News

Chuck D called on people to stop insensitively pairing Los Angeles wildfire videos with Public Enemy’s “Burn Hollywood Burn” on social media and educated those misusing the track of the true meaning of the 1990 song.

Released on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted group’s Fear of a Black Planet, “Burn Hollywood Burn” was a protest anthem aimed at the film and television industry’s stereotyping of Black roles — “In the movies portraying the roles/Of butlers and maids, slaves and hoes/Many intelligent Black men seemed/To...

Sylvester Stallone and Jackie Chan's only movie together, "An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn," was a disaster. Despite their admiration for each other, scheduling and creative disagreements have prevented Stallone and Chan from teaming up again. Stallone and Chan have attempted to work together on projects such as "Demolition Man," "Rambo 4," and "The Expendables," but none of these collaborations came to fruition.

Sylvester Stallone and Jackie Chan's only movie together was an infamous disaster, but will they ever team up again? When action stars team up, the results can be very mixed. Audiences waited decades for an Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sylvester Stallone movie, but while there was fun to be had with Escape Plan, it wasn't the epic event many had hoped for. The same could be said of Stallone's The Expendables movies because despite pairing the likes of Arnie, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford and many more, they...

Since 1980, UCLA film grads and industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy have honored the very worst in cinema with the Razzie Awards. Here’s a look back to the worst pictures of the last four decades.

“Can’t Stop the Music” (1980)

The Golden Raspberry Awards got their start by recognizing this musical comedy, a justly mocked quasi-biopic of the Village People.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 8%

“Mommie Dearest” (1981)

Faye Dunaway goes full camp as Joan Crawford in a docudrama whose comedy was often unintentional.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 53%

“Inchon” (1982)

This bloated, over-budget Korean war film starring Laurence Olivier as Gen. Douglas MacArthur was an epic turkey.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%

“The Lonely Lady” (1983)

Pia Zadora followed her mysterious (and widely mocked in retrospect) Golden Globe win for “Butterfly” with this adaptation of a trashy Harold Robbins novel about a schoolgirl/wannabe screenwriter.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%

“Bolero” (1984)

Bo Derek ditches her “10” cornrows to...

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...

It's been less than 24 hours since Han Solo directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were unceremoniously fired from the Star Wars spin-off, but there are already three candidates that have emerged as front-runners to take over the production. New reports have surfaced which claim that Ron Howard, Lawrence Kasdan and Joe Johnston are currently in the mix as candidates for this coveted directing gig. LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy stated in her statement yesterday that a new director will be announced soon, but it remains to be seen how soon that announcement will come.

Deadline reports that Ron Howard is the front runner for the directing gig, while acknowledging that Lawrence Kasdan has been mentioned as a possible replacement. Another report from The Hollywood Reporter claims that Joe Johnston, who started his career by working on the visual effects for the original Star Wars trilogy, has also been mentioned as a possible replacement. That report also includes new details about how Lawrence Kasdan may not even be allowed to replace Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

There are already rules in place at the Director's Guild of America (DGA) that prevent anyone already working on a movie to take over for a director that is being replaced, with the only exception being for a "short-term emergency." Since Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote the Han Solo spin-off script with his son Jon Kasdan, these rules may prevent the filmmaker from stepping in as a director. Lawrence Kasdan had also revealed in 2015 that Han Solo: A Star Wars Story will be his last Star Wars movie, after writing or co-writing the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and he has also directed hits like Body Heat, The Big Chill and Silverado.

Whether it's Ron Howard, Joe Johnston or another filmmaker, whoever replaces Phil Lord and Chris Miller may not even get credit for his or her work. Given that they were fired with just a few weeks of the shoot left, LucasFilm would most likely prefer that the new filmmaker get director's credit, but since Phil Lord and Chris Miller were on set filming since February, which obviously gives them strong grounds for directorial credit, although the new director will oversee the post-production process and the reshoots which have already been scheduled for this summer. However, it's entirely up to the DGA, as to who gets directorial credit, and unlike the Writers Guild of America, there is no appeals process, meaning the DGA's decision is finale. It's also unlikely that the guild will give credit to Lord, Miller and their successor, since the DGA is already not terribly fond of two directors on one movie. The guild's rules state that there shall be only one director for film, but waivers can be granted, which have become more and more commonplace in recent years, especially for more established directorial teams.

