Lawnmower Man
I had not seen this since its initial release in 1992. I decided to give it a re-watch for old times sake. Boy, some things don’t age well do they? Lawmower Man was a film based on a short story…
Reasonable Doubt
“Flightplan” scribe Peter A. Dowling (who should have thought seriously about the pseudonym route himself) is credited with concocting this tale of a rising young public prosecutor with his sights on the Chicago district attorney’s office who makes one of…
DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four
As most of you probably know, 2005’s Fantastic Four wasn’t the first time a feature film of the famous Marvel comic series had been made, it just happened to be the first one that got a theatrical release. Back in…
Capricorn One
Capricorn One is a 1978 thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade’s (British) ITC Entertainment. It stars Elliott Gould with James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J….
The Neptune Factor
Aboard the R/V Triton, the Project Neptune team is doing oceanographic research. Director Andrews is trying to keep the research going in spite of opposition from Foundation Head Sheppard. Below on the ocean floor, in the Sealab, the team led…
The Hateful Eight
Rumors out of Hollywood this morning put a title to Quentin Tarantino‘s next film, which he revealed as a western some weeks ago on Jay Leno. According to Deadline Hollywood and The Hollywood Reporter, the new project is called The…
’Lone Survivor’ blows away N. American box office
Action drama “Lone Survivor” climbed to top spot at the North American box office, earning $38.5 million in its first weekend in general release, industry estimates showed Sunday. The film, starring Mark Wahlberg and portraying one of the deadliest incidents…
Lionel Shenken, Mogul (well maybe)
A horticulturalist by trade, Shenken got his start in showbiz as the host of Man around the House, an early 1960s gardening show on Toronto station CFTO. After producing a series of TV commercials, Shenken began creating music programming for…
Ukrainian Epics Produced In Oshawa Ontario
Canukr Studios which in the 1970s and 1980s produced films in Ukrainian, Urdu and English. It may be one of the best kept secrets in Mitchell’s Corners. The “ON AIR” sign and some film equipment are evidence of that time….
Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets
This is Bogdanovich’s first full directorial effort. (He had shot part of Wild Angels for Corman a while before, and Corman was impressed enough with his work there to offer him his own feature. These details and more are related…
Boxcar Bertha
Based on “Sister of the Road,” the fictionalized autobiography of radical and transient Bertha Thompson as written by physician Dr. Ben L. Reitman, ‘Boxcar’ Bertha Thompson, a woman labor organizer in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early ’30’s…
The Legend Of Hercules
When two similarly-themed movies come out in quick succession, it’s usually better to be the first one out of the gate. In 2013, “White House Down” had better marketing, a bigger budget and the Channing Tatum factor, but it couldn’t…
Raze
For his entrée into the world of cult filmmaking, Josh C. Waller revives two dormant forms of grindhouse fare: the ’70s-era Women in Cages prison pictures from Roger Corman and the ’80s-era Bloodsport beatdown brawls starring the likes of Jean-Claude…
Hollywood Boulevard
Joe Dante and Allen Arkush directs this story of the glamour, the glitter, the magical allure of Hollywood… and not a speck of it rubs off on Miracle Pictures, where “If it’s a good picture, it’s a Miracle.” This is…
Rumors Abound on Re-Do of Twin Peaks
The rumours that maverick auteur David Lynch might one day return to the world of his seminal TV series Twin Peaks seem to circle and re-surface every few months – the rumours go all the way back to a specific…
More Than A Movie, The Wicker Man
“The Wicker Man” (1973), a famed British dark fantasy based on Anthony Shaffer’s book and long unavailable in a complete version, has arrived in what’s referred to as a “final” form. “The Wicker Man: The Final Cut” ($19.99, Blu-ray Disc;…
Death Of The Video Store
Every day now as I arrive back at Northwood train station from my day job, it sits there staring me in the face. Big, blue, empty and sad, the shell of Blockbuster Video whose bones have been picked clean by…
Death Proof
Given the vast majority of major criticisms levelled at this film, it would appear that a large percentage of the audience has completely missed the joke, or simply, didn’t find it at all amusing. With Death Proof (2007), Tarantino creates…
Run Run Shaw, Dies at 106
Sir Run Run Shaw, one of the pioneers of the 20th century Chinese film industry, has died age 106. Shaw, who co-founded the Shaw Brothers film studio with his brother Runme, had been involved in the film industry in Shanghai…
R.I.P. Bernard Glasser, producer of Day of the Triffids
Bernard Glasser’s life sounds like a fable of a B-movie America gone by: the former substitute teacher at Beverly Hills High School borrowed money from his landlord and became a movie producer. His films included Return of the Fly, A…