Jonathan Swift published his popular fantasy-cum-political-satire "Gulliver's Travels" -- a.k.a. "Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships" -- in 1726. Gulliver, in traveling to faraway and bizarre lands, finds several countries and kingdoms whose entire societies are focused on trivial matters, often to the point of ruination. In Lilliput, the citizens are six-inch-tall royals, and the country has split into factions over which side of the egg is more appropriate for cracking. Gulliver also visits the giant country of Brobdingnag, the floating island of Laputa, and several other fantastical places. To this day, Swift's novel is a provocative and pointed read, poking fun at governmental idiocy in general, and foolish obsessives in particular.
Rob Letterman's 2010 film adaptation of "Gulliver's Travels" is ... not provocative. In fact, it's downright dumb. The 2010 film...
Rob Letterman's 2010 film adaptation of "Gulliver's Travels" is ... not provocative. In fact, it's downright dumb. The 2010 film...
- 1/1/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
If mainstream American comedy feels like it’s on the ropes at the moment, American satire certainly seems to be in a permanent flatline. It’s not so much that audiences aren’t primed for a fight. Rather, the question is how far do you have to push into absurdity before it registers as an exaggeration in our particular cultural moment? And, even if a modern-day Jonathan Swift managed to score a direct hit on the level of A Modest Proposal, would it not be instantaneously met with a chorus of quote tweets pointing out that it’s actually a moral failing to even entertain the idea of cooking and consuming infants for dinner as a joke?
You wouldn’t assume that an audience award winner at the Toronto International Film Festival would buck this trend, and you’d be right. Writer-director Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction doesn’t come even close.
You wouldn’t assume that an audience award winner at the Toronto International Film Festival would buck this trend, and you’d be right. Writer-director Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction doesn’t come even close.
- 12/3/2023
- by Eric Henderson
- Slant Magazine
I’m a Virgo is a triumph of imagination and ideology.
A boomerang throwback to Amazon’s early streaming years when poignant oddballs like Transparent and Patriot dominated Jeff Bezos’ slate, the Boots Riley-created series that launches Friday on Prime Video is a revitalizing return to originality both for the platform and the franchise-heavy small screen itself.
Watch it, with both eyes open.
With dead-end basketball and branding deals, societal toxicity, fast food and a faster-moving love interest played in breakout fashion by Olivia Washington, the heart of the poetic show is 13-foot-tall Cootie, portrayed in towering fashion by Jharrel Jerome. Leading the 19-year-old Oakland native’s unsure steps to the outside world after years of being hidden, the When They See Us Emmy winner ups his already considerable game to unfurl a naturalism that grounds the magical realism all around him.
Too late for this year’s Emmys, regardless...
A boomerang throwback to Amazon’s early streaming years when poignant oddballs like Transparent and Patriot dominated Jeff Bezos’ slate, the Boots Riley-created series that launches Friday on Prime Video is a revitalizing return to originality both for the platform and the franchise-heavy small screen itself.
Watch it, with both eyes open.
With dead-end basketball and branding deals, societal toxicity, fast food and a faster-moving love interest played in breakout fashion by Olivia Washington, the heart of the poetic show is 13-foot-tall Cootie, portrayed in towering fashion by Jharrel Jerome. Leading the 19-year-old Oakland native’s unsure steps to the outside world after years of being hidden, the When They See Us Emmy winner ups his already considerable game to unfurl a naturalism that grounds the magical realism all around him.
Too late for this year’s Emmys, regardless...
- 6/23/2023
- by Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Let’s just take a moment to stop and smell the sweet bouquet of justice, as it were.
E. Jean Carroll received a very public vindication on Tuesday when a jury of nine people — six men and three women — agreed that she sufficiently proved she was sexually assaulted by Trump in the 1990s. She convinced the same nine jurors that he defamed her by calling her claims “a complete con job” and “a hoax and a lie” on social media.
Carroll is one of dozens of women who have accused...
E. Jean Carroll received a very public vindication on Tuesday when a jury of nine people — six men and three women — agreed that she sufficiently proved she was sexually assaulted by Trump in the 1990s. She convinced the same nine jurors that he defamed her by calling her claims “a complete con job” and “a hoax and a lie” on social media.
Carroll is one of dozens of women who have accused...
- 5/10/2023
- by Ron Kuby
- Rollingstone.com
If anybody deserved a break after completing the acclaimed run of Better Call Saul, it was Bob Odenkirk.
Odenkirk spent six seasons delivering an Emmy-worthy performance as the lead in an Emmy-worthy show, and somehow found a way to star in Amazon’s Undone, do a season of the Mr. Show-adjacent W/Bob & David for Netflix, play a key supporting role in The Post and a surely arduous lead role in Nobody, and to fit in various cameos and guest turns along the way. With all that happening, why aspire to be the cable version of David Boreanaz — a broadcast TV regular without pause since 1997 — at the same time?
Well, if Breaking Bad was Odenkirk’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a key supporting role that became more important to the overall show as it progressed) and Better Call Saul was his Angel (a spinoff that didn’t inherently seem like a great idea,...
Odenkirk spent six seasons delivering an Emmy-worthy performance as the lead in an Emmy-worthy show, and somehow found a way to star in Amazon’s Undone, do a season of the Mr. Show-adjacent W/Bob & David for Netflix, play a key supporting role in The Post and a surely arduous lead role in Nobody, and to fit in various cameos and guest turns along the way. With all that happening, why aspire to be the cable version of David Boreanaz — a broadcast TV regular without pause since 1997 — at the same time?
Well, if Breaking Bad was Odenkirk’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a key supporting role that became more important to the overall show as it progressed) and Better Call Saul was his Angel (a spinoff that didn’t inherently seem like a great idea,...
- 3/17/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The "showbiz satire" movie is almost as old as the cinematic medium itself. From "Sullivan's Travels" to "The Player" and most recently "Babylon," a look at the darker, goofier, unglamorous, seedier side of moviemaking has become a perennial for Hollywood in more ways than one.
Yet most of these films utilize an exaggerated effect to make their commentary on show business that much more biting, whether it's surrealism (as in Federico Fellini's "8 1/2"), a musical (like "Singin' in the Rain"), or horror (such as "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"). It's rare for such showbiz films to not be satirized in some fashion, yet David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" is just such a movie.
Of course, that depends on who you ask. Most people would see the uncomfortable and darkly hilarious "Maps to the Stars" as unequivocal satire, seeing as how it brings together an ensemble of bizarrely...
Yet most of these films utilize an exaggerated effect to make their commentary on show business that much more biting, whether it's surrealism (as in Federico Fellini's "8 1/2"), a musical (like "Singin' in the Rain"), or horror (such as "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"). It's rare for such showbiz films to not be satirized in some fashion, yet David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" is just such a movie.
Of course, that depends on who you ask. Most people would see the uncomfortable and darkly hilarious "Maps to the Stars" as unequivocal satire, seeing as how it brings together an ensemble of bizarrely...
- 2/1/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
Comedian Jonah Ray discusses his favorite year in cinema (1994) with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Airport (1970)
Airport 1975 (1975)
Airport ’77 (1977)
Airplane! (1980)
Basket Case (1982)
Destroy All Neighbors (Tbd)
Satanic Hispanics (2022)
Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
Black Christmas (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s franchise power rankings
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Pooka! (2018)
Pooka Lives! (2020)
Harvey (1950) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
Ed Wood (1994)
Black Dynamite (2009)
Bride Of The Monster (1955) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Glen Or Glenda (1953)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Frankenweenie (2012)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Dumb And Dumber (1994)
Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
The Mask (1994)
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Scream (1996)
Evil Laugh (1986)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Clerks (1994)
The Search For One-Eye Jimmy (1994)
Cabin Boy (1994)
Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Scary Movie 4...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Airport (1970)
Airport 1975 (1975)
Airport ’77 (1977)
Airplane! (1980)
Basket Case (1982)
Destroy All Neighbors (Tbd)
Satanic Hispanics (2022)
Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022)
Black Christmas (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s franchise power rankings
Tales From The Crypt (1972)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Pooka! (2018)
Pooka Lives! (2020)
Harvey (1950) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
Ed Wood (1994)
Black Dynamite (2009)
Bride Of The Monster (1955) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Glen Or Glenda (1953)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Frankenweenie (2012)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Dumb And Dumber (1994)
Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
The Mask (1994)
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Scream (1996)
Evil Laugh (1986)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Clerks (1994)
The Search For One-Eye Jimmy (1994)
Cabin Boy (1994)
Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Scary Movie 4...
