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Roger Ebert was a complicated character. He was the ultimate populist critic, bringing a love of cinema to the masses, but he could also be censorious, savaging films he saw as politically incorrect. Fans who recall his scathing takedown of the future classic Blue Velvet may be surprised to learn that Ebert wrote one of the most extravagant exploitation movies of all time: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a show business satire so extreme that it earned an X rating.

Filmmaker Russ Meyer was famous for witty, gritty independent pictures starring domineering women with outrageous topographical features. Roger Ebert was an early champion of Meyer's films, and together they created what the critic called "a rock horror exploitation musical" that does for music industry melodramas what RoboCop does for action blockbusters. Panned upon release but certified fresh today, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls adds a fascinating dimension...

When you think of the classic Western hero, you likely conjure up the image of a stoic, laconic man astride a horse. He exhibits neither joy nor sorrow; he does not laugh, nor does he cry. He is a man of few words and zero sentimentality. He probably hasn't taken a bath in a while.

Even if you've only a passing interest in the genre, you're likely thinking of John Wayne. If you prefer not to think of the Duke, you might think of Clint Eastwood. If you've only ever seen one Western, and that Western happens to be "The Shakiest Gun in the West," you're thinking of Don Knotts and are thus incapable of relating to everything I've just written.

If, however, you know the genre well, and had a dad and/or granddad who forced you to watch all manner of Westerns regardless of quality, you probably know the long-running CBS oater "Gunsmoke.

Beneath The Valley Of The Ultra-Vixens is the third film in Russ Meyere's Vixens trilogy. It was the last of his films to have a cinematic release. It is also the worst film he ever made. The film is an unfortunate parody of his previous work. After 93 minutes you'll have seen 50 attempts at shark jumping sexplotation and a main plot that consists of three puerile jokes.

Elements of his other films can be scene in Ultra-Vixens: the red that was a motif for sex is now splatted everywhere and serves no function; the bare wire frame of a mattress is seen 50 odd times in cutaway. Meyer's filmmaking style was characterised by static shot and cutaway. He was a master of the hard cut. The one between Roxanne (Erica Gavin) and the Kelly Affair's singer Casey Anderson (Cynthia Myers) at the start of Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.

One would expect that the second instalment of Russ Meyer's Vixen trilogy would in some way follow on from the first film. Thinking that would be a mistake. SuperVixens has precious little to do with Vixen, in much the same way as Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls is unconnected with Valley Of The Dolls. There are of course some similarities between the two sexploitation comedies, and any other Russ Meyer film for that matter: scarlet as a motif for sex; large breasted, sexually dominant women; the bare wire frame of a mattress; nature and nudity.

Clint Ramsey (Charles Pitts), a mechanic at a gas station, receives a phone call from his partner SuperAngel (Shari Eubank). During the call SuperAngel hears the voice of a flirtatious customer, SuperLorna (Christy Hartburg), and goes ballistic, threatening to burn down their house. Clint rushes home. On his return he is subjected to a.

Russ Meyer, who singlehandedly put the sexploitation film on the map in 1959 with his pioneering The Immoral Mr. Tees, was a veritable one-man band. He produced, wrote, directed, shot, and edited his own films, which are instantly recognizable by an inimitable aesthetic dominated by cuts delivered at a stupefyingly rat-a-tat pace. Meyer described his personal tastes as centered on “big bosoms and square jaws”, and his films usually traded in stereotypes pushed to the limits of absurdity and the cartoonish. Meyer’s ability to serve up heaping helpings of unabashed sex laced with withering social satire is virtually unrivaled.

So it was a lamentable loss for lovers of film (smut or otherwise) when Meyer’s work, practically ubiquitous in the VHS era, sank into unavailability at the dawn of the DVD era, with the sole exception of his one major studio production: 1970’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. But...

When Severin co-founder and CEO David Gregory signed the deal to release five Russ Meyer movies, he had caught his white whale — and it has one hell of a rack.

For years, the filmography of Meyer has languished in a liminal space between lost and found — Gregory described it as being out of circulation. While many of Meyer’s self-released movies have been available on DVD for decades, they’ve lived there via Sd tape transfers that date back to the ‘80s, originally intended for VHS releases. Aside from 1970’s “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” one of two movies the usually independent Meyer made for 20th Century Fox, his body of work has eluded streaming.

Forget about 4K — many wondered if they’d make it to HD (aside from a long out-of-print Blu-ray of the beloved “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”). This has been a concern of Meyer fans for...

In the pantheon of 1960s B-movie filmmakers whose work later became reappraised and celebrated for its progressive themes, Russ Meyer has the kind of legacy that rivals Roger Corman. Best known for a series of sexploitation films like “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” Meyer’s pornographic filmography is now viewed by many as boundary-pushing work that brilliantly encapsulates many of the changing social norms of his generation.

