Few directors reach the sort of stardom where their names are thrown on billboards. A Nolan or a Tarantino or a Peele become brands in and of themselves, while the other 99% bubble quietly under the surface; reliable journeymen, gallantly plugging away at the nuts and bolts of what used to be the mid-budget feature scene. These are the filmmakers who not only set the pace, but who change the very language of a genre too, consistently firing out exciting, crowd-pleasing, attention-grabbing stuff, year after year, decade after decade. Creative puppet masters living behind the scenes; their movies aren’t as stylistically loud, but their generation-spanning oeuvres are just as (if not more) legendary.
Don Siegel, J. Lee Thompson, Mary Lambert, Renny Harlin, Jonathan Demme, Doug Liman, John Frankenheimer – even just picking a handful of names at random gives you a who’s-who of filmmakers responsible for some of the most...
Don Siegel, J. Lee Thompson, Mary Lambert, Renny Harlin, Jonathan Demme, Doug Liman, John Frankenheimer – even just picking a handful of names at random gives you a who’s-who of filmmakers responsible for some of the most...
- 5/22/2024
- by Ben Robins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Narrow Margin Release Date : 06/18/2024 Shop On Kino Lorber From Peter Hyams, the acclaimed director of Busting, Capricorn One, Outland, Running Scared and Sudden Death, comes this suspenseful remake of the 1952 classic Richard Fleischer film noir. Screen legend Gene Hackman stars as an L.A. District Attorney attempting to take an unwilling murder witness back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to find the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as ... Read more...
- 5/7/2024
- by Thomas Miller
- Seat42F
From Geena Davis and Jamie Lee Curtis, to blaxploitation royalty Pam Grier; Joe Dante and Roland Emmerich, to genre legend Peter Hyams topping the bill – 2024’s Forbidden Worlds Film Festival promises the biggest (and maddest) year yet for genre fans in the South West.
Firing into its third year of taking over arguably Bristol’s best cinema screen – the abandoned IMAX at Bristol Aquarium, Forbidden Worlds has never been one to cater to the masses. It’s a true one-screen wonder of a festival, promising the most unusual and sought-after of cinematic treats; big, mad, weird shit projected large and loud, for three straight days.
For example, while 2024’s edition promises an explosive opening night with a 30th anniversary screening of none other than Keanu Reeves action classic The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down (otherwise known as Speed), look as far as the following day’s line-up and you’ll...
Firing into its third year of taking over arguably Bristol’s best cinema screen – the abandoned IMAX at Bristol Aquarium, Forbidden Worlds has never been one to cater to the masses. It’s a true one-screen wonder of a festival, promising the most unusual and sought-after of cinematic treats; big, mad, weird shit projected large and loud, for three straight days.
For example, while 2024’s edition promises an explosive opening night with a 30th anniversary screening of none other than Keanu Reeves action classic The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down (otherwise known as Speed), look as far as the following day’s line-up and you’ll...
- 4/24/2024
- by Ben Robins
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
O.J. Simpson died April 10. But the media age ushered in by his presence, his saga and his white Bronco, remains very much with us.
An all-time great NFL running back-turned-actor, Simpson was a minor celebrity and part of a circle of fame-adjacent Los Angeles hangers-on in the 1990s. The killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, on June 12, 1994, converted Simpson instantly into an object of national obsession; five days later, Simpson failed to turn himself in after the Los Angeles Police Department ordered him to surrender on charges of first-degree murder, and engaged the LAPD in a low-speed car chase.
The details of this have been chewed over, including by the recent double dose of O.J. stories — FX’s series “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story” and Ezra Edelman’s documentary “O.J.: Made in America,” both released in 2016 — and yet they still boggle the mind.
An all-time great NFL running back-turned-actor, Simpson was a minor celebrity and part of a circle of fame-adjacent Los Angeles hangers-on in the 1990s. The killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, on June 12, 1994, converted Simpson instantly into an object of national obsession; five days later, Simpson failed to turn himself in after the Los Angeles Police Department ordered him to surrender on charges of first-degree murder, and engaged the LAPD in a low-speed car chase.
The details of this have been chewed over, including by the recent double dose of O.J. stories — FX’s series “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story” and Ezra Edelman’s documentary “O.J.: Made in America,” both released in 2016 — and yet they still boggle the mind.
- 4/11/2024
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
O.J. Simpson, one of the most controversial figures of our time, is dead. His family broke the news on X, writing, “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
If you grew up in the 1990s, you likely remember where you were on June 17th during the infamous Bronco Chase, where Simpson became the subject of perhaps the lowest-speed police chase of all time. I was twelve years old and riveted. Even now, twenty years after the fact, the O.J. Simpson trial, which was dubbed by media as the “Trial of the Century,” is infamous, as in the belief of many, O.J. Simpson, a former football legend turned movie star, got away with murder.
The trial was a hotbed of controversy,...
If you grew up in the 1990s, you likely remember where you were on June 17th during the infamous Bronco Chase, where Simpson became the subject of perhaps the lowest-speed police chase of all time. I was twelve years old and riveted. Even now, twenty years after the fact, the O.J. Simpson trial, which was dubbed by media as the “Trial of the Century,” is infamous, as in the belief of many, O.J. Simpson, a former football legend turned movie star, got away with murder.
The trial was a hotbed of controversy,...
- 4/11/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
As far as conspiracy theories go, very few have had as much of a life as the notion that NASA faked the Apollo moon landing. In some ways, one can understand why people felt this way, as it was one of the most critical events in human history, and the only witness was a TV camera. Back then, people distrusted anything they couldn’t see with their own eyes. In the seventies, conspiracy theories started to get famous, especially as far as the government went, with this the era of Watergate. People no longer trusted authority, and into this fraught environment came Capricorn One, a sci-fi-tinged conspiracy thriller that was one of the most popular films of 1977 but has since been largely forgotten – save for a small cult of devoted fans.
The film is directed by Best Movie You Never Saw favorite Peter Hyams, who also made Outland, 2010, Running Scared,...
The film is directed by Best Movie You Never Saw favorite Peter Hyams, who also made Outland, 2010, Running Scared,...
- 2/17/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
The Story: On Io, Jupiter’s moon, miners have begun randomly committing suicide in gruesome ways. This is chalked out to their grueling working conditions, but the outpost’s new marshal, William O’Niel (Sean Connery) becomes convinced something else is afoot. Soon, he discovers the deadly truth, that the miners are being given stimulants with the nasty side effect that they cause psychosis. His pursuit of the truth lands him on the hit list of the outpost’s general director, Sheppard (Peter Boyle), who hires professional hit men to deal with the pesky marshal. Knowing that skilled gunmen are on the way, and without anyone to turn to, O’Niel waits to face the men alone.
The Players: Starring: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, and Frances Sternhagen. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Directed by Peter Hyams.
I wanted to do a Western. Everybody said, ‘You can’t do a Western; Westerns are...
The Players: Starring: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, and Frances Sternhagen. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Directed by Peter Hyams.
I wanted to do a Western. Everybody said, ‘You can’t do a Western; Westerns are...
- 1/31/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
I grew up in Canada, and I’d wager the experience – at least as far as pop culture goes – was probably pretty similar to growing up in the States. Yet, there were some minor, strange differences. Here, we have a regulatory body called the Crtc (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), which ensures that about 30% of the content that’s broadcast on TV qualifies as “Canadian Content.” Thus, whenever you turn on the TV, one of our Canadian channels is bound to show something Canadian, including movies. While holiday classics like A Christmas Story and Black Christmas counted as Canadian Content (God Bless Bob Clark) we could reliably see around the holidays, more adventurous TV stations would show something outside the box. One such station was the adult-oriented Showcase (not to be confused with Showtime), which would program an utterly mental movie called The Silent Partner every Christmas Eve.
