Remakes have always been and will always be a tricky proposition. You could have something as pure and wonderful as 1982’s The Thing, which is objectively better than the revered Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby version, but be trapped in purgatory for way too long before it is decided that its proper and loved. There’s a bunch that are better in different ways or at least thoroughly enjoyable in their own right like John Carpenter’s masterpiece, Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and of course David Cronenberg’s The Fly. While you can argue the horror vs sci fi merits of any of these movies, their quality can’t be disputed. When it comes down to what you can or can’t remake, I think the gloves are off at this point. There’s very few sacred cows left and sometimes a remake can help. Something...
- 2/13/2024
- by Andrew Hatfield
- JoBlo.com
In its credits, John Carpenter's 1982 alien invasion film "The Thing" is based on John W. Campbell's 1938 novella "Who Goes There?," but owes far more of a creative debt to Christian Nyby's 1951 adaptation "The Thing from Another World." Carpenter loved Nyby's film, and even featured a clip of it in his 1978 horror film "Halloween." "The Thing" notoriously bombed on its initial release, a failure some chalk up to the presence of Steven Spielberg's ultra-sentimental "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" which opened only two weeks before. It seems that audiences wanted sweetness and wonderment in 1982, and likely felt the paranoia, death, violence, and gloppy ooze in Carpenter's film to be too much of a bleak throwback.
In the ensuing decades, genre fans rescued "The Thing," coming to appreciate its eerie, dreadful atmosphere, its harder-than-stone characters, and its amazing, amazing practical creature effects (provided by Rob Bottin). In 2024, "The Thing" is...
In the ensuing decades, genre fans rescued "The Thing," coming to appreciate its eerie, dreadful atmosphere, its harder-than-stone characters, and its amazing, amazing practical creature effects (provided by Rob Bottin). In 2024, "The Thing" is...
- 2/12/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but humans weren’t always at the top of the food chain. And with our ancestors being preyed upon by larger mammals and even our fellow humanoids, it stands to reason that we’d develop a generalized fear of the dark. That’s why it makes sense that cold places where the sun doesn’t routinely rise are naturally suited for spooky stories.
This is precisely what showrunner Issa López had in mind when she came up with HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, a brand-new murder mystery that returns the anthology show to its horrific roots. And with new episodes dropping weekly, we’ve decided to help viewers get an additional fix of frigid frights by recommending six arctic thrillers to watch after Td: Night Country.
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own arctic favorites if you think we missed a particularly spooky one.
This is precisely what showrunner Issa López had in mind when she came up with HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, a brand-new murder mystery that returns the anthology show to its horrific roots. And with new episodes dropping weekly, we’ve decided to help viewers get an additional fix of frigid frights by recommending six arctic thrillers to watch after Td: Night Country.
As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own arctic favorites if you think we missed a particularly spooky one.
- 1/25/2024
- by Luiz H. C.
- bloody-disgusting.com
Issa López's "True Detective: Night Country," the fourth season of the pulp crime series created by Nic Pizzolatto, kicks off with one heck of a hook. Scientists holed up at the Tsalal Research Station on the outskirts of Ennis, Alaska (which is itself on the outskirts of civilization in the sparsely populated state) are winding down after a long day of doing ... well, whatever it is they do up there (the first episode does not make this clear). They're doing laundry, making dinner, settling in for a movie ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off") with a bowl of microwave popcorn, and evidently content to be where they are.
And then, in an instant, they're not there anymore.
A delivery man who shows up with supplies, expecting help in unloading his truck, wanders through the station seemingly seconds after the sequence we've just observed (Matthew Broderick is still rocking out to The...
And then, in an instant, they're not there anymore.
A delivery man who shows up with supplies, expecting help in unloading his truck, wanders through the station seemingly seconds after the sequence we've just observed (Matthew Broderick is still rocking out to The...
- 1/15/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
On Thursday, John Carpenter was the guest On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to discuss his latest project “John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams”, a six-episode horror anthology series available to stream on Peacock.
https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/john-carpenters-suburban-screams/8006432878975950112/seasons/1
The host, a huge film nerd, revealed to the audience that his go to comfort movie food is 1982’s The Thing. Reviled by critics and cinema goers at the time for being too gory and violent, while expecting a remake of Christian Nyby’s and Howard Hawks’s black & white version of 1951’s The Thing From Another World, the movie was almost forgotten… until sci-fi and horror fans decided differently. In the decades since, the film saw new life with VHS, Laserdisc and Blu-ray/DVD. The film has a killer score composed by Ennio Morricone, organic, non-cgi effects from Rob Bottin and one of the best posters ever from Drew Struzan.
https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/john-carpenters-suburban-screams/8006432878975950112/seasons/1
The host, a huge film nerd, revealed to the audience that his go to comfort movie food is 1982’s The Thing. Reviled by critics and cinema goers at the time for being too gory and violent, while expecting a remake of Christian Nyby’s and Howard Hawks’s black & white version of 1951’s The Thing From Another World, the movie was almost forgotten… until sci-fi and horror fans decided differently. In the decades since, the film saw new life with VHS, Laserdisc and Blu-ray/DVD. The film has a killer score composed by Ennio Morricone, organic, non-cgi effects from Rob Bottin and one of the best posters ever from Drew Struzan.
- 10/27/2023
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In the fifth season episode of "The Twilight Zone," called "The Masks", an elderly millionaire named Jason Foster (Robert Keith) has gathered his daughter, her husband, and their two adult children for a Mardi Gras gathering. Jason, attended by his doctor (Willis Bouchey), is dying. He expects he'll be dead by morning. Jason also hates his daughter and her family. He sees Emily (Virginia Gregg) as spineless, her husband Wilfred (Milton Seltzer) as greedy, her son Wilfred, Jr. (Alan Sues) as dumb and oafish, and her daughter Paula (Brooke Hayward) as vain and shallow.
At dinner, the family members all feign politeness, but the audience trusts Jason when he says they are all terrible people who are only interested in inheriting his fortune. After dinner, Jason calls the quartet into the drawing room for a Mardi Gras game. The patriarch has commissioned five expressive, full-face masks that he and his family are to wear.
At dinner, the family members all feign politeness, but the audience trusts Jason when he says they are all terrible people who are only interested in inheriting his fortune. After dinner, Jason calls the quartet into the drawing room for a Mardi Gras game. The patriarch has commissioned five expressive, full-face masks that he and his family are to wear.
- 8/1/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Warning: The Thing spoilers jump out of nowhere in this piece!
“The last place you want to be in a storm in Antarctica is locked up with a bunch of Norwegian guys,” Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a Columbia graduate and vertebrate paleontologist, is warned as she is flown into the tundra surrounding “Thule,” the central research station in The Thing (2011). The sequestered Norse researchers have never seen John Carpenter’s claustrophobic 1982 alien invasion classic, The Thing. After all, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and writer Eric Heisserer’s 2011 prequel is set at the Antarctic facility from which the very Thing from outer space splits at the beginning of the ‘82 film. So the newest movie, which is finding a quasi-renaissance on Netflix these days, is a translation of the prior events by Heijningen and Heisserer.
In the snowbound original film, when exploring a deserted outpost in the aftermath of an as-yet-unknown extraterrestrial disaster,...
