Caitriona Balfe in ‘Outlander’ season 7 episode 8 (Photo Credit: Starz)
Starz’s Outlander season seven episode eight – the mid-season finale – opens with Jamie (Sam Heughan) still unconscious on the battlefield. A mother and her son are stealing items off the dead when Jamie coughs. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) arrives just in time to stop the thieves from slitting Jamie’s throat, holding them off by grabbing a sword and threatening to kill them if they don’t back off.
Don’t mess with badass Claire in full protective mode!
Claire berates her husband for getting injured in hand-to-hand combat. He’s a sniper and not supposed to be in the thick of the fight, and Claire calls him a “vainglorious, pig-headed, grandstanding Scot.” The only word Jamie takes exception to is grandstanding.
Claire admits he scared her, and Jamie thanks the love of his life for saving him again.
Claire tends to...
Starz’s Outlander season seven episode eight – the mid-season finale – opens with Jamie (Sam Heughan) still unconscious on the battlefield. A mother and her son are stealing items off the dead when Jamie coughs. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) arrives just in time to stop the thieves from slitting Jamie’s throat, holding them off by grabbing a sword and threatening to kill them if they don’t back off.
Don’t mess with badass Claire in full protective mode!
Claire berates her husband for getting injured in hand-to-hand combat. He’s a sniper and not supposed to be in the thick of the fight, and Claire calls him a “vainglorious, pig-headed, grandstanding Scot.” The only word Jamie takes exception to is grandstanding.
Claire admits he scared her, and Jamie thanks the love of his life for saving him again.
Claire tends to...
- 8/12/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Have you ever wanted to hear Paul McCartney’s “New” or John Lennon’s “Grow Old With Me” as Beatles songs? Now with artificial intelligence, you can. One YouTube user uploaded the songs as if they were done by the fab four, and the response is overwhelming.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney | Val Wilmer/Redferns Paul McCartney’s ‘New’ as a Beatles song with the use of AI
“New” is the lead single of McCartney’s 2013 album of the same name. In Japan, it became a number 4 hit on the Japan Hot 100. The song was also included in BBC Radio 2’s playlist and the accompanying album was named their Record of the Week. Additionally, “New” the song is featured in the 2013 animated film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
YouTube user Dae Lims has reimagined the song being sung by more than just McCartney. In the AI project,...
John Lennon and Paul McCartney | Val Wilmer/Redferns Paul McCartney’s ‘New’ as a Beatles song with the use of AI
“New” is the lead single of McCartney’s 2013 album of the same name. In Japan, it became a number 4 hit on the Japan Hot 100. The song was also included in BBC Radio 2’s playlist and the accompanying album was named their Record of the Week. Additionally, “New” the song is featured in the 2013 animated film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
YouTube user Dae Lims has reimagined the song being sung by more than just McCartney. In the AI project,...
- 5/3/2023
- by Kelsey Goeres
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
A forgotten oddity from the early 1970s is Jacques Demy’s English language mounting of The Pied Piper, a rather bleak but mostly unequivocal version of the famed Grimm Bros. fairy tale about a titular piper who infamously lured the children of Hamelin to their assumed deaths after being rebuffed by the townsfolk when he similarly rid the town of plague carrying rats.
Set in the 1300s of northern Germany, this UK production blends bits of Robert Browning’s famed poem of the legend into the film, but the end result is unusually straightforward and unfussy, considering Demy’s predilection for inventive, colorful musicals, such as the classic confections The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. The stunt casting of Donovan as the piper generates a certain amount of interest, although he’s whittled down to a supporting character amongst a cast of master character actors like Donald Pleasence, John Hurt, Peter Vaughan, and child star Jack Wild.
Notably, The Pied Piper is one of the few Demy films not to be built around a strong, beautiful female lead, which may also explain why there’s no center point in the film. Cathryn Harrison (daughter of Rex, who starred in Louis Malle’s Black Moon) and a gone-to-seed Diana Dors (though not featured as memorably as her swarthy turn in Skolimowski’s Deep End) are the tiny flecks of feminine representation. It was also not Demy’s first English language production, as he’d made a sequel to his New Wave entry Lola (1961) with 1969’s Los Angeles set Model Shop. So what compelled him to make this departure, which premiered in-between two of his most whimsical Catherine Deneuve titles (Donkey Skin; A Slightly Pregnant Man) is perhaps the film’s greatest mystery.