If you’re not Canadian,...
If you’re not Canadian,...
- 12/24/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Summer’s here, and if you’re looking for new movies to watch this June, we’ve got you covered. Newly streaming titles this month include the third (and final?) “Magic Mike” movie, Chris Hemsworth’s highly anticipated “Extraction” sequel on Netflix, the “Nicolas Cage as Dracula” new release “Renfield” and at long last, “Avatar: The Way of Water” makes its streaming debut on multiple streaming services. As always, we’ve also rounded up a number of library titles newly streaming on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, Paramount+, Hulu, Peacock and Disney+ throughout the month of June, so not only is there a little something for everyone, there’s enough to get you through those days when it’s just to hot to step outside.
Check out our list of some of the best new movies to stream in June 2023 below.
Also Read:
What’s New on Amazon Prime Video in...
Check out our list of some of the best new movies to stream in June 2023 below.
Also Read:
What’s New on Amazon Prime Video in...
- 6/23/2023
- by Drew Taylor and Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
The Story: Nine years after the disappearance of astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea), Discovery One mission overseer, Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider) is given the opportunity to take part in a joint U.S-u.S.S.R mission to see what went wrong. There’s only one problem – the two countries are on the cusp of nuclear war, and tension between the American and Soviet teams looks to unmoor an already impossible mission.
The Players: Starring: Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban and Keir Dullea. Music by David Shire. Written and directed by Peter Hyams.
The History: Crafting a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey sounds like a fool’s errand. Being that it’s one of the most acclaimed films ever made, in order to be judged any kind of success the sequel would have to be some kind of masterpiece. In 1984, director Peter Hyams,...
The Players: Starring: Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Bob Balaban and Keir Dullea. Music by David Shire. Written and directed by Peter Hyams.
The History: Crafting a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey sounds like a fool’s errand. Being that it’s one of the most acclaimed films ever made, in order to be judged any kind of success the sequel would have to be some kind of masterpiece. In 1984, director Peter Hyams,...
- 5/28/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
We’ve lost another Hollywood legend. The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that cinematographer Bill Butler, best known for his work on the 1975 Steven Spielberg classic Jaws, has passed away at the age of 101. Butler died on Wednesday evening, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He would have turned 102 on Friday – today.
Born on April 7, 1921 in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Butler earned his first entertainment industry credit by working as a camera operator on the 1959 film 1001 Arabian Nights. His first cinematographer credit came when his friend, director William Friedkin, hired him to shoot the 1962 TV movie The People vs. Paul Crump. He never attended film school, he just taught himself cinematography by watching movies and referring to the ASC manual. That approach definitely worked out for him. Over the next fifty-four years, he served as the cinematographer on eighty-four more projects, including Jack Nicholson’s Drive, He Said; The Bold Men,...
Born on April 7, 1921 in Cripple Creek, Colorado, Butler earned his first entertainment industry credit by working as a camera operator on the 1959 film 1001 Arabian Nights. His first cinematographer credit came when his friend, director William Friedkin, hired him to shoot the 1962 TV movie The People vs. Paul Crump. He never attended film school, he just taught himself cinematography by watching movies and referring to the ASC manual. That approach definitely worked out for him. Over the next fifty-four years, he served as the cinematographer on eighty-four more projects, including Jack Nicholson’s Drive, He Said; The Bold Men,...
- 4/7/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Oscar-nominated Cinematographer Wilmer C. Butler, whose work included a series of landmark films such as The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), has died. He was 101. The American Society of Cinematographers confirmed Butler’s passing.
Butler was the ASC’s most senior member, and he had a resume to match. He worked with directors such as Philip Kaufman, Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, Richard Donner, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Ivan Reitman, Tobe Hooper, Joseph Sargent, Mike Nichols, John Cassavetes and Steven Spielberg.
Friedkin convinced Butler to be the cinematographer on The People vs. Paul Crump, a documentary about a prisoner slated for execution in Illinois. The project got Crump’s death sentence commuted.
He got his start in features with Philip Kaufman’s 1967 film Fearless Frank. Two years later, Friedkin introduced Butler to Francis Ford Coppola, with whom he shot The Rain People before going on to...
Butler was the ASC’s most senior member, and he had a resume to match. He worked with directors such as Philip Kaufman, Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, Richard Donner, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Ivan Reitman, Tobe Hooper, Joseph Sargent, Mike Nichols, John Cassavetes and Steven Spielberg.
Friedkin convinced Butler to be the cinematographer on The People vs. Paul Crump, a documentary about a prisoner slated for execution in Illinois. The project got Crump’s death sentence commuted.
He got his start in features with Philip Kaufman’s 1967 film Fearless Frank. Two years later, Friedkin introduced Butler to Francis Ford Coppola, with whom he shot The Rain People before going on to...
- 4/6/2023
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Emmy-winning cinematographer Bill Butler, who was Oscar nominated for shooting “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and was also the D.P. on Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” died Wednesday, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He was 101.
Spielberg remembered Butler in a statement, saying, “On ‘Jaws,’ Bill Butler was the bedrock on that rickety, rocking boat called the Orca. He was the only calm in the middle of that storm, and as we went into a battle against nature and technology that wore both of us down, the audience eventually won the war. Bill’s outlook on life was pragmatic, philosophical and so very patient, and I owe him so much for his steadfast and creative contributions to the entire look of ‘Jaws.’”
In addition to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler served as d.p. on a number of other high-profile films of the 1970s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,...
Spielberg remembered Butler in a statement, saying, “On ‘Jaws,’ Bill Butler was the bedrock on that rickety, rocking boat called the Orca. He was the only calm in the middle of that storm, and as we went into a battle against nature and technology that wore both of us down, the audience eventually won the war. Bill’s outlook on life was pragmatic, philosophical and so very patient, and I owe him so much for his steadfast and creative contributions to the entire look of ‘Jaws.’”
In addition to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler served as d.p. on a number of other high-profile films of the 1970s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,...
- 4/6/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Bill Butler, the self-taught, Oscar-nominated cinematographer whose work on the landmark 1975 horror film Jaws unleashed a wave of anxiety for beachgoers that lasts to this day, has died. He would have turned 102 on Friday.
Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.
During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.
Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.
Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.
During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.
On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.
Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.
- 4/6/2023
- by Rhett Bartlett
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sad news today as it has been reported that Barbara Basson died on Saturday at the age of 83. The actress is best known for playing Fay Furillo on Hill Street Blues, which was co-created by her then-husband, Steven Bochco. Basson’s son, Jesse Bochco, announced her death on social media. “More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at,” Bochco wrote. “When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too. Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama.“
Barbara Basson appeared in many of her husband’s productions, including Capt. Celeste “C.Z.” Stern, the divorced boss of John Ritter’s police inspector, in Hooperman, as Los Angeles mayor Louise Plank in Cop Rock, and as prosecutor Miriam Grasso in Murder One. Basson also appeared in TV shows such as Mannix, Emergency!, McMillan & Wife,...
