaranteed to freeze the...
Severin Films will be haunting disc players across the continent with a new 4K edition of Peter Medak’s beloved ghost story The Changeling, along with landmark Spanish television series Tales to Keep You Awake, My Grandpa Is a Vampire via the Severin Kids imprint, and the entire Plaga Zombie Trilogy through sublabel Intervision Picture Corp.
As if that isn’t enough, Severin will also be putting out a Blu-ray double feature of Al Adamson’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Brain of Blood as a standalone release.
Read on for everything you need to know about Severin’s September slate…
The Changeling: It has been called “remarkable” (Paste Magazine), “utterly terrifying” (Mondo Digital) and “a ghost story guaranteed to freeze the...
- 8/15/2022
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Cohen Film Collection brings to Region A its beautifully remastered disc of American fringe filmmaking’s weirdest, most obsessively arty shock-fest — a loving return to silent expressionist horror. The New York censors scuttled its commercial chances, and it wound up as a movie-within-a-movie footnote for Steve McQueen. We never thought we’d see the show look this good — John Parker memorialized Venice, California five years before Orson Welles. But the overall package packs a big disappointment, as I’ll explain.
Dementia
Blu-ray
Cohen Media Group
1955 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 56 min. / Street Date April 26, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Adrienne Barret, Ben Roseman, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Angelo Rossitto.
Cinematography: William C. Thompson
Film Editor: Joseph Gluck
Original Music: George Antheil
Music director: Ernest Gold
Featured Vocal: Marni Nixon
New Concepts in Modern Sounds: Shorty Rogers and his Giants
Written, Produced and Directed by John J. Parker
The BFI first...
Dementia
Blu-ray
Cohen Media Group
1955 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 56 min. / Street Date April 26, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Adrienne Barret, Ben Roseman, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Angelo Rossitto.
Cinematography: William C. Thompson
Film Editor: Joseph Gluck
Original Music: George Antheil
Music director: Ernest Gold
Featured Vocal: Marni Nixon
New Concepts in Modern Sounds: Shorty Rogers and his Giants
Written, Produced and Directed by John J. Parker
The BFI first...
- 5/3/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The big-scale Cinerama fantasy once thought unrecoverable is back — a terrific restoration brings us George Pal’s ode to fairy tales, filmed on Bavarian locations with an international cast. Laurence Harvey and Karl Boehm are the brothers that compiled the famed tales of princesses, witches, magic spells and fiery dragons. Their idealized biography is interspersed with three full fairy tale stories, about a magic cloak of invisibility, a cobbler’s helpful elves, and a pair of fearless dragon slayers. The show has dancing, beautiful locations, a sequence with Puppetoons and a terrific animated dragon. Featured stars are Claire Bloom, Walter Slezak, Barbara Eden, Oscar Homolka, Martita Hunt, Yvette Mimieux, Russ Tamblyn, Jim Backus, Terry-Thomas and Buddy Hackett; a long-form docu goes into fascinating detail explaining how Dave Strohmaier and Tom March accomplished the mind-boggling restoration.
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1962 / Color / 2:89 widescreen [Smilebox] widescreen / 140 135 min.
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1962 / Color / 2:89 widescreen [Smilebox] widescreen / 140 135 min.
- 3/15/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Burbank, CA, September 28, 2021 – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that The Mad Max Anthology, featuring 1979’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max, 1981’s Mad Max The Road Warrior, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road will be released together on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD on November 2. Created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy, Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in the first three films and Tom Hardy took over the lead role in the fourth film. Additionally Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome will also be available individually in 4K, joining Mad Max and Mad Max Fury Road which are already available in 4K.
The Mad Max Anthology 4K Uhd release, along with the 4K Uhd releases of Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, are from...
The Mad Max Anthology 4K Uhd release, along with the 4K Uhd releases of Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, are from...
- 9/29/2021
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
Greetings from The Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!”
arner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that The Mad Max Anthology, featuring 1979’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max, 1981’s Mad Max The Road Warrior, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road will be released together on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD on November 2. Created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy, Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in the first three films and Tom Hardy took over the lead role in the fourth film. Additionally Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome will also be available individually in 4K, joining Mad Max and Mad Max Fury Road which are already available in 4K.
The Mad Max Anthology 4K Uhd release, along with the 4K...
arner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that The Mad Max Anthology, featuring 1979’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max, 1981’s Mad Max The Road Warrior, 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road will be released together on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital HD on November 2. Created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy, Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson starred as Max Rockatansky in the first three films and Tom Hardy took over the lead role in the fourth film. Additionally Mad Max The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome will also be available individually in 4K, joining Mad Max and Mad Max Fury Road which are already available in 4K.
The Mad Max Anthology 4K Uhd release, along with the 4K...
- 9/28/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This bizarre, creepy and maudit masterpiece of silent expressionist horror is an independent 1950s production that never had a chance commercially. Butchered by a second distributor, its ignominious fate was to wind up as a movie-within-a-movie footnote for Steve McQueen. Cohen/BFI’s ‘rescue’ remastering of John Parker’s picture does some things great — we never thought we’d see it look this good. But the overall package packs a big disappointment, as I’ll explain.
Dementia (1955)
Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
BFI
1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 56 min. / Street Date October 19, 2020 / £15.89
Starring: Adrienne Barret, Ben Roseman, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Angelo Rossitto.
Cinematography: William C. Thompson
Film Editor: Joseph Gluck
Original Music: George Antheil
Music director: Ernest Gold
Featured Vocal: Marni Nixon
New Concepts in Modern Sounds: Shorty Rogers and his Giants
Written, Produced and Directed by John J. Parker
I screened John Parker’s Dementia at UCLA in 1972, at...
Dementia (1955)
Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
BFI
1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 56 min. / Street Date October 19, 2020 / £15.89
Starring: Adrienne Barret, Ben Roseman, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman, Angelo Rossitto.
Cinematography: William C. Thompson
Film Editor: Joseph Gluck
Original Music: George Antheil
Music director: Ernest Gold
Featured Vocal: Marni Nixon
New Concepts in Modern Sounds: Shorty Rogers and his Giants
Written, Produced and Directed by John J. Parker
I screened John Parker’s Dementia at UCLA in 1972, at...
- 11/3/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
There’s a lot of Al Adamson floating around the horrorsphere right now thanks to Severin Films’ gargantuan box set, Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection. While I don’t have that set (yet), after watching the fantastic documentary Blood & Flesh about him and his works, I was itching to bed down with Al. This brings us to Brain of Blood (1971), a one part Frankenstein, one part espionage, all parts goofy fun that is so entertaining I am down for whatever next comes down the Adamson pike.
Distributed by Hemisphere Pictures, the Philippines-based company that made the Blood Island films, Brain of Blood was made to seem like a continuation of the series; having not seen any of those either (I Know), I can’t vouch for the similarities. However, I can say that what they did produce is drive-in fodder of the highest order, with enough ridiculousness to spill over to another screen.
Distributed by Hemisphere Pictures, the Philippines-based company that made the Blood Island films, Brain of Blood was made to seem like a continuation of the series; having not seen any of those either (I Know), I can’t vouch for the similarities. However, I can say that what they did produce is drive-in fodder of the highest order, with enough ridiculousness to spill over to another screen.
- 6/13/2020
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
(Above: Raphael Peter Engel (aka Zandor Vorkov) today.
By Mark Cerulli
When you think of Dracula, some iconic names immediately come to mind – Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, Jack Palance… and Raphael Engel.
Wait.
Who?
Raphael Peter Engel, aka “Zandor Vorkov” played the thirsty count in one of the most unique films to feature the immortal character – 1971’s Dracula vs Frankenstein, made by the prolific B-movie team of director Al Adamson and co-writer/producer Sam Sherman.
Both the actor and the film itself took a very circuitous route to come into being. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Raphael (then known as Roger) grew up with a younger brother in Miami, Florida. “We did Saturday matinees – two films, cartoons, a short, popcorn and I’d walk down many blocks to the theater…”, Raphael recalls in an exclusive Cinema Retro interview. “That influenced me. We...
(Above: Raphael Peter Engel (aka Zandor Vorkov) today.
By Mark Cerulli
When you think of Dracula, some iconic names immediately come to mind – Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, Jack Palance… and Raphael Engel.
Wait.
Who?
Raphael Peter Engel, aka “Zandor Vorkov” played the thirsty count in one of the most unique films to feature the immortal character – 1971’s Dracula vs Frankenstein, made by the prolific B-movie team of director Al Adamson and co-writer/producer Sam Sherman.
Both the actor and the film itself took a very circuitous route to come into being. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Raphael (then known as Roger) grew up with a younger brother in Miami, Florida. “We did Saturday matinees – two films, cartoons, a short, popcorn and I’d walk down many blocks to the theater…”, Raphael recalls in an exclusive Cinema Retro interview. “That influenced me. We...
- 5/23/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
MGM’s gigantic silent sci-fi extravaganza took three years to make, by which time the talkies arrived and everything went to pieces. Lionel Barrymore emotes (Emotes!) in his early sound footage, and terrific effects take us to the bottom of the ocean where monsters and a race of Donald Duck creatures menace our heroic adventurers. And don’t forget a few sundry other elements: a Russian revolution, torture scenes, and cool steampunk nautical hardware. All this Life Aquatic lacks is Steve Zissou!
The Mysterious Island
DVD
The Warner Archive Collection
1929 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 93 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 19.99
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Jane Daly (Jacqueline Gadsdon), Lloyd Hughes, Montagu Love, Harry Gribbon, Snitz Edwards, Gibson Gowland, Dolores Brinkman, Karl Dane, Robert Dudley, Sydney Jarvis, Bob Kortman, Angelo Rossitto.
