“The Sporting Image” is the summer 2024 edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture.Illustration by Ivy Johnson.A writer needs a pen, a painter needs a brush. But a filmmaker...a filmmaker needs an army.—Orson WellesYou never miss the water until your well runs dry, and four years ago, it was one such bout of baseball deficiency that inspired my first attempt to wax poetic on the subject of America’s pastime. I had taken for granted that baseball blossoms every spring, and now I felt its absence acutely, one more emergency precaution amid the weltschmerz of that first pandemic season. Fans and players alike anxiously awaited an opening day that wasn’t certain to arrive. But in due time, Major League Baseball worked out the kinks, drafted its best attempt at safety protocols, and the show went on—as it must! So it was...
- 7/30/2024
- MUBI
Betty Buckley, the Tony-winning and Grammy-nominated actor and singer, has signed with Sugar23.
Best known for her performances in on stage, particularly for her soaring rendition of “Memory” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats,” Buckley has also been active in television, film and as a concert performer. Next up, Buckley will star in A24’s “Eternity” opposite Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen. She also is the creator, writer and star of the short animated film “The Mayfly,” which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.
Sugar23 was founded in 2017 by Michael Sugar, an Oscar-winning manager-producer who has helped bring the likes of “Spotlight,” “Dickinson,” and “13 Reasons” to screens.
Other theater roles include Buckley’s Olivier-nominated performance as Norma Desmond in the West End production of “Sunset Boulevard” (she later played the part on Broadway). She also starred in the original Broadway production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” as well as in the cult musical “Carrie.
Best known for her performances in on stage, particularly for her soaring rendition of “Memory” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats,” Buckley has also been active in television, film and as a concert performer. Next up, Buckley will star in A24’s “Eternity” opposite Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen. She also is the creator, writer and star of the short animated film “The Mayfly,” which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.
Sugar23 was founded in 2017 by Michael Sugar, an Oscar-winning manager-producer who has helped bring the likes of “Spotlight,” “Dickinson,” and “13 Reasons” to screens.
Other theater roles include Buckley’s Olivier-nominated performance as Norma Desmond in the West End production of “Sunset Boulevard” (she later played the part on Broadway). She also starred in the original Broadway production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” as well as in the cult musical “Carrie.
- 7/26/2024
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
My World Of Flops is Nathan Rabin’s survey of books, television shows, musical releases, or other forms of entertainment that were financial flops, critical failures, or lack a substantial cult following.In a 2022 interview with Vulture, Golden Raspberries co-founder Maureen Murphy addressed one of the odious organization’s most...
- 7/25/2024
- by Nathan Rabin
- avclub.com
Before The Penguin waddles into San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, Matt Reeves and producing partner Dylan Clark are here to reveal what could have been for the “Batman Epic Crime Saga” coming to theaters and television screens. While the plan to launch films and TV series set in the duo’s Bat-verse remains, they’ve needed to scrap plans for anticipated projects as WB continues to waffle over the Dark Knight’s focus. In addition to discussing the Penguin series, starring Colin Farrell as the up-and-coming crime kingpin Oswald Cobblepot, we’ve got a better picture of what the scrapped Gotham Pd and Arkham Asylum series might have been.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc says the show is “a Scarface story.” No, not the Batman villain Scarface (I wish), but a rise-to-power narrative like Brian De Palma’s 1983 classic, which starred Al Pacino as Tony Montana. “It...
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Penguin showrunner Lauren LeFranc says the show is “a Scarface story.” No, not the Batman villain Scarface (I wish), but a rise-to-power narrative like Brian De Palma’s 1983 classic, which starred Al Pacino as Tony Montana. “It...
- 7/24/2024
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
TIFF has announced the competitive Platform lineup today with a jury that includes Oscar nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan as its Head, South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho and award-winning American filmmaker and essayist Jane Schoenbrun. Jin-ho directed last year’s A Normal Family which made its world premiere at TIFF.
Named after Jia Zhang-Ke’s groundbreaking second feature, Platform, the nine-year old program showcases bold and distinct directorial voices and emerging international talent. This year there’s ten in the sidebar from 17 countries. Of those Platform films that continued on to bigger success are Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which received multiple Oscar nominations, winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing. The 10 films in the section are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 Cad given to the best film in the program.
Previous jury members include: Claire Denis,...
Named after Jia Zhang-Ke’s groundbreaking second feature, Platform, the nine-year old program showcases bold and distinct directorial voices and emerging international talent. This year there’s ten in the sidebar from 17 countries. Of those Platform films that continued on to bigger success are Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which received multiple Oscar nominations, winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing. The 10 films in the section are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 Cad given to the best film in the program.
Previous jury members include: Claire Denis,...
- 7/23/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
It's a rare triumph for an actor to win a spot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's an extremely rare triumph for them to land multiple roles.
Adrian Pasdar is one of the lucky few. Not only did the American actor spend four seasons as Glenn Talbot in the popular television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he also voices the part of Tony Stark in multiple Marvel animated series.
As if that wasn't enough, Pasdar also provided the voice for Hawkeye in The Super Hero Squad Show And Captain America in the Black Panther animated series.
Maybe Marvel's phone broke and they could only call one actor for a while?
What's He Doing Now?
Since moving on from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pasdar has continued to book consistent voice work and television shows. Over the past two years he's added podcasting to his repertoire, with roles in the fully-scripted kids'-story podcast The...
Adrian Pasdar is one of the lucky few. Not only did the American actor spend four seasons as Glenn Talbot in the popular television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he also voices the part of Tony Stark in multiple Marvel animated series.
As if that wasn't enough, Pasdar also provided the voice for Hawkeye in The Super Hero Squad Show And Captain America in the Black Panther animated series.
Maybe Marvel's phone broke and they could only call one actor for a while?
What's He Doing Now?
Since moving on from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Pasdar has continued to book consistent voice work and television shows. Over the past two years he's added podcasting to his repertoire, with roles in the fully-scripted kids'-story podcast The...
- 7/23/2024
- by [email protected] (Louise Everitt)
- STartefacts.com
There’s a muzzle pressed to the back of your head. You’re suddenly forced to name Martin Scorsese’s single most underrated movie in five seconds or less. What is the first thing that comes to mind? Kundun? The Age of Innocence? Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore? Maybe The King of Comedy or After Hours? It’s a tough call, especially since the greatest living American filmmaker is so synonymous with New York crime movies like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, The Departed, you name it. Speaking of such flicks, one explosive charge in Scorsese’s canon always goes unnoticed, despite sharing an accoladed pedigree with Taxi Driver. That’s right, Scorsese reunited with screenwriter Paul Schrader on the criminally unheralded 1999 bleak, pitch-black crime-comedy Bringing out the Dead. The film marks the only time Scorsese worked with Nicolas Cage, Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew,...
