“Movie Buzz” Archive
George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
Ghoul school is back in session, as the horrifyingly humble host of MovieFrightFare (hosted by our page on Famous Monsters) spins the Weird Wheel and delves into another decade of dread. Bone up on your terror-ific trivia with Ghouly Irv's latest malevolent masterclass!
(Fear fans will want to return to the crypt to see the trivia your humble horror host shared earlier about the silent era and another groovy decade for ghouly movies!)
Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
George A. Romero is back on the zombie track with George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead. The New York City -born, Pittsburgh-raised and now Toronto-based director has brought us gore and lots more in his shockers about the living dead for decades. Of course, it was Romero who practically invented the entire subgenre of horror movies with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead, the classic low-budget saga of a group of people holed up in a Pennsylvania farmhouse battling flesh-eating creatures. But there was more to the black-and-white effort other than scares for the sake of scares. Whether the midnight movie and drive-in audiences flocking to the film realized the subtext is debatable, but Romero, 70, has gone on record to talk about how anger about the Vietnam War and his views on the country’s racial prejudices played integral parts in the story. And, he has said, there have been political and social ingredients to all of his other skin-devouring scareathons as well.
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George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
How charitable is our own Movie Irv towards writer/director Nicole Holofcener's latest eccentric cinematic concoction, Please Give? Please give your attention to our resident movie guru, who's here to help you decide whether or not to seek out this dark comedy from the woman who brought you the acclaimed films Walking and Talking, Lovely and Amazing, and Friends with Money:
George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
As the man behind the MovieFrightFare Ghoul-cam, I'm happy to report that the Ghouliest One is back, this time with a special guest on hand to help him pay tribute to another unforgettable 10 years of terror! Even though our favorite horror host doesn't mention one of my personal favorites from the era, he's got plenty of malevolent morsels for fear fans to pore over:
Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
Peter Hanson never thought he’d see his documentary Tales from the Script on the big screen. The entertaining survey of the world of screenwriters and screenwriting was created as a companion piece to his book of the same name, and, he figured, would get some nice play on DVD and, perhaps, on television or cable.
But when First Run Features picked it up, the indie enterprise was so high on their acquisition, they took it to film festivals, and opened it theatrically in New York and Los Angeles where it was well-received by such publications as the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Village Voice.
It was a surprise payoff for a project that took a few years to complete and a 20-year career as a journalist.
“I was thrilled to see it with audiences of 500-600 people,” says Paulson, 40, by phone from his Beverly Hills home. “Even though it is a documentary, I had wanted to take people on a journey with laughs and provocative thoughts and interesting personal recollections, and it was neat to see people respond to it.
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Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
Jeremy Paul Kagan knew that working on The Chosen, his 1981 film of Chaim Potok’s best-selling novel, would be something special.
Set in 1940s Brooklyn, Potok’s book told of the friendship between a Hasidic Orthodox Jewish teen (played by Robby Benson) and his pal (Barry Miller), a conservative Jew with more secular views about religion. The book also showcased the differences between their two fathers: a tough, old school rabbi (Rod Steiger) and a college professor (Maximilian Schell) active in Zionist causes, which the rabbi disapproves of.
Kagan related closely to the story because his father was a rabbi—albeit of a reform congregation—in Mount Vernon, New York, where the filmmaker grew up.
Although released nearly 30 years ago in theaters and now being reissued on DVD, Kagan thinks he is not the only one who holds The Chosen near and dear to him.
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George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
If you're a fan of Kinji Fukasaku, Sammo Hung, or Lieh Lo, most of these titles may already be familiar to you. If you only know the lovely Yunjin Kim from the television series Lost, however, you've got some catching up to do on the topic of Asian action fare. Either way, you're bound to enjoy watching our own "Movie Irv" and his special guest discuss the very best in this popular subgenre. Buckle up!
George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
What was the first film to receive a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America? Stumped--or, should we say, "staked"--? Ghouly Irv is here to give you the skinny on another ghouly (and, dare we offer a spoiler--groovy) decade of shockers in this installment of the MovieFrightFare series:
(And, in case you missed it, go back into the darkness of the Ghouly One's cinema crypt to see what tidbits he offered about
the silent era!)
Irv Slifkin | In The Director's Chair, Movie Buzz
Deception, intrigue, murder, bribery, stolen money, blackmail, arson, illicit trysts. Sounds like classic film noir turf, the stuff that Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, The Postman Always Rings Twice and even Body Heat are made of.
So you would think that Nash Edgerton, the director of The Square, the knockout modern noir that boasts all of these elements, would be well-schooled in the dark and dangerous films of the past.
Surprisingly, Edgerton has never seen any of the aforementioned films, which makes his acclaimed directorial debut even more remarkable.
“I’m definitely a fan of Fargo and Blood Simple and Bound, but I hadn’t seen them in a long time before I made this film,” says the 37-year-old Aussie during a stop at the Philadelphia Film Festival. “I was saying to my brother (Joel, the co-star and co-scripter of The Square) the other day that I’ve never seen Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice. He’s seen them, and wrote this, and I hadn’t, but I got to give my fresh perspective on those kinds of stories.
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George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
Just what is this strange thing called Blu-ray, you ask (if, that is, you're one of the ones asking)? Is it better than DVD? Should I consign my DVD player to the scrap heap along with my VCR, Videodisc, and LaserDisc players and embrace this brave new world of home entertainment media? And, if I shell out the money to upgrade--how much scratch do I need, by the way?--what movies are the must-have titles to start my library?
Check in with our own "Movie Irv" and his special guest to get the answers:
Irv Slifkin | In The Star's Trailer, Movie Buzz
You know you’ve made it when you are an actor of British origin and you’ve been cast in a Harry Potter movie.
So even though Ciaran Hinds has been acting regularly for over 20 years, the 57-year-old actor smiled when asked about playing the part of Aberforth Dumbledore, brother of Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, opening in November 2010, and Part II (opening during the summer of 2011).
“It was, ‘Oh, hello Sir, hello Dame,” Hinds jokes, referencing the star-studded cast of British acting royalty in the final Potter outings that includes Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and John Hurt.
The Belfast-born Hinds is in the middle of a two-week break from making another big movie—the long-awaited John Carter of Mars, in which he plays one of the leaders of a warring tribe on the red planet—when he stops off at Philadelphia, joining writer-director Conor McPherson to talk about his part in something completely different.
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George D. Allen and Irv Slifkin | Movie Buzz, Movie Buzz Podcast
In February, Universal Studios unleashed their big-budget remake of The Wolf Man, but as many monster fans may know, that's only the tip of the Hollyweird iceberg when it comes to reboots, rethinks, and re-imaginings of classic chillers from many a bygone era. Let's see what Ghouly Irv of MovieFrightFare thinks about the Remake Monster running loose, and which eerie epics are due to be dug up once again:
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