- 1/17/2023
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Who can forget Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” that cheeky work of early-18th-century satire in which the author had the nerve to suggest cannibalism as a means of keeping Ireland’s unwanted kids “from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick”? In “Plan 75,” debuting director Chie Hayakawa floats an equally extreme idea of her own without so much as a glimmer of irony, and the suggestion is upsetting enough that the public will likely still be citing it decades down the road. Set in near-future Japan, where it’s a surplus of seniors — versus an abundance of babies — that’s causing trouble, this chilling social drama takes its name from a hypothetical new legislation whereby an overtaxed government offers its elderly citizens an incentive to euthanize.
Candidates, who must be at least 75 years of age, will be offered a...
Candidates, who must be at least 75 years of age, will be offered a...
- 10/14/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
In David Cronenberg’s latest genre twister, Crimes of the Future, Viggo Mortensen and Lea Seydoux plays partners who are performance artists, engrossed in performing surgery (largely on the former) for public nightclub spectacle. They’re enthralled with the freedom they can take on each other’s bodies. All of this in a governing society that’s not too fond of it.
The Neon release opens on June 3 at a time when Roe vs. Wade is in jeopardy at Scotus.
Cronenberg acknowledged at the Cannes Film Festival press conference that the movie “addresses, though not overtly political way, the question of who owns whose body.”
“I did write it 20 years ago, but you can feel that this was coming, this kind of oppressive ownership and control,” said the filmmaker about how issues of rights over one’s body against ruling governments hasn’t gone away. “It’s a constant in...
The Neon release opens on June 3 at a time when Roe vs. Wade is in jeopardy at Scotus.
Cronenberg acknowledged at the Cannes Film Festival press conference that the movie “addresses, though not overtly political way, the question of who owns whose body.”
“I did write it 20 years ago, but you can feel that this was coming, this kind of oppressive ownership and control,” said the filmmaker about how issues of rights over one’s body against ruling governments hasn’t gone away. “It’s a constant in...
- 5/24/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
The very first film produced under the Studio Ghibli banner was Hayao Miyazaki's "Castle in the Sky" in 1986. Miyazaki's screenplay was based partly on Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel "Gulliver's Travels," which featured a floating island called Laputa populated by a people known as the Balnibarbi, who have devoted their lives to academics and the arts. In keeping with Swift's satirical nature, the Balnibarbi were also completely useless, having found no practical use for their studies. Miyazaki depicted Laputa has having long been abandoned, now only overseen by rusty, ancient robots. Miyazaki told most of Laputa's story through its design, and was careful to include visual references to...
The post Studio Ghibli's Scripting Process Is Practically Nonexistent appeared first on /Film.
The post Studio Ghibli's Scripting Process Is Practically Nonexistent appeared first on /Film.
- 5/17/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
“Gulliver Returns,” a Ukrainian-produced animation film, will be released in the U.S. following a deal between Shout! Studios and sales agent All Rights Entertainment.
The film is adapted from the Jonathan Swift 18th century satire “Gulliver’s Travels” and adopts the framing conceived by Ukraine’s actor-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky’s that Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage.
A new synopsis has world traveler, giant and adventurer Gulliver invited to return to Lilliput, the town he previously saved from the enemy fleet of the neighboring Blefuscu. But when Gulliver returns as an ordinary man, the town folks are less than welcoming. Meanwhile, the invincible Blefuscu armada is at the gates of the city and threatening another attack. Gulliver will have to prove that it is not necessary to be a giant to do great things, but that a little bit of luck, bravery,...
The film is adapted from the Jonathan Swift 18th century satire “Gulliver’s Travels” and adopts the framing conceived by Ukraine’s actor-turned-president Volodymyr Zelensky’s that Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage.
A new synopsis has world traveler, giant and adventurer Gulliver invited to return to Lilliput, the town he previously saved from the enemy fleet of the neighboring Blefuscu. But when Gulliver returns as an ordinary man, the town folks are less than welcoming. Meanwhile, the invincible Blefuscu armada is at the gates of the city and threatening another attack. Gulliver will have to prove that it is not necessary to be a giant to do great things, but that a little bit of luck, bravery,...
- 5/4/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Producers of Ukrainian animated film “Gulliver Returns” will use earnings from further sales on the film to support their country’s defense against Russia.
Oleg Khodachuk, producer of the film through the company Gulliver Films, said: “‘Gulliver Returns’ is based on [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s idea and his ideal: that Jonathan Swift’s classic character Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage. And in the context of the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia, its story of the small country of Liliput being threatened by the invasion of the imposing Blefuscu army, takes on a new resonance.”
The film has already sold to Germany (Telepool), U.K. (Signature), Canada (Tva), Latin America (Imagem), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Italy (102 Distribution), West Asia and North Africa (Phars Films), Australia/Nz (Rialto Distribution), Taiwan (Av Jet), Vietnam (Viettel), Hungary (Ads), and more.
“All money generated from the...
Oleg Khodachuk, producer of the film through the company Gulliver Films, said: “‘Gulliver Returns’ is based on [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s idea and his ideal: that Jonathan Swift’s classic character Gulliver is not a giant in size, but a giant in heart and courage. And in the context of the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia, its story of the small country of Liliput being threatened by the invasion of the imposing Blefuscu army, takes on a new resonance.”
The film has already sold to Germany (Telepool), U.K. (Signature), Canada (Tva), Latin America (Imagem), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Italy (102 Distribution), West Asia and North Africa (Phars Films), Australia/Nz (Rialto Distribution), Taiwan (Av Jet), Vietnam (Viettel), Hungary (Ads), and more.
“All money generated from the...
- 3/4/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Writer/director Guillermo del Toro discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh and Joe.
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Drive My Car (2021)
Wicked Woman (1953) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Modern Times (1936)
City Lights (1931)
The Great Dictator (1940)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Young And The Damned (1950)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Golem (1920) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)
Alucarda (1977)
Greed (1924) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
District 9 (2009) – John Sayles...
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Drive My Car (2021)
Wicked Woman (1953) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Modern Times (1936)
City Lights (1931)
The Great Dictator (1940)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Young And The Damned (1950)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Golem (1920) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)
Alucarda (1977)
Greed (1924) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
District 9 (2009) – John Sayles...
- 1/25/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Created by author/historian Xavier Dollo and illustrator Djibril Morissette-Phan, the graphic novel The History of Science Fiction will be released on November 23rd by Humanoids, and we've been provided with exclusive preview pages that explore the origins of Mary Shelley's groundbreaking novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
You can check out our exclusive excerpt below, and to learn more about The History of Science Fiction, visit:
https://www.humanoids.com/y_catalog/book/id/1176
This November Humanoids, the publisher of some of the world’s most iconic and groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy graphic novels, will release The History Of Science Fiction from author/historian Xavier Dollo and illustrator Djibril Morissette-Phan. For the first time in illustrated form, this comprehensive history of science fiction traces its origins and, in fascinating detail, charts its history from its beginnings as a “schlock” genre to its respected status today.
Who is...
