Don Kaye May 15, 2017
Director John Badman looks back at his disco classic four decades later...
Saturday Night Fever is the film that made John Travolta into a legitimate star, launched the Bee Gees to the pinnacle of pop success and introduced the world to the subculture, music and fashion of disco dancing - specifically the scene in the clubs of the insular blue collar Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bay Ridge. The movie made the scene and music into a national phenomenon that lasted several years, until the disco craze petered out in the early '80s.
See related Better Call Saul season 3 episode 1 review: Mabel Better Call Saul season 2 episode 10 review: Klick Better Call Saul season 2 episode 9 review: Nailed Better Call Saul season 2 episode 8 review: Fifi
The whole thing was based on a New York magazine article called 'Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night', written by a British journalist named...
Director John Badman looks back at his disco classic four decades later...
Saturday Night Fever is the film that made John Travolta into a legitimate star, launched the Bee Gees to the pinnacle of pop success and introduced the world to the subculture, music and fashion of disco dancing - specifically the scene in the clubs of the insular blue collar Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bay Ridge. The movie made the scene and music into a national phenomenon that lasted several years, until the disco craze petered out in the early '80s.
See related Better Call Saul season 3 episode 1 review: Mabel Better Call Saul season 2 episode 10 review: Klick Better Call Saul season 2 episode 9 review: Nailed Better Call Saul season 2 episode 8 review: Fifi
The whole thing was based on a New York magazine article called 'Tribal Rites Of The New Saturday Night', written by a British journalist named...
- 5/1/2017
- Den of Geek
On this day (April 21st) in history as it relates to showbiz...
Anthony Quinn
1904 Oscar winning cinematographer Daniel L Fapp (West Side Story and Desire Under the Elms, among many films) born in Kansas City
1914 Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor born in England. Though he was BAFTA nominated Oscar never bit despite high profile films and collaborations with famous directors. Credits include: Repulsion, The Omen, Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Frenzy, Dracula (1979) and MacBeth
1915 Oscar's all time favorite Mexican actor Anthony Quinn born (Lust for Life, Viva Zapata, Wild is the Wind, Zorba the Greek, La Strada, etcetera)
1918 "The Red Baron," the famous German fighter pilot, shot down in World War I. Snoopy in Peanuts fantasizes about him repeatedly and he's also been a character in many films including Wings, Hell's Angels, and Darling Lili ...
Anthony Quinn
1904 Oscar winning cinematographer Daniel L Fapp (West Side Story and Desire Under the Elms, among many films) born in Kansas City
1914 Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor born in England. Though he was BAFTA nominated Oscar never bit despite high profile films and collaborations with famous directors. Credits include: Repulsion, The Omen, Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Frenzy, Dracula (1979) and MacBeth
1915 Oscar's all time favorite Mexican actor Anthony Quinn born (Lust for Life, Viva Zapata, Wild is the Wind, Zorba the Greek, La Strada, etcetera)
1918 "The Red Baron," the famous German fighter pilot, shot down in World War I. Snoopy in Peanuts fantasizes about him repeatedly and he's also been a character in many films including Wings, Hell's Angels, and Darling Lili ...
- 4/21/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Issue #36 of Cinema Retro has shipped to subscribers worldwide. This is the final issue of Season 12. Please subscribe or renew today and help keep the dream alive for the world's most unique film magazine!
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere,...
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere,...
- 11/29/2016
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
"It's showtime, Daily Deaders, Betelgeuse, here. You know what you could do for me, well, besides saying my name three times, is, uh, check out these photos of my Cavity Colors shirt at the top of this Horror Highlights thing." Okay, that was weird... seems like Betelgeuse somehow took over for a hot second. We're all good now! Readers can also look forward to details on the Demons 2 screening in NYC and Film4 and All 4's Fright Bites short films.
Cavity Colors' Beetlejuice-Inspired Bio-Exorcist Shirts: From Cavity Colors: "Our newest *limited edition* clothing release arrives! We've teamed up with artist Kyle Hotz (@kylehotzcomics) to re-create everyone's favorite cartoon Bio-Exorcist, but in a gloriously grotesque and spooky manner for Halloween! I did the colors, and he did the linework. Set those reminders! These are limited to 300 only, on T-shirts, Tanktops, and Crewneck Sweatshirts! Once it's gone, it's gone forever!"
To...
Cavity Colors' Beetlejuice-Inspired Bio-Exorcist Shirts: From Cavity Colors: "Our newest *limited edition* clothing release arrives! We've teamed up with artist Kyle Hotz (@kylehotzcomics) to re-create everyone's favorite cartoon Bio-Exorcist, but in a gloriously grotesque and spooky manner for Halloween! I did the colors, and he did the linework. Set those reminders! These are limited to 300 only, on T-shirts, Tanktops, and Crewneck Sweatshirts! Once it's gone, it's gone forever!"
To...
- 10/28/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Issue #36, the final issue of Season 12 of Cinema Retro, has now shipped worldwide.
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere, who recalls shooting "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the James Bond films
*Lee Pfeiffer's personal tribute to the late Euan Lloyd,...
Highlights of this issue include:
Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Professionals" starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode and Jack Palance.
*Mark Mawston with a rare exclusive interview with 70's sex siren Linda Hayden
*Cai Ross takes a bite at covering the underrated 1979 version of "Dracula" starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier
*John LeMay uncovers the top secret story of the unfilmed "Romance of the Pink Panther" that was to have starred Peter Sellers.
*Peter Cook continues his celebration of matte painting artists
*Tim Greaves uncovers the fascinating career of British "Sex Queen" Mary Millington
*Mark Mawston concludes his interviews with legendary stills photographer Keith Hamshere, who recalls shooting "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the James Bond films
*Lee Pfeiffer's personal tribute to the late Euan Lloyd,...
- 9/4/2016
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Today, thousands upon thousands of fanboys and fangirls will flock toward Southern California as San Diego Comic-Con kicks off. 39 years ago today, the then-much smaller convention opened for a significant year: The first after the release of Star Wars. Though the con was still focused on comic books at the time and was contained within Sd’s El Cortez Hotel, the 1977 event did feature a “Making of Star Wars” panel. A year prior, Lucasfilm had drummed up a bit of anticipation for the movie at Comic-Con with Mark Hamill in attendance. Other notable July 20 happenings in pop culture history: • 1950: The Men, Marlon Brando’s first film, premiered in New York. • 1965: Bob Dylan’s single “Like a Rolling Stone” was released. • 1969: Broadcast on live TV to a worldwide audience, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, proclaiming the event “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
- 7/20/2016
- by Emily Rome
- Hitfix
Frank Langella is an imposing figure. Standing 6'4" tall, with a countenance absolutely befitting a man who has played both Dracula and Richard Nixon, the man simply looks like a force to be reckoned with. His sense of gravitas demands attention and respect. All of which makes what he does in Manhattan Theater Club's Tony-nominated production of Florian Zeller's play The Father even more impressive.
Langella plays André, an elderly man living in Paris with his daughter, Anne (Kathryn Erbe). At the start of the play, Anne is explaining why she has to get him a new helper: The last one apparently quit after André called her "a little bitch" and threatened her with a curtain rod. For his part, André at first denies the incident, then laughs it off, saying that he is perfectly competent to care for himself.
And here is where talking about the play gets difficult.