Another report from The Hollywood Reporter speculates that Han Solo: A Star Wars Story may even become an "Alan Smithee" film, although that won't happen since that pseudonym has been discontinued since 2000. For decades, if a filmmaker was so unhappy with the final cut of the film that he wanted his name taken off, the name that was put on the film instead was "Alan Smithee." The name was discontinued in 2000 after the film Burn Hollywood Burn used Alan Smithee as an actual character, played by Eric Idle, and after the real meaning of the name became more well-known throughout Hollywood.

This report also states that, whoever takes over the project, will spend the next several weeks, with production shut down, to go over the footage that has already been shot, re-edit the material that has already been filmed and pick up production from there. Despite this unique setback, Han Solo: A Star Wars Story will not be moved from its May 25, 2018 release date, but that could change if it takes longer than planned to find a director. Still, with three solid candidates in play, we may hear who's directing this Star Wars movie sooner rather than later.

After Sylvester Stallone backed out of the fourth and final Expendables sequel back in March, the actor had a big hole in his schedule, which has now been fillled. The actor will be teaming up with international action icon Jackie Chan on a new action-thriller entitled Ex-Baghdad, which is said to be one of the biggest movies ever to come out of China. After Expendables 4 fell apart, Sylvester Stallone looked to this project to take on next, although it hasn't been confirmed when filming will begin.

Deadline reports that Scott Waugh (Need for Speed) has been set to direct, from a script by Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco). The story follows a Chinese private security contractor (Jackie Chan), who is assigned to extract the Chinese workers of an oil refinery in Mosul, Iraq. When the contractor learns that the attackers plan on stealing a fortune's worth of oil, he teams...

Just as 2016 was coming to a close, it was confirmed that Lionsgate is moving ahead with The Expendables 4. Now, star and creator of the franchise Sylvester Stallone has offered an update. It sounds like it will be his next project, with shooting to take place in 2017 for a 2018 release date. In a special message delivered high above the skies of Florida via Facebook, Sly promises this final sequel will be something different. And he gives a tantalizing tease as to what, or whom, we may expect.

"Flying high in the sky, come fly with me! Okay, that's right, I know. Frank Sinatra is not rolling over in his grave and I don't blame him! Anyway, I'm on my way to Florida looking forward to that event, and I'm going to start working out. Working out for the next Expendables, that's going to be great! Fingers crossed. We're going to do our best,...

Arthur Hiller was never the coolest filmmaker in the room. He leaves behind a list of films that were genuinely loved by audiences and an ocean of collaborators and friends who speak of him in glowing terms, and honestly, as a storyteller, what more could anyone ask? There’s certainly some cachet in the idea that you’re breaking new ground stylistically or you’re doing things that other people are ripping off or you’re part of some formal movement of deconstructionists. I like plenty of filmmakers who chase cool like it is oxygen, necessary for their entire existence. Arthur Hiller, though, was a meat and potatoes kind of guy, and he made movies that spoke to his optimistic view of who we could be as people, shot through with just a hint of cynicism at times. My personal favorite of his movies is The In-Laws, which I just rewatched a few weeks ago.

Andrew Blair Jan 30, 2017

Sometimes, the best of intentions don't always lead to the best movie. Here are 19 films where everything didn't quite go to plan...

As Alan Parker said ‘no one sets out to make a bad film’. Yet in spite of good intentions, sometimes a project doesn't quite go to plan. We're going to look at a bunch of movies here that aren't always well liked, and give a flavour of the problems the beset them.