You can check out our exclusive excerpt below, and to learn more about The History of Science Fiction, visit:
https://www.humanoids.com/y_catalog/book/id/1176
This November Humanoids, the publisher of some of the world’s most iconic and groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy graphic novels, will release The History Of Science Fiction from author/historian Xavier Dollo and illustrator Djibril Morissette-Phan. For the first time in illustrated form, this comprehensive history of science fiction traces its origins and, in fascinating detail, charts its history from its beginnings as a “schlock” genre to its respected status today.
Who is...
- 11/16/2021
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
A day after the European premiere of season three of his HBO series Succession at the London Film Festival, the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, took to the stage with comedian Nish Kumar to discuss the art of screenwriting.
In between dispensing pearls of wisdom for aspiring comedy writers, Armstrong recalled a varied and eclectic career that, surprisingly, began on children’s TV with shows such as ITV’s My Parents Are Aliens and BBC’s The Queen’s Nose.
Armstrong discussed his work with veteran writing partner Sam Bain, recalling how an unsuccessful pitch for a stoner comedy called Spencer, about a “mildly sarcastic” video store clerk, was a rare misfire for the duo, who went on to create popular Channel 4 shows such as Peep Show and Fresh Meat. They would go on to collaborate with Armando Iannucci on BBC’s...
In between dispensing pearls of wisdom for aspiring comedy writers, Armstrong recalled a varied and eclectic career that, surprisingly, began on children’s TV with shows such as ITV’s My Parents Are Aliens and BBC’s The Queen’s Nose.
Armstrong discussed his work with veteran writing partner Sam Bain, recalling how an unsuccessful pitch for a stoner comedy called Spencer, about a “mildly sarcastic” video store clerk, was a rare misfire for the duo, who went on to create popular Channel 4 shows such as Peep Show and Fresh Meat. They would go on to collaborate with Armando Iannucci on BBC’s...
- 10/16/2021
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
The soundtrack to the Terayama Shūji theatrical play Nuhikun – Directions to Servants, by the legendary Tenjō Sajiki troupe, will be released for the first time on vinyl via Devoted Art Propaganda. The album marks the first official release of music for Tenjō Sajiki’s plays outside of Japan. The premiere is set for 19 October 2021 following a debut stream during InlanDimensions International Arts Festival 2021. The album will be released in 2×12” gatefold vinyl format and limited to 300 copies.
J.A. Seazer is a critically renowned film and theatre music composer, as well as co-director of Terayama Shūji plays and leader of the theatre troupe Laboratory of Theatre Play Ban’yū Inryoku. Seazer combines experimental rock with avant-garde theatre. His major music compositions include Heretics (1971), Ship of Fools (1976), Shintokumaru (1978). He also composed music for Terayama’s feature films such as Boxer (1977), Death in the Country (1974) and Farewell to the Ark (1984). It’s his rock...
J.A. Seazer is a critically renowned film and theatre music composer, as well as co-director of Terayama Shūji plays and leader of the theatre troupe Laboratory of Theatre Play Ban’yū Inryoku. Seazer combines experimental rock with avant-garde theatre. His major music compositions include Heretics (1971), Ship of Fools (1976), Shintokumaru (1978). He also composed music for Terayama’s feature films such as Boxer (1977), Death in the Country (1974) and Farewell to the Ark (1984). It’s his rock...
- 9/10/2021
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
“Release the Krakken!”
No! You don’t have to travel to Scotland to see the original sculptures and models created by Ray Harryhausen. Just visit the ‘Ray Harryhausen – Titan of Cinema’ Virtual Exhibit at the National Galleries of Scotland. But tickets for the virtual tour Here
In films spanning five decades Harryhausen breathed life into his foam latex creations through the process of stop-motion animation. He set them among living actors to create fantastical creatures that enchanted and terrified audiences worldwide. His film credits include classics such as Jason and the Argonauts, with its uncanny sword-fighting skeletons and towering living statue Talos, and Clash of the Titans featuring Medusa, one of the most frightening and iconic monsters to slither across the flickering screen.
Although the sources for Harryhausen’s monsters often came from existing material – from myths and legends, the fantastic literature of H.G. Wells (First Men in the Moon...
No! You don’t have to travel to Scotland to see the original sculptures and models created by Ray Harryhausen. Just visit the ‘Ray Harryhausen – Titan of Cinema’ Virtual Exhibit at the National Galleries of Scotland. But tickets for the virtual tour Here
In films spanning five decades Harryhausen breathed life into his foam latex creations through the process of stop-motion animation. He set them among living actors to create fantastical creatures that enchanted and terrified audiences worldwide. His film credits include classics such as Jason and the Argonauts, with its uncanny sword-fighting skeletons and towering living statue Talos, and Clash of the Titans featuring Medusa, one of the most frightening and iconic monsters to slither across the flickering screen.
Although the sources for Harryhausen’s monsters often came from existing material – from myths and legends, the fantastic literature of H.G. Wells (First Men in the Moon...
- 8/17/2021
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Hong Kong- and Paris-based sales company All Rights Entertainment has teamed up with the Reface face-swapping app to launch high-profile indie animation “Gulliver Returns” at the European Film Market.
The English-language film was initially launched for pre-sales at the American Film Market in November 2019. It was completed last month at the Animation Studio 95 in Ukraine and will make its debut as a finished movie at the EFM, with a market screening on Tuesday.
The film is supervised by animation director Tony Bonilla. The English-language film, directed by Ilya Maksimov, and written by Emmy-nominated Michael Ryan.
Reface, an A.I.-powered face-swapping app previously know as Doublicat, was recently among the top three most shares apps on Apple’s AppStore behind TikTok and Instagram. It has been downloaded close to 50 million times.
The EFM’s new director was among the first to try it out. “It is an innovative tool to...
The English-language film was initially launched for pre-sales at the American Film Market in November 2019. It was completed last month at the Animation Studio 95 in Ukraine and will make its debut as a finished movie at the EFM, with a market screening on Tuesday.
The film is supervised by animation director Tony Bonilla. The English-language film, directed by Ilya Maksimov, and written by Emmy-nominated Michael Ryan.
Reface, an A.I.-powered face-swapping app previously know as Doublicat, was recently among the top three most shares apps on Apple’s AppStore behind TikTok and Instagram. It has been downloaded close to 50 million times.
The EFM’s new director was among the first to try it out. “It is an innovative tool to...
- 3/1/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Late-Night Laughs is Deadline’s weekly look at the business of jokes after dark. We focus on the biggest topics in the world of late-night, the people who make these shows tick and the moments that go viral. Drop me a line at pwhite@deadline.com with tips or suggestions.
This week, we hear from Ziwe Fumudoh about her new Showtime series, her hot take on the state of satire and how she’s the latest figure to join the late-night “renaissance”. We also look at how Jimmy Kimmel Live is quietly creeping up in the ratings and hear from Trevor Noah, who is set to pull double duty with a new weekly show on Paramount+ alongside his daily show.
Ziwe: Pushing Late-night Boundaries
Ziwe Fumudoh is well versed in the world of late-night, having interned on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to writing on The Rundown with Robin Thede and Desus & Mero.
This week, we hear from Ziwe Fumudoh about her new Showtime series, her hot take on the state of satire and how she’s the latest figure to join the late-night “renaissance”. We also look at how Jimmy Kimmel Live is quietly creeping up in the ratings and hear from Trevor Noah, who is set to pull double duty with a new weekly show on Paramount+ alongside his daily show.
Ziwe: Pushing Late-night Boundaries
Ziwe Fumudoh is well versed in the world of late-night, having interned on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to writing on The Rundown with Robin Thede and Desus & Mero.