Cinematography: Percy Hilburn
Film Editor: Carl L. Pierson
Technical Effects: James Basevi, Irving G. Ries, Louis H. Tolhurst
Original Music: Martin Broones,...
The Mysterious Island
DVD
The Warner Archive Collection
1929 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 93 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 19.99
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Jane Daly (Jacqueline Gadsdon), Lloyd Hughes, Montagu Love, Harry Gribbon, Snitz Edwards, Gibson Gowland, Dolores Brinkman, Karl Dane, Robert Dudley, Sydney Jarvis, Bob Kortman, Angelo Rossitto.
Cinematography: Percy Hilburn
Film Editor: Carl L. Pierson
Technical Effects: James Basevi, Irving G. Ries, Louis H. Tolhurst
Original Music: Martin Broones,...
- 5/4/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) was the middle of three spooky house films made by Danish director Benjamin Christensen, who's best known for the satanic documentary Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages. The other films are lost, though the music and sound effects discs that once accompanied The Haunted House (1928) can be heard on YouTube: lots of whistling wind and hooting owls. You might want to imagine those sounds as you experience Seven Footprints, whose original score and FX are lost. Maybe you'd even like to play them together and see if they sync up, even though they're different films? Christensen came over at the same time as Garbo, and for a while looked to be making a go of it in Hollywood, directing successful films at MGM and Warner Bros. His very weird sensibility seems surreal now, but apparently fitted into the commercial cinema of the day. Seven Footprints is...
- 3/28/2018
- MUBI
Agree to disagree, Adele!
The "Hello" singer could be saying "goodbye" to touring after completing her massive global trek this year, telling the crowd at her Auckland, New Zealand, performance on Sunday that "touring isn't something I'm good at."
"Applause makes me feel a bit vulnerable," she explained during the rain-soaked show, packed with 40,000 fans. "I don't know if I will ever tour again. The only reason I've toured is you. I'm not sure if touring is my bag. My greatest accomplishment in my career is this tour."
Rightfully so! When Adele's current tour wraps with four sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in her native London this summer, she will have performed more than 120 shows spanning three continents since kicking off in February 2016.
Watch: Adele Hilariously Freaks Out Over a Mosquito While Performing
While she's certainly earned a break, Adele also seems to have expressed interest in expanding her family. The 28-year-old...
The "Hello" singer could be saying "goodbye" to touring after completing her massive global trek this year, telling the crowd at her Auckland, New Zealand, performance on Sunday that "touring isn't something I'm good at."
"Applause makes me feel a bit vulnerable," she explained during the rain-soaked show, packed with 40,000 fans. "I don't know if I will ever tour again. The only reason I've toured is you. I'm not sure if touring is my bag. My greatest accomplishment in my career is this tour."
Rightfully so! When Adele's current tour wraps with four sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in her native London this summer, she will have performed more than 120 shows spanning three continents since kicking off in February 2016.
Watch: Adele Hilariously Freaks Out Over a Mosquito While Performing
While she's certainly earned a break, Adele also seems to have expressed interest in expanding her family. The 28-year-old...
- 3/27/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Adele is flaunting her natural beauty!
The 28-year-old singer took to Instagram on Friday to share a fresh-faced photo with none other than Elmo.
Related: Adele Hilariously Freaks Out Over a Mosquito While Performing in Australia: 'It Was Sucking My Blood'
"Elmo, I love you. Thanks for coming, See you in New York X," Adele captioned the pic.
Related: Adele Cancels Concert Fireworks After Her Son Angelo Is Injured by Debris
The meeting was a dream come true for Elmo, who spent the week reaching out to the singer on Twitter and TV.
"Adele! Elmo loves you with all of Elmo's heart. Elmo wants to sing 'Rolling In the Deep' with you, wherever you are. Elmo will fly there. Call Elmo! Thank you," he said on the Australian TV show The Project on Wednesday right before singing "Rolling In the Deep."
"Miss @Adele, Elmo's been wondering if after all these years you'd like to...
The 28-year-old singer took to Instagram on Friday to share a fresh-faced photo with none other than Elmo.
Related: Adele Hilariously Freaks Out Over a Mosquito While Performing in Australia: 'It Was Sucking My Blood'
"Elmo, I love you. Thanks for coming, See you in New York X," Adele captioned the pic.
Related: Adele Cancels Concert Fireworks After Her Son Angelo Is Injured by Debris
The meeting was a dream come true for Elmo, who spent the week reaching out to the singer on Twitter and TV.
"Adele! Elmo loves you with all of Elmo's heart. Elmo wants to sing 'Rolling In the Deep' with you, wherever you are. Elmo will fly there. Call Elmo! Thank you," he said on the Australian TV show The Project on Wednesday right before singing "Rolling In the Deep."
"Miss @Adele, Elmo's been wondering if after all these years you'd like to...
- 3/10/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Featuring a cinematic showdown between two of the horror genre's most iconic characters, Dracula vs. Frankenstein is coming to Blu-ray this holiday season from Shriek Show.
Directed by Al Adamson, Dracula vs. Frankenstein stars Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, Anthony Eisley, Regina Carrol, Russ Tamblyn, and Angelo Rossito. Shriek Show will release the film on Blu-ray beginning December 13th, and we have official details and a look at the cover art below.
Synopsis and Special Features (via Blu-ray.com): "With a sudden slash of an axe, a woman named Joan is decapitated on a desolate beach at midnight. In a hellish laboratory hidden below the boardwalk Freak Emporium, Dr. Durea (a.k.a. Dr. Frankenstein!) drains the blood of corpses to distill an all-powerful serum. Count Dracula craves the new serum and offers the doctor the hulking body of the original Frankenstein monster in exchange. With a blast...
Directed by Al Adamson, Dracula vs. Frankenstein stars Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carrol Naish, Anthony Eisley, Regina Carrol, Russ Tamblyn, and Angelo Rossito. Shriek Show will release the film on Blu-ray beginning December 13th, and we have official details and a look at the cover art below.
Synopsis and Special Features (via Blu-ray.com): "With a sudden slash of an axe, a woman named Joan is decapitated on a desolate beach at midnight. In a hellish laboratory hidden below the boardwalk Freak Emporium, Dr. Durea (a.k.a. Dr. Frankenstein!) drains the blood of corpses to distill an all-powerful serum. Count Dracula craves the new serum and offers the doctor the hulking body of the original Frankenstein monster in exchange. With a blast...
- 11/8/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Jim Knipfel Oct 17, 2018
After all these years, Al Adamson’s cult classic Dracula vs. Frankenstein still doesn’t make a damn lick of sense!
Growing up in Wisconsin in the early '70s, I would get home from school, drop my bag, park myself in front of the TV and tune in The Early Show. Every weekday between three and five-thirty, a local station aired sometimes shockingly uncut films, and it was there my cinematic education began. I don’t know who was programming The Early Show, but I would like to shake his hand. The focus was decidedly on genre films,especially horror and recent drive-in hits. Along with scattered Westerns, war movies and mysteries, there were regular week-long Toho and Hammer fests, without a single stupid musical or romantic comedy tossed in to muck things up.
It was through The Early Show that I was introduced to Roger Corman,...
After all these years, Al Adamson’s cult classic Dracula vs. Frankenstein still doesn’t make a damn lick of sense!
Growing up in Wisconsin in the early '70s, I would get home from school, drop my bag, park myself in front of the TV and tune in The Early Show. Every weekday between three and five-thirty, a local station aired sometimes shockingly uncut films, and it was there my cinematic education began. I don’t know who was programming The Early Show, but I would like to shake his hand. The focus was decidedly on genre films,especially horror and recent drive-in hits. Along with scattered Westerns, war movies and mysteries, there were regular week-long Toho and Hammer fests, without a single stupid musical or romantic comedy tossed in to muck things up.
It was through The Early Show that I was introduced to Roger Corman,...
- 10/25/2016
- Den of Geek
Jim Knipfel Oct 17, 2018
After all these years, Al Adamson’s cult classic Dracula vs. Frankenstein still doesn’t make a damn lick of sense!
Growing up in Wisconsin in the early '70s, I would get home from school, drop my bag, park myself in front of the TV and tune in The Early Show. Every weekday between three and five-thirty, a local station aired sometimes shockingly uncut films, and it was there my cinematic education began. I don’t know who was programming The Early Show, but I would like to shake his hand. The focus was decidedly on genre films,especially horror and recent drive-in hits. Along with scattered Westerns, war movies and mysteries, there were regular week-long Toho and Hammer fests, without a single stupid musical or romantic comedy tossed in to muck things up.
It was through The Early Show that I was introduced to Roger Corman,...
After all these years, Al Adamson’s cult classic Dracula vs. Frankenstein still doesn’t make a damn lick of sense!
Growing up in Wisconsin in the early '70s, I would get home from school, drop my bag, park myself in front of the TV and tune in The Early Show. Every weekday between three and five-thirty, a local station aired sometimes shockingly uncut films, and it was there my cinematic education began. I don’t know who was programming The Early Show, but I would like to shake his hand. The focus was decidedly on genre films,especially horror and recent drive-in hits. Along with scattered Westerns, war movies and mysteries, there were regular week-long Toho and Hammer fests, without a single stupid musical or romantic comedy tossed in to muck things up.
It was through The Early Show that I was introduced to Roger Corman,...