Barbara Basson appeared in many of her husband’s productions, including Capt. Celeste “C.Z.” Stern, the divorced boss of John Ritter’s police inspector, in Hooperman, as Los Angeles mayor Louise Plank in Cop Rock, and as prosecutor Miriam Grasso in Murder One. Basson also appeared in TV shows such as Mannix, Emergency!, McMillan & Wife,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
Barbara Bosson, the Emmy-nominated actor best known for her work on the acclaimed police drama “Hill Street Blues,” died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 83.
Bosson’s son, director and producer Jesse Bochco, confirmed the news via a tribute on Instagram.
“More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too,” Boncho wrote in his post. “Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama. Barbara “Babs” Bosson Bochco 1939-2023.”
Bosson married “Hill Street Blues” co-creator Steven Bochco in 1970, after the two met while attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Over the course of her career, Bosson starred in multiple series created by Bochco, including “Hooperman,” “Cop Rock,” and “Murder One.” The two divorced in 1997, and Bochco died in 2018 at age 74 from leukemia.
Born in 1939 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania,...
Bosson’s son, director and producer Jesse Bochco, confirmed the news via a tribute on Instagram.
“More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too,” Boncho wrote in his post. “Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama. Barbara “Babs” Bosson Bochco 1939-2023.”
Bosson married “Hill Street Blues” co-creator Steven Bochco in 1970, after the two met while attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Over the course of her career, Bosson starred in multiple series created by Bochco, including “Hooperman,” “Cop Rock,” and “Murder One.” The two divorced in 1997, and Bochco died in 2018 at age 74 from leukemia.
Born in 1939 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania,...
- 2/20/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Barbara Bosson, a staple of primetime television dramas for decades (including many created or produced by her former husband Steven Bochco), has died at the age of 83. Her son Jesse Bochco announced the news via his Instagram.
“More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too,” Bochco wrote. “Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by @jessebochco
Bosson is perhaps best known for her starring role in “Hill Street Blues,” the game-changing cop drama created by Steven Bochco. (The two married in 1970 and the series ran 1981–1987.) Bosson portrayed Fay Furillo in the first six seasons of the show, appearing in 100 episodes and garnering five consecutive Emmy nominations for her role.
Also Read:
Why ‘Babylon’ Composer Justin Hurwitz...
“More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too,” Bochco wrote. “Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by @jessebochco
Bosson is perhaps best known for her starring role in “Hill Street Blues,” the game-changing cop drama created by Steven Bochco. (The two married in 1970 and the series ran 1981–1987.) Bosson portrayed Fay Furillo in the first six seasons of the show, appearing in 100 episodes and garnering five consecutive Emmy nominations for her role.
Also Read:
Why ‘Babylon’ Composer Justin Hurwitz...
- 2/20/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Barbara Bosson, who received Emmy nominations in five consecutive years for her turn as the divorcee Fay Furillo on the acclaimed NBC drama Hill Street Blues, co-created by her then-husband Steven Bochco, has died. She was 83.
Bosson died Saturday in Los Angeles, her son, director-producer Jesse Bochco, announced.
The actress also was known for her work on three ABC series: as the divorced boss of John Ritter’s San Francisco police inspector on the 1987-89 comedy-drama Hooperman, as the mayor of Los Angeles on the 1990 musical drama Cop Rock and as prosecutor Miriam Grasso on the 1995-97 legal drama Murder One. All three shows were co-created by Bochco, too.
She and Bochco first met when they attended Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the 1960s, and they were married from 1970 until their 1997 divorce. He died in April 2018 at age 74 after a battle with leukemia.
Bosson sparked as the needy Fay, the ex-wife of Capt.
Bosson died Saturday in Los Angeles, her son, director-producer Jesse Bochco, announced.
The actress also was known for her work on three ABC series: as the divorced boss of John Ritter’s San Francisco police inspector on the 1987-89 comedy-drama Hooperman, as the mayor of Los Angeles on the 1990 musical drama Cop Rock and as prosecutor Miriam Grasso on the 1995-97 legal drama Murder One. All three shows were co-created by Bochco, too.
She and Bochco first met when they attended Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the 1960s, and they were married from 1970 until their 1997 divorce. He died in April 2018 at age 74 after a battle with leukemia.
Bosson sparked as the needy Fay, the ex-wife of Capt.
- 2/20/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
Last year, it was just a lark.
For its 2021 event, Oldenburg Film Festival invited Somtow Sucharitkul, one of Thailand’s most acclaimed classical composers and conductors, to the world premiere of The Maestro, a Thai horror film starring Somtow as a murderous conductor. “Some would call it typecasting,” jokes Somtow, who also wrote the film’s script.
But instead of just coming for the red carpet, Somtow invited members of his youth orchestra, the Siam Sinfonietta — which performs in The Maestro — to join him. Together they wowed the crowds at the festival’s opening and closing ceremonies, performing music from the film, as well as a tribute to Oldenburg’s 2021 guest of honor, Italian genre master Ovidio Assonitis (Tentacles, Beyond the Door).
“The kids had never seen anything like it, coming to Oldenburg just opened the door to a whole other universe for them,...
Last year, it was just a lark.
For its 2021 event, Oldenburg Film Festival invited Somtow Sucharitkul, one of Thailand’s most acclaimed classical composers and conductors, to the world premiere of The Maestro, a Thai horror film starring Somtow as a murderous conductor. “Some would call it typecasting,” jokes Somtow, who also wrote the film’s script.
But instead of just coming for the red carpet, Somtow invited members of his youth orchestra, the Siam Sinfonietta — which performs in The Maestro — to join him. Together they wowed the crowds at the festival’s opening and closing ceremonies, performing music from the film, as well as a tribute to Oldenburg’s 2021 guest of honor, Italian genre master Ovidio Assonitis (Tentacles, Beyond the Door).
“The kids had never seen anything like it, coming to Oldenburg just opened the door to a whole other universe for them,...
- 9/15/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
“I have a mantra,” says director Peter Hyams. “It was something me and my camera operator, Steve Campanelli had: each morning before we went to shoot we’d put our arms around each other, like football players, and say four things: 1. Go bigger or go home. 2. If it can’t be fixed with a hammer, it can’t be fixed. 3. If it doesn’t fit, force it. 4. Let’s blow shit up.”
As mantras go, it’s hard to argue with the results. With a career that’s included prescient conspiracy thriller Capricorn One (1977), with Elliott Gould and James Brolin; sci-fi Western Outland (1981) with Sean Connery, the Gene Hackman/Anne Archer actioner Narrow Margin (1990) and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s time-traveling fight film Timecop (1994), Hyams, has secured his place in cult cinema history.
It’s also an approach to movie making that informed the career of Hyams’ son,...
“I have a mantra,” says director Peter Hyams. “It was something me and my camera operator, Steve Campanelli had: each morning before we went to shoot we’d put our arms around each other, like football players, and say four things: 1. Go bigger or go home. 2. If it can’t be fixed with a hammer, it can’t be fixed. 3. If it doesn’t fit, force it. 4. Let’s blow shit up.”
As mantras go, it’s hard to argue with the results. With a career that’s included prescient conspiracy thriller Capricorn One (1977), with Elliott Gould and James Brolin; sci-fi Western Outland (1981) with Sean Connery, the Gene Hackman/Anne Archer actioner Narrow Margin (1990) and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s time-traveling fight film Timecop (1994), Hyams, has secured his place in cult cinema history.
It’s also an approach to movie making that informed the career of Hyams’ son,...
- 9/14/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
The Oldenburg Film Festival, Germany’s leading indie film fest, will honor father and son genre filmmakers Peter and John Hymas, with a joint retrospective.