- 7/22/2024
- by Jake Dee
- JoBlo.com
Synopsis
Brian De Palma invites you to witness a seduction… a mystery… a murder. It’s Body Double — a spine-tingling look at voyeurism and sexuality from the modern master of suspense. Jake Scully (Craig Wasson), an unemployed actor, is asked to house-sit at a luxurious hillside apartment. As a bonus, the home offers Jake a telescopic peek into the bedroom of Gloria Revelle (Deborah Shelton), who performs an arousing striptease. When Jake discovers another man is also spying on Gloria, he begins an obsessive surveillance of her. Soon a grisly murder leads him into the world of X-rated film where he meets adult film star Holly Body (Melanie Griffith), who is a key to the crime. De Palma has created a gripping adult thriller of eroticism and horror!
Disc Details And Bonus Materials
4K Ultra HD Disc
Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision
English Dolby Atmos + English 5.1 + English...
Brian De Palma invites you to witness a seduction… a mystery… a murder. It’s Body Double — a spine-tingling look at voyeurism and sexuality from the modern master of suspense. Jake Scully (Craig Wasson), an unemployed actor, is asked to house-sit at a luxurious hillside apartment. As a bonus, the home offers Jake a telescopic peek into the bedroom of Gloria Revelle (Deborah Shelton), who performs an arousing striptease. When Jake discovers another man is also spying on Gloria, he begins an obsessive surveillance of her. Soon a grisly murder leads him into the world of X-rated film where he meets adult film star Holly Body (Melanie Griffith), who is a key to the crime. De Palma has created a gripping adult thriller of eroticism and horror!
Disc Details And Bonus Materials
4K Ultra HD Disc
Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision
English Dolby Atmos + English 5.1 + English...
- 7/20/2024
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
Our journey through Michael Caine’s 80s work reaches one of his best: Educating Rita, co-starring a powerhouse Julie Walters in the title role.
Michael Caine showed no sign of slowing down as he entered his third decade as a leading man. The 1980s would see him win his first Academy Award (Hannah And Her Sisters), tackle new genres such as horror (The Hand) and shark-based revenge movie (Jaws The Revenge) while continuing to work with interesting new auteurs like Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill) as well as old friends from classic Hollywood such as John Huston (Escape To Victory).
Film by film, I’ll be taking a look at Caine’s 1980s filmography to see what hidden gems I can unearth alongside the more familiar classics…
Spoilers for Educating Rita ahead…
Directed by: Lewis Gilbert
Tagline: Frank Bryant is a professor of literature. And Rita is his newest student.
Michael Caine showed no sign of slowing down as he entered his third decade as a leading man. The 1980s would see him win his first Academy Award (Hannah And Her Sisters), tackle new genres such as horror (The Hand) and shark-based revenge movie (Jaws The Revenge) while continuing to work with interesting new auteurs like Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill) as well as old friends from classic Hollywood such as John Huston (Escape To Victory).
Film by film, I’ll be taking a look at Caine’s 1980s filmography to see what hidden gems I can unearth alongside the more familiar classics…
Spoilers for Educating Rita ahead…
Directed by: Lewis Gilbert
Tagline: Frank Bryant is a professor of literature. And Rita is his newest student.
- 7/17/2024
- by John Upton
- Film Stories
Have you ever thought of mirroring Al Pacino’s explosive energy, shouting out lines at the screen as they sear into your memory? Just as the quiet intensity of his famed portrayal of Michael Corleone in The Godfather exemplifies restraint, the actor’s thunderous outbursts in Scarface are the stuff of legend.
His cinematic dialogues aren’t just for kicks; they convey the simmering emotions of his characters as they rise to a boiling point, leaving an indelible mark on his rich legacy. With all the strength of a thespian who has walked the boards with Shakespeare, Pacino understands that dialogue is more than just talking; it is a beat to be learned, a tune to be played, and every word, no matter how soft or loud, has to hit home.
Robin Williams and Al Pacino in Insomnia (2002 film) | Warner Bros. Pictures
And who could forget his uproarious, infamous exclamation...
His cinematic dialogues aren’t just for kicks; they convey the simmering emotions of his characters as they rise to a boiling point, leaving an indelible mark on his rich legacy. With all the strength of a thespian who has walked the boards with Shakespeare, Pacino understands that dialogue is more than just talking; it is a beat to be learned, a tune to be played, and every word, no matter how soft or loud, has to hit home.
Robin Williams and Al Pacino in Insomnia (2002 film) | Warner Bros. Pictures
And who could forget his uproarious, infamous exclamation...
- 7/16/2024
- by Siddhika Prajapati
- FandomWire
Kevin Costner got his breakthrough in the industry with many successful hits in the late 80s that made him a household name. After appearing in various roles in films like Chasing Dreams, Table for Five, and Silverado, Costner gained prominence as the lead of Brian de Palma’s crime drama The Untouchables.
Kevin Costner as Lt. John J. Dunbar in Dances With Wolves | Orion Pictures
The actor’s star power rose with the back-to-back successes of No Way Out, Field of Dreams, and Bull Durham. After that, Costner wanted to write and direct a passion project that he had, which ultimately became 1990’s Dances With Wolves. However, that meant turning down another high-profile film that would have paid him an insane paycheck he could have only dreamt of.
Kevin Costner Turned Down The Hunt for Red October To Make Dances With Wolves
Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery led the spy...
Kevin Costner as Lt. John J. Dunbar in Dances With Wolves | Orion Pictures
The actor’s star power rose with the back-to-back successes of No Way Out, Field of Dreams, and Bull Durham. After that, Costner wanted to write and direct a passion project that he had, which ultimately became 1990’s Dances With Wolves. However, that meant turning down another high-profile film that would have paid him an insane paycheck he could have only dreamt of.
Kevin Costner Turned Down The Hunt for Red October To Make Dances With Wolves
Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery led the spy...
- 7/16/2024
- by Rahul Thokchom
- FandomWire
In the 1970s, a guy named Stephen King was living in a trailer with his wife and two kids, struggling to make ends meet. By day, he worked as an English teacher at a high school in Maine. By night, he wrote pulpy short stories that he sold to men's magazines. King, being a guy, primarily wrote stories about guys. Then one day, a friend suggested he write about a female character for a change. So King sat down to write a short story about a girl with telekinetic powers. It wasn't easy: the story goes that King wrote about three pages and then threw the tale in the trash, only to be encouraged to finish it by his wife, Tabitha. Eventually, the story blossomed into a full novel. King would sell the manuscript to Doubleday, and by 1974, Stephen King's debut novel, "Carrie," hit bookshelves in hardcover.
Contrary to legend,...
Contrary to legend,...
- 7/14/2024
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Mahdi Fleifel’s debut feature, the documentary “A World Not Ours,” proved to be an unexpected festival hit back in 2012. A warm, often humorous and deeply compassioned study of the Ein El-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in South Lebanon (where Fleifel was born), and of the frustrations of a stateless generation of young men with no homeland and little prospects except join the growing number of refugees trying to enter Europe, the film won numerous awards around the world.
Fleifel has made several short films since “A World Not Ours,” but 12 years on he’s finally back with another feature. “To a Land Unknown” had its premiere in Cannes (as the only Palestinian film in the lineup), but is now set to close the Galway Film Fleadh on July 13, which has made Palestine its country of focus this year.