Cultural familiarity with the material tends to work against our expectations. At best, Donovan is a mere supporting accent, popping up to supply mellow, anachronistic music at odd moments before the dramatic catalyst involving his ability to conjure rats with music arrives. Prior to his demeaning, Demy’s focus is mostly on the omnipotent and aggressive power of the corrupting church (Peter Vaughan’s Bishop) and Donald Pleasence’s greedy town leader, whose son (a sniveling John Hurt) is more intent on starting wars and making counterfeit gold to pay his gullible minions than stopping the encroaching plague. Taking the brunt of their violence is the Jewish alchemist, Melius (Michael Hordern), who is wise enough to know the rats have something to do with the spread of the disease. Demy uses his tragic demise to juxtapose the piper’s designs on the children.
While Hurt and Pleasance are entertaining as a toxic father and son, Demy seems estranged from anyone resembling a protagonist. Donovan is instantly forgettable, and the H.R. Pufnstuf and Oliver! child star Jack Wild gets upstaged by a wild mop of hair and a pronounced limp (which explains why he isn’t entranced along with the other children), and the film plays as if Donovan’s role might have been edited down in post. The script was the debut of screenwriters Andrew Birkin (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, 2006) and Mark Peploe (The Passenger, 1975; The Last Emperor, 1987) who would both go on to write a number of offbeat auteur entries.
Disc Review:
Kino Lorber releases this obscurity as part of their Studio Classics label, presented in 1.66:1. Picture and sound quality are serviceable, however, the title would have greatly benefitted from a restoration. Dp Peter Suschitzky’s frames rightly capture the period, including some awesomely creepy frescoes housing Pleasence and son, but the color sometimes seems faded or stripped from some sequences. Kino doesn’t include any extra features.
Final Thoughts:
More of a curio piece for fans of Demy, The Pied Piper mostly seems a missed opportunity of the creepy legend.
Film Review: ★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
Disc Review: ★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
The post The Pied Piper | Blu-ray Review appeared first on Ioncinema.com.
Set in the 1300s of northern Germany, this UK production blends bits of Robert Browning’s famed poem of the legend into the film, but the end result is unusually straightforward and unfussy, considering Demy’s predilection for inventive, colorful musicals, such as the classic confections The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. The stunt casting of Donovan as the piper generates a certain amount of interest, although he’s whittled down to a supporting character amongst a cast of master character actors like Donald Pleasence, John Hurt, Peter Vaughan, and child star Jack Wild.
Notably, The Pied Piper is one of the few Demy films not to be built around a strong, beautiful female lead, which may also explain why there’s no center point in the film. Cathryn Harrison (daughter of Rex, who starred in Louis Malle’s Black Moon) and a gone-to-seed Diana Dors (though not featured as memorably as her swarthy turn in Skolimowski’s Deep End) are the tiny flecks of feminine representation. It was also not Demy’s first English language production, as he’d made a sequel to his New Wave entry Lola (1961) with 1969’s Los Angeles set Model Shop. So what compelled him to make this departure, which premiered in-between two of his most whimsical Catherine Deneuve titles (Donkey Skin; A Slightly Pregnant Man) is perhaps the film’s greatest mystery.
Cultural familiarity with the material tends to work against our expectations. At best, Donovan is a mere supporting accent, popping up to supply mellow, anachronistic music at odd moments before the dramatic catalyst involving his ability to conjure rats with music arrives. Prior to his demeaning, Demy’s focus is mostly on the omnipotent and aggressive power of the corrupting church (Peter Vaughan’s Bishop) and Donald Pleasence’s greedy town leader, whose son (a sniveling John Hurt) is more intent on starting wars and making counterfeit gold to pay his gullible minions than stopping the encroaching plague. Taking the brunt of their violence is the Jewish alchemist, Melius (Michael Hordern), who is wise enough to know the rats have something to do with the spread of the disease. Demy uses his tragic demise to juxtapose the piper’s designs on the children.
