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Nearly 35 years after its original debut at the Venice Film Festival, Peter Brook’s epic film adaptation of “The Mahabharata” is returning to the Lido in a meticulously restored 8K version. The restoration, spearheaded by the late director’s son Simon, marks a new chapter for the groundbreaking 1989 production that brought the ancient Indian epic to global audiences.

“The Mahabharata” holds a unique place in Peter Brook’s storied career. Based on his nine-hour stage production, the film version clocked in at a still-substantial three hours. It featured an international cast performing in English and was shot in a Paris studio. The ambitious project aimed to distill the essence of the vast Hindu epic, exploring themes of war, ethics and power across generations.

Brook wanted to make a six-hour film initially, but this was deemed unfinanceable, so the decision was taken to shoot concurrently a three-hour film version and a six-hour TV version.

John Carpenter's 1996 film "Escape from L.A." takes place in the far-flung future of 2013 after a massive Earthquake struck Los Angeles and turned the city into an island. A right-wing theocratic president has enacted many bleak, draconian "morality" laws about sex and violence, and anyone caught breaking the new laws is deported to L.A. Island to live in a lawless, unguarded realm ruled by gangsters. When the president's daughter runs away to L.A. to be with her criminal boyfriend, Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface), the rogue gunslinger Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is extorted into going to L.A. to rescue her. Snake has no choice, as the government infected him with a virus that will kill him in 10 hours, and will only administer the antidote if he completes his mission. 

The premise and structure of "Escape from L.A." is identical to 1981's "Escape from New York," making the film...

In last year’s Scream movie, which came to us from the filmmaking trio known as Radio Silence, there’s a moment where the characters realize the latest iteration of the Ghostface killer is “making a requel”. It breaks down like this: “You can’t just reboot a franchise from scratch anymore, but you can’t just do a straight sequel either. You’ve got to build something new. It’s got to be part of an on-going storyline. New main characters, yes, but supported by and related to legacy characters. Not quite a reboot, not quite a sequel.” Some prefer to term “legacyquel” over “requel”, but in a new interview with ComicBook.com Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett confirmed they’re planning to make an Escape from New York “requel”.

It was announced back in November that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are attached to direct a new take on John Carpenter’s 1981 sci-fi...

Update 2: It would seem that Radio Silence are indeed going to direct the new Escape from New York movie as Deadline has also confirmed the news, adding that original director John Carpenter is onboard as an executive producer.

Update: Our friends at Bloody Disgusting have been able to confirm that Radio Silence is in early talks with 20th Century Fox about directing an Escape from New York project, but Kurt Russell has not been contacted at this time.

The original article follows:

A remake of John Carpenter’s 1981 sci-fi action film Escape from New York (watch it Here) has been in development for many years, passing through the hands of filmmakers like Len Wiseman, Brett Ratner, Breck Eisner, Robert Rodriguez, and Leigh Whannell. But now a Rumor has emerged, via GiantFreakinRobot, that the remake plans have been scrapped and we’re actually going to be getting a sequel to Escape from New York,...

We saw Snake Plissken for the last time 25 years ago when John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. was released in theaters. Serving as a direct sequel to Escape from New York, the movie brings Russell in his second adventure as the popular eyepatch-wearing action hero. John Carpenter also returned to direct the sequel using a screenplay he'd co-written with Russell and Debra Hill. The movie was released in theaters by Paramount Pictures on Aug. 9, 1996.

This time, Escape From New York favorite Snake Plissken is called in by the U.S. government to recover a potential doomsday device in Los Angeles. The big problem is that the city has become a crime-ridden island where undesirables are deported, similar to what happened in New York. Along with Russell, Escape from L.A. also stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Peter Fonda, Georges Corraface, Cliff Robertson, and Pam Grier. While the movie was a box office bomb when it was released,...

Festival guests include Nathalie Baye, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi Jalil Lespert and Vincent Macaigne.

Michael Kohlhaas by Arnaud de Pallieres was awarded best film at the 15th Athens Francophone film festival (March 19-26) backed by Unifrance.

