News

“From the land beyond beyond…” — oops, wrong movie. Kerwin Mathews battles Torin Thatcher once again, with Judi Meredith in a stunning double role as both a delicate heroine and her evil counterpart in a magician’s mirror. Plus more stop-motion monsters than one can throw a ten-league boot at! Boy, we’re coining phrases left and right here.

Jack the Giant Killer

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1962 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 94 + 91 min. / Street Date June 12, 2018 / Special Edition / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Kerwin Matthews, Torin Thatcher, Judi Meredith, Walter Burke, Don Beddoe, Barry Kelley, Dayton Lummis, Anna Lee, Roger Mobley, Tudor Owen.

Cinematography: David S. Horsley

Film Editor: Grant Whytock

Special Effects: Augie Lohman (practical), Howard A. Anderson (optical composites), Tim Baar, Wah Chang, Lloyd Vaughan, Gene Warren, Bill Brace, Jim Danforth, Tom Holland, Phil Kellison, David Pal (stop-motion animation).

Original Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter

Original Music Alternate musical version: musical...

Back in 1964 a lot of people still thought dolphins were fish, but by the time this TV show was finished, we all knew that our happy undersea friend was smarter than the average bear and lives in a world full of wonder. Ivan Tors’ grandly successful Florida-shot family show kept a lot of seagoing movie veterans in green seaweed, including both original ‘Creature’ Gill Men.

Flipper, Season One

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1964-65 / Color / 1:33 flat TV / 780 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 39.95

Starring: Brian Kelly, Luke Halpin, Tommy Norden.

Cinematography: Clifford H. Poland Jr., Lamar Boren

Original Music: Henry Vars, song by

Written by: Jack Cowden, Ricou Browning, Peter L. Dixon, Laird Koenig, Stanley H. Silverman, Orville H. Hampton, Lee Erwin, Art Arthur, Jess Carneol, Key Lenard, Ivan Tors, Alan Caillou, Arthur Richards, Robert Sabaroff.

Produced by Ivan Tors, Ricou Browning, Leon Benson, Andrew Marton

Directed by: Ricou Browning,...

New festival director Leena Pasanaen also talks future plans.

Polish DoP-director Wojciech Staron’s Brothers was the big winner at this year’s Dok Leipzig (Oct 26 to Nov 1), the first edition under the new festival director Leena Pasanen.

The International Competition jury, which included Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic and Docpoint Helsinki’s artistic director Ulla Simonen, awarded the festival’s main award, the €10,000 Golden Dove, to Brothers about the love-hate relationship between two Polish brothers in their 80s.

Handled internationally by Capricci Films, the film had its world premiere in Locarno’s Semaine de la Critique in August where it won the Best Film Award.

This award is Staron’s second Dove after receiving the Silver Dove for his documentary Argentinian Lesson at Dok Leipzig in 2011.

He had also served as the DoP on Jerzy Sladkowski’s Vodka Factory which won the main Golden Dove in 2010.

In addition, a co-production with Poland - Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian’s animated...

A Britpop version of "American Psycho"? "X-Men" actor Nicholas Hoult stars in this new drama which serves as Owen Harris' directorial debut. Hoult plays a sinister A&R man hunting for a new hit during the peak of that particular musical genre. Craig Roberts, James Corden, Georgia King and Joseph Mawle also star in the film which hits the UK on November 6th. The movie has yet to secure U.S. distribution.

Films set to show at the 40th Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff), updated as announcements are made in the run up to the event.

Tiff will open on September 10 with Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts.

Tiff 40

Key: Wp = world premiere; Nap = North American premiere; IP = international premiere; Cp = Canadian premiere.

GALASBeeba Boys (Canada), Deepa Mehta, WPDemolition, Jean-Marc Vallée WPDisorder (Maryland) (France-Belgium), Alice Winocour NAPThe Dressmaker (Aus), Jocelyn Moorhouse, WPEye In The Sky (UK), Gavin Hood WPForsaken (Canada), Jon Cassar, WPFreeheld (Us), Peter Sollett, WPHyena Road (Canada), Paul Gross, WPLolo (France), Julie Delpy, NAPLegend (UK), Brian Helgeland, IPMan Down (Us), Dito Montiel NAPThe Man Who Knew Infinity (UK), Matt Brown, WPThe Martian (Us), Ridley Scott, WPMiss You Already (UK), Catherine Hardwicke WPMississippi Grind (Us), Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden CPMr. Right (Us), Paco Cabezas WPThe Program (UK), Stephen Frears, WPRemember (Canada), Atom Egoyan, NAPSeptembers Of Shiraz (Us), Wayne Blair, WPStonewall ([link...