Langella plays André, an elderly man living in Paris with his daughter, Anne (Kathryn Erbe). At the start of the play, Anne is explaining why she has to get him a new helper: The last one apparently quit after André called her "a little bitch" and threatened her with a curtain rod. For his part, André at first denies the incident, then laughs it off, saying that he is perfectly competent to care for himself.
And here is where talking about the play gets difficult.
- 5/16/2016
- by Denny
- FilmExperience
It's another Q & A. Ask it and it shall be er... might be answered. When I started typing this week I couldn't stop and before I know it there were thousands and thousands of words. So that takes care of two Q&As .
Here's the first half of the mad scribblings typings then.
What is your favorite non-nominated performance from each of the five titans of the acting nominations? (Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier) - Sean
Nathaniel: Oh this is a tough one since those people were Oscared for breathing. Okay. Let's take them in reverse order of preference as actors...
Sir Laurence Olivier. Weirdly I was just watching As You Like It (1936) just the other day. I wasn't all that impressed though he definitely had an easier time with the material and the medium than the other stagebound performers. I have seen several of his non-nominated films,...
Here's the first half of the mad scribblings typings then.
What is your favorite non-nominated performance from each of the five titans of the acting nominations? (Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis and Laurence Olivier) - Sean
Nathaniel: Oh this is a tough one since those people were Oscared for breathing. Okay. Let's take them in reverse order of preference as actors...
Sir Laurence Olivier. Weirdly I was just watching As You Like It (1936) just the other day. I wasn't all that impressed though he definitely had an easier time with the material and the medium than the other stagebound performers. I have seen several of his non-nominated films,...
- 2/19/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Happy Birthday, Frank Langella Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee's Seascape and 1975 and was nominated for another for what may have been the performance for which he was best known for in the early part of his career the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. He then appeared on Broadway in such plays as Sherlock's Last Case, Strindberg's The Father winning a Drama Desk Award, Match Tony Award nomination, and Fortune's Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award. He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's FrostNixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella's third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 film FrostNixon, directed by Ron Howard.
- 1/1/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
Doctor Who, Star Trek and more: what happened when sci-fi, horror & fantasy heroes have popped up on British daytime TV over the years…
Pre-YouTube, fandom was a hard-earned thing. It took research, dedication and enough patience to hover over the family video player’s ‘record’ button for an entire episode of TV-am in anticipation of six minutes with Sylvester McCoy. Six minutes in which the Seventh Doctor would be polled if he was a cat or dog person and then asked to taste a lemon roulade.
Scarcity bred desire in those days, so we took what we could get from our heroes of yore, even if that meant watching Hammer Horror legend Ingrid Pitt make a chocolate mousse, or the aforementioned McCoy attempt to answer fan questions above the hubbub of a Nottingham swimming pool complex. The collision of geek icons and UK daytime magazine shows was sometimes illuminating, sometimes excruciating,...
Pre-YouTube, fandom was a hard-earned thing. It took research, dedication and enough patience to hover over the family video player’s ‘record’ button for an entire episode of TV-am in anticipation of six minutes with Sylvester McCoy. Six minutes in which the Seventh Doctor would be polled if he was a cat or dog person and then asked to taste a lemon roulade.
Scarcity bred desire in those days, so we took what we could get from our heroes of yore, even if that meant watching Hammer Horror legend Ingrid Pitt make a chocolate mousse, or the aforementioned McCoy attempt to answer fan questions above the hubbub of a Nottingham swimming pool complex. The collision of geek icons and UK daytime magazine shows was sometimes illuminating, sometimes excruciating,...
- 3/10/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Sexual Heights
(dir: Carlos Tobalina, 1981)
“Unparallelled peaks of passion…”
Got a little fact for you all before we start. Did you know that there are more divorced men living in San Fransisco than anywhere else in the world? No? Well neither did I until watching this film. A few minutes in and we’re learning something already! Anyway, we meet our main characters, a group of divorced buddies who live together. We have Joe the architect, played by Herschel Savage (Jail Bait, Fleshdance), Ron the doctor, played by Jamie Gillis (Waterpower, Dracula Sucks), Jim the Lawyer, played by Jesse Adams (Mob Job, Ultraflesh) and Art the engineer, played by Michael Morrison (Purely Physical). After watching some porn, Joe tells them the story of how he came to be divorced. It’s all down to his pesky dick teasing babysitter Laurie, played by Tawny Pearl (Lusty Ladies). After talking about he nearly raped the poor thing,...
(dir: Carlos Tobalina, 1981)
“Unparallelled peaks of passion…”
Got a little fact for you all before we start. Did you know that there are more divorced men living in San Fransisco than anywhere else in the world? No? Well neither did I until watching this film. A few minutes in and we’re learning something already! Anyway, we meet our main characters, a group of divorced buddies who live together. We have Joe the architect, played by Herschel Savage (Jail Bait, Fleshdance), Ron the doctor, played by Jamie Gillis (Waterpower, Dracula Sucks), Jim the Lawyer, played by Jesse Adams (Mob Job, Ultraflesh) and Art the engineer, played by Michael Morrison (Purely Physical). After watching some porn, Joe tells them the story of how he came to be divorced. It’s all down to his pesky dick teasing babysitter Laurie, played by Tawny Pearl (Lusty Ladies). After talking about he nearly raped the poor thing,...
- 2/14/2015
- by Mondo Squallido
- Nerdly
The 87th Academy Award nominations for 2015 were recently released on January 15, 2015 representing the excellence in film for the previous year. Naturally there was the standard controversy regarding those films and performances that got unfairly overlooked. Unfortunately, the perceived snubs do happen from year to year so this goes along with the territory. Nevertheless, the lucky selections that do manage to grab Oscar’s attention are understandably grateful and psyched to see if the golden statuette will in fact go home with them on the film industry’s biggest and most elegant evening.
With the obvious crankiness of Oscar omissions aside and the injustices that go with these “reel” deals has anyone ever considered the Academy Award nominees that are surprisingly recognized that could have gone unnoticed for whatever reasoning? After all there are films and exceptional performances that get lost in the shuffle but manage to get the accolades it...
With the obvious crankiness of Oscar omissions aside and the injustices that go with these “reel” deals has anyone ever considered the Academy Award nominees that are surprisingly recognized that could have gone unnoticed for whatever reasoning? After all there are films and exceptional performances that get lost in the shuffle but manage to get the accolades it...
- 1/25/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
Fantastic Orgy
(dir: Carlos Tobalina, 1978)
“Her Sexual Drive Makes Her A Star…!”
Iris Medina (playing herself in more ways than one) is a filmmaker. She has previously been producing sex related films, especially for college. She decides to take that next creative step from arthouse student filmmaking, hardcore pornography! When she isn’t behind the camera, she’s having some fun on the couch thinking of her stars and fantasising. One of her all time fantasies is sleep with the legendary John Holmes (Prisoner of Paradise, Tapestry of Passion). After shooting some scenes involving the beautiful Annette Haven (Barbara Broadcast, Dracula Sucks) and Desiree West (All Night Long, Carnal Haven), Iris finally gets to play out her ultimate fantasy with Mr. Holmes. Yep, that’s all I can really say about the plot…
Yep, story isn’t really the focus of this effort. What we have is a story thumbed...