And while it marks Fleifel’s narrative debut, the story of “To a Land Unknown...
Fleifel has made several short films since “A World Not Ours,” but 12 years on he’s finally back with another feature. “To a Land Unknown” had its premiere in Cannes (as the only Palestinian film in the lineup), but is now set to close the Galway Film Fleadh on July 13, which has made Palestine its country of focus this year.
And while it marks Fleifel’s narrative debut, the story of “To a Land Unknown...
- 7/12/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Celebrity divorces have always been a subject of fascination among people, and Steven Spielberg’s 1989 split from his then-wife Amy Irving was no exception. The chatter was loud and clear, especially when it came to the jaw-dropping $100 million Spielberg reportedly lost due to their unconventional prenuptial agreement.
Steven Spielberg | Photo by Elena Ternovaja, licensed under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A supposed mistake by the world-renowned director in legal paperwork turned Spielberg and Irving’s divorce into one of the most costly in Hollywood history, leaving everyone wondering just how their strange terms could lead to such a staggering settlement.
How A Cocktail Napkin Reportedly Lost Steven Spielberg A $100 Million!
Back in 1985, when Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving got married, they reportedly crafted a prenuptial agreement detailing their combined income and assets, including provisions on how much Irving would receive in case of divorce.
Suggested“Everyone just nodded, but my...
Steven Spielberg | Photo by Elena Ternovaja, licensed under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A supposed mistake by the world-renowned director in legal paperwork turned Spielberg and Irving’s divorce into one of the most costly in Hollywood history, leaving everyone wondering just how their strange terms could lead to such a staggering settlement.
How A Cocktail Napkin Reportedly Lost Steven Spielberg A $100 Million!
Back in 1985, when Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving got married, they reportedly crafted a prenuptial agreement detailing their combined income and assets, including provisions on how much Irving would receive in case of divorce.
Suggested“Everyone just nodded, but my...
- 7/11/2024
- by Sampurna Banerjee
- FandomWire
The revamped Edinburgh Film Festival will screen 37 new feature films, 18 of which will be world premieres during its 2024 edition, running August 15 – 21.
The full Edinburgh lineup was revealed this afternoon in the Scottish capital by the festival’s new director Paul Ridd, former head of acquisitions at Picturehouse. The festival’s international feature competition, now dubbed the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, will screen 10 films, all world premieres.
The competition titles include All The Mountains Give by Arash Rakhsha, Jack King’s powerful Yorkshire-set drama The Ceremony, and Mary Jiménez and Bénédicte Liénard’s Fuga. Scroll down for the full list.
The festival will screen 18 titles out of competition. The screenings will include the world premiere of Euros Lyn’s The Radleys starring Damian Lewis and Kelly Macdonald and Alice Lowe’s latest Timestalker. Popular titles from across the festival circuit like Camera D’Or Winner Armand featuring Renate Reinsve...
The full Edinburgh lineup was revealed this afternoon in the Scottish capital by the festival’s new director Paul Ridd, former head of acquisitions at Picturehouse. The festival’s international feature competition, now dubbed the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, will screen 10 films, all world premieres.
The competition titles include All The Mountains Give by Arash Rakhsha, Jack King’s powerful Yorkshire-set drama The Ceremony, and Mary Jiménez and Bénédicte Liénard’s Fuga. Scroll down for the full list.
The festival will screen 18 titles out of competition. The screenings will include the world premiere of Euros Lyn’s The Radleys starring Damian Lewis and Kelly Macdonald and Alice Lowe’s latest Timestalker. Popular titles from across the festival circuit like Camera D’Or Winner Armand featuring Renate Reinsve...
- 7/10/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Pressman Film, the company behind hit movies such as American Psycho, Wall Street and The Crow, is eyeing the small screen.
The company, which founded by Edward R. Pressman and is now run by his son Sam Pressman, is developing a swathe of television projects with writers, directors and producers behind series such as The Wire, Bosch, Tehran and Legion as part of this new push.
It comes as the business is preparing for the release of its reboot of The Crow, starring Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs and Danny Huston, this summer.
Pressman has signed development deals with the likes of Ernest Dickerson and Eric Overmyer, who both worked on Bosch and The Wire, Omri Shenhar, writer of Apple’s Tehran, Yona Rozenkier, one of the creators of Israeli drama The Commune, and Joseph Quesada, exec producer of series including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Legion.
Overmyer and Dickerson are...
The company, which founded by Edward R. Pressman and is now run by his son Sam Pressman, is developing a swathe of television projects with writers, directors and producers behind series such as The Wire, Bosch, Tehran and Legion as part of this new push.
It comes as the business is preparing for the release of its reboot of The Crow, starring Bill Skarsgård, FKA Twigs and Danny Huston, this summer.
Pressman has signed development deals with the likes of Ernest Dickerson and Eric Overmyer, who both worked on Bosch and The Wire, Omri Shenhar, writer of Apple’s Tehran, Yona Rozenkier, one of the creators of Israeli drama The Commune, and Joseph Quesada, exec producer of series including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Legion.
Overmyer and Dickerson are...
- 7/10/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Ya know that feeling when you watch something dumb, and even though you know it’s stupid, you can’t help but laugh and enjoy yourself? The 1980s are full of comedies like that. Yeah, we know they’re dumb and not especially clever, but whatever, man, every now and then, you’re in a bad mood, and you want to turn your brain off. That’s why they made seven Police Academy movies. No one thought they were good, but we watched them anyway because they were stupid in a pleasing way.
This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...
This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...
- 7/10/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
The highly anticipated third film in Ti West‘s X trilogy, MaXXXine is finally here, and the fans of the franchise are loving it. With a setting of the 80s when the real-life Night Stalker murders took place, the final film in the X trilogy follows the story of Maxine Minx as she finally gets her big break into the film industry, but when a mysterious serial killer begins to kill the starlets of Hollywood, Maxine’s future in the City of Angels comes into danger. MaXXXine stars Mia Goth in the lead role with Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Sophie Thatcher, Moses Sumney, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Farnworth, and Bobby Cannavale starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the glitz, glamour, murder, and mystery in MaXXXine, here are some similar movies you could watch next.
Pearl (Prime Video) Credit – A24
Pearl is the second film...
Pearl (Prime Video) Credit – A24
Pearl is the second film...
- 7/10/2024
- by Kulwant Singh
- Cinema Blind
France’s Deauville American Film Festival has announced a retrospective gathering 50 U.S. features that have challenged perceptions of the world to mark its 50th anniversary.
The selection ranges from D. W. Griffith’s 1916 silent epic Intolerance to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and also includes Ida Lupino’s groundbreaking 1950 rape drama Outrage as well as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. (see full list below)
“Cinema has always made us dream, travel, desire, fantasize, laugh, cry. But how many films have been able to shake up our certainties, question our beliefs, question our prejudices and put our own views into perspective?,” said the festival.
“The Deauville American Film Festival wanted to highlight a selection of 50 films that have changed the way we look at the world,” it continued.