Read More: Nicholas Hoult on the 'Young Ones,' Going Hungry and Pretend-Fighting Hugh Jackman Nicholas Hoult is giving "killer tunes" a more literal meaning in Owen Harris' upcoming satire, "Kill Your Friends." Adapted by John Nivens from his 2008 novel of the same name, the film also stars Craig Roberts, Rosanna Arquette, Tim Riley and James Corden. Hoult is front and center as Steven Stelfox, a powerhungry 27-year-old A&R man fueled by greed, money and copious amounts of drugs. When Stelfox can't find his next hit record by industry standards, he takes a bloodied path to achieve the success he so desperately craves. The movie will have its North American premiere in the City to City section at the Toronto International Film Festival. Watch the trailer above. Read More: Jack Huston Flies Away From 'The Crow,' Nicholas Hoult And Jack O’Connell Eyed As Replacements...

Coffy/Foxy Brown/Friday Foster

Coffy and Foxy Brown written and directed by Jack Hill

Friday Foster written by Orville H. Hampton, directed by Arthur Marks

USA, 1973/1974/1975

Olive Films recently released several Blaxploitation titles on Blu-ray for the first time, all on the same day. This included the Fred Williamson-starring Hammer, from 1972, as well as three Pam Grier films: Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), and Friday Foster (1975). Hammer isn’t a particular favorite, but these latter three were most welcome, especially Coffy, which is quite possibly the greatest of all Blaxploitation features, even better than the more popular Shaft (1971) and Super Fly (1972). As much as anything, these three releases are notable for showcasing Grier at her finest during a period of immensely enjoyable work and exceptional productivity—15 films from her minor debut in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) to Friday Foster. Around these films, she also starred in several other...

Towering aggressively over the legacy of the problematic film movement of 1970s Blaxploitation is the iconic figure of actress Pam Grier, emblazoned in our memories as the self-reliant beauty holding her own (well, mostly) with her male co-stars prior to her white female counterparts, like Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton. She’s an important cinematic figure, and much like the symbolic essence of Marilyn Monroe, her reputation outweighs familiarity with many of the films that brought her iconicity. Arriving in the middle of her gamut of classic titles was 1975’s Friday Foster, of which Grier is the eponymous star. Campy, cringe worthy, and so remarkably asinine it may just as well be classified as sci-fi, production values and an impressive supporting cast surely solidifies the title as requisite viewing for Grier’s fan base. Unfortunately, for all involved, their talents (a common complaint of the genre) are worthy of less slipshod silliness.

Fresh from Victor Frankenstein and the sequel to Now You See Me, Daniel Radcliffe is now eyeing the BBC's developing Grand Theft Auto drama. The film, based on David Kushner's book Jacked: The Outlaw Story Of Grand Theft Auto, has Owen Harris directing from a screenplay by James Wood.This is, as you'll have gathered, a film about the infamous videogame franchise rather than one based on it (we were told in 2013 that a "straight" GTA movie will never happen). Radcliffe is in the frame for the role of Rockstar Games honcho Sam Hauser, who steered the games from their simple top-down origins to the massively complex - and violent - open world system we now know. The film (and the book it's based on) deals with the British Hauser's clashes with the Floridian self-styled moral activist Jack Thompson: an attorney who had already gone after other media...

A Pennsylvania 2-year-old boy tragically shot himself on Feb. 21 after finding a gun inside his mom’s purse, and is in the hospital fighting for his life. He remains in critical condition — read on for more of the tragic details.

Owen Harris, 2, found a gun in his mother’s bag late at night and accidentally shot himself in the head. Owen was rushed to the hospital after this horrifying incident, and remains in critical, but stable, condition.