- 10/25/2016
- Den of Geek
Dasy and Viola are teenage siblings who’re joined at the hip. And no, that’s not a metaphor. From Stuck on You all the way back to Todd Browning’s classic Freaks, conjoined twins have long proved fertile ground for cinema. Edoardo De Angelis’ Indivisible joins them, taking us on a subtly surreal tour of Italy’s grimy industrial south: a grimy land of burning trash and abandoned warehouses, populated by a gallery of grotesques eager to get their claws into Dasy and Viola (Angela and Marianna Fontana).
Blessed with both beauty and perfect harmony, the twins are breadwinners for their extended family – available to hire for children’s parties, weddings, baptisms and so on. Scumbag father Peppe (Massimiliano Rossi) is their Svengali, providing them with a songbook full of treacly pop songs, most of which are about the importance of unity and/or female submission.
Also on board...
Blessed with both beauty and perfect harmony, the twins are breadwinners for their extended family – available to hire for children’s parties, weddings, baptisms and so on. Scumbag father Peppe (Massimiliano Rossi) is their Svengali, providing them with a songbook full of treacly pop songs, most of which are about the importance of unity and/or female submission.
Also on board...
- 10/6/2016
- by David James
- We Got This Covered
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Warner Bros has struggled with its blockbusters of late. But back in summer 1997 - Batman & Robin's year - it faced not dissimilar problems.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Warner Bros, following a string of costly movies that hadn’t hit box office gold (Pan, Jupiter Ascending, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., In The Heart Of The Sea), was restructuring its blockbuster movie business. Fewer films, fewer risks, more franchises, and more centering around movie universes seems to be the new approach, and the appointment of a new corporate team to oversee the Harry Potter franchise last week was one part of that.
In some ways, it marks the end of an era. Whilst it retains its relationships with key directing talent (Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan for instance), Warner Bros was, for the bulk of the 1990s in particular, the studio that the others were trying to mimic. It worked with the same stars and filmmakers time and time again, and under then-chiefs Terry Semel and Robert Daly, relationships with key talent were paramount.
Furthermore, the studio knew to leave that talent to do its job, and was also ahead of the pack in developing franchises that it could rely on to give it a string of hits.
However, whilst Warner Bros is having troubles now, its way of doing business was first seriously challenged by the failure of its slate in the summer of 1997. Once again, it seemed to have a line up to cherish, that others were envious of. But as film by film failed to click, every facet of Warner Bros’ blockbuster strategy suddenly came under scrutiny, and would ultimately fairly dramatically change. Just two summers later, the studio released The Matrix, and blockbuster cinema changed again.
But come the start of summer 1997? These are the movies that Warner Bros had lined up, and this is what happened…
February - National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation
Things actually had got off to a decent enough start for the studio earlier in the year, so it's worth kicking off there. It brought Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo back together, for the fourth National Lampoon movie, and the first since 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Interestingly, it dropped the National Lampoon moniker in the Us, and instead released the eventual movie as Vegas Vacation. It was a belated sequel, back when belated sequels weren’t that big a thing.
The film was quickly pulled apart by reviewers, but it still just about clawed a profit. The production budget of $25m was eclipsed by the Us gross of $36m, and the movie would do comfortable business on video/DVD. Not a massive hit, then, but hardly a project that had a sense of foreboding about it.
Yet the problems were not far away.
May – Father's Day
Warner Bros had a mix of movies released in the Us in March and April 1997, including modest Wesley Snipes-headlined thriller Murder At 1600, and family flick Shiloh. But it launched its summer season with Father’s Day, an expensive packaged comedy from director Ivan Reitman, starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. It had hit written all over it.
Father’s Day was one of the movies packaged by the CAA agency, and its then-head, Mike Ovitz (listed regularly by Premiere magazine in the 1990s as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, if not the most powerful man). That he brought together the stars, the director and the project, gave a studio a price tag, and the studio duly paid it. Given Warner Bros’ devotion to star talent (Mel Gibson, then one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and a major Warner Bros talent, was persuaded to film a cameo), it was a natural home for the film. It quickly did the deal. few questions asked.
That package, and CAA’s fees for putting it together, brought the budget for a fairly straightforward comedy to a then-staggering $85m. The problem, though, was that the film simply wasn’t very good. It’s one of those projects that looks great on paper, less great when exposed on a great big screen. Warner Bros has snapped it up, without - it seems - even properly reading the script.
Premiere magazine quoted a Warner Bros insider back in November 1997 as saying “when [CAA] calls and says ‘we have a package, Father’s Day, with Williams and Crystal and Reitman, we say ‘great’”, adding “we don’t scrutinise the production. When we saw the movie, it took the wind out of us. We kept reshooting and enhancing, but you can’t fix something that’s bad”.
And it was bad.
The movie would prove to be the first big misfire of the summer, grossing just $35m in the Us, and not adding a fat lot more elsewhere in the world. Warner Bros’ first film of the summer was a certified flop. More would soon follow.
May - Addicted To Love
A more modestly priced project was Addicted To Love, a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. Just over a year later, Warner Bros would hit big when Meg Ryan reunited with Tom Hanks for Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. But here? The film was a modest success, at best.
Directed by Griffin Dunne (making his directorial debut), and put together in partnership with Miramax, Addicted To Love was based around the Robert Palmer song of the same name. But whilst it was sold as a romcom, the muddled final cut was actually a fair bit darker. There was an underlying nastiness to some moments in the film, and when the final box office was tallied, it came in lower than the usual returns for pictures from Ryan or Broderick. Counter-programming it against the release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park didn’t massively help in this instance either, especially as the Jurassic Park sequel would smash opening weekend records.
Addicted To Love ended up with $34.6m at the Us box office. It would eke out a small profit.
June - Batman & Robin
And this is when the alarm bells started to ring very, very loudly. Summer 1997 was supposed to be about a trio of sure-fire hit sequels: Batman 4, Jurassic Park 2 and Speed 2. Only one of those would ultimately bring home the box office bacon, the others being destroyed by critics, and ultimately leaving far more empty seats than anticipated in multiplexes.
Batman & Robin, it’s easy to forget, came off the back of 1995’s Joel Schumacher-steered Batman reboot, Batman Forever that year's biggest movie). It had one of the fastest-growing stars in the world in the Batsuit (George Clooney), and the McDonald’s deals were signed even before the script was typed up. You don’t need us to tell you that you could tell, something of a theme already in Warner Bros' summer of '97.
That said, Batman & Robin still gave Warner Bros a big opening, but in the infancy of the internet as we know it, poisonous word of mouth was already beginning to spread. The film’s negative cost Warner Bros up to $140m, before marketing and distribution costs, and it opened in the Us to a hardly-sniffy $42m of business (although that was down from previous Batman movies).
But that word of mouth still accelerated its departure from cinemas. It was then very rare for a film to make over 40% of its Us gross in its first weekend. But that’s just what Batman & Robin did, taking $107.3m in America, part of a worldwide total of $238.2m. This was the worst return for a Batman movie to date, and Warner Bros had to swiftly put the brakes on plans to get Batman Triumphant moving.
It would be eight years until Batman returned to the big screen, in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Warner Bros would undergo big changes in the intervening period.
As for the immediate aftermath of Batman & Robin? Warner Bros co-chief Robert Daly would note at the end of '97 that “we’d have been better off with more action in the picture. The movie had to service too many characters”, adding that “the next Batman we do, in three years – and we have a deal with George Clooney to do it – will have one villain”.
Fortunately, Warner Bros’ one solid hit of the summer was just around the corner…
July - Contact
And breathe out.
Warner Bros bet heavily again on expensive talent here, with Robert Zemeckis bringing his adaptation of Carl Sagan’s Contact to the studio for his first film post-Forrest Gump. Warner Bros duly footed the $90m bill (back when that was still seen as a lot of money for a movie), a good chunk of which went to Jodie Foster. It invested heavily in special effects, and gave Zemeckis licence to make the film that he wanted.
The studio was rewarded with the most intelligent and arguably the best blockbuster of the summer. I’ve looked back at Contact in a lot more detail here, and it remains a fascinating film that’s stood the test of time (and arguably influenced Christopher Nolan’s more recent Interstellar).
Reviews were strong, it looked terrific, and the initial box office was good.
But then the problem hit. For whilst Contact was a solid hit for Warner Bros, it wasn’t a massively profitable one. Had Father’s Day and Batman & Robin shouldered the box office load there were supposed to, it perhaps wouldn’t have been a problem. But when they failed to take off, the pressure shifted to Contact.
The movie would gross $100.9m in the Us, and add another $70m overseas (this being an era were international box office rarely had the importance it has today). But once Warner Bros had paid its bills, there wasn’t a fat lot over for itself. Fortunately, the film still sells on disc and on-demand. Yet it wasn’t to be the massive hit the studio needed back in 1997.
July - One Eight Seven
From director Kevin Reynolds, the man who helmed Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Waterworld, came modestly-priced drama 187, starring Samuel L Jackson (in a strong performance). Warner Bros wouldn’t have had massive box office expectations for the film (although it can't have been unaware that the inspirational teacher sub-genre was always worth a few quid), and it shared production duties on the $20m movie with Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions. But still, it would have had its eye on a modest success. What it got in return was red ink.
The film’s not a bad one, and certainly worth seeking out. But poor reviews gave the film an uphill struggle from the off – smaller productions arriving mid-summer really needed critics on their side, as they arguably still do – and it opened to just $2.2m of business (the less edgy, Michelle Pfeiffer-headlined school drama Dangerous Minds had been a surprise hit not two years before).
By the time its run was done, 187 hadn’t even come close to covering its production costs, with just under $6m banked.