(dir: Carlos Tobalina, 1978)
“Her Sexual Drive Makes Her A Star…!”
Iris Medina (playing herself in more ways than one) is a filmmaker. She has previously been producing sex related films, especially for college. She decides to take that next creative step from arthouse student filmmaking, hardcore pornography! When she isn’t behind the camera, she’s having some fun on the couch thinking of her stars and fantasising. One of her all time fantasies is sleep with the legendary John Holmes (Prisoner of Paradise, Tapestry of Passion). After shooting some scenes involving the beautiful Annette Haven (Barbara Broadcast, Dracula Sucks) and Desiree West (All Night Long, Carnal Haven), Iris finally gets to play out her ultimate fantasy with Mr. Holmes. Yep, that’s all I can really say about the plot…
Yep, story isn’t really the focus of this effort. What we have is a story thumbed...
- 1/15/2015
- by Mondo Squallido
- Nerdly
Happy Birthday, Frank Langella Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee's Seascape and 1975 and was nominated for another for what may have been the performance for which he was best known for in the early part of his career the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. He then appeared on Broadway in such plays as Sherlock's Last Case, Strindberg's The Father winning a Drama Desk Award, Match Tony Award nomination, and Fortune's Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award. He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's FrostNixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella's third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 film FrostNixon, directed by Ron Howard.
- 1/1/2015
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
By David S. Schow
Hall: “Where’s the library?”
Dutton: “No need for books — everything’s in the computer.”
One of the few regrets of my adult life is that I never got to meet Michael Crichton, who died too young, November 2008. Eminently emulatable, he had conquered publishing, film and television and remains a personal hero. I was hooked from the moment my father returned from his Arctic DEWLine duties bearing a paperback first printing of The Andromeda Strain, which I plowed through while in high school. Then immediately re-read, and re-read again.
I still have that paperback.
Subsequently I devoured everything Crichton wrote — the “John Lange” potboilers written to pay his way through medical school; the landmark A Case of Need (written as “Jeffrey Hudson;” a stingingly strong pro-choice novel done prior to the Roe v. Wade decision); even the dope fantasia Dealing, written with his brother as “Michael Douglas.
Hall: “Where’s the library?”
Dutton: “No need for books — everything’s in the computer.”
One of the few regrets of my adult life is that I never got to meet Michael Crichton, who died too young, November 2008. Eminently emulatable, he had conquered publishing, film and television and remains a personal hero. I was hooked from the moment my father returned from his Arctic DEWLine duties bearing a paperback first printing of The Andromeda Strain, which I plowed through while in high school. Then immediately re-read, and re-read again.
I still have that paperback.
Subsequently I devoured everything Crichton wrote — the “John Lange” potboilers written to pay his way through medical school; the landmark A Case of Need (written as “Jeffrey Hudson;” a stingingly strong pro-choice novel done prior to the Roe v. Wade decision); even the dope fantasia Dealing, written with his brother as “Michael Douglas.
- 6/29/2014
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Los Angeles (AP) — A big reason film actors are drawn to TV is that it offers the sort of character-driven projects found less and less in a movie world tilted toward blockbusters. That's partly why Josh Hartnett jumped into "Penny Dreadful," an eight-part series debuting Sunday on Showtime (10 p.m. Edt) as part of a free preview weekend. He plays a troubled American, a gun for hire, ensnared by Victorian London's dark side in the horror drama-cum-psychological study. Hartnett also appreciated the guarantee that the project would be marketed and presented to an audience, something he's become painfully aware isn't always the case with independent films. "I've had worthy films not get a correct release, and have people come up to me later and say how much they enjoyed the film," seen after the fact online or on DVD, he said. "It's gratifying to know that people go back and see stuff,...
- 5/8/2014
- by AP
- Hitfix
“I love zombies. If any monster could Riverdance, it would be zombies.”
—Craig Ferguson
We’re not the only ones obsessed with—ahem—The Walking Dead. Everybody seems to be in on it.
Here’s a very, very, short list of zombie movies:
28 Days 28 Days Later Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies <a class="zem_slink" title="Night of the Living Dead" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Asin/0671835734/associatizer-20/ target="_blank" rel="amazon">Night of the Living Dead</a> The Evil Dead <a class="zem_slink" title="I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Asin/B000A0GOFA/associatizer-20/ target="_blank" rel="amazon">I Walked with a Zombie</a> I Was a Teenage Zombie I Was a Zombie for the FBI They Came Back <a class="zem_slink" title="Shaun of the Dead" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Asin/B0006A9FKA/associatizer-20/ target="_blank" rel="amazon">Shaun of the Dead</a> World War Z I am Legend
There are lots more.
Probably hundreds.
Yeah, everybody loves zombies.
Everybody but me, that is. (Okay, I did love Shaun of the Dead.)
The first time I saw a zombie movie was way back when, and it was George Romero’s classic Night Of The Living Dead. Only I really didn’t see it because I was terrified and spent most of the time either cringing,...
—Craig Ferguson
We’re not the only ones obsessed with—ahem—The Walking Dead. Everybody seems to be in on it.
Here’s a very, very, short list of zombie movies:
28 Days 28 Days Later Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies <a class="zem_slink" title="Night of the Living Dead" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Asin/0671835734/associatizer-20/ target="_blank" rel="amazon">Night of the Living Dead</a> The Evil Dead <a class="zem_slink" title="I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Asin/B000A0GOFA/associatizer-20/ target="_blank" rel="amazon">I Walked with a Zombie</a> I Was a Teenage Zombie I Was a Zombie for the FBI They Came Back <a class="zem_slink" title="Shaun of the Dead" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/Asin/B0006A9FKA/associatizer-20/ target="_blank" rel="amazon">Shaun of the Dead</a> World War Z I am Legend
There are lots more.
Probably hundreds.
Yeah, everybody loves zombies.
Everybody but me, that is. (Okay, I did love Shaun of the Dead.)
The first time I saw a zombie movie was way back when, and it was George Romero’s classic Night Of The Living Dead. Only I really didn’t see it because I was terrified and spent most of the time either cringing,...
- 3/10/2014
- by Mindy Newell
- Comicmix.com
Happy Birthday, Frank Langella Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee's Seascape and 1975 and was nominated for another for what may have been the performance for which he was best known for in the early part of his career the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. He then appeared on Broadway in such plays as Sherlock's Last Case, Strindberg's The Father winning a Drama Desk Award, Match Tony Award nomination, and Fortune's Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award. He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's FrostNixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella's third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 film FrostNixon, directed by Ron Howard.
- 1/1/2014
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
News
HBO is developing a comedy series with Mike White and Girls producer Murray Miller. Mr. Romance is based on a McSweeny’s article about the Mr. Romance Cover Model Competition. They had me at Mike White, but a show with a premise that is bound to be a hunkarama? I think the following is appropriate…
(source)
DC Comics has certainly busy getting its character on TV. Now, Bleeding Cool claims The CW is developing a Young Justice series with Superboy and Miss Martian featured as the team leaders.
I searched for “Greatest super-team to include Superboy” and got this. They’re Young Justice ,right?
Character actor Dan Hedaya (and my favorite Richard Nixon) is the latest big name to show up on The Mindy Project, according to Vulture. He’ll be playing Danny‘s estranged father.
Smash producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are developing a mini-series for NBC...
