The Phantom of the Opera is sometimes considered one of the Universal Monsters. I get it. From the 1925 version that gave us one of the most infamous unmasking sequences ever courtesy of the great Lon Chaney Sr., through the Hammer iteration with Herbert Lom, all the way up to the 2004 film that gave a lot of us our intro to Gerard Butler. Speaking of that movie, its inspiration and reason for its existence was the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical that premiered in October of 1986 and has had runs all the way through as recently as 2021. 1989 was the beginning of its U.S. tour and we got not one but Two Phantom movies that year. Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge is cheesy and may just be more well known due to our friend Joe Bob featuring it on the Last Drive In recently. Here in the JoBlo Horror kitchen today...
- 4/16/2024
- by Andrew Hatfield
- JoBlo.com
Only a ninja can stop a ninja. And only cool boutique companies like Kino Lorber can take a movie like Revenge of the Ninja and give it its own special edition Blu-ray release. Recently, it was reported that director Sam Firstenberg is on a journey to restore his martial arts film American Samurai, but one of the director’s more popular works is now getting a special physical media release with a bevy of special features. We’ve touched on the “Ninja Trilogy” from Cannon Films on our YouTube channel series, Reel Action, and Revenge of the Ninja is one of the films from the 80s that took the ninja craze and elevated it for the masses. Blu-ray.com reports that Kino Lorber is set to have the disc hit the market on May 21.
The plot description reads, “The Ninja are back! Brandishing swords and fists, leaping and kicking, wielding blow darts and explosives,...
The plot description reads, “The Ninja are back! Brandishing swords and fists, leaping and kicking, wielding blow darts and explosives,...
- 3/21/2024
- by EJ Tangonan
- JoBlo.com
While Bloodsport, the 1988 martial arts tournament movie, is widely considered by fans to be Jean-Claude Van Damme’s best film, it almost never saw the light of day. Indeed, according to Nick De Semlyen’s book, “Last Action Heroes” (buy it here), the film was deemed unreleasable by Cannon Pictures head Menachem Golan. The film sat on the shelf for fourteen months and was considered so bad that Golan intended to release the movie direct-to-video.
Things got so heated that Golan refused to go ahead with a proposed sequel to Lone Wolf McQuade, which would have featured Van Damme teaming up with Chuck Norris (who was an early mentor to Jcvd). He wanted Michael Dudikoff instead.
According to the book, Van Damme, who had returned to his old job as a limo driver when the movie wrapped, convinced the studio to allow him to re-edit the film with Towering Inferno editor Carl Press.
Things got so heated that Golan refused to go ahead with a proposed sequel to Lone Wolf McQuade, which would have featured Van Damme teaming up with Chuck Norris (who was an early mentor to Jcvd). He wanted Michael Dudikoff instead.
According to the book, Van Damme, who had returned to his old job as a limo driver when the movie wrapped, convinced the studio to allow him to re-edit the film with Towering Inferno editor Carl Press.
- 3/13/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Masters of the Universe was one of three big-budget 1987 movies that sunk Cannon Pictures (the other two were Over the Top and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace). It was supposed to be their version of Star Wars, boasting a significant budget (for Cannon) and high production values. It was based on the toys and cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Mattel, but the film had a very rocky road to the big screen. While it’s now considered a camp classic, thanks mainly to the involvement of Dolph Lundgren, at the time, many thought that his performance helped tank the movie. He almost ended up being dubbed in the final cut.
Indeed, in the documentary Toy Masters (excerpted by THR), Mattel executives found Lundgren’s accent unintelligible, and director Gary Goddard wanted him dubbed. “We actually did bring in a few actors to loop test,...
Indeed, in the documentary Toy Masters (excerpted by THR), Mattel executives found Lundgren’s accent unintelligible, and director Gary Goddard wanted him dubbed. “We actually did bring in a few actors to loop test,...
- 11/19/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Josephine Chaplin, actor and daughter of Charlie Chaplin, has died. She was 74.
Chaplin died on July 13 in Paris, according to an announcement from her family.
During her career, she starred in a number of foreign films. In 1972 she was featured in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s award-winning film “The Canterbury Tales” and Richard Balducci’s “L’odeur des fauves.” The same year, she also starred alongside Laurence Harvey in Menahem Golan’s 1972 drama “Escape to the Sun” about a group of people attempting to flee the Soviet Union.
In 1974, Chaplin starred as Martine Leduc in Georges Franju’s European crime-thriller “Shadowman” alongside Gayle Hunnicutt and Jacques Champreux. The film follows the Man Without a Face, a criminal attempting to find the elusive treasures of the Knights Templar. Chaplin then reprised her role as Martine in the subsequent French mini-series “The Man Without a Face,” an extended eight-episode version of Franju’s film.
Chaplin died on July 13 in Paris, according to an announcement from her family.
During her career, she starred in a number of foreign films. In 1972 she was featured in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s award-winning film “The Canterbury Tales” and Richard Balducci’s “L’odeur des fauves.” The same year, she also starred alongside Laurence Harvey in Menahem Golan’s 1972 drama “Escape to the Sun” about a group of people attempting to flee the Soviet Union.
In 1974, Chaplin starred as Martine Leduc in Georges Franju’s European crime-thriller “Shadowman” alongside Gayle Hunnicutt and Jacques Champreux. The film follows the Man Without a Face, a criminal attempting to find the elusive treasures of the Knights Templar. Chaplin then reprised her role as Martine in the subsequent French mini-series “The Man Without a Face,” an extended eight-episode version of Franju’s film.
- 7/21/2023
- by Sophia Scorziello
- Variety Film + TV
Josephine Chaplin, whose father was screen legend Charlie Chaplin, died July 13 in Paris, her family announced on Thursday. She was 74. A cause of death was not immediately given.
As a child, she appeared with her father in his 1952 film “Limelight” and 1967’s “A Countess From Hong Kong.” She went on to star in the 1972 films “L’odeur des fauves” with future partner Maurice Ronet, Menahem Golan’s “Escape to the Sun” opposite Laurence Harvey; and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s X-rated “The Canterbury Tales” as May, the adulterous wife of the elderly Sir January (Hugh Griffith).
Her later films include 1984’s “The Bay Boy” with Kiefer Sutherland and Liv Ullman. In 1998, she played Hadley Richardson to Stacy Keach’s Ernest Hemingway in the miniseries “Hemingway.”
For years she managed the Chaplin office in Paris and sponsored a statue of her father by sculptor Alan Ryan Hall as his Little Tramp character in Waterville,...
As a child, she appeared with her father in his 1952 film “Limelight” and 1967’s “A Countess From Hong Kong.” She went on to star in the 1972 films “L’odeur des fauves” with future partner Maurice Ronet, Menahem Golan’s “Escape to the Sun” opposite Laurence Harvey; and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s X-rated “The Canterbury Tales” as May, the adulterous wife of the elderly Sir January (Hugh Griffith).
Her later films include 1984’s “The Bay Boy” with Kiefer Sutherland and Liv Ullman. In 1998, she played Hadley Richardson to Stacy Keach’s Ernest Hemingway in the miniseries “Hemingway.”
For years she managed the Chaplin office in Paris and sponsored a statue of her father by sculptor Alan Ryan Hall as his Little Tramp character in Waterville,...
- 7/21/2023
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Josephine Chaplin, an actress and the sixth of 11 children fathered by screen legend Charlie Chaplin, died July 13 in Paris, her family announced. She was 74.
Chaplin starred with Laurence Harvey in Menahem Golan’s Escape to the Sun (1972), about a group of people attempting to leave the Soviet Union to escape antisemitism and political repression.
She also appeared with Vittorio De Sica and Maurice Ronet in L’odeur des fauves (1972), with Liv Ullmann and Kiefer Sutherland in Daniel Petrie’s The Bay Boy (1984), and with Klaus Kinski in a German-language version of Jack the Ripper (1976).
In 1988, she portrayed Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernest Hemingway, in a miniseries that starred Stacy Keach.
Josephine Chaplin with Laurence Harvey in 1972’s Escape to the Sun.
Josephine Hannah Chaplin was born in Santa Monica on March 28, 1949, the third of eight children of Charlie Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, the British actress...
Chaplin starred with Laurence Harvey in Menahem Golan’s Escape to the Sun (1972), about a group of people attempting to leave the Soviet Union to escape antisemitism and political repression.
She also appeared with Vittorio De Sica and Maurice Ronet in L’odeur des fauves (1972), with Liv Ullmann and Kiefer Sutherland in Daniel Petrie’s The Bay Boy (1984), and with Klaus Kinski in a German-language version of Jack the Ripper (1976).
In 1988, she portrayed Hadley Richardson, the first wife of Ernest Hemingway, in a miniseries that starred Stacy Keach.
Josephine Chaplin with Laurence Harvey in 1972’s Escape to the Sun.
Josephine Hannah Chaplin was born in Santa Monica on March 28, 1949, the third of eight children of Charlie Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, the British actress...
- 7/21/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
No book could ever fully capture the beautiful, ugly, inexplicable madness that is the Cannes Film Festival — but that hasn’t stopped a handful from trying. Here are THR’s executive editor (awards) and resident film-book bibliophile’s picks for the five best.
1. Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook, by Roger Ebert (1987)
This thin travelogue by the Chicago Sun-Times’ longtime film critic, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and died in 2013, chronicles his experience covering the fest’s 1987 edition, having previously attended many times before. It breezily profiles true festival characters like the publicist Renee Furst, the schlock showman Menahem Golan and the gambler Billy “Silver Dollar” Baxter — all now gone — and charmingly illustrates how much some things have changed (journalists no longer file reports by telex when they can get around to it, but rather post multiple online dispatches daily) and others have not (the jetlag and lack of sleep,...
1. Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook, by Roger Ebert (1987)
This thin travelogue by the Chicago Sun-Times’ longtime film critic, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and died in 2013, chronicles his experience covering the fest’s 1987 edition, having previously attended many times before. It breezily profiles true festival characters like the publicist Renee Furst, the schlock showman Menahem Golan and the gambler Billy “Silver Dollar” Baxter — all now gone — and charmingly illustrates how much some things have changed (journalists no longer file reports by telex when they can get around to it, but rather post multiple online dispatches daily) and others have not (the jetlag and lack of sleep,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Prominent Paris-based producer Marianne Slot, who has been instrumental to bringing works by auteurs such as Lars Von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso to the big screen, is being honored by the Locarno Film Festival.
Slot will receive the Swiss festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico prize for a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. She will be bestowed with the award on Aug. 5 with a tribute that will include a screening of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s environmental-themed black comedy “Woman At War,” followed by an on-stage conversation on Aug. 6.
Born in Denmark, Slot set up the Paris-based production company Slot Machine in 1993. She has been Von Trier’s French producer since 1995, starting with “Breaking the Waves.” Over the years Slot has shepherded works by a slew of indie auteurs at various stages of their careers. Besides Martel and Erlingsson these include Bent Hamer, Małgorzata Szumowska, Paz Encina,...
Slot will receive the Swiss festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico prize for a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. She will be bestowed with the award on Aug. 5 with a tribute that will include a screening of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s environmental-themed black comedy “Woman At War,” followed by an on-stage conversation on Aug. 6.
Born in Denmark, Slot set up the Paris-based production company Slot Machine in 1993. She has been Von Trier’s French producer since 1995, starting with “Breaking the Waves.” Over the years Slot has shepherded works by a slew of indie auteurs at various stages of their careers. Besides Martel and Erlingsson these include Bent Hamer, Małgorzata Szumowska, Paz Encina,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
If you were a movie fan in the 1980s, then you have at least a little soft spot for the Cannon Group. Walk through any video store, and you’d be greeted by covers featuring oiled up men, steely ninjas, and so many guns. If you wanted low-quality, instantly satisfying trash, you looked for the Cannon logo.
Although it had been around since the late 1960s, Cannon became Cannon in 1979, when Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus took over, ushering in a golden age of low-budget, deeply satisfying shlock. Under the cousins’ reign, the Cannon Group pumped out movie after movie, hitting its peak in 1984, when it put out 42 features in one year. So dominant was Cannon that they very nearly produced a Spider-Man movie directed by none other than James Cameron. However, that same hubris drove the cousins to overreach, and after the flop of their big-budget play...
Although it had been around since the late 1960s, Cannon became Cannon in 1979, when Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus took over, ushering in a golden age of low-budget, deeply satisfying shlock. Under the cousins’ reign, the Cannon Group pumped out movie after movie, hitting its peak in 1984, when it put out 42 features in one year. So dominant was Cannon that they very nearly produced a Spider-Man movie directed by none other than James Cameron. However, that same hubris drove the cousins to overreach, and after the flop of their big-budget play...
- 3/17/2023
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
Albert Pyun, the prolific director of low-budget B-movies ranging from “The Sword and the Sorcerer” to “Cyborg” to a 1992 direct-to-video version of “Captain America,” died Saturday at age 69, according to a Facebook book from his wife and producer, Cynthia Curran.
“I sat with him for his last breath that sounded like he was releasing the weight of the world,” Curran wrote. Several years ago, Pyun was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and dementia.
Born in Hawaii, Pyun got his start in film after meeting Japanese star Toshiro Mifune, who brought him to Japan to intern on a TV series he was doing. After working as a commercial film editor for several years, then moved to Los Angeles and took his shot on the 1982 low-budget fantasy film called “The Sword and the Sorcerer.”
The film became a low-budget smash, grossing 39 million and earning Richard Lynch a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
“I sat with him for his last breath that sounded like he was releasing the weight of the world,” Curran wrote. Several years ago, Pyun was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and dementia.
Born in Hawaii, Pyun got his start in film after meeting Japanese star Toshiro Mifune, who brought him to Japan to intern on a TV series he was doing. After working as a commercial film editor for several years, then moved to Los Angeles and took his shot on the 1982 low-budget fantasy film called “The Sword and the Sorcerer.”
The film became a low-budget smash, grossing 39 million and earning Richard Lynch a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
- 11/27/2022
- by Thom Geier
- The Wrap
Known for his high-flying kicks and flexibility, Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is trained in kickboxing, taekwondo, and kung fu. As a teen, he won the European Professional Karate Association's middleweight championship. Hoping to use his unique skillset to become the next big thing in Hollywood, he moved to Los Angeles in the '80s. Today, Van Damme is regarded as one of the best action stars of all time.
His impact extends beyond the world of cinema. He inspired the ring name for one of my favorite professional wrestlers, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam, whose look and high-flying maneuvers were identical to those of the "Timecop" star, so much so that I actually thought they were brothers. In a 2021 episode of "WWE Icons," the wrestler explained the effect the actor had on his career:
"When I'm down in Florida in '91 and '92, [wrestler-turned-promoter] Ron Slinker is running the [professional wrestling studio] Tampa Sportatorium.
His impact extends beyond the world of cinema. He inspired the ring name for one of my favorite professional wrestlers, WWE Hall of Famer Rob Van Dam, whose look and high-flying maneuvers were identical to those of the "Timecop" star, so much so that I actually thought they were brothers. In a 2021 episode of "WWE Icons," the wrestler explained the effect the actor had on his career:
"When I'm down in Florida in '91 and '92, [wrestler-turned-promoter] Ron Slinker is running the [professional wrestling studio] Tampa Sportatorium.
- 10/1/2022
- by J. Gabriel Ware
- Slash Film
The US producer Blum will attend the event of Premio Raimondo Rezzonico in Piazza Grande on 6 August.
Jason Blum will be presented with the Locarno Film Festival’s Premio Raimondo Rezzonico Best Independent Producer award at its upcoming 75th edition, running from August 3-13 in Switzerland.
The US producer and Blumhouse Productions founder, who has worked on over 75 productions, is best known for his long-running horror franchises Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Purge.
His most notable credits include Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning Whiplash, Jordan Peele’s Get Out , M. Night Shyamalan’s Spilt and Spike’s Lee BlacKkKlansman which won...
Jason Blum will be presented with the Locarno Film Festival’s Premio Raimondo Rezzonico Best Independent Producer award at its upcoming 75th edition, running from August 3-13 in Switzerland.
The US producer and Blumhouse Productions founder, who has worked on over 75 productions, is best known for his long-running horror franchises Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Purge.
His most notable credits include Damien Chazelle’s Oscar-winning Whiplash, Jordan Peele’s Get Out , M. Night Shyamalan’s Spilt and Spike’s Lee BlacKkKlansman which won...
- 6/14/2022
- by Melissa Kasule
- ScreenDaily
As the Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 75th anniversary, the concurrent Marché marches into its 63rd year. The wilder, oft-times disreputable sister of the more sedate, ergo, more esteemed, official festival, there’s no shortage of tales when it comes to the Cannes Market.
There’s no better place to start than Cannon’s “go-go” boys: Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Cannon flew 18 staffers to the 1986 festival and took over the Martinez Hotel, encircling it with bodyguards. Cannon’s endless line of posters along the Croisette made the late critic Roger Ebert dub that year the “Cannon Film Festival.”
“Golan [was] one of the last free-wheeling dealmakers at an event where a lot of people would like to be capitalist buccaneers, but few have the courage or the capital,” wrote Ebert. “People still talk about the time Golan had lunch with Jean-Luc Godard at the Majestic Hotel and wrote out a contract on a table napkin,...
There’s no better place to start than Cannon’s “go-go” boys: Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Cannon flew 18 staffers to the 1986 festival and took over the Martinez Hotel, encircling it with bodyguards. Cannon’s endless line of posters along the Croisette made the late critic Roger Ebert dub that year the “Cannon Film Festival.”
“Golan [was] one of the last free-wheeling dealmakers at an event where a lot of people would like to be capitalist buccaneers, but few have the courage or the capital,” wrote Ebert. “People still talk about the time Golan had lunch with Jean-Luc Godard at the Majestic Hotel and wrote out a contract on a table napkin,...