Warner Bros’ summer slate was running out of films. But at least it had one of its most reliable movie stars around the corner…
August - Conspiracy Theory
What could go wrong? Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts were two of the biggest movie stars in the world in 1997, at a time when movie stars still equated to box office gold. Director Richard Donner, one of Warner Bros’ favourite directors, had delivered the Lethal Weapons, Maverick, Superman, The Goonies and more for the studio. Put them altogether, with Patrick Stewart (coming to wider public consciousness at the time off the back of his Star Trek: The Next Generation work) as a villain, and it should have been a big hit.
Conspiracy Theory proved to be one of the more ambitious summer blockbusters of the era. It lacks a good first act, which would be really useful in actually setting up more of what’s going on. But Gibson played an edgy cab driver who believes in deep government conspiracies, and finds himself getting closer to the truth than those around him sometimes give him credit for.
Warner Bros was probably expecting another Lethal Weapon with the reunion of Gibson (who had to be persuaded to take Conspiracy Theory on) and Donner (it’s pretty much what it got with the hugely enjoyable Maverick a few years’ earlier), but instead it got a darker drama, with an uneasy central character that didn’t exactly play to the summer box office crowd.
The bigger problem, though, was that the film never quite worked as well as you might hope. Yet star power did have advantages. While no juggernaut, the film did decent business, grossing $137m worldwide off the back of an $80m budget ($40m of which was spent on the salaries for the talent before a single roll of film was loaded into a camera). That said, in the Us it knocked a genuine smash hit, Air Force One, off the top spot. Mind you in hindsight, that was probably the film that the studio wished it had made (the cockpit set of Warner Bros' own Executive Decision was repurposed for Air Force One, fact fans).
Still: Warner Bros did get Lethal Weapon 4 off Gibson and Donner a year later…
August - Free Willy 3: The Rescue
Yeah.
Warner Bros opened its third Free Willy film on the same day as Conspiracy Theory (can you imagine a studio opening two big films on the same day now), but it was clear that this was a franchise long past its best days (and its best days hardly bring back the fondest of memories).
Still, Free Willy movies were relatively modest in cost to put together, and Warner Bros presumably felt this was a simple cashpoint project. But in a year when lots of family movies did less business than expected (Disney’s Hercules, Fox’s Home Alone 3, Disney’s Mr Magoo), Free Willy 3 barely troubled the box office. It took in just over $3m in total, and Willy would not be seen on the inside of a cinema again.
August - Steel
Not much was expected from Steel, a superhero movie headlined by Shaquille O’Neal. Which was fortunate, because not much was had.
It had a mid-August release date in the Us, at a point when a mid-August release date was more of a dumping ground than anything else. And even though the budget was set at a relatively low $16m, the film – and it’s an overused time – pretty much bombed. It took $1.7m at the Us box office, and given that its appeal hinged on a major American sports star whose fame hardly transcended the globe, its international takings did not save it (it went straight to video in many territories).
It was a miserable end to what, for warner bros, had been a thoroughly miserable summer.
So what did hit big in summer 1997?
Summer 1997 was infamous for big films failing to take off in the way that had been expected – Hercules, Speed 2, and the aforementioned Warner Bros movies – but there were several bright spots. The big winner would be Barry Sonnenfeld’s light and sprightly sci-fi comedy Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Star power too helped score big hits for Harrison Ford (Air Force One), Julia Roberts (My Best Friend’s Wedding) and John Travolta (Face/Off).
This was also the summer that Nicolas Cage cemented his action movie credentials with Face/Off and Con Air. Crucially, though, the star movies that hit were the ones that veered on the side of 'good'. For the first of many years, the internet was blamed for this.
Oh, and later in the year, incidentally, Titanic would redefine just what constituted a box office hit...
What came next for Warner Bros?
In the rest of 1997, Warner Bros had a mix of projects that again enjoyed mixed fortunes. The standout was Curtis Hanson’s stunning adaptation of L.A. Confidential, that also proved to be a surprise box office success. The Devil’s Advocate didn’t do too badly either.
However, two of the studio’s key filmmakers failed to really deliver come the end of 1997. Clint Eastwood’s Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil failed to ignite (although many felt he was always on a hiding to nothing in trying to adapt that for the screen), and Kevin Costner’s The Postman would prove arguably the most expensive box office disappointment of the year. No wonder the studio rushed Lethal Weapon 4 into production for summer 1998. Oh, and it had The Avengers underway too (not that one), that would prove to be a 1998 disappointment.
The studio would eventually take action. The Daly-Semel management team, that had reigned for 15 years, would break up at the end of 1999, as its traditional way of doing business became less successful. The pair had already future projects that were director driven to an extent (Eyes Wide Shut), and it would still invest in movies with stars (Wild Wild West). But the immediate plan of action following the disappointment of summer 1997 – to get Batman 5 and Superman Lives made – would falter. It wouldn’t be until 1999’s The Matrix (a film that Daly and Semel struggled to get) and – crucially – 2001’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone that the studio would really get its swagger back...
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Movies Feature Simon Brew Warner Bros 16 Jun 2016 - 05:19 Conspiracy Theory Father's Day Addicted To Love Contact National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation One Eight Seven Steel Batman & Robin Free Willy 3: The Rescue...
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Warner Bros has struggled with its blockbusters of late. But back in summer 1997 - Batman & Robin's year - it faced not dissimilar problems.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Warner Bros, following a string of costly movies that hadn’t hit box office gold (Pan, Jupiter Ascending, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., In The Heart Of The Sea), was restructuring its blockbuster movie business. Fewer films, fewer risks, more franchises, and more centering around movie universes seems to be the new approach, and the appointment of a new corporate team to oversee the Harry Potter franchise last week was one part of that.
In some ways, it marks the end of an era. Whilst it retains its relationships with key directing talent (Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan for instance), Warner Bros was, for the bulk of the 1990s in particular, the studio that the others were trying to mimic. It worked with the same stars and filmmakers time and time again, and under then-chiefs Terry Semel and Robert Daly, relationships with key talent were paramount.
Furthermore, the studio knew to leave that talent to do its job, and was also ahead of the pack in developing franchises that it could rely on to give it a string of hits.
However, whilst Warner Bros is having troubles now, its way of doing business was first seriously challenged by the failure of its slate in the summer of 1997. Once again, it seemed to have a line up to cherish, that others were envious of. But as film by film failed to click, every facet of Warner Bros’ blockbuster strategy suddenly came under scrutiny, and would ultimately fairly dramatically change. Just two summers later, the studio released The Matrix, and blockbuster cinema changed again.
But come the start of summer 1997? These are the movies that Warner Bros had lined up, and this is what happened…
February - National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation
Things actually had got off to a decent enough start for the studio earlier in the year, so it's worth kicking off there. It brought Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo back together, for the fourth National Lampoon movie, and the first since 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Interestingly, it dropped the National Lampoon moniker in the Us, and instead released the eventual movie as Vegas Vacation. It was a belated sequel, back when belated sequels weren’t that big a thing.
The film was quickly pulled apart by reviewers, but it still just about clawed a profit. The production budget of $25m was eclipsed by the Us gross of $36m, and the movie would do comfortable business on video/DVD. Not a massive hit, then, but hardly a project that had a sense of foreboding about it.
Yet the problems were not far away.
May – Father's Day
Warner Bros had a mix of movies released in the Us in March and April 1997, including modest Wesley Snipes-headlined thriller Murder At 1600, and family flick Shiloh. But it launched its summer season with Father’s Day, an expensive packaged comedy from director Ivan Reitman, starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. It had hit written all over it.
Father’s Day was one of the movies packaged by the CAA agency, and its then-head, Mike Ovitz (listed regularly by Premiere magazine in the 1990s as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, if not the most powerful man). That he brought together the stars, the director and the project, gave a studio a price tag, and the studio duly paid it. Given Warner Bros’ devotion to star talent (Mel Gibson, then one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and a major Warner Bros talent, was persuaded to film a cameo), it was a natural home for the film. It quickly did the deal. few questions asked.
That package, and CAA’s fees for putting it together, brought the budget for a fairly straightforward comedy to a then-staggering $85m. The problem, though, was that the film simply wasn’t very good. It’s one of those projects that looks great on paper, less great when exposed on a great big screen. Warner Bros has snapped it up, without - it seems - even properly reading the script.
Premiere magazine quoted a Warner Bros insider back in November 1997 as saying “when [CAA] calls and says ‘we have a package, Father’s Day, with Williams and Crystal and Reitman, we say ‘great’”, adding “we don’t scrutinise the production. When we saw the movie, it took the wind out of us. We kept reshooting and enhancing, but you can’t fix something that’s bad”.
And it was bad.
The movie would prove to be the first big misfire of the summer, grossing just $35m in the Us, and not adding a fat lot more elsewhere in the world. Warner Bros’ first film of the summer was a certified flop. More would soon follow.
May - Addicted To Love
A more modestly priced project was Addicted To Love, a romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. Just over a year later, Warner Bros would hit big when Meg Ryan reunited with Tom Hanks for Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail. But here? The film was a modest success, at best.
Directed by Griffin Dunne (making his directorial debut), and put together in partnership with Miramax, Addicted To Love was based around the Robert Palmer song of the same name. But whilst it was sold as a romcom, the muddled final cut was actually a fair bit darker. There was an underlying nastiness to some moments in the film, and when the final box office was tallied, it came in lower than the usual returns for pictures from Ryan or Broderick. Counter-programming it against the release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park didn’t massively help in this instance either, especially as the Jurassic Park sequel would smash opening weekend records.
Addicted To Love ended up with $34.6m at the Us box office. It would eke out a small profit.