Launched in 1975, the festival unfolding in the swanky Normandy beach resort of Deauville, annually fetes Hollywood...
The selection ranges from D. W. Griffith’s 1916 silent epic Intolerance to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and also includes Ida Lupino’s groundbreaking 1950 rape drama Outrage as well as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. (see full list below)
“Cinema has always made us dream, travel, desire, fantasize, laugh, cry. But how many films have been able to shake up our certainties, question our beliefs, question our prejudices and put our own views into perspective?,” said the festival.
“The Deauville American Film Festival wanted to highlight a selection of 50 films that have changed the way we look at the world,” it continued.
Launched in 1975, the festival unfolding in the swanky Normandy beach resort of Deauville, annually fetes Hollywood...
- 7/9/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The end of the Maxxxine trilogy lands in theaters this weekend. The trilogy of horror films explores generational journies of starlets and women reaching for superstardom. How they find that success varies greatly, from infamy to adult films and even iconic roles in B-movies. Ti West and Mia Goth collaborated to write Pearl while waiting to shoot X, while West wrote each of the other stories. With that much control over the franchise, we’ve assembled nine movies that inspired the horror showcases.
The Movies That Influenced X The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The most obvious influence on X comes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The 1974 horror classic not only broke the mold of what was possible in the genre. It also helped define a specific aesthetic that would be borrowed, recycled, and reused for years. Many grindhouse movies, including Ti West, Rob Zombie, and others, openly crib off The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The Movies That Influenced X The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The most obvious influence on X comes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The 1974 horror classic not only broke the mold of what was possible in the genre. It also helped define a specific aesthetic that would be borrowed, recycled, and reused for years. Many grindhouse movies, including Ti West, Rob Zombie, and others, openly crib off The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- 7/8/2024
- by Alan French
- FandomWire
- 7/8/2024
- by Matt Schimkowitz
- avclub.com
John Travolta’s acting genius is now known to many; however, with a string of success always comes its fair share of setbacks, which even the Grease actor was not immune to. The 1990s were not kind to the actor after a series of box office failures such as Two of a Kind, The Experts, and Perfect.
John Travolta in Pulp Fiction || Miramax Films
Whatever he tried at this point in his career was leading to failure and box-office disasters. But this one movie, directed under the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino, proved to be a career-saving move for Travolta.
How did Quentin Tarantino save John Travolta’s failing Hollywood career?
While many wondered, it was a miracle in itself that Travolta was even getting cast after his back-to-back debacles; however, Quentin Tarantino had other plans for the actor and approached him for his crime movie Pulp Fiction (1994).
John Travolta and...
John Travolta in Pulp Fiction || Miramax Films
Whatever he tried at this point in his career was leading to failure and box-office disasters. But this one movie, directed under the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino, proved to be a career-saving move for Travolta.
How did Quentin Tarantino save John Travolta’s failing Hollywood career?
While many wondered, it was a miracle in itself that Travolta was even getting cast after his back-to-back debacles; however, Quentin Tarantino had other plans for the actor and approached him for his crime movie Pulp Fiction (1994).
John Travolta and...
- 7/7/2024
- by Sakshi Singh
- FandomWire
Move over arks and curses—Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark unearthed a cinematic gem: the genesis of the MCU’s $2.4 billion Guardians of the Galaxy! Set out in the year 1936, the film revolves around an archaeology professor, Indiana Jones, who ventures to seize a biblical artefact.
Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg at Cosmic Con International | Image by Gage Skidmore, licenced under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Spielberg’s epic not only reshaped adventure, but also sowed the seeds for a cosmic hero revolution. Who knew cinematic legacies could be born from such unexpected places?
From Raiders to Guardians: Spielberg’s Unlikely Favorite Superhero Journey Hollywood director Steven Spielberg at Cosmic Con International | Image by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Steven Spielberg, the mastermind behind iconic films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, just revealed his favorite superhero movie, and it might surprise you. It...
Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg at Cosmic Con International | Image by Gage Skidmore, licenced under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Spielberg’s epic not only reshaped adventure, but also sowed the seeds for a cosmic hero revolution. Who knew cinematic legacies could be born from such unexpected places?
From Raiders to Guardians: Spielberg’s Unlikely Favorite Superhero Journey Hollywood director Steven Spielberg at Cosmic Con International | Image by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Steven Spielberg, the mastermind behind iconic films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, just revealed his favorite superhero movie, and it might surprise you. It...
- 7/7/2024
- by Heena Singh
- FandomWire
Given the sense of wonder and promotion of emotion over reason that courses through Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s work, it’s appropriate that David Hinton’s Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger starts with a recollection of a defining childhood moment. The film’s narrator and one of its executive producers, Martin Scorsese describes himself as an asthmatic child confined indoors and thunderstruck by these old films he was seeing on television. Giddy with the memory of being a young boy accidentally coming across fantastical mindblowers like The Thief of Baghdad, Scorsese says there was simply “no better initiation” into what he calls “the mysteries of Michael Powell.”
The film that follows does a thoroughly commendable job of providing that same initiation for unwashed viewers. But because Made in England is structurally a somewhat staid illustrated lecture from Scorsese on Powell’s directing career, and to...
The film that follows does a thoroughly commendable job of providing that same initiation for unwashed viewers. But because Made in England is structurally a somewhat staid illustrated lecture from Scorsese on Powell’s directing career, and to...
- 7/6/2024
- by Chris Barsanti
- Slant Magazine
Ti West’s “MaXXXine” has slashed its way into theaters. And the third film in the trilogy that began with 2022’s “X” and continued with the prequel “Pearl,” is perhaps the installment most steeped in other movies. This is a movie where, when a character is threatening Maxine (Mia Goth), the porn star that survived the events of “X” and now, circa “MaXXXine” is struggling to make it in mainstream Hollywood in 1985, they send her a newspaper clipping with the headline: “The Texas Porn Star Massacre,” a direct reference to Tobe Hooper’s immortal “Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
And that’s just the beginning of the metatextual delights that make “MaXXXine” so special. We thought that we’d talk about five of the movies that fundamentally inspired “MaXXXine.”
Since we’ll be talking about plot specifics, consider this your mild spoiler warning before we get into it.
“Psycho” (1960) Universal Pictures...
And that’s just the beginning of the metatextual delights that make “MaXXXine” so special. We thought that we’d talk about five of the movies that fundamentally inspired “MaXXXine.”
Since we’ll be talking about plot specifics, consider this your mild spoiler warning before we get into it.
“Psycho” (1960) Universal Pictures...
- 7/6/2024
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Mia Goth channeled her Stanley Kubrick fandom to prepare for “MaXXXine.”
Goth told Ireland’s Entertainment.ie journalist Brian Lloyd in the below video that she shadowed a sex worker before starring in Ti West’s conclusion to his trilogy love letter to classic Hollywood.
“I was living in New York at that time and I was introduced to a stripper and I spent quite a lot of time with that stripper and I would get to know her and I would ask questions and that was really helpful,” Goth said. “She would then take me to these events. One in particular, it was a crazy party in New York. It felt very much like ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ I don’t know how I got in but I was like kind of in the corner witnessing everything. Once I felt like I got enough information, I went away because it was quite intense.