- 2/26/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Davide Maldi's The Young Observant is exclusively showing on Mubi in most countries starting October 29, 2020 in the series Viewfinder. Maldi generously shared with us an excerpt from his logbook and inspirational images from his movie's production.Standing straight! standing straight! Stand still.Stand still! Stand still! Standing straight.Day one, end of March 2017. After a long exchange of emails with the director of the Mellerio Rosmini Hospitality Training Institute, I arrived for the first time at the institute in Domodossola.I have been given the opportunity to visit this fascinating 19th century building and observe some lessons with the students. For the previous three months, I was visiting other institutes in the north of Italy. Domodossola is a very small town near the Swiss border, surrounded—almost guarded—by the Alps. Here, until recent times, there weren’t many options for those who wanted to get away, and one...
- 10/16/2020
- MUBI
Babies and tamales are flying all over the place as Shameless finds some crazy ways to bring the Gallaghers closer together.
facebook
twitter
tumblr
This Shameless review contains spoilers.
Shameless Season 10 Episode 6
“There’s no room for sentiment in business.”
This season of Shameless has jumped all over the place in terms of its storytelling. It’s now at the half-way point and while there have been definite growing pains for these characters, one of the common denominators this year is that the need for money is making these people do crazy things. This has been a sliding scale of craziness so far, but that’s now been pushed to an extreme place. I was nearly expecting Frank Gallagher to pop out of a closing iris at the end of the episode and declare, “Th-Th-Th-That’s all folks!”
Shameless has been playing with some rather broad storylines this season, but...
tumblr
This Shameless review contains spoilers.
Shameless Season 10 Episode 6
“There’s no room for sentiment in business.”
This season of Shameless has jumped all over the place in terms of its storytelling. It’s now at the half-way point and while there have been definite growing pains for these characters, one of the common denominators this year is that the need for money is making these people do crazy things. This has been a sliding scale of craziness so far, but that’s now been pushed to an extreme place. I was nearly expecting Frank Gallagher to pop out of a closing iris at the end of the episode and declare, “Th-Th-Th-That’s all folks!”
Shameless has been playing with some rather broad storylines this season, but...
- 12/15/2019
- Den of Geek
In his new film “L’apprendistato” (“The Young Observant”), which premiered at the 72nd Locarno Festival in the Cineasti del presente competition, Italian filmmaker Davide Maldi explores a crucial moment in a young life as a teenage boy is forced to grow up after enrolling at a prestigious hotel and catering school.
Building on his background as an artist outside of the cinema — as well as citing Jonathan Swift’s 18th-century book “Directions to Servants” as a source of inspiration — Maldi approached a small group of artists from non-cinematic disciplines in making the film, a quiet, involving story which he shot alone within a carefully-selected educational facility frozen in time, ruled by tradition and discipline.
The result is a well-composed mix of meticulously curated visuals and a rhythmic score, evoking the anxiously anticipated rite of passage that connects to the author’s general focus on coming-of-age, “L’apprendistato” being the...
Building on his background as an artist outside of the cinema — as well as citing Jonathan Swift’s 18th-century book “Directions to Servants” as a source of inspiration — Maldi approached a small group of artists from non-cinematic disciplines in making the film, a quiet, involving story which he shot alone within a carefully-selected educational facility frozen in time, ruled by tradition and discipline.
The result is a well-composed mix of meticulously curated visuals and a rhythmic score, evoking the anxiously anticipated rite of passage that connects to the author’s general focus on coming-of-age, “L’apprendistato” being the...
- 8/12/2019
- by Linda Keršnerová and Wilfred Okiche
- Variety Film + TV
Chuck Mead roars back with a blast of rocking honky-tonk, Erin Enderlin pours a potent whiskey and Cobie Caillat’s new band Gone West make their debut in this week’s list of the best country and Americana tracks.
Sam Williams, “Gemini”
Hank Williams Jr.’s 22-year-old son bridges the gap between astrology and Americana with this nuanced, nocturnal-sounding anthem about humans’ dual nature. “I’ve been a jailbird, I’ve been a scholar; turned a pure Catholic girl into the devil’s daughter,” he sings over stomp-clap percussion and a minor-key chord progression,...
Sam Williams, “Gemini”
Hank Williams Jr.’s 22-year-old son bridges the gap between astrology and Americana with this nuanced, nocturnal-sounding anthem about humans’ dual nature. “I’ve been a jailbird, I’ve been a scholar; turned a pure Catholic girl into the devil’s daughter,” he sings over stomp-clap percussion and a minor-key chord progression,...
- 6/28/2019
- by Robert Crawford
- Rollingstone.com
Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz in the film The Favourite. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone face off as rivals for the queen’s favor, in the hilarious dark historic comedy The Favourite. This satiric romp mixes bedroom farce, biting satiric wit and history with a touch of the tragic for a very entertaining excursion into rapier wit. Of the two historical films released this week, this is the fun one, while the other is drama. Still, this fact-based story has its serious and tragic undertones. Set in early 18th century Britain in the reign of Queen Anne, The Favourite is a wild ride, a battle of wits and ambition at court mixing history and comedy in a way that brings to mind Jane Austen crossed with Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon with a dash of Moliere.
Watching these...
Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone face off as rivals for the queen’s favor, in the hilarious dark historic comedy The Favourite. This satiric romp mixes bedroom farce, biting satiric wit and history with a touch of the tragic for a very entertaining excursion into rapier wit. Of the two historical films released this week, this is the fun one, while the other is drama. Still, this fact-based story has its serious and tragic undertones. Set in early 18th century Britain in the reign of Queen Anne, The Favourite is a wild ride, a battle of wits and ambition at court mixing history and comedy in a way that brings to mind Jane Austen crossed with Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon with a dash of Moliere.
Watching these...
- 12/14/2018
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” Emma Stone plays Abigail Masham, the daughter of a disgraced lord who makes a Walter White-esque rise to the top of Queen Anne’s court…at the cost of her morals.
It’s a chilling tale of how corruption and deception can take over a person obsessed with power, but was the real Abigail Masham really like that?
Did she manipulate and betray Sarah Churchill, the woman that took her into Queen Anne’s inner circle, to protect the status she rose to by gaining Queen Anne’s favor?
Also Read: 'The Favourite' Fact Check: Was Queen Anne Really Lesbian?
Historians have had a hard time tracking Abigail’s rise to power, as there is very little historical record of her from court letters and documents. But there are some major differences between some parts of her life that are known and how...
It’s a chilling tale of how corruption and deception can take over a person obsessed with power, but was the real Abigail Masham really like that?
Did she manipulate and betray Sarah Churchill, the woman that took her into Queen Anne’s inner circle, to protect the status she rose to by gaining Queen Anne’s favor?
Also Read: 'The Favourite' Fact Check: Was Queen Anne Really Lesbian?
Historians have had a hard time tracking Abigail’s rise to power, as there is very little historical record of her from court letters and documents. But there are some major differences between some parts of her life that are known and how...
- 12/4/2018
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Alongside Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Roma,” Thursday’s other must-see premiere at the Venice film festival was “The Favourite,” an 18th-century royal farce from off-beat Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Olivia Colman plays England’s sickly Queen Anne (a distant relation to the current monarch who she will portray in “The Crown”). Oscar winner Rachel Weisz is the ruler’s manipulative favorite, Lady Marlborough. Another Oscar champ, Emma Stone, is Weisz’s noblewoman cousin, Abigail, who has fallen on hard times.
SEECheck out this gallery of fashions worn by stars at the Venice film fest
“Think ‘Mean Girls’ written by Jonathan Swift,” declared Cinevie’s John Bleasdale, who positively swooned over the palace intrigue and praised all the three actresses: “The plotting is of the conniving “Dangerous Liaisons”–style, with everyone after their own agenda: all smiles and tears are fake and the innocent, the most deadly of the species. Lanthimos gives...