June - Batman & Robin
And this is when the alarm bells started to ring very, very loudly. Summer 1997 was supposed to be about a trio of sure-fire hit sequels: Batman 4, Jurassic Park 2 and Speed 2. Only one of those would ultimately bring home the box office bacon, the others being destroyed by critics, and ultimately leaving far more empty seats than anticipated in multiplexes.
Batman & Robin, it’s easy to forget, came off the back of 1995’s Joel Schumacher-steered Batman reboot, Batman Forever that year's biggest movie). It had one of the fastest-growing stars in the world in the Batsuit (George Clooney), and the McDonald’s deals were signed even before the script was typed up. You don’t need us to tell you that you could tell, something of a theme already in Warner Bros' summer of '97.
That said, Batman & Robin still gave Warner Bros a big opening, but in the infancy of the internet as we know it, poisonous word of mouth was already beginning to spread. The film’s negative cost Warner Bros up to $140m, before marketing and distribution costs, and it opened in the Us to a hardly-sniffy $42m of business (although that was down from previous Batman movies).
But that word of mouth still accelerated its departure from cinemas. It was then very rare for a film to make over 40% of its Us gross in its first weekend. But that’s just what Batman & Robin did, taking $107.3m in America, part of a worldwide total of $238.2m. This was the worst return for a Batman movie to date, and Warner Bros had to swiftly put the brakes on plans to get Batman Triumphant moving.
It would be eight years until Batman returned to the big screen, in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Warner Bros would undergo big changes in the intervening period.
As for the immediate aftermath of Batman & Robin? Warner Bros co-chief Robert Daly would note at the end of '97 that “we’d have been better off with more action in the picture. The movie had to service too many characters”, adding that “the next Batman we do, in three years – and we have a deal with George Clooney to do it – will have one villain”.
Fortunately, Warner Bros’ one solid hit of the summer was just around the corner…
July - Contact
And breathe out.
Warner Bros bet heavily again on expensive talent here, with Robert Zemeckis bringing his adaptation of Carl Sagan’s Contact to the studio for his first film post-Forrest Gump. Warner Bros duly footed the $90m bill (back when that was still seen as a lot of money for a movie), a good chunk of which went to Jodie Foster. It invested heavily in special effects, and gave Zemeckis licence to make the film that he wanted.
The studio was rewarded with the most intelligent and arguably the best blockbuster of the summer. I’ve looked back at Contact in a lot more detail here, and it remains a fascinating film that’s stood the test of time (and arguably influenced Christopher Nolan’s more recent Interstellar).
Reviews were strong, it looked terrific, and the initial box office was good.
But then the problem hit. For whilst Contact was a solid hit for Warner Bros, it wasn’t a massively profitable one. Had Father’s Day and Batman & Robin shouldered the box office load there were supposed to, it perhaps wouldn’t have been a problem. But when they failed to take off, the pressure shifted to Contact.
The movie would gross $100.9m in the Us, and add another $70m overseas (this being an era were international box office rarely had the importance it has today). But once Warner Bros had paid its bills, there wasn’t a fat lot over for itself. Fortunately, the film still sells on disc and on-demand. Yet it wasn’t to be the massive hit the studio needed back in 1997.
July - One Eight Seven
From director Kevin Reynolds, the man who helmed Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves and Waterworld, came modestly-priced drama 187, starring Samuel L Jackson (in a strong performance). Warner Bros wouldn’t have had massive box office expectations for the film (although it can't have been unaware that the inspirational teacher sub-genre was always worth a few quid), and it shared production duties on the $20m movie with Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions. But still, it would have had its eye on a modest success. What it got in return was red ink.
The film’s not a bad one, and certainly worth seeking out. But poor reviews gave the film an uphill struggle from the off – smaller productions arriving mid-summer really needed critics on their side, as they arguably still do – and it opened to just $2.2m of business (the less edgy, Michelle Pfeiffer-headlined school drama Dangerous Minds had been a surprise hit not two years before).
By the time its run was done, 187 hadn’t even come close to covering its production costs, with just under $6m banked.
Warner Bros’ summer slate was running out of films. But at least it had one of its most reliable movie stars around the corner…
August - Conspiracy Theory
What could go wrong? Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts were two of the biggest movie stars in the world in 1997, at a time when movie stars still equated to box office gold. Director Richard Donner, one of Warner Bros’ favourite directors, had delivered the Lethal Weapons, Maverick, Superman, The Goonies and more for the studio. Put them altogether, with Patrick Stewart (coming to wider public consciousness at the time off the back of his Star Trek: The Next Generation work) as a villain, and it should have been a big hit.
Conspiracy Theory proved to be one of the more ambitious summer blockbusters of the era. It lacks a good first act, which would be really useful in actually setting up more of what’s going on. But Gibson played an edgy cab driver who believes in deep government conspiracies, and finds himself getting closer to the truth than those around him sometimes give him credit for.
Warner Bros was probably expecting another Lethal Weapon with the reunion of Gibson (who had to be persuaded to take Conspiracy Theory on) and Donner (it’s pretty much what it got with the hugely enjoyable Maverick a few years’ earlier), but instead it got a darker drama, with an uneasy central character that didn’t exactly play to the summer box office crowd.
The bigger problem, though, was that the film never quite worked as well as you might hope. Yet star power did have advantages. While no juggernaut, the film did decent business, grossing $137m worldwide off the back of an $80m budget ($40m of which was spent on the salaries for the talent before a single roll of film was loaded into a camera). That said, in the Us it knocked a genuine smash hit, Air Force One, off the top spot. Mind you in hindsight, that was probably the film that the studio wished it had made (the cockpit set of Warner Bros' own Executive Decision was repurposed for Air Force One, fact fans).
Still: Warner Bros did get Lethal Weapon 4 off Gibson and Donner a year later…
August - Free Willy 3: The Rescue
Yeah.
Warner Bros opened its third Free Willy film on the same day as Conspiracy Theory (can you imagine a studio opening two big films on the same day now), but it was clear that this was a franchise long past its best days (and its best days hardly bring back the fondest of memories).
Still, Free Willy movies were relatively modest in cost to put together, and Warner Bros presumably felt this was a simple cashpoint project. But in a year when lots of family movies did less business than expected (Disney’s Hercules, Fox’s Home Alone 3, Disney’s Mr Magoo), Free Willy 3 barely troubled the box office. It took in just over $3m in total, and Willy would not be seen on the inside of a cinema again.
August - Steel
Not much was expected from Steel, a superhero movie headlined by Shaquille O’Neal. Which was fortunate, because not much was had.
It had a mid-August release date in the Us, at a point when a mid-August release date was more of a dumping ground than anything else. And even though the budget was set at a relatively low $16m, the film – and it’s an overused time – pretty much bombed. It took $1.7m at the Us box office, and given that its appeal hinged on a major American sports star whose fame hardly transcended the globe, its international takings did not save it (it went straight to video in many territories).
It was a miserable end to what, for warner bros, had been a thoroughly miserable summer.
So what did hit big in summer 1997?
Summer 1997 was infamous for big films failing to take off in the way that had been expected – Hercules, Speed 2, and the aforementioned Warner Bros movies – but there were several bright spots. The big winner would be Barry Sonnenfeld’s light and sprightly sci-fi comedy Men In Black, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Star power too helped score big hits for Harrison Ford (Air Force One), Julia Roberts (My Best Friend’s Wedding) and John Travolta (Face/Off).
This was also the summer that Nicolas Cage cemented his action movie credentials with Face/Off and Con Air. Crucially, though, the star movies that hit were the ones that veered on the side of 'good'. For the first of many years, the internet was blamed for this.
Oh, and later in the year, incidentally, Titanic would redefine just what constituted a box office hit...
What came next for Warner Bros?
In the rest of 1997, Warner Bros had a mix of projects that again enjoyed mixed fortunes. The standout was Curtis Hanson’s stunning adaptation of L.A. Confidential, that also proved to be a surprise box office success. The Devil’s Advocate didn’t do too badly either.
However, two of the studio’s key filmmakers failed to really deliver come the end of 1997. Clint Eastwood’s Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil failed to ignite (although many felt he was always on a hiding to nothing in trying to adapt that for the screen), and Kevin Costner’s The Postman would prove arguably the most expensive box office disappointment of the year. No wonder the studio rushed Lethal Weapon 4 into production for summer 1998. Oh, and it had The Avengers underway too (not that one), that would prove to be a 1998 disappointment.
The studio would eventually take action. The Daly-Semel management team, that had reigned for 15 years, would break up at the end of 1999, as its traditional way of doing business became less successful. The pair had already future projects that were director driven to an extent (Eyes Wide Shut), and it would still invest in movies with stars (Wild Wild West). But the immediate plan of action following the disappointment of summer 1997 – to get Batman 5 and Superman Lives made – would falter. It wouldn’t be until 1999’s The Matrix (a film that Daly and Semel struggled to get) and – crucially – 2001’s Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone that the studio would really get its swagger back...
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Movies Feature Simon Brew Warner Bros 16 Jun 2016 - 05:19 Conspiracy Theory Father's Day Addicted To Love Contact National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation One Eight Seven Steel Batman & Robin Free Willy 3: The Rescue...
- 6/13/2016
- Den of Geek
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We celebrate a century of huge and expensive film sets, from historical epics to sprawling fantasies and sci-fi action movies...
The advent of cinema saw the art of set design gradually spread its wings from the relative confines of the theatre. As movies established their own language and became ever more ambitious in the early part of the 20th century, so set designers were called on to create increasingly expansive and more detailed backdrops.