“The last place you want to be in a storm in Antarctica is locked up with a bunch of Norwegian guys,” Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a Columbia graduate and vertebrate paleontologist, is warned as she is flown into the tundra surrounding “Thule,” the central research station in The Thing (2011). The sequestered Norse researchers have never seen John Carpenter’s claustrophobic 1982 alien invasion classic, The Thing. After all, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and writer Eric Heisserer’s 2011 prequel is set at the Antarctic facility from which the very Thing from outer space splits at the beginning of the ‘82 film. So the newest movie, which is finding a quasi-renaissance on Netflix these days, is a translation of the prior events by Heijningen and Heisserer.
In the snowbound original film, when exploring a deserted outpost in the aftermath of an as-yet-unknown extraterrestrial disaster,...
- 4/6/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Forget the box office top ten estimated weekend charts published yesterday. They all left out one film: John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic “The Thing.” The film, which played in around 730 theaters for a single showtime on Sunday only as a Fathom Events presentation, ended up in the #9 position for the three days with about 500,000 total, per industry sources.
Appearances by vintage titles on the top ten was common when theaters reopened after Covid-issued lockdowns and into early 2021, but that an older re-release — much less one with a single showing — could find a place among the biggest grossing films of a June 2022 weekend is a circumstance related to the dearth of films in theatrical release. Though the combined result of the weekend’s top titles — “Jurassic World: Dominion” (Universal), “Lightyear” (Disney), and “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount) — ended up with very healthy grosses, there was a steep drop among other 2022 releases. That...
Appearances by vintage titles on the top ten was common when theaters reopened after Covid-issued lockdowns and into early 2021, but that an older re-release — much less one with a single showing — could find a place among the biggest grossing films of a June 2022 weekend is a circumstance related to the dearth of films in theatrical release. Though the combined result of the weekend’s top titles — “Jurassic World: Dominion” (Universal), “Lightyear” (Disney), and “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount) — ended up with very healthy grosses, there was a steep drop among other 2022 releases. That...
- 6/20/2022
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Tim Donnelly, the actor best known for his portrayal of fun-loving firefighter Chet Kelly on NBC’s ’70s series Emergency!, has died. He was 77.
A cause of death was not disclosed, though the Los Angeles County Fire Museum confirmed the news via a tribute posted to their official Facebook page.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our friend, Tim Donnelly, this weekend. To all the Emergency! fans, we want you to know that he was very excited about coming to the Museum in January for the 50th Anniversary,” a spokesperson wrote. “Many of the Museum Board Members have great memories of Tim from our time on Project 51 and personal contact. To his daughter, grandchildren, and siblings, we offer our sincerest condolences.”
Donnelly was born on September 3, 1944, finding his first role in Don Siegel’s 1957 crime drama, Baby Face Nelson, and going on to enjoy a 27-year screen career.
A cause of death was not disclosed, though the Los Angeles County Fire Museum confirmed the news via a tribute posted to their official Facebook page.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our friend, Tim Donnelly, this weekend. To all the Emergency! fans, we want you to know that he was very excited about coming to the Museum in January for the 50th Anniversary,” a spokesperson wrote. “Many of the Museum Board Members have great memories of Tim from our time on Project 51 and personal contact. To his daughter, grandchildren, and siblings, we offer our sincerest condolences.”
Donnelly was born on September 3, 1944, finding his first role in Don Siegel’s 1957 crime drama, Baby Face Nelson, and going on to enjoy a 27-year screen career.
- 9/23/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
This big, expensive and well-produced action-suspense Sci-fi epic mostly delivers on its promise to be Aliens at the bottom of the sea. At heart it’s a 1950s pulse-pounder with a bigger monster, a zillion times the budget and a script that does everything but make us care. We appreciate the likable characters but it’s too easy to predict who will ‘get it’ next. The realism factor is not bad at all, although the undersea explorer video training sessions should have given ‘how not to crack up under stress’ more emphasis. And can’t anybody properly mind those pesky nuclear bombs?
DeepStar Six
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: David Handman
Original...
DeepStar Six
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date October 13, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard, Miguel Ferrer, Nia Peeples, Cindy Pickett, Matt McCoy, Taurean Blacque, Marius Weyers, Elya Baskin, Thom Bray, Ronn Carroll.
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Film Editor: David Handman
Original...
- 10/17/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Docu-noir At Its Finest”
By Raymond Benson
A sub-genre of film noir is that of the so-called “docu-noir,” a crime drama usually based on a true story and told as a Dragnet-style procedural. Most likely there is an omniscient voiceover narrator, a focus on the lawmen who are investigating the case, and all the other stylistic and thematic elements associated with film noir in general: starkly contrasting black and white photography, urban locations, shadows, gritty realism, angst and cynicism, and sometimes brutal violence.
Eagle-Lion Films was a British/American production company that existed for only a few years in the late 40s, disbanding in the early 50s. There was some talent involved, and they produced a variety of genres and pictures of varying quality (Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes was a rare Best Picture nominee). Many of the studio’s pictures...
“Docu-noir At Its Finest”
By Raymond Benson
A sub-genre of film noir is that of the so-called “docu-noir,” a crime drama usually based on a true story and told as a Dragnet-style procedural. Most likely there is an omniscient voiceover narrator, a focus on the lawmen who are investigating the case, and all the other stylistic and thematic elements associated with film noir in general: starkly contrasting black and white photography, urban locations, shadows, gritty realism, angst and cynicism, and sometimes brutal violence.
Eagle-Lion Films was a British/American production company that existed for only a few years in the late 40s, disbanding in the early 50s. There was some talent involved, and they produced a variety of genres and pictures of varying quality (Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes was a rare Best Picture nominee). Many of the studio’s pictures...
- 8/23/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Exciting news for fans of classic sci-fi! Kenneth Tobey and James Arness in The Thing From Another World (1951) is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found Here
Howard Hawks’ production of The Thing From Another World, adapted from the classic story “Who Goes There?” by Science Fiction Grandmaster John W. Campbell, is a pitch perfect example of genre filmmaking at its finest and, much like his entire oeuvre – from screwball comedy to melodrama to hardboiled detective to western – a treasure that makes movie magic. Under Christian Nyby’s lean direction, Charles Lederer’s rapid-fire dialogue and a cast of fine journeymen performers, this tale of scientists and servicemen confronting the unknown above the Arctic Circle shines with crisp atomic-age radiation in this scintillating HD presentation in all its glorious Black and White wonder.
Arctic researchers discover a huge, frozen spaceling inside a crash-landed UFO, then fight...
Howard Hawks’ production of The Thing From Another World, adapted from the classic story “Who Goes There?” by Science Fiction Grandmaster John W. Campbell, is a pitch perfect example of genre filmmaking at its finest and, much like his entire oeuvre – from screwball comedy to melodrama to hardboiled detective to western – a treasure that makes movie magic. Under Christian Nyby’s lean direction, Charles Lederer’s rapid-fire dialogue and a cast of fine journeymen performers, this tale of scientists and servicemen confronting the unknown above the Arctic Circle shines with crisp atomic-age radiation in this scintillating HD presentation in all its glorious Black and White wonder.
Arctic researchers discover a huge, frozen spaceling inside a crash-landed UFO, then fight...
- 12/10/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Intrepid soldiers and scientists battle a bloodsucking alien invader at the top of the world! The Warner Archive Collection releases Howard Hawks’ incomparable Science Fiction thriller, a long-desired favorite. Long handicapped by missing scenes, this Rko classic is intact again, complete with its nerve-rattling bombastic Dimitri Tiomkin music score.
The Thing from Another World
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1951 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 87 min. / Street Date December 18, 2018 / 21.99
Starring: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, James Arness, Paul Frees, George Fenneman, John Dierkes.
Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, John J. Hughes
Film Editor: Roland Gross
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Charles Lederer from a short story by John W. Campbell Jr.
Produced by Howard Hawks
Directed by Christian Nyby
Still one of the all-time favorites of 1950s science fiction filmmaking, Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World...
The Thing from Another World
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1951 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 87 min. / Street Date December 18, 2018 / 21.99
Starring: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, James Arness, Paul Frees, George Fenneman, John Dierkes.
Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Art Direction: Albert S. D’Agostino, John J. Hughes
Film Editor: Roland Gross
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Written by Charles Lederer from a short story by John W. Campbell Jr.
Produced by Howard Hawks
Directed by Christian Nyby
Still one of the all-time favorites of 1950s science fiction filmmaking, Howard Hawks’ The Thing from Another World...
- 12/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Night I SwamThe Vienna International Film Festival—or the Viennale, for short—has for many years been a kind of respite, perhaps even a bit of a beautiful secret outside of European cinephilia, for those looking to be invigorated by the ever-renewing promise of cinema. First under the direction of Alexander Horwath, who left the festival in 1997 and in 2002 took the lead of the illustrious Austrian Film Museum, and for the last 21 years under the guidance of Hans Hurch, the Viennale has cultivated that rare thing: A cultural institution that has a distinct and idiosyncratic sensibility of taste. It is a yearly event in which you can find the rare gems of the mainstream vividly mixed with expansive retrospectives, the latest films from major auteurs and exciting debutantes alike, with no fear of short or medium length works, a strong love for the avant-garde and an even more fierce...
- 11/8/2017
- MUBI
It was actually pretty surprising to hear John Carpenter bash not only Rob Zombie's 2007 Halloween remake but also the rocker-turned-director himself in a recently-resurfaced Q&A held at the New York Film Academy, mainly because the director of such genre classics as The Fog, Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China hasn't historically been keen on weighing in on remakes of his films. In fact, he has self-admittedly been a "shut up and take the money" kind of guy in that regard, with the following exchange from a 2007 Moviemaker interview being pretty typical of his general attitude: Mm: If you could pick which of your films was going to be remade, which one would you choose? Jc: The one where they pay me the most money. Despite Carpenter's relative restraint on the issue of John Carpenter Remakes (it's worth mentioning that the director has received...
- 9/27/2016
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
Nearly 35 years after its release, John Carpenter’s The Thing remains one of the greatest—if not the greatest—horror movies of all-time. A masterpiece of dread, tension, nihilism, and staggeringly imaginative practical effects, it is a high-water mark of the genre and the best movie ever made by a filmmaker with a lot of great movies to his credit. This is John Carpenter’s masterpiece.
By now, you know the story. For this loose remake of Christian Nyby’s (and Howard Hawks’) 1951 sci-fi classic, The Thing from Another World, Carpenter and screenwriter Bill Lancaster went back to John Campbell Jr.’s original story “Who Goes There?” to tell the tale of a research team in the Antarctic who encounter an alien life form with the ability to assimilate and imitate any being it encounters. Totally isolated by the freezing temperatures and snowy landscape, the men can no longer be...
By now, you know the story. For this loose remake of Christian Nyby’s (and Howard Hawks’) 1951 sci-fi classic, The Thing from Another World, Carpenter and screenwriter Bill Lancaster went back to John Campbell Jr.’s original story “Who Goes There?” to tell the tale of a research team in the Antarctic who encounter an alien life form with the ability to assimilate and imitate any being it encounters. Totally isolated by the freezing temperatures and snowy landscape, the men can no longer be...
- 9/22/2016
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
Bogart finds Bacall and movie history is made; for once the make-believe romantic chemistry is abundantly real. Howard Hawks' wartime Caribbean adventure plays in grand style, with his patented mix of precision and casual cool. It's one of the most entertaining pictures of the 'forties. To Have and Have Not Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1944 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 100 min. / Street Date July 19, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Hoagy Carmichael,Dolores Moran, Sheldon Leonard, Walter Szurovy, Marcel Dalio, Walter Sande, Dan Seymour. Cinematography Sid Hickox Art Direction Charles Novi Film Editor Christian Nyby Original Music Hoagy Carmichael, William Lava, Franz Waxman Written by Jules Furthman, William Faulkner from the novel by Ernest Hemingway Produced by Howard Hawks, Jack L. Warner Directed by Howard Hawks
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Speaking for myself, I can't think of a more 'Hawksian' picture than To Have and Have Not.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Speaking for myself, I can't think of a more 'Hawksian' picture than To Have and Have Not.
- 7/10/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By Todd Garbarini
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a fun-filled weekend of six science fiction classics from Friday, April 15th to Sunday, April 17th. Several cast members from the films are scheduled to appear in person at respective screenings, so read on for more information:
From the press release:
Anniversary Classics Sci-Fi Weekend
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: www.laemmle.com/ac.
Re-visit the Golden Age of the Science Fiction Film as Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series presents Sci-fi Weekend, a festival of six classic films April 15-17 at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.
It was dawn of the Atomic Age and the Cold War, as Communist and nuclear war paranoia swept onto the nation’s movie screens to both terrify and entertain the American public. All the favorite icons are here: Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet,...
The Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a fun-filled weekend of six science fiction classics from Friday, April 15th to Sunday, April 17th. Several cast members from the films are scheduled to appear in person at respective screenings, so read on for more information:
From the press release:
Anniversary Classics Sci-Fi Weekend
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: www.laemmle.com/ac.
Re-visit the Golden Age of the Science Fiction Film as Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series presents Sci-fi Weekend, a festival of six classic films April 15-17 at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills.
It was dawn of the Atomic Age and the Cold War, as Communist and nuclear war paranoia swept onto the nation’s movie screens to both terrify and entertain the American public. All the favorite icons are here: Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet,...
- 4/7/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
We've waited long enough: Bogart's take on Raymond Chandler's tough guy Philip Marlowe is finally on Blu-ray, with Lauren Bacall hyped as his provocative leading lady. The fascinating 1945 pre-release version is also present, with an uncut copy of Bob Gitt's versions comparison docu. Somebody tell Elisha Cook Jr. not to drink that stuff. The Big Sleep Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 114 min. / Street Date February 23, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Peggy Knudsen, Regis Toomey, Charles Waldron, Charles D. Brown, Bob Steele, Elisha Cook Jr., Louis Jean Heydt, Sonja Darrin, Tommy Rafferty, Theodore von Eltz. Cinematography Sidney Hickox Film Editor Christian Nyby Original Music Max Steiner Written by Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, William Faulkner from the novel by Raymond Chandler Directed by Howard Hawks
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep became...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep became...
- 2/13/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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A killer robot powered by baby brains. Kirk Douglas wrestling in the nude. Ryan revisits the very weird 80s sci-fi movie, Saturn 3...
Some movies aspire to strangeness. Other movies have strangeness thrust upon them.
Saturn 3, released in 1980, was an intensely strange film. But unlike, say, Altered States (also released in 1980) it wasn’t made by a filmmaker with a taste for the oblique or the outre. Unlike Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination (1980 again), Saturn 3 wasn’t a low-budget shocker made in a hurry, but a relatively expensive exercise created by some of the most seasoned filmmakers in the business at that time. (For frame of reference, Saturn 3's budget was broadly the same as Alien’s, released less than one year earlier.)
On the surface, Saturn 3 sounds like a perfectly reasonable recipe for an intense sci-fi horror flick. It’s about a pair...
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A killer robot powered by baby brains. Kirk Douglas wrestling in the nude. Ryan revisits the very weird 80s sci-fi movie, Saturn 3...