Meyer was fiercely independent and maintained ownership of all of his films until his death in 2004, and quality copies of all but his most famous works have been hard to come by in the 21st century. But thanks to Severin Films, fans will now have a chance to own three iconic Meyer films on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Uhd. The distributor has partnered with the Russ Meyer Charitable Trust to release new editions of his trilogy consisting of “Vixen!,...

Three films by Russ Meyer, the sexploitation director film critic Roger Ebert described as “the ultimate auteur,” are coming to physical media in December.

The estate of the pioneering independent filmmaker has reached an agreement with media company Severin Films to distribute three of his signature films, “Vixen,” “Supervixens” and “Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens,” on home video for the first time in decades. Working in collaboration with Janice Cowart and The Russ Meyer Trust, Severin’s discs — available in 4K Uhd, Blu-ray and DVD — mark the first remastering of Meyer’s films from the original camera negatives since the early 1980s, and each will be accompanied by both new and archival special features curated exclusively for these releases.

“As a filmmaker, distributor and First Amendment warrior, Russ Meyer is one of the last great icons of American cinema,” David Gregory, co-founder and CEO of Severin Films said in a statement.

Quick Links Pearl and Maxine Show the Sympathetic Side of Killer Ambition Mia Goth Joins the Ranks of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Divine Stardom Isn't Forever, But These Stories Are Timeless

The trilogy of X, Pearl, and MaXXXine features two women who sacrifice everything for fame where "everything" usually means "other people". The naked ambition of Pearl Douglas and Maxine Minx has won them legions of fans, and while their movies feel strikingly original, fame is a familiar cult film subject. Ti West and Mia Goth's antiheroes have predecessors in movies ranging from Sunset Boulevard to Female Trouble, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? to The Neon Demon.

The frequently-remade A Star Is Born proves that fame fables have mainstream appeal, but cult movies do it better. Showgirls depicts a desperate dancer's Dantesque journey to the dark heart of Las Vegas, while Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls...

Roger Ebert, from Urbana, Illinois, started his decorated career in film criticism with early works at The Daily Illini. Ebert diversified as a screenwriter, collaborating with Russ Meyer on the cult classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Despite the film's controversy, Ebert maintained its artistic merit and legacy while balancing his role as a respected critic.

After an upbringing two hours south of Chicago in Urbana, Illinois, Roger Ebert started college early standing out at Urbana High partly because of his work on the school newspaper. Ebert continued his venture into journalism at the University of Illinois, writing some of his early film critiques before becoming the college newspaper's editor as a senior. An early 1961 review of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita in The Daily Illini was a harbinger of what would become one of the most decorated careers in the history of film criticism. But before those lofty heights,...

On August 22, 1929, only two months before the Wall Street crash that would sink the United States into the Great Depression, a movie house opened in Chicago, Illinois. Compared to theaters of the time that could hold 3,000 patrons, the Music Box Theatre only had room for 700 and was considered by many to be the little sibling to the movie palaces of the era. However, what it lacked in size, it made up for by delivering the highest quality of projection and sound. Rather than serving as a multi-purpose venue for variety performances, as well as movies, the Music Box focused exclusively on the rising popularity of motion pictures, preceding many others.

Writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1983, architectural critic Paul Gapp wrote of the Music Box, “The architectural style is an eclectic melange of Italian, Spanish and Pardon-My-Fantasy put together with passion,” but the actual style has been defined as “atmospheric.

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The second season of Prime Video's horror anthology series, Them, drops on April 25, 2024, and while the first season was dubbed Covenant, this time around it's being billed as Them: The Scare, and takes viewers from the 1953 setting of the first season, all the way to 1991 Los Angeles after the release of the Rodney King video when racial tensions are at their peak. It sees the return of Deborah Ayorinde in the lead role, only this time, instead of playing a homemaker, she finds herself acting as an LAPD Detective investigating a string of bizarre murders.

Joining Ayorinde in the new season are Luke James, Joshua J. Williams, and legendary icon Pam Grier, who portrays Ayorinde's mother, Athena. MovieWeb recently had the opportunity to sit down with Grier to talk about her role in Them: The Scare, and what it was like to...

In an effort to replace Draconian content restrictions of the Hayes Code, the Motion Picture Association of America, now just the Motion Picture Association (MPA) came up with a movie rating system in 1968 that is essentially the same to this day. The highest level was Rated-x, which at the time banned the admission of anyone under 16 years of age.

