Film Independent is currently in the middle of a Matching Campaign to raise support for the next 30 years of filmmaker support. All donations make before or on September 15 will be doubled—dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000. To celebrate the campaign, we’re re-posting a few of our most popular blogs.
From Olivia Colman’s fraught sojourn to the Greek Isles in The Lost Daughter to Jessie Buckley’s terrifying trip up the M5 to the English countryside in Men and M. Night’s bummer beaches in Old, taking a little “me time” away from home is often the single biggest mistake any movie character could possibly make. Horror, psychological drama, comedy, mystery, rom-com. The genre hardly matters. In film, the simple act of taking a vacation is rarely the relaxing, restorative interlude one hopes that it might be, placing uneasy personalities in uncertain—even harrowing—circumstances.
So with Labor Day weekend upon...
From Olivia Colman’s fraught sojourn to the Greek Isles in The Lost Daughter to Jessie Buckley’s terrifying trip up the M5 to the English countryside in Men and M. Night’s bummer beaches in Old, taking a little “me time” away from home is often the single biggest mistake any movie character could possibly make. Horror, psychological drama, comedy, mystery, rom-com. The genre hardly matters. In film, the simple act of taking a vacation is rarely the relaxing, restorative interlude one hopes that it might be, placing uneasy personalities in uncertain—even harrowing—circumstances.
So with Labor Day weekend upon...
- 9/1/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
I have just two words for producer Lawrence Turman, who died Saturday at 96. “Thank you.”
Way back in 1968, Larry Turman, who at the time had much bigger things on his mind, managed to change my life. I was then growing up in the working-class suburbs of Detroit. A garage band of which I was the drummer had landed a gig at the Willow Drive-in outside of Ypsilanti. One of the pictures that night was The Graduate, produced by Turman (and directed by Mike Nichols). Although I’d never given it one minute’s thought before, I went home knowing I would live in California.
It wasn’t Mrs. Robinson that did it. No, really, it was Benjamin Braddock’s manic tour up and down the state, back when California was still as good as its myth. Beverly Hills to Berkeley. Berkeley to Beverly Hills. Palms. Pines. The bridge. The pool.
Way back in 1968, Larry Turman, who at the time had much bigger things on his mind, managed to change my life. I was then growing up in the working-class suburbs of Detroit. A garage band of which I was the drummer had landed a gig at the Willow Drive-in outside of Ypsilanti. One of the pictures that night was The Graduate, produced by Turman (and directed by Mike Nichols). Although I’d never given it one minute’s thought before, I went home knowing I would live in California.
It wasn’t Mrs. Robinson that did it. No, really, it was Benjamin Braddock’s manic tour up and down the state, back when California was still as good as its myth. Beverly Hills to Berkeley. Berkeley to Beverly Hills. Palms. Pines. The bridge. The pool.
- 7/3/2023
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
Lawrence Turman Dies: Oscar-Nominated Producer Of ‘The Graduate’, ‘American History X’ & More Was 96
Oscar-nominated producer Lawrence Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home and Hospital. He was 96. He had a stellar career not only as a producer of such seminal films as The Graduate (1967), The Great White Hope (1970), American History X (1998) and many more in a producing career that lasted six decades, but he also took a significant turn when he left his partnership with producer David Foster to head the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at USC in 1991, an association that continued until his retirement just two years ago.
His son, John Turman, confirmed the death to Deadline. “Our father Lawrence Turman passed away late yesterday,” he said. “It’s sad, but he had a long and storied life, and it’s the passing of an era.” He added that the MPTF is planning a memorial service as well as USC at a later date.
Related: Hollywood & Media...
His son, John Turman, confirmed the death to Deadline. “Our father Lawrence Turman passed away late yesterday,” he said. “It’s sad, but he had a long and storied life, and it’s the passing of an era.” He added that the MPTF is planning a memorial service as well as USC at a later date.
Related: Hollywood & Media...
- 7/3/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Lawrence Turman, producer of films including Oscar winner “The Graduate,” and longtime chair of the Peter Stark Producing program at USC, died Saturday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills. He was 96.
Turman’s producing career spanned 50 years, and he served as director of USC’s Peter Stark Producing program from 1991 until he retired in 2021 at age 94.
Born in Los Angeles in 1926, Turman graduated from UCLA and broke into the industry after answering an ad in Variety to work at the Kurt Frings agency. He represented actors, and after getting a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock through their friend Ernest Lehman, he was able to book four of his agency’s clients in “North By Northwest.”
Turman moved into producing, working on films including Judy Garland’s last film “I Could Go On Singing,” “The Best Man,” “The Great White Hope” and “Pretty Poison.”
After finding Charles Webb’s book “The Graduate,...