HBO is developing a comedy series with Mike White and Girls producer Murray Miller. Mr. Romance is based on a McSweeny’s article about the Mr. Romance Cover Model Competition. They had me at Mike White, but a show with a premise that is bound to be a hunkarama? I think the following is appropriate…
(source)
DC Comics has certainly busy getting its character on TV. Now, Bleeding Cool claims The CW is developing a Young Justice series with Superboy and Miss Martian featured as the team leaders.
I searched for “Greatest super-team to include Superboy” and got this. They’re Young Justice ,right?
Character actor Dan Hedaya (and my favorite Richard Nixon) is the latest big name to show up on The Mindy Project, according to Vulture. He’ll be playing Danny‘s estranged father.
Smash producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are developing a mini-series for NBC...
- 12/3/2013
- by Lyle Masaki
- The Backlot
It’s a near-perfect storm of big sci-fi entertainment wonderfulness today, isn’t it, friends? The big Who anniversary of course, and the premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and even though there’s no Grimm or Dracula tonight, we still, thank Syfy, have Haven. And what else? How about tickets now on sale for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug?
And to celebrate, we have a new TV spot for the movie, this time with a lot of looks at new-to-the-franchise character Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly (Lost). After that we have a helpful infographic that, if studied consistently between now and December 13, will enable you to accurately identify each of the 13 dwarves:
TV Spot: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – #8
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Sylvester McCoy, Aidan Turner, Graham McTavish,...
And to celebrate, we have a new TV spot for the movie, this time with a lot of looks at new-to-the-franchise character Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly (Lost). After that we have a helpful infographic that, if studied consistently between now and December 13, will enable you to accurately identify each of the 13 dwarves:
TV Spot: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – #8
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Sylvester McCoy, Aidan Turner, Graham McTavish,...
- 11/22/2013
- by Erin Willard
- ScifiMafia
As a young man Frank Langella worked with Laurence Olivier, partied with Noël Coward and seduced Rita Hayworth. Then his career fell apart. He tells Simon Hattenstone about losing everything and what he's learned from King Lear
It's all about the crown, Frank Langella says: are you prepared to lose it, and if so can you cope? The great American actor is preparing to play King Lear. At 75, he says he's still too young – Lear is in his mid-80s - but Langella knows plenty about losing his crown.
As a young man, he was gorgeous – lithe, snake-hipped, l'homme fatal. He played fabulously seductive, often cruel, characters. His 1970s Dracula was pure sex. In Diary of a Mad Housewife, his priapic author has come-to-bed eyes, come-to-bed voice, come-to-bed everything. And his own life didn't seem far removed from the characters he played. He has been on intimate terms with many...
It's all about the crown, Frank Langella says: are you prepared to lose it, and if so can you cope? The great American actor is preparing to play King Lear. At 75, he says he's still too young – Lear is in his mid-80s - but Langella knows plenty about losing his crown.
As a young man, he was gorgeous – lithe, snake-hipped, l'homme fatal. He played fabulously seductive, often cruel, characters. His 1970s Dracula was pure sex. In Diary of a Mad Housewife, his priapic author has come-to-bed eyes, come-to-bed voice, come-to-bed everything. And his own life didn't seem far removed from the characters he played. He has been on intimate terms with many...
- 10/30/2013
- by Simon Hattenstone
- The Guardian - Film News
By Alex Simon
John Badham cut his directorial teeth on ‘70s-era television shows like The Bold Ones, The Streets of San Francisco and Kung-Fu in the early ‘70s, before attaining A-list status with his second feature, Saturday Night Fever, in 1977. Films as diverse as WarGames, Blue Thunder, Nick of Time and Bird on a Wire kept John Badham one of the busiest directors in the biz, having literally not stopped working since 1971. His 2006 book I’ll Be in My Trailer (co-written with Craig Moderno) has become required reading for virtually every neophyte film director in the business.
2013 finds Badham releasing a follow-up volume, John Badham on Directing: Notes From the Set of Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, and More. The book offers an engaging look at the psychological, technical, and managerial elements that go into helming a film or TV show. A veteran of over 30 films and 45 TV episodes, Badham supports...
John Badham cut his directorial teeth on ‘70s-era television shows like The Bold Ones, The Streets of San Francisco and Kung-Fu in the early ‘70s, before attaining A-list status with his second feature, Saturday Night Fever, in 1977. Films as diverse as WarGames, Blue Thunder, Nick of Time and Bird on a Wire kept John Badham one of the busiest directors in the biz, having literally not stopped working since 1971. His 2006 book I’ll Be in My Trailer (co-written with Craig Moderno) has become required reading for virtually every neophyte film director in the business.
2013 finds Badham releasing a follow-up volume, John Badham on Directing: Notes From the Set of Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, and More. The book offers an engaging look at the psychological, technical, and managerial elements that go into helming a film or TV show. A veteran of over 30 films and 45 TV episodes, Badham supports...
- 9/3/2013
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Let it be so! After tackling such diverse famous men as Dracula, Sir Thomas More and Richard Nixon (the role with which he won his third Tony and an Oscar nomination for in both the stage and film versions of Frost/Nixon), Frank Langella returns to the New York stage after a two-year hiatus to tackle Shakespeare’s most behemoth male role, King Lear, at Brooklyn Academy of Music this winter after a run at the U.K.’s Chichester Theatre Festival this autumn.Jonathan Church, Artistic Director at Chichester Festival Theatre, said: “We are absolutely delighted to announce that...
- 6/20/2013
- by Jason Clark
- EW.com - PopWatch
Festival theatre's Angus Jackson to direct Langella in role often called the Ever~est of acting at Minerva theatre in November
Frank Langella, the triple-Tony award winning actor who memorably portrayed Richard Nixon on stage and screen, is to take on King Lear for the Chichester Festival Theatre, it will be announced on Thursday.
The role is often called the Everest of acting and has been played in recent years by Derek Jacobi at the Donmar Warehouse and Ian McKellen at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Langella has accepted an invitation to star in a production at the Minerva theatre in November which will then transfer to New York in the new year.
It will be directed by associate director of the theatre Angus Jackson, who said: "It is tremendously exciting that he's reached a moment to do King Lear and he's going to do it with us, with me and in the Minerva.
Frank Langella, the triple-Tony award winning actor who memorably portrayed Richard Nixon on stage and screen, is to take on King Lear for the Chichester Festival Theatre, it will be announced on Thursday.
The role is often called the Everest of acting and has been played in recent years by Derek Jacobi at the Donmar Warehouse and Ian McKellen at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Langella has accepted an invitation to star in a production at the Minerva theatre in November which will then transfer to New York in the new year.
It will be directed by associate director of the theatre Angus Jackson, who said: "It is tremendously exciting that he's reached a moment to do King Lear and he's going to do it with us, with me and in the Minerva.
- 6/20/2013
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Seasoned horror fans will no doubt recognize the irony in today's vampire cinema. The "romanticization" of the vampire has been evolving since (at least) John Badham's 1979 rendition of Dracula -- but we never saw our beloved cinematic bloodsuckers lose their teeth like they did in the feckless Twilight movies. What used to be sexy but scary became gothic romance, which led to pop-culture overkill: the vampire became neutered.