While the X-rating was never initially intended to be associated with adult films, the adult film industry took over the rating and that is what it became synonymous with. This created a problem for many great movies with content above the R rating were slapped with an X, as their distribution potential was limited. In 1990, the MPA came up with the Nc-17 rating to replace X, yet it did little to solve the problem of the stigma surrounding the X-rating.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls...

No matter how many 4/4-star reviews you may read from the great Roger Ebert, his favorite film remained a mystery for the longest time, only for him to confess in 2008 that it was in fact Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. The reasons why, however, may be considered too personal for a film critic. Roger Ebert will forever remain the poster child for film criticism (and the guy who wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), having become the most widely known film critic in America, if not the world, before his untimely death in 2013. Let’s be honest, asking someone who watches movies for a living to pick one is a preposterous request, but it's the kind of question that gets people going across bar tables and coffee houses, acting for many as the first moment of bonding with a fellow cinephile when they find that their interests are somewhat aligned.

Barbie takes a ride from her dream house to reality as Little Women writer-director Greta Gerwig takes another cultural icon and lovingly subverts it

Writer-director Greta Gerwig’s cinematic reinvention of Mattel’s most (in)famous toy comes on like a sugar-rush mashup of Pixar’s Toy Story 2, Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, the cult live-action feature Josie and the Pussycats and the Roger Ebert-scripted exploitation romp Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. It’s a riotously entertaining candy-coloured feminist fable that manages simultaneously to celebrate, satirise and deconstruct its happy-plastic subject. Audiences will be delighted. Mattel should be ecstatic.

After a heavily trailered 2001-parody opening, we move to a pastel pink haven in which, “thanks to Barbie, all problems of feminism and equal rights have been solved”. This is Barbieland – a fantasy world in which big-haired dolls can be anything, thereby inspiring equivalent feminine achievement out there in...

Beloved film critic Roger Ebert’s only produced screenplay is 1970’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a psychedelic social satire that parodies the critically condemned The Valley of the Dolls from three years prior. Working with exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer, Ebert took viewers on a horny, drug-addled romp through a gloriously exaggerated Los Angeles at the tail end of the tumultuous ‘60s.

HBO has long been considered the leader in prestige television programming, and, over the last five months, the 51-year-old cable network has fully reinforced this belief with the critically acclaimed first season of "The Last of Us" and the perfectly pitched conclusions of "Succession" and "Barry." But while we're still buzzing over the finales of those last two shows, you can't help but look ahead and wonder how the King of Peak TV rides this wave of hosannas to the next must-watch triumphs.

The jury is out as to whether Sam Levinson's "The Idol" will draw as many eyeballs as his wildly popular teen melodrama "Euphoria," but, judging from the critical reaction thus far (and the behind-the-scenes controversy), the series promises to be a supercharged hot-take generator. The show stars Lily-Rose Depp as an out-of-control pop star whose instability and sexual desirability is wantonly exploited to launch her to diva immortality.

At the end of Sam Raimi's 1993 horror farce "Army of Darkness," the blustering a-hole hero Ash (Bruce Campbell), stranded in the early 14th century, has handily vanquished an army of Deadites and retrieved the magical Necronomicon, a book that has the power to return him to his own time. The bearded Wise Man (Ian Abercrombie) explains to Ash that he has to drink a vial of elixir and recite three magical words, being careful to recite them correctly (Ash had previously whiffed the same magic words earlier in the film).

An astute observer might have noticed that Abercrombie's mouth doesn't match his dialogue in that scene. This is the result of a massive recut to the ending of "Army of Darkness." In the original cut, and the cut released overseas, Ash was told to drink one drop of elixir for every century he wanted to travel forward in time.

The extraordinary Jonathan Ross discusses his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Kick-Ass (2010)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) – Dennis Cozzalio’s 2015 year-end list

The Woman in Black (2012)

Stardust (2007)

The Green Knight (2021) – Our podcast interview with director David Lowery, Dennis Cozzalio’s best-of-2021-so-far list

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The Astro-Zombies (1968) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

The Corpse Grinders (1971) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Zombies (1964) – Dennis Cozzalio’s drive-in director list

Blood Feast (1963) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Wizard of Gore (1970)

Police Story (1985) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (1989)

Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Society (1989)

Eraserhead (1977) – Karyn Kusama’s Blu-ray review

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (1965) – Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Randy...

The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Castle (1997)

The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary

Pressure (1976)

Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Boss (1975)

Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

Black Samurai (1977)

Truck Turner (1974)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)

Friday Foster (1975)

That Man Bolt (1973)

Blacula (1972)

Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Billy Jack (1971)

John Wick (2014)

The Matrix (1999)

Cleopatra Jones...

