Noticias

The first visitor from outer space in the ’50s sci-fi boom is one very curious guy, dropping to Earth in a ship like a diving bell and scaring the bejesus out of Sally Field’s mother. Micro-budgeted space invasion fantasy gets off to a great start, thanks to the filmmaking genius of our old pal Edgar G. Ulmer.

The Man from Planet X

Blu-ray

Scream Factory / Shout! Factory

1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 71 min. / Street Date July 11, 2017 / 27.99

Starring: Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Raymond Bond, William Schallert, Roy Engel, David Ormont.

Cinematography: John L. Russell

Film Editor: Fred R. Feitshans, Jr.

Original Music: Charles Koff

Written and Produced by Aubrey Wisberg, Jack Pollexfen

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer

One of the first features of the 1950s Sci-Fi boom, 1951’s The Man from Planet X set a lot of precedents, cementing the public impression of ‘little green men from Mars’ and...

Director Andres Muschietti has wrapped production of the the first film for the big screen adaptation of Stephen King's It. To celebrate the film wrapping, the director posted a photo of a creepy-ass Pennywise the Clown jack-in-the-box. I assume this is a prop that was used in the film. It has an aged look like it comes from the 1920s or 30s.

I also included a few other photos from the production that the director has posted on his Instagram page that are worth checking out.

The first film is set in the 1980s and will focus on a group of friends known as the "Losers Club" who band together to battle a terrifying monster who is killing children in Derry, Maine. The second film is set 30 years later in modern times when the monster returns and the Losers Club come back together to try and destroy It once and for all.

Stop me if you’ve heard this idea for a movie: Dean Martin gets miniaturized and injected into the body of Jerry Lewis.

That’s the pitch for Joe Dante’s 1987 film Innerspace, his last collaboration with producer Steven Spielberg until making Small Soldiers for DreamWorks in 1998. Made between his contributions to the outrageous 1986 anthology comedy Amazon Women on the Moon and his darkly comic 1989 movie The ’Burbs, Innerspace could be considered Joe Dante’s most commercial film. Not only did it carry the Spielberg brand, it was also cast with big stars (Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, and Meg Ryan) and boasted impressive, state-of-the-art special effects and a high concept that was sure to bring people out to the theater. And yet, for some reason, the movie was something of a box office disappointment when it was released in the summer of 1987; though the film’s final budget is difficult to pin down,...

Is satire obsolete? Our appalling present political reality has surpassed some of the wildest jokes in director Joe Dante's 'exaggerated, outrageous' 1997 cable movie. An immigration squabble snowballs until a renegade state governor closes his border and threatens to secede from the Union. It's a 'political idiocy' version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ... and nineteen years later, we're stuck living it. The Second Civil War DVD (2005) HBO Video 1997 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date August 30, 2005 / 14.98 Starring Beau Bridges, Joanna Cassidy, Phil Hartman, James Earl Jones, James Coburn, Dan Hedaya, Elizabeth Peña, Denis Leary, Ron Perlman, Kevin Dunn, Brian Keith, Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller, William Schallert, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Jerry Hardin, Roger Corman, Rance Howard, Robert Picardo, Alexandra Wilson, Belinda Belaski, Jennifer Carlson, Sean Lawlor. Cinematography Mac Ahlberg Film Editor Marshall Harvey Original Music Hummie Mann Written by Martyn Burke Produced by Guy Riedel Directed by Joe Dante...

Continuing our series on Hollywood remakes, this week’s film is one of those lauded remakes that many say is better than the original. While a horror movie may not be in the Christmas spirit, this film does have a lot of snow in it. This week, Cinelinx looks at John Carpenter’s The Thing.

When people talk about remakes of old films, the one that is most often mentioned as being better than the original is John Carpenter’s 1982 horror flick, The Thing, which is a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks classic The Thing From Another World. There’s a good argument to be made for the newer one. Not that the first one isn’t an excellent movie, but this is a rare occasion where the reputation of the remake seems to overshadow the original.

Both films were based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W.

In the 1980s, bored film critics sometimes claimed to see homoerotic themes in any 'buddy picture'  about guys being friends with guys. Only one bold comedy dared to confront this notion directly -- in this show, Dennis Quaid spends a full two hours inside Martin Short, yet the finished picture is still perfectly suitable for all audiences and age groups! Savant Blu-ray Review Warner Home Video 1987 / Color /1.78:1 / 116 min. / Street Date August 4, 2015/ available through Warner Bros. / 13.09 Starring Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Fiona Lewis, Vernon Wells, Robert Picardo Cinematography Andrew Laszlo Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren Art Direction James H. Spencer Film Editor Kent Beyda Original Music Jerry Goldsmith Written by Jeffrey Boam, Chip Proser, story by Chip Proser Produced by Michael Finnell, Peter Guber, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Jon Peters, Chip Proser, Steven Spielberg Directed by Joe Dante