Father Peter Hymas is best known for his cult films of the 1970s and 80s, including the conspiracy drama Capricorn One (1977), about a plot to fake a space mission to Mars, the sci-fi Western Outland (1981) starring Sean Connery, and 2010: The Year We Made Contact (1984), a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 1994, Hymas scored a late-career hit with Timecop, a time-traveling action movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
The Mussels from Brussels would play a major role in the career of son John Hymas, who revived Van Damme’s other sci-fi action franchise, Universal Soldier, with two sequels: Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012). Alongside numerous TV directing credits, for such series as NYPD Blue,...
The Oldenburg Film Festival, Germany’s leading indie film fest, will honor father and son genre filmmakers Peter and John Hymas, with a joint retrospective.
Father Peter Hymas is best known for his cult films of the 1970s and 80s, including the conspiracy drama Capricorn One (1977), about a plot to fake a space mission to Mars, the sci-fi Western Outland (1981) starring Sean Connery, and 2010: The Year We Made Contact (1984), a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 1994, Hymas scored a late-career hit with Timecop, a time-traveling action movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
The Mussels from Brussels would play a major role in the career of son John Hymas, who revived Van Damme’s other sci-fi action franchise, Universal Soldier, with two sequels: Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012). Alongside numerous TV directing credits, for such series as NYPD Blue,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Pixar’s return to movie theaters with “Lightyear” (June 17) is propelled by nostalgia for sci-fi action-adventure films. For director Angus MacLane, it was his love of the genre and fascination with fearless Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear that led him to make his animated spin-off a trippy movie-within-a-movie. MacLane told IndieWire he pictured “Lightyear” as the blockbuster that would’ve charged the imagination of “Toy Story” kid Andy “the way ‘Star Wars’ got me excited.”
That means Andy watched a Pixar movie in 1995 that was actually made in the 2020s, which is perfect, considering the time-bending, Rip Van Winkle-like premise: After Buzz (voiced by Chris Evans) inadvertently strands his Star Command crew on an uncharted planet, he keeps traveling through time warps after a series of unsuccessful test runs to see if the rocket fuel will get them back to Earth. Each time he returns to the planet, though, the crew...
That means Andy watched a Pixar movie in 1995 that was actually made in the 2020s, which is perfect, considering the time-bending, Rip Van Winkle-like premise: After Buzz (voiced by Chris Evans) inadvertently strands his Star Command crew on an uncharted planet, he keeps traveling through time warps after a series of unsuccessful test runs to see if the rocket fuel will get them back to Earth. Each time he returns to the planet, though, the crew...
- 4/21/2022
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Director Ron Underwood discusses a few of his favorite westerns with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Mighty Joe Young (1998)
Speechless (1994)
Heart and Souls (1993)
Stealing Sinatra (2003)
City Slickers (1991)
Tremors (1990) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Tourist Trap (1979) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary
The Seduction (1982)
Puppet Master (1989)
The Boondock Saints (1999)
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)
Capricorn One (1977) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Back When We Were Grownups (2004)
Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018)
Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)
The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Red River (1948) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Johnny Guitar (1954) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Searchers (1956)
Seven Samurai (1954) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Westworld...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Mighty Joe Young (1998)
Speechless (1994)
Heart and Souls (1993)
Stealing Sinatra (2003)
City Slickers (1991)
Tremors (1990) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Tourist Trap (1979) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary
The Seduction (1982)
Puppet Master (1989)
The Boondock Saints (1999)
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)
Capricorn One (1977) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary
Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Back When We Were Grownups (2004)
Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018)
Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)
The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Red River (1948) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Johnny Guitar (1954) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
The Searchers (1956)
Seven Samurai (1954) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary
The Magnificent Seven (1960) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Westworld...
- 2/1/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Stars: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald, Jonathan Rosenthal | Written by Mattias Olsson | Directed by John Hyams
An English-language adaptation of Swedish thriller Gone, with a screenplay by from that films director Mattias Olsson, Alone is most-noticeable as being helmed by John Hyams. The son of director Peter Hyams, John Hyams burst on to the action movie scene with a trio of movies between 2009 and 2012 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme – with whom his father had worked in 1994/5 – all of which were fan-favourites and which, at the time, were seemingly Hyams’ calling card into bigger budget action fare. Only that didn’t happen.
Despite the warm reception afforded Universal Soldier: Regeneration and its follow-up Day of Reckoning And the great reviews Dragon Eyes, a film that sought to launch the leading-man action career of Cung Le, received from critics and fans alike; Hyams has spent the intervening years in television, producing and...
An English-language adaptation of Swedish thriller Gone, with a screenplay by from that films director Mattias Olsson, Alone is most-noticeable as being helmed by John Hyams. The son of director Peter Hyams, John Hyams burst on to the action movie scene with a trio of movies between 2009 and 2012 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme – with whom his father had worked in 1994/5 – all of which were fan-favourites and which, at the time, were seemingly Hyams’ calling card into bigger budget action fare. Only that didn’t happen.
Despite the warm reception afforded Universal Soldier: Regeneration and its follow-up Day of Reckoning And the great reviews Dragon Eyes, a film that sought to launch the leading-man action career of Cung Le, received from critics and fans alike; Hyams has spent the intervening years in television, producing and...
- 7/14/2021
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
The eighties were the heyday of the buddy cop movie. The year before Lethal Weapon came out and make the genre even more popular, Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines were Chicago cops on the trail of a drug lord (played by Jimmy Smits) in Running Scared (1986) by director Peter Hyams. While a solid box office hit (there was even talk of a sequel), in the decades that followed Running Scared would become somewhat obscure. That's too bad as it's a really…...
- 4/20/2021
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
As conspiracy theories go, the idea that the Apollo moon landing was faked (with supposed the assistance of Stanley Kubrick no less!) has gained ground even beyond this overlong 1978 extrapolation by writer-director Peter Hyams that posits a phony Mars landing instigated by corrupt officials via re-enacted tv coverage. A hit in its day, it appeals to the paranoia that underlies so many sci fi concepts that originated in the post-Roswell era.
The post Capricorn One appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Capricorn One appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 2/17/2021
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Following the news of Hal Holbrook’s death on Monday night, Hollywood has taken to social media to remember the award-winning character actor. Holbrook was best known for portraying Mark Twain in “Mark Twain Tonight!” in 1967, along with his roles in “Into the Wild,” “All The President’s Men” and “Magnum Force.”
In a statement to Variety, Steven Spielberg reminisced on the time he met Holbrook on the set of the NBC political series “The Bold Ones: The Senator” and their time working together on “Lincoln.”
“In 1970, I visited the set of the TV series ‘The Bold Ones: The Senator’ to watch Hal Holbrook play Senator Hays Stowe,” Spielberg said. “From that day on, it was my dream to work with this transformative actor, and it finally happened 42 years later when he portrayed Preston Blair in ‘Lincoln.’ Hal was, quite simply, an American classic who brought Mark Twain and so many...
In a statement to Variety, Steven Spielberg reminisced on the time he met Holbrook on the set of the NBC political series “The Bold Ones: The Senator” and their time working together on “Lincoln.”
“In 1970, I visited the set of the TV series ‘The Bold Ones: The Senator’ to watch Hal Holbrook play Senator Hays Stowe,” Spielberg said. “From that day on, it was my dream to work with this transformative actor, and it finally happened 42 years later when he portrayed Preston Blair in ‘Lincoln.’ Hal was, quite simply, an American classic who brought Mark Twain and so many...