From Pig starring Nicolas Cage, Writer/Director Michael Sarnoski and Writer/Producer Vanessa Block join Josh and Joe to discuss the movies that inspired them during the creation of their film.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nobody (2021)

Infested (2002)

The Big Chill (1983)

A History of Violence (2005)

Pig (2021)

Mandy (2018)

John Wick (2014)

The Testimony (2015)

No Country For Old Men (2007) [Both] – John Badham’s trailer commentary

The Maltese Falcon (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Blood Simple (1984) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzaliio’s review

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Raising Arizona (1987)

Moonstruck (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Joe (2013)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957) [Vanessa Block] – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Easter Parade (1948)

Titanic (1997)

Never Been Kissed (1999)

Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Crow (1994)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) [Michael Sarnoski] – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion...

Exclusive: “I try to think big!’ says Tura Satana’s Varla in Russ Meyer’s cult classic Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!, and that’s exactly what Norman Reedus and AMC Studios plan to do.

The Walking Dead star’s bigbaldhead production company and AMC Studios are developing a small-screen series version of Meyer’s 1965 flick starring Satana, Lori Williams, Susan Bernard, Paul Trina, Haji and Stuart Lancaster, I have learned. The project has the full backing of the Meyer estate.

Still in the early stages, the project comes under the two-year first-look deal Reedus and his banner inked with the studio in September last year. Utilizing the movie’s tale of a trio of badass go-go dancers on a cash-fueled rampage through the desert, Faster Pussycat the TV show aims to pay homage to the original but also go beyond the fast cars and karate kicks to home in on...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled their lineup for next month and it’s another strong slate, featuring retrospectives of Carole Lombard, John Waters, Robert Downey Sr., Luis García Berlanga, Jane Russell, and Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman. Also in the lineup is new additions to their Queersighted series, notably Todd Haynes’ early film Poison (Safe is also premiering in a separate presentation), William Friedkin’s Cruising, and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorama.

The new restorations of Manoel de Oliveira’s stunning Francisca and Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli will join the channel, alongside Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor, Bong Joon Ho’s early short film Incoherence, and Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Rosetta.

See the lineup below and explore more on criterionchannel.com.

#Blackmendream, Shikeith, 2014

12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet, 1957

About Tap, George T. Nierenberg, 1985

The AIDS Show, Peter Adair and Rob Epstein, 1986

The Assignation, Curtis Harrington, 1953

Aya of Yop City,...

Devo’s Gerald Casale joins us for a discussion of the movies that made Devo!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Truth About De-Evolution (1976)

Island Of Lost Souls (1932)

Akran (1969)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Fail Safe (1964)

Valley Of The Dolls (1967)

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

The President’s Analyst (1967)

The Atomic Cafe (1982)

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

Village Of The Damned (1960)

Children Of The Damned (1964)

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)

Planet Of The Apes (1968)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The Parallax View (1974)

Soylent Green (1973)

Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)

Rocky (1976)

A Face In The Crowd (1957)

Whisky Galore! (1949)

No Time For Sergeants (1958)

Network (1976)

JFK (1991)

Natural Born Killers (1994)

Lost Highway (1997)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Expresso Bongo (1959)

Gremlins (1984)

I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)

Other Notable Items

Paul McCartney

Slash

Willie Nelson

Devo

Elliot Roberts

Lorne Michaels

Saturday Night Live TV series (1975- )

Michael O’Donoghue

The Muppets

Neil Young

Walter Williams

Mr. Bill

Richard Myers

George Kuchar

Mike Kuchar

John F.

Tune in and drop out. Seek altered states of reality and a quest for the truth. The era is the 1960s and 1970s. LSD was not just a drug, but a connector to the deeper meaning. Hippie exploitation films are free in style and form, the genre is not a rigorously researched cinephile favorite. In fact, it is a term used mostly by B-movie and grindhouse enthusiasts in internet forums. The cultural revolution of the 1960s fought against social conservatism and war, and the cinema of the time depicted these tensions with films bearing messages of the dangers of revolution and hallucinogens.In its most basic definition, these films live within the realm of the exploitation genre and heavily feature LSD and hippies. The films depict the various trips experienced by characters, on a scale of positive to negative. In the wake of the Manson murders in 1969, the media amplified...

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in the month of September — and everything that’s leaving.

Highlights in the new category include Season 2 of “Pen15,” which stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle as their middle school selves, out Sept. 18. Another highlight is the series premiere of “Woke,” inspired by the life and work of American cartoonist Keith Knight. That’s out Sept. 9.

Leaving at the end of the month are movies like “50 First Dates,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “Best in Show.”

See the full list below.