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Warner Home Video shows...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Warner Home Entertainment has recently released their special edition DVD of director Joe Dante’s “Innerspace” on Blu-ray. The 1987 film is a sci-fi comedy that afforded Martin Short and Meg Ryan early career leading roles in a tale of inspired lunacy. The premise of the script centers on a narcissistic former military test pilot Tuck Pendelton (Dennis Quaid) who volunteers for an unprecedented scientific experiment. Doctors have the technology to shrink him and inject him into the body of a rabbit. They also obviously have the ability to bring him back into the outside world where he can resume his normal activities at his normal size. The purpose of the experiment is to allow medical technicians to eventually inject operatives into human beings so that they can perform miracle surgeries. However, there are some bad guys who are looking to benefit from the amazing technology by selling it to the highest bidder.

The Cookers: Believe (Motema)

I love this group for featuring Billy Harper, one of the most underrated tenor saxophonists and jazz composers on the scene. That said, it is pretty much an all-star band; the arguable exception, trumpeter David Weiss -- the youngest member -- is the arranger of all the non-Harper tracks on the band's third album, and thus puts as much of a stamp on the project as anyone. The other players are trumpeter Eddie Henderson, long a member of Harper's superb quintet; alto saxophonist Craig Handy, the second-youngest member, who used to have another band with Weiss (pop-culture aside: they also collaborated on the music for The Cosby Mysteries); and the ace rhythm section of pianist George Cables, bassist Cecil McBee, and drummer Billy Hart, all three of whom contribute compositions here.

(If I have a complaint, it's that after three albums, we still haven't...

Joe tips his hat to the great actor William Schallert in honor of the man’s 89th birthday. (With exclusive behind-the-scenes stills!)

One of my favorite actors gets a write-up in the Los Angeles Times in connection with his upcoming 89th(!) birthday!

They don’t make the big money or get their names above the lights or their pictures on the covers of magazines. But character actors are the lifeblood of show business — and a versatile one can work for decades.

Case in point: William Schallert, who has been a working actor for more than 60 years, starting with his feature film debut in the 1947 period drama “The Foxes of the Harrow” through his current role as the mayor of Bon Temps on HBO‘s erotic vampire series, “True Blood.”

I first worked with Bill Schallert on my episode of Twilight Zone: the Movie, which I wanted to stuff with veterans from the Serling TV series.

If you have Netflix and are a horror fan in need of something to watch this Labor Day weekend, one look at this gargantuan list I compiled of the new terror titles Netflix has added for instant streaming in just the first three days of this month should keep you busy until Labor Day next year. You'll find something for everyone, from older titles to recent releases, famous to obscure, classic to not-so-classic, monsters to maniacs - you name it.

For the record, I considered compiling this list in alphabetical order or by year of the film's release, but then I realized I had already spent well over an hour just sorting through the massive catalogue of titles Netflix has now made available for instant streaming and realized Labor Day would be over by the time I finished arranging this list in any kind of order. Ready? Here you go.

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"A Prophet" (2009)

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Released by Sony Pictures Classics

Audiard's ("The Beat That My Heart Skipped") ridiculously cool prison drama well earns its over two-and-a-half hour runtime -- the transformation of relative newcomer lead Tahar Rahim from illiterate mouse to underworld kingpin never seems forced or unnatural. Rahim's impressive, as is Niels Arestrup as the head of the jail's Corsican mob, but overshadowing both is the film's portrait of a multicultural (if criminal) population that looks nothing like the cast of your average French import. (Matt Singer's review from February.)

"After.Life" (2009)

Directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo

Released by Starz/Anchor Bay

Christina Ricci is dead! But she's not dead. Unless she died! Or did she? In Wojtowicz-Vosloo's feature debut (following her acclaimed 2001 short "Pâté"), Liam Neeson plays a funeral director who's either a sadist plays elaborate mindgames on Ricci's character, or...

(Note: This story will be "stickied" at the top of our headlines for the day. Being able to host it is an honor beyond words.)

It was a Blood-Red-letter day for fandom as pros and fans alike gathered to bid a reluctant “Forry-well” to the late great genre-icon Forrest J. Ackerman! Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theatre served as a temple for the filled-to-capacity ritual sponsored by the American Cinematheque, Profiles in History auction house and the Ackerman estate.

Guests began waiting on line at around 1:00Pm for the scheduled 3:00Pm reception. By 2:30 over 200 bodies had congregated at the doors of the theater. Inside, staff was scrambling. Pieces of Forry’s collection were being displayed (A first edition of Dracula signed by Bram Stoker and almost everyone who ever played the famous Vampire on screen, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula cape and Forry’s fave prop: the “Robotrix” from...