- 5/10/2022
- by Angus Finney
- Variety Film + TV
“The Cannon Film Guide is a treasure trove of info for Golan/Globus fans. Even diehard Cannon scholars will learn from this tome.” – Paul Talbot, author of the Bronson’s Loose! books
The unbelievable story of the legendary 1980s B-movie studio continues in The Cannon Film Guide Volume II, which covers the company’s output from 1985 to 1987, their peak production years under maverick moguls Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. This highly-anticipated sequel to the original Cannon compendium takes an up-close look at sixty Cannon movies, from deep cuts to cult classics, including American Ninja, The Delta Force, Over the Top, Invasion USA, Masters of the Universe, Runaway Train, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, King Solomon’s Mines, Lifeforce, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and many more. Order the book Here
With hundreds of photos and more than forty interviews with Cannon directors, writers, and stars, this is an indispensable reference book for...
The unbelievable story of the legendary 1980s B-movie studio continues in The Cannon Film Guide Volume II, which covers the company’s output from 1985 to 1987, their peak production years under maverick moguls Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. This highly-anticipated sequel to the original Cannon compendium takes an up-close look at sixty Cannon movies, from deep cuts to cult classics, including American Ninja, The Delta Force, Over the Top, Invasion USA, Masters of the Universe, Runaway Train, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, King Solomon’s Mines, Lifeforce, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and many more. Order the book Here
With hundreds of photos and more than forty interviews with Cannon directors, writers, and stars, this is an indispensable reference book for...
- 5/6/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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By Tim Greaves
In the early 1980s, Israeli cousins and co-producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus – the men behind then-thriving outfit The Cannon Group – decided that they would like to add an old-fashioned style horror film to their burgeoning library of titles. They approached director Peter Walker, renowned for a slew of successful exploitation pictures throughout the 1970s, suggesting he create something for the likes of Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff, blissfully unaware the three actors were dead. Regardless, Walker took the baton and ran with it, the result being 1983’s rather splendid House of the Long Shadows.
Probably best remembered for assembling icons of horror cinema Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and John Carradine under one roof, House of the Long Shadows didn’t wow critics at the time and with hindsight it’s easy to see why. Times...
By Tim Greaves
In the early 1980s, Israeli cousins and co-producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus – the men behind then-thriving outfit The Cannon Group – decided that they would like to add an old-fashioned style horror film to their burgeoning library of titles. They approached director Peter Walker, renowned for a slew of successful exploitation pictures throughout the 1970s, suggesting he create something for the likes of Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff, blissfully unaware the three actors were dead. Regardless, Walker took the baton and ran with it, the result being 1983’s rather splendid House of the Long Shadows.
Probably best remembered for assembling icons of horror cinema Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and John Carradine under one roof, House of the Long Shadows didn’t wow critics at the time and with hindsight it’s easy to see why. Times...
- 4/9/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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By Fred Blosser
“Binge-watching” is a relatively recent addition to our vocabulary, thanks to 24/7 streaming TV channels, but the concept itself isn’t new. On summer weekends in the 1970s, drive-in theatres offered the same opportunity for immersing yourself in cheap, all-night entertainment. There, you’d binge not on multiple episodes of “Peacemaker” or “Walking Dead” but instead on their Disco-era equivalent: triple or quadruple features of B-Westerns, soft-core sex comedies starring ex-Playboy Centerfolds, Kung-fu imports, and populist vigilante dramas.
Back then, one film on the bill in scratchy, tinny celluloid might have been “God’s Gun,” starring Lee Van Cleef. In the 1976 Western, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, an outlaw gang led by Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) sweeps into town, demolishes the saloon owned by pretty Jenny (Sybil Danning), and kills a man at the poker table. Jenny is furious when...
By Fred Blosser
“Binge-watching” is a relatively recent addition to our vocabulary, thanks to 24/7 streaming TV channels, but the concept itself isn’t new. On summer weekends in the 1970s, drive-in theatres offered the same opportunity for immersing yourself in cheap, all-night entertainment. There, you’d binge not on multiple episodes of “Peacemaker” or “Walking Dead” but instead on their Disco-era equivalent: triple or quadruple features of B-Westerns, soft-core sex comedies starring ex-Playboy Centerfolds, Kung-fu imports, and populist vigilante dramas.
Back then, one film on the bill in scratchy, tinny celluloid might have been “God’s Gun,” starring Lee Van Cleef. In the 1976 Western, now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber, an outlaw gang led by Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) sweeps into town, demolishes the saloon owned by pretty Jenny (Sybil Danning), and kills a man at the poker table. Jenny is furious when...
- 2/16/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
James Cameron’s Spider-Man. Kind of has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Well, unlike the fictional James Cameron’s Aquaman–of which only a few fleeting seconds exist in the universe of the long-defunct HBO series Entourage–a Spider-Man movie written and directed by the legendary filmmaker almost came to pass in the early 1990s.
But like so many superhero and comics-based projects during that time–a relative Dark Ages for the genre–Cameron’s vision for the webslinging high school student never swung into theaters.
Almost all of it was down to legal issues surrounding the rights to Spider-Man, which kept him off the screen for years. But a glance through the “scriptment” that Cameron worked up–a detailed treatment outlining the story, characters, and even passages of dialogue–indicates that Cameron’s conception of the character and his mythos was very faithful in its own way.
But like so many superhero and comics-based projects during that time–a relative Dark Ages for the genre–Cameron’s vision for the webslinging high school student never swung into theaters.
Almost all of it was down to legal issues surrounding the rights to Spider-Man, which kept him off the screen for years. But a glance through the “scriptment” that Cameron worked up–a detailed treatment outlining the story, characters, and even passages of dialogue–indicates that Cameron’s conception of the character and his mythos was very faithful in its own way.
- 12/10/2021
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
New Indie
Emma Seligman’s impressive “Shiva Baby” (Utopia) premieres on Blu-ray this month, and it’s a blisteringly funny, character-based comedy about a young Danielle (played by Rachel Sennott) whose rootless life when she attends a shiva with her parents (Fred Melamed and Polly Draper), only to encounter the boyfriend who’s financially supporting her, his wife — whom Danielle didn’t know existed — and Danielle’s ex-girlfriend. It’s a full buffet of misunderstandings, awkward encounters, and scene-stealing character actors, with a cast that also includes Jackie Hoffman, Dianna Agron, and Molly Gordon.
Also available: A jaded clickbait reporter has an unforgettable encounter in the indie comedy “15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot” (Kino Lorber); over-the-hill kung fu disciples rouse themselves from mid-life torpor to avenge the death of their master in the martial-arts comedy “The Paper Tigers” (Well Go USA Entertainment).
New Foreign
Eytan Fox’s cultural-generational...
Emma Seligman’s impressive “Shiva Baby” (Utopia) premieres on Blu-ray this month, and it’s a blisteringly funny, character-based comedy about a young Danielle (played by Rachel Sennott) whose rootless life when she attends a shiva with her parents (Fred Melamed and Polly Draper), only to encounter the boyfriend who’s financially supporting her, his wife — whom Danielle didn’t know existed — and Danielle’s ex-girlfriend. It’s a full buffet of misunderstandings, awkward encounters, and scene-stealing character actors, with a cast that also includes Jackie Hoffman, Dianna Agron, and Molly Gordon.
Also available: A jaded clickbait reporter has an unforgettable encounter in the indie comedy “15 Things You Didn’t Know About Bigfoot” (Kino Lorber); over-the-hill kung fu disciples rouse themselves from mid-life torpor to avenge the death of their master in the martial-arts comedy “The Paper Tigers” (Well Go USA Entertainment).
New Foreign
Eytan Fox’s cultural-generational...
- 7/8/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
It's hard to believe, but here on Reel Action, this is our first foray into the wild and wonderful world of The Cannon Group. Founded by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon were the kings of eighties B-movie action flicks, and by far their biggest star was the one and only Chuck Norris. In the early eighties, James Cameron and Sylvester Stallone's script for what would become Rambo: First Blood Part 2 was making the rounds, and Cannon did their version with two…...
- 5/26/2021
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Cannon Films is legendary as far as eighties action flicks go. An independent company headed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, the two became famous (or infamous) for a run of schlocky eighties B-movies. Their action movies, while cheesy, are a ton of fun, with them making icons out of Chuck Norris (with the Missing In Action series), Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja) while also doing a whole slew of movies with an aging Charles Bronson. One of their…...
- 5/17/2021
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
The Locarno Film Festival will honor U.S. producer and screenwriter Gale Anne Hurd – best known for being instrumental to “The Terminator” film trilogy and “The Walking Dead” TV franchise – with its Raimondo Rezzonico Prize awarded to a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos.
The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to international indie cinema is on track to hold its 74th edition as an in-person event August 4-14, barring coronavirus complications.
Beginning as an executive assistant to Roger Corman, Hurd co-wrote “Terminator” with her now ex-husband James Cameron and went on to produce “Aliens” and Michael Bay-directed “Armageddon,” among other big-screen features. She moved into series television in the early 2000s and “The Walking Dead” arrived in 2010, followed by spin-off “Fear the Walking Dead” and USA’s “Falling Water.”
“Gale Anne Hurd has revolutionized our conception of what action cinema looks like,” Locarno Artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro said in a statement,...
The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to international indie cinema is on track to hold its 74th edition as an in-person event August 4-14, barring coronavirus complications.
Beginning as an executive assistant to Roger Corman, Hurd co-wrote “Terminator” with her now ex-husband James Cameron and went on to produce “Aliens” and Michael Bay-directed “Armageddon,” among other big-screen features. She moved into series television in the early 2000s and “The Walking Dead” arrived in 2010, followed by spin-off “Fear the Walking Dead” and USA’s “Falling Water.”
