J.J. Abrams Revolution
J.J. Abrams, the same guy who twisted our minds with “Lost” and reinvented the spy genre with “Alias,” is set to plunge the world into darkness by robbing it of electricity. The filmmaker is one of three names listed as…
SyFy Films
Universal Pictures and SyFy Ventures have joined forces to create Syfy Films. The new film company will create theatrical films under the SyFy brand that will be distributed by Universal Pictures. Their plan is to release two movies per year…
Summer At SyFy
Featuring a record number of primetime original programming hours, Syfy’s hot Summer 2012 will be highlighted by the premiere of the new unscripted series School Sprits (from executive producer Mark Burnett), Insane or Inspired? and Paranormal Highway (Working Title) starring…
Commercial Horror
Rob Zombie is one of heavy metal’s true Renaissance men. He’s widely recognized as the dreadlocked, platform-booted former lead singer of White Zombie, and now the frontman of his solo band, currently in its 14th year. He’s also a visual…
The Devil’s Circus
Friday night “The Devil’s Carnival” came to the Colonial Theatre for a sold-out night of sin and debauchery. The Sacramento stop on the tour of the newest short feature from the creators of “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” proved to be…
Alien Prequel
The debate as to whether or not director Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” is a full-on prequel to his 1979 sci-fi horror masterpiece “Alien” has made its way through the cultural echo chamber on a scale not scene since “Did OJ do…
A Lucas Zinger
George Lucas’ rich neighbors don’t want him building a movie studio in their backyard. His response is the best thing he’s done in years. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, for four decades Lucas has owned a large swath of…
Comics Into Movies
Any question as to whether there’s an audience for films based on comic books has been thoroughly thrashed by the box office bounty garnered by movies such as The Dark Knight ($1 billion worldwide), Iron Man ($585 million) and, most…
The 1 Billion Dollar Movie
“The Avengers” is taking a page out of Superman’s comic book — flying faster than a speeding bullet to the billion-dollar mark at the box office. More Billion dollar box office hits The superhero blockbuster took in $103.2 million to…
Piranha 3DD
“Piranha 3D” was a film that, for all intents and purposes, probably should not have succeeded, yet it ably demonstrated that if a director fully commits themselves to an idea, no matter how unappealing, the results can impress. Indeed, Alexandre…
Haywire
Building a movie around a mixed martial arts fighter seems like a good way to earn a spot on the straight-to-video express. Unless, of course, you’re Steven Soderbergh. Then — because you’re smart and imaginative and can seemingly make any…
Land of a Thousand Balconies: Discoveries and Confessions of a B-Movie Archaeologist
Jack Stevenson has devoted a good part of his life to the pursuit of eccentric screen oddities, and this book is a very personal look at his journey. Most books on the subject are general guides to the genre and…
The Golden Age of Crap
Just because you can’t respect a movie doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. The Golden Age of Crap serves up a sampling of junk-food flicks that gained their audiences on videocassette rental shelves during the ’80s and ’90s, a time…
Zombies: An Illustrated History of the Undead
The zombie phenomenon is unique in Western popular culture. From its origins in the voodoo beliefs of Haiti, it has become a key ingredient in today’s cinema, popular literature and comics. With one simple premise that the dead rise again…
Nerds Rise
Last week, when The Avengers assembled to save America, once again, from someone with a British accent commanding an army from outer space, AO Scott, the New York Times film critic, did something insane. “The secret of The Avengers,” he…
Gremlins 2
People didn’t get Gremlins 2: The New Batch when it was released in the summer of 1990, six years and a week after its blockbusting predecessor. It grossed less than a third of the original’s box-office take ($41.4 million versus…
Retro Everyone Should See
The greatest science fiction movies don’t just have cool ideas or an unforgettable story — they also have a distinctive visual style. And a lot of our favorite films reach back into the past, for retro visions of the future…
Stealing Las Vegas
It’s pretty unlikely for a filmmaker to get his big break after spending more than 20 years as a university professor, but that’s exactly what happened to Francisco Menendez. The head of UNLV’s film department, Menendez showed his independent feature…
The King
Hollywood is a weird dream that Roger Corman dreamed once upon a time. In 1955, with a degree in industrial engineering and no movie background whatsoever, he directed his first film, Swamp Women. It was a terrible film. Like most…
Tokapi
So D.B. Cooper is back in the news. Forty years ago, a well-dressed man hijacked a Boeing 727, extorted $200, 000 in ransom money, then parachuted into uncharted terrain, never to be seen again. Last week’s newspapers contained fresh speculation…