Turman’s producing career spanned 50 years, and he served as director of USC’s Peter Stark Producing program from 1991 until he retired in 2021 at age 94.
Born in Los Angeles in 1926, Turman graduated from UCLA and broke into the industry after answering an ad in Variety to work at the Kurt Frings agency. He represented actors, and after getting a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock through their friend Ernest Lehman, he was able to book four of his agency’s clients in “North By Northwest.”
Turman moved into producing, working on films including Judy Garland’s last film “I Could Go On Singing,” “The Best Man,” “The Great White Hope” and “Pretty Poison.”
After finding Charles Webb’s book “The Graduate,...
- 7/3/2023
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Lawrence Turman, the principled Oscar-nominated producer of The Graduate who was behind other films including The Great White Hope, Pretty Poison, American History X and the last movie Judy Garland ever made, has died. He was 96.
Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.
A former agent, he and producer David Foster began a 20-year partnership in 1974, and the first film to come out of the Turman Foster Co. was Stuart Rosenberg’s The Drowning Pool (1975), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
They went their separate ways in 1991 when Turman left to begin an association heading the esteemed Peter Stark Producing Program at USC that lasted until his retirement in 2021.
However, Turman wasn’t done producing, and in 1996 he and John Morrissey launched the Turman-Morrissey Co., which made the Jamie Foxx-starring Booty Call (1997); Tony Kaye’s American History X...
Turman died Saturday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.
A former agent, he and producer David Foster began a 20-year partnership in 1974, and the first film to come out of the Turman Foster Co. was Stuart Rosenberg’s The Drowning Pool (1975), starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
They went their separate ways in 1991 when Turman left to begin an association heading the esteemed Peter Stark Producing Program at USC that lasted until his retirement in 2021.
However, Turman wasn’t done producing, and in 1996 he and John Morrissey launched the Turman-Morrissey Co., which made the Jamie Foxx-starring Booty Call (1997); Tony Kaye’s American History X...
- 7/3/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Spyglass Media Group is developing a Latinx remake of the 1986 sci-fi comedy “Short Circuit.”
The original “Short Circuit,” starring Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg and Fisher Stevens, sees the military develop prototype robots called S.A.I.N.T. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) and one of the units is struck by lightning, which makes it sentient. The robot escapes and is found by Sheedy’s Stephanie Speck, an animal care-giver, who mistakes him for an alien.
The company has hired the writing team of Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman to bring Latinx elements into the project. Cisneros co-wrote the 2013 Mexican comedy “Instructions Not Included,” which was directed by and starred Eugenio Derbez. Cisneros and Shuman wrote the screenplay for the upcoming comedy “Half Brothers,” in which a Mexican aviation exec is shocked to learn he has an American half-brother he never knew about.
The original “Short Circuit” was directed by...
The original “Short Circuit,” starring Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg and Fisher Stevens, sees the military develop prototype robots called S.A.I.N.T. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) and one of the units is struck by lightning, which makes it sentient. The robot escapes and is found by Sheedy’s Stephanie Speck, an animal care-giver, who mistakes him for an alien.
The company has hired the writing team of Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman to bring Latinx elements into the project. Cisneros co-wrote the 2013 Mexican comedy “Instructions Not Included,” which was directed by and starred Eugenio Derbez. Cisneros and Shuman wrote the screenplay for the upcoming comedy “Half Brothers,” in which a Mexican aviation exec is shocked to learn he has an American half-brother he never knew about.
The original “Short Circuit” was directed by...
- 11/13/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Whenever the subject of who should get Honorary Oscars — or the Governors Awards, as they now are known — comes up, there has not been a single year, not one, when Doris Day’s name was not at the top of the speculation. But it never happened. The Academy’s Board of Governors never even went the Debbie Reynolds route by voting this renowned animal-rights activist the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, perhaps because it has human in its title. Although she often referred to herself as the girl singer in the band, her remarkable movie career spanned a couple of decades during the 50’s and 60’s, and about three dozen movies — frequently in what might be known as Doris Day movies — and maybe that is why the Academy never honored her. Or perhaps they just knew this star, who retreated from the business almost entirely, never would show up. Still, in her big-screen prime,...
- 5/13/2019
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
The reviews were strong. Filmgoers in key markets lined up around the block. Enthusiastic media coverage of the $3.2 million dark horse stunned industry veterans. Given this reception, the confrontation between producer and distributor was inevitable: With the Oscars looming, there surely had to be a campaign to support the film’s chances for an award. The response from mogul Joe Levine, whose Embassy Pictures funded the film: “I’m not spending a dime.”
Lawrence Turman, producer of The Graduate, this week recalled the events surrounding the release of his film exactly 50 years ago. His low-budget indie would go on to gross almost $800 million in today’s dollars and win an array of Oscars and Globes (it lost Best Picture to In the Heat of the Night). Its Best Director winner, Mike Nichols, was to go on to a brilliant career in film and theater, as would stars Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman.