- 2/2/2021
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
Hal Holbrook, the five-time Emmy-winning actor who was famed for portraying Mark Twain, has died at 95. Holbrook died on January 23 at his home in Beverly Hills, his assistant told The New York Times.
Born on February 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, he went on to have a highly decorated screen and stage career that spanned more than six decades.
Holbrook perhaps was best known for playing Mark Twain in his one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight!, which first played on Broadway in 1966 and earned Holbrook a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. A television showing of the stage show secured him an Emmy nomination a year later, he reprised the role on the Main Stem in 1977 and again in 2005.
Holbrook played former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln on television in Carl Sandburg’s 1974 mini-series Lincoln, which earned him one of five Emmy statuettes. His four other...
Born on February 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, he went on to have a highly decorated screen and stage career that spanned more than six decades.
Holbrook perhaps was best known for playing Mark Twain in his one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight!, which first played on Broadway in 1966 and earned Holbrook a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. A television showing of the stage show secured him an Emmy nomination a year later, he reprised the role on the Main Stem in 1977 and again in 2005.
Holbrook played former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln on television in Carl Sandburg’s 1974 mini-series Lincoln, which earned him one of five Emmy statuettes. His four other...
- 2/2/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Hal Holbrook, the versatile stage and screen actor best known for his Tony-winning portrayal of Mark Twain, died Jan. 26 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 95.
Holbrook’s assistant told the New York Times about his death on Monday.
In the one-man play “Mark Twain Tonight!,” which Holbrook developed in 1954, he portrayed Twain reading from a selection of his dramatic and comedic writing. The play debuted in Pennsylvania before moving to New York in 1959 Off Broadway, and finally premiered on Broadway in 1966. Holbrook won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for that performance, and in 1967, he was nominated for an Emmy for the television broadcast.
Holbrook continued to revive the play for decades. His final Broadway appearance in the role came in 2006, and he retired from the role for good in 2017.
Born in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, Holbrook began acting during his service in World War II,...
Holbrook’s assistant told the New York Times about his death on Monday.
In the one-man play “Mark Twain Tonight!,” which Holbrook developed in 1954, he portrayed Twain reading from a selection of his dramatic and comedic writing. The play debuted in Pennsylvania before moving to New York in 1959 Off Broadway, and finally premiered on Broadway in 1966. Holbrook won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for that performance, and in 1967, he was nominated for an Emmy for the television broadcast.
Holbrook continued to revive the play for decades. His final Broadway appearance in the role came in 2006, and he retired from the role for good in 2017.
Born in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, Holbrook began acting during his service in World War II,...
- 2/2/2021
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
Hello, dear readers! We’re back with a brand-new batch of home media releases for this week, and there’s definitely something for everyone in Tuesday’s Blu-ray and DVD titles. If you missed it when it was released late last year, you can finally catch up with Spell this week, and for those of you who are looking to add some more classic titles to your personal collections, there’s certainly an array of films headed home this week that surely fit that bill.
Kino Lorber is showing some love to Frank Darabont’s Buried Alive this Tuesday, and Code Red is keeping themselves busy with a pair of cult titles headed to Blu as well: Just Before Dawn and The Devil’s Wedding Night. Other notable releases for January 12th include Rituals, Go/Don’t Go, It Cuts Deep, Devilman: Special Edition, and a Double Feature Blu-ray for both Zombieland films.
Kino Lorber is showing some love to Frank Darabont’s Buried Alive this Tuesday, and Code Red is keeping themselves busy with a pair of cult titles headed to Blu as well: Just Before Dawn and The Devil’s Wedding Night. Other notable releases for January 12th include Rituals, Go/Don’t Go, It Cuts Deep, Devilman: Special Edition, and a Double Feature Blu-ray for both Zombieland films.
- 1/12/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Netflix’s sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky,” set for release next month, will see George Clooney as a scientist in the Arctic trying to protect a little girl, and prevent a group of astronauts from coming back home after a global catastrophe.
“It’s two different worlds; we were basically saying we were going to shoot ‘The Revenant’ and stop, and then shoot ‘Gravity,’” said Clooney about his seventh feature as a director during an online seminar at EnergaCamerimage Film Festival dedicated to “The Midnight Sky,” an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton novel “Good Morning, Midnight.” He was accompanied by the film’s cinematographer Martin Ruhe.
“Usually, when space movies are shot, up is up and down is down, and that’s not exactly how it works. In ‘Gravity,’ the camera was constantly rotating. We wanted to keep the idea of the horizon being different, without making everyone throw up along the way.
“It’s two different worlds; we were basically saying we were going to shoot ‘The Revenant’ and stop, and then shoot ‘Gravity,’” said Clooney about his seventh feature as a director during an online seminar at EnergaCamerimage Film Festival dedicated to “The Midnight Sky,” an adaptation of Lily Brooks-Dalton novel “Good Morning, Midnight.” He was accompanied by the film’s cinematographer Martin Ruhe.
“Usually, when space movies are shot, up is up and down is down, and that’s not exactly how it works. In ‘Gravity,’ the camera was constantly rotating. We wanted to keep the idea of the horizon being different, without making everyone throw up along the way.
- 11/17/2020
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald, Jonathan Rosenthal | Written by Mattias Olsson | Directed by John Hyams
An English-language adaptation of Swedish thriller Gone, with a screenplay by from that films director Mattias Olsson, Alone is most-noticeable as being helmed by John Hyams. The son of director Peter Hyams, John Hyams burst on to the action movie scene with a trio of movies between 2009 and 2012 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme – with whom his father had worked in 1994/5 – all of which were fan-favourites and which, at the time, were seemingly Hyams’ calling card into bigger budget action fare. Only that didn’t happen.
Despite the warm reception afforded Universal Soldier: Regeneration and its follow-up Day of Reckoning And the great reviews Dragon Eyes, a film that sought to launch the leading-man action career of Cung Le, received from critics and fans alike; Hyams has spent the intervening years in television, producing and...
An English-language adaptation of Swedish thriller Gone, with a screenplay by from that films director Mattias Olsson, Alone is most-noticeable as being helmed by John Hyams. The son of director Peter Hyams, John Hyams burst on to the action movie scene with a trio of movies between 2009 and 2012 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme – with whom his father had worked in 1994/5 – all of which were fan-favourites and which, at the time, were seemingly Hyams’ calling card into bigger budget action fare. Only that didn’t happen.
Despite the warm reception afforded Universal Soldier: Regeneration and its follow-up Day of Reckoning And the great reviews Dragon Eyes, a film that sought to launch the leading-man action career of Cung Le, received from critics and fans alike; Hyams has spent the intervening years in television, producing and...
- 8/28/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Issue #46
Highlights Of Issue #46 (2020) Include:
John Wayne and Rock Hudson are "The Undefeated"
Unpublished 1974 interview with Albert Finney
Don Siegel's "Madigan" starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda
Interview with writer/director Michael Armstrong
The making of the epic film "Waterloo" starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer
Hammer Films Actor John Richardson interview Part II
Vietnam Before and After: "Go Tell the Spartans" and "Rolling Thunder"
Brian Keith in "The McKenzie Break"
Plus review of DVDs, soundtracks and film books.
USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 $12.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £12.00 Gbp
Issue #47
Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.
Director John Stevenson's tribute to...