While Hurt and Pleasance are entertaining as a toxic father and son, Demy seems estranged from anyone resembling a protagonist. Donovan is instantly forgettable, and the H.R. Pufnstuf and Oliver! child star Jack Wild gets upstaged by a wild mop of hair and a pronounced limp (which explains why he isn’t entranced along with the other children), and the film plays as if Donovan’s role might have been edited down in post. The script was the debut of screenwriters Andrew Birkin (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, 2006) and Mark Peploe (The Passenger, 1975; The Last Emperor, 1987) who would both go on to write a number of offbeat auteur entries.
Disc Review:
Kino Lorber releases this obscurity as part of their Studio Classics label, presented in 1.66:1. Picture and sound quality are serviceable, however, the title would have greatly benefitted from a restoration. Dp Peter Suschitzky’s frames rightly capture the period, including some awesomely creepy frescoes housing Pleasence and son, but the color sometimes seems faded or stripped from some sequences. Kino doesn’t include any extra features.
Final Thoughts:
More of a curio piece for fans of Demy, The Pied Piper mostly seems a missed opportunity of the creepy legend.
Film Review: ★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
Disc Review: ★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
The post The Pied Piper | Blu-ray Review appeared first on Ioncinema.com.
- 5/3/2017
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
'Father of the Bride': Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Top Five Father's Day Movies? From giant Gregory Peck to tyrant John Gielgud What would be the Top Five Father's Day movies ever made? Well, there have been countless films about fathers and/or featuring fathers of various sizes, shapes, and inclinations. In terms of quality, these range from the amusing – e.g., the 1950 version of Cheaper by the Dozen; the Oscar-nominated The Grandfather – to the nauseating – e.g., the 1950 version of Father of the Bride; its atrocious sequel, Father's Little Dividend. Although I'm unable to come up with the absolute Top Five Father's Day Movies – or rather, just plain Father Movies – ever made, below are the first five (actually six, including a remake) "quality" patriarch-centered films that come to mind. Now, the fathers portrayed in these films aren't all heroic, loving, and/or saintly paternal figures. Several are...
- 6/22/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Roster includes Tell Me The Truth About Love [pictured] and The More You Ignore Me.
Producer Debbie Gray and real estate developer Julian Gleek have announce the initial slate on their fledgling Genesius Pictures Limited.
Robbie Little of The Little Film Company will handle sales on a number of the titles and has begun conversations with buyers here.
The roster includes Tell Me The Truth About Love, the story of composer Benjamin Britten’s affair with Peter Pears. Gray is producing with Anne Beresford and Margaret Williams will direct James Northcote and James Norton.
The More You Ignore Me comes from comedienne Jo Brand, who wrote and will star, while Reg Traviss will direct The Ladykiller from Martina Cole’s adaptation of the novel of the same name. Cole and Chris Whiteside produce.
Flush is a co-production with Robbie Little and Ellen Little of The Little Film Company adapted from the Virginia Woolf novel about Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning...
Producer Debbie Gray and real estate developer Julian Gleek have announce the initial slate on their fledgling Genesius Pictures Limited.
Robbie Little of The Little Film Company will handle sales on a number of the titles and has begun conversations with buyers here.
The roster includes Tell Me The Truth About Love, the story of composer Benjamin Britten’s affair with Peter Pears. Gray is producing with Anne Beresford and Margaret Williams will direct James Northcote and James Norton.
The More You Ignore Me comes from comedienne Jo Brand, who wrote and will star, while Reg Traviss will direct The Ladykiller from Martina Cole’s adaptation of the novel of the same name. Cole and Chris Whiteside produce.
Flush is a co-production with Robbie Little and Ellen Little of The Little Film Company adapted from the Virginia Woolf novel about Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning...
- 5/20/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The CW has unleashed another new promo video for its upcoming series "Cult," and this one includes scenes from both the show and the show-within-the-show with the words to the Robert Browning poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" serving as its soundtrack.
"Cult" Episode 1.01 - "You're Next" (airs 2/19/13, 9-10 pm)
Matt Davis Of “The Vampire Diaries” Stars In A New Drama — Investigative journalist Jeff Sefton (Davis) has learned to live with his younger brother Nate’s (guest star James Pizzinato “Alcatraz”) relentless string of obsessions, especially his latest rant that a hit TV show called “Cult” intends to harm him. When his brother mysteriously disappears, Jeff enlists Skye Yarrow (Jessica Lucas; Cloverfield, “Melrose Place”), a young research assistant working on “Cult,” to help with his investigation into the dark underworld of the TV show and its rabid fans.