SEECheck out this gallery of fashions worn by stars at the Venice film fest
“Think ‘Mean Girls’ written by Jonathan Swift,” declared Cinevie’s John Bleasdale, who positively swooned over the palace intrigue and praised all the three actresses: “The plotting is of the conniving “Dangerous Liaisons”–style, with everyone after their own agenda: all smiles and tears are fake and the innocent, the most deadly of the species. Lanthimos gives...
- 8/30/2018
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Illustration by Mark Summers for Rolling Stone
On July 21st, 2016 – at a time when nearly every political pundit and member of the mainstream media thought that Donald Trump didn't have even a chance of beating Hillary Clinton – Michael Moore went public with his belief that the Republican candidate was going to win. "You are living in a bubble that comes with an adjoining echo chamber where you and your friends are convinced the American people are not going to elect an idiot for president," he wrote in a pleading messages to Americans,...
On July 21st, 2016 – at a time when nearly every political pundit and member of the mainstream media thought that Donald Trump didn't have even a chance of beating Hillary Clinton – Michael Moore went public with his belief that the Republican candidate was going to win. "You are living in a bubble that comes with an adjoining echo chamber where you and your friends are convinced the American people are not going to elect an idiot for president," he wrote in a pleading messages to Americans,...
- 11/16/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Since the early days of home video Ray Harryhausen’s films have been a lightning rod for companies eager to one-up the competition with bigger and brighter releases of the beloved animator’s work. Located in the UK, Powerhouse/Indicator is the latest to jump on the bandwagon with lavishly appointed blu ray sets each featuring three of his films. Though all these movies have been previously released through other companies, Powerhouse has upped the ante with fresh transfers and a broad slate of new extras.
The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Vol. One: 1955-1960
Blu-ray – All Region
Powerhouse/Indicator
2001 / 1:85 / Street Date September 25, 2017
Starring Kenneth Tobey, William Hopper, Kerwin Matthews
Cinematography: Henry Freulich, Irving Lippman, Carlo Ventimiglia, Wilkie Cooper
Film Editor: Jerome Thoms, Edwin H. Bryant, Raymond Poulton
Produced by Sam Katzman, Charles H. Schneer
Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff, Bernard Herrmann
Directed by Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Jack Sher
It Came from Beneath the Sea...
The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Vol. One: 1955-1960
Blu-ray – All Region
Powerhouse/Indicator
2001 / 1:85 / Street Date September 25, 2017
Starring Kenneth Tobey, William Hopper, Kerwin Matthews
Cinematography: Henry Freulich, Irving Lippman, Carlo Ventimiglia, Wilkie Cooper
Film Editor: Jerome Thoms, Edwin H. Bryant, Raymond Poulton
Produced by Sam Katzman, Charles H. Schneer
Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff, Bernard Herrmann
Directed by Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Jack Sher
It Came from Beneath the Sea...
- 9/30/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Don Kaye Apr 3, 2019
Over 50 years later, the original 1968 movie Planet of the Apes still feels revolutionary.
It was in January 1963 when French author Pierre Boulle (The Bridge On the River Kwai) published a slim novel titled Le Planete des Singes, known internationally as Monkey Planet or Planet of the Apes when it was published later that year in the U.S. Boulle wanted to write less of a science fiction novel and more of a social satire in the style of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Nevertheless, he used the template of sci-fi to tell the story of astronaut Ulysse Merou, who travels near the speed of light to the star Betelgeuse in the year 2500, where he becomes trapped on a planet that is ruled by intelligent, civilized apes while humans are mute savages -- and where he must prove he is different.
Boulle could not have known that...
Over 50 years later, the original 1968 movie Planet of the Apes still feels revolutionary.
It was in January 1963 when French author Pierre Boulle (The Bridge On the River Kwai) published a slim novel titled Le Planete des Singes, known internationally as Monkey Planet or Planet of the Apes when it was published later that year in the U.S. Boulle wanted to write less of a science fiction novel and more of a social satire in the style of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Nevertheless, he used the template of sci-fi to tell the story of astronaut Ulysse Merou, who travels near the speed of light to the star Betelgeuse in the year 2500, where he becomes trapped on a planet that is ruled by intelligent, civilized apes while humans are mute savages -- and where he must prove he is different.
Boulle could not have known that...
- 7/11/2017
- Den of Geek
Ryan Lambie Jul 7, 2017
To tie in with the Into The Unknown exhibition, on now at London's Barbican, we look at how sci-fi has become a major cultural force...
It's not always easy being geeky. The celebrated genre writer Ray Bradbury knew this all too well; as a kid growing up in the 1920s and 30s, he was intoxicated by all things otherworldly and imaginative: classic horror movies, pulp sci-fi stories about Mars, comic strips detailing the exploits of Buck Rogers. Eventually, Bradbury's peers teased him mercilessly, until, in a bid to fit in, he ripped his Buck Rogers comics to shreds. But far from helping the young Bradbury draw a line under his obsessions, the destruction of his beloved comics left him feeling unhappy and soulless.
See related Twin Peaks season 3 episode 8 review: Gotta Light? Twin Peaks season 3 episode 7 review: There’s A Body All Right Twin Peaks season 3 episode...
To tie in with the Into The Unknown exhibition, on now at London's Barbican, we look at how sci-fi has become a major cultural force...
It's not always easy being geeky. The celebrated genre writer Ray Bradbury knew this all too well; as a kid growing up in the 1920s and 30s, he was intoxicated by all things otherworldly and imaginative: classic horror movies, pulp sci-fi stories about Mars, comic strips detailing the exploits of Buck Rogers. Eventually, Bradbury's peers teased him mercilessly, until, in a bid to fit in, he ripped his Buck Rogers comics to shreds. But far from helping the young Bradbury draw a line under his obsessions, the destruction of his beloved comics left him feeling unhappy and soulless.
See related Twin Peaks season 3 episode 8 review: Gotta Light? Twin Peaks season 3 episode 7 review: There’s A Body All Right Twin Peaks season 3 episode...
- 7/4/2017
- Den of Geek
“The gods of Greece are cruel! In time, all men shall learn to live without them.”
Sunday, May 7 marks the 4th anniversary of the legendary visual effects guru Ray Harryhausen’s death. Read what We Are Movie Geeks thinks are Harryhausen’s top ten films Here
To celebrate this master of illusion, Comet TV (www.COMETtv.com) is running a Ray Harryhausen Marathon of movies on Sunday, May 7 beginning at 11:30am Est/8:30am Pst. The complete marathon will run as follows:
11:30am Est / 10:30am Ct / 8:30am Pst – The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
In many ways the ultimate combination of stop motion animation, adventure, and overall production quality, 7th Voyage Of Sinbad is still one of Harryhausen’s most popular works. It was also a turning point for Harryhausen, establishing the framework for not only his other Sinbad films, but all animated adventure films in general...
Sunday, May 7 marks the 4th anniversary of the legendary visual effects guru Ray Harryhausen’s death. Read what We Are Movie Geeks thinks are Harryhausen’s top ten films Here
To celebrate this master of illusion, Comet TV (www.COMETtv.com) is running a Ray Harryhausen Marathon of movies on Sunday, May 7 beginning at 11:30am Est/8:30am Pst. The complete marathon will run as follows:
11:30am Est / 10:30am Ct / 8:30am Pst – The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
In many ways the ultimate combination of stop motion animation, adventure, and overall production quality, 7th Voyage Of Sinbad is still one of Harryhausen’s most popular works. It was also a turning point for Harryhausen, establishing the framework for not only his other Sinbad films, but all animated adventure films in general...
- 5/5/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“You don’t have to have a true story to make a true story movie.”