As the list of movies below proves, the construction of huge sets has been a major part of cinema for the past century. And with scale comes expense, as the recreation of ancient landmarks, futuristic cities or doomed ocean liners takes hundreds of artists, designers and crafty types months of labour to plan and construct. Often, these sets are on the screen for a few scant minutes before they're torn down and largely...
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We celebrate a century of huge and expensive film sets, from historical epics to sprawling fantasies and sci-fi action movies...
The advent of cinema saw the art of set design gradually spread its wings from the relative confines of the theatre. As movies established their own language and became ever more ambitious in the early part of the 20th century, so set designers were called on to create increasingly expansive and more detailed backdrops.
As the list of movies below proves, the construction of huge sets has been a major part of cinema for the past century. And with scale comes expense, as the recreation of ancient landmarks, futuristic cities or doomed ocean liners takes hundreds of artists, designers and crafty types months of labour to plan and construct. Often, these sets are on the screen for a few scant minutes before they're torn down and largely...
- 2/9/2016
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
By her own admission, Alison Faulk has never had a problem "dancing like a dude." When she took on the assignment of staging the routines in Magic Mike Xxl, however, the 38-year-old choreographer had to dial her inner oversexed guy up to 11. "We wanted those scenes to feel daring and dirty," she says. "We wanted it to be really sexy — the sort of stuff where you you watch the actors do the moves and then ask yourself, 'Um, have we just crossed a line? Is this too much?'"
Judging...
Judging...
- 7/6/2015
- Rollingstone.com
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Written by Terry Hayes and George Miller
Directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie
Australia, 1985
An undetermined amount of time has elapsed since Max’s (Mel Gibson) previous high stakes adventure. Now with a few more grey hairs, he traverses the treacherous Outback with camels and a stagecoach, looking for who knows what. His long walk is interrupted by a renegade pilot (Bruce Spence), who flies low, thus blowing up sand and obscuring Max’s field of vision. During the interruption the pilot and his son steal the wagon and make way for the only nearest outpost: Batertown. Batertown is governed by the megalomaniacal Auntie Entity (Tina Turner), although her authority is frequently challenged by a duo of characters that run the town’s fuel compound where methanol is extracted from pig feces. They are Master Blaster, or rather, Master (Angelo Rossito), a little man that...
Written by Terry Hayes and George Miller
Directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie
Australia, 1985
An undetermined amount of time has elapsed since Max’s (Mel Gibson) previous high stakes adventure. Now with a few more grey hairs, he traverses the treacherous Outback with camels and a stagecoach, looking for who knows what. His long walk is interrupted by a renegade pilot (Bruce Spence), who flies low, thus blowing up sand and obscuring Max’s field of vision. During the interruption the pilot and his son steal the wagon and make way for the only nearest outpost: Batertown. Batertown is governed by the megalomaniacal Auntie Entity (Tina Turner), although her authority is frequently challenged by a duo of characters that run the town’s fuel compound where methanol is extracted from pig feces. They are Master Blaster, or rather, Master (Angelo Rossito), a little man that...
- 5/14/2015
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
This Friday, George Miller returns to the post-apocalyptic universe he first brought to life back in 1979 with Mad Max. His trend-setting actioner has now spawned three sequels, the latest being Mad Max: Fury Road, which has Tom Hardy bringing the seminal hero to life this time around. Since we’re just a few days away from meeting his latest adversary, the ruthless Immortan Joe, I thought this would be a perfect time to look back at the villains from the original Mad Max trilogy who first paved the way and still continue to influence film and pop culture even after three decades.
Mad Max: George Miller’s Mad Max opens with one of the most cinematically exhilarating chase sequences ever committed to celluloid (The Road Warrior coming in neck-and-neck at number two) that is fueled by the actions of a notorious criminal known as the “Nightrider,” who has escaped...
Mad Max: George Miller’s Mad Max opens with one of the most cinematically exhilarating chase sequences ever committed to celluloid (The Road Warrior coming in neck-and-neck at number two) that is fueled by the actions of a notorious criminal known as the “Nightrider,” who has escaped...
- 5/13/2015
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
The best way to describe Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is to call it a misguided attempt at a dark, post-apocalyptic adaptation of Peter Pan with a side of "Lord of the Flies". If that sounds interesting that's because Thunderdome is somewhat compelling, the plotting is just all wrong. Director George Miller, this time returning to his Mad Max franchise with co-director George Ogilvie, seems intent on telling two stories at once, neither feeling as if they are of the same story. That said, once each jarring and coincidental switch in the plot is made, the result provides avenues that would be otherwise interesting to explore on their own as Miller was clearly searching for a story arc unlike the first two films when he sat down to write the screenplay with The Road Warrior co-writer Terry Hayes. Similar to the opening of its predecessor, the film begins with the titular Max (Mel Gibson) being chased,...
- 5/12/2015
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The middle of Spring actually means a new selection of summer blockbusters to look forward to, and with a ton of big-budget films slated to come out within the next few months and beyond, the summer of 2015 looks like one to remember.
From the new Mad Max (which is already on our end-of -year top ten list event though we haven’t yet seen it) to Avengers, Poltergeists, male strippers, talking teddy bears, and a reboot of the Jurassic Park franchise, this summer’s trips to the theaters will be jam-packed with sequels and new tales. From May 1st right through to the end of August, some of the movies on our list could wind up on year-end “best of” lists or even receive some Oscar talk by December.
Grab your calendar, because Wamg has a rundown of this summer’s films we’re most excited about, so check them out below!
From the new Mad Max (which is already on our end-of -year top ten list event though we haven’t yet seen it) to Avengers, Poltergeists, male strippers, talking teddy bears, and a reboot of the Jurassic Park franchise, this summer’s trips to the theaters will be jam-packed with sequels and new tales. From May 1st right through to the end of August, some of the movies on our list could wind up on year-end “best of” lists or even receive some Oscar talk by December.
Grab your calendar, because Wamg has a rundown of this summer’s films we’re most excited about, so check them out below!
- 4/13/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
For the second consecutive year, Warner Bros. Pictures International has exceeded the coveted $3 billion mark at the international box office. This benchmark comes on the heels of the release of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, which surpassed $400 million at the international box office this weekend and is still going strong.
Nine Warner Bros. Pictures films have exceeded $100 million internationally, topped by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (with Paramount Pictures), which has taken in an astounding $467 million outside of the U.S. to date, and Godzilla (with Legendary Pictures), which has earned $327 million overseas.
Four titles – Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow (with Village Roadshow Pictures), Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s The Lego Movie (also with Village Roadshow Pictures), and Noam Murro and Zack Snyder’s 300: Rise Of An Empire (with Legendary), along with the 2014 spillover grosses from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug...
Nine Warner Bros. Pictures films have exceeded $100 million internationally, topped by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (with Paramount Pictures), which has taken in an astounding $467 million outside of the U.S. to date, and Godzilla (with Legendary Pictures), which has earned $327 million overseas.
Four titles – Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow (with Village Roadshow Pictures), Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s The Lego Movie (also with Village Roadshow Pictures), and Noam Murro and Zack Snyder’s 300: Rise Of An Empire (with Legendary), along with the 2014 spillover grosses from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug...
- 12/30/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Above: continuing their series of digital anthologies, Film Comment has a new one on Jean-Luc Godard that collects everything the magazine has published on him since 1962 (!). These Goodbye to Language GIFs are just for fun: For Cinema Scope Online, Angelo Muredda takes down Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman:"While the film is ostensibly an angry manifesto stumping for artistic integrity in the face of a pablum-peddling culture industry that’s traded Raymond Carver for Stan Lee—as well as an illiterate critical class unwilling or unable to cultivate its technical competency—Birdman’s squawk is all but neutralized by its tepid bite. Though it is self-righteously mean in its broad strokes (as all polemics inevitably are), Birdman is also—this being an Iñárritu joint—an overeager, conspicuously crafted art object whose virtuosity is matched only by its digestibility. Snottily sniping at everyone but the exact sort of people who will...
- 10/29/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
We’re back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes a new poster for L.A. Slasher, details on Headless, casting update on Welcome to Purgatory, trailers for Truth or Dare and Red Sleep, and more:
New Poster for L.A. Slasher: “Sales agency Circus Road Films has picked up Martin Owen’s horror/satire feature “L.A. Slasher.” Glenn Reynolds’ Circus Road is handling domestic sales. The film stars Danny Trejo (“Machete”), Mischa Barton (“The O.C.”), Dave Bautista (“Riddick”), Eric Roberts (“The Dark Knight), Drake Bell (“Drake & Josh”), Brooke Hogan (“Hogan Knows Best”), Tori Black (“Not Another Celebrity Movie”) and Marisa Lauren (“Superhero Movie”), with the of voice of Andy Dick (“News Radio”) as the ‘L.A. Slasher’.
Produced by Jeffrey Wright and Daniel Sollinger (“Girls Against Boys”), “L.A. Slasher” is a biting, social satire about reality TV and the...
New Poster for L.A. Slasher: “Sales agency Circus Road Films has picked up Martin Owen’s horror/satire feature “L.A. Slasher.” Glenn Reynolds’ Circus Road is handling domestic sales. The film stars Danny Trejo (“Machete”), Mischa Barton (“The O.C.”), Dave Bautista (“Riddick”), Eric Roberts (“The Dark Knight), Drake Bell (“Drake & Josh”), Brooke Hogan (“Hogan Knows Best”), Tori Black (“Not Another Celebrity Movie”) and Marisa Lauren (“Superhero Movie”), with the of voice of Andy Dick (“News Radio”) as the ‘L.A. Slasher’.
