February, 2010 Archive
George D. Allen | Staff Notes
Quick: You’re about to be stranded on a desert island…and you can only take 10 movies with you. What movies are making your cut? Will they be your “Top 10” favorites? Will they be movies that you feel best represent “you”? Will you be bringing any movies along for the family? Let’s assume all other creature comforts are normal, so you don’t have to worry about going into Stephen King-style, “Survivor Type” mode. You can go alone, or bring your friends and family. But only 10 movies can come with you. It’s time to make your Dewar’s Profile, take your Rorschach test, call it whatever you will.
Here are my choices, in alphabetical order:
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Irv Slifkin | Coming Attractions, DVD Beat
Roger, Corman
Roger Corman was recently honored with a special Academy Award, and a new 3-D remake of his 1978 production Piranha is heading for theaters this year. So it makes sense that Corman’s “B” movie classics from New World Pictures have found a new home at Shout Factory!/Vivendi.
The Corman library has been out of circulation for a few years, and the company is welcoming such water-logged monstrosity movies as the original Piranha, Humanoids from the Deep, Up from the Depths, and Demon of Paradise back in April. They will be followed by the likes of Rock ‘N’ Roll High School, Suburbia, Death Race 2000, Deathsport and others. We say it’s about time the Academy recognized Corman’s contributions to cinema, as a producer, director and mentor to young talent. It’s just a shame his award will not be part of the telecast this year.
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Gary Cahall | Scene Stealers
One of the most thankless recurring roles in movies must have been as one of Charlie Chan's would-be detective offspring. After all, how many ways can an actor say "Gee whiz, pop!"? For the venerable Keye Luke, however, playing "number-one son" Lee Chan was an early stepping stone in a film and TV career that last nearly 60 years.
Born in Guangzhou, China in July, 1904. Luke came to the U.S. at age three when his family settled in Seattle. He moved to Hollywood as a young man and worked, not as an actor, but as a commerical artist and technical advisor on Asian-themed films. Luke's artwork was featured in RKO's pressbook for the original King Kong, and he painted murals and the auditorium ceiling for Graumann's Chinese Theatre.
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Ed Weiss | Staff Notes
A radio personality in Philadelphia was recently reviewing the work of Joe Pesci. He ignored Pesci’s comedic roles, instead focusing on his many “mob” turns in films such as Casino and Goodfellas. Big mistake. Pesci has played many funny characters, including one of the best in the last 20 years, one Vincent LaGuardia Gambini in My Cousin Vinny.
Make no mistake about it. Pesci portrays the same greasy Italian-American role that he does in the mob films. However, this time he’s a bumbling just-passed-the-bar-after-six-tries New York (Brooklyn, actually) lawyer who is called on to defend his cousin (Ralph Macchio) and the cousin’s friend against an unjust murder rap in the sticks of Alabama. Pesci is at is cussin’ best as he goes in and out of jail while trying to learn the ropes of the legal system under prim and proper Judge Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne).
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Jay Steinberg | This Week in Film History
February 18, 1913: The Edison Film Co. introduces its synchronized film-phonograph Kinetoscope process for showing "sound films" in New York.
February 14, 1927: Director Alfred Hitchcock first tries his hand at suspense with The Lodger, based on the Jack the Ripper murders.
February 15, 1927: Whatever "It" is, starlet Clara Bow has it in abundance, as can be seen in director Clarence Badger's film of that name.
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Jerry Frebowitz | New Releases This Week
New DVD Releases for this week include Gerard Butler in the riveting crime thriller, Law Abiding Citizen and there's lots of laughs in Black Dynamite, a send-up of the 1970's blaxploitation movies -- and Josh Brolin doesn't know whether to laugh or cry in the comic drama, Women In Trouble. Also truth seems like fiction in the gruesome thriller, Freeway Killer and the life story of fashion icon Coco Chanel is played out by Audrey Tautou and Marie Gillain -- truth be told, it's all been done before but this new French drama, Coco Before Chanel is a crowd pleaser. Clint Eastwood fans will be glad to see Clint get his due in the new Warner Brothers box set, Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years which, as expected, contains lots of "good stuff." TV shows are newly released this week like Buddy Ebson's Barnaby Jones and Chuck Connors' Branded plus a very fine Italian feature film release from 1975, Profumo Di Donna, is sure to please movie enthusiasts who haven't had the pleasure of seeing the original version of Al Pacino's Scent Of A Woman.
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Jason Marcewicz | Art of the Movies
Here is the third installment of Movie Mash-ups. Like the first article, I’ve sliced & diced two real film plots—listed at the end of each synopsis—and then pasted them together again to form a new, totally made-up movie that crazily might be worth watching! (And watch this space for the final chapter dealing again with movie poster mash-ups.)
Beyond a Doubt
Life is in their hands. Death is on their minds. Jurors are sequestered together to vote upon the guilt or innocence of a hapless Latino defendant. As the men mill about, one lone juror has a major concern: The whole thing had been a shakedown. It was bullshit. The whole rap was a setup. You don’t put guys like them in a room together. And slowly they come to the realization that the captured Argentinean holds the key to why they were all together in the first place, as well as the answer to who is Keyser Soze.
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Brian Sieck | Staff Notes
“One thing for sure, love stinks,” says the J. Geils Band, and they couldn’t be more right. Tinseltown has certainly made its fair share of films that are the antithesis of romance over the years, from the Academy Award-winning Kramer vs. Kramer to the comedy favorite The War of the Roses. While scores of consumers will be out and about on February 14, celebrating the forced love trap and completely invented retail holiday known as Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be fun to laud an Anti-Valentine’s Day movement. It’s with that in mind that I present this smattering of favorites (spanning both comedic and dramatic genres, excluding any film that involves murder however, because that would just be cheating) that basically conveys that when it comes to love, sometimes it’s just better to be alone.
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Irv Slifkin | In the Star's Trailer, Movie Buzz
It’s been 29 years since we had a big-budget movie about the Greek gods. In 1981, Clash of the Titans, was released, featuring Harry Hamlin as the hero Perseus, Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Claire Bloom as Hera, Ursula Andress as Aphrodite and Maggie Smith as Thetis. But despite these names—some of them Oscar winners—the real stars of this show were Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion creatures, which included the winged horse Pegasus, the two-headed beast Diskilos, the serpent-haired Medusa and the sea-based monstrosity known as the Kraken.
Now, after nearly three decades, come not one but two Greek mythology-infused epics. Yes, Clash of the Titans has been remade, and is set to be issued to theaters on March 26. Once again, special effects will be employed with such big names as Sam Worthington as Perseus, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Izabella Miko.
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Jason Marcewicz | Create-A-Caption
You know the drill. Below is a classic movie photo with Jason’s caption.
You’re encouraged to leave your own suggestion in the comment section below!
Capone swore that Mötley Crüe and their rowdy entourage
would never eat in his dining establishment ever again.
Tags: Top 10 Movie Lists