Meanwhile, in the parallel worlds of the show-within-a-show, the cult’s ruthless leader,...
"Cult" Episode 1.01 - "You're Next" (airs 2/19/13, 9-10 pm)
Matt Davis Of “The Vampire Diaries” Stars In A New Drama — Investigative journalist Jeff Sefton (Davis) has learned to live with his younger brother Nate’s (guest star James Pizzinato “Alcatraz”) relentless string of obsessions, especially his latest rant that a hit TV show called “Cult” intends to harm him. When his brother mysteriously disappears, Jeff enlists Skye Yarrow (Jessica Lucas; Cloverfield, “Melrose Place”), a young research assistant working on “Cult,” to help with his investigation into the dark underworld of the TV show and its rabid fans.
Meanwhile, in the parallel worlds of the show-within-a-show, the cult’s ruthless leader,...
- 2/6/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
More Dickens and even more Shakespeare, but also new novels from Toni Morrison, Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith, plus exciting new voices – 2012's literary highlights
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
January
10 Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tamzin Merchant, begins – and, unlike the book, ends – on BBC2.
13 Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel War Horse, a long-running favourite at the National and on Broadway, gets the Hollywood treatment. A tearjerking saga about a young soldier and his horse – it was only a matter of time before it was Spielberged.
16 Ts Eliot prize. Despite withdrawals from the shortlist over objections to a hedge fund's sponsorship of the prize, the Eliot remains the UK's premier poetry award, and its eve-of-event reading is always a treat. This year's shortlist includes Daljit Nagra, Carol Ann Duffy and John Burnside.
20 Release of film of Coriolanus, an Orson Wellesian effort directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes,...
- 1/6/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
In another era, Gilbert Adair would have written on Herodotus. As it was he focused his energies on an exciting young medium
Gilbert Adair was a unique and wonderful writer: a critic of elegance, brilliance, and unquenchable intellectual energy and curiosity. He combined the roles of cinephile and man of letters in a unique way, as well being a novelist, screenwriter, translator and pasticheur. His final works were a series of detective story spoofs, satirical and wittily observed variants on Agatha Christie entitled The Act of Roger Murgatroyd, A Mysterious Affair of Style and And Then There Was No One. These contrivances were treasured and eagerly awaited by his fans, and they demonstrated both a storyteller's gusto and a theorist's interest in narrator reliability and point of view. His 1992 novel The Death of the Author, a droll twist on Roland Barthes, is another example.
I personally met Adair just a...
Gilbert Adair was a unique and wonderful writer: a critic of elegance, brilliance, and unquenchable intellectual energy and curiosity. He combined the roles of cinephile and man of letters in a unique way, as well being a novelist, screenwriter, translator and pasticheur. His final works were a series of detective story spoofs, satirical and wittily observed variants on Agatha Christie entitled The Act of Roger Murgatroyd, A Mysterious Affair of Style and And Then There Was No One. These contrivances were treasured and eagerly awaited by his fans, and they demonstrated both a storyteller's gusto and a theorist's interest in narrator reliability and point of view. His 1992 novel The Death of the Author, a droll twist on Roland Barthes, is another example.
I personally met Adair just a...
- 12/9/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Leading light of the British stage once seen as Gielgud's successor
John Neville, who has died aged 86, was a leading light of the Old Vic, the charismatic artistic director of the Nottingham Playhouse in the early 1960s and, after emigrating to Canada in 1972, a renowned leader of that country's theatre, notably at Stratford, Ontario. Tall, handsome and authoritative on the stage, and best known today, perhaps, for his sinister role as the Well-Manicured Man in The X-Files on television – was he on the side of good or evil? – he was often thought of as the natural successor to John Gielgud.
He found huge matinee-idol success early on, in the Gielgud roles of Hamlet and Richard II, though his patrician veneer and noble bearing could be easily discarded, as he showed to devastating effect in 1963, when he played Bill Naughton's Alfie at the Mermaid theatre, the role that became Michael Caine...