Some movies aspire to strangeness. Other movies have strangeness thrust upon them.
Saturn 3, released in 1980, was an intensely strange film. But unlike, say, Altered States (also released in 1980) it wasn’t made by a filmmaker with a taste for the oblique or the outre. Unlike Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination (1980 again), Saturn 3 wasn’t a low-budget shocker made in a hurry, but a relatively expensive exercise created by some of the most seasoned filmmakers in the business at that time. (For frame of reference, Saturn 3's budget was broadly the same as Alien’s, released less than one year earlier.)
On the surface, Saturn 3 sounds like a perfectly reasonable recipe for an intense sci-fi horror flick. It’s about a pair...
- 2/1/2016
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
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Universal's classic monster movie Creature From The Black Lagoon was almost remade by John Carpenter in the 1990s. So what happened?
It's one of the great suspense scenes in 50s genre cinema: a woman swims in the clear cool water of an Amazonian lagoon, blissfully unaware of the grotesque creature emerging from the depths beneath her. The score builds to a crescendo as the monster closes in, reaching out with a clawed, webbed hand...
Director Jack Arnold directed some of the best American sci-fi movies of the post-wwii era, and Creature From The Black Lagoon is perhaps his most famous. About a team of scientists investigating the fossilised remains of a strange man-fish hybrid - and discovering the thing still very much alive in the depths of the Amazon - the movie was a sizeable hit for Universal when it came out in early 1954.
The cultural impact...
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Universal's classic monster movie Creature From The Black Lagoon was almost remade by John Carpenter in the 1990s. So what happened?
It's one of the great suspense scenes in 50s genre cinema: a woman swims in the clear cool water of an Amazonian lagoon, blissfully unaware of the grotesque creature emerging from the depths beneath her. The score builds to a crescendo as the monster closes in, reaching out with a clawed, webbed hand...
Director Jack Arnold directed some of the best American sci-fi movies of the post-wwii era, and Creature From The Black Lagoon is perhaps his most famous. About a team of scientists investigating the fossilised remains of a strange man-fish hybrid - and discovering the thing still very much alive in the depths of the Amazon - the movie was a sizeable hit for Universal when it came out in early 1954.
The cultural impact...
- 1/25/2016
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Continuing our series on Hollywood remakes, this week’s film is one of those lauded remakes that many say is better than the original. While a horror movie may not be in the Christmas spirit, this film does have a lot of snow in it. This week, Cinelinx looks at John Carpenter’s The Thing.
When people talk about remakes of old films, the one that is most often mentioned as being better than the original is John Carpenter’s 1982 horror flick, The Thing, which is a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks classic The Thing From Another World. There’s a good argument to be made for the newer one. Not that the first one isn’t an excellent movie, but this is a rare occasion where the reputation of the remake seems to overshadow the original.
Both films were based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W.
When people talk about remakes of old films, the one that is most often mentioned as being better than the original is John Carpenter’s 1982 horror flick, The Thing, which is a remake of the 1951 Howard Hawks classic The Thing From Another World. There’s a good argument to be made for the newer one. Not that the first one isn’t an excellent movie, but this is a rare occasion where the reputation of the remake seems to overshadow the original.
Both films were based on the short story “Who Goes There?” by John W.
- 12/9/2015
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
Arrow Films
Never mind the arguments about money and having kids – the single most divisive issue in a relationship is what films to watch on Netflix. If she can make you sit through Girl Interrupted (“you’ll like it – it’s about a bunch of hot chicks, and they’re all mental!”), then the least she can do is sit still during The Thing From Another World.
Christian Nyby’s 1951 movie hasn’t aged well, and it had its thunder stolen by John Carpenter’s awesome 1982 remake, but it has never looked more dated than when viewed with a petulant girlfriend, who sniggers every time the man-in-a-suit monster puts in an appearance. Worst of all is the scene where the scientists deduce that the creature is an “intelligent carrot”, which prompts the quip, “What do they do, boil it to death?”
That remark brought to mind something Alfred Hitchcock said...
Never mind the arguments about money and having kids – the single most divisive issue in a relationship is what films to watch on Netflix. If she can make you sit through Girl Interrupted (“you’ll like it – it’s about a bunch of hot chicks, and they’re all mental!”), then the least she can do is sit still during The Thing From Another World.
Christian Nyby’s 1951 movie hasn’t aged well, and it had its thunder stolen by John Carpenter’s awesome 1982 remake, but it has never looked more dated than when viewed with a petulant girlfriend, who sniggers every time the man-in-a-suit monster puts in an appearance. Worst of all is the scene where the scientists deduce that the creature is an “intelligent carrot”, which prompts the quip, “What do they do, boil it to death?”
That remark brought to mind something Alfred Hitchcock said...
- 10/27/2015
- by Ian Watson
- Obsessed with Film
We may remember Independence Day, The Matrix, The Phantom Menace. But what about these forgotten 90s sci-fi films? And are any worth seeing?
Think back to the science fiction cinema of the 1990s, and some of the decade's biggest box-office hits will immediately spring to mind: The Phantom Menace, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Men In Black, Armageddon and Terminator 2 were all in the top 20 most lucrative films of the era.
But what about the sci-fi films of the 1990s that failed to make even close to the same cultural and financial impact of those big hitters? These are the films this list is devoted to - the flops, the straight-to-video releases, the low-budget and critically-derided. We've picked 50 live-action films that fit these criteria, and dug them up to see whether they're still worth watching in the 21st century.
So here's a mix of everything from hidden classics to forgettable dreck,...
Think back to the science fiction cinema of the 1990s, and some of the decade's biggest box-office hits will immediately spring to mind: The Phantom Menace, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Men In Black, Armageddon and Terminator 2 were all in the top 20 most lucrative films of the era.
But what about the sci-fi films of the 1990s that failed to make even close to the same cultural and financial impact of those big hitters? These are the films this list is devoted to - the flops, the straight-to-video releases, the low-budget and critically-derided. We've picked 50 live-action films that fit these criteria, and dug them up to see whether they're still worth watching in the 21st century.
So here's a mix of everything from hidden classics to forgettable dreck,...
- 7/16/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
From Psycho to Jurassic Park, here are 23 teaser trailers that don't show a frame of footage from the movies they're advertising...
These days, we're used to the marketing hype for a major film building up about two years ahead of release. Visitors to Comic-Con got a preview of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, for example, more than two years ahead of its due date. Our collective hunger for a first look at major forthcoming films is such that, it seems, studios are keen to show off their work-in-progress earlier and earlier.
But there are ways of teasing a forthcoming movie without showing a frame of the finished product, which is where the following list comes in. They're all examples of promos that manage to get across the flavour of a future film without going into story details. Some of them were made before a foot of celluloid was exposed,...
These days, we're used to the marketing hype for a major film building up about two years ahead of release. Visitors to Comic-Con got a preview of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, for example, more than two years ahead of its due date. Our collective hunger for a first look at major forthcoming films is such that, it seems, studios are keen to show off their work-in-progress earlier and earlier.
But there are ways of teasing a forthcoming movie without showing a frame of the finished product, which is where the following list comes in. They're all examples of promos that manage to get across the flavour of a future film without going into story details. Some of them were made before a foot of celluloid was exposed,...