Sept. 1

Mike Tyson Mysteries: Complete Season 4 (Adult Swim)

Jeopardy!: Episode Refresh (ABC)

50 First Dates (2004)

Absolute Power (1997)

Aeon Flux (2005)

American Dragons (1998)

An American Haunting (2006)

Any Given Sunday (1999)

Anywhere but Here (1999)

Back to School (1986)

Bad Girls from Mars (1991)

The Bank Job (2008)

Because I Said So (2007)

The Birdcage (1997)

Broken Lizard’s Club Dread (2004)

Call Me (1988)

Carrington (1995)

The Cold Light Of Day...

As one of the weirder “back to school” seasons in living memory rolls out, Hulu is heading back to school in its own way for September 2020.

The biggest Hulu original arriving to the streaming services stream this month is season 2 of coming-of-age comedy Pen15…which of course stars two adults who have already come of age playing their middle school selves.

Speaking of middle school, perhaps the biggest non-original addition to the Hulu library this month is the arrival of all The Twilight Saga movies on September 1. That should prove to be a real nostalgia trip for interested parties. Other library titles of note include Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, The Terminator, and 2019’s Judy on September 25.

Bookending Hulu’s originals this month is another intriguing comedy, Woke. This series will star Lamorne Morris as a Black cartoonist who gets an unexpected wakeup call.

Here is everything else...

Nudity in movies is nothing new. It's been around since the days of silent film, though it started to evolve around the release of the Vcr in the 1980s. Suddenly, scenes were able to be paused and reversed, allowing for more time to admire the human body. After the Vcr, the DVD came into play, offering an even better look, while the internet turned it into a free-for-all. Even though nudity is everywhere these days, there are some scenes that just stick out from the rest. We've compiled a list of some of the best nude scenes that may have worn out the rewind button or burned an image into a computer screen.

Pam Grier in Coffy

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Pam Grier started her career in the 1970s in blaxploitation movies and caught a lot of attention for a number of roles, including in Russ Meyers' 1970 movie...

Josh Braun, producer of some of the best documentaries in the world, joins Josh and Joe to discuss the movies that have influenced him throughout his life.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Man On Wire (2008)

The Cove (2009)

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Encounters At The End of the World (2007)

Winnebago Man (2009)

Spellbound (2002)

Supersize Me (2004)

Tell Me Who I Am (2019)

Apollo 11 (2019)

The Edge of Democracy (2019)

Finding Vivian Maier (2013)

Searching For Sugarman (2012)

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

A History Of Violence (2005)

Frat House (1998)

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003)

The Exorcist (1973)

Go West (1940)

A Night In Casablanca (1946)

Hello Down There (1974)

What’s Up Doc? (1972)

El Topo (1970)

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Female Trouble (1974)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

Gimme Shelter (1970)

Monterey Pop (1968)

Grey Gardens (1975)

Grey Gardens (2009)

Titicut Follies (1967)

To Have And Have Not (1944)

All About Eve...

The director of Over The Edge and The Accused takes us on a journey through some of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Student Teachers (1973)

Night Call Nurses (1972)

White Line Fever (1975)

Truck Turner (1974)

Heart Like A Wheel (1983)

The Accused (1988)

Over The Edge (1979)

Modern Times (1936)

City Lights (1931)

Manhattan (1979)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

The Apartment (1960)

North By Northwest (1959)

Moon Pilot (1962)

Mr. Billion (1977)

White Heat (1949)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Three Musketeers (1973)

The Four Musketeers (1974)

Superman (1978)

Superman II (1980)

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Shane (1953)

The 400 Blows (1959)

8 ½ (1963)

Fellini Satyricon (1969)

Richard (1972)

Millhouse (1971)

The Projectionist (1970)

El Dorado (1966)

The Shootist (1976)

Woodstock (1970)

Payback (1999)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Billy Liar (1963)

Ford Vs Ferrari (2019)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Bad Girls (1994)

Masters of the Universe (1987)

Giant (1956)

The More The Merrier (1943)

The Graduate (1967)

The Victors (1963)

…And Justice For All (1979)

Citizen Kane (1941)

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn...

What better way to kick off a new month than a look at the many movies coming to Hulu? Ok, if you don’t have a Hulu subscription you might need an alternative. Maybe this list will convince you to take one out, though (not that I’m there salesperson). But enough patter, let’s crack on with it.

Here’s every new film that arrived on July 1st:

12 and Holding (2006)

2001 Maniacs (2005)

52 Pick-Up (1986)

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (2009)

A Kid Like Jake (2018)

A Mighty Wind (2003)

A Storks Journey (2017)

An Eye for a Eye (1966)

The Axe Murders of Villisca (2017)

The Bellboy (1960)

Beloved (2012)

Best In Show (2000)

Between Us (2017)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Birdwatchers (2010)

Boogie Woogie (2010)

The Bounty (1984)

Brokedown Palace (1998)

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1992)

Bug (1975)

Buried (2010)

Cadaver (2009)

California Dreamin’ (2009)

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)

Catcher Was A Spy (2018)

The Catechism Cataclysm (2011)

Change of Plans (2010)

Cheech & Chong...