But if there's a silver lining to the smash-hit success of the otherwise terrible Twilight movies, it's that producers all over the world are now (all of a sudden!) willing to bankroll a horror film... just because it has some vampires and a dash of romance. So in a way we can thank Twilight for recent indies and imports like We Are the Night, Kiss of the Damned, and Neil Jordan's Byzantium. It's nothing if not a little ironic: the...
- 5/31/2013
- by Scott Weinberg
- FEARnet
James Franco in his own adaptation of As I Lay Dying, Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham in Ender's Game, and Jennifer Hudson in Kasi Lemmons' Black Nativity.
Set photos from Jurassic Park 4, Godzilla, Megan Fox filming Ninja Turtles, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson filming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Ellen Page as Kitty Pride on the set of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Posters for White House Down, Drift, A Haunted House 2, The Hangover Part III, Aftershock, August: Osage County, Beneath, concept art from Europa Report.
"New release dates include: 'Nebraska' on November 22nd, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' on December 6th, 'A Haunted House 2' on March 28th 2014, 'Blended' on May 23rd 2014, '21 Jump Street 2' on June 6th 2014, 'Tammy' on July 2nd 2014, and 'Dracula' on August 8th..." (full details)
HBO has released a twelve-minute featurette about the making of Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic...
Set photos from Jurassic Park 4, Godzilla, Megan Fox filming Ninja Turtles, Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson filming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Ellen Page as Kitty Pride on the set of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Posters for White House Down, Drift, A Haunted House 2, The Hangover Part III, Aftershock, August: Osage County, Beneath, concept art from Europa Report.
"New release dates include: 'Nebraska' on November 22nd, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' on December 6th, 'A Haunted House 2' on March 28th 2014, 'Blended' on May 23rd 2014, '21 Jump Street 2' on June 6th 2014, 'Tammy' on July 2nd 2014, and 'Dracula' on August 8th..." (full details)
HBO has released a twelve-minute featurette about the making of Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic...
- 5/6/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
It seemed to be some sort of rule of thumb with the more iconic of horror baddies – the bigger you are then the harder and much more spectacularly you fall, usually amidst a climatic showcase of visual effects that have stretched the already limited budget of the film to near breaking point. I guess that's part of their enduring appeal. I mean, would Dracula really have been as unforgettable as he is if he was easily snuffed out by a simple baseball bat to the dome? Could you imagine watching a version of King Kong where the ape was simply put down like Old Yeller instead of being shot down from the top of the Empire State building? Some of these deaths have become as iconic as the villain themselves, complimenting the closing of the film with some final reel fireworks. Even a nameless henchman has a fighting chance for...
- 3/29/2013
- by Aaron Williams
- FEARnet
“Flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes”
Do you like movies about gladiators? Well, you’re out of luck but you won’t have to speak jive to enjoy Super-8 Airplane Movie Madness January 8th at The Way Out Club. For this month’s monthly festival of Super-8 Sound films condensed from features (they average 15 minutes in length), we’re showing all four movies from the beloved Airport series from the 1970′s. Those are Airport (1970), Airport ’75, Airport ’77, and Airport ’79 The Concorde. Then we’ll be topping off those airborne disasters with the 1980 spoof Airplane!……. and don’t call me Shirley!
“There’s no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you’ll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane”
The earthbound films...
Do you like movies about gladiators? Well, you’re out of luck but you won’t have to speak jive to enjoy Super-8 Airplane Movie Madness January 8th at The Way Out Club. For this month’s monthly festival of Super-8 Sound films condensed from features (they average 15 minutes in length), we’re showing all four movies from the beloved Airport series from the 1970′s. Those are Airport (1970), Airport ’75, Airport ’77, and Airport ’79 The Concorde. Then we’ll be topping off those airborne disasters with the 1980 spoof Airplane!……. and don’t call me Shirley!
“There’s no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you’ll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane”
The earthbound films...
- 1/4/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Alexa here. I just couldn't let the day pass without paying tribute to Frank Langella on his 75th birthday. He has always been one of my favorite actors; something about his unctuous classicism makes him appear to be a larger-than-life Caravaggio, and my gothic sensibilities have only truly been satisfied with his turn as Dracula. His work continues to intrigue; 2007's Starting Out in the Evening was a recent high point in a career that has spanned more than 50 years. Plus, he revealed himself to be quite the debauched dandy in his memoir Dropped Names, making him all the more endearing (read what Nathaniel had to say about it here; it really is a fun read).
I'm enough of a fan that I invested in an Edward Gorey-illustrated poster from his Broadway turn in Dracula, and I still hold on to my VHS copies of two of his early films.
I'm enough of a fan that I invested in an Edward Gorey-illustrated poster from his Broadway turn in Dracula, and I still hold on to my VHS copies of two of his early films.
- 1/1/2013
- by Alexa
- FilmExperience
As 2012 draws to a close, here’s yet another top 10 list for you to have a read through.
One of my goals for 2012 was to try to go outside of the genre’s I’d usually frequent and expand my horizons. As you’ll see from the list, that wasn’t terribly successful. While you’ll see things like Beasts of the Southern Wild, Amour, The Master, and Moonrise Kingdom on other lists, you’ll not find them here because I haven’t seen them.
There are also films that I can’t include here because they don’t count as 2012 releases: American Mary, Maniac, and Sleep Tight are three of the best films I’ve seen this year, but they’ll have to wait for inclusion next time.
10) Shame
Shame is not a fun film to watch. It’s a bleak, depressing look at one man’s sex addiction...
One of my goals for 2012 was to try to go outside of the genre’s I’d usually frequent and expand my horizons. As you’ll see from the list, that wasn’t terribly successful. While you’ll see things like Beasts of the Southern Wild, Amour, The Master, and Moonrise Kingdom on other lists, you’ll not find them here because I haven’t seen them.
There are also films that I can’t include here because they don’t count as 2012 releases: American Mary, Maniac, and Sleep Tight are three of the best films I’ve seen this year, but they’ll have to wait for inclusion next time.
10) Shame
Shame is not a fun film to watch. It’s a bleak, depressing look at one man’s sex addiction...
- 12/31/2012
- by Dan
- Nerdly
The Oscars are a little over two months away, and with so many fantastic films released throughout this year, the anticipation surrounding the announcement of the nominations next month is running on high.
So far, we’ve had the shortlists for the Best Animated Feature, the Best Visual Effects, and the Best Documentary categories.
Now the Academy has announced the list of 104 films that are eligible in the Best Original Score category, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what makes the final cut come nominations time next month.
I think Hans Zimmer’s score for The Dark Knight Rises is, hopefully, a lock, because it is amazing. I also loved James Horner’s score for The Amazing Spider-Man, but can’t decide whether or not I think it will earn a nomination.
Alexandre Desplat has three films in the running this year, with Argo, Rise of the Guardians,...
So far, we’ve had the shortlists for the Best Animated Feature, the Best Visual Effects, and the Best Documentary categories.
Now the Academy has announced the list of 104 films that are eligible in the Best Original Score category, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what makes the final cut come nominations time next month.
I think Hans Zimmer’s score for The Dark Knight Rises is, hopefully, a lock, because it is amazing. I also loved James Horner’s score for The Amazing Spider-Man, but can’t decide whether or not I think it will earn a nomination.
Alexandre Desplat has three films in the running this year, with Argo, Rise of the Guardians,...