The award sponsored by the French public channel TV5 and the Athens Municipality carries a purse of €9,000 to back the release of the film in Greece by Seven Films and Spentzos Films.

A special mention was given to Bruno Dumont’s Camille Claudel 1915, starring Juliette Binoche in the eponymous role.Videorama Films/Odeon acquired for Greece.

The five-member jury was comprised of the French-Greek actor George Corraface (president), Greek film producer Fenia Kosovitsa, French film scholar and director Antoine Danis, Greek born-French resident composer Olga Kouklaki and Greek film critic Yiannis Zoumpoulakis.

The audience award, backed by Fischer Breweries with €6,000, went to Marion Vernoux’s Les Beaux Jours starring Fanny Ardant. Produced by the French outlet Les Films du Kiosque, the film will...

Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida scored a second top festival prize in one night, after success in London.

The international jury of the Warsaw Film Festival has awarded the City of Warsaw Grand Prix to Pawal Pawlikowski’s Ida, which won Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival on the same night.

The black-and-white film set in the 1960s, which the international jury praised for “the superb combination of script, directing, cinematography, acting and music”, also received the prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Warsaw.

Speaking to ScreenDaily after the awards ceremony, producer Ewa Puszczynska of Lodz-based Opus Film said the film will be released on 90 screens in Poland this Friday (Oct 25) by distributor Solopan Spólka.

Fandango Portobello Sales is handling international distribution, and Music Box Films are planning the North American release for the second quarter of 2014. It debuted at Toronto last month.

Puszczynska was joined on stage to receive the Grand Prix by the non-professional...

Written and directed by a Greek Cypriot, this flat, feelgood family story transposes the cliches of Zorba the Greek to the present day. The dull Alan Bates character becomes Harry, an anglicised Greek Cypriot multi-millionaire (Stephen Dillane) bankrupted by the current economic crisis; Anthony Quinn's Zorba becomes Spiros, his ebullient older brother and embodiment of the life-force (Georges Corraface). The widowed Harry and his three kids are rescued when they reopen the family fish-and-chips bar, make friends with the Turkish family running a kebab shop across the street, discover their eastern Mediterranean roots, turn their backs on capitalism and start dancing to the strains of a Mikis Theodorakis song in a suburban London street.

ComedyDramaPhilip French

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Spring Breakers | A Late Quartet | The Expatriate | Thursday Till Sunday | Dark Skies | The Odd Life Of Timothy Green | Papdopoulos & Sons | All Things To All Men | Home

Spring Breakers (18)

(Harmony Korine, 2012, Us) Selena Gomez, James Franco, Gucci Mane. 94 mins

The new American dream/nightmare of the endless beach party is both celebrated and satirised in Korine's woozy Florida tale. The story is fittingly loose – four naive teens turn to criminal means to fund their hedonism – but it's more of an experience: a dubstep-tracked collage of neon, Day-Glo and tanned flesh, all facilitated by Franco's fantastically watchable gangsta rapper.

A Late Quartet (15)

(Yaron Zilberman, 2012, Us) Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener. 106 mins

A respected New York string quartet is struck by an excess of issues here: terminal illness, infidelity, professional jealousy, you name it. Without the distinguished cast, its highbrow melodramas would seem ludicrous.

The Expatriate (15)

(Philipp Stölzl, 2012, Us/Bel/Can/UK) Aaron Eckhart,...

A sincere north London comedy-drama exploring family relationships – amid kebab shop rivalry

Playwright-turned-director Marcus Markou's debut is a cheerful, foursquare comedy-drama along East is East lines. Stephen Dillane – an actor whose droll choices are always a pleasure to watch – gives it some class as Harry Papadopoulos, the north London comestibles magnate obliged to downsize when he finds that even an empire founded on taramasalata cannot survive a double-dip recession; Georges Corraface brings the energy as Harry's estranged brother, who sees reopening a chippy as a way of securing the clan's future. Rivalry with a Turkish kebab shop follows – Markou isn't beyond broad, crowdpleasing tactics – but it's set against a sincere exploration of the brothers' differences, and an ambitious attempt to rewrite Lear for laughter rather than tears. It's a throwback, but relaxed, sweet and funny with it: a first feature that makes an impression by not pushing too hard to make an impression.