Noah Hawley’s acclaimed midwestern crime anthology Fargo returns to FX this week, along with my enthusiasm for saying oh yah and you betcha to anyone with the gall to speak to me when I would rather be watching Fargo. In my defence there are not one, but two, gloriously bad Ewan McGregor wigs. Truly, Hawley is doing the Lord’s work. Season three is set in the not too distant past of 2010, and follows the tried-and-true template of a ridiculously stacked ensemble of endearing (and woefully misguided) ne’er do wells gradually bungling their way into a shit show of their own design. As with each of the previous installments, least of all the Coen Brothers’ original 1996 film, the opening of this week’s episode features the following superimposed text:
This is a true story. The...
Noah Hawley’s acclaimed midwestern crime anthology Fargo returns to FX this week, along with my enthusiasm for saying oh yah and you betcha to anyone with the gall to speak to me when I would rather be watching Fargo. In my defence there are not one, but two, gloriously bad Ewan McGregor wigs. Truly, Hawley is doing the Lord’s work. Season three is set in the not too distant past of 2010, and follows the tried-and-true template of a ridiculously stacked ensemble of endearing (and woefully misguided) ne’er do wells gradually bungling their way into a shit show of their own design. As with each of the previous installments, least of all the Coen Brothers’ original 1996 film, the opening of this week’s episode features the following superimposed text:
This is a true story. The...
- 4/20/2017
- by Meg Shields
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Jason Isaacs as Dr. Volmer in A Cure for WellnessIt starts with a whispered melody. It will send frissons of familiarity, of a kind of upsetting longing for clarity. You know that song the odd English girl is singing, but you can't place it. Neither can Lockhart (Dane DeHaan, who they might have called Lockjaw, as he can barely seem to spit his words out), which is what draws him into the guts of a mystery. And it draws the film into a slithering spiral, compels us to observe an autopsy of modern horror. What half-remembered giallo fugue is Gore Verbinski spooning up for us like medicine, pinioned to our chairs like one of the zombie patients in the film’s sinister clinic? A puzzle picture, a conspiracy thriller, a kind of baroque classical nightmare, A Cure For Wellness is too sturdy, busy and sure of itself to be much of a horror film.
- 2/22/2017
- MUBI
After a childhood under Nazi occupation, the director has made a career of laying bare society’s cruelty. Revenge drama Elle is his latest message from the danger zone
Jonathan Swift insisted his intention was not to entertain but to unsettle, “to vex the world rather than divert it”. Today, we have few satirists worth the name, few artists willing – let alone eager – to alienate audiences in order to nudge them into contemplating society’s hypocrisies and their own role in them. One film-maker, however, has made a career out of whipping away the upholstered chair of diversion to leave viewers nursing a butt-hurt sense of vexation: Paul Verhoeven. After a decade’s hiatus, he’s back on the big screen with Elle, a characteristically provocative rape-revenge drama laced with black comedy. And we need him more than ever.
Related: Elle review: Paul Verhoeven's brazen rape revenge comedy is a dangerous delight
Continue reading.
Jonathan Swift insisted his intention was not to entertain but to unsettle, “to vex the world rather than divert it”. Today, we have few satirists worth the name, few artists willing – let alone eager – to alienate audiences in order to nudge them into contemplating society’s hypocrisies and their own role in them. One film-maker, however, has made a career out of whipping away the upholstered chair of diversion to leave viewers nursing a butt-hurt sense of vexation: Paul Verhoeven. After a decade’s hiatus, he’s back on the big screen with Elle, a characteristically provocative rape-revenge drama laced with black comedy. And we need him more than ever.
Related: Elle review: Paul Verhoeven's brazen rape revenge comedy is a dangerous delight
Continue reading.
- 2/3/2017
- by Ben Walters
- The Guardian - Film News
Ray Harryhausen eases up for his second color Dynamation feature, restricting the stop-motion and instead utilizing traveling mattes to make a more juvenile adventure movie for smaller kiddies. The big draw is the beautiful music score by fantasy favorite Bernard Herrmann.
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1960 / Color / 1:66 & 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Kerwin Matthews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Sherry Alberoni, Lee Patterson, Gregoire Aslan, Basil Sydney, Peter Bull, Charles Lloyd Pack, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Doris Lloyd, Joan Hickson, Noel Purcell.
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Original Music Bernard Herrmann
Creator of Special Visual Effects Ray Harryhausen
Written by Arthur Ross, Jack Sher based on the book by Jonathan Swift
Produced by Charles H. Schneer
Directed by Jack Sher
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer and Dynamation go tame — unlike...
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1960 / Color / 1:66 & 1:78 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date December 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring Kerwin Matthews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Sherry Alberoni, Lee Patterson, Gregoire Aslan, Basil Sydney, Peter Bull, Charles Lloyd Pack, Martin Benson, Alec Mango, Doris Lloyd, Joan Hickson, Noel Purcell.
Cinematography Wilkie Cooper
Original Music Bernard Herrmann
Creator of Special Visual Effects Ray Harryhausen
Written by Arthur Ross, Jack Sher based on the book by Jonathan Swift
Produced by Charles H. Schneer
Directed by Jack Sher
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In The 3 Worlds of Gulliver Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer and Dynamation go tame — unlike...
- 12/19/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ryan Lambie Sep 13, 2016
In 1986, Hayao Miyazaki released one of his very best films. We look back at the lasting power and influence of Laputa: Castle In The Sky.
How does humanity quench its thirst for progress while at the same time protecting the environment? Can technology and nature exist side by side, or will our destructive tendencies always get in the way? Those are questions that underscore many of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, from the lighter-than-air eco fable Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind to his final animated feature, The Wind Rises.
In Miyazaki’s work, there’s a constant tension at play between nature and machines, between the tranquility of rural Japan and the industrial revolution of its post war era. The son of an aeronautical engineer, Miyazaki grew up as Japan rebuilt itself in the middle of the 20th century; he was born into a generation with...
In 1986, Hayao Miyazaki released one of his very best films. We look back at the lasting power and influence of Laputa: Castle In The Sky.
How does humanity quench its thirst for progress while at the same time protecting the environment? Can technology and nature exist side by side, or will our destructive tendencies always get in the way? Those are questions that underscore many of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, from the lighter-than-air eco fable Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind to his final animated feature, The Wind Rises.
In Miyazaki’s work, there’s a constant tension at play between nature and machines, between the tranquility of rural Japan and the industrial revolution of its post war era. The son of an aeronautical engineer, Miyazaki grew up as Japan rebuilt itself in the middle of the 20th century; he was born into a generation with...
- 9/7/2016
- Den of Geek
"I think people are expecting Edward Snowden to walk out on stage right now," Michael Moore joked from the stage at the Toronto International Film Festival, in an introduction that doubled as a public apology. He understood that, when you name your latest project Where to Invade Next and slap a kitschy picture of the Joint Chiefs of Staff above your fest's catalog blurb, it's bound to suggest any number of things: a take-no-prisoners takedown of America's military-industrial complex; a scathing indictment of our nation's perpetual-war fetish; how the government...
- 9/13/2015
- Rollingstone.com
Big, grizzled, with spit and stubble, Orson Welles dismantled the notion of what a movie star should look like. As it returns to cinemas, Michael Newton celebrates his Touch of Evil, the last great film noir of Hollywood’s golden age
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver finds himself in the kingdom of Brobdingnag, where the people are 60ft tall. Scale is everything; blown up to gigantic proportions the human face becomes rough, pitted, the seemingly immaculate skin unmasked as imperfect. In the 20th century, Brobdingnag transformed into the picture house, a place for the pygmy public to stare up at the great stars. However, far from seeming less perfect, the enlarged human face seemed more wonderful, smoothed-out by celluloid, unattainable. Yet still strangeness clung to these super-sized persons, those colossal faces.
Welles understood this, and so returned us to the Swiftian vision. In his movies, the human...