Produced by Jeffrey Wright and Daniel Sollinger (“Girls Against Boys”), “L.A. Slasher” is a biting, social satire about reality TV and the...
- 6/22/2014
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
The best films for kids (and fans of a sing-song) coming up in 2014, including movies starring Angelina Jolie, Steve Carell and Meryl Streep
• 2014 preview: blockbusters
• 2014 preview: thrillers
• 2014 preview: comedy
• 2014 preview: Oscar hopefuls
• 2014 preview: science fiction
• 2014 preview: romance
• 2014 preview: drama
Maleficent
Nega-fairy tale in which The Sleeping Beauty story is told from the point of view of Maleficent, the misunderstood fairy godmother. Angelina Jolie stars as the artist formerly known as "The Mistress of All Evil". Elle Fanning is that scheming harpy, Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty. Following the recent trend for skew-wiff folk tales (Snow White and The Huntsmen, Mirror Mirror) special effects veteran Robert Stromberg makes his directorial debut with a Disney film that looks stranger and darker than the average. 28 May
Muppets Most Wanted
Jason Segel's Muppets reboot positioned Kermit and ko as comeback kings - old friends returning from the edge of showbiz to full-felted glory.
• 2014 preview: blockbusters
• 2014 preview: thrillers
• 2014 preview: comedy
• 2014 preview: Oscar hopefuls
• 2014 preview: science fiction
• 2014 preview: romance
• 2014 preview: drama
Maleficent
Nega-fairy tale in which The Sleeping Beauty story is told from the point of view of Maleficent, the misunderstood fairy godmother. Angelina Jolie stars as the artist formerly known as "The Mistress of All Evil". Elle Fanning is that scheming harpy, Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty. Following the recent trend for skew-wiff folk tales (Snow White and The Huntsmen, Mirror Mirror) special effects veteran Robert Stromberg makes his directorial debut with a Disney film that looks stranger and darker than the average. 28 May
Muppets Most Wanted
Jason Segel's Muppets reboot positioned Kermit and ko as comeback kings - old friends returning from the edge of showbiz to full-felted glory.
- 1/2/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
This year, Chicago’s durable Onion City Experimental Film And Video Festival is celebrating its devotion to challenging, exciting and entertaining experimental and avant-garde films for a quarter of a century. Hosted, as always, by Chicago Filmmakers, the 25th annual edition of the fest runs at several locations around the Windy City — the Gene Siskel Film Center, Columbia College and the Music Box Theater — on September 5-8.
The opening night program is a terrific lineup of eclectic short works from some of the giants of the experimental film world, such as animators Jodie Mack and Lawrence Jordan, documentarian Deborah Stratman, British filmmaker Ben Rivers, Indian filmmakers Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel, classic experimental filmmaker Phil Solomon and several more.
The rest of the fest is also jam-packed with other terrific short films and videos, from filmmakers such as Jennifer Reeder, Stephanie Barber, Mike Hoolboom, Lewis Klahr, Scott Fitzpatrick and tons more; plus,...
The opening night program is a terrific lineup of eclectic short works from some of the giants of the experimental film world, such as animators Jodie Mack and Lawrence Jordan, documentarian Deborah Stratman, British filmmaker Ben Rivers, Indian filmmakers Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel, classic experimental filmmaker Phil Solomon and several more.
The rest of the fest is also jam-packed with other terrific short films and videos, from filmmakers such as Jennifer Reeder, Stephanie Barber, Mike Hoolboom, Lewis Klahr, Scott Fitzpatrick and tons more; plus,...
- 9/5/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
As a child of the eighties, the single most memorable cinematic moment for me wasn’t Doc Brown’s DeLorean disappearing into a trail of Ilm flames at 88 miles an hour. Nor was it Daniel Larusso delivering that single crane kick, or even Indiana Jones nonchalantly shooting a deadly swordsman. It was witnessing Clark W. Griswold punching a seven-foot moose caricature squarely on its huge, bulbous nose in a desperate and unbridled act of furiousness seldom seen on screen.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of road trip-from-hell comedy, National Lampoon’s Vacation. Now fully etched into the pop culture psyche, it was the film’s sequel which initially made more of an impression over here, proving to be a colossal hit right in the middle of the home rental boom. The sequel’s humour traded in broad European stereotypes rather than the funnier observational routines of the first film,...
This year marks the 30th anniversary of road trip-from-hell comedy, National Lampoon’s Vacation. Now fully etched into the pop culture psyche, it was the film’s sequel which initially made more of an impression over here, proving to be a colossal hit right in the middle of the home rental boom. The sequel’s humour traded in broad European stereotypes rather than the funnier observational routines of the first film,...
- 7/29/2013
- by Adam Lowes
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Since his debut in 2008, Sheamus has run roughshod over the WWE. The Celtic Warrior has used his overwhelming power and unmatched will and determination to get a boot up on all obstacles. However, in the last week, thanks to the wounds of The Money in the Bank the man formerly known as the Irish curse seemed to have found a blessing in a bruise giving him some much-needed vulnerability. This week’s Main Event and Nxt illustrates the two sides of the same Fella. Let’s break down the difference by recapping the Main Event first.
The Main Event began as the Irish import battled “The Real American” Jack Swagger in a really good match. Swagger did a great job working the leg creating drama in the match. Quite frankly that match is the best Jack has looked in some time. I like the psychology of this. It does wonders for Sheamus as a babyface.
The Main Event began as the Irish import battled “The Real American” Jack Swagger in a really good match. Swagger did a great job working the leg creating drama in the match. Quite frankly that match is the best Jack has looked in some time. I like the psychology of this. It does wonders for Sheamus as a babyface.
- 7/26/2013
- by Paul Jordan
- Obsessed with Film
Los Angeles -- In delivering a film about a garden snail that dreams of winning the Indy 500, it's as if the makers of "Turbo" had been pressed to come up with the most extreme underdog tale they could think of. Or else animators really are running out of ideas for original new characters. An attractively designed but narratively challenged, one-note film, "Turbo" skews younger than the norm for big animated features these days and has limited appeal for little girls.
"The sooner you accept the dull, miserable nature of your existence, the happier you'll be," worldly-wise snail Chet (Paul Giamatti) advises his younger brother Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) after yet another day scouring a garden tomato patch. Turbo spends all his downtime watching VHS tapes of professional car races, especially the many won by his hero, Guy Gagne (Bill Hader, amusingly assuming a French-Canadian accent).
Of course, the message of the film,...
"The sooner you accept the dull, miserable nature of your existence, the happier you'll be," worldly-wise snail Chet (Paul Giamatti) advises his younger brother Turbo (Ryan Reynolds) after yet another day scouring a garden tomato patch. Turbo spends all his downtime watching VHS tapes of professional car races, especially the many won by his hero, Guy Gagne (Bill Hader, amusingly assuming a French-Canadian accent).
Of course, the message of the film,...
- 7/16/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Sometimes in life good and bad things come in threes. Luckily for us this week, WWE has been on the good side of things with programming and the trend continued into the Main Event and Nxt. Let’s begin with the Main Event from my old stomping ground of Dayton, Ohio and the Nutter Center.
The number three is quite prevalent at the beginning of the show. Not only is our opening the featured contest a six tag but we have the return of the three-man booth. Let me discuss that for a minute, I thought the pairing of Cody Rhodes, the Miz and in Matthews worked well together. This trio had great chemistry and gave great insight to the matches. Further showing that commentary so is important to the overall aesthetic to the product and how it’s sometimes a detriment in the wrong context.
Action begins as the...
The number three is quite prevalent at the beginning of the show. Not only is our opening the featured contest a six tag but we have the return of the three-man booth. Let me discuss that for a minute, I thought the pairing of Cody Rhodes, the Miz and in Matthews worked well together. This trio had great chemistry and gave great insight to the matches. Further showing that commentary so is important to the overall aesthetic to the product and how it’s sometimes a detriment in the wrong context.
Action begins as the...
- 6/20/2013
- by Paul Jordan
- Obsessed with Film
Lovebox festival just got a whole lot more provocative...
Us hip hop queen Lil Kim has joined the line-up for the East London music event.
In the first of her announced UK festival appearances in 2013, the 'Jump Off' rapper will play the Sunday night of Lovebox.
On the same bill as Lil Kim is one of the female rap stars for whom she paved the way, Azealia Banks. It will be the first time she has played a show in London since 2001, on her Notorious K.I.M world tour.
Of course, you may not recognise Lil Kim from the days when she had her big break during the '90s. To get up to speed, join us on a surgical journey as we turn back the hands of time on a voyage across Lil Kim's ever-changing face...
Lovebox runs from 19-21 July Victoria Park, check out the full...
Us hip hop queen Lil Kim has joined the line-up for the East London music event.
In the first of her announced UK festival appearances in 2013, the 'Jump Off' rapper will play the Sunday night of Lovebox.
On the same bill as Lil Kim is one of the female rap stars for whom she paved the way, Azealia Banks. It will be the first time she has played a show in London since 2001, on her Notorious K.I.M world tour.
Of course, you may not recognise Lil Kim from the days when she had her big break during the '90s. To get up to speed, join us on a surgical journey as we turn back the hands of time on a voyage across Lil Kim's ever-changing face...
Lovebox runs from 19-21 July Victoria Park, check out the full...