In our 100th episode, Edgar Wright takes us on a musical journey through some of his favorite cinematic needle drops.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

Baby Driver (2017)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Vanishing Point (1971)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Deja Vu (2006)

Man On Fire (2004)

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Alien (1979)

The Mexican (2001)

Gremlins (1984)

American Graffiti (1973)

Star Wars (1977)

Jaws (1975)

The Exorcist (1973)

Halloween (1978)

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Deep Red (1976)

Suspiria (1977)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)

An American Werewolf In London (1981)

The Long Goodbye (1973)

The Evil Dead (1983)

Face/Off (1997)

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Mandy (2018)

The Hallow (2015)

The Nun (2018)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Christine (1983)

Blue Collar (1978)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Mauvais Sang (1986)

Frances Ha (2012)

The Lovers On The Bridge (1991)

Holy Motors (2012)

Annette (Tbd)

Goodfellas (1990)

Mean Streets (1973)

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

Raging Bull (1980)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad Max (1979)

Babe (1995)

Happy Feet (2006)

Dr. Strangelove...

With so many streaming services to choose from, it can often be difficult to find the right one to spend your hard-earned dough on. That being said, Hulu has remained among the most exciting and content-heavy platforms alongside Netflix, really cementing itself as one of the most appealing options out there in recent years thanks to its collection of original content and very, very deep library of licensed films.

Like every other streaming service, they bring us new titles every month and July is looking to be quite a good one. Especially if you’re a horror fan. Admittedly, Hulu has always been pretty reliable when it comes to this particular genre, and that’s a reputation they seem intent to keep, as next month will bring us the likes of The Devil’s Rejects, Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, House of 1000 Corpses, The Ninth Gate, The House That Jack Built...

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in July.

Highlights include season three of “90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days” and season one of “90 Day Fiance: The Other Way: Complete Season 1,” as well as some classic movies like “The Color Purple” and “Best in Show,” all coming July 1.

A new Hulu original movie “Palm Springs” drops on July 10, and a new episode of “Into the Dark” called “The Current Occupant” premieres July 17.

Movies leaving Hulu on July 31 include “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” “Thelma & Louise” and “Wayne’s World.”

See the full list of everything new and leaving the streamer below.

Also Read: ABC Already Changes Fall TV Schedule, Moves 'Black-ish' Up From Midseason

July 1

1000-lb Sisters: Complete Season 1 (TLC)

90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days: Complete Season 3 (TLC)

90 Day Fiance: The Other Way: Complete Season 1 (TLC)

BBQ Rig Race: Complete Season...

Perhaps the most exciting piece of content coming to Hulu in July 2020 is…a movie? Remember those? You would buy a ticket and then go sit in a dark room with other people eating Buncha Crunch. Sounds wild!

Yes, more and more feature films are turning to streaming services for their summer releases. And with their list of new offerings for July 2020, Hulu got itself a big fish. Palm Springs is a Groundhog Day-style comedy starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as star-crossed lovers forced to live the same day over and over again. It premieres on Hulu on July 10.

And that’s not the only original movie coming to Hulu in July. Romanian crime thriller The Whistlers premieres on July 2. Sasheer Zamata comedy The Weekend follows on July 15. Then Hulu caps the month off with the Julia Garner-starring The Assistant on July 20. There’s good movie news...

“Goddamned disgrace, Buck. Man can’t take his family to the movies without seeing some kind of filth!” – Dialogue from “Myra Breckinridge” (1970)

There’s a scene about midway through Russ Meyer’s “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (1970) in which our heroine Kelly Mac Namara (Dolly Read) tries to show Porter Hall (Duncan McLeod), an aging, sleazy attorney, how to get high.

Continue reading ‘Myra Breckinridge’ & ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls’: 20th Century Fox’s (Brief) Foray Into The X-Rated Movie Business at The Playlist.

With so many streaming services available now, it can often be hard to pick the right one to spend your hard-earned money on. However, Hulu has remained among the most successful and content-heavy platforms alongside Netflix and has only gotten better with age. Whereas it had very few worthwhile movies years ago, now it often has some of the best films you can find to watch, and they’re offered up alongside brand new episodes of shows from various major networks. Like every other streaming service, Hulu updates their content throughout each month, and July is looking to add quite a lot of good stuff.