- 12/11/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Indian composer A.R. Rahman is in the Oscar race once again for the original score at the 85thAcademy Awards. His composition for the film “”People Like Us” has found place in the long list of 104 composers vying for the nominations.
Rahman composed for the Alex Kurtzman directed “People Like Us” starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Jon Favreau and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Rahman won two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 for “Slumdog Millionaire”.
104 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 10, 2013.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on February 24, 2013. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Henry Jackman, composer “After the Wizard,...
Rahman composed for the Alex Kurtzman directed “People Like Us” starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Jon Favreau and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Rahman won two Academy Awards for Best Original Music Score and Best Original Song at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009 for “Slumdog Millionaire”.
104 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category.
The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 10, 2013.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on February 24, 2013. The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:
“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Henry Jackman, composer “After the Wizard,...
- 12/11/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
One hundred four scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 85th Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today. As noted by various online Oscar pundits, most noticeably missing is Moonrise Kingdom. A Reminder List of works submitted in the Original Score category will be made available with a nominations ballot to all members of the Music Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. Click Here for the complete rules.
In February, Ludovic Bource won the Oscar for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for The Artist at the 84th Academy Awards.
The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below...
In February, Ludovic Bource won the Oscar for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) for The Artist at the 84th Academy Awards.
The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below...
- 12/11/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As far as I'm concerned, the two most memorable scores of the year belong to Cloud Atlas and Beasts of the Southern Wild. That said, I made an egregious and unforgivable mistake when filling out my Critics' Choice nominations and forgot to include not one of them, but Both of them! Shame. I feel it. Now I have to hope my fellow Bfca members came through where I failed. However, we will discuss Critics' Choice nominations more on the upcoming episodes of the RopeofSilicon podcast, for now we're talking Oscar as the Academy has released a complete list of all 104 original scores competing for Best Original Score at the 2013 Oscars. I have not yet posted my predictions for Best Original Score and while I am making a fuss above concerning Cloud Atlas and Beasts of the Southern Wild, I think both of those stand a very strong chance at a nomination this year.
- 12/10/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Here’s a flick that opened with little fanfare. It may be tough to find, but it’s certainly worth the effort. I mentioned it to some friends, and I could almost hear their eyes roll when I told them the title over the phone, ” Yeah, that’s right. It’s called Robot & Frank . No, really.”. I’m sure they imagined a zany, hi-tech buddy movie. Summing up the plot probably didn’t change their minds. But it’s a surprisingly moving, warm little character study with a top-notch performance at its center. Basically it’s perfect little film to watch on a rainy day. Or any kind of day, really. I just hope it gets a little love from the year-end best lists and award nominations.
As the film opens, we’re told it’s the near future ( not the far future like TV’s ” The Jetsons ” with their...
As the film opens, we’re told it’s the near future ( not the far future like TV’s ” The Jetsons ” with their...
- 9/21/2012
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Imagine a future where cell phones are still around but rarely used — the main form of electronic communication is through a mounted flatscreen TV, similar to those in "Back to the Future Part II." And people are buying robots (life-sized Lego-looking men with astronaut helmets) to do their laundry, wash their dishes and let them know how to live healthier lives.
Such is the near-future setting of "Robot & Frank."
The story centers on Frank (the illustrious Frank Langella), a man in his 70s suffering from disorientation that's increasing at an alarming rate. Frank has adapted to modern technology and doesn't mind talking to his daughter Madison (Liv Tyler) through the television or his son Hunter (James Marsden) on a clear-glassed touch screen cell phone. But his house is an embarrassing mess; he's losing his mind and he needs to be cared for.
Hunter tries to convince Frank to use this...
Such is the near-future setting of "Robot & Frank."
The story centers on Frank (the illustrious Frank Langella), a man in his 70s suffering from disorientation that's increasing at an alarming rate. Frank has adapted to modern technology and doesn't mind talking to his daughter Madison (Liv Tyler) through the television or his son Hunter (James Marsden) on a clear-glassed touch screen cell phone. But his house is an embarrassing mess; he's losing his mind and he needs to be cared for.
Hunter tries to convince Frank to use this...
- 8/24/2012
- by Chase Whale
- NextMovie
"Special From Next Avenue"
By Leah Rozen
The veteran actor takes on aging, dementia and a droid butler in a new dystopian comedy
Frank Langella isn’t afraid to act his age.
The 74-year-old actor plays a gentleman of advancing years in "Robot & Frank," an endearing new comedy that opened in New York last weekend and will be playing to wider audiences across the country starting Friday. (To see when the film is coming to your town, click here.)
The movie is set in the not very distant future, when robot helpers along the lines of Rosie in "The Jetsons" or R2-D2 in "Star Wars" have become commonplace.
Langella’s character, also named Frank, is a retired cat burglar who spent time in jail and now lives alone in a small town not too far from New York. He keeps himself amused by flirting with the local librarian (Susan Sarandon...
By Leah Rozen
The veteran actor takes on aging, dementia and a droid butler in a new dystopian comedy
Frank Langella isn’t afraid to act his age.
The 74-year-old actor plays a gentleman of advancing years in "Robot & Frank," an endearing new comedy that opened in New York last weekend and will be playing to wider audiences across the country starting Friday. (To see when the film is coming to your town, click here.)
The movie is set in the not very distant future, when robot helpers along the lines of Rosie in "The Jetsons" or R2-D2 in "Star Wars" have become commonplace.
Langella’s character, also named Frank, is a retired cat burglar who spent time in jail and now lives alone in a small town not too far from New York. He keeps himself amused by flirting with the local librarian (Susan Sarandon...
- 8/24/2012
- by Next Avenue
- Huffington Post
By Harvey Chartrand
Frank Langella played an aging writer in Starting Out in the Evening (2007). Who would have figured this for typecasting?
In his superb memoir, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them (HarperCollins), Langella reveals that he is an incomparable memoirist and storyteller, recalling his encounters with scores of luminaries from the world of entertainment in a career spanning half a century. All of these luminaries are deceased and the cast of characters is listed “by order of disappearance”. Just as well, as many of the revelations are quite shocking.
Langella must be the most sociable and congenial actor on the planet, as the busyness of his social and professional lives and the breadth and depth of his friendships, romantic liaisons and acquaintances are very impressive indeed. He met Marilyn Monroe in 1953. She stepped out of a limousine and said “hi” to the adolescent from Bayonne,...
Frank Langella played an aging writer in Starting Out in the Evening (2007). Who would have figured this for typecasting?
In his superb memoir, Dropped Names: Famous Men and Women As I Knew Them (HarperCollins), Langella reveals that he is an incomparable memoirist and storyteller, recalling his encounters with scores of luminaries from the world of entertainment in a career spanning half a century. All of these luminaries are deceased and the cast of characters is listed “by order of disappearance”. Just as well, as many of the revelations are quite shocking.
Langella must be the most sociable and congenial actor on the planet, as the busyness of his social and professional lives and the breadth and depth of his friendships, romantic liaisons and acquaintances are very impressive indeed. He met Marilyn Monroe in 1953. She stepped out of a limousine and said “hi” to the adolescent from Bayonne,...