Lawrence Turman, producer of The Graduate, this week recalled the events surrounding the release of his film exactly 50 years ago. His low-budget indie would go on to gross almost $800 million in today’s dollars and win an array of Oscars and Globes (it lost Best Picture to In the Heat of the Night). Its Best Director winner, Mike Nichols, was to go on to a brilliant career in film and theater, as would stars Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman.
- 12/13/2018
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Harper Days Are Here Again,’ reads the advertising tag line for this worthy follow-up to Paul Newman’s first outing as Ross Macdonald’s jaded private eye. The movie is certainly worthy, but how did the producers let the terrific song Killing Me Softly with His Song get away?
The Drowning Pool
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date February 27, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Melanie Griffith, Linda Haynes, Richard Jaeckel.
Cinematography: Gordon Willis
Film Editor: John C. Howard
Production Design: Paul Sylbert
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Walter Hill from the novel by Ross Macdonald
Produced by David Foster, Lawrence Turman
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Looking to make lightning strike twice, Paul Newman returned to his Lew Harper character in another adaptation of a Ross Macdonald tale. The star handles it very well,...
The Drowning Pool
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1976 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date February 27, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton, Gail Strickland, Melanie Griffith, Linda Haynes, Richard Jaeckel.
Cinematography: Gordon Willis
Film Editor: John C. Howard
Production Design: Paul Sylbert
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Walter Hill from the novel by Ross Macdonald
Produced by David Foster, Lawrence Turman
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Looking to make lightning strike twice, Paul Newman returned to his Lew Harper character in another adaptation of a Ross Macdonald tale. The star handles it very well,...
- 3/13/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Author: Adam Lowes
Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson! The classic coming-of-age yarn The Graduate is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. To mark this very special occasion we spoke with the film’s producer, Lawrence Turman.
Having reached something of a landmark age himself last year in turning 90, Mr. Turman has had a long and illustrious career in Hollywood, with an array of iconic films under his belt as producer, including The Thing, American History X and Short Circuit. Taking time out from his schedule (still working, he teaches film classes at the University of Southern California) Mr. Turman chatted with us about the enduring legacy of the film.
HeyUGuys: Congratulations on this milestone. Firstly, what do you think it is about the film which has awarded it this longevity?
Lawrence Truman: I chuckle because if I knew, I’d have constantly repeated it.
How did the project materialise?...
Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson! The classic coming-of-age yarn The Graduate is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. To mark this very special occasion we spoke with the film’s producer, Lawrence Turman.
Having reached something of a landmark age himself last year in turning 90, Mr. Turman has had a long and illustrious career in Hollywood, with an array of iconic films under his belt as producer, including The Thing, American History X and Short Circuit. Taking time out from his schedule (still working, he teaches film classes at the University of Southern California) Mr. Turman chatted with us about the enduring legacy of the film.
HeyUGuys: Congratulations on this milestone. Firstly, what do you think it is about the film which has awarded it this longevity?
Lawrence Truman: I chuckle because if I knew, I’d have constantly repeated it.
How did the project materialise?...
- 8/11/2017
- by Adam Lowes
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Lawrence Turman’s film stands alongside Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, Blume in Love and other films of the late 60’s/early 70’s that found middle class Americans fed up and frustrated in their search for marital bliss. Carrying on in that tradition, Stockbroker zeroes in on one man’s attempt to patch up his empty union through the fine art of voyeurism. Richard Benjamin plays the nebbish with the wandering eye and Joanna Shimkus is his beleaguered wife.
- 2/20/2017
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
Psycho launched a thousand twisted sickos and pathological relationships in films, but none can best Noel Black’s fascinating, funny romance between a newly-released arsonist and a fetching high schooler, hungry for freedom and lacking a moral compass. The pairing of Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld is inspired.
Pretty Poison
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.
Cinematography David L. Quaid
Original Music Johnny Mandel
Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller
Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman
Directed by Noel Black
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...
Pretty Poison
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1968 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring Anthony Perkins, Tuesday Weld, Beverly Garland, John Randolph, Dick O’Neill, Clarice Blackburn, Joseph Bova, Ken Kercheval.
Cinematography David L. Quaid
Original Music Johnny Mandel
Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. from the novel She Let Him Continue by Stephen Geller
Produced by Marshall Backlar, Noel Black, Lawrence Turman
Directed by Noel Black
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although the dates don’t match up, I’m absolutely certain that I saw Noel Black’s theatrical short Skaterdater when it was screened as a warm-up for,...