A sincere north London comedy-drama exploring family relationships – amid kebab shop rivalry

Playwright-turned-director Marcus Markou's debut is a cheerful, foursquare comedy-drama along East is East lines. Stephen Dillane – an actor whose droll choices are always a pleasure to watch – gives it some class as Harry Papadopoulos, the north London comestibles magnate obliged to downsize when he finds that even an empire founded on taramasalata cannot survive a double-dip recession; Georges Corraface brings the energy as Harry's estranged brother, who sees reopening a chippy as a way of securing the clan's future. Rivalry with a Turkish kebab shop follows – Markou isn't beyond broad, crowdpleasing tactics – but it's set against a sincere exploration of the brothers' differences, and an ambitious attempt to rewrite Lear for laughter rather than tears. It's a throwback, but relaxed, sweet and funny with it: a first feature that makes an impression by not pushing too hard to make an impression.

19 year old Georgia Groome one of Screenterrier's top British rising stars under 20, is set to star alongside Stephen Dillane, in Greek family comedy Papadopoulos & Sons, the first feature film from up-and-coming director Marcus Markou, a Lamda graduate and playwright who made the short film The Last Temptation Of Chris in 2009.

Georgia (represented by United Agents) plays the daughter of a widowed Greek businessman (Stephen Dillane) who, after losing everything in the financial crash, sets about trying to resurrect the forgotten family fish & chip shop with the help of his children and larger-than-life brother.

20 year old Frank Dillane, the real-life son of Stephen Dillane, plays one of Georgia's brothers, James Papadopoulos. Frank played the 16 year old Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows II. Frank is represented by Michelle Braidman Associates.

Georges Corraface and Ed Stoppard have also signed up to star in the film which...

Billionaire Richard Branson recently launched the Virgin Produced production company and is now in negotiations to acquire "Columbus," a script by Ts Nowlin that has McG (Terminator Salvation) attached to direct. The film is described as a "300"-style film about Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America. Hollywood has learned that people don't want to see the explorer on the big screen, but Virgin is hoping that technological advances in visual effects and 3D may get audience into theaters. Back in 1992, to commemorate the 500th anniversary, two films about Columbus were released. The film is "1492: Conquest of Paradise," directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and starring Gerard Depardieu as Columbus and Sigourney Weaver as Queen Isabella. The film grossed $7 million on a $47 million budget. Around the same time, director Jon Glen (For Your Eyes Only) released "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery," featuring a cast comprised of Georges Corraface, Rachel Ward, Marlon Brando,...

Exclusive: Richard Branson, the entrepreneur who says he is two years away from launching the commercial space travel company Virgin Galactic Airways, wants to make a movie about a guy who could certainly relate to the ambition. Branson, who  this summer launched the Virgin Produced banner as a joint venture with Relativity Media, is negotiating to acquire Columbus, a script by T.S. Nowlin that has McG attached to direct a 300-style film about Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America. The script went out last week and a deal's in the works, sources said. The pic will be produced by McG, who's currently directing the 20th Century Fox comedy This Means War with Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine. Hollywood has stayed away from the Columbus story since a race to commemorate the 500th anniversary led to a pair of rival pics. Ridley Scott directed Gerard Depardieu as...

Director: Tony Vidal Writer(s): Tony Vidal (screeplay) Starring: Matt Angel, Ken Davitian, Veronica Sixtos, Madison Riley, Georges Corraface, Jareb Dauplaise, Devon Werkheiser, Robert Adamson, Kurt Fuller The Pranksters are a clandestine group of high school misfits who have dedicated their teenage years to combating the social inequities and hateful cliques inherent in high school. Their random acts of subterfuge are designed to make people more open towards the differences of others; they just want everyone to chill out and loosen the heck up.

