Ryan Lambie Published Date Tuesday, August 23, 2016 - 12:30
In David Cronenberg's freakish, genre-bending classic Videodrome, a sleazy cable TV boss seeks out the most sleazy entertainment he can find to put on his channel - but then discovers a disturbing underworld that he wished he'd never seen.
There are several curious parallels between Tickled, a new feature-length documentary hailing from New Zealand, and Cronenberg's 1982 movie - not that Tickled's reporter, director and narrator has much in common with Max Renn, the protagonist of the latter. But TV reporter David Farrier, who normally specialises in those fluffy stories you see at the end of the news, soon finds himself in way over his head when he starts investigating something called "competitive endurance tickling" - a supposed sport that fronts for something far more sinister.
It all begins when Farrier stumbles on a company called Jane O'Brien Media, and one...
In David Cronenberg's freakish, genre-bending classic Videodrome, a sleazy cable TV boss seeks out the most sleazy entertainment he can find to put on his channel - but then discovers a disturbing underworld that he wished he'd never seen.
There are several curious parallels between Tickled, a new feature-length documentary hailing from New Zealand, and Cronenberg's 1982 movie - not that Tickled's reporter, director and narrator has much in common with Max Renn, the protagonist of the latter. But TV reporter David Farrier, who normally specialises in those fluffy stories you see at the end of the news, soon finds himself in way over his head when he starts investigating something called "competitive endurance tickling" - a supposed sport that fronts for something far more sinister.
It all begins when Farrier stumbles on a company called Jane O'Brien Media, and one...
- 8/23/2016
- Den of Geek
Marjorie Lord actress ca. early 1950s. Actress Marjorie Lord dead at 97: Best remembered for TV series 'Make Room for Daddy' Stage, film, and television actress Marjorie Lord, best remembered as Danny Thomas' second wife in Make Room for Daddy, died Nov. 28, '15, at her home in Beverly Hills. Lord (born Marjorie Wollenberg on July 26, 1918, in San Francisco) was 97. Marjorie Lord movies After moving with her family to New York, Marjorie Lord made her Broadway debut at age 17 in Zoe Akins' Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel The Old Maid (1935). Lord replaced Margaret Anderson in the role of Tina, played by Jane Bryan – as Bette Davis' out-of-wedlock daughter – in Warner Bros.' 1939 movie version directed by Edmund Goulding. Hollywood offers ensued, resulting in film appearances in a string of low-budget movies in the late 1930s and throughout much of the 1940s, initially (and...
- 12/15/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Top Ten Scream Queens: Barbara Steele, who both emitted screams and made others do same, is in a category of her own. Top Ten Scream Queens Halloween is over until next year, but the equally bewitching Day of the Dead is just around the corner. So, dead or alive, here's my revised and expanded list of cinema's Top Ten Scream Queens. This highly personal compilation is based on how memorable – as opposed to how loud or how frequent – were the screams. That's the key reason you won't find listed below actresses featured in gory slasher films. After all, the screams – and just about everything else in such movies – are as meaningless as their plots. You also won't find any screaming guys (i.e., Scream Kings) on the list below even though I've got absolutely nothing against guys who scream in horror, whether in movies or in life. There are...
- 11/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Susan Hayward. Susan Hayward movies: TCM Star of the Month Fiery redhead Susan Hayward it Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in Sept. 2015. The five-time Best Actress Oscar nominee – like Ida Lupino, a would-be Bette Davis that only sporadically landed roles to match the verve of her thespian prowess – was initially a minor Warner Bros. contract player who went on to become a Paramount second lead in the early '40s, a Universal leading lady in the late '40s, and a 20th Century Fox star in the early '50s. TCM will be presenting only three Susan Hayward premieres, all from her Fox era. Unfortunately, her Paramount and Universal work – e.g., Among the Living, Sis Hopkins, And Now Tomorrow, The Saxon Charm – which remains mostly unavailable (in quality prints), will remain unavailable this month. Highlights of the evening include: Adam Had Four Sons (1941), a sentimental but surprisingly...
- 9/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'San Andreas' movie with Dwayne Johnson. 'San Andreas' movie box office: $100 million domestic milestone today As the old saying (sort of) goes: If you build it, they will come. Warner Bros. built a gigantic video game, called it San Andreas, and They have come to check out Dwayne Johnson perform miraculous deeds not seen since ... George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, released two weeks earlier. Embraced by moviegoers, hungry for quality, original storylines and well-delineated characters – and with the assistance of 3D surcharges – the San Andreas movie debuted with $54.58 million from 3,777 theaters on its first weekend out (May 29-31) in North America. Down a perfectly acceptable 52 percent on its second weekend (June 5-7), the special effects-laden actioner collected an extra $25.83 million, trailing only the Melissa McCarthy-Jason Statham comedy Spy, (with $29.08 million) as found at Box Office Mojo.* And that's how this original movie – it's not officially a remake,...
- 6/9/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Son of a bitch! George Brent and other Warner Bros. stars forget their lines (photo: George Brent ca. 1940) The Warner Bros. outtakes from the studio’s 1939 and 1940 productions (see below) feature a whole array of movie stars and supporting players not getting things quite right while the cameras were rolling. Perhaps the biggest "star" — i.e., the one featured the most — in the montage is George Brent, who curses right and left after not getting his lines right in several scenes. But not to worry; "son of a bitch" is the strongest exclamation we get to hear. (I’m assuming stronger fare is to be found in the outtakes’ outtakes.) Besides George Brent, the Warner Bros. bloopers montage has Paul Muni joking around while forgetting his lines during the making of We Are Not Alone; Miriam Hopkins having her dramatic moment in The Old Maid ruined by a young maid...
- 5/24/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jane Bryan, who played ingenues in several Warner Bros. productions of the late 1930s, died on April 8 at her home in Pebble Beach, California, following a long illness. She was 90. The Los Angeles-born (on June 11, 1918) Jane O’Brien had her name changed to Jane Bryan after landing a Warners contract in the mid ’30s. Bryan’s most notable role at the studio was as Paul Muni’s mistress in We Are Not Alone (1939), directed by Edmund Goulding. Apart from that, she was usually seen as forgettable sweet young things, supporting Bette Davis in Marked Woman (1937), Kid Galahad (1937), The Sisters (1938), and The Old Maid (1939); Edward G. Robinson in A Slight Case of Murder (1938); and Kay Francis in Confession (1937). Bryan also appeared in the popular B comedies Brother Rat (1938) and Brother Rat and a Baby (1940), playing opposite fellow contract players Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Eddie Albert, Ronald Reagan, and Jane Wyman. Her...
- 4/12/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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