- 5/9/2013
- by The Huffington Post UK
- Huffington Post
Brad Beyer, who co-stars in box-office hit 42, has joined the the upcoming season of USA’s Royal Pains as a recurring. Also set to recur on the medical show is Alexandra Socha (Damages). Jericho alum Beyer will play local police officer Don Barrett who befriends Hank (Mark Feuerstein). A single dad, Don lives with his teenage daughter Molly (Socha). He develops a number of symptoms that he attributes to the stress of dealing with his daughter’s newly rebellious teen attitude — but that Hank believes is caused by a larger medical issue. Beyer is repped by Abrams Artists and Mary Erickson Management. Dohn Norwood, who has been recurring for the first two seasons of AMC’s period Western Hell On Wheels, has been made a series regular. He plays Psalms, a railroad worker who has become the front man of the Freedmen (ex-slaves) and serves as a moral compass as...
- 4/17/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
The following "Auditions at a Glance" calendar conveniently organizes projects by the date and day-of-the-week that the projects' auditions are taking place, to help you schedule your plans. Click on any of the following links to see the casting and job notices related to the dates and project titles highlighted below. Thu. April 18 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' Fun and Discovery Performers Nyfa Student Film, 'Orphans of the Living' 'Movie Star Idol' Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Shows Fri. April 19 Nyfa Student Film, 'Orphans of the Living' Sat. April 20 '13' Legoland 2013 Summer Season Nyfa Student Film, 'Orphans of the Living' Sfsu, 'All American Boy' 'The Entertainer' Sun. April 21 Angelo Mozilo Look-alikes, Music Video Stiletto Entertainment 'The Entertainer' 'The Real High School Musical' 'Les Miserables' Mon. April 22 Legoland 2013 Summer Season 'Paint Your Wagon' 'The Comedy of Errors' 'The Real High School Musical' 'Vigils' 'Les Miserables' Tue.
- 4/16/2013
- backstage.com
Another day, another Comic-Con schedule! Are you ready to plan out our Saturday at this years convention!? Once again there's a ton of great panels going on including Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Man of Steel, The Hobbit, Marvel TV, Django Unchained, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and more!
Saturday has shaped up to be a hell of a great day for those of you attending Comic-Con. I've put *** next to all of the panels that we want to attend, but like every year, I'm sure we'll be covering a lot more stuff.
We'll be wearing our GeekTyrant shirts, so if you see us walking around San Diego and the convention center, please stop and and say hi! We'd love to meet our readers. We will also be holding our annual meet-up on Wednesday night before the crazy geek storm.
Check out the schedule below and let us know what panels you'll be attending,...
Saturday has shaped up to be a hell of a great day for those of you attending Comic-Con. I've put *** next to all of the panels that we want to attend, but like every year, I'm sure we'll be covering a lot more stuff.
We'll be wearing our GeekTyrant shirts, so if you see us walking around San Diego and the convention center, please stop and and say hi! We'd love to meet our readers. We will also be holding our annual meet-up on Wednesday night before the crazy geek storm.
Check out the schedule below and let us know what panels you'll be attending,...
- 6/30/2012
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Aside from fairy tales, Hollywood has been capitalizing on comic books and their heroes as a genre in the film industry. With films such as The Green Lantern, The Green Hornet, the Batman franchise and the new Superman scheduled to be released shortly, what can filmmakers do next? Columbia Pictures has just the answer for you.
Valiant Comics has been making a come back this year with the release of their new X-o Manowar series due in May, it was only a matter of time before some of the popular characters from the comic line gravitated towards the big screen. Enter Bloodshot, an experiment not necessarily gone wrong but one with some strange results. Bloodshotwas the result of an experimental procedure conducted on mob assassin Angelo Mortalli. His body was injected with nanites which enhanced his strength and skills but unfortunately took his memory in the process. The comics follow...
Valiant Comics has been making a come back this year with the release of their new X-o Manowar series due in May, it was only a matter of time before some of the popular characters from the comic line gravitated towards the big screen. Enter Bloodshot, an experiment not necessarily gone wrong but one with some strange results. Bloodshotwas the result of an experimental procedure conducted on mob assassin Angelo Mortalli. His body was injected with nanites which enhanced his strength and skills but unfortunately took his memory in the process. The comics follow...
- 3/5/2012
- by Mina Kelly
- Boomtron
With comic book movies being all the rage the past several years, producers have scrambled to snatch up the rights to nearly every superhero of note. We've seen a string of Spider-Man and Batman movies, Superman's getting another shot at the spotlight next year, and Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the rest of the Avengers are soon to assemble for some summer fun. Hell, even Green Lantern had a misguided chance to take to the big screen. At this point, who is left to build an action franchise around? According to writer-director Jeff Wadlow, the answer is Bloodshot. The burly antihero from Valiant Comics' popular eponymous series started out as mob hitman Angelo Mortalli. But after entering the witness relocation program, he was subjected to an experimental treatment that injected "nanites" into his system, which enhanced his strength and dexterity along with some other handy super powers, making...
- 3/1/2012
- cinemablend.com
Reader and contributor Gemma St. Clair returns this weekend with a new list of horror trivia:
1. Halloween II: This is Dana Carvey’s film debut. Keep an eye out for the guy in a blue vest talking to a reporter.
2. Maximum Overdrive: The main truck’s head is based on Marvel Comic’s Green Goblin.
3. The Cell: Tarsem Singh also directed the muisc video for R.E.M’s “Losing my Religion”.
4. The Corpse Vanishes: One of Dr. Lorenzs henchman played by Angelo Rossitti also starred in Tod Browning’s Freaks.
5. The Town That Dreaded Sundown: The hooded killer is said to have inspired the look of Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2.
6. Creature From The Black Lagoon: Ricou Browning (Underwater Creature) and Ben Chapman (Above Water Creature) were not credited for their performances as the creature.
7. April Fool’s Day: The film...
1. Halloween II: This is Dana Carvey’s film debut. Keep an eye out for the guy in a blue vest talking to a reporter.
2. Maximum Overdrive: The main truck’s head is based on Marvel Comic’s Green Goblin.
3. The Cell: Tarsem Singh also directed the muisc video for R.E.M’s “Losing my Religion”.
4. The Corpse Vanishes: One of Dr. Lorenzs henchman played by Angelo Rossitti also starred in Tod Browning’s Freaks.
5. The Town That Dreaded Sundown: The hooded killer is said to have inspired the look of Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2.
6. Creature From The Black Lagoon: Ricou Browning (Underwater Creature) and Ben Chapman (Above Water Creature) were not credited for their performances as the creature.
7. April Fool’s Day: The film...
- 8/28/2011
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Meet Geoff Johns, Warner Bros.' new Chief Creative Officer and the go-to geek for DC Comics' ever-expanding universe.
With Ryan Reynolds' emerald abs casting a glow over theater audiences everwhere this weekend, Warner Bros. will unveil its first big superhero franchise since Superman and Batman. Behind much of the story is their geek secret weapon, Geoff Johns.
Anointed Chief Creative Officer in February, 2010, and a coproducer of the film, the 38-year-old self-described "Green Lantern guru" is a fanboy-approved comic book, TV, animation, and video game, writer. He even co-owns a comic book store near his L.A. home.
It's his job to modernize DC comic characters and ensure they remain true to the DC Universe mythology, a key part of the studio's ambitious new plan to mine its DC comics library and transform it into more Marvel-ous revenue.
With a string of movies, live-action and animated TV shows,...
With Ryan Reynolds' emerald abs casting a glow over theater audiences everwhere this weekend, Warner Bros. will unveil its first big superhero franchise since Superman and Batman. Behind much of the story is their geek secret weapon, Geoff Johns.
Anointed Chief Creative Officer in February, 2010, and a coproducer of the film, the 38-year-old self-described "Green Lantern guru" is a fanboy-approved comic book, TV, animation, and video game, writer. He even co-owns a comic book store near his L.A. home.
It's his job to modernize DC comic characters and ensure they remain true to the DC Universe mythology, a key part of the studio's ambitious new plan to mine its DC comics library and transform it into more Marvel-ous revenue.
With a string of movies, live-action and animated TV shows,...
- 6/17/2011
- by Susan Karlin
- Fast Company
NBC announced its fall schedule this weekend and with it, a batch of trailers for the network’s new shows. Watch them below, along with additional clips, and vote in our poll to tell us what you think about these new kids on the NBC block.
Prime Suspect
Maria Bello, Kirk Acevedo, and Aidan Quinn star in this adaptation of the British miniseries. Wonder Woman didn’t make the cut, but at least this badass chick did.
The Playboy Club
Set in the 1960s, the drama takes a look at the lives of Playboy bunnies. It stars Amber Heard, David Krumholtz,...
Prime Suspect
Maria Bello, Kirk Acevedo, and Aidan Quinn star in this adaptation of the British miniseries. Wonder Woman didn’t make the cut, but at least this badass chick did.
The Playboy Club
Set in the 1960s, the drama takes a look at the lives of Playboy bunnies. It stars Amber Heard, David Krumholtz,...
- 5/16/2011
- by Sandra Gonzalez
- EW - Inside TV
After spending untold amounts of cash on hundreds of dramas and comedies — most of which will never make it to your living rooms — the five broadcast networks will begin announcing in New York next week which projects are good enough to earn a coveted fall pickup. (NBC and Fox will present their fall schedule to advertisers on Monday, followed by ABC on Tuesday, CBS on Wednesday and the CW on Thursday).
Buzz is already strong for several projects (for more on the hot ones, click here). But every year, we always wonder what diamond-in-the-rough was left on the cutting room...
Buzz is already strong for several projects (for more on the hot ones, click here). But every year, we always wonder what diamond-in-the-rough was left on the cutting room...
- 5/10/2011
- by Lynette Rice and James Hibberd
- EW - Inside TV
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