John Neville, who has died aged 86, was a leading light of the Old Vic, the charismatic artistic director of the Nottingham Playhouse in the early 1960s and, after emigrating to Canada in 1972, a renowned leader of that country's theatre, notably at Stratford, Ontario. Tall, handsome and authoritative on the stage, and best known today, perhaps, for his sinister role as the Well-Manicured Man in The X-Files on television – was he on the side of good or evil? – he was often thought of as the natural successor to John Gielgud.
He found huge matinee-idol success early on, in the Gielgud roles of Hamlet and Richard II, though his patrician veneer and noble bearing could be easily discarded, as he showed to devastating effect in 1963, when he played Bill Naughton's Alfie at the Mermaid theatre, the role that became Michael Caine...
- 11/22/2011
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
When Mark Hall's death was announced, one of Britain's leading animation businesses put a message on Twitter: "Deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend Mark Hall. Our company would not be here without him." Hall neither founded that business nor took any part in it. But its directors learned their trade under his unique guidance and inspiration, and never forgot it.
In his long professional life, Mark had two consistent passions. One was for filming stories by great children's writers, in ways which would respect and amplify the original work. The other was for teaching the craft and technique of animated film. The company he founded with Brian Cosgrove was born in the 1960s, when UK animation was a failing cottage industry and even Disney was in the doldrums. So they daringly built their team of film-makers from scratch, bringing new young recruits out of art colleges...
In his long professional life, Mark had two consistent passions. One was for filming stories by great children's writers, in ways which would respect and amplify the original work. The other was for teaching the craft and technique of animated film. The company he founded with Brian Cosgrove was born in the 1960s, when UK animation was a failing cottage industry and even Disney was in the doldrums. So they daringly built their team of film-makers from scratch, bringing new young recruits out of art colleges...
- 11/20/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Robert Browning, who observed "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" would not have lasted very long running a broadcast television network. Sure, it's easy to point to the huge risks that pay off hugely and change the fate of TV networks. A singing competition in which a British guy nobody has heard of insults the talentless? Airing in the summer? Crazy. A drama about plane crash survivors on an island with weird things in the woods? In the same season as you're airing a comedic soap opera narrated by a dead woman?...
- 9/15/2011
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
According to reports, actor Javier Bardem ("No Country For Old Men") has been cast as the character 'Roland Deschain' in the upcoming adaptation of author Stephen King’s "The Dark Tower" :
"...'Roland Deschain' is the last living member of a knightly order known as 'gunslingers'. His quest is to find the 'Dark Tower', a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes..."
In addition to a trilogy of feature films, Bardem will also star in a "Dark Tower" TV mini-series, planned to follow the first film.
Production on the first "Dark Tower" feature will start September 2011, followed by the first TV mini-series.
King's "The Dark Tower" book series, adapted by Marvel Comics in 2010, incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western, describing the quest of the 'Gunslinger' toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical.
Inspired by the poem...
"...'Roland Deschain' is the last living member of a knightly order known as 'gunslingers'. His quest is to find the 'Dark Tower', a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes..."
In addition to a trilogy of feature films, Bardem will also star in a "Dark Tower" TV mini-series, planned to follow the first film.
Production on the first "Dark Tower" feature will start September 2011, followed by the first TV mini-series.
King's "The Dark Tower" book series, adapted by Marvel Comics in 2010, incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western, describing the quest of the 'Gunslinger' toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical.
Inspired by the poem...
- 4/28/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Ron Howard’s reportedly set to adapt Stephen King’s sprawling series of novels, The Dark Tower. Here are 10 things we’d like to see in the movies...
After years of patiently sitting through endless rumours, hopes and disappointments, the possibility that The Dark Tower series will finally be adapted for the big screen appears closer to being realised than we ever dreamed.
With Ron Howard seemingly poised to take up the mantle, now is perhaps the best time to have a think about the things we'd like to see in a film adaptation of this epic series...
Inevitably, we talk about some bits of plot of The Dark Tower in this piece. If you want to be entirely spoiler-free, you might want to give this one a miss. Specifically, we talk about the ending in the last entry in this list...
The right man for the job
As was recently reported here,...
After years of patiently sitting through endless rumours, hopes and disappointments, the possibility that The Dark Tower series will finally be adapted for the big screen appears closer to being realised than we ever dreamed.
With Ron Howard seemingly poised to take up the mantle, now is perhaps the best time to have a think about the things we'd like to see in a film adaptation of this epic series...