Supporting indie film, we now offer you images from Strand Releasing's "The Prankster" which opens in limited venues on September 28th. The Tony Vidal-helmed, written and produced comedy stars Matt Angel, Veronica Sixtos, Kurt Fuller, Michaela Watkins, Maiara Walsh, Robert Adamson and Devon Werkheiser. Also in the cast are Madison Riley, Jareb Dauplaise, Ally Maki, Marcella Lentz-Pope, Preston Davis, Danny Max, Kunal Sharma, Ken Davitan and Georges Corraface. Chris Karas is the brilliant leader of The Pranksters, a secret society that rights the wrongs of high school by pulling sophisticated pranks on deserving oppressors. But with graduation looming, Chris longs for more from life. Guided by the homespun wisdom of his charmingly eccentric Uncle Nick, Chris embarks on a challenging path of self-discovery and romance...

Paramount’s latest batch of Catalog titles includes Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. As of today, the replacement copies should be on the streets as there were some audio sync issues. Unfortunately a lot of early reviews did not catch this issue, which is likely because most critics (self included) don’t have DTS-hd master audio. Briefly, there is a core DTS soundtrack, and then the HD audio track, and if you don’t have the right equipment, you are not going to hear that audio track. Perhaps that’s what happened here. Don’t know. But Spielberg’s war opus hit the streets along with catalog titles Escape from La and K-19: The Widowmaker, and my reviews of those titles follow after the jump.

With Saving Private Ryan, even its most ardent admirers will suggest that the bookends are the weakest element of the movie. This ties into...

Escape From L.A. (Blu-ray)Paramount Home Entertainment1996/Rated R/101 MinsNow Available – List Price $29.99I think it all started when in 1993 Kurt Russell and John Carpenter reunited to record an audio commentary for the laserdisc release of Escape From New York. The duo, who also collaborated on the TV movie Elvis, The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China, had not seen each other for some time, and if you've ever heard one of their audio commentaries, you know what a laugh-riot these two are when put together. 1997, the date in which the film was set was fast approaching and Russell and Carpenter seemed to have had such a great time making the picture that the time seemed right for them to try it again. With the success of the western adventure Tombstone later that year, Russell became a bankable star and soon would enjoy starring in hits like Stargate and Executive Decision.

Sequels which follow their predecessors more than a decade after the fact are always interesting. Sometimes it works in the favor of the film’s legacy, but it’s rare. Far easier to make is a list of long delayed sequels that disgrace the name of the originals. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Live Free or Die Hard, Terminator 3, The Godfather III, and so on. The list really goes on for quite a bit, but what’s interesting to note in that list is that the series in question are relatively high profile. In fact, much delayed sequels are even more common in the world of B-movies, and because of the genre it becomes even harder to determine whether or not the time between sequels helped or improved the final product. John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A. followed 15 years after Snake Plissken performed a similar Houdini feat...

Chicago – There is no Blu-ray justice. The great “Escape From New York” sits unavailable in HD, along with dozens of other great movies of its era, but the vastly inferior sequel “Escape From L.A.” lands on the format this week. “L.A.” isn’t a horrible film, but it works mostly because of the goodwill created by love for the original, which makes that film’s unavailability on the format all the more bewildering.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.0/5.0

Clearly, Paramount understands that “Escape From L.A.” doesn’t have the loyal following of some of John Carpenter’s best films (“Halloween,” “The Thing,” “Escape From New York”) and have therefore released the disappointing 1996 sequel without a single special feature. This is an upgrade in technical quality only and even that’s relatively mediocre. It’s not that the HD picture for “Escape From L.A.” is a bad one, but when it’s the...

On May 4th, Paramount Home Entertainment will release Escape From L.A. on Blu-ray! DVD- Director John Carpenter’s exciting follow up to the darkly futuristic Escape From New York once again stars Kurt Russell as mercenary Snake Plissken on a mission to wade through L.A.'s ruined landmarks to retrieve a doomsday device....

In the year 2013, L.A. has become an island prison populated by law-breakers and non-conformists, thanks to a series of earthquakes that separated the city from the mainland.