Highlights Of Issue #46 (2020) Include:
John Wayne and Rock Hudson are "The Undefeated"
Unpublished 1974 interview with Albert Finney
Don Siegel's "Madigan" starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda
Interview with writer/director Michael Armstrong
The making of the epic film "Waterloo" starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer
Hammer Films Actor John Richardson interview Part II
Vietnam Before and After: "Go Tell the Spartans" and "Rolling Thunder"
Brian Keith in "The McKenzie Break"
Plus review of DVDs, soundtracks and film books.
USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 $12.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £12.00 Gbp
Issue #47
Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.
Director John Stevenson's tribute to...
- 10/12/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Let’s all just agree on one thing: the moon is weird.
It’s in the sky. It glows. Sometimes it’s big, and sometimes it’s small. It also causes tides, somehow, for some reason, though if you’re looking for an in-depth explanation as to how it does this and why, you are encouraged to look elsewhere. To top it all off, in all of human history, only 12 people have actually been to the moon and experienced it firsthand; for context, this is less than the number of kids in the Duggar family.
It’s in the sky. It glows. Sometimes it’s big, and sometimes it’s small. It also causes tides, somehow, for some reason, though if you’re looking for an in-depth explanation as to how it does this and why, you are encouraged to look elsewhere. To top it all off, in all of human history, only 12 people have actually been to the moon and experienced it firsthand; for context, this is less than the number of kids in the Duggar family.
- 7/19/2019
- by EJ Dickson
- Rollingstone.com
Poltergeist actor James Karen passed away at his home on October 23. He was 94.
In his Hollywood career, Karen earned more than 200 credits, ranging movies and TV shows across various genres and was an original cast member of All My Children.
In Poltergeist, a family moves into a newly-constructed townhouse community, which was developed by Karen's Mr. Teague, only for a series of bizarre occurrences to begin unfolding. When the family's patriarch confronts Teague, he discovers that the developer had relocated a cemetery to make room for the houses, though he opted to save money by moving only the headstones and leaving the corpses underneath the homes.
Karen might have had minimal on-screen time in the film but his role and the confrontation his character has with Craig T. Nelson's Steve Freeling are some of the film's most memorable components.
Karen returned to the horror world for 1985's Return of...
In his Hollywood career, Karen earned more than 200 credits, ranging movies and TV shows across various genres and was an original cast member of All My Children.
In Poltergeist, a family moves into a newly-constructed townhouse community, which was developed by Karen's Mr. Teague, only for a series of bizarre occurrences to begin unfolding. When the family's patriarch confronts Teague, he discovers that the developer had relocated a cemetery to make room for the houses, though he opted to save money by moving only the headstones and leaving the corpses underneath the homes.
Karen might have had minimal on-screen time in the film but his role and the confrontation his character has with Craig T. Nelson's Steve Freeling are some of the film's most memorable components.
Karen returned to the horror world for 1985's Return of...
- 10/24/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
Paul Childs Feb 22, 2018
Stay Tuned is one the most unfairly overlooked family movies of the 1990s. Here's why we love it, and why it stands the test of time...
Spoilers for Stay Tuneed lie ahead.
What would you say dates a film or TV show?
Is it computers? Maybe, although once you get past the crazy notion of having to attach your landline receiver to a modem the size of a cereal box, WarGames still functions as a decent techno-thriller. Last year this site wrote about hacker-centric caper movie Sneakers and noted that it has actually aged rather well.
Phones perhaps? There’s a moment in Lethal Weapon where Murtaugh stops to make a call on his ‘mobile’. He gets out of his car on a bridge (an elevated point for a good signal I suppose) and has to lug a heavy looking briefcase containing the battery with him (presumably...
Stay Tuned is one the most unfairly overlooked family movies of the 1990s. Here's why we love it, and why it stands the test of time...
Spoilers for Stay Tuneed lie ahead.
What would you say dates a film or TV show?
Is it computers? Maybe, although once you get past the crazy notion of having to attach your landline receiver to a modem the size of a cereal box, WarGames still functions as a decent techno-thriller. Last year this site wrote about hacker-centric caper movie Sneakers and noted that it has actually aged rather well.
Phones perhaps? There’s a moment in Lethal Weapon where Murtaugh stops to make a call on his ‘mobile’. He gets out of his car on a bridge (an elevated point for a good signal I suppose) and has to lug a heavy looking briefcase containing the battery with him (presumably...
- 2/20/2018
- Den of Geek
Mark Harrison Aug 17, 2017
Anyone for monkey baseball? We examine the weird and wonderful unmade scripts of the Planet Of The Apes series
In 2006, screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were inspired by footage of domesticated chimpanzees who were unable to adjust to our lifestyles to write a sci-fi horror spec script that they called Genesis. Apparently, it was a while before the two of them realised that they were writing a Planet Of The Apes movie.
Their resultant pitch to 20th Century Fox led to 2011's Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the excellent, emotional prequel/reboot of the franchise that led to 2014's Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and recent trilogy topper, War For The Planet Of The Apes. Together, the three films take Caesar from domestication to domination and have been huge critical and financial hits for the studio.
The development hell that plagued Fox's...
Anyone for monkey baseball? We examine the weird and wonderful unmade scripts of the Planet Of The Apes series
In 2006, screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were inspired by footage of domesticated chimpanzees who were unable to adjust to our lifestyles to write a sci-fi horror spec script that they called Genesis. Apparently, it was a while before the two of them realised that they were writing a Planet Of The Apes movie.
Their resultant pitch to 20th Century Fox led to 2011's Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, the excellent, emotional prequel/reboot of the franchise that led to 2014's Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and recent trilogy topper, War For The Planet Of The Apes. Together, the three films take Caesar from domestication to domination and have been huge critical and financial hits for the studio.
The development hell that plagued Fox's...
- 8/15/2017
- Den of Geek
When I think of some of my favorite B films of the 1970s, my mind tends to drift towards the works of the late filmmaker William Girdler. This man made nine movies in six years before his tragic death in ’78 at the age of thirty; chief among them Abby (’74), Grizzly (’76), and Day of the Animals (’77). Now, quantity obviously doesn’t equal quality, and he made a few outright stinkers. But he was exciting to me because he became a better, more confident filmmaker with each film; this is especially evident with his final release, The Manitou (1978), your typical ancient Native American little person demon growing out of the back of a woman’s neck who fights the heroes in space with laser beams kind of flick. You know the type.
Independently produced, The Manitou was released by Avco Embassy in late April, with a June rollout across North America, and worldwide the following year.
Independently produced, The Manitou was released by Avco Embassy in late April, with a June rollout across North America, and worldwide the following year.
- 3/25/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Stars: Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Krista Madison, Tom Bolton, Sharon Belle, Josh Boles, Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Joe Thomas | Written by Matt Johnson, Josh Boles | Directed by Matt Johnson
1967: the height of the Cold War. The CIA suspects there is a Russian mole inside of Nasa, sabotaging the Apollo program. They send two young agents on a mission to go undercover, posing as documentary filmmakers, there to capture Nasa’s race to the moon. The real mission – use their access and technology to hunt down the leak. But what they discover is far more shocking than soviet spies… Their government may be hiding a secret about Apollo that could define the decade, and the White House will stop at nothing to silence anyone who learns it.
Comspiracy theories. There’s a million of them. The biggest? That man never landed on the moon in 1969 and instead the whole Apollo 11 mission was an elaborate hoax.
1967: the height of the Cold War. The CIA suspects there is a Russian mole inside of Nasa, sabotaging the Apollo program. They send two young agents on a mission to go undercover, posing as documentary filmmakers, there to capture Nasa’s race to the moon. The real mission – use their access and technology to hunt down the leak. But what they discover is far more shocking than soviet spies… Their government may be hiding a secret about Apollo that could define the decade, and the White House will stop at nothing to silence anyone who learns it.