“Gale Anne Hurd has revolutionized our conception of what action cinema looks like,” Locarno Artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro said in a statement,...
- 5/4/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Previous recipients include Jeremy Thomas, Christine Vachon and David Linde.
Gale Anne Hurd will receive the Locarno Film Festival’s Premio Raimondo Rezzonico producer award at its upcoming 74th edition, which is scheduled to run from August 4-14 this year.
Previous recipients have included Jeremy Thomas, Christine Vachon, Menahem Golan, Mike Medavoy, Margaret Ménégoz, David Linde, Ted Hope and Komplizen co-founders Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski.
Locarno said Hurd’s some 50 production credits - spanning cult sci-fi classics such as James Cameron’s The Terminator and her more recent hit series The Walking Dead - had “become part of our social imaginary,...
Gale Anne Hurd will receive the Locarno Film Festival’s Premio Raimondo Rezzonico producer award at its upcoming 74th edition, which is scheduled to run from August 4-14 this year.
Previous recipients have included Jeremy Thomas, Christine Vachon, Menahem Golan, Mike Medavoy, Margaret Ménégoz, David Linde, Ted Hope and Komplizen co-founders Maren Ade, Jonas Dornbach and Janine Jackowski.
Locarno said Hurd’s some 50 production credits - spanning cult sci-fi classics such as James Cameron’s The Terminator and her more recent hit series The Walking Dead - had “become part of our social imaginary,...
- 5/4/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“Hey, Manny!”
By Raymond Benson
One of the generally underrated and mostly forgotten great action thrillers of the 1980s was Runaway Train, a sleeper that took audiences by surprise in late 1985/early 1986. Produced by the low-rent team of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus for the now-defunct Cannon Films, Train was not the partners’ ordinary B-movie action fare. The picture’s pedigree assured that there was going to be something interesting within, and there was.
Runaway Train was originally an Akira Kurosawa project. The Japanese director had conceived the movie, co-written a screenplay with two of his regular colleagues, and planned to make it in conjunction with a Hollywood studio in the late 1960s. According to the supplements on Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release of the film, Kurosawa wanted to cast Henry Fonda and Peter Falk in the lead roles of escaped convicts...
“Hey, Manny!”
By Raymond Benson
One of the generally underrated and mostly forgotten great action thrillers of the 1980s was Runaway Train, a sleeper that took audiences by surprise in late 1985/early 1986. Produced by the low-rent team of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus for the now-defunct Cannon Films, Train was not the partners’ ordinary B-movie action fare. The picture’s pedigree assured that there was going to be something interesting within, and there was.
Runaway Train was originally an Akira Kurosawa project. The Japanese director had conceived the movie, co-written a screenplay with two of his regular colleagues, and planned to make it in conjunction with a Hollywood studio in the late 1960s. According to the supplements on Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release of the film, Kurosawa wanted to cast Henry Fonda and Peter Falk in the lead roles of escaped convicts...
- 2/20/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Darren Lynn Bousman joins Josh and Joe to discuss his favorite over-the-top musicals of the 70s.
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Sorcerer (1977)
Star Wars (1977)
Death of Me (2020)
Jesus Christ: Superstar (1973)
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
The Movie Orgy (1968)
Gremlins (1984)
The Room (2003)
Rocky (1976)
Hair (1979)
The Apple (1980)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
Tommy (1975)
Quadrophenia (1979)
Altered States (1980)
The Devils (1971)
Trapped Ashes (2006)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Devil’s Carnival (2012)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Rent (2005)
Wild In The Streets (1968)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Jazz Singer (1980)
Forbidden Zone (1982)
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
The First Nudie Musical (1976)
Chatterbox (1977)
Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963)
Cabaret (1972)
Saw II (2005)
Other Notable Items
Final Draft
Paris Hilton
Elvira
Angelyne
The William Friedkin podcast episode
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jesus Christ Superstar...
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Sorcerer (1977)
Star Wars (1977)
Death of Me (2020)
Jesus Christ: Superstar (1973)
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Requiem For A Dream (2000)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
The Movie Orgy (1968)
Gremlins (1984)
The Room (2003)
Rocky (1976)
Hair (1979)
The Apple (1980)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
Tommy (1975)
Quadrophenia (1979)
Altered States (1980)
The Devils (1971)
Trapped Ashes (2006)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Devil’s Carnival (2012)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Rent (2005)
Wild In The Streets (1968)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Jazz Singer (1980)
Forbidden Zone (1982)
Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
The First Nudie Musical (1976)
Chatterbox (1977)
Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963)
Cabaret (1972)
Saw II (2005)
Other Notable Items
Final Draft
Paris Hilton
Elvira
Angelyne
The William Friedkin podcast episode
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jesus Christ Superstar...
- 10/6/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
“You fool! You can not stop me! I am the ninja! No one, nothing can stop me!.”
BearManor Media has published The Cannon Film Guide, a Trilogy of Books About the Movies Released By the Legendary 1980s B-Movie Studio, Cannon Films. Order The Cannon Film Guide Here
Volume One Available Now: Over 500 Pages Covering the Company’s First Five Years under the Leadership of B-Movie Icons Golan and Globus
From 1980 until 1994, The Cannon Group was responsible for the production of more than 200 films. Quantity, rather than quality, was the key to Cannon’s game: their output included many of the 1980s’ most beloved (and notorious) b-movies. Along the way they dipped their toes into every imaginable genre of movies, made stars out of Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff, kicked off the ninja and breakdancing crazes, and kept Charles Bronson working into the twilight of his career. While it’s rare...
BearManor Media has published The Cannon Film Guide, a Trilogy of Books About the Movies Released By the Legendary 1980s B-Movie Studio, Cannon Films. Order The Cannon Film Guide Here
Volume One Available Now: Over 500 Pages Covering the Company’s First Five Years under the Leadership of B-Movie Icons Golan and Globus
From 1980 until 1994, The Cannon Group was responsible for the production of more than 200 films. Quantity, rather than quality, was the key to Cannon’s game: their output included many of the 1980s’ most beloved (and notorious) b-movies. Along the way they dipped their toes into every imaginable genre of movies, made stars out of Chuck Norris and Michael Dudikoff, kicked off the ninja and breakdancing crazes, and kept Charles Bronson working into the twilight of his career. While it’s rare...
- 6/26/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
If you watched an action, sci-fi, or horror movie in the 1980s, there was a good chance it was produced by Cannon Films. The studio — perhaps the last great home of B-movie and exploitation classics — was founded in 1967 but hit its apex between 1979 and 1987, releasing scores of films that (mostly) no one would call high cinema but which delivered thrills, chills and plenty of blood, action, and fire on a budget.
Tapping into the massive market for both high and low concept fare — the 1980s equivalent of drive-in double bill fillers — Cannon, under the leadership of Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, were perhaps best known for churning out chintzy crowdpleasers like the Chuck Norris-starring Missing in Action and The Delta Force along with a slew of Death Wish sequels.
But the company also produced titillating titles like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, slasher fare such as Schizoid and New Year’s Evil,...
Tapping into the massive market for both high and low concept fare — the 1980s equivalent of drive-in double bill fillers — Cannon, under the leadership of Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, were perhaps best known for churning out chintzy crowdpleasers like the Chuck Norris-starring Missing in Action and The Delta Force along with a slew of Death Wish sequels.
But the company also produced titillating titles like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, slasher fare such as Schizoid and New Year’s Evil,...
- 6/23/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
The producer of Narcos takes us on a walk through some of the movies that made him.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Contagion (2011)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Rififi (1955)
Night And The City (1950)
Thieves’ Highway (1949)
Never on Sunday (1960)
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Game (1997)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The Great Escape (1963)
Children of Men (2006)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Godfather (1972)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Animal House (1978)
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Trading Places (1983)
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)
Fellini Satyricon (1969)
The Beastmaster (1982)
Sheena (1984)
High Risk (1981)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Piranha (1978)
Gallipoli (1981)
Witness (1985)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Mad Max (1980)
Max Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)
The Last Wave (1978)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
The Hobbit (1977)
The Return of the King (1980)
Class (1983)
The Great Santini (1979)
Fast Times At Ridgemont High...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Contagion (2011)
Panic In The Streets (1950)
Rififi (1955)
Night And The City (1950)
Thieves’ Highway (1949)
Never on Sunday (1960)
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Game (1997)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
The Great Escape (1963)
Children of Men (2006)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (2005)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Godfather (1972)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Animal House (1978)
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Trading Places (1983)
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)
Fellini Satyricon (1969)
The Beastmaster (1982)
Sheena (1984)
High Risk (1981)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Piranha (1978)
Gallipoli (1981)
Witness (1985)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Mad Max (1980)
Max Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)
The Last Wave (1978)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The Lord of the Rings (1978)
The Hobbit (1977)
The Return of the King (1980)
Class (1983)
The Great Santini (1979)
Fast Times At Ridgemont High...