First up, superhero fans will be happy to hear that Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 swings onto the service on July 1st. This polarizing third entry for the Tobey Maguire version of the popular web-slinger sees Peter Parker bond with a symbiote that brings out...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Happy Birthday to one of Wamg’s favorite movie stars! Pam’s iconic movie career began when she moved to Los Angeles in the late ‘60s from her native North Carolina at age 18. After a tiny role in Russ Meyer’s Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970), she landed a job as a receptionist for American International Pictures where she was discovered by Jack Hill, an Aip director who cast her in a pair of women’s prison films: The Big Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972). Soon she was known as the “Queen of Blaxploitation” at a time when film roles for African-American women were, as Grier puts it, “practically invisible, or painfully stereotypical”.

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Pam Grier’s ten best films.

Honorable Mention: Greased Lightning

Greased Lightning is a biographical...

Generation C is being invaded by the B-Girls. 80s cult singer Josie Cotton, best known for blurring the angst of both liberals and conservatives with “Johnny Are You Queer?,” sees the science fiction claustrophobia arising from the coronavirus pandemic and wants to help. Cotton joined the Minutemen’s Mike Watt, the Runaways’ Cherie Currie, and Eddie Spaghetti on the song “Flatten the Curve,” to benefit the Jubilee Consortium and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Everyone else, she advises to cuddle up with a bad movie. Cotton ventured beyond the valley of the dolls in a “so-bad-they’re-good” movie hunt to accompany this real life B-Movie scenario and re-released Invasion of the B-Girls.

The album title is a twist on the Denis Sanders’ 1973 film Invasion of the Bee Girls, where giant killer bees masquerade as sexy women scientists who kill men for their blood during sex. The New Wave pioneer originally...

We're back with another jam-packed edition of Horror Highlights! In today's installment, we give you a preview of Josie Cotton's upcoming album Invasion of the B-Girls, there's an exclusive Q&a with Tiffani Fest, and we have details on a new book called Screaming for Pleasure, a new horror podcast called The Scaredy Cats Horror Show, a deal between Gunpowder & Sky and Circle of Confusion, and Legion M's pop culture face masks:

Josie Cotton's Invasion of the B-Girls:

From the Press Release - “Josie Cotton makes the unlistenable unforgettable,” wrote legendary filmmaker/actor/artist John Waters about the New Wave icon's upcoming album Invasion Of The B-girls on which she covers the theme songs of campy cult films. When you have a quote like that from the supreme King of Cult Classics, you pretty much don’t need to do anything else in life but dig a hole and lie in it.

The star and co-writer of the new film Banana Split walks us through some of her favorite comedies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Banana Split (2020)

Big (1988)

West Side Story (2020)

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982)

The ’Burbs (1989)

Back To The Future (1985)

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Cape Fear (1991)

The Foot Fist Way (2006)

Best In Show (2000)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

The Hours (2002)

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)

Black Mass (2015)

The Irishman (2019)

Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Zoolander (2001)

Knocked Up (2007)

Armageddon (1998)

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

The Room (2003)

The Disaster Artist (2017)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970)

Gremlins (1984)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Bruce Almighty (2003)

Liar Liar (1997)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Obvious Child (2014)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Harold And Maude (1971)

Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans...

” For I am Superwoman, and you have spurned her!”

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Russell Albion “Russ” Meyer was born in California in 1922 and spent WWII as a combat photographer. In 1953 Playboy magazine debuted and Meyer was one of its first centerfold photographers. Meyer had a knack, and a passion, for photographing gorgeous, busty women and felt that the gals in the nudist camp movies that were popular in the ’50s were far too plain-looking for his tastes. In 1959, Meyer scraped together $24,000 and made The Immoral Mr. Teas, a quaint, colorful, and cartoonish movie about a nerdy fellow whose life is constantly interrupted by beautiful large-breasted women in various stages of undress. There was no sex in Meyer’s film and he made no pretense of presenting nudity as a lifestyle choice, as did the nudist camp movies. It was a simple and honest film about...

It seemed like a good idea at the time– give the sequel to one of Fox’s soap opera hits to skinflick auteur Russ Meyer in the heady days of X-rated prosperity. Okay, it didn’t work out so well at the boxoffice, but it did give us a touchstone for big studio psychotronic insanity that has yet to be matched. This trailer is mainly a staged photo shoot selling Russ-as-auteur.

The post Beyond the Valley of the Dolls appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

The late Russ Meyer’s films are the epitome of excess. Pairing a wine with them seems unfair to the wine. It couldn’t possibly keep up. Whiskey might be more appropriate, or a shot of tequila or three, or a bottle of Captain Morgan and a liter of Coke. However, I’m sure we will stumble across a wine that leans into life like Meyer did.