Inevitably, we talk about some bits of plot of The Dark Tower in this piece. If you want to be entirely spoiler-free, you might want to give this one a miss. Specifically, we talk about the ending in the last entry in this list...
The right man for the job
As was recently reported here,...
- 4/17/2011
- Den of Geek
It's the first of April! A day of pranks, pratfalls and poetry. Poetry? Yes, poetry, verse, balladry, poesy, doggerel. Poetry. April is National Poetry Month (donchaknow) and instead of trying to prank you today, I thought I would take a moment and look at the best uses of poetry in film. We're going to pretend that film where Cameron Diaz learned to read and then stumblewept her way through e.e. cummings never happened. If I missed your favorite, let me know. . .mayhap in meter and rhyme? Is that asking too much? Then a haiku will do.
1. John Hannah--"Four Weddings And A Funeral
Poem: W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues"
Best Lines: He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest.
2. Sarah Polley--"The Sweet Hereafter"
Poem: Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"
Best Lines: It's dull in...
1. John Hannah--"Four Weddings And A Funeral
Poem: W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues"
Best Lines: He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest.
2. Sarah Polley--"The Sweet Hereafter"
Poem: Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"
Best Lines: It's dull in...
- 4/1/2011
- by Joanna Robinson
Filed under: Movie News, Hot Topic, Cinematical
There are a lot of great films on the horizon, but one franchise that has us excited more than any other is Ron Howard's big screen adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower.' King's epic tale of gunslinger Roland Deschain's quest to find the fabled Dark Tower - a nexus of all the universes - has spanned multiple novels, spin-off books, and comics. It's a work that draws inspiration from Arthurian Legend, Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, Robert Browning's poem 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came' and spaghetti westerns. It's a sprawling and epic creation that King cites as his magnum opus.
Naturally the idea of seeing these characters and their mythical world on the big screen has geeks frothing at the mouth in anticipation. Speculation is already running rampant as to which big Hollywood actors will land roles...
There are a lot of great films on the horizon, but one franchise that has us excited more than any other is Ron Howard's big screen adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower.' King's epic tale of gunslinger Roland Deschain's quest to find the fabled Dark Tower - a nexus of all the universes - has spanned multiple novels, spin-off books, and comics. It's a work that draws inspiration from Arthurian Legend, Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, Robert Browning's poem 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came' and spaghetti westerns. It's a sprawling and epic creation that King cites as his magnum opus.
Naturally the idea of seeing these characters and their mythical world on the big screen has geeks frothing at the mouth in anticipation. Speculation is already running rampant as to which big Hollywood actors will land roles...
- 1/26/2011
- by Mike Bracken
- Moviefone
Filed under: Movie News, Hot Topic, Cinematical
There are a lot of great films on the horizon, but one franchise that has us excited more than any other is Ron Howard's big screen adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower.' King's epic tale of gunslinger Roland Deschain's quest to find the fabled Dark Tower - a nexus of all the universes - has spanned multiple novels, spin-off books, and comics. It's a work that draws inspiration from Arthurian Legend, Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, Robert Browning's poem 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came' and spaghetti westerns. It's a sprawling and epic creation that King cites as his magnum opus.
Naturally the idea of seeing these characters and their mythical world on the big screen has geeks frothing at the mouth in anticipation. Speculation is already running rampant as to which big Hollywood actors will land roles...
There are a lot of great films on the horizon, but one franchise that has us excited more than any other is Ron Howard's big screen adaptation of Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower.' King's epic tale of gunslinger Roland Deschain's quest to find the fabled Dark Tower - a nexus of all the universes - has spanned multiple novels, spin-off books, and comics. It's a work that draws inspiration from Arthurian Legend, Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, Robert Browning's poem 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came' and spaghetti westerns. It's a sprawling and epic creation that King cites as his magnum opus.
Naturally the idea of seeing these characters and their mythical world on the big screen has geeks frothing at the mouth in anticipation. Speculation is already running rampant as to which big Hollywood actors will land roles...
- 1/26/2011
- by Mike Bracken
- Cinematical
Maybe There's No Brokeback Mountain Or Milk, But There's Also No I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry
The fall movie season is upon us, and while we've already uncovered pretty much everything gay on TV, we haven't yet taken a look at what's gay in theaters over the next few months. But that's partly because there usually isn't enough to fill up a page, much less an entire movie preview article. Sadly, that looks to be the case this fall.