- 7/13/2012
- by [email protected] (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Having not read Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel, I didn’t know what to hope for from the first footage of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter but I have to say my initial reaction upon seeing the first clips was one of slight dismay. The sight of Lincoln boasting apparently superhuman strength as he splinters a tree into toothpicks with one mighty swing of an axe and seeing him engaging in Matrix-style fighting moves told me right away that this wasn’t the kind of vampire hunter movie I was hoping to see. Then again, they just don’t make those kinds of movies anymore.
While Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter might well turn out to be great fun (if not for me, then at least for others), my weariness at watching the overblown action elements on display in its commercials and trailers sent me searching for solace in old-school vampire hunting as...
While Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter might well turn out to be great fun (if not for me, then at least for others), my weariness at watching the overblown action elements on display in its commercials and trailers sent me searching for solace in old-school vampire hunting as...
- 6/20/2012
- shocktillyoudrop.com
I’m sure by now most of you have already read or heard the fascinating news from the BBC. Apparently a very, very early draft version of Doctor Who has surfaced. How early? 1956, making it a full seven years before the series actually aired.
From what it sounds like, this idea never really made it past the concept stage. They never did any filming or casting, though they had some people in mind, and never wrote any stories, but they did have some outlines. The series was to go into production in 1957, in an effort to capitalize on the success of The Quatermass Experiment. BBC budget cutbacks early that year prevented this from happening, which was for the best, as you’ll see. The BBC article is quite long, so I’ll summarize it for you tl;dr people.
The series appears to have been the creation two low-level BBC...
From what it sounds like, this idea never really made it past the concept stage. They never did any filming or casting, though they had some people in mind, and never wrote any stories, but they did have some outlines. The series was to go into production in 1957, in an effort to capitalize on the success of The Quatermass Experiment. BBC budget cutbacks early that year prevented this from happening, which was for the best, as you’ll see. The BBC article is quite long, so I’ll summarize it for you tl;dr people.
The series appears to have been the creation two low-level BBC...
- 4/1/2012
- by Chris Swanson
- Obsessed with Film
Sure, "Diner" is a landmark movie, one that launched numerous careers (including those of Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, and director Barry Levinson). But is it really the most influential movie of the last 30 years? Vanity Fair seems to think so. According to an article in the March 2012 issue, "Diner" -- released 30 years ago today, on March 5, 1982 -- is indirectly responsible for "Seinfeld," "The Office," "Pulp Fiction," and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Such writers as Nick Hornby, Stephen Merchant, and Judd Apatow acknowledge its impact on the way they write scenes that others omit, scenes were guys reveal what matters most to them by chatting over coffee about things that don't matter at all. Like its trivia-obsessed characters, "Diner" is full of unspoken tales beneath the surface. Even fans may not know how closely life imitated art in the alliances, rivalries, pranks, and power games that helped make the movie...
- 3/5/2012
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Today in 1940, three time Tony Award-winner Frank Langella was born. Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee's Seascape and 1975 and was nominated for another for what may have been the performance for which he was best known for in the early part of his career the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. He then appeared on Broadway in such plays as Sherlock's Last Case, Strindberg's The Father winning a Drama Desk Award, Match Tony Award nomination, and Fortune's Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award. He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's FrostNixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella's third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 film FrostNixon, directed by Ron Howard.
- 1/1/2012
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
As I was perusing through my usual stack of Halloween movies I found myself endlessly bored with the selection. Every film I picked up echoed through my hallow mind, the classic quotes and memorable scenes so fresh in my memory that I felt I had only just seen them. I needed a cure, and fast, my itch for a horror film outside the box tore at my insides like a zombie at flesh.
Even my horror movie metaphors were becoming played out and contrived. “The Internet!” I proclaimed. There’s tons of stuff on there. Armed with only my address bar (and a bottle of whisky) I set out on a quest to find hidden gems of horror that lie outside the border of my own comfort zone to either add to my Lovefilm account, order from Amazon or are available to download legally from the internet.
So this week,...
Even my horror movie metaphors were becoming played out and contrived. “The Internet!” I proclaimed. There’s tons of stuff on there. Armed with only my address bar (and a bottle of whisky) I set out on a quest to find hidden gems of horror that lie outside the border of my own comfort zone to either add to my Lovefilm account, order from Amazon or are available to download legally from the internet.
So this week,...
- 10/25/2011
- by Jay D.
- Obsessed with Film
Wow, this one’s even more embarrassing than usual– some of these windows have been open on our browsers since August. Let’s get them out of here…
The 5 Most Awesome (and 5 Most Annoying) Robot Sidekicks 5 Horrible Diseases That Changed The World (For the Better) The freefall of Japan’s anime industry and Japanese Anime Studios Feel Pressure From Unhappy Artists and Outsourcing: Just as some people look at the Japanese Financial Crisis that started a decade ago to look at where the American Financial Crisis is heading, so we can look at these articles about the Japanese Anime and Mange Industry a few years back and see a possible future for Us comics. 4thletter! : The problem with “black Spider-Man” is… How 8 Comic Strip Characters Will Die Worst Comic Book Fails Ever (Note: this is just what appeared in print, not any of the behind the scenes fails. That could fill hundreds of posts.
The 5 Most Awesome (and 5 Most Annoying) Robot Sidekicks 5 Horrible Diseases That Changed The World (For the Better) The freefall of Japan’s anime industry and Japanese Anime Studios Feel Pressure From Unhappy Artists and Outsourcing: Just as some people look at the Japanese Financial Crisis that started a decade ago to look at where the American Financial Crisis is heading, so we can look at these articles about the Japanese Anime and Mange Industry a few years back and see a possible future for Us comics. 4thletter! : The problem with “black Spider-Man” is… How 8 Comic Strip Characters Will Die Worst Comic Book Fails Ever (Note: this is just what appeared in print, not any of the behind the scenes fails. That could fill hundreds of posts.
- 9/22/2011
- by Glenn Hauman
- Comicmix.com
1. Tales from the Darkside: The segment titled “The Cat From Hell” was originally planned to be part of Creepshow 2.
2. Alien Resurrection: Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet did not speak English fluently and had translators on the set at all times to talk with the cast and crew.
3. Dracula (1979): Donald Pleasence was original offered the role of Van Helsing, but turned it down in favor of Dr. Jack Seward. He felt the Van Helsing role was too similar to Dr. Loomis in Halloween.
4. Near Dark: This was the first full film to be directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker).
5. My Bloody Valentine (1981): The movie was filmed in actual mines at Sydney Mines in Nova Scotia.
6. Land of the Dead: Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have cameos in the film as photo-op zombies.
7. The House that Dripped Blood: Vincent Price was first initially offered the role of Paul Henderson.
2. Alien Resurrection: Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet did not speak English fluently and had translators on the set at all times to talk with the cast and crew.
3. Dracula (1979): Donald Pleasence was original offered the role of Van Helsing, but turned it down in favor of Dr. Jack Seward. He felt the Van Helsing role was too similar to Dr. Loomis in Halloween.
4. Near Dark: This was the first full film to be directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker).
5. My Bloody Valentine (1981): The movie was filmed in actual mines at Sydney Mines in Nova Scotia.
6. Land of the Dead: Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have cameos in the film as photo-op zombies.
7. The House that Dripped Blood: Vincent Price was first initially offered the role of Paul Henderson.
- 9/18/2011
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Giallo; Unknown; Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son; Country Strong
Following the resolution of a release-delaying financial dispute between producers and leading man Adrien Brody, it would be excellent to report that director Dario Argento's latest has been worth the wait. Sadly, the belated straight-to-dvd premiere of Giallo (2009, Lionsgate, 18) does nothing to enhance the reputation of Italy's former horror maestro. On the contrary, with its sub-Saw leering gore and crassly unimaginative exploitation aesthetic, this looks more like the work of a hacking fan boy than of the father of stylishly extreme modern cinema.