The gun that Owen found allegedly belongs to his stepfather, but no charges are being made because Pennsylvania does not currently have any laws requiring guns to be locked up. This will only add fuel to the fight on gun control that is sweeping the country since the Sandy Hook massacre.

Owen Harris In Critical Condition At Upmc Children’s Hospital

Family and friends of Owen’s have been visiting him at Upmc Children’s Hospital,...

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The opening shot of Black Mirror II begins with a shot of a petrol station on a stormy pitch black night. That shot alone is enough to raise my excitement all over again for the latest series of underrated Television gold.

Its been a lengthy two year hiatus since the last Black Mirror miniseries aired on our TV screens, but its return has been long awaited by fans as well as Channel 4, who have awarded the return with a very creative marketing campaign. The marketing in general, captures the same eerie soft techo atmosphere that Brooker assembled so perfectly in his first series. And with that hype, it’s enough to lure in additional viewers as well as retain the original viewers from previously.

The first mini-movie of this series is titled “Be Right Back”, written by Charlie Brooker and starring Captain America star Hayley Atwell.

After all the debates, controversies, and stereotype accusations have cleared, looking back on Blaxploitation cinema today it’s easy to see healthy portions of the crime and action genres. Using these genres and the struggles of the black community, these films were created for those that wanted to see African American characters on the big screen not taking shit from the man, “getting over”, and–above all else—being the heroes in movies. In the documentary Baad Asssss Cinema, Samuel L. Jackson gives his take on the heroes of Blaxploitation: “We were tired of seeing the righteous black man. And all of a sudden we had guys who were…us. Or guys who did the things we wanted those guys to do.”

The unsung supporting players in these films that backed Fred Williamson and Pam Grier and many other stars were people acting and making a living off of it.

Never Fear, Pam Grier Is Here! Pam Grier started her career in a number of women-in-prison films which lead to a fruitful stint of starring roles in Blaxploitation cinema. Grier created an intelligent, sensual, and tough on-screen persona with her starring roles, the likes to which few actresses are comparable. She has since gone from Blaxploitation to a forty-year career spanning film and television. She has worked with such great filmmakers as John Carpenter, Tim Burton, Jack Hill, and Quentin Tarantino – whose own film Jackie Brown is a love letter to both Grier and Blaxploitation cinema. Here is a look at the top five films of Grier’s early seventies work:

# 5 Black Mama, White Mama 1973

Written by H.R. Christian, Joe Viola, and Jonathan Demme

Directed by Eddie Romero

“A terrorist and a hooker…you two should have a lot to talk about.”

This is a women-in-prison film (Wip) aimed at a racially diverse audience.

Jack The Giant Killer

Stars: Kerwin Mathews, Judi Meredith, Torin Thatcher, Walter Burke, Don Beddoe, Barry Kelley, Dayton Lummis | Written by Nathan Juran, Orville H. Hampton | Directed by Nathan Juran

Every now and then you get a film with a title so cool you just know it’ll never live up to all of the spectacular scenes your mind has just concocted upon seeing the painted DVD cover. It’s largely the fate of ’70s B-movies like Blacula and The Thing With Two Heads which relied on exploitative posters and gimmicky concepts to reel their audiences in, but occasionally you’ll get a couple from the mainstream.

Jack The Giant Killer, alas, is one such movie. A slight and inoffensive 1962 fantasy adventure produced in the heyday of the classic Ray Harryhausen claymation monster movies like Jason and the Argonauts, the film has an interesting set-up (boy saves princess from giant,...

Monty Python’s 1979 film Life of Brian was a masterpiece of surreal and satirical comedy, and always places high when the various Best British Film of All Time polls are announced.

On release its controversial subject matter inevitably ruffled a great many ecclesiastical feathers and was banned in some places in the UK, a ban rumoured to have been upheld in Swansea until 1997.

The documentary The Secret Life of Brian charts the film’s development (from Eric Idle’s glb response to the question of what the Pythons were working on next – he quipped: Jesus Christ – Lust for Glory!) to the famous showdown on the BBC debate programme Friday Night, Saturday Morning. There Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin were berated by the highly regarded broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark, the Right Reverend Mervyn Stockwood, for their film which they considered as blasphemous.

Now the BBC are...