- 12/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Look out: John Carpenter's chilly tale of shape-shifting chaos at the South Pole creeps back with a new transfer and two fully stocked discs of extras old and new, including the bowdlerized Network cut, just for laughs. The picture still works like gangbusters -- the best monsters are still the gooey, rubbery pre-cgi kind. John Carpenter's The Thing Collector's Edition Blu-ray Scream Factory 1982 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date September 20, 2016 / 34.93 Starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis. Cinematography Dean Cundey Production Design John J. Lloyd Special Makeup Effects Rob Bottin Film Editor Todd Ramsay Original Music Ennio Morricone Written by Bill Lancaster from the short story "Who Goes There?"by John W. Campbell Jr. Produced by David Foster, Lawrence Turman Directed by John Carpenter
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
It's been eight years since...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
It's been eight years since...
- 11/1/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Scream Factory has revealed the special features list and cover art for their Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of John Carpenter’s The Thing, due out on September 20th with a new 2K scan of the film’s inter-positive, a new audio commentary with director of photography Dean Cundey, and much more:
Press Release: In 1982 legendary genre filmmaker John Carpenter (Halloween, They Live) unleashed The Thing–a chilling sci-fi thriller that raised the bar on shocking special effects and terrified movie audiences worldwide. On September 20, 2016, the Scream Factory™ home entertainment brand is proud to present this landmark horror film in a 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release which includes a brand new 2K scan of the film (supervised by Director of Photography Dean Cundey) and over 5 hours of extras.
Directed by Carpenter, The Thing stars Kurt Russell (Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China) and features special visual effects...
Press Release: In 1982 legendary genre filmmaker John Carpenter (Halloween, They Live) unleashed The Thing–a chilling sci-fi thriller that raised the bar on shocking special effects and terrified movie audiences worldwide. On September 20, 2016, the Scream Factory™ home entertainment brand is proud to present this landmark horror film in a 2-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release which includes a brand new 2K scan of the film (supervised by Director of Photography Dean Cundey) and over 5 hours of extras.
Directed by Carpenter, The Thing stars Kurt Russell (Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China) and features special visual effects...
- 6/8/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
What can you say to such success? Mike Nichols and Buck Henry's sex satire defined 'the generation gap' for the sixties. Dustin Hoffman sprang forward from obscurity and Katharine Ross was the object of California desire. Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson freed the image of the 'complicated woman' from the clutches of the Production Code Stone Age. The broad comedy scores with every joke, and there's a truth beneath all the odd things that ought not to work. The Graduate Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 800 1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Buck Henry, Brian Avery, Walter Brooke, Norman Fell, Alice Ghostley, Marion Lorne, Eddra Gale, Richard Dreyfuss, Mike Farrell, Elisabeth Fraser, Donald F. Glut, Elaine May, Lainie Miller, Ben Murphy. Cinematography Robert Surtees Film Editor Sam O'Steen Production Design Richard Sylbert...
- 2/27/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Jesus Loves You More Than You Will Know”
By Raymond Benson
Although it has been released before on Blu-ray, the “Criterion treatment” is always welcome for a classic, well-known film such as The Graduate. Quite simply, it’s one of the most beloved pictures of the 60s, one that hit a nerve in the public consciousness. It helped define those wildly changing years at the end of the decade, illustrating how the country’s youth rebelled against an established society that they were expected to join. The Graduate is a landmark of the New Hollywood movement that took over the studios in those years and held reign through the 70s.
Director Mike Nichols, fresh from his success as a debut helmsman for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), gave us a romantic comedy unlike anything we’d seen previously—mainly because of the radically daring casting of an unknown actor named Dustin Hoffman.
By Raymond Benson
Although it has been released before on Blu-ray, the “Criterion treatment” is always welcome for a classic, well-known film such as The Graduate. Quite simply, it’s one of the most beloved pictures of the 60s, one that hit a nerve in the public consciousness. It helped define those wildly changing years at the end of the decade, illustrating how the country’s youth rebelled against an established society that they were expected to join. The Graduate is a landmark of the New Hollywood movement that took over the studios in those years and held reign through the 70s.
Director Mike Nichols, fresh from his success as a debut helmsman for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), gave us a romantic comedy unlike anything we’d seen previously—mainly because of the radically daring casting of an unknown actor named Dustin Hoffman.
- 2/8/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
And here's to you, Criterion Collection! The home video company just announced its February 2016 slate of releases, topped by Mike Nichols' The Graduate. Dustin Hoffman's star-making performance as recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock, who begins an affair with spiky family friend Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) for lack of anything else to do except contemplate his future, may have marked a turning point in modern cinema, but it's also an immensely easy movie to enjoy as a comedy of manners. This edition includes a new interview with Hoffman, a new conversation between producer Lawrence Turman and screenwriter Buck Henry, and a new interview about editor Sam O'Steen. As usual, Criterion has gathered a host of interesting archival materials to go with the new 4K digital...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 11/17/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this occasional column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business.