Goth told Ireland’s Entertainment.ie journalist Brian Lloyd in the below video that she shadowed a sex worker before starring in Ti West’s conclusion to his trilogy love letter to classic Hollywood.
“I was living in New York at that time and I was introduced to a stripper and I spent quite a lot of time with that stripper and I would get to know her and I would ask questions and that was really helpful,” Goth said. “She would then take me to these events. One in particular, it was a crazy party in New York. It felt very much like ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ I don’t know how I got in but I was like kind of in the corner witnessing everything. Once I felt like I got enough information, I went away because it was quite intense.
- 7/5/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
This article contains spoilers for "MaXXXine."
Writer/director Ti West trilogy of films starring Mia Goth — "X," "Pearl," and now "MaXXXine" — are, first and foremost, a solid trio of character-based horror films. Taken at face value, they tell an eerie, sexy, and violent cautionary tale about two women, Pearl and Maxine (both played by Goth), whose ambitions for stardom lead them to commit sinful acts.
Taken metaphorically, however, the films have a ton to say about the history of cinema itself, with a particular focus on the tense relationship between prurience and art that's existed within the medium since its inception. Horror movies and pornographic films have long been associated with each other, and West draws on that connection to explore the effects cinema has on everything from standards of youth and beauty -- particularly when it comes to women -- as well as the American Dream of going from rags to riches.
Writer/director Ti West trilogy of films starring Mia Goth — "X," "Pearl," and now "MaXXXine" — are, first and foremost, a solid trio of character-based horror films. Taken at face value, they tell an eerie, sexy, and violent cautionary tale about two women, Pearl and Maxine (both played by Goth), whose ambitions for stardom lead them to commit sinful acts.
Taken metaphorically, however, the films have a ton to say about the history of cinema itself, with a particular focus on the tense relationship between prurience and art that's existed within the medium since its inception. Horror movies and pornographic films have long been associated with each other, and West draws on that connection to explore the effects cinema has on everything from standards of youth and beauty -- particularly when it comes to women -- as well as the American Dream of going from rags to riches.
- 7/5/2024
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
Regardless of its importance to the storytelling process, film music is too often an afterthought. There are a variety of theories that composers have as to why, and they’re mostly related to a lack of education. So I’ve decided to take an active stance in educating filmmakers about the role of music in film and the process of how a film score comes into being.
My hope is that by the end of this piece you’ll be more familiar with: A) the history of film music in general, and B) the key composers who have contributed to the development of film music as an art. So—where did this all start?
The Silent Era (1890s-1929) Silent film star Mary Pickford. Somewhere, a pianist is inspired.
During the silent era, films music is provided by each individual theater, either by phonograph or as performed live by flesh-and-blood musicians.
My hope is that by the end of this piece you’ll be more familiar with: A) the history of film music in general, and B) the key composers who have contributed to the development of film music as an art. So—where did this all start?
The Silent Era (1890s-1929) Silent film star Mary Pickford. Somewhere, a pianist is inspired.
During the silent era, films music is provided by each individual theater, either by phonograph or as performed live by flesh-and-blood musicians.
- 7/5/2024
- by Olajide Paris
- Film Independent News & More
With “MaXXXine,” writer-director Ti West completes the trilogy he began with “X” and followed with the prequel “Pearl,” shepherding audiences through three bloodstained stories of ambition in as many years. After himself infiltrating Hollywood’s ecosystem as a scrappy outsider with acclaimed projects like 2009’s “House of the Devil” and 2011’s “The Innkeepers,” the three-quel marks West’s biggest film to date. Even so, its potential for success presents him many of the same risks faced by his protagonist Maxine (Mia Goth), who hopes to move past a troubled, violent — and to some, disreputable — past in order to fulfill her larger silver-screen dreams.
Speaking to Variety at what for him is the end of a very long journey, West takes the challenges in stride. Set in 1985, “MaXXXine” is drenched in history and iconography from the time — not only when the popularity of slasher movies like “X” were booming, but during...
Speaking to Variety at what for him is the end of a very long journey, West takes the challenges in stride. Set in 1985, “MaXXXine” is drenched in history and iconography from the time — not only when the popularity of slasher movies like “X” were booming, but during...
- 7/5/2024
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
Screenwriter Robert Towne, noted for his Oscar-winning screenplay for the crime thriller “Chinatown’ has died:
Towne started writing screenplays for TV series, before hooking up with low-budget film director Roger Corman on “The Tomb of Ligeia”.
Part of the ‘New Hollywood’ wave of filmmaking, Towne wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay…
…for director Roman Polanski's “Chinatown” (1974) starring Jack Nicholson.
For director Hal Ashby, he wrote screenplays for “The Last Detail” (1973), also starring Nicholson…
…and “Shampoo” (1975), starring Warren Beatty.
Noted as a script doctor, Towne collaborated on numerous features including “Days of Thunder (1990), “The Firm” (1993) and Brian de Palma’s “Mission: Impossible” (1996).
Click the images to enlarge…...
Towne started writing screenplays for TV series, before hooking up with low-budget film director Roger Corman on “The Tomb of Ligeia”.
Part of the ‘New Hollywood’ wave of filmmaking, Towne wrote the Academy Award-winning screenplay…
…for director Roman Polanski's “Chinatown” (1974) starring Jack Nicholson.
For director Hal Ashby, he wrote screenplays for “The Last Detail” (1973), also starring Nicholson…
…and “Shampoo” (1975), starring Warren Beatty.
Noted as a script doctor, Towne collaborated on numerous features including “Days of Thunder (1990), “The Firm” (1993) and Brian de Palma’s “Mission: Impossible” (1996).
Click the images to enlarge…...
- 7/4/2024
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) emerged as the sole survivor of writer/director Ti West‘s slasher throwback X, armed with tenacity and ruthless ambition. The film’s closing moments signaling Minx’s unique zeal might’ve had a lot to do with her religious upbringing. The second entry in West’s trilogy, Pearl captured the technicolor vibrancy of Hollywood’s golden age to contrast the psychosis of Maxine’s would-be killer, also played by Goth. For the trilogy’s closer, MaXXXine, West channels the sleazy thrillers and Gialli of the video nasty era to see Maxine’s relentless pursuit of fame reach its apex, but the over-commitment to the era’s films renders Maxine’s story inert.
Set in Los Angeles in 1985, Maxine’s well into her quest for stardom. We’re reintroduced to the atypical protagonist after she’s already dominated the porn industry and looking to greener pastures: Hollywood.
Set in Los Angeles in 1985, Maxine’s well into her quest for stardom. We’re reintroduced to the atypical protagonist after she’s already dominated the porn industry and looking to greener pastures: Hollywood.