- 6/16/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The heyday of Cannon Films, that is when the company was led by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus back in the eighties, has been subject of fairly recent documentaries: Mark Hartley’s Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films and Hilla Medalia’s The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films. And now, for those fans of crazy cinema that would like to dig even deeper into the world of Cannon, there’s a new book out that tackles one specific filmmaker from those glorious days. Stories From The Trenches: Adventures In Making High Octane Hollywood Movies With Cannon Veteran Sam Firstenberg is a mammoth collection of interviews with the director behind such Cannon flicks as Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III: The Domination...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/6/2020
- Screen Anarchy
By Lee Pfeiffer
In the 1970s and 1980s, Israeli producers Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan took Hollywood by storm by unleashing a tidal wave of low-budget exploitation films that were superbly marketed and which made their Cannon Films company the toast of the town. The fare was generally for undiscriminating viewers who were willing to plunk down their money to see movies about breakdancing, sexual slapstick and over-the-top action movies. They made a feature film star out of the charisma-free Chuck Norris and revived Charles Bronson's career after the major studios had pronounced him to be past his sell date. The glory days of Cannon were relatively short-lived as movie fans sought more sophisticated fare. Still, it must be said that occasionally, Cannon did try to move out its comfort zone by producing respectable, mainstream films, one of which was "Runaway Train" in 1985. The movie starred Jon Voight as Oscar "Manny" Manheim,...
In the 1970s and 1980s, Israeli producers Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan took Hollywood by storm by unleashing a tidal wave of low-budget exploitation films that were superbly marketed and which made their Cannon Films company the toast of the town. The fare was generally for undiscriminating viewers who were willing to plunk down their money to see movies about breakdancing, sexual slapstick and over-the-top action movies. They made a feature film star out of the charisma-free Chuck Norris and revived Charles Bronson's career after the major studios had pronounced him to be past his sell date. The glory days of Cannon were relatively short-lived as movie fans sought more sophisticated fare. Still, it must be said that occasionally, Cannon did try to move out its comfort zone by producing respectable, mainstream films, one of which was "Runaway Train" in 1985. The movie starred Jon Voight as Oscar "Manny" Manheim,...
- 2/7/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Cinematographer Adam Greenberg, who earned an Oscar nomination for his work on James Cameron’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” began to learn the craft of filmmaking working in the Israeli Army’s photo section.
Landing a technician job in a one-room production lab in Tel Aviv, he used his downtime wisely. “Reading old copies of Cinematographer magazine was my training,” says Greenberg (born Grinberg), who wound up in the Middle East at age 3, after fleeing from the Nazi war machine in his native Krakow in 1942 with his two sisters. “The articles taught me how to shoot newsreels.” Using “short ends” — partial rolls of unexposed film stock left in a camera — he applied techniques he learned from the magazine and processed the film himself.
Eventually earning an assistant’s job, Greenberg interned on David Perlov’s seminal 1963 short documentary “In Jerusalem.” That led to work on Israel Becker’s far-out Hebrew-language musical comedy “The Flying Matchmaker.
Landing a technician job in a one-room production lab in Tel Aviv, he used his downtime wisely. “Reading old copies of Cinematographer magazine was my training,” says Greenberg (born Grinberg), who wound up in the Middle East at age 3, after fleeing from the Nazi war machine in his native Krakow in 1942 with his two sisters. “The articles taught me how to shoot newsreels.” Using “short ends” — partial rolls of unexposed film stock left in a camera — he applied techniques he learned from the magazine and processed the film himself.
Eventually earning an assistant’s job, Greenberg interned on David Perlov’s seminal 1963 short documentary “In Jerusalem.” That led to work on Israel Becker’s far-out Hebrew-language musical comedy “The Flying Matchmaker.
- 11/29/2019
- by James C. Udel
- Variety Film + TV
Israeli filmmaker Moshe Mizrahi, who co-wrote and directed three Oscar-nominated foreign-language dramas in the 1970s, including the winning Madame Rosa, starring Simone Signoret, has died. He was 86.
Mizrahi died Friday at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, a hospital spokesperson said. He had been admitted with severe pneumonia.
Mizrahi also was behind the Oscar nominees I Love You Rosa (1972) and The House on Chelouche Street (1973). Madame Rosa (1977), representing France, triumphed over his homeland's nominee, Operation Thunderbolt, from writer-director Menahem Golan.
Based on French author Romain Gary's The Life Before Us, Madame Rosa stars ...
Mizrahi died Friday at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, a hospital spokesperson said. He had been admitted with severe pneumonia.
Mizrahi also was behind the Oscar nominees I Love You Rosa (1972) and The House on Chelouche Street (1973). Madame Rosa (1977), representing France, triumphed over his homeland's nominee, Operation Thunderbolt, from writer-director Menahem Golan.
Based on French author Romain Gary's The Life Before Us, Madame Rosa stars ...
Israeli filmmaker Moshe Mizrahi, who co-wrote and directed three Oscar-nominated foreign-language dramas in the 1970s, including the winning Madame Rosa, starring Simone Signoret, has died. He was 86.
Mizrahi died Friday at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, a hospital spokesperson said. He had been admitted with severe pneumonia.
Mizrahi also was behind the Oscar nominees I Love You Rosa (1972) and The House on Chelouche Street (1973). Madame Rosa (1977), representing France, triumphed over his homeland's nominee, Operation Thunderbolt, from writer-director Menahem Golan.
Based on French author Romain Gary's The Life Before Us, Madame Rosa stars ...
Mizrahi died Friday at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, a hospital spokesperson said. He had been admitted with severe pneumonia.
Mizrahi also was behind the Oscar nominees I Love You Rosa (1972) and The House on Chelouche Street (1973). Madame Rosa (1977), representing France, triumphed over his homeland's nominee, Operation Thunderbolt, from writer-director Menahem Golan.
Based on French author Romain Gary's The Life Before Us, Madame Rosa stars ...
There will never be another studio like the Cannon Group, the company co-owned by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who famously churned out dozens upon dozens of low-budget genre films in the 1980s. Though known for producing mostly schlock, the Cannon run of the ‘80s is one of my favorite periods for movies, probably because they made exactly the kinds of movies I grew up loving and still do to this day.
A shameless combination of Flashdance, The Exorcist, and a ninja movie, Ninja III: The Domination is the third installment of Cannon’s “ninja” trilogy, none of which have anything to do with one another except that Sho Kosugi appears in all of them, each time playing a totally different character. It begins as all ninja movies do: on a golf course. We’re then introduced to Lucinda Dickey (Breakin’), who stars as a woman who works on telephone...
A shameless combination of Flashdance, The Exorcist, and a ninja movie, Ninja III: The Domination is the third installment of Cannon’s “ninja” trilogy, none of which have anything to do with one another except that Sho Kosugi appears in all of them, each time playing a totally different character. It begins as all ninja movies do: on a golf course. We’re then introduced to Lucinda Dickey (Breakin’), who stars as a woman who works on telephone...
- 7/6/2018
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
Sonia Kronlund’s engaging documentary focuses on the indomitable Salim Shaheen, who has made more than 100 films in war-torn Afghanistan
The show must go on, and movies must get made, and this holds true even or especially in troubled war zones. Film-maker Sonia Kronlund has made this funny and affectionate documentary portrait of veteran Afghan movie mogul Salim Shaheen: actor, producer, director and creator of more than 100 features. He is the prince of an industry he calls “Nothingwood” – a Hollywood that must make do with nothing at all.
The indomitable and bulky Shaheen, perennially giving his cast and public observers rousing pep talks and calling for a round of applause, resembles Diego Maradona. He admires the Bollywood style and the Bollywood work ethic and his work resembles those films, with a strong dash of the cheap’n’cheerful action shlock produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus at Cannon Films in the 80s.
The show must go on, and movies must get made, and this holds true even or especially in troubled war zones. Film-maker Sonia Kronlund has made this funny and affectionate documentary portrait of veteran Afghan movie mogul Salim Shaheen: actor, producer, director and creator of more than 100 features. He is the prince of an industry he calls “Nothingwood” – a Hollywood that must make do with nothing at all.
The indomitable and bulky Shaheen, perennially giving his cast and public observers rousing pep talks and calling for a round of applause, resembles Diego Maradona. He admires the Bollywood style and the Bollywood work ethic and his work resembles those films, with a strong dash of the cheap’n’cheerful action shlock produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus at Cannon Films in the 80s.
- 12/15/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Tobe Hooper, who died over the weekend at 74, was a leader in the Vietnam-era boom in independent, ultra-violent horror films. His 1974 “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is considered the last in a trio of low-budget horror breakouts that included George Romero’s 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” and Wes Craven’s 1972 “Last House on the Left.”
Though grosses for these films were unreliably reported, “Texas” appears to have done the best. Its reported $30 million domestic take (adjusted, around $140 million today) was at least 100 times its budget (also a guess, though some reports have it as high as $300,000 in 1974 value). Producers recouped costs and little else from distributor Bryanston (best known for the Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” movies, as well as taking over distribution of “Deep Throat”).
Like Romero and Craven, the hit boosted Hooper’s career. But unlike his peers, Hooper struggled to establish his brand after “Texas.