- 4/21/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Take a little afternoon flashback to 1982, when John Carpenter’s “The Thing” began scaring moviegoers all across the country. The genre classic is based on John W. Campbell, Jr.’s novella, “Who Goes There?” and improves (greatly) upon Howard Hawks’ and Christian Nyby’s 1951 adaptation of the story, “The Thing from Another World.” In “The Thing,” a group of researchers in Antarctica unearth a frozen, shape-shifting monster, which hunts the researchers in their utilitarian lab. Though the film wasn’t able to break $20M at the box office, it has gone on to scare viewers for over 30 years. As necessary, given the external shots the movie required, the cast and crew went on location for large chunks of the production. As expected, they didn’t actually fly down to the Antarctic to do it. Rather, as this vintage 12-minute featurette explains, they shot in British Columbia, near the Alaskan border.
- 2/4/2015
- by Zach Hollwedel
- The Playlist
Humankind’s collision with otherworldly life forms can make for unforgettable cinema.
This article will highlight the best of live-action human vs. alien films. The creatures may be from other planets or may be non-demonic entities from other dimensions.
Excluded from consideration were giant monster films as the diakaiju genre would make a great subject for separate articles.
Readers looking for “friendly alien” films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and the comically overrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are advised to keep watching the skies because they won’t find them here.
Film writing being the game of knowledge filtered through personal taste that it is, some readers’ subgenre favorites might not have made the list such as War of the Worlds (1953) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).
Now let’s take a chronological look at the cinema’s best battles between Us and Them.
This article will highlight the best of live-action human vs. alien films. The creatures may be from other planets or may be non-demonic entities from other dimensions.
Excluded from consideration were giant monster films as the diakaiju genre would make a great subject for separate articles.
Readers looking for “friendly alien” films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953) and the comically overrated Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) are advised to keep watching the skies because they won’t find them here.
Film writing being the game of knowledge filtered through personal taste that it is, some readers’ subgenre favorites might not have made the list such as War of the Worlds (1953) and 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).
Now let’s take a chronological look at the cinema’s best battles between Us and Them.
- 7/13/2014
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
We take a light-hearted look at a few of the more strange coincidences and quirks of fate in recent cinema history...
Top 10
Stories are often built on coincidences and happenstance. Chance encounters at railway stations. Bruce Willis bumping into Ving Rhames while he's out and about in his Honda in Pulp Fiction. But what about those weird patterns we see in our everyday reality, or, more to the point, in cinema history?
When Batman Begins came out, it was widely noted that Christian Bale had already played an unfathomably rich man with a secret double life before, in Mary Harron's adaptation of American Psycho. Bale's character, Patrick Bateman, even has a surname that's basically Batman with an 'e' added to it.
Those are the kinds of strange quirks of fate we're looking at here. If you have any of your own, do share them in the comments section.
10. Instruments...
Top 10
Stories are often built on coincidences and happenstance. Chance encounters at railway stations. Bruce Willis bumping into Ving Rhames while he's out and about in his Honda in Pulp Fiction. But what about those weird patterns we see in our everyday reality, or, more to the point, in cinema history?
When Batman Begins came out, it was widely noted that Christian Bale had already played an unfathomably rich man with a secret double life before, in Mary Harron's adaptation of American Psycho. Bale's character, Patrick Bateman, even has a surname that's basically Batman with an 'e' added to it.
Those are the kinds of strange quirks of fate we're looking at here. If you have any of your own, do share them in the comments section.
10. Instruments...
- 7/10/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Red River
Written by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee
Directed by Howard Hawks
USA, 1948
Howard Hawks’ Red River is supposedly the film that convinced John Ford of John Wayne’s talent (apparently opposed to his abilities to simply perform or suggest a powerful screen presence). Ford had, of course, worked with Wayne previously, and Wayne had appeared in dozens of other films prior to this point, but when Ford saw what Wayne did in the role of the aged, bitter, driven, and obsessive Thomas Dunson, it led him to comment to his friend Hawks, “I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act.” If it were only for Wayne’s performance, which is excellent, Red River would be a vital entry into the Western genre. But there is more, much more to this extraordinary picture. That’s why it’s not only one of the greatest Westerns ever made,...
Written by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee
Directed by Howard Hawks
USA, 1948
Howard Hawks’ Red River is supposedly the film that convinced John Ford of John Wayne’s talent (apparently opposed to his abilities to simply perform or suggest a powerful screen presence). Ford had, of course, worked with Wayne previously, and Wayne had appeared in dozens of other films prior to this point, but when Ford saw what Wayne did in the role of the aged, bitter, driven, and obsessive Thomas Dunson, it led him to comment to his friend Hawks, “I didn’t know the big son of a bitch could act.” If it were only for Wayne’s performance, which is excellent, Red River would be a vital entry into the Western genre. But there is more, much more to this extraordinary picture. That’s why it’s not only one of the greatest Westerns ever made,...
- 6/12/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
The Criterion Collection continues to impress through the remarkable range of what it offers cineastes on a monthly basis. Look at the highlights of their May 2014 Blu-ray offerings, all currently available in stores and for online order. What on Earth do “Overlord,” “Like Someone in Love,” and “Red River” have in common?
One is set in World War II, one during the Chisholm Trail, and one in present day. One is British, one defiantly American, and one is Japanese. Abbas Kiarostami really couldn’t have more distinctly different cinematic intentions than Howard Hawks. And yet Criterion wisely understands that film lovers love all different kinds of film. Pick your favorite.
For me, the best film is “Like Someone in Love,” the best release is “Red River.” “Overlord” remains an interesting curiosity, a film that blends archival footage and fictional filmmaking to achieve something unique. Directed by Stuart Cooper and shot...
One is set in World War II, one during the Chisholm Trail, and one in present day. One is British, one defiantly American, and one is Japanese. Abbas Kiarostami really couldn’t have more distinctly different cinematic intentions than Howard Hawks. And yet Criterion wisely understands that film lovers love all different kinds of film. Pick your favorite.
For me, the best film is “Like Someone in Love,” the best release is “Red River.” “Overlord” remains an interesting curiosity, a film that blends archival footage and fictional filmmaking to achieve something unique. Directed by Stuart Cooper and shot...
- 6/5/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 27, 2014
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion
John Wayne and Mongomery Clift head to Missouri in Red River.
No matter what genre he worked in, Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday) played by his own rules, and never was this more evident than in his first western, the rowdy and whip-smart 1948 film Red River.
In this American cinema classic, John Wayne (True Grit) found one of his greatest roles as an embittered, tyrannical Texas rancher whose tensions with his independent-minded adopted son, played by Montgomery Clift (From Here to Eternity) in a breakout performance, reach epic proportions during a cattle drive to Missouri, which is based on a real-life late nineteenth-century expedition.
Yet Hawks is less interested in historical accuracy than in tweaking the codes of masculinity that propel the myths of the American West. The unerringly macho Wayne and the neurotic, boyish Clift make for an improbably perfect pair,...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion
John Wayne and Mongomery Clift head to Missouri in Red River.
No matter what genre he worked in, Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday) played by his own rules, and never was this more evident than in his first western, the rowdy and whip-smart 1948 film Red River.
In this American cinema classic, John Wayne (True Grit) found one of his greatest roles as an embittered, tyrannical Texas rancher whose tensions with his independent-minded adopted son, played by Montgomery Clift (From Here to Eternity) in a breakout performance, reach epic proportions during a cattle drive to Missouri, which is based on a real-life late nineteenth-century expedition.
Yet Hawks is less interested in historical accuracy than in tweaking the codes of masculinity that propel the myths of the American West. The unerringly macho Wayne and the neurotic, boyish Clift make for an improbably perfect pair,...