- 7/2/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
While far from a smash hit in its original 1983 theatrical release, Brian De Palma’s Scarface, over time, became seen as a classic. The rise of home video played a big role, with it having an outsized impact on hip hop artists, with many (Many) songs sampling the soundtrack/score and dialogue. In fact, its reputation in the rap community was so strong that, around the time of its 20th anniversary, Universal Pictures, in association with Def Jam Records, attempted to redo the movie’s soundtrack with hip hop.
According to a new book, “The World is Yours: The Story of Scarface,” by Glenn Kenny, star Al Pacino and producer Martin Bergman actually weren’t opposed to the idea of dropping Giorgio Moroder’s classic score (and songs) and replacing it with hip hop, only for Brian De Palma to (thankfully) put the kibosh on the whole deal. As excerpted...
According to a new book, “The World is Yours: The Story of Scarface,” by Glenn Kenny, star Al Pacino and producer Martin Bergman actually weren’t opposed to the idea of dropping Giorgio Moroder’s classic score (and songs) and replacing it with hip hop, only for Brian De Palma to (thankfully) put the kibosh on the whole deal. As excerpted...
- 6/29/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
There's an entire generation of actors, and movie lovers in general, who think Al Pacino is the best actor ever based almost solely on the basis of his 1970s work. Obviously, he was overwhelmingly dynamic. The live-wire energy of characters like Frank Serpico, Sonny Wortzik and Arthur Kirkland spit and popped off the screen with a sizzling intensity that could only be matched by his Method contemporaries (namely Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman). But he might've been more impressive when playing strangely ingratiating outsiders, as he did to unforgettable effect under Jerry Schatzberg's direction in "Panic in Needle Park" and "Scarecrow."
And then there was Michael Corelone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II." As the youngest and, much to the consternation of his older brothers, favorite son of mafia capo Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), Pacino, over two movies running a combined six-plus hours,...
And then there was Michael Corelone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II." As the youngest and, much to the consternation of his older brothers, favorite son of mafia capo Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), Pacino, over two movies running a combined six-plus hours,...
- 6/27/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Ti West's pulpy 1980s sequel Maxxxine lets Mia Goth be a fucking star. The third film in West’s X trilogy is a sinful sendup to Regan-era Satanic Panic protests against Hollywood, aligning Maxine Minx’s Tinsletown escapades with the Night Stalker’s crime spree. Influences from Italian giallos to Jack Shoulder’s Los Angeles setups create an A+ aesthetic, the same as VHS-era “Video Nasties” paranoia, but adversely, certain themes are never fully incorporated. Maxxxine strikes its poses, cracks some skulls, and gets unexpectedly goofy, yet its pastiche sometimes feels skin-deep. West tries to have it all between Maxine’s crescendo, knife-to-throat depravity, and filmmaking commentaries, only to undersell competing features due to overstuffed ambitions.
The year is 1985. Women are being slaughtered in Los Angeles by a serial killer at large, and Maxine Minx couldn’t care less. She’s focused on one goal: graduate from adult pictures to Hollywood stardom.
The year is 1985. Women are being slaughtered in Los Angeles by a serial killer at large, and Maxine Minx couldn’t care less. She’s focused on one goal: graduate from adult pictures to Hollywood stardom.
- 6/26/2024
- by Matt Donato
- DailyDead
In Ti West’s 1979-set slasher movie X, Mia Goth played would-be porn star Maxine and elderly killer Pearl. Spinning the film out into a triptych rather than a trilogy, the 1919-set Pearl was about the younger days of the murderess, while MaXXXine is set in 1985 and catches up with what the final girl of the Texas Porn Star Massacre did next in her life. Eventual binge-watchers will notice the way elements recur with variations across all three movies — something Maxine does at the climax mirrors what Pearl did in her film.
In a moment of metatextuality which functions also as a scare scene, Maxine has her head coated with goo as a make-up artist makes an impression to be used to create a severed-head prop for a dream sequence. She is transformed by dripping white gunk into the ghost image of old Pearl, who actually told her she would end up looking like her.
In a moment of metatextuality which functions also as a scare scene, Maxine has her head coated with goo as a make-up artist makes an impression to be used to create a severed-head prop for a dream sequence. She is transformed by dripping white gunk into the ghost image of old Pearl, who actually told her she would end up looking like her.
- 6/26/2024
- by Kim Newman
- Empire - Movies
If knives weren’t already being sharpened for Ti West prior to MaXXXine––the third installment in his X series of exploitation throwbacks––they likely will be at the ready once discerning horror fans experience it. On the surface, this is West returning to the same bloody ground as his terrific 2009 breakout The House of the Devil, only with a much starrier cast in tow for this 1985-set slasher mystery. Like that movie, the backdrop here is Reagan-era Satanic Panic, a fitting bedfellow for a story that begins in the adult entertainment industry––that other key scourge for social conservatives in the decade that style forgot. Wider ties between The House of the Devil and MaXXXine, beyond their shared cultural contexts, are few and far between, yet it’s hard not to regard this movie as something of a self-aware victory lap for its director; West isn’t just...
- 6/26/2024
- by Alistair Ryder
- The Film Stage
“X,” the first movie in Ti West’s grungy but elevated artisanal-trash horror franchise (it’s been billed as a trilogy but may yet produce further installments), was an unusually effective stab at recreating the ’70s farmhouse-turned-charnel-house vibe of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” spiced with the fleshpot voyeurism of ’70s porn. For a retro slasher movie, it was a novelty and a curio. The insane killer was an old farm wife suffering from erotic frustration — played, under a ton of make-up, by Mia Goth, the same actress who played one of the film’s porn performers. The movie was leagues better than your average “Chain Saw” knockoff, yet it never quite transcended the slasher formula. It was a psycho thriller crafted with a fanboy filmmaker’s encyclopedic rigor.
But “Pearl,” a prequel that West shot directly after “X” (it was released just six months later in 2022), took a startling leap.
But “Pearl,” a prequel that West shot directly after “X” (it was released just six months later in 2022), took a startling leap.
- 6/26/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Ti West’s decades-spanning horror trilogy, which began in the late ’70s with X (2022) and then jumped back over half a century for the same year’s WW1 prequel Pearl, now fast-forwards to the mid-’80s with a capper that requires a little more thought than its gory, crowd-pleasing predecessors. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Reagan years would be West’s safe space, given 2009’s pitch-perfect period piece The House of The Devil, but MaXXXine pulls back on that kind of detail in a way that’s surprising. Despite the obvious genre set-up, which promises way more violence than you’d expect, but is pretty gory when you do get it — West’s film is actually an abstract think-piece about women in cinema, predicated on Bette Davis’s quote: “In this business, until you’re known as a monster, you’re not a star.
- 6/26/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
10. The Thing (1982)
You can’t imagine a list of the best horror movies in history without The Thing. Directed by John Carpenter, this brilliant film was a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World, but few people know about it. First, because Carpenter really made the concept his own, and second, because the original film was never exactly popular.
You can watch The Thing (1982) on Netflix and Prime Video.
9. Scarface (1983)
The original 1932’s Scarface was the pinnacle of a classic noir movie, following the same character on his way to build the most impressive criminal empire. But after Brian De Palma’s remake half a century later, barely anyone remembers the original: Al Pacino absolutely owned this movie. It’s his now, and who’s going to take it away?