Though grosses for these films were unreliably reported, “Texas” appears to have done the best. Its reported $30 million domestic take (adjusted, around $140 million today) was at least 100 times its budget (also a guess, though some reports have it as high as $300,000 in 1974 value). Producers recouped costs and little else from distributor Bryanston (best known for the Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” movies, as well as taking over distribution of “Deep Throat”).
Like Romero and Craven, the hit boosted Hooper’s career. But unlike his peers, Hooper struggled to establish his brand after “Texas.
- 8/29/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Michel Hazanavicius and Louis Garrel attend with opening night screening of Redoubtable.
The 34th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival kicked-off on Thursday night with an open-air screening of Michel Hazanavicius’s Jean-Luc Godard comedy Redoubtable and a stripped down opening ceremony aimed at keeping the spotlight on cinema.
Jff’s opening nights in the Sultan’s Pool amphitheatre in the shadow of the Old City walls have been politically-charged in recent years, thanks mainly to the presence of Israel’s controversial Culture Minister Miri Regev.
The former Israeli Defence Force spokeswoman’s views on how cultural funding should be redistributed away from the traditional cultural hubs of cities like Tel Aviv and not be meted out to works criticising the country have made her deeply unpopular within the country’s left-leaning cinema world.
Jeers for Regev
There were no politicians on stage on Thursday evening apart from the city’s mayor Nir Barkat, who handed...
The 34th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival kicked-off on Thursday night with an open-air screening of Michel Hazanavicius’s Jean-Luc Godard comedy Redoubtable and a stripped down opening ceremony aimed at keeping the spotlight on cinema.
Jff’s opening nights in the Sultan’s Pool amphitheatre in the shadow of the Old City walls have been politically-charged in recent years, thanks mainly to the presence of Israel’s controversial Culture Minister Miri Regev.
The former Israeli Defence Force spokeswoman’s views on how cultural funding should be redistributed away from the traditional cultural hubs of cities like Tel Aviv and not be meted out to works criticising the country have made her deeply unpopular within the country’s left-leaning cinema world.
Jeers for Regev
There were no politicians on stage on Thursday evening apart from the city’s mayor Nir Barkat, who handed...
- 7/14/2017
- ScreenDaily
Filmmaker Sam Firstenberg is mostly recognized as one of the important in-house directors during the outrageously successful heyday of the legendary Cannon Group. The journey of this interview collection starts even before he made his way to direct box office hits just like Revenge Of The Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination, Breakin‘ II: Electric Boogaloo, American Ninja, and several others. The conversations Siedelmann recorded with Sam are very thorough, and they shed light on his origins and influences, including childhood memories, private biographical chapters, his years as a film student in Los Angeles, the atmosphere he grew up around in Israel, and his early work as an assistant director and technician for people like Menahem Golan, Charles Band, Ephraim Kishon, Boaz Davidson, and many...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/11/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Director and documentarian Mark Hartley scores both a film history and comedy success with this ‘wild, untold’ account of the 1980s film studio that was both revered and despised by everyone who had contact with it. The ‘cast list’ of interviewees is encyclopedic, everybody has a strong opinion, and some of them don’t need four-letter words to describe their experience!
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
On a double bill with
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Blu-ray
Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region
2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99
Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
On a double bill with
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Blu-ray
Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region
2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99
Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...
- 4/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Christopher Pearce, who in the 1980s served as head of production of Cannon Films, the legendary B-movie house known for churning out a slew of action fare, has died. He was 73.
Pearce died Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla., after a battle with cancer, family friend Polly Chung told The Hollywood Reporter.
Working for Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus at Cannon, Pearce helped take the company’s production output from a handful of films per year to an astounding 43 in 1985. Movies made by Cannon that year included Death Wish 3, American Ninja, Missing in Action 2: The...
Pearce died Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla., after a battle with cancer, family friend Polly Chung told The Hollywood Reporter.
Working for Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus at Cannon, Pearce helped take the company’s production output from a handful of films per year to an astounding 43 in 1985. Movies made by Cannon that year included Death Wish 3, American Ninja, Missing in Action 2: The...
- 12/8/2016
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannon Films knocks one out of the park: Jon Voight and Eric Roberts escape from prison only to end up on a huge, speeding, out of control juggernaut of a freight train plowing through the Alaskan wilderness. It's both an action bruise-fest and an existential statement, and it's still a wild thrill ride. Runaway Train Blu-ray Twilight Time 1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95 Starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner, John P. Ryan T.K. Carter, Kenneth McMillan, Edward Bunker, Hank Worden, Danny Trejo, Tommy Lister, Don MacLaughlin, Loren James, Dick Durock, Dennis Franz. Cinematography Alan Hume Original Music Trevor Jones Written by Djordje Milecevic, Paul Zindel, Edward Bunker based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. Produced by Yoram Globus, Menachem Golan Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I stumbled into The Cannon Group on...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
When I stumbled into The Cannon Group on...
- 11/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
At the bitter end of a ten-year slide into ever-cheaper productions, The Cannon Group sends stars David Bradley (a nice guy), Steve James (everyone's favorite) and Marjoe Gortner (a stiff) to South Africa for an anemic entry in this series. Cannon is considered a 'fun' subject this year because of those funny documentaries that came out. Savant cut the trailer for this particular picture, so takes the opportunity to talk about the wild life and times in the Cannon trailer department. American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt Blu-ray Olive Films 19 / B&W / 2:35 1:85 widescreen / 1:37 flat Academy / 90 min. / Street Date August 16, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring David Bradley, Steve James, Marjoe Gortner, Michele Chan,Yehuda Efroni, Alan Swerdlow. Cinematography George Bartels Film Editor Michael J. Duthie Original Music George S. Clinton Written by Gary Conway from characters by Avi Kleinberger & Gideon Amir Produced by Harry Alan Towers Directed...
- 8/30/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ryan Lambie Jul 20, 2016
Director Jose Padilha talks about the "stressful" experience of helming the 2014 RoboCop remake...
Two years ago, Brazilian director Jose Padilha made his big leap to American studio movie-making with RoboCop, the remake of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic. Inevitably, the mere notion of the film drew a certain amount of vitriol, and reviews were decidedly mixed.
While we found plenty to appreciate in the movie, it undoubtedly lacked the satirical bite of Verhoeven's original - and the last reel looked as though it may have been the victim of some late reshoots. While Padilha was diplomatic about the movie at the time, it's perhaps significant that he hasn't tackled a major Hollywood film since; rather, he's made the excellent TV series Narcos for Netflix.
Speaking to Screen Daily, however, Padilha admits that making RoboCop was a "stressful experience" that, according to him, was marred by creative disagreement.
“I...
Director Jose Padilha talks about the "stressful" experience of helming the 2014 RoboCop remake...
Two years ago, Brazilian director Jose Padilha made his big leap to American studio movie-making with RoboCop, the remake of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic. Inevitably, the mere notion of the film drew a certain amount of vitriol, and reviews were decidedly mixed.
While we found plenty to appreciate in the movie, it undoubtedly lacked the satirical bite of Verhoeven's original - and the last reel looked as though it may have been the victim of some late reshoots. While Padilha was diplomatic about the movie at the time, it's perhaps significant that he hasn't tackled a major Hollywood film since; rather, he's made the excellent TV series Narcos for Netflix.
Speaking to Screen Daily, however, Padilha admits that making RoboCop was a "stressful experience" that, according to him, was marred by creative disagreement.
“I...
- 7/20/2016
- Den of Geek
Bronson’s Loose Again!: On the Set with Charles Bronson is author Paul Talbot’s all-new companion volume to his acclaimed Bronson’s Loose!: The Making of the ‘Death Wish’ Films. His new book reveals more information on the Death Wish series and also details the complex histories behind eighteen other Charles Bronson movies. Documented herein are fascinating tales behind some of the finest Bronson films of the mid-1970s (including Hard Times and From Noon Till Three); his big-budget independent epics Love And Bullets and Cabo Blanco; his lesser-known, underrated dramas Borderline and Act Of Vengeance; his notorious sleaze/action Cannon Films classics of the 80s (including 10 To Midnight, Murphy’S Law and Kinjite: Forbidden Sunjects); the numerous unmade projects he was attached to; and his TV movies of the 90s (including The Sea Wolf). Exhaustively researched, the book features over three dozen exclusive, candid interviews including...
- 6/27/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This is a "go to" festival for international filmmakers with Jewish films who want to have their films premiere in Hollywood. The 11th L.A. Jewish Film Festival May 18th through May 25.
Opening night on May 18 will be a grand, red carpet, star-studded gala at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills. Lajff will recognize the Laemmle Theater family with a special honor for their ongoing commitment to film and filmmakers. This family, headed by legendary Universal studio owner, Carl Laemmle and continuously run by subsequent three generations of Laemmles, is truly a force of nature. The Laemmle Theaters is a 75+ year old family run business which has established a sense of community through film in every neighborhood of Los Angeles they touch. The Laemmle family also supports many local organizations.
Watch this wonderful history of the Laemmle theaters in which Gregory Laemmle, the President of Laemmle Theaters, gives the Beverly Hills Historical Society a summary of the Laemmle family movie theater's history and his programming of the Fine Arts and Music Hall theaters in Beverly Hills.