- 2/20/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Ryan Lambie Jun 26, 2017
35 years ago, The Thing was panned by critics. We take a look at the angry reaction and its modern status as a horror classic...
It's the summer of 1982, and director John Carpenter is on the cusp of releasing his latest movie, The Thing. For the 34-year-old filmmaker, the release marks the end of a major undertaking: the culmination of months of shooting on freezing cold sets and snowy British Columbia locations, not to mention the execution of complex and time-consuming practical effects scenes.
See related Twin Peaks season 3 episode 7 review: There’s A Body All Right Twin Peaks season 3 episode 6 review: Don’t Die Twin Peaks season 3 episode 5 review: Case Files
Carpenter was understandably proud of the results: after such independent hits as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and Escape From New York, this was his first studio movie (for Universal) and also his most expensive to date,...
35 years ago, The Thing was panned by critics. We take a look at the angry reaction and its modern status as a horror classic...
It's the summer of 1982, and director John Carpenter is on the cusp of releasing his latest movie, The Thing. For the 34-year-old filmmaker, the release marks the end of a major undertaking: the culmination of months of shooting on freezing cold sets and snowy British Columbia locations, not to mention the execution of complex and time-consuming practical effects scenes.
See related Twin Peaks season 3 episode 7 review: There’s A Body All Right Twin Peaks season 3 episode 6 review: Don’t Die Twin Peaks season 3 episode 5 review: Case Files
Carpenter was understandably proud of the results: after such independent hits as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and Escape From New York, this was his first studio movie (for Universal) and also his most expensive to date,...
- 1/17/2014
- Den of Geek
Feature Ryan Lambie 20 Jan 2014 - 06:27
John Carpenter's The Thing was panned by reviewers in 1982. We take a look at the angry critical reaction and the later reassessment...
It's the summer of 1982, and director John Carpenter is on the cusp of releasing his latest movie, The Thing. For the 34-year-old filmmaker, the release marks the end of a major undertaking: the culmination of months of shooting on freezing cold sets and snowy British Columbia locations, not to mention the execution of complex and time-consuming practical effects scenes.
Carpenter was understandably proud of the results: after the independent such independent hits as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and Escape From New York, this was his first studio movie (for Universal) and also his most expensive to date, with a budget of around $15m. And while The Thing had appeared in cinemas before (in the guise of Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby's 1951 sci-fi shocker,...
John Carpenter's The Thing was panned by reviewers in 1982. We take a look at the angry critical reaction and the later reassessment...
It's the summer of 1982, and director John Carpenter is on the cusp of releasing his latest movie, The Thing. For the 34-year-old filmmaker, the release marks the end of a major undertaking: the culmination of months of shooting on freezing cold sets and snowy British Columbia locations, not to mention the execution of complex and time-consuming practical effects scenes.
Carpenter was understandably proud of the results: after the independent such independent hits as Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween and Escape From New York, this was his first studio movie (for Universal) and also his most expensive to date, with a budget of around $15m. And while The Thing had appeared in cinemas before (in the guise of Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby's 1951 sci-fi shocker,...
- 1/17/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Air Force screens on October 19 at the Museum of the Moving Image's retrospective, The Complete Howard Hawks. For more of Dan Sallitt's writing on Hawks, go here and here.
Air Force occupies an unusual place in Howard Hawks' filmography. As a war propaganda film, its subject matter is necessarily tendentious, with an overt message that is not only coercive but also repetitive. Hawks, whose control over his choice of material was quite unusual by Hollywood standards of the time, shows no sign of resisting the project's wartime agenda, and willingly accepts the character stereotyping and up-front ideology that comes with the package: the eager young recruits, the cynic to be converted, the proud parent set up for loss. In addition, Hawks' streak of dark humor combines with the project's built-in tone of righteous vengeance against the Japanese in a way that can strike peacetime audiences as callous.
On the other hand,...
Air Force occupies an unusual place in Howard Hawks' filmography. As a war propaganda film, its subject matter is necessarily tendentious, with an overt message that is not only coercive but also repetitive. Hawks, whose control over his choice of material was quite unusual by Hollywood standards of the time, shows no sign of resisting the project's wartime agenda, and willingly accepts the character stereotyping and up-front ideology that comes with the package: the eager young recruits, the cynic to be converted, the proud parent set up for loss. In addition, Hawks' streak of dark humor combines with the project's built-in tone of righteous vengeance against the Japanese in a way that can strike peacetime audiences as callous.
On the other hand,...
- 10/14/2013
- by Dan Sallitt
- MUBI
You can’t beat a great movie villain, and as so many terrible movies have learned, you can’t really have a great film without one – they should challenge the hero and, when the good guy vanquishes them at the end of the movie, it will prove their worth.
In these 9 instances, we were left with 9 horrendous movie villains who, in future installments, remakes and reboots, were successfully re-imagined in far more terrifying and effective forms.
Whether suffering by straying from the source material or simply having been beleaguered by dated effects, these 9 villains were brought surging back to life in their later iteration, bolstered by state-of-the-art visuals and a greater reverence for the source material.
Without these 9 movies daring to take these limp villains and elevate them to the next level, they would still be a cinematic laughing stock. Here are 9 retarded movie villains who were successfully re-imagined…
9. The Thing...
In these 9 instances, we were left with 9 horrendous movie villains who, in future installments, remakes and reboots, were successfully re-imagined in far more terrifying and effective forms.
Whether suffering by straying from the source material or simply having been beleaguered by dated effects, these 9 villains were brought surging back to life in their later iteration, bolstered by state-of-the-art visuals and a greater reverence for the source material.
Without these 9 movies daring to take these limp villains and elevate them to the next level, they would still be a cinematic laughing stock. Here are 9 retarded movie villains who were successfully re-imagined…
9. The Thing...
- 7/20/2013
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
Mick Garris' House of Horrors kicks off this week at Trailers from Hell, with director Garris introducing Tobe Hooper's 1982 film, "Poltergeist.""They're he-eere!" Hooper's fifth feature was his biggest to date, produced on a grand scale by co-writer Steven Spielberg the same year he made Et. Its critical and boxoffice success was undercut by persistent rumors that Spielberg had co-opted the film much like Howard Hawks did with Christian Nyby (on The Thing) and shadow-directed, a claim both filmmakers denied. The untimely deaths of several people connected with the production gave rise in some quarters to the claim the franchise was somehow "cursed". Followed by Poltergest II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III, neither of which involved Spielberg or Hooper.
- 6/17/2013
- by Trailers From Hell
- Thompson on Hollywood
Above: 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (Michael Curtiz, USA, 1932).
When I wrote about the posters of 1933 last week this was one poster I deliberately held back (though 20,000 Years in Sing Sing was released on Christmas Eve 1932, it is included in Film Forum’s retrospective). The early 1930s, no less than today—though the execution was a lot more interesting— was an era of big floating heads in movie posters. While 1920s movies had the occasional floating head poster for their biggest stars, artists and studios still favored the look of early silent posters with their head-to-toe portraits and snippets of narrative. Though Norma Desmond said famously of the silent era “We didn’t need dialogue...we had faces!” it was ironically with the coming of sound that faces started to dominate movie posters and, until Saul Bass, minimalism in American movie posters was almost non-existent.
All that makes the 20,000 Years poster,...