So, in no particular order, here are twenty of the films that have ever been made, which are considered by at least one sentient being to be bad. That's not the interesting thing about them....

Robin Hood (2010)

Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris had written a spec script with a twist on the Robin Hood legend: the Sheriff of Nottingham was the hero, a sort of medieval forensic investigator, and Robin was the bad guy.

From the director of Driving Miss Daisy, Mr Church is equally retrograde in its racial politics, starring Murphy as a noble servant to two white women

With its sentimental depiction of the relationship between a wealthy white woman and a nobly subservient black man, if there’s one film that hasn’t aged well, it’s Driving Miss Daisy – and indeed there were plenty of people who excoriated its racial politics on its release in 1989, Public Enemy giving it a memorable shout-out on the self-explanatory Burn Hollywood Burn. Now, displaying either a brass-balled disregard for his critics or a mulish inability to understand their complaints, the movie’s Australian director Bruce Beresford has made another film in which a saintly black servant teaches the white folks how to live.

Continue reading...

The 90s saw Joe Eszterhas become the world's most famous screenwriter, selling scripts for up to $4m apiece. But what became of the films?

By the end of the 1990s, the screenwriting career of Joe Eszterhas was in sharp decline. His hyped Hollywood satire, Burn Hollywood Burn: An Alan Smithee Film had come, bombed and swept the Golden Raspberry Awards. Furthermore, projects that were previously live and kicking were being swept under the carpet.

But for a long while, Joe Eszterhas was that rarest of things: a genuine Hollywood writing superstar. And in a movie era where the writer seems to have, for the most part, fallen down the pecking order again, I thought it was worth digging through the many big money scripts that Joe Eszterhas sold in and around the 1990s, to see just what ultimately became of them. Some you'll have heard of, but I'd wager...

The screenwriter of Basic Instinct and Flashdance talks about his feud with Gibson and other fights in his Hollywood career

At 68 years old, a survivor of throat cancer, and with only one produced screenplay to his name since 1997, Joe Eszterhas has done the unthinkable: he's become a scriptwriting teacher. Well, not exactly – he's on his way to London to deliver a headlining lecture at the London screenwriters' festival – but anyone who has even the smallest familiarity with his books will know the contempt in which he holds teach-yourself-screenplay-writing gurus such as Robert McKee.

"Wannabe screenwriters sorely lack getting the truth from these so-called scriptwriting teachers," says Eszterhas, his post-cancer voice gravellier than ever. "McKee is the perfect example: he's had one TV movie made, and yet he pontificates on how to write scripts." He also has beef (one that's been going for decades, it seems) with other big-name scriptwriters, accusing...

So sad. Mario Machado, best known for being La’s first-ever Asian-American newscaster and notable acting roles in films like ‘Robocop’ and ‘Scarface’, passed away at the age of 78 on May 4.

Mario Machado was born in Shanghai, China in April 1935, and immigrated to the United States in 1956. Mario’s television career began in 1967 when he took an on-air reporter job at Khj-tv in Los Angeles, making him the first Asian-American news anchor in La. Throughout his career, Mario earned eight Emmy Awards for his work in television and appeared in many films, often playing a newscaster.

News Anchor & ‘RoboCop’ Actor Mario Machado Dies At 78

Mario’s daughter Michelle told the Los Angeles Times that her father had passed away from complications of pneumonia at a convalescent facility in West Hills, Calif. on May 4. The news anchor also suffered from Parkinson’s Disease.

Mario Machado’s Television Career

After taking his first on-air job at Khj-tv,...

The Expendables 3 has been a sequel rife with disinformation, especially in regards to the cast. Fans are anxiously awaiting news on which legendary icon this third film in the franchise will dust off next. In early November, Sylvester Stallone confirmed that Nicolas Cage would be taking on a role, and that Harrison Ford and Wesley Snipes were also being considered for the cast. Then, one day later, Sly revealed that an imposter had leaked that news and it wasn't true.