Opening night film is the North American premiere of “False Flag” /”Kfulim”, a gripping espionage thriller TV series (now known as “filmed entertainment”) which premiered at the Berlinale’s inaugural Special Series section and won the Grand Prize at Series Mania. It comes from the makers of “Homeland” as it first appeared in Israel in 2015 before being remade for U.S. audiences.
Created by Amit Cohen and Maria Feldman, Amit will be present after the screening for a Q&A with actor Angel Bonanni.
Variety, October 2015 called it a “Thrill Ride. Keshet’s hot strike may continue with False Flag”
C21 Hot Picks for Mipcom 2015 said, “’False Flag’ has a touch of ‘Homeland’ about it and could be the next big Israeli drama”.
Directed by Oded Ruskin, it stars Ishai Golan, Ania Bukstein, Angel Bonanni, Roy Assaf and Orna Salinger who play five Israeli citizens who find themselves plunged into a gripping international espionage affair overnight. These ordinary people, going about their daily business, wake up one morning to discover that they are implicated in a ruthless kidnapping operation following the disappearance of the Iranian Defense Minister while on a secret visit to Moscow. News bulletins repeatedly flash their names and passport photos on screen, linking them to video footage from the kidnapping.
French pay TV channel Canal Plus acquired exclusive rights to “False Flag” for France from Keshet International. Will it be remade for U.S.??? We shall see.
In addition to the opening night ceremony, this year will be the first year for a new award. Lajff will establish the Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award. Marvin Paige who died in 2014 was a classic Hollywood casting director, the go-to Hollywood star wrangler of anybody and everybody needing to get a hold of a celebrity. He worked with Lajff for its entire 11 years and his work continues with his former protégé.
Read Leonard Maltin on Marvin Paige
The Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award will be presented on closing night, Wednesday, May 25th, at the iconic Beverly Hills theater, The Fine Arts, to legendary actress Marsha Hunt, formerly blacklisted and still known as a free speech and humanitarian activist today at age 98!).
Closing night film Wednesday, May 25th is the classic, 72 year old movie ”None Shall Escape” starring Marsha Hunt and directed by André De Toth, starring Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox, Henry Travers, and written by Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than (Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.)
"None Shall Escape" is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial. Production began August 31, 1943 and finished October 26, more than eighteen months before the war in Europe ended. About the career of a Nazi officer as shown as flashbacks from his trial as a war criminal, the film will be discussed by film historian, Professor Jan Christopher Horak with Marsha Hunt in person.
There will also be a very special screening of Israel’s beloved, 1966 film musical, “Sheni Kuni Lemel”/ “The Flying Matchmaker” featuring an appearance from L.A. local celebrity and star of the film, Mike Burstyn who starred in the film when he was just 19 years old. This is the first screening of the newly restored print from Israel - the first to be shown in the U.S. Lajff will honor this classic Israeli star with an award on the first night of the screening for “Sheni Kuni Lemel”. (Learn more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Matchmaker)
Another film definitely to be seen is the first film made by Oscar-winning director of “Son of Saul”, László Nemes. The 2008,14 minute short, “ With a Little Patience” will be playing before “Fever at Dawn” on May 23. Director László Nemes fixes the camera on the evocatively stoic face of a young female office clerk, capturing her every nuance as she methodically goes about her daily routine, which leads to a solemn revelation just outside the window, where a man is waiting. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival
and was the winner at the 14th Drama International Short Film Festival.
Monday, May 23, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills program introduction by Consul General of Hungary, Laszlo Kalman
Another top film here is “The People Vs. Fritz Bauer”. If you saw the German submission for the Academy Award this year, “Labyrinth of Lies” you will know the story, but will find this film much,much more authentic and engrossing. It is the real story of the boss of the young man “Labyrinth” who is the true life hero.
Audience Award Winner at the Locarno International Film Festival, World Premiere Toronto International Film Festival 2015. Cohen Media has U.S. rights.
Its L.A. premiere will be Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall. Drama, Germany, 2015, 105 minutes, Director: Lars Kraume, in German with English subtitles
Top German actors Burghart Klaussner (“The White Ribbon”) and Ronald Zehrfeld (“Barbara”, “Phoenix”) star in this riveting historical thriller, which chronicles the staggering efforts of German district attorney Fritz Bauer to bring Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann to justice.
Few figures encapsulate the conflicted character of postwar Germany better than Fritz Bauer, the Attorney General who was instrumental in bringing the elusive Adolf Eichmann to trial in Israel. This film is both a portrait of this complex man and a riveting historical thriller that chronicles the Herculean efforts and tremendous risks undertaken en route to apprehending the chief engineer of the Nazis' Final Solution.
In the late 1950s, Germany flourishes under the economic miracle, and grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer (Burghart Klaussner) relentlessly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, with information about Adolf Eichmann. He is excited by the promising lead, but obstructed at every turn by authorities with Nazi ties, many of them former higher-ups under Hitler, now in top government positions. Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. This is an act of treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.
Fritz Bauer was the Attorney General portrayed in “Labyrinth of Lies.” This is the story that led up to the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials.
Introduction: Deputy Consul General Stefan Biedermann of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany. Sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany
“A La Vie” / “To Life”
Drama, France, 2014, 104 minutes
Director: Jean-Jacques Zilbermann
Starring: Julie Depardieu, Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément
Audience Award Winner at Warsaw Jewish Ff 2015
Breaking Glass has U.S. rights.
Veteran French writer/director Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (“He’s My Girl” - Lajff 2011) sets his engaging new drama in postwar Paris where Hélène (Julie Depardieu), a young Auschwitz survivor rebuilds her life while searching for her friends from the camp, Lily and Rose (Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément). When the women are finally reunited, they share a watershed vacation in 1962 in a seaside resort, enjoying the intimacies of life, love and faith. This emotionally complex film about the sustaining power of women’s friendship was inspired by the director’s mother and her annual vacation with the friends she made in the camps. Don’t miss this masterful film starring a trio of award-winning actresses.
“Children Of Giant”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBYPp8IfQw
La Premiere
Documentary, United States 2015, 85 minutes
Director: Hector Galan
Thursday, May 19 at the Laemmle's Town Center, Encino at 7:30 pm
Marilyn Moss, George Stevens biographer, M.G. Lord, Elizabeth Taylor biographer Plus Earl Holliman (actor from the film) and Jim Silke join the panel discussion, moderated by Nick Redman.
Sixty years after the Hollywood blockbuster that dared tackle the issue of prejudice against Mexican-Americans, “Children Of Giant” explores the cultural and social legacy of the landmark 1956 drama. Starring a legendary trio—Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean—Giant is the epic story of a powerful West Texas ranching dynasty, and the Anglo-Latino tensions their characters encounter. Edna Ferber, the daughter of a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, whose own encounters with discrimination informed her work, bases the film on the novel. Similarly stirred to address human rights issues after his WWII military service, Oscar-winning director George Stevens embraced the book’s controversial themes of feminism, class division and racism in the post-war American Southwest. The lavish production had an enormous impact on the dusty little town of Marfa, Texas, and the Mexican-Americans who saw it as a first exposure to their second-class status.
Rare behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the movie complement interviews with surviving cast and crew, film historians, as well as residents whose lives mirrored the social issues explored onscreen.
“Golan: A Farewell To Mr. Cinema”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRsJy8GxrU&spfreload=10
La Premiere
Documentary, UK/Israel, 74 minutes
Directed by Christopher Sykes
Sunday, May 22, 7:00 pm, Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
Speakers for Golan: Farewell to Mr. Cinema. Sam Firstenberg and Sybil Danning.
This film is the final chapter in the extraordinary life and career of Menahem Golan, Israeli movie director, producer, mogul and 'madman'. Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus, pursued the American Dream and turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world; Cannon Films. Golan produced movies featuring such stars as Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson.
In his eighties and living in Jaffa, Golan looks back to his great days in Hollywood, forward to a new blockbuster, and dreams of the Oscar he has always wanted...
“In Search Of Israeli Cuisine”
La Premiere
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOd6cyFvBr8
Documentary, United States 2015, 97 minutes
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hill
Q&A with Amelia Saltsman, cookbook author and personality and Rob Eshman, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal.
Sunday, May 22, 4:30 pm, Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
Q&A with Elana Horwich, owner of Meal with a Spiel
Director: Roger Sherman
Starring: Michael Solomonov
Michael Solomonov, the James Beard award-winning celebrity chef-restaurateur travels across Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition. Developed in only the last 30 years and using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations, Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries to street bazaars, Israeli-American Solomonov interviews chefs, home cooks, farmers, vintners, and cheese makers drawn from the more than 100 cultures that make up Israel today — Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, and Druze. This journey to his homeland reaffirms that Israeli cuisine is a beautiful and delectable reflection of the country’s unique diversity.
In a gastronomical expedition, celebrity chef-restaurateur Michael Solomonov zigzags Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition.
Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world, extending beyond falafel and hummus to include tasty ethnic and regional specialties. Having won the James Beard award for embracing these authentic flavors, Israeli-American Solomonov returns to his homeland to discover his culinary heritage anew. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries, to street bazaars, to simmering pots in family kitchens, “In Search Of Israeli Cuisine” excites the taste buds with multi-cultural recipes passed on and elevated. But even food is not immune to sectarian conflict, as Palestinian cooks chafe when their savory secrets are adapted by Jewish chefs. Equally eye-opening is the story behind the ingredients that Israel produces using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations. Combining a procession of mouthwatering dishes and interviews with chefs, home cooks and farmers of all backgrounds, Oscar-nominated documentarian Roger Sherman presents a diverse portrait of the Israeli people told through the very personal language of food.