When I wrote about the posters of 1933 last week this was one poster I deliberately held back (though 20,000 Years in Sing Sing was released on Christmas Eve 1932, it is included in Film Forum’s retrospective). The early 1930s, no less than today—though the execution was a lot more interesting— was an era of big floating heads in movie posters. While 1920s movies had the occasional floating head poster for their biggest stars, artists and studios still favored the look of early silent posters with their head-to-toe portraits and snippets of narrative. Though Norma Desmond said famously of the silent era “We didn’t need dialogue...we had faces!” it was ironically with the coming of sound that faces started to dominate movie posters and, until Saul Bass, minimalism in American movie posters was almost non-existent.
All that makes the 20,000 Years poster,...
- 2/22/2013
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
We're halfway through our daily countdowns, with part 15 out of 30 in our listing of the 300 Greatest Films Ever Made. These are numbers 160-151.
160) The Thing From Another World (1951) Christian Nyby USA
159) The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1919) Robert Wiene Germany Silent
158) Cabaret (1972) Bob Fosse USA
157) Pinocchio (1940) Walt Disney USA Animated
156) Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) Frank Capra USA
155) The King’S Speech (2010) Tom Hooper USA/British
154) The Big Sleep (1946) Howard Hawks USA
153) The Leopard (1963) Lucianno Visconti France/ Italy
152) Beckett (1964) Peter Glenville USA
151) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Orsen Wells USA
Numbers 150-141 coming up next.
film cultureClassicslist300...
160) The Thing From Another World (1951) Christian Nyby USA
159) The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (1919) Robert Wiene Germany Silent
158) Cabaret (1972) Bob Fosse USA
157) Pinocchio (1940) Walt Disney USA Animated
156) Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) Frank Capra USA
155) The King’S Speech (2010) Tom Hooper USA/British
154) The Big Sleep (1946) Howard Hawks USA
153) The Leopard (1963) Lucianno Visconti France/ Italy
152) Beckett (1964) Peter Glenville USA
151) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Orsen Wells USA
Numbers 150-141 coming up next.
film cultureClassicslist300...
- 1/16/2013
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Rob Young)
- Cinelinx
Whether you measure your movies by box office, reviews, or popular appeal, Sony’s $125 million remake of the 1990 Ah-nuld Schwarzenegger interplanetary action fest Total Recall looks like a strike-out. The movie opened with a lethal softness; a $25.7 million first weekend meaning Recall won’t even come close to making back its budget during its domestic theatrical run. In fact, despite 22 years of ticket price increases, it’s doubtful the movie will even match the original’s $119.3 million haul.
And for those of you who think maybe the problem is Total Recall was outgunned opening while The Dark Knight Rises was still sucking up box office coin, entertain, at least for a moment if you will, the possibility the movie just plain sucks. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ canvas, almost 70% of reviewers – and over three-quarters of “top critics” – gave Total Recall a thumbs-down. Those who went to see the movie didn’t...
And for those of you who think maybe the problem is Total Recall was outgunned opening while The Dark Knight Rises was still sucking up box office coin, entertain, at least for a moment if you will, the possibility the movie just plain sucks. According to Rotten Tomatoes’ canvas, almost 70% of reviewers – and over three-quarters of “top critics” – gave Total Recall a thumbs-down. Those who went to see the movie didn’t...
- 8/15/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
If the Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the west coast of Italy last night, looks familiar to you, it's likely that it's because it's the cruise ship that's the setting for the first movement of Jean-Luc Godard's Film socialisme ("It's less a tourist cruise than an international summit of bastards," wrote David Phelps in June). The accident, which cost the lives of three people and injured many more (and around 40 of the 4000 passengers are still missing), occurred on the same evening that a rogue vigilante group going by the name of Standard and Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine eurozone countries.
Which brings us to our first set of DVDs. A Forum topic on Artificial Eye's release of its Theo Angelopoulos Collection has been rumbling along for half a year now and, with the third volume coming out next month, David Jenkins has a good long...
Which brings us to our first set of DVDs. A Forum topic on Artificial Eye's release of its Theo Angelopoulos Collection has been rumbling along for half a year now and, with the third volume coming out next month, David Jenkins has a good long...
- 1/14/2012
- MUBI
Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: Jan. 31, 2012
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.98
Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ulrich Thomsen check out The Thing.
The science fiction-horror movie The Thing, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., is a prelude to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name.
In other words, the 2011 Thing is a prequel serving as a sequel to a remake of a movie that was originally made in 1951 and directed by Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks. Hmmm.
The movie is set at a remote Antarctic research station where paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and pilot Carter (Joel Edgerton, Warrior) discover a mysterious organism buried in the ice. It’s not too long before a simple experiment frees the strange creature, seemingly an extraterrestrial lifeform, from its frozen prison. The shapeshifting alien quickly unleashes a flood of chaos and paranoia upon the camp,...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.98
Studio: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ulrich Thomsen check out The Thing.
The science fiction-horror movie The Thing, directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., is a prelude to John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same name.
In other words, the 2011 Thing is a prequel serving as a sequel to a remake of a movie that was originally made in 1951 and directed by Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks. Hmmm.
The movie is set at a remote Antarctic research station where paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and pilot Carter (Joel Edgerton, Warrior) discover a mysterious organism buried in the ice. It’s not too long before a simple experiment frees the strange creature, seemingly an extraterrestrial lifeform, from its frozen prison. The shapeshifting alien quickly unleashes a flood of chaos and paranoia upon the camp,...
- 12/1/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
“Reboot”, “reimagining” and “reinvisioning” are fashionable terms bandied around by studios to try and explain the presence of usually unnecessary quasi-remakes of classic films. Almost always shot through without due respect for the original work, keen only to exploit a new generation’s lack of awareness about cinema history and their appetite for the latest in quality visual effects, they are among the crassest calculations in Hollywood’s sizeable repertoire. A more disturbing trend may be emerging, then, with The Thing, a film so unimaginative that it not only mimics the title of its 1982 John Carpenter predecessor, but shamelessly remakes that film while disguising itself tenuously at best as a prequel.
The opening of Carpenter’s The Thing featured a Norwegian gunman trying to kill a fleeing dog, before the American crew of the Antarctic base discovered some disturbing and unusual remains, as well as the...
“Reboot”, “reimagining” and “reinvisioning” are fashionable terms bandied around by studios to try and explain the presence of usually unnecessary quasi-remakes of classic films. Almost always shot through without due respect for the original work, keen only to exploit a new generation’s lack of awareness about cinema history and their appetite for the latest in quality visual effects, they are among the crassest calculations in Hollywood’s sizeable repertoire. A more disturbing trend may be emerging, then, with The Thing, a film so unimaginative that it not only mimics the title of its 1982 John Carpenter predecessor, but shamelessly remakes that film while disguising itself tenuously at best as a prequel.
The opening of Carpenter’s The Thing featured a Norwegian gunman trying to kill a fleeing dog, before the American crew of the Antarctic base discovered some disturbing and unusual remains, as well as the...
- 11/30/2011
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
★☆☆☆☆ Claiming to have taken his cues from both Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World (1951) and John Carpenter's seminal 1982 re-imagining, debut director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. seemingly had high aspirations for his 2011 'prequel' if he thought he could bring anything new to a story that had already been satisfyingly covered by two previous efforts. Not only has Van Heijningen Jr. failed in this regard, but has also produced one of the most stultifyingly pointless, insipid horrors of the year.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 11/29/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
Some have argued that The Thing, the prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic, should never have been made. Here’s Ryan’s defence of a decent sci-fi chiller…
“The Thing has no subtext, no humour, no genre invention,” reads one review. “The Thing is so single-mindedly determined to keep you awake that it almost puts you to sleep,” moans another. “A foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other,” yet another critic seeths.