Oscar-winner Brody stars as special agent Enzo Avolfi, an unconvincingly troubled soul with a late-revealed (and, sadly, laughable) back story which affords him a dangerous empathy with his prey. In a pun-tastic play upon generic labels (Argento's touchstone oeuvre is commonly referred to as "giallo", after the yellow covers of pulp crime paperbacks), said prey turns...
Following the resolution of a release-delaying financial dispute between producers and leading man Adrien Brody, it would be excellent to report that director Dario Argento's latest has been worth the wait. Sadly, the belated straight-to-dvd premiere of Giallo (2009, Lionsgate, 18) does nothing to enhance the reputation of Italy's former horror maestro. On the contrary, with its sub-Saw leering gore and crassly unimaginative exploitation aesthetic, this looks more like the work of a hacking fan boy than of the father of stylishly extreme modern cinema.
Oscar-winner Brody stars as special agent Enzo Avolfi, an unconvincingly troubled soul with a late-revealed (and, sadly, laughable) back story which affords him a dangerous empathy with his prey. In a pun-tastic play upon generic labels (Argento's touchstone oeuvre is commonly referred to as "giallo", after the yellow covers of pulp crime paperbacks), said prey turns...
- 7/16/2011
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
With lavish new movie adaptations of Dickens, Brontë and Tolstoy in the pipeline, Mark Lawson wonders what keeps drawing film-makers to the same 19th-century novels
At press previews, to which movie critics are lured on weekday mornings by platters of complimentary croissants and fruit segments, a special mood of resentment greets the unspooling of a franchise in its later instalments: the ninth Nightmare on Elm Street, say, or the 12th Friday the 13th. Relentless repetition of the same characters or set-up is viewed as proof of imaginative poverty and commercial opportunism.
But recycling of storylines is not necessarily evidence of low artistic ambitions. Three films currently in production from admired directors – Mike Newell, Andrea Arnold and Joe Wright – might be billed, in line with Hollywood's numerical tendency, as Great Expectations 16, Wuthering Heights 17 and Anna Karenina 25, if we include even a rough estimate of the previous significant film and TV versions of these novels.
At press previews, to which movie critics are lured on weekday mornings by platters of complimentary croissants and fruit segments, a special mood of resentment greets the unspooling of a franchise in its later instalments: the ninth Nightmare on Elm Street, say, or the 12th Friday the 13th. Relentless repetition of the same characters or set-up is viewed as proof of imaginative poverty and commercial opportunism.
But recycling of storylines is not necessarily evidence of low artistic ambitions. Three films currently in production from admired directors – Mike Newell, Andrea Arnold and Joe Wright – might be billed, in line with Hollywood's numerical tendency, as Great Expectations 16, Wuthering Heights 17 and Anna Karenina 25, if we include even a rough estimate of the previous significant film and TV versions of these novels.
- 5/30/2011
- by Mark Lawson
- The Guardian - Film News
TV and film make-up artist with a gift for applying prosthetics
The television and film make-up artist Jane Royle, who has died aged 78, was admired by fellow professionals for her all-round ability to bring a look to the screen that was as important as that contributed by the director of photography or production designer. She could go from ensuring Izabella Scorupco looked stunningly beautiful as a Bond girl in GoldenEye (1995) to making actors appear hideous, old, scarred, bruised, bearded or bald. Royle particularly enjoyed applying prosthetics – to which she referred as "the stickies".
For the 1979 Sherlock Holmes film Murder By Decree, she simulated the wrenched-out innards of prostitutes killed by Jack the Ripper. One of her most memorable transformations was the complete prosthetic makeover – wrinkled face, bulbous nose, pointy ears and flowing hair and whiskers – she gave Billy Barty for his cowardly dwarf character, Screwball, in the fantasy film Legend (1985).
Later,...
The television and film make-up artist Jane Royle, who has died aged 78, was admired by fellow professionals for her all-round ability to bring a look to the screen that was as important as that contributed by the director of photography or production designer. She could go from ensuring Izabella Scorupco looked stunningly beautiful as a Bond girl in GoldenEye (1995) to making actors appear hideous, old, scarred, bruised, bearded or bald. Royle particularly enjoyed applying prosthetics – to which she referred as "the stickies".
For the 1979 Sherlock Holmes film Murder By Decree, she simulated the wrenched-out innards of prostitutes killed by Jack the Ripper. One of her most memorable transformations was the complete prosthetic makeover – wrinkled face, bulbous nose, pointy ears and flowing hair and whiskers – she gave Billy Barty for his cowardly dwarf character, Screwball, in the fantasy film Legend (1985).
Later,...
- 3/8/2011
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
Jack Finney's ('Somewhere in Time') seminal 1955 science fiction-horror novel (serialized a year earlier in Collier's), 'The Body Snatchers' (a.k.a. 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'), has been filmed four times, first in 1956, the second in 1978, the third in 1993, and the fourth (and so far, last) in 2007. The1956 adaptation, shot on a limited budget by Don Siegel ('Dirty Harry,' 'The Beguiled') for Allied Artists with Kevin McCarthy in the lead role, is generally acknowledged as a minor genre classic, in part for its anti-conformity, anti-collectivist themes that could be read as a critique of McCarthyism (named after the red-baiting senator from Wisconsin, not the actor), or communism. It was also an effective horror film, building existential dread from the characters' fears and anxieties, that the people they knew and love had been replaced by duplicates, identical in almost every way, but incapable of emotion.
- 9/15/2010
- by Mel Valentin
- Cinematical
Director who captured swinging London's zeitgeist and remade classics for television
For a few years in the 1960s, Clive Donner, who has died aged 84 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was among the leading film directors of swinging London. Unfortunately, when London stopped swinging, so did Donner. The four films that made his name were a low-budget adaptation of Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker (1963); Nothing But the Best (1964), a wicked satire on the British class structure; the farcical What's New Pussycat? (1965); and the coming-of-age comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968).
Already in his 30s when he started directing, Donner gained a reputation for being tuned in to "youth". His debut movie, The Secret Place (1957), a heist drama shot on location in the East End, had David McCallum as a Brandoesque leather-jacketed "crazy mixed-up kid".
The Heart of a Child (1958) concerned a boy and his St Bernard dog, Rudi,...
For a few years in the 1960s, Clive Donner, who has died aged 84 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was among the leading film directors of swinging London. Unfortunately, when London stopped swinging, so did Donner. The four films that made his name were a low-budget adaptation of Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker (1963); Nothing But the Best (1964), a wicked satire on the British class structure; the farcical What's New Pussycat? (1965); and the coming-of-age comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968).
Already in his 30s when he started directing, Donner gained a reputation for being tuned in to "youth". His debut movie, The Secret Place (1957), a heist drama shot on location in the East End, had David McCallum as a Brandoesque leather-jacketed "crazy mixed-up kid".
The Heart of a Child (1958) concerned a boy and his St Bernard dog, Rudi,...
- 9/7/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
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