Bart: Critics don’t like to admit it, but the conditions under which you see a film strongly influence your opinion. Birdman is a good example: If you see a film like this with a pack of cinephiles like at Telluride, everyone gets every inside joke, and you instinctively go along with the crowd. I made it a point to see Birdman with a paid civilian audience and it was like screening it in a mausoleum. No laughs, just occasional grunts and lots of walkouts. Some reviews predicted Birdman “will captivate arthouse and multiplex crowds alike and send awards pundits into orbit” (the Variety review). Well that ain’t happening with the audiences; we’ll see about the awards.
Bart: Critics don’t like to admit it, but the conditions under which you see a film strongly influence your opinion. Birdman is a good example: If you see a film like this with a pack of cinephiles like at Telluride, everyone gets every inside joke, and you instinctively go along with the crowd. I made it a point to see Birdman with a paid civilian audience and it was like screening it in a mausoleum. No laughs, just occasional grunts and lots of walkouts. Some reviews predicted Birdman “will captivate arthouse and multiplex crowds alike and send awards pundits into orbit” (the Variety review). Well that ain’t happening with the audiences; we’ll see about the awards.
- 11/23/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
Following in the footsteps of Peter Bogdanovich’s Stalker and Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Dead End Drive-In, Phil Hawkins’ The Last Showing returns us from our adventures on the moors and in the claustrophobic confines of the jungle to turn the place where we appreciate the filmic dreams conjured up by filmmakers into a nightmarish and hellish place.
If back in the 1980’s Robert Englund rolled over sweet dreams like black storm clouds, then three decades later his eye has turned to the multiplex where we dare to dream and lose ourselves in worlds removed from our reality.
In a special four part feature, writer-director Phil Hawkins, producer Alexandra Baranska and lead actors Finn Jones and Emily Berrington offer a series of youthful perspectives from behind and in front of the camera, before Robert Englund takes the stage to present the cineaste behind the icon.
Moving forward, Alexandra Baranska shared her...
If back in the 1980’s Robert Englund rolled over sweet dreams like black storm clouds, then three decades later his eye has turned to the multiplex where we dare to dream and lose ourselves in worlds removed from our reality.
In a special four part feature, writer-director Phil Hawkins, producer Alexandra Baranska and lead actors Finn Jones and Emily Berrington offer a series of youthful perspectives from behind and in front of the camera, before Robert Englund takes the stage to present the cineaste behind the icon.
Moving forward, Alexandra Baranska shared her...
- 9/3/2014
- by Paul Risker
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
June 25, 1982, was a good day for genre fans. Hell, that summer saw a spate of genre classics released, including "The Road Warrior," "Poltergeist," and "E.T." But June 25th in particular saw not only the release, as we discussed earlier today, of "Blade Runner," but also another legendary sci-fi picture, which like Ridley Scott's film, wasn't well-received at the time, and flopped at the box office, but went on to be enshrined in the geek hall of fame. No, it's not Barry Bostwyck vehicle "MegaForce," but John Carpenter's terrifying "The Thing," which despite the efforts of last year's poor retread/prequel, remains one of the greatest sci-fi/horrors ever made.
Technically a remake of Howard Hawks' well-loved 1951 "The Thing From Another World," which Carpenter pays tribute to in the opening moments, the new film took a very different approach, ramping up both the paranoia and the eye-popping physical effects,...
Technically a remake of Howard Hawks' well-loved 1951 "The Thing From Another World," which Carpenter pays tribute to in the opening moments, the new film took a very different approach, ramping up both the paranoia and the eye-popping physical effects,...
- 6/25/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Dustin Hoffman was nearly 30 when he played his star-making role as college student Benjamin Braddock, a part he landed when producer Lawrence Turman rejected Robert Redford as too movie star handsome. Similarly, Anne Bancroft inherited her signature role as Mrs. Robinson when Doris Day turned it down (what a different movie that would have been!). The right movie at the right time, Mike Nichols’ second directorial outing won him an Oscar and struck a nerve with an entire generation of baby boomers–although the director later opined, “I think Benjamin will end up like his parents”.
- 4/9/2012
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Universal has announced that The Thing (2011) will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Download, and VOD on January 31st. We included a copy of the official press release, which includes the list of technical specs and bonus features.
Universal City, Calif., Nov. 30, 2011 — An expedition of a lifetime becomes a subterranean nightmare in The Thing, the thrilling prelude to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name. Debuting on Blu-ray(Tm) Combo Pack with UltraViolet(Tm), DVD, Digital Download and On Demand on January 31, 2011, The Thing stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,) as paleontologist Kate Lloyd who, along with the crew’s pilot Carter (Joel Edgerton, Warrior), discovers a mysterious organism buried in the ice.