Russ Meyer’s IMDb page nicknames him “The Fellini of the Sex Industry” and “King Leer.” The sultan of sexploitation liked big breasts better than anything else. His stint as a Playboy centerfold photographer in the 1950s may have steered him in that direction. Playboy wine, direct from their recently launched wine club? Why not? For starters, anyway.

https://www.grubstreet.com/2012/09/playboy-launches-a-wine-club.html

Meyer rued the day he started working on The Seven Minutes. He later called the film “boring and tedious...

Dyanne Thorne, star of the groundbreaking exploitation classic Ilsa, She-wolf Of The SS, (1975) has died. According to the IMDb, she was 77, though she may have been several years older. My first encounter with Ms Thorne (and the twins) occurred in 1977 when I was 15 and my bother and cousins and I traveled to Piggot, Arkansas from our grandparents home in Malden, Missouri to see Rolling Thunder. The theater (I wish I could remember the name of it) had a special ‘Adults Only’ show at 11pm. When Rolling Thunder ended about 10:45, we ducked down behind our seats so the usher wouldn’t see us, then popped back up at 11 to see what we were sure was going to be some glorious fun sex film. The ‘Adults Only’ movie turned out to be Ilsa, She-wolf Of The SS. My life was never the same. To this day, Rolling Thunder and Ilsa, She-wolf...

Sound has been a Minkler family affair since 1929, when Darrell Minkler moved to Hollywood from Chicago to work on the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system at Warner Bros., providing soundtracks for the early days of the talkies.

His son, Don Minkler, followed in his footsteps, working as a rerecording mixer on projects such as 1967's Tarzan series and 1970's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

These achievements were followed by three-time Oscar winner Michael Minkler and his son Christian Minkler, the third and fourth generation of Minklers to forge their path in the world of Hollywood sound.

Combined with their uncles,...

Sound has been a Minkler family affair since 1929, when Darrell Minkler moved to Hollywood from Chicago to work on the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system at Warner Bros., providing soundtracks for the early days of the talkies.

His son, Don Minkler, followed in his footsteps, working as a rerecording mixer on projects such as 1967's Tarzan series and 1970's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

These achievements were followed by three-time Oscar winner Michael Minkler and his son Christian Minkler, the third and fourth generation of Minklers to forge their path in the world of Hollywood sound.

Combined with their uncles,...

Why didn’t you finally watch all three hours and 21 minutes of “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels” sooner?

If you’re a cinephile who is still mourning the death of FilmStruck, the online streaming service that combines Turner Classic Movies with The Criterion Collection that made for a film lover’s dream — we have a solution for you.

Though you still have a month to binge FilmStruck’s library of films before the site goes completely belly up, you may be thinking about where to get your fix of Criterion Collection films next, lest your pocketbook is a little tight to shell out $32 for one of their glossy Blu-Rays (gotta love those flash sales).

Believe it or not, there are actually 400 different films from The Criterion Collection available for commercial-free, online streaming, at no cost at all.

Also Read: WarnerMedia to Shut Down FilmStruck Streaming Service

Why yes, this mystical site is called Kanopy.

Known for his work in a wide array of film genres, Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Richard H. Kline died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 91.

Kline was known for his work for the 1967 movie musical Camelot starring Vanessa Redgrave and Richard Harris. He received his first Academy Award nomination for the Joshua Logan-directed film and earned his second nomination for the 1976 remake of King Kong starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange.

Born on Nov. 15, 1926, Kline was born into a family of cinematographers which included his father, Benjamin H. Kline, and two uncles, Sol Halperin and Philip Rosen. He had an affinity for surfing, but followed the cinematographer legacy of his family and got his start at Columbia Pictures as a slate boy in 1943 when working on the musical Cover Girl. He went on to serve in the Navy but returned to become a first assistant cameraman.

Throughout his 40 year career, Kline...

Will Ferrell has been attached to “Russ & Roger Go Beyond” since August 2014, but after years of development the project is no longer moving forward. Producer David Permut told Market Watch (via /Film) that a group decision was made between the cast and crew not to keep the project going given the film’s subject matter not being appropriate in the era of #MeToo and Time’s Up anti-harassment movements.

“Russ & Roger Go Beyond,” which was set to be directed by “Once” and “Sing Street” filmmaker John Carney, was set to star Josh Gad as film critic Roger Ebert and Ferrell as controversial film director Russ Meyer. The two collaborated on the infamous 1970’s melodrama “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” and the movie was to serve as a comical behind-the-scenes look at the film’s production. Because Meyer was a sexploitation filmmaker, the “Russ & Roger” team felt now was...