Now, we have word that Jackie Chan has been confirmed for a fairly substantial role in this franchise sequel, the actor himself announcing the news.

"Sly had invited me to be in The Expendables 2 but I was too busy filming Chinese Zodiac and couldn't make a commitment to the film. But he did extend his invitation to the third movie, which I agreed on the condition that I...

Is Paramount doing some late in the game work to Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli's new film Area 51? Bloody Disgusting [1] reports that Chris Denham has been hired to rewrite some of the film, the wrinkle being that Area 51 wrapped months ago. Reshoots will follow for the 'found footage' film that follows " three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious Area 51 portion of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert." After the break, info on the return of Joe Eszterhas, who wrote Basic Instinct and became one of the highest-paid screenwriters ever to hit Hollywood until flops like Showgirls and An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn helped user an end to his career in Hollywood. That ending was obviously temporary. Joe Eszterhas retreated to Cleveland, where he has written several books including Crossbearer, which details his new-found faith after a near-fatal bout with cancer.

Though Joe Eszterhas hasn't worked in Hollywood in over 10 years, he's actually been living the dream: paid millions of dollars for scripts like Flashdance and Basic Instinct he went out on a flop with Showgirls and the embittered satire Burn Hollywood Burn, then moved to Cleveland and spent a decade raising a family, presumably off all the money he earned from the executives still scrabbling a living in the industry. I'm not really sure why you'd come back after pulling off something like that, but Eszterhas is coming back around to try his luck, this time with a new script that makes no bones about its subject matter-- it's called Lust. Described in THR as a cross between Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, two movies I admit to struggling to keep separate in my mind, Lust involves a dizzyingly complicated love quadrangle between all kinds of fabulous people, including a...

After nearly fifteen years away from Hollywood, Joe Eszterhas is returning to the sub-genre that he pretty much made his own in the 80's and 90's - the erotic thriller says The Hollywood Reporter.

Eszterhas' new script "Lust" revolves around a 30-year old beauty who is married to an older Miami-based fashion magazine publisher. She is soon seduced by a younger charming playboy on a business trip in Los Angeles.

Eszterhas was a Rolling Stone senior editor who went on to become a successful screenwriter. Though he penned 80's efforts like "Flashdance" and "Jagged Edge", he became most famous for 1992's "Basic Instinct" and made millions churning out several other similar films like "Sliver," "Jade" and most infamously "Showgirls". His last American film was the little-seen flop "Burn Hollywood Burn" in 1997 when he essentially left the industry.

Several traits of his work are in evidence in the new project. There's...

This year isn't as progressive for film as you think, with every single major nomination going to a white actor or director

Of course, there are always omissions at the Oscars. Maybe you think Christopher Nolan deserved a best director nomination for Inception this year, or that Mila Kunis was robbed in the best supporting actress category after her performance in Black Swan? The awards are too commercial for the arthouse crowd, too serious for the multiplex crew. No one is ever happy with the list – and besides, aren't they just one big La establishment posse anyway? Who cares?

Well, there was one omission we can all surely agree was uncomfortable this year. There were no black nominations.

Ignoring a few of the more obscure technical categories, there was not one significant nomination of a black actor, writer or director. Admittedly I'm not counting True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld, whose...

"Best Pictures From the Outside In" is back. But, oh fiddle, because the series is so infrequent we have to keep explaining it. It's a joint production between Mike at Goatdog's Blog, Nick at Nick's Flick Picks and Nathaniel at The Film Experience. We began in 2008 pairing the most recent winner No Country For Old Men with the first winner Wings and we've been working our way inward ever since from both ends of the Oscar chronology. Get it? Got it? Good. We've now reached 1946 vs. 1989.

These men have been through enough Daisy. Let Hoke take the wheel!

Nathaniel: Just when you get used to things a certain way...

Nothing is more certain in life than change so it's something of a human mystery as to why we're always so surprised or discomforted by it. In the Oscar winners The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989), we...