Nonetheless, with that in mind, I've dispatched a squad of AfterElton flying monkeys to poke around and see what they can find. And to make fun of the rest.
What did they learn? For starters, Betty White isn't as nice as she seems...
September
Easy A
September 17
What's it about? Nice girl gets bad rep pretending to sleep with geeky guys
What's gay? Dan Byrd plays Brandon, a gay...
The fall movie season is upon us, and while we've already uncovered pretty much everything gay on TV, we haven't yet taken a look at what's gay in theaters over the next few months. But that's partly because there usually isn't enough to fill up a page, much less an entire movie preview article. Sadly, that looks to be the case this fall.
Nonetheless, with that in mind, I've dispatched a squad of AfterElton flying monkeys to poke around and see what they can find. And to make fun of the rest.
What did they learn? For starters, Betty White isn't as nice as she seems...
September
Easy A
September 17
What's it about? Nice girl gets bad rep pretending to sleep with geeky guys
What's gay? Dan Byrd plays Brandon, a gay...
- 9/10/2010
- by Michael Jensen
- The Backlot
In honor of the recent release of The Expendables, we're taking a week-long look at the action films of Sir Sylvester Stallone -- which is to say we're skipping his comedies. Out of respect.
Title: Get Carter (2000)
Setting: Seattle -- and you know it's Seattle not because you see landmarks, but because it rains constantly.
Our hero: Vegas Mob enforcer Jack Carter -- a leg-breaker re-evaluating his life.
Our villain/s: There's a conspiracy running through the film, but Mickey Rourke handles the main bad guy duties as Jack's old nemesis Cyrus Paice. 'Roid rage simmers just beneath the surface of every scene they share.
The stakes: Jack's life as he digs deeper into a mystery he should leave alone and alienates his boss in Vegas too.
How long until our first confrontation? Our first confrontation comes mere moments after the Robert Browning quote that opens Get Carter and...
Title: Get Carter (2000)
Setting: Seattle -- and you know it's Seattle not because you see landmarks, but because it rains constantly.
Our hero: Vegas Mob enforcer Jack Carter -- a leg-breaker re-evaluating his life.
Our villain/s: There's a conspiracy running through the film, but Mickey Rourke handles the main bad guy duties as Jack's old nemesis Cyrus Paice. 'Roid rage simmers just beneath the surface of every scene they share.
The stakes: Jack's life as he digs deeper into a mystery he should leave alone and alienates his boss in Vegas too.
How long until our first confrontation? Our first confrontation comes mere moments after the Robert Browning quote that opens Get Carter and...
- 8/17/2010
- by Alison Nastasi
- Cinematical
Stephen King, Imagine Entertainment and Weed Road are in talks to create a movie trilogy and TV series based on King's "The Dark Tower" series. Universal Pictures is in talks to distribute. Ron Howard will direct from a script by Akiva Goldsman. Howard's Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Goldsman and King. At the age of 19, Stephen King decided he would like to write an epic similar to "The Lord of the Rings." The "Spaghetti Westerns" of that time and a poem written by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," became the inspiration for his magnum opus. The series written and published separately over a period of 22 years consists of seven books and the short story, "The Little Sisters of...
- 4/30/2010
- Comingsoon.net
Horror writer Stephen King has revealed that a sequel to The Shining would focus on a 40-year-old Danny Torrance
Jack Torrance's little boy Danny was last seen recuperating in Maine after escaping the insane evil of the Overlook Hotel, but Stephen King is now plotting a sequel to The Shining which would age the clairvoyant boy to 40 and transport him to a New York hospice.
Speaking to an audience of fans in Toronto about his new novel Under the Dome, King divulged that he'd begun working on a tentative idea for a follow-up to The Shining – first published in 1977 – last summer.
Danny, he said, was certain to have been left "with a lifetime's worth of emotional scars" after his experiences at the Overlook, where his father was possessed by the hotel, tried to kill him and his mother and eventually died.
How Danny deals with both his nightmarish experiences and the clairvoyance,...