You can watch Scarface (1983) on Hulu and Prime Video.
8. The Parent Trap (1998)
According to most people, only one director...
You can’t imagine a list of the best horror movies in history without The Thing. Directed by John Carpenter, this brilliant film was a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World, but few people know about it. First, because Carpenter really made the concept his own, and second, because the original film was never exactly popular.
You can watch The Thing (1982) on Netflix and Prime Video.
9. Scarface (1983)
The original 1932’s Scarface was the pinnacle of a classic noir movie, following the same character on his way to build the most impressive criminal empire. But after Brian De Palma’s remake half a century later, barely anyone remembers the original: Al Pacino absolutely owned this movie. It’s his now, and who’s going to take it away?
You can watch Scarface (1983) on Hulu and Prime Video.
8. The Parent Trap (1998)
According to most people, only one director...
- 6/24/2024
- by [email protected] (Dean Black)
- STartefacts.com
In the 1970s, American films underwent a massive shift, thanks to a new generation of talent infiltrating the business. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Brian De Palma introduced a new, more energetic language into films, largely thanks to their studious backgrounds studying movies and reading the essays of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut; this generation of filmmakers is traditionally called the Film School Generation. These artists tended to look after each other, seemingly understanding their mutual unspoken goal of revolutionizing movies and exploring the limits of what the medium was capable of.
Two Film School Generation directors once entered an alliance one might not expect. Francis Ford Coppola had already won many, many Oscars for his "Godfather" movies and for "The Conversation," making him a legitimate Hollywood darling. George Lucas, meanwhile, rewrote the language of the Hollywood blockbuster with "Star Wars" in 1977. Aesthetically, the two filmmakers could not have been more different,...
Two Film School Generation directors once entered an alliance one might not expect. Francis Ford Coppola had already won many, many Oscars for his "Godfather" movies and for "The Conversation," making him a legitimate Hollywood darling. George Lucas, meanwhile, rewrote the language of the Hollywood blockbuster with "Star Wars" in 1977. Aesthetically, the two filmmakers could not have been more different,...
- 6/23/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The Shudder streaming service and IFC Films, both of which are owned by AMC Networks, have secured a deal with boutique Blu-ray and DVD label Severin Films to put together eleven special edition physical media releases of some of the most popular Originals and licensed features in the Shudder and IFC Films library, Variety reports.
The announcement even reveals the titles of six of the eleven movies that will be receiving special edition physical media releases thanks to this deal: Joko Anwar’s 2017 horror mystery Satan’s Slaves (which was a remake of a 1980 film); Brandon Cronenberg’s 2012 feature directorial debut, the sci-fi horror film Antiviral; the 2015 Turkish horror film Baskin, directed by Can Evrenol; Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 Pov remake of the 1980 slasher classic Maniac; Douglas Buck’s 2006 remake of the 1972 Brian De Palma thriller Sisters; and André Øvredal’s 2016 horror thriller The Autopsy of Jane Doe.
Sisworo Gautama Putra, Naryono Prayitno,...
The announcement even reveals the titles of six of the eleven movies that will be receiving special edition physical media releases thanks to this deal: Joko Anwar’s 2017 horror mystery Satan’s Slaves (which was a remake of a 1980 film); Brandon Cronenberg’s 2012 feature directorial debut, the sci-fi horror film Antiviral; the 2015 Turkish horror film Baskin, directed by Can Evrenol; Franck Khalfoun’s 2012 Pov remake of the 1980 slasher classic Maniac; Douglas Buck’s 2006 remake of the 1972 Brian De Palma thriller Sisters; and André Øvredal’s 2016 horror thriller The Autopsy of Jane Doe.
Sisworo Gautama Putra, Naryono Prayitno,...
- 6/21/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks has mostly laid out masterpieces for viewers to enjoy, with pretty much every single one of his acting gigs holding a depth that perhaps no other actor could capture with such intensity. However, he has been a part of some of the most epic failures as well, like the critically panned comedy-drama from 1990, The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto. | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Despite holding a bunch of A-listers in prominent roles including Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis, for one to count, the movie was a terribly forgettable disaster nonetheless. But even as Hanks himself admitted that the film was “one of the crappiest movies ever made,” he seems to consider it a blessing at the same time because of the experience that film ended up lending him.
Tom Hanks Considers The Bonfire of the Vanities Crappy but a Blessing...
Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto. | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing.
Despite holding a bunch of A-listers in prominent roles including Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis, for one to count, the movie was a terribly forgettable disaster nonetheless. But even as Hanks himself admitted that the film was “one of the crappiest movies ever made,” he seems to consider it a blessing at the same time because of the experience that film ended up lending him.
Tom Hanks Considers The Bonfire of the Vanities Crappy but a Blessing...
- 6/20/2024
- by Mahin Sultan
- FandomWire
With The Case of the Bloody Iris, director Giuliano Carnimeo and writer Ernesto Gastaldi constructed one of the quintessential giallo films from that genre’s peak period in the early 1970s. Though it may lack the operatic excesses of Dario Argento’s “Animal” trilogy, the 1972 film is meticulously assembled with a keen eye to visual stimulation, and conveys its commentary about matters of race and gender at an almost subliminal level. What’s more, the filmmakers knowingly tinker with some of the iconic tropes of the giallo.
The Case of the Bloody Iris’s narrative centers around a 20-story Genovese apartment complex of Brutalist architectural design. Most of the action takes place in three neighboring flats. These settings emphasize the alienation of modern urban existence, as well as the kind of creeping paranoia that stems from living packed in tiny cubes on top of each other. The opening set piece...
The Case of the Bloody Iris’s narrative centers around a 20-story Genovese apartment complex of Brutalist architectural design. Most of the action takes place in three neighboring flats. These settings emphasize the alienation of modern urban existence, as well as the kind of creeping paranoia that stems from living packed in tiny cubes on top of each other. The opening set piece...
- 6/19/2024
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Crowe plays an ex-cop receiving treatment for dementia who revisits one of his old cases, only to unearth some uncomfortable but entertaining memories
Entirely preposterous as it is, there’s a fair bit of entertainment to be had in what might be called an erotic pulp-noir from screenwriter turned director Adam Cooper, adapted from the 2017 crime bestseller The Book of Mirrors by Eugene Chirovici. I can imagine Brian De Palma being interested in it – and he might have wanted to twist the eroticism dial clockwise a click or two more.
Russell Crowe plays Roy Freeman, a depressed ex-cop whose wife left him long ago, battling to stay on the wagon, living in squalor and undergoing an experimental treatment to reverse his early onset dementia; he has labels on everything in his apartment to remind him what they’re for – but still occasionally opens the microwave to find the TV remote,...
Entirely preposterous as it is, there’s a fair bit of entertainment to be had in what might be called an erotic pulp-noir from screenwriter turned director Adam Cooper, adapted from the 2017 crime bestseller The Book of Mirrors by Eugene Chirovici. I can imagine Brian De Palma being interested in it – and he might have wanted to twist the eroticism dial clockwise a click or two more.