When a simple experiment frees the creature from its frozen prison, it unleashes a flood of chaos and paranoia upon the camp, pitting the team against one another. With the ability...
Universal City, Calif., Nov. 30, 2011 — An expedition of a lifetime becomes a subterranean nightmare in The Thing, the thrilling prelude to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name. Debuting on Blu-ray(Tm) Combo Pack with UltraViolet(Tm), DVD, Digital Download and On Demand on January 31, 2011, The Thing stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,) as paleontologist Kate Lloyd who, along with the crew’s pilot Carter (Joel Edgerton, Warrior), discovers a mysterious organism buried in the ice.
When a simple experiment frees the creature from its frozen prison, it unleashes a flood of chaos and paranoia upon the camp, pitting the team against one another. With the ability...
- 11/30/2011
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
I know that many of you who read GeekTyrant are interested in becoming future filmmakers, which is awesome! It should come as no surprise to you that since I run a movie blog that I too would like to get into the business of making movies.
The Hollywood Reporter has come up with their list of 25 best film schools with basic details for each one. For those of you wanting to study the art of filmmaking, and wondering what the best schools for this are then this list should come in handy. Check out the full list below, and tell us what you think!
1. American Film Institute
Among the most selective film schools in America, AFI's Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies in Los Angeles offers a two-year conservatory program where students specialize in fields including directing, producing and writing, often coming to the institute after working in the...
The Hollywood Reporter has come up with their list of 25 best film schools with basic details for each one. For those of you wanting to study the art of filmmaking, and wondering what the best schools for this are then this list should come in handy. Check out the full list below, and tell us what you think!
1. American Film Institute
Among the most selective film schools in America, AFI's Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies in Los Angeles offers a two-year conservatory program where students specialize in fields including directing, producing and writing, often coming to the institute after working in the...
- 7/27/2011
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
We recently received a metric ton of updates about upcoming events at the Bigfoot Crest Theater in Los Angeles so strap in because there's a lot for you guys to check out - including what could be The Greatest Monster Of All Time!
The Bigfoot Crest is going to be putting on some very cool screenings over the next two months, including showings of Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, The Thing, a new H.P. Lovecraft film (The Whisper in Darkness) and what wins the award of most unique looking new monster The God of Clay (see images below and know that somewhere The Foywonder is giving high fives to random strangers).
Check out all the details below, and see even more at the Bigfoot Crest website.
From the Press Release:
The historic Bigfoot Crest Theater in Westwood – recently hailed by Los Angeles Magazine as one of the best screens in...
The Bigfoot Crest is going to be putting on some very cool screenings over the next two months, including showings of Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster, The Thing, a new H.P. Lovecraft film (The Whisper in Darkness) and what wins the award of most unique looking new monster The God of Clay (see images below and know that somewhere The Foywonder is giving high fives to random strangers).
Check out all the details below, and see even more at the Bigfoot Crest website.
From the Press Release:
The historic Bigfoot Crest Theater in Westwood – recently hailed by Los Angeles Magazine as one of the best screens in...
- 5/16/2011
- by dougevil
- DreadCentral.com
Is the director's cut just one big self-indulgence, or the chance for an auteur to get his vision across to the public untrammelled by the money men?
First 18 minutes had to be cut for length. Then another eight minutes went at the insistence of the studio. Six months later, the director was allowed to reinstate a minute of original footage. That was followed, 19 years later, by another seven minutes, one minute of which was – on second thoughts – removed again a few years after that.
Since it premiered in 1971, The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich's nostalgic masterpiece about lust and loss in smalltown Texas, has been through three official edits and several unofficial ones. Bogdanovich now says the version to be released on 15 April finally represents his perfect vision. Almost. "Well, it's as close as it's going to get."
It was in 1974 that the term "director's cut" began to acquire...
First 18 minutes had to be cut for length. Then another eight minutes went at the insistence of the studio. Six months later, the director was allowed to reinstate a minute of original footage. That was followed, 19 years later, by another seven minutes, one minute of which was – on second thoughts – removed again a few years after that.
Since it premiered in 1971, The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich's nostalgic masterpiece about lust and loss in smalltown Texas, has been through three official edits and several unofficial ones. Bogdanovich now says the version to be released on 15 April finally represents his perfect vision. Almost. "Well, it's as close as it's going to get."
It was in 1974 that the term "director's cut" began to acquire...
- 4/8/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Another James Bond legend is gone. This is sad news as his scripts were genuinely funny and his voice really fit the Bond and Superman films of their eras.