Comspiracy theories. There’s a million of them. The biggest? That man never landed on the moon in 1969 and instead the whole Apollo 11 mission was an elaborate hoax.
- 3/22/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Of all the conspiracy theories that have amassed a sizable number of gullible believers over the past half century, that Nasa faked the moon landing has to be the dumbest. This hasn’t stopped filmmakers from building paranoid thrillers around the idea, though. Less than a decade after Apollo 11, Capricorn One (1977) imagined a team of astronauts being hunted down by government assassins, lest their existence expose the truth about a fictitious manned flight to Mars. Almost 40 years later, the mock documentary Operation Avalanche tells more or less the same story, but from the point of view of the geek squad hired to convince the world that Neil Armstrong really did take a giant leap for mankind. Alas, while modern technology allows for impressive, convincing effects work on a comparatively tiny budget, the basic concept itself hasn’t improved with age. Clever ideas are still in short supply ...
- 9/15/2016
- by Mike D'Angelo
- avclub.com
Huddleston and John Wayne in Howard Hawks' 1970 Western "Rio Lobo".
By Lee Pfeiffer
Like many character actors, David Huddleston's name may not be familiar to movie fans- but they certainly would recognize him, especially if they are retro film fans. Huddleston, who this week at age 85, was a star of stage and screen. He began making feature films in the 1960s and became steadily employed in both low-budget and major Hollywood productions, generally playing folksy, good old boy Southern characters, though he did snag the title role in the 1985 Salkind production of "Santa Claus" as well as the 1998 Coen Brothers cult classic "The Big Lebowski". He scored with audiences for his performance as the foul-mouthed town dignitary in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" and appeared in "Capricorn One", 'Smokey and the Bandit II", "Haunted Honeymoon" and two films with John Wayne: Howard Hawks' "Rio Lobo...
By Lee Pfeiffer
Like many character actors, David Huddleston's name may not be familiar to movie fans- but they certainly would recognize him, especially if they are retro film fans. Huddleston, who this week at age 85, was a star of stage and screen. He began making feature films in the 1960s and became steadily employed in both low-budget and major Hollywood productions, generally playing folksy, good old boy Southern characters, though he did snag the title role in the 1985 Salkind production of "Santa Claus" as well as the 1998 Coen Brothers cult classic "The Big Lebowski". He scored with audiences for his performance as the foul-mouthed town dignitary in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" and appeared in "Capricorn One", 'Smokey and the Bandit II", "Haunted Honeymoon" and two films with John Wayne: Howard Hawks' "Rio Lobo...
- 8/5/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Who knew that by the time we were this deep into the current and rapidly evolving Golden Age of TV, O.J. Simpson would suddenly re-emerge -- arguably now in his third cycle -- as one of the preeminent, and perpetually relevant, figures in television history.
Yet here we are, with -- this time around -- irrefutable evidence. First it was compellingly dramatized, and now it's been exquisitely documented in "O.J.: Made in America."
As I was pondering how I could kick off this debut television column for Moviefone, just as fresh episodes of many of the most popular series of the moment have gone or are about to go on hiatus, I got my first glimpse at this powerful, impressive, and affecting documentary that prompted me to consider just how crucial TV was, and has been, and very likely will be in the perceptions we have about O.J. Simpson.
Yet here we are, with -- this time around -- irrefutable evidence. First it was compellingly dramatized, and now it's been exquisitely documented in "O.J.: Made in America."
As I was pondering how I could kick off this debut television column for Moviefone, just as fresh episodes of many of the most popular series of the moment have gone or are about to go on hiatus, I got my first glimpse at this powerful, impressive, and affecting documentary that prompted me to consider just how crucial TV was, and has been, and very likely will be in the perceptions we have about O.J. Simpson.
- 6/2/2016
- by Scott Huver
- Moviefone
Blaxploitation films burst onto the scene in 1971 with the huge success of Gordon Park’s Shaft. By 1972, audiences were clamoring for more, and filmmakers and studios were keen to jump on the bandwagon. While most of the majors were focusing on the Shaft formula of hot chicks and cool Dicks, American International Pictures saw a void that no one had filled yet: the black horror film. And so, with as little money as they usually invested, they sent forth into the world Blacula (1972), and wouldn’t you know it? Audiences loved it.
Just don’t call it Blaxploitation—because it isn’t. Blacula, surprisingly, showcases little of the developing tropes already established by Shaft. There is no "jive" talk, no gratuitous nudity or overwhelming violence. And I say "surprisingly", because it would have been so easy (not to mention profitable) to follow the formula set in motion by Shaft, Superfly,...
Just don’t call it Blaxploitation—because it isn’t. Blacula, surprisingly, showcases little of the developing tropes already established by Shaft. There is no "jive" talk, no gratuitous nudity or overwhelming violence. And I say "surprisingly", because it would have been so easy (not to mention profitable) to follow the formula set in motion by Shaft, Superfly,...
- 1/16/2016
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
By
Alex Simon
Hollywood, like any place that is more about its lore than the actual sum of its parts, is full of unsung heroes who have given audiences some of their most cherished cinematic moments. Odds are if you’re a movie buff, you’ll remember the car chases in iconic films like Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups. Stuntman, stunt driver and later, stunt coordinator Bill Hickman was one of those people who remained virtually anonymous during his lifetime, but is responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic, and hair-raising moments.
The Los Angeles native was born in 1921 and had been working in Hollywood for ten years before landing his first (visible) role in Stanley Kramer’s legendary The Wild One, the 1953 film that cemented star Marlon Brando’s status as an icon of post-war teen rebellion. Hickman can be seen as one of Brando’s...
Alex Simon
Hollywood, like any place that is more about its lore than the actual sum of its parts, is full of unsung heroes who have given audiences some of their most cherished cinematic moments. Odds are if you’re a movie buff, you’ll remember the car chases in iconic films like Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups. Stuntman, stunt driver and later, stunt coordinator Bill Hickman was one of those people who remained virtually anonymous during his lifetime, but is responsible for some of cinema’s most iconic, and hair-raising moments.
The Los Angeles native was born in 1921 and had been working in Hollywood for ten years before landing his first (visible) role in Stanley Kramer’s legendary The Wild One, the 1953 film that cemented star Marlon Brando’s status as an icon of post-war teen rebellion. Hickman can be seen as one of Brando’s...
- 3/17/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Captain America: The Winter Soldier taps into current fears about surveillance and data-mining. Ryan looks at its subversive undertones...
Nb: This article contains mild spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Oblivion.
Every generation carries with it a heavy payload of shared anxiety. A fear of nuclear annihilation permeated the Cold War era. The 1970s brought with it a distrust of leadership, as Richard Nixon's presidential authority crumbled in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
These collective preoccupations constantly find their way into the stories we share, not least in movies: Cold War paranoia manifested itself in 50s invasion science fiction; the distrust of the 1970s found its expression in such conspiracy thrillers as The Parallax View, The Marathon Man and Capricorn One.
For several years after the global financial crisis of 2008, a resentment towards banks, billionaires and corporate types became a common sight in movies. The comedy...
Nb: This article contains mild spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Oblivion.
Every generation carries with it a heavy payload of shared anxiety. A fear of nuclear annihilation permeated the Cold War era. The 1970s brought with it a distrust of leadership, as Richard Nixon's presidential authority crumbled in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
These collective preoccupations constantly find their way into the stories we share, not least in movies: Cold War paranoia manifested itself in 50s invasion science fiction; the distrust of the 1970s found its expression in such conspiracy thrillers as The Parallax View, The Marathon Man and Capricorn One.