Russell Crowe plays Roy Freeman, a depressed ex-cop whose wife left him long ago, battling to stay on the wagon, living in squalor and undergoing an experimental treatment to reverse his early onset dementia; he has labels on everything in his apartment to remind him what they’re for – but still occasionally opens the microwave to find the TV remote,...
- 6/18/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro presented their first collaboration, the 1973 crime drama “Mean Streets,” and then discussed the film during a De Niro Con presentation at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary took place Saturday at the Beacon Theatre, where the screening was followed by a conversation between Scorsese and De Niro, moderated by legendary rapper Nas.
While “Mean Streets” was the beginning of their 10-film, 50-plus year creative journey together, Scorsese said their introduction first came at a Christmas dinner, where they were urged into conversation by another to-be-legendary filmmaker: Brian De Palma. Although the pair grew up just two blocks away and heard talk of each other in the neighborhood, they had never been properly introduced until that fateful night.
“Bob was sitting there after dinner and then he looked at me and they had gone inside or something,” Scorsese said.
The celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary took place Saturday at the Beacon Theatre, where the screening was followed by a conversation between Scorsese and De Niro, moderated by legendary rapper Nas.
While “Mean Streets” was the beginning of their 10-film, 50-plus year creative journey together, Scorsese said their introduction first came at a Christmas dinner, where they were urged into conversation by another to-be-legendary filmmaker: Brian De Palma. Although the pair grew up just two blocks away and heard talk of each other in the neighborhood, they had never been properly introduced until that fateful night.
“Bob was sitting there after dinner and then he looked at me and they had gone inside or something,” Scorsese said.
- 6/16/2024
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
Robert De Niro feels he’s been extremely “fortunate to wind up with Marty” for all these years, and Martin Scorsese returned the compliment as the actor and director sat down after a screening of Mean Streets, the 1973 film that marked their first collaboration, and Scorsese’s breakout. They went on to make nine more features together.
The two grew up together in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, an Italian enclave populated with low level mafiosi. De Niro’s “Johnny Boy” Civello in Mean Streets, a reckless but charming small-time gambler deeply in debt to loan sharks, was based on people they both knew, the duo told a Q&a with rapper Nas after the packed screening at the Beacon Theater. The climatic final scene, a car chase, shooting and crash, was inspired by a trauma Scorsese said he barely escaped – getting out of a car only a few minutes before it smashed.
The two grew up together in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, an Italian enclave populated with low level mafiosi. De Niro’s “Johnny Boy” Civello in Mean Streets, a reckless but charming small-time gambler deeply in debt to loan sharks, was based on people they both knew, the duo told a Q&a with rapper Nas after the packed screening at the Beacon Theater. The climatic final scene, a car chase, shooting and crash, was inspired by a trauma Scorsese said he barely escaped – getting out of a car only a few minutes before it smashed.
- 6/15/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
When Michael Powell made “Peeping Tom” in 1960, the reaction was swift and harsh: Critics who had celebrated the British auteur for lush spectacles like “The Red Shoes,” “Black Narcissus,” and “Tales of Hoffman” were appalled to see him wallowing in the sordid story of a young cameraman who killed women and filmed their murders. While Alfred Hitchcock‘s similarly transgressive “Psycho” brought him to a new level of success that same year, Powell’s deeply disturbing and personal film sent him into the wilderness; he worked only intermittently afterward and never with the same level of resources and support that he had once enjoyed.
Thankfully, Powell lived long enough to see “Peeping Tom” reclaimed by the next generation of great directors. Martin Scorsese, whose passion for Powell and his filmmaking partner Emeric Pressburger has been lifelong and well documented, helped fund an American theatrical release and presentation at the New...
Thankfully, Powell lived long enough to see “Peeping Tom” reclaimed by the next generation of great directors. Martin Scorsese, whose passion for Powell and his filmmaking partner Emeric Pressburger has been lifelong and well documented, helped fund an American theatrical release and presentation at the New...
- 6/15/2024
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Tiger StripesImage: Dark Star Pictures
Horror has historically, and quite aptly, been the genre of choice for exploring the whirlwind of physical and emotional sensations inherent to experiencing one’s first menses. There’s the 1970 Czech dark fantasy hallmark Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, Stephen’s King’s novel...
Horror has historically, and quite aptly, been the genre of choice for exploring the whirlwind of physical and emotional sensations inherent to experiencing one’s first menses. There’s the 1970 Czech dark fantasy hallmark Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, Stephen’s King’s novel...
- 6/14/2024
- by Natalia Keogan
- avclub.com
How now, what news: the Criterion Channel’s July lineup is here. Eight pop renditions of Shakespeare are on the docket: from movies you forgot were inspired by the Bard (Abel Ferrara’s China Girl) to ones you’d wish to forget altogether (Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing), with maybe my single favorite interpretation (Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet) alongside Paul Mazursky, Gus Van Sant, Baz Luhrmann, Derek Jarman, and (of course) Kenneth Branagh. A neonoir collection arrives four months ahead of Noirvember: two Ellroy adaptations, two from De Palma that are not his neonoir Ellroy adaptation, two from the Coen brothers (i.e. the chance to see a DVD-stranded The Man Who Wasn’t There in HD), and––finally––a Michael Winner picture given Criterion’s seal of approval.
Columbia screwballs run between classics to lesser-seens while Nicolas Roeg and Heisei-era Godzilla face off. A Times Square collection brings The Gods of Times Square,...
Columbia screwballs run between classics to lesser-seens while Nicolas Roeg and Heisei-era Godzilla face off. A Times Square collection brings The Gods of Times Square,...
- 6/12/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Would The Matrix starring Will Smith as Neo and Val Kilmer as Morpheus still be as legendary? Fans will never get to live in this reality as the Wachowskis’ modern-day classic changed the sci-fi and action genres with Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne in those roles. The film was one of the highest-grossing films of the year and redefined the sci-fi genre.
Will Smith has turned down many roles in his career but the Bad Boys star reportedly regrets turning down Neo the most. He mentioned that he could not see the vision of the filmmakers as he had received an awful pitch from the Wachowskis. He mentioned that their terrible pitch for The Matrix involved a very crude explanation for the iconic ‘bullet time’ sequence.
Will Smith Regrets Rejected Neo Despite A Terrible Pitch Will Smith in Men in Black | Credits: Columbia Pictures/Amblin Entertainment/Parkes/MacDonald Productions
Will...
Will Smith has turned down many roles in his career but the Bad Boys star reportedly regrets turning down Neo the most. He mentioned that he could not see the vision of the filmmakers as he had received an awful pitch from the Wachowskis. He mentioned that their terrible pitch for The Matrix involved a very crude explanation for the iconic ‘bullet time’ sequence.
Will Smith Regrets Rejected Neo Despite A Terrible Pitch Will Smith in Men in Black | Credits: Columbia Pictures/Amblin Entertainment/Parkes/MacDonald Productions
Will...
- 6/12/2024
- by Nishanth A
- FandomWire
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.