From M16: The Home of James Bond:
Thomas Francis Mankiewicz was born into a successful cinematic family on 1st June 1942, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Joseph (of German descent), was the successful screenwriter behind “All About Eve” and was already an Oscar winner by the time Tom was born.
Joseph moved his family to New York on the birth of his son. The young Tom Mankiewicz attended Phillips Exeter School in New Hampshire and later, the prestigious Yale University in Connecticut, where he majored in Drama. Whilst studying he found work on a few token productions, including “Comancheros”, the 1961 John Wayne western. By 1963 (aged 21), Tom entered the workforce full time as assistant to Lawrence Turman, the would-be producer of...
From M16: The Home of James Bond:
Thomas Francis Mankiewicz was born into a successful cinematic family on 1st June 1942, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Joseph (of German descent), was the successful screenwriter behind “All About Eve” and was already an Oscar winner by the time Tom was born.
Joseph moved his family to New York on the birth of his son. The young Tom Mankiewicz attended Phillips Exeter School in New Hampshire and later, the prestigious Yale University in Connecticut, where he majored in Drama. Whilst studying he found work on a few token productions, including “Comancheros”, the 1961 John Wayne western. By 1963 (aged 21), Tom entered the workforce full time as assistant to Lawrence Turman, the would-be producer of...
- 8/5/2010
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As if the subject matter wasn't controversial enough -- a family in crisis because of two brothers' involvement with a neo-Nazi gang -- New Line's "American History X" arrives with a creative imbroglio between tyro director Tony Kaye and the studio over final cut of the modestly budgeted project, with star Edward Norton also involved in the verbal fisticuffs.
Whether or not this is the best version of English commercial director and art provocateur Kaye's film of David McKenna's script is a moot point for the moment. Boxoffice prospects range from hot to cool, with maturer audiences in major markets more likely to risk exposure to hateful rhetoric, intense family dramatics, racial violence and a decidedly nonhappy ending.
The strong possibility of awards recognition for the challenging, often superlative performances of Norton and co-star Edward Furlong would help in the hinterlands and subsequent ancillary rollouts.
While a reported shorter version assembled by Kaye may actually have had more impact, there's no doubt that "American History X" will shock many with its antihero leads who hate minorities, think of them as inferior and threatening to society, use racial slurs with intent, and openly embrace the Nazi credo. Heavy stuff, to be sure, but the film often overdoes it to the point of numbing a viewer into submission.
Rather than scaring us into examining our own prejudices and beliefs, this journey to unpleasantville is too often manipulative and strains to maintain tension, demonizing the leads early on for any but the most unreceptive viewers. Like so much discourse and human noise in the world today, the heinous rants in the film against Jews and Rodney King are easy to dismiss. What's a little odd is the way Norton's character is so vague about his eventual dissociation with the skinheads and their intolerant ways, denying one the satisfaction of hearing him recant his former ideology and confess to his crimes of thought and deed.
Anne Dudley's heavy-handed, full-orchestra-and-chorus score is particularly cumbersome to a story set in hazy Venice Beach, Calif., but more troublesome is the often clunky exposition and nonlinear structure that connects a half-dozen or so standout scenes. If nothing else, Kaye succeeds in making Norton's imposing character Derek into an iconographic, not easily forgotten cinematic presence through the use of black-and-white photography in the most grueling scenes.
From a big swastika tattooed on his chest to the unusually nasty way he kills a black car thief, talented hoopster Derek is a slam-dunking menace to society and goes to prison for murder with a smile on his face. But when his loyal younger brother Danny (Furlong) refuses to testify against his idol, Derek serves only three years.
Both brothers were transformed by the death of their firefighter father -- killed in cold blood on the job -- into narrow-minded bigots, with pictures of Hitler tacked on their bedroom wall and such foul friends as hefty pug-ugly Seth (Ethan Suplee). Derek and Danny cohabitate with their couch-ridden mother (Beverly D'Angelo) and teenage sister (Jennifer Lien), who openly confront the brothers about their beliefs with little success but manage to tolerate them.
The school principal (Avery Brooks) appeals to Derek to help Danny -- who writes a school paper on "Mein Kampf" -- escape his older brother's fate, while well-organized neo-Nazi Cameron (Stacy Keach) comes between the brothers when reformed Derek returns from incarceration. Scarily believable, Fairuza Balk is used sparingly as Derek's rabid girlfriend, and Elliott Gould is appropriately subdued as a Jewish family friend who runs into the buzz saw of Derek's anti-Semitism.
Kaye also serves as the film's director of photography, and he sure knows how to craft disturbing images, but there's also a slickness in many of the sequences, such as an improbable skinhead victory on the basketball court that does not contrast well with the gritty verisimilitude of the family scenes.