Rob Eshman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal, Blog “Foodaism” to lead discussion. Additional guests Tbd. Sponsored by the Jewish Journal and the Consulate General of Israel
Food sponsored by Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill and Yrf Darca
For the full array of programming go to: http://lajfilmfest.org/...
Opening night on May 18 will be a grand, red carpet, star-studded gala at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center at the Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills. Lajff will recognize the Laemmle Theater family with a special honor for their ongoing commitment to film and filmmakers. This family, headed by legendary Universal studio owner, Carl Laemmle and continuously run by subsequent three generations of Laemmles, is truly a force of nature. The Laemmle Theaters is a 75+ year old family run business which has established a sense of community through film in every neighborhood of Los Angeles they touch. The Laemmle family also supports many local organizations.
Watch this wonderful history of the Laemmle theaters in which Gregory Laemmle, the President of Laemmle Theaters, gives the Beverly Hills Historical Society a summary of the Laemmle family movie theater's history and his programming of the Fine Arts and Music Hall theaters in Beverly Hills.
Opening night film is the North American premiere of “False Flag” /”Kfulim”, a gripping espionage thriller TV series (now known as “filmed entertainment”) which premiered at the Berlinale’s inaugural Special Series section and won the Grand Prize at Series Mania. It comes from the makers of “Homeland” as it first appeared in Israel in 2015 before being remade for U.S. audiences.
Created by Amit Cohen and Maria Feldman, Amit will be present after the screening for a Q&A with actor Angel Bonanni.
Variety, October 2015 called it a “Thrill Ride. Keshet’s hot strike may continue with False Flag”
C21 Hot Picks for Mipcom 2015 said, “’False Flag’ has a touch of ‘Homeland’ about it and could be the next big Israeli drama”.
Directed by Oded Ruskin, it stars Ishai Golan, Ania Bukstein, Angel Bonanni, Roy Assaf and Orna Salinger who play five Israeli citizens who find themselves plunged into a gripping international espionage affair overnight. These ordinary people, going about their daily business, wake up one morning to discover that they are implicated in a ruthless kidnapping operation following the disappearance of the Iranian Defense Minister while on a secret visit to Moscow. News bulletins repeatedly flash their names and passport photos on screen, linking them to video footage from the kidnapping.
French pay TV channel Canal Plus acquired exclusive rights to “False Flag” for France from Keshet International. Will it be remade for U.S.??? We shall see.
In addition to the opening night ceremony, this year will be the first year for a new award. Lajff will establish the Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award. Marvin Paige who died in 2014 was a classic Hollywood casting director, the go-to Hollywood star wrangler of anybody and everybody needing to get a hold of a celebrity. He worked with Lajff for its entire 11 years and his work continues with his former protégé.
Read Leonard Maltin on Marvin Paige
The Marvin Paige Hollywood Legacy Award will be presented on closing night, Wednesday, May 25th, at the iconic Beverly Hills theater, The Fine Arts, to legendary actress Marsha Hunt, formerly blacklisted and still known as a free speech and humanitarian activist today at age 98!).
Closing night film Wednesday, May 25th is the classic, 72 year old movie ”None Shall Escape” starring Marsha Hunt and directed by André De Toth, starring Marsha Hunt, Alexander Knox, Henry Travers, and written by Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than (Alfred Neumann and Joseph Than were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.)
"None Shall Escape" is a 1944 war film. Even though the film was made during World War II, the setting is a post-war Nuremberg-style war crimes trial. Production began August 31, 1943 and finished October 26, more than eighteen months before the war in Europe ended. About the career of a Nazi officer as shown as flashbacks from his trial as a war criminal, the film will be discussed by film historian, Professor Jan Christopher Horak with Marsha Hunt in person.
There will also be a very special screening of Israel’s beloved, 1966 film musical, “Sheni Kuni Lemel”/ “The Flying Matchmaker” featuring an appearance from L.A. local celebrity and star of the film, Mike Burstyn who starred in the film when he was just 19 years old. This is the first screening of the newly restored print from Israel - the first to be shown in the U.S. Lajff will honor this classic Israeli star with an award on the first night of the screening for “Sheni Kuni Lemel”. (Learn more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Matchmaker)
Another film definitely to be seen is the first film made by Oscar-winning director of “Son of Saul”, László Nemes. The 2008,14 minute short, “ With a Little Patience” will be playing before “Fever at Dawn” on May 23. Director László Nemes fixes the camera on the evocatively stoic face of a young female office clerk, capturing her every nuance as she methodically goes about her daily routine, which leads to a solemn revelation just outside the window, where a man is waiting. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival
and was the winner at the 14th Drama International Short Film Festival.
Monday, May 23, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills program introduction by Consul General of Hungary, Laszlo Kalman
Another top film here is “The People Vs. Fritz Bauer”. If you saw the German submission for the Academy Award this year, “Labyrinth of Lies” you will know the story, but will find this film much,much more authentic and engrossing. It is the real story of the boss of the young man “Labyrinth” who is the true life hero.
Audience Award Winner at the Locarno International Film Festival, World Premiere Toronto International Film Festival 2015. Cohen Media has U.S. rights.
Its L.A. premiere will be Tuesday, May 24, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall. Drama, Germany, 2015, 105 minutes, Director: Lars Kraume, in German with English subtitles
Top German actors Burghart Klaussner (“The White Ribbon”) and Ronald Zehrfeld (“Barbara”, “Phoenix”) star in this riveting historical thriller, which chronicles the staggering efforts of German district attorney Fritz Bauer to bring Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann to justice.
Few figures encapsulate the conflicted character of postwar Germany better than Fritz Bauer, the Attorney General who was instrumental in bringing the elusive Adolf Eichmann to trial in Israel. This film is both a portrait of this complex man and a riveting historical thriller that chronicles the Herculean efforts and tremendous risks undertaken en route to apprehending the chief engineer of the Nazis' Final Solution.
In the late 1950s, Germany flourishes under the economic miracle, and grows increasingly apathetic about confronting the horrors of its recent past. Nevertheless, Fritz Bauer (Burghart Klaussner) relentlessly devotes his energies to bringing the Third Reich to justice. One day Bauer receives a letter from Argentina, with information about Adolf Eichmann. He is excited by the promising lead, but obstructed at every turn by authorities with Nazi ties, many of them former higher-ups under Hitler, now in top government positions. Bauer journeys to Jerusalem to seek alliance with Mossad, the Israeli secret service. This is an act of treason — yet committing treason is the only way Bauer can serve his country.
Fritz Bauer was the Attorney General portrayed in “Labyrinth of Lies.” This is the story that led up to the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials.
Introduction: Deputy Consul General Stefan Biedermann of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany. Sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany
“A La Vie” / “To Life”
Drama, France, 2014, 104 minutes
Director: Jean-Jacques Zilbermann
Starring: Julie Depardieu, Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément
Audience Award Winner at Warsaw Jewish Ff 2015
Breaking Glass has U.S. rights.
Veteran French writer/director Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (“He’s My Girl” - Lajff 2011) sets his engaging new drama in postwar Paris where Hélène (Julie Depardieu), a young Auschwitz survivor rebuilds her life while searching for her friends from the camp, Lily and Rose (Johanna ter Steege, Suzanne Clément). When the women are finally reunited, they share a watershed vacation in 1962 in a seaside resort, enjoying the intimacies of life, love and faith. This emotionally complex film about the sustaining power of women’s friendship was inspired by the director’s mother and her annual vacation with the friends she made in the camps. Don’t miss this masterful film starring a trio of award-winning actresses.
“Children Of Giant”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBYPp8IfQw
La Premiere
Documentary, United States 2015, 85 minutes
Director: Hector Galan
Thursday, May 19 at the Laemmle's Town Center, Encino at 7:30 pm
Marilyn Moss, George Stevens biographer, M.G. Lord, Elizabeth Taylor biographer Plus Earl Holliman (actor from the film) and Jim Silke join the panel discussion, moderated by Nick Redman.
Sixty years after the Hollywood blockbuster that dared tackle the issue of prejudice against Mexican-Americans, “Children Of Giant” explores the cultural and social legacy of the landmark 1956 drama. Starring a legendary trio—Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean—Giant is the epic story of a powerful West Texas ranching dynasty, and the Anglo-Latino tensions their characters encounter. Edna Ferber, the daughter of a Hungarian-born Jewish storekeeper, whose own encounters with discrimination informed her work, bases the film on the novel. Similarly stirred to address human rights issues after his WWII military service, Oscar-winning director George Stevens embraced the book’s controversial themes of feminism, class division and racism in the post-war American Southwest. The lavish production had an enormous impact on the dusty little town of Marfa, Texas, and the Mexican-Americans who saw it as a first exposure to their second-class status.
Rare behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the movie complement interviews with surviving cast and crew, film historians, as well as residents whose lives mirrored the social issues explored onscreen.
“Golan