These quotes aren’t, as you may have imagined, plucked from the reviews of Matthijs van Heijningen Jr’s The Thing, out on Friday, but John Carpenter’s 1982 movie.
Now rightly regarded as a classic, it’s easy to forget just how venomous the critical response was towards Carpenter’s film – worse still, The Thing wasn’t a big hit with audiences,...
“The Thing has no subtext, no humour, no genre invention,” reads one review. “The Thing is so single-mindedly determined to keep you awake that it almost puts you to sleep,” moans another. “A foolish, depressing, overproduced movie that mixes horror with science fiction to make something that is fun as neither one thing or the other,” yet another critic seeths.
These quotes aren’t, as you may have imagined, plucked from the reviews of Matthijs van Heijningen Jr’s The Thing, out on Friday, but John Carpenter’s 1982 movie.
Now rightly regarded as a classic, it’s easy to forget just how venomous the critical response was towards Carpenter’s film – worse still, The Thing wasn’t a big hit with audiences,...
- 11/28/2011
- Den of Geek
With a third version of The Thing out in cinemas on Friday, Terence examines why a story originally written in 1938 is so enduringly popular…
Note: this article discusses the 1951 and 1982 Thing movies in depth, but we have been careful not to mention specific details about the new film.
There is now a third movie in what could now be referred to as The Thing franchise. Like the titular shape-shifting creature, the story and basic premise of The Thing has mutated and adapted to the themes, issues and even fears of the various times in which the films were made.
There has consistently been a new movie version of The Thing every 30 years or so since 1951. The original novella, Who Goes There?, written by legendary sci-fi writer John W Campbell Jr under the pseudonym Don A Stuart, was first published in the 1930s. If you take into account the underlying archetypal themes of the story,...
Note: this article discusses the 1951 and 1982 Thing movies in depth, but we have been careful not to mention specific details about the new film.
There is now a third movie in what could now be referred to as The Thing franchise. Like the titular shape-shifting creature, the story and basic premise of The Thing has mutated and adapted to the themes, issues and even fears of the various times in which the films were made.
There has consistently been a new movie version of The Thing every 30 years or so since 1951. The original novella, Who Goes There?, written by legendary sci-fi writer John W Campbell Jr under the pseudonym Don A Stuart, was first published in the 1930s. If you take into account the underlying archetypal themes of the story,...
- 11/28/2011
- Den of Geek
The evolution of the Thing movies tells us a lot about recent American history, says John Patterson. They're also way more fun than they should be
Funny how Things change as time passes by. We're now on our third go-around with The Thing, originally unleashed upon the world in the form of The Thing From Another World, produced by Howard Hawks in 1951 and bearing many of his stylistic tics, but actually directed by his protege Christian Nyby. Everyone remembers the shock moment when a door is opened and the malevolent alien (James Arness) looms there before being torched with flame-throwers. But the movie demonstrates a Hawksian faith in the ability of intelligent men to work together to defeat an enemy. Intelligent men in this instance means the military, and not the scientists who wish to study the intergalactic interloper. Science be damned: the Thing must die! And although flame-throwers do the killing,...
Funny how Things change as time passes by. We're now on our third go-around with The Thing, originally unleashed upon the world in the form of The Thing From Another World, produced by Howard Hawks in 1951 and bearing many of his stylistic tics, but actually directed by his protege Christian Nyby. Everyone remembers the shock moment when a door is opened and the malevolent alien (James Arness) looms there before being torched with flame-throwers. But the movie demonstrates a Hawksian faith in the ability of intelligent men to work together to defeat an enemy. Intelligent men in this instance means the military, and not the scientists who wish to study the intergalactic interloper. Science be damned: the Thing must die! And although flame-throwers do the killing,...
- 11/26/2011
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Real Steel and Footloose are at a near-dead-heat for first-place at the North American box office this weekend (Oct. 14-16), according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo. The gap between the two movies is about $200,000: Real Steel with $16.3 million and Footloose with $16.1 million. Their positions may be reversed when weekend box-office actuals are released tomorrow. [Right: Kenny Wormald in Footloose.] Having fallen short of the $20 million some had been expecting, Footloose wasn't the only box-office disappointment this weekend. The Thing earned only $8.7 million at no. 3, when most pundits had been expecting earnings between $10-15 million. Worst of all was The Big Year, which brought in even less money than the predicted $4 million after a dismal Friday bow: despite the presence of Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, the Daniel Frankel-directed comedy drew an estimated $3.32m at no. 9 ($1,547 average at 2,150 sites), making it one of the worst wide-release openings in recent memory and,...
- 10/16/2011
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Kenny Wormald, Footloose If early, rough estimates are correct, the Footloose remake will not reach the $20 million mark as some had been expecting. As per The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.com, Footloose collected approximately $5.7 million on its Friday debut, which would translate into a $17 million weekend. Directed by Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan's Craig Brewer, the Paramount release stars relative newcomer Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, and Andie McDowell. Kevin Bacon starred in the 1984 original (itself a derivative effort similar to countless movies of the previous three decades). Hugh Jackman's Real Steel is expected to land in second place with $15m-$15.5m for the weekend, following grosses of $4.5m on Friday. At no. 3, the horror/thriller The Thing — another remake of an '80s flick (itself a remake of a 1951 B movie) — will likely cume at $10m-$11m after only $3.8m on Friday. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr....
- 10/15/2011
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Christian Nyby, director of The Thing From Another World, is at the helm for a Western that finds a modern-day TV gunslinger transported magically to the Old West, facing down the real Jesse James. The Twilight Zone, Episode #85: "Showdown with Rance McGrew" (original air date February 2, 1962) The Plot: It's a classic Western set-up: an isolated, one-street small town in the Old West, with two cowboys waiting for the Marshal to ride into town. And ride he does ... only it's in a big honking' convertible, and the brave, indomitable Marshal is, in reality, an actor named Rance McGrew (Larry Blyden). Rance complains about everything, including "these miserable emotional scenes." He's clumsy and cowardly; whenever the physical action heats up just a touch,...
- 10/14/2011
- Screen Anarchy
With The Thing and Prometheus on the way, Ryan looks at the lasting influence of writer Hp Lovecraft on modern cinema…
There are two sad ironies surrounding the work of author Hp Lovecraft. The first is that, although now widely read and enormously popular, Lovecraft’s stories were never published in book form during his lifetime, and appeared instead in the pages of pulp magazines such as Astounding and Weird Tales. It was only in the decades after his death in 1937 that his stature as a writer of the macabre began to match that of his forebear, Edgar Allan Poe.
The second irony: although enormously influential on filmmakers and other writers, Lovecraft’s tales have only occasionally been adapted into movies themselves.
As we heard earlier this year, Guillermo del Toro’s plans to direct a big-budget rendering of Lovecraft’s 30s novella, At The Mountains Of Madness, were sadly put on hold,...
There are two sad ironies surrounding the work of author Hp Lovecraft. The first is that, although now widely read and enormously popular, Lovecraft’s stories were never published in book form during his lifetime, and appeared instead in the pages of pulp magazines such as Astounding and Weird Tales. It was only in the decades after his death in 1937 that his stature as a writer of the macabre began to match that of his forebear, Edgar Allan Poe.
The second irony: although enormously influential on filmmakers and other writers, Lovecraft’s tales have only occasionally been adapted into movies themselves.
As we heard earlier this year, Guillermo del Toro’s plans to direct a big-budget rendering of Lovecraft’s 30s novella, At The Mountains Of Madness, were sadly put on hold,...
- 10/14/2011
- Den of Geek
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