Twenty years ago, hip hop pioneers Public Enemy decried the perpetuation of decades of exploitative cinema in their now classic, "Burn Hollywood Burn!" Though many things have changed over the years, current events in the world of cinematic arts prove that many others remain same. Today, Oscar buzz abounds surrounding the performances of comedienne turned dramatic actress, Mo'Nique as well as long-time Hollywood fixture, Sandra Bullock. Their polar opposite depictions of motherhood in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and The Blind Side, initially appear to be worlds apart. One is the story of how severe physical, mental, and sexual abuse fails to derail the loving spirit and aspirations of one "precious" soul. The other depicts the guts and determination of a brash, yet lovable white woman who opens up her privileged world to a destitute...

Joe Eszterhas was once the face of Hollywood excess. The Basic Instinct screenwriter was equally famous for drugs, womanizing and his multi-million dollar paychecks for scripts that either languished unproduced or became films like Showgirls, Jade and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. But he quit the excessive lifestyle, moved to Ohio (much of his childhood was spent in Cleveland) and suffered throat cancer, the battle with which helped him find religion. Writing only one produced screenplay in the last few years (Children of Glory), he instead published a book about his new faith, the title of which, Crossbearer, manages to preserve his trademark self-aggrandizing tone. Now, according to Variety, he's poised to return to screenwriting with a 'labor of love' script about the Virgin of Guadalupe. Eszaterhas is working with MPower Pictures, the outfit run by Passion of the Christ producer Steve McEveety. THR quotes Eszterhas saying he...

Joe Eszterhas is back and he's found God. Or at least, he's found someone who's found God, in this case the virgin of Guadalupe, a mystical vision who appeared to a peasant in sixteenth century Mexico. The legend is widely credited with speeding the spread of Catholicism across Latin America.Eszterhas, who gave us a decade of sexually-charged power thrillers, from Jagged Edge to Basic Instinct and Sliver, is working on the so-far untitled script for Mpower Pictures, the inprint set up by The Passion Of The Christ producer Stephen McEveety.It's been a long journey from Showgirls to God's girl. Eszterhas has been out of Hollywood's for ten years, falling from grace after Jade and 1997's none-more-meta and none-more-awful Burn Hollywood Burn. He's since become a Catholic and, judging by this project, his days of horny strippers and over-sexed novelists are sadly at an end. ...

Hollywood and Joe Q. Public loves nothing better than the comeback kid story, that rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches-again tale. In the 1990s John Travolta came back from Look Who's Talking obscurity with his performance as hitman Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. Last year it was Mickey Rourke's turn thanks to his Oscar-nominated performance in The Wrestler. Now the stage is set for a screenwriter to be the next comeback kid: none other than Basic Instinct and Showgirls phenom Joe Eszterhas. To borrow the tagline from Superman, you too will believe that a man can fly!

Can you believe that Eszterhas has been Mia from the showbiz scene since 1997's Burn Hollywood Burn? But he has, and apparently it's not all due to the suck of that film or Jade or the fallout from Showgirls. The writer was diagnosed with throat cancer and battled that, then went on to find religion and stop his notorious party hard ways.

New York -- He may have sanded his jagged edge, but Joe Eszterhas still, apparently, has the basic instinct.

The polarizing scribe, who hasn't had a film released theatrically in the U.S. in more than a decade, has signed on to a project about the mystical sighting of a virgin in 16th century Mexico.

Eszterhas will write the screenplay about the virgin of Guadalupe, a vision that appeared to the Aztec peasant Juan Diego in 1531. While some scholars question Diego's existence, the event is credited with helping to spread Catholicism at a time of economic and social turmoil in the country. Earlier this decade, Diego was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic church.

Eszterhas, sounding like someone other than the man who gave the world hard-r potboilers like "Basic Instinct," noted that the Guadalupe project was a "labor of love" and that he had been "hoping for...