AMERICAN HISTORY X
New Line Cinema
A Turman-Morrissey Co. production
Director: Tony Kaye
Screenwriter: David McKenna
Producer: John Morrissey
Executive producers: Lawrence Turman,
Steve Tisch, Kearie Peak, Bill Carraro
Director of photography: Tony Kaye
Production designer: Jon Gary Steele
Editors: Jerry Greenberg, Alan Heim
Costume designer: Doug Hall
Music: Anne Dudley
Casting: Valerie McCaffrey
Color/stereo
Cast:
Derek: Edward Norton
Danny: Edward Furlong
Doris: Beverly D'Angelo
Davin: Jennifer Lien
Seth: Ethan Suplee
Stacey: Fairuza Balk
Sweeney: Avery Brooks
Murray: Elliott Gould
Cameron: Stacy Keach
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Whether or not this is the best version of English commercial director and art provocateur Kaye's film of David McKenna's script is a moot point for the moment. Boxoffice prospects range from hot to cool, with maturer audiences in major markets more likely to risk exposure to hateful rhetoric, intense family dramatics, racial violence and a decidedly nonhappy ending.
The strong possibility of awards recognition for the challenging, often superlative performances of Norton and co-star Edward Furlong would help in the hinterlands and subsequent ancillary rollouts.
While a reported shorter version assembled by Kaye may actually have had more impact, there's no doubt that "American History X" will shock many with its antihero leads who hate minorities, think of them as inferior and threatening to society, use racial slurs with intent, and openly embrace the Nazi credo. Heavy stuff, to be sure, but the film often overdoes it to the point of numbing a viewer into submission.
Rather than scaring us into examining our own prejudices and beliefs, this journey to unpleasantville is too often manipulative and strains to maintain tension, demonizing the leads early on for any but the most unreceptive viewers. Like so much discourse and human noise in the world today, the heinous rants in the film against Jews and Rodney King are easy to dismiss. What's a little odd is the way Norton's character is so vague about his eventual dissociation with the skinheads and their intolerant ways, denying one the satisfaction of hearing him recant his former ideology and confess to his crimes of thought and deed.
Anne Dudley's heavy-handed, full-orchestra-and-chorus score is particularly cumbersome to a story set in hazy Venice Beach, Calif., but more troublesome is the often clunky exposition and nonlinear structure that connects a half-dozen or so standout scenes. If nothing else, Kaye succeeds in making Norton's imposing character Derek into an iconographic, not easily forgotten cinematic presence through the use of black-and-white photography in the most grueling scenes.
From a big swastika tattooed on his chest to the unusually nasty way he kills a black car thief, talented hoopster Derek is a slam-dunking menace to society and goes to prison for murder with a smile on his face. But when his loyal younger brother Danny (Furlong) refuses to testify against his idol, Derek serves only three years.
Both brothers were transformed by the death of their firefighter father -- killed in cold blood on the job -- into narrow-minded bigots, with pictures of Hitler tacked on their bedroom wall and such foul friends as hefty pug-ugly Seth (Ethan Suplee). Derek and Danny cohabitate with their couch-ridden mother (Beverly D'Angelo) and teenage sister (Jennifer Lien), who openly confront the brothers about their beliefs with little success but manage to tolerate them.
The school principal (Avery Brooks) appeals to Derek to help Danny -- who writes a school paper on "Mein Kampf" -- escape his older brother's fate, while well-organized neo-Nazi Cameron (Stacy Keach) comes between the brothers when reformed Derek returns from incarceration. Scarily believable, Fairuza Balk is used sparingly as Derek's rabid girlfriend, and Elliott Gould is appropriately subdued as a Jewish family friend who runs into the buzz saw of Derek's anti-Semitism.
Kaye also serves as the film's director of photography, and he sure knows how to craft disturbing images, but there's also a slickness in many of the sequences, such as an improbable skinhead victory on the basketball court that does not contrast well with the gritty verisimilitude of the family scenes.
AMERICAN HISTORY X
New Line Cinema
A Turman-Morrissey Co. production
Director: Tony Kaye
Screenwriter: David McKenna
Producer: John Morrissey
Executive producers: Lawrence Turman,
Steve Tisch, Kearie Peak, Bill Carraro
Director of photography: Tony Kaye
Production designer: Jon Gary Steele
Editors: Jerry Greenberg, Alan Heim
Costume designer: Doug Hall
Music: Anne Dudley
Casting: Valerie McCaffrey
Color/stereo
Cast:
Derek: Edward Norton
Danny: Edward Furlong
Doris: Beverly D'Angelo
Davin: Jennifer Lien
Seth: Ethan Suplee
Stacey: Fairuza Balk
Sweeney: Avery Brooks
Murray: Elliott Gould
Cameron: Stacy Keach
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/26/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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