Irv Slifkin
Irv Slifkin has been with Movies Unlimited for 20-plus years in different capacities with their annual catalog and website. He has also found time to write two books (Filmadelphia and Groovy Movies), review films on radio (he's currently on The Frankie Boyer show on the Lifestyles Radio Network) and recently made his debut on stage in Disney's Beauty and the Beast for the Moorestown Theater Company.
Irv's Posts
George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
What famous director was originally asked to direct the silent chiller classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? Which symphony of horror received its lavish premiere at a zoo? Can you guess the name of the legendary actor who was so dedicated he brought his own houseplants to decorate the set? Find out the answers to these mystifying tidbits of Terror-ific Trivia, along with a host of other little-known facts behind your favorite fear films, as Ghouly Irv digs around the darkest corners of his crypt:
Irv Slifkin | Focus On..., Movie Buzz
I must not have been much older than three when I first saw John Wayne’s The Alamo.
It was impressive to say the least. More than likely, my father took me to see it, since he was the one who always took me to the “guy movies,” films with fighting and war and, well, lots of men. (Mom, on the other hand, got the assignment for Jerry Lewis, Disney and Doris Day movies, while Grandmom was my musicals connection.)
But from the beginning The Alamo was special to me. I am almost positive I saw it at least three times in the theaters, going again after it was reissued after its 1960 original arrival.
Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, TV Tip Sheet
Soapy Sales
A favorite for its 1981-1990 run on CBS, Falcon Crest was a nighttime sudser bubbling with colorful characters, duplicitous behavior and big-time movie and TV stars. Jane Wyman is the nasty owner of a Northern California winery and matriarch of a family that includes affable nephew Robert Foxworth and lazy playboy grandson Lorenzo Lamas. Abby Dalton, William R. Moses, and Susan Sullivan also star in this series created by Earl Hamner, Jr. of The Waltons fame; guest appearances during the show’s first season include Lana Turner and Dana Andrews. All 18 episodes from the debut season can be found on Falcon Crest: The Complete First Season.
George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
He raised comic fans' hackles by casting Michael Keaton as Batman; tinkered with cinematic legend by revisiting the Planet of the Apes; and split audiences and critics by daring to reinvent Roald Dahl's beloved book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp in the role of Willy Wonka. Now, Tim Burton has brought Depp back into the fold for this visually wild cinematic take on Lewis Carroll's classic, Alice in Wonderland. How does the director fare with this latest reimagining of a literary icon? Let's check in with Movie Irv:
Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
Sounds like a caper film from the distant past. An international production, perhaps, starring the likes of Michael Caine, Lino Ventura and Claudia Cardinale, in which a group of cons with distinctively different backgrounds team together to rip off some priceless art from a highly secure gallery. Or, maybe a tautly wound French film in black-and-white directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and boasting Alain Delon as the dashing lead thief.
Well, The Art of the Steal is a caper film, but what makes it unusual is that it is true. It’s actually a documentary that’s every bit as tension-filled and entertaining as the aforementioned fictional films. But this caper stars a bunch of politicians, a state governor, an eccentric millionaire, opportunists who look to forward their careers and powerful philanthropists. At stake? No less than billions of dollars worth of artwork by the likes of Matisse, Cezanne, Monet, Van Gogh and Picasso.
George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
Looking for a great DVD/Blu-ray hit you may have missed in the theaters? Check out Movie Irv's recommendations for these three "sleeper" hits:
Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
The other movie about Iraq that was nominated for multiple Academy Awards is The Messenger, an absorbing drama that was critically acclaimed but little seen. Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) play soldiers who take on a difficult job of informing civilians that their loved ones died at war. Samantha Morton co-stars as the recent widow who gets romantically involved with Foster. A moving film from first-time director Oren Moverman (Interview), who shares a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, The Messenger is being reissued in theaters around the country. Here's my Raw Review:
Here's a trailer for the film, after the jump:
Irv Slifkin | DVD Beat, Movie Buzz
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.
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.
Irv Slifkin | In The Star's Trailer, Movie Buzz
You may be able to take Channing Tatum out of the military, but you can’t take the military out of Channing Tatum.
That’s because the 29-year old actor keeps getting cast in roles in which he plays a soldier.
For example, in 2008’s Stop-Loss, directed by Kimberly Peirce, he played a young veteran of the Iraq War who returns to his Texas home with fellow townie Ryan Phillippe who decides to re-enlist in the service in order to become a sniper. And in last year’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, he was Duke, a buzz-cutted human incarnation of a 1980s Hasbro cartoon/action figure. Down the road there’s The Eagle of the Ninth, a sword-and-sandal epic directed by Kevin MacDonald (The Last King of Scotland) in which he plays a Roman centurion in the year 108 A.D.
Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
Since he hit the mainstream with good reviews for 1997’s Kurt Russell road thriller Breakdown, Jonathan Mostow has gotten the rep of being that rare director who can fluidly mix action and intelligence. His follow-up to Breakdown was 2000’s U-571, a WWII adventure starring Matthew McConaughey, Harvey Keitel and Bill Paxton. In 2003, he was handed the reins to The Temrinator franchise, delivering Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which offered dazzling special effects and a complex storyline, not to mention a cast that included Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a last pre-political career role. In addition, Mostow has producer credits on David Fincher 's The Game, which showcased Michael Douglas, and Peter Berg’s Hancock, the Will Smith starrer.
Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
Scott Cooper has reason to celebrate. On the weekend of the Critic’s Choice and the Golden Globe Awards, the 39-year-old writer-director of Crazy Heart boasts an air of self-confidence. And who could blame him?
His $7 million film has just opened across the country, and is up for several year-end awards. Not just for lead actor Jeff Bridges, who has been gaining lots of steam for his marvelous performance as “Bad” Blake, washed-up country-western singer. Cooper himself has been singled out, too, nominated for Indie Spirit Awards and a Writer’s Guild of America Award for turning Thomas Cobb’s 1987 novel about the resurrection of an alcoholic troubadour into a moving, music-filled drama that has critics singing its praises and the industry buzzing: “Will The Dude finally get an Oscar?”
All this from a guy who has never written a screenplay before, or directed so much as a high school play. To say nothing of a movie that was abandoned by its now-defunct studio (Paramount Vantage), and then acquired by Fox Searchlight. That’s the same studio that had a little luck last year releasing a film called Slumdog Millionaire, after Warner Brothers left it orphaned.
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