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver finds himself in the kingdom of Brobdingnag, where the people are 60ft tall. Scale is everything; blown up to gigantic proportions the human face becomes rough, pitted, the seemingly immaculate skin unmasked as imperfect. In the 20th century, Brobdingnag transformed into the picture house, a place for the pygmy public to stare up at the great stars. However, far from seeming less perfect, the enlarged human face seemed more wonderful, smoothed-out by celluloid, unattainable. Yet still strangeness clung to these super-sized persons, those colossal faces.
Welles understood this, and so returned us to the Swiftian vision. In his movies, the human...
- 7/2/2015
- by Michael Newton
- The Guardian - Film News
Brian Yuzna's 1989 horror Society is out on Blu-ray from Arrow Films. Ryan takes a look back at a grotesque satire...
Bill Whitney’s just an ordinary American high school kid. Sure, he may live in a Beverly Hills mansion. He might drive a brand new Jeep to the beach. But deep down, he has the same hang-ups as most teenagers: he distrusts authority, resents his parents, and suspects that he might actually be adopted.
Gradually, however, we suspect that there might be something more to Billy’s paranoid fantasies than raging hormones - his parents really do seem to be up to something sinister - something to do with private parties, naked orgies, and shunting...
"We're just one big happy family... except for a little incest and psychosis"
Society stars Billy Warlock, a young actor fresh from TV shows like Days Of Our Lives. If this were a straight drama,...
Bill Whitney’s just an ordinary American high school kid. Sure, he may live in a Beverly Hills mansion. He might drive a brand new Jeep to the beach. But deep down, he has the same hang-ups as most teenagers: he distrusts authority, resents his parents, and suspects that he might actually be adopted.
Gradually, however, we suspect that there might be something more to Billy’s paranoid fantasies than raging hormones - his parents really do seem to be up to something sinister - something to do with private parties, naked orgies, and shunting...
"We're just one big happy family... except for a little incest and psychosis"
Society stars Billy Warlock, a young actor fresh from TV shows like Days Of Our Lives. If this were a straight drama,...
- 6/4/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Sci-fi anime space opera Space Dandy is on UK Netflix now. Ryan explains why it’s essential viewing, and shares his favourite episodes...
Continuity. Character arcs. Sub-plots and cliffhangers. They’re the bones on which a lot of great TV’s draped - the elements that have us rushing back to our favourite shows week after week, whether it’s House Of Cards, Attack On Titan or Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
But can a TV show blithely shun things like continuity and recognisable character arcs and still provide something reliably amusing, thrilling, even moving? Space Dandy, the animated series from Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Shamploo director Shinichiro Watanabe, plays fast and loose with the episodic TV format, frequently giving continuity short shrift, yet the result is one of the most fascinating anime shows I’ve seen in years.
To quote the opening credits sequence, Space Dandy is a dandy in space: a preening,...
Continuity. Character arcs. Sub-plots and cliffhangers. They’re the bones on which a lot of great TV’s draped - the elements that have us rushing back to our favourite shows week after week, whether it’s House Of Cards, Attack On Titan or Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
But can a TV show blithely shun things like continuity and recognisable character arcs and still provide something reliably amusing, thrilling, even moving? Space Dandy, the animated series from Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Shamploo director Shinichiro Watanabe, plays fast and loose with the episodic TV format, frequently giving continuity short shrift, yet the result is one of the most fascinating anime shows I’ve seen in years.
To quote the opening credits sequence, Space Dandy is a dandy in space: a preening,...
- 4/14/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
White God (Fehér isten) Magnolia Pictures Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya. Databased on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: A- Director: Kornél Mundruczó Screenwriter: Kata Weber, Viktoria Petranyi, Kornél Mundruczó Cast: Zsófia Psotta, Sándór Zóstér, Lili Monori, Szabolcs Thuróczy, Lili Horváth, Luke, Body Screened at: Review 2, NYC,3/4/15 Opens: March 27, 2015 The best political allegories—think George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” even J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings”—must not only hit hard against its targets but even more important must be rattling good stories as well. Kornél Mundruczó’s “White God,” or “Fehér isten” in its original Hungarian, may be admitted to that company. As political allegory, it preaches [ Read More ]
The post White God Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post White God Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 3/6/2015
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Quick…name a favorable film where the landscape is run by (or at least partially include) the demographic of little people as part of the instrumental storyline? C’mon…it should not be that difficult, okay? If you want to mention say Darby O’Gill and the Little People then that would fine. How about Bad Santa or Poltergeist for that matter?
In That’s Good Enough, Short Stuff: Top Ten Films Featuring Little People we will take a look at some of the mini megastars that inhabited these movies and contributed their fair share of entertainment value to the on-screen proceedings. The debate as to whether some of these selected films featuring these pint-sized performers are considered positive, exploitative or dismissive are not up for discussion (although one of these considerations could apply in the minds of a few folks). Instead, we want to celebrate the inclusion of...
In That’s Good Enough, Short Stuff: Top Ten Films Featuring Little People we will take a look at some of the mini megastars that inhabited these movies and contributed their fair share of entertainment value to the on-screen proceedings. The debate as to whether some of these selected films featuring these pint-sized performers are considered positive, exploitative or dismissive are not up for discussion (although one of these considerations could apply in the minds of a few folks). Instead, we want to celebrate the inclusion of...
- 1/26/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
Godzilla's cinematic return leaves James pondering the power of monster movies and how they give us a sense of perspective...
Feature
Human beings live little lives. We sweat the small stuff. We get bogged down in minor trivialities and teeny-tiny insignificances.
And then, oh my Godzilla, a gargantuan kaiju creature rises up and walks right through it all, stomping all over our little lives and smashing the feeble structures of our civilisation without any difficulty at all. When an almighty entity forces itself into the frame and presents a mortal threat, all the things that are amped up as 'big deals' cease to be 'big deals' as humans get a view of just how altogether small they really are.
By re-adjusting the scales, messing with proportional ratios and shifting paradigms, perspective is wholly altered. This is one of the great things about special effects cinema, or 'tokusatsu' to use the Japanese categorical term.
Feature
Human beings live little lives. We sweat the small stuff. We get bogged down in minor trivialities and teeny-tiny insignificances.
And then, oh my Godzilla, a gargantuan kaiju creature rises up and walks right through it all, stomping all over our little lives and smashing the feeble structures of our civilisation without any difficulty at all. When an almighty entity forces itself into the frame and presents a mortal threat, all the things that are amped up as 'big deals' cease to be 'big deals' as humans get a view of just how altogether small they really are.
By re-adjusting the scales, messing with proportional ratios and shifting paradigms, perspective is wholly altered. This is one of the great things about special effects cinema, or 'tokusatsu' to use the Japanese categorical term.
- 5/15/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Top 10 Ryan Lambie 22 Apr 2014 - 06:45
A hit in South Korea and France, Snowpiercer is still awaiting release in the Us and UK. Here's why you should look forward to it...
For a while there, it looked as though South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer would never get an official English-language release at all. Late last year, it emerged that Bong's ambitious science fiction film had been picked up for release in English-speaking countries by The Weinstein Company. When the Weinsteins, true to form, voiced their desire to produce a shorter version of Snowpiercer, the director understandably dug his heels in and refused to budge.
For several months, Snowpiercer hung in limbo, even as its release in territories like South Korea and France saw great financial returns and rave reviews. But in February this year, it was announced that Snowpiercer would be coming out after all, and oddly, in...
A hit in South Korea and France, Snowpiercer is still awaiting release in the Us and UK. Here's why you should look forward to it...
For a while there, it looked as though South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer would never get an official English-language release at all. Late last year, it emerged that Bong's ambitious science fiction film had been picked up for release in English-speaking countries by The Weinstein Company. When the Weinsteins, true to form, voiced their desire to produce a shorter version of Snowpiercer, the director understandably dug his heels in and refused to budge.