This “go-for-broke extravaganza” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) is filled with jaw-dropping action as Snake surfs Wilshire Blvd., shoots hoops at the Coliseum, dive bombs the Happy Kingdom theme park, and mixes it up with a wild assortment of friends, fiends and foes played by Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, George Corraface, Cliff Robertson, Pam Grier and more. The disc includes the theatrical trailer.

Specifications- 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD,...

You can bring home three action-packed classic films home in the perfection of 1080p this May. Saving Private Ryan, Escape From L.A. and K-19: The Widowmaker will all be released on Blu-ray on May 4. These discs will be priced at $29.99 apiece and you can take a look at the special features details and synopses below. We'll update this story with more of the cover art images as soon as they come in.

Saving Private Ryan

Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath. The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. This mass slaughter of American soldiers is depicted in a compelling, unforgettable 24-minute sequence.

On May 4th, Paramount Home Entertainment will release Escape From L.A. on Blu-ray! DVD- Director John Carpenter’s exciting follow up to the darkly futuristic Escape From New York once again stars Kurt Russell as mercenary Snake Plissken on a mission to wade through L.A.'s ruined landmarks to retrieve a doomsday device. In the year 2013, L.A. has become an island prison populated by law-breakers and non-conformists, thanks to a series of earthquakes that separated the city from the mainland.

This “go-for-broke extravaganza” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) is filled with jaw-dropping action as Snake surfs Wilshire Blvd., shoots hoops at the Coliseum, dive bombs the Happy Kingdom theme park, and mixes it up with a wild assortment of friends, fiends and foes played by Stacy Keach, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda, George Corraface, Cliff Robertson, Pam Grier and more. The disc includes the theatrical trailer.

Specifications- 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD,...

An episodic coming-of-age story with a potentially interesting plot development that never quite comes to fruition, "Peppermint" is the Greek entry for the foreign-film Oscar sweepstakes and a competent first feature from writer-director Costas Kapakas. But it's unlikely to get a nomination or much exposure stateside beyond festivals.

At age 45, Stefanos (Georges Corraface) has a career in aerospace, but he seems a bit lost and lonely when he drives off one day to an old friend's party. As he makes the trip, he remembers his youthful days in the 1960s, particularly the love for his first cousin (Markella Pappa), whom he first developed a crush on at age 11. The title refers to one afternoon adventure in which the youngsters down a few glasses of liquor in secret. Surrounded by relatives, their attraction to each other doesn't go unnoticed forever.

But the illicit-love angle, while teasing one into expecting serious complications and consequences, is mostly secondary to breezy episodes involving busty algebra teachers, vacations at the seashore and other routine moments typical of such a nostalgic format. At one point, the young Stefanos (Giorgos Gerontidakis-Sempetadelis) has an erotic encounter with a seductive, young woman in a hotel washroom, but the details of the scene, like much of the film, is left to one's imagination.

Kapakas certainly has a knack with actors, both young and old. However, the flashback structure is not very rewarding, particularly when the film finally gets down to business and we learn that Stefanos and Marina had at least one serious make-out session as teenagers but didn't go all the way. This happened at a party of the same friend that the older Stefanos is on his way to visit -- the friend who also loved Marina.

Ironically, the film's best moments occur near the end as Stefanos is suddenly faced with the death of his mother (Annie Loulou), but what happens to the lead and Marina after that is anybody's guess because the film abruptly ends with their reunion seen in long shots.

PEPPERMINT

Greek Film Centre

Kappa Films, Cinegram SA

Director-screenwriter: Costas Kapakas

Director of photography: Yannis Daskalothanassis

Production designers: Giorgos Georgiou, Alexandra Horianopoulou

Editor: Takis Yannopoulos

Costume designer: Maria Kontodima

Music: Panagiotis Kalatzopoulos

Color/stereo

Cast:

Stefanos, age 11: Giorgos Gerontidakis-Sempetadelis

Stefanos, age 45: Georges Corraface

Marina: Markella Pappa

Stefanos' mother: Annie Loulou

Stefanos' father: Alexandros Mylonas

Running time -- 105 minutes

No MPAA rating...