Jack Torrance's little boy Danny was last seen recuperating in Maine after escaping the insane evil of the Overlook Hotel, but Stephen King is now plotting a sequel to The Shining which would age the clairvoyant boy to 40 and transport him to a New York hospice.
Speaking to an audience of fans in Toronto about his new novel Under the Dome, King divulged that he'd begun working on a tentative idea for a follow-up to The Shining – first published in 1977 – last summer.
Danny, he said, was certain to have been left "with a lifetime's worth of emotional scars" after his experiences at the Overlook, where his father was possessed by the hotel, tried to kill him and his mother and eventually died.
How Danny deals with both his nightmarish experiences and the clairvoyance,...
- 11/25/2009
- by Alison Flood
- The Guardian - Film News
Mad Men is a show about themes and characters. Not so much about plot. The action tends to be slow and usually subtle, with pieces moving into place over time. Recapping the show can make it sound like a soap opera, and it's much more than that. Yet in all reviews of Mad Men, there will be substantial spoilers, so if you haven't seen the episode yet, you've been warned. After the set-up in the season opener, "Out of Town," this third season's theme of change kicked into gear in "Love Among the Ruins." But that change is tempered by confusion, and ever shadowed by the overhang of the past. The episode, named after a Robert Browning poem about the ruins of a once great capital and the need to choose love over passing glory, starts off with a big dose of...
- 8/24/2009
- by William Bradley
- Huffington Post
The Disney Classic Short Films collection abounds with animation gems that have been wiling away the last few years. In the third installment of this collection, headlined by the more well-known The Prince and the Pauper, we get one the better animated features in the old Disney library. Accompanying the main cartoon we have five additional cartoons of starkly varied age, style and quality (more so than on the other sets).
The Prince and the Pauper (1990)
Directed by George Scribner, Written by Gerrit Graham and Sam Graham
Here we have one of the best Disney shorts to come of the pre-Pixar era. Created back in 1990, the animation here stands up to the test of time – in fact, seeing it for the first time in what must have been a decade, I was shocked at how beautiful it still looks. Based on the classic story by Mark Twain, it has all...
The Prince and the Pauper (1990)
Directed by George Scribner, Written by Gerrit Graham and Sam Graham
Here we have one of the best Disney shorts to come of the pre-Pixar era. Created back in 1990, the animation here stands up to the test of time – in fact, seeing it for the first time in what must have been a decade, I was shocked at how beautiful it still looks. Based on the classic story by Mark Twain, it has all...
- 5/16/2009
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
Sure to confuse many who associate the Dark Tower with Stephen King's series, and now Marvel's ongoing comic book line, John Johnson of Darkstone Entertainment is going into production this Christmas on the first of a series of adaptions centered around The Dark Tower . Based on the original poem by Robert Browning "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (read the full text here ) and the English fairytale "Burd Ellen" also known as "Childe Rowland". Johnson plans to tell a very dark gothic story of a man and his quest to the mysterious Dark Tower set in modern times. Although this is a very different interpretation than Stephen King's adaption, Johnson is a huge fan of the series of books by King and graphic novels based on the series....
- 12/1/2008
- shocktillyoudrop.com
No, it’s not the long-mooted film version of the Stephen King novel series. Indie moviemaker John Johnson (pictured) has announced plans to shoot his own series of features inspired by the Robert Browning poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” which also sparked the King tomes.
With the first installment set to go into production at the end of this year, Johnson’s Dark Tower franchise will tell a different story of the heroic Roland as he ventures through the realm of nightmares to reach the titular landmark and rescue his lost love. A self-professed fan of the King books and the graphic-novel adaptations, the writer/director says, “I’ve had an obsession with a dark tower in my dreams since I was 5 years old. Guess it is time to face it in the best way I know how.”
Johnson’s credits include Shadowhunters, Skeleton Key and the...
With the first installment set to go into production at the end of this year, Johnson’s Dark Tower franchise will tell a different story of the heroic Roland as he ventures through the realm of nightmares to reach the titular landmark and rescue his lost love. A self-professed fan of the King books and the graphic-novel adaptations, the writer/director says, “I’ve had an obsession with a dark tower in my dreams since I was 5 years old. Guess it is time to face it in the best way I know how.”
Johnson’s credits include Shadowhunters, Skeleton Key and the...
- 12/1/2008
- Fangoria
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