For several months, Snowpiercer hung in limbo, even as its release in territories like South Korea and France saw great financial returns and rave reviews. But in February this year, it was announced that Snowpiercer would be coming out after all, and oddly, in...
- 4/17/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
On Monday's (March 31) episode of "The Colbert Report," host Stephen Colbert got a chance to address the #CancelColbert controversy from last week, as this is the first new episode he has aired since it all went down.
It all started because of a tweet the Comedy Central-controlled Twitter account @ColbertReport made using a joke of Colbert's but posting it sans context or video link. Twitter went insane and it became a national story within a day.
In his response, Colbert neatly lambasts Twitter users, people who do not understand satire and the fact that perhaps what everyone should really be mad about is the PR stunt pulled by the owner of the Washington Redskins, which is the news story that kicked off this entire incident.
You should really just watch both videos to get a full idea of how Colbert responds, but here are a few highlights:
"[Ching-Chong Ding-Dong] is a character,...
It all started because of a tweet the Comedy Central-controlled Twitter account @ColbertReport made using a joke of Colbert's but posting it sans context or video link. Twitter went insane and it became a national story within a day.
In his response, Colbert neatly lambasts Twitter users, people who do not understand satire and the fact that perhaps what everyone should really be mad about is the PR stunt pulled by the owner of the Washington Redskins, which is the news story that kicked off this entire incident.
You should really just watch both videos to get a full idea of how Colbert responds, but here are a few highlights:
"[Ching-Chong Ding-Dong] is a character,...
- 4/1/2014
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Stars: Ali Faulkner, Johnny Walter, Derek Lee Nixon, Tory Tompkins, Gregory Kelly, Phillip Wolf, Jon Clinkenbeard, Katie Patterson | Written by Kim Henkel | Directed by Duane Graves, Justin Meeks
Kim Henkel, writer of the classic horror The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and writer/director of its third sequel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (although the less said about that the better), returns to the horror genre with Butcher Boys, his first feature in almost twenty years.
In 1729 Jonathan Swift published A Modest Proposal, a satirical tome in which he suggested Ireland offer up their children as food, using cannibalism as a metaphor for the exploitation of the poor by the rich. Well jump to 2014 and Butcher Boys takes this metaphorical concept and turns it into filmic terror as a birthday celebration at an upscale restaurant sets in motion events that bring a group of friends face to face with the macabre...
Kim Henkel, writer of the classic horror The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and writer/director of its third sequel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (although the less said about that the better), returns to the horror genre with Butcher Boys, his first feature in almost twenty years.
In 1729 Jonathan Swift published A Modest Proposal, a satirical tome in which he suggested Ireland offer up their children as food, using cannibalism as a metaphor for the exploitation of the poor by the rich. Well jump to 2014 and Butcher Boys takes this metaphorical concept and turns it into filmic terror as a birthday celebration at an upscale restaurant sets in motion events that bring a group of friends face to face with the macabre...
- 3/23/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Review written by Kevin Scott, MoreHorror.com
Butcher Boys escaped me early on, and I for sure did not know that it was from the mind of Kim Henkel, the writer of the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. I cannot begin to explain what high regard I have for that movie. Gritty 1970’s exploitation is my bag anyway, and that movie was a master stroke in the genre. It has only happened to a similar, but far lesser degree with “The Blair Witch Project” over twenty years later. Is it real? Did it actually happen? Am I going to be able to sit through this, or it is just going to be too much to take? TCM was like finding a filet mignon in a Spam can. I thought the meat metaphor would be appropriate. Brilliantly written, directed, and expertly shot by Daniel Pearl, with actors and locations whose deficiencies somehow became advantages.
Butcher Boys escaped me early on, and I for sure did not know that it was from the mind of Kim Henkel, the writer of the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. I cannot begin to explain what high regard I have for that movie. Gritty 1970’s exploitation is my bag anyway, and that movie was a master stroke in the genre. It has only happened to a similar, but far lesser degree with “The Blair Witch Project” over twenty years later. Is it real? Did it actually happen? Am I going to be able to sit through this, or it is just going to be too much to take? TCM was like finding a filet mignon in a Spam can. I thought the meat metaphor would be appropriate. Brilliantly written, directed, and expertly shot by Daniel Pearl, with actors and locations whose deficiencies somehow became advantages.
- 1/9/2014
- by admin
- MoreHorror
"Butcher Boys" has a tough road ahead of it. Thanks to its writer and producer, the movie will inevitably be compared to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as soon as the opening credits start to roll. It's unfair and a shame, because the movie once entitled "Boneboys" actually isn't a bad little independent horror piece.
Four friends are out on the town for a birthday celebration. After provoking a couple troublemakers, the group get into a high-speed chase through a bad part of the city. They drive up on a gang hanging out in the street, causing a wreck that kills the dog of one of the thugs. Little do they know that their actions have brought them into the world of a cannibalistic band of psychopaths bent on making them their next meal.
Kim Henkel is probably best known as the producer and writer of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Four friends are out on the town for a birthday celebration. After provoking a couple troublemakers, the group get into a high-speed chase through a bad part of the city. They drive up on a gang hanging out in the street, causing a wreck that kills the dog of one of the thugs. Little do they know that their actions have brought them into the world of a cannibalistic band of psychopaths bent on making them their next meal.
Kim Henkel is probably best known as the producer and writer of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- 9/24/2013
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Eric Shirey)
- Cinelinx
Directors Duane Graves and Justin Meeks are the subject of our latest Q&A feature, telling us about their experience with the recently released cannibal film, Butcher Boys:
Can you tell me how you got involved with Kim Henkel on this project? Was this something you came to him with or the other way around?
Duane Graves: We’ve had a long 16 year relationship with Kim Henkel. He was our college film professor back in the late 90′s. We took a year of screenwriting courses under him, and after graduating we kept in touch. Justin and I produced a trio of short horror films that Kim produced, and eventually we decided to do a feature film back in 2006 called “The Wild Man of the Navidad.” That film premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC and was picked up by IFC Films for release internationally. The success of...
Can you tell me how you got involved with Kim Henkel on this project? Was this something you came to him with or the other way around?
Duane Graves: We’ve had a long 16 year relationship with Kim Henkel. He was our college film professor back in the late 90′s. We took a year of screenwriting courses under him, and after graduating we kept in touch. Justin and I produced a trio of short horror films that Kim produced, and eventually we decided to do a feature film back in 2006 called “The Wild Man of the Navidad.” That film premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC and was picked up by IFC Films for release internationally. The success of...
- 9/8/2013
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Butcher Boys is the new film written and produced by Kim Henkel, best known as the scribe behind the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It revolves around a group known as the Bone Boys, a vicious gang that runs the streets and deals in human flesh as if it were drugs. A young woman and her friends are selected at random to be on the menu, and insanity ensues.
We spoke with Henkel about how Butcher Boys is an evolution of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the taboo of cannibalism, and his upcoming documentary.
Where did the idea for Butcher Boys come from?
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” was a major inspiration. [“A Modest Proposal” was a satirical essay written in 1729 which suggested that poor parents sell their babies as food for the wealthy.] What I posited was that, some time after writing “A Modest Proposal,” a group of individuals decided to put it into effect for whatever reason, and the Bone Boys are an extension of those individuals.
The movie is bonkers. It...
We spoke with Henkel about how Butcher Boys is an evolution of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the taboo of cannibalism, and his upcoming documentary.
Where did the idea for Butcher Boys come from?
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” was a major inspiration. [“A Modest Proposal” was a satirical essay written in 1729 which suggested that poor parents sell their babies as food for the wealthy.] What I posited was that, some time after writing “A Modest Proposal,” a group of individuals decided to put it into effect for whatever reason, and the Bone Boys are an extension of those individuals.
The movie is bonkers. It...
- 9/7/2013
- by Alyse Wax
- FEARnet
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.