For several years after the global financial crisis of 2008, a resentment towards banks, billionaires and corporate types became a common sight in movies. The comedy...
- 7/30/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
It's a shock to go back and watch "Midnight Cowboy" 45 years after its debut (on May 25, 1969) and see how raw and otherworldly it looks. After all, the X-rated Best Picture Oscar-winner has been so thoroughly assimilated into American pop culture that even kiddie entertainments like the Muppets have copied from it.
The tale of the unlikely friendship between naïve Texas gigolo Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and frail Bronx con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), "Midnight Cowboy" was initially considered so risqué that it's the only X-rated movie ever to win the Academy's top prize (though after it won, the ratings board reconsidered and gave the film an R). Still, the film featured two lead performances and a few individual scenes that were so iconic that homages (and parodies) have popped up virtually everywhere. (Most often imitated is the scene where Ratso, limping across a busy Manhattan street, is nearly...
The tale of the unlikely friendship between naïve Texas gigolo Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and frail Bronx con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), "Midnight Cowboy" was initially considered so risqué that it's the only X-rated movie ever to win the Academy's top prize (though after it won, the ratings board reconsidered and gave the film an R). Still, the film featured two lead performances and a few individual scenes that were so iconic that homages (and parodies) have popped up virtually everywhere. (Most often imitated is the scene where Ratso, limping across a busy Manhattan street, is nearly...
- 5/23/2014
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Interview Ryan Lambie 24 Feb 2014 - 05:50
We chat to the great Peter Dinklage about his role in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, meeting Game Of Thrones fans, and much more...
When we caught up with Peter Dinklage for a group interview during last June's visit to the set of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, he was dressed impeccably in a crisply-pressed 70s suit. With large shades, a handsomely curved moustache and voluminous hair parted to one side, he'd fit right into the cast of Anchorman. Instead, Dinklage is playing Bolivar Trask, who comic book readers will know is one of the key players in the Days Of Future Past story.
As the shoot of Bryan Singer's forthcoming X-Men movie rumbled on not far from where we were sitting, Dinklage talked enthusiastically about his role in the story - while keeping specifics of the plot firmly under wraps - meeting...
We chat to the great Peter Dinklage about his role in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, meeting Game Of Thrones fans, and much more...
When we caught up with Peter Dinklage for a group interview during last June's visit to the set of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, he was dressed impeccably in a crisply-pressed 70s suit. With large shades, a handsomely curved moustache and voluminous hair parted to one side, he'd fit right into the cast of Anchorman. Instead, Dinklage is playing Bolivar Trask, who comic book readers will know is one of the key players in the Days Of Future Past story.
As the shoot of Bryan Singer's forthcoming X-Men movie rumbled on not far from where we were sitting, Dinklage talked enthusiastically about his role in the story - while keeping specifics of the plot firmly under wraps - meeting...
- 2/20/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Odd List Ryan Lambie 12 Feb 2014 - 06:36
From faked lunar landings to invisible WWII warships, here are six conspiracy theories and the genre films they inspired...
"Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face," Sterling Hayden's General Jack D Ripper coldly announces in Stanley Kubrick's breathtakingly funny satire, Dr Strangelove.
Ripper's conspiracy theory, that the commies are secretly trying to compromise our "precious bodily fluids", becomes his harebrained reason for unleashing a missile strike on the Ussr. And just as Ripper was inspired by this strange notion to trigger a nuclear apocalypse, so filmmakers have been inspired by conspiracy theories to make all kinds of science fiction and horror movies - some funny, some tense and absorbing, others terrifying.
Here, then, is a selection of six real-world conspiracy theories and the varied movies they inspired - and funnily enough, Stanley Kubrick...
From faked lunar landings to invisible WWII warships, here are six conspiracy theories and the genre films they inspired...
"Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face," Sterling Hayden's General Jack D Ripper coldly announces in Stanley Kubrick's breathtakingly funny satire, Dr Strangelove.
Ripper's conspiracy theory, that the commies are secretly trying to compromise our "precious bodily fluids", becomes his harebrained reason for unleashing a missile strike on the Ussr. And just as Ripper was inspired by this strange notion to trigger a nuclear apocalypse, so filmmakers have been inspired by conspiracy theories to make all kinds of science fiction and horror movies - some funny, some tense and absorbing, others terrifying.
Here, then, is a selection of six real-world conspiracy theories and the varied movies they inspired - and funnily enough, Stanley Kubrick...
- 2/10/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
'If I'm wrong, I'm insane. If I'm right, it's worse': in conspiracy films – from Rosemary's Baby to State of Play – solving the crime does not bring peace. Michael Newton investigates a rich cinematic genre
Some believe that JFK was shot by his driver, some that Bobby Kennedy was killed by one of his guards; some believe the world is ruled by a Yale fraternity, some by lizard-aliens in disguise; some believe that Obama is a Communist mole; some that, back in 1966, Paul McCartney died. These notions are, at best, deluded; but as potential pitches for an as yet unmade Hollywood movie, they might just secure the contract. For, in movies, you can believe that the moon shots were faked, or that men are replacing their wives with compliant robots, or that space shuttles are firing earthquake-inducing weapons, or that the world itself is a delusion – and in each case you could be proved right.
Some believe that JFK was shot by his driver, some that Bobby Kennedy was killed by one of his guards; some believe the world is ruled by a Yale fraternity, some by lizard-aliens in disguise; some believe that Obama is a Communist mole; some that, back in 1966, Paul McCartney died. These notions are, at best, deluded; but as potential pitches for an as yet unmade Hollywood movie, they might just secure the contract. For, in movies, you can believe that the moon shots were faked, or that men are replacing their wives with compliant robots, or that space shuttles are firing earthquake-inducing weapons, or that the world itself is a delusion – and in each case you could be proved right.
- 2/8/2014
- by Michael Newton
- The Guardian - Film News
Peter Hyams Takes Us Closer
By
Alex Simon
Peter Hyams has been making movies for over forty years. A native New Yorker, Hyams has the distinction of being one of the only directors who also serves as his own cinematographer on his films, a hyphenate that has caused him some controversy among cameramen (see below for more details). After making his mark with such classics as Capricorn One, Outland, The Star Chamber, 2010, and many others, Hyams hasn't slowed down, bringing us his twenty-first feature film. Enemies Closer is a white-knuckle thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as the ruthless (and flamboyant) leader of a drug cartel on a search and destroy mission for his missing cache of product, which sits at the bottom of a lake on the U.S.-Canadian border. Tom Everett Scott plays the U.S. Park Ranger with a murky past who tries to stop him, along...
By
Alex Simon
Peter Hyams has been making movies for over forty years. A native New Yorker, Hyams has the distinction of being one of the only directors who also serves as his own cinematographer on his films, a hyphenate that has caused him some controversy among cameramen (see below for more details). After making his mark with such classics as Capricorn One, Outland, The Star Chamber, 2010, and many others, Hyams hasn't slowed down, bringing us his twenty-first feature film. Enemies Closer is a white-knuckle thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as the ruthless (and flamboyant) leader of a drug cartel on a search and destroy mission for his missing cache of product, which sits at the bottom of a lake on the U.S.-Canadian border. Tom Everett Scott plays the U.S. Park Ranger with a murky past who tries to stop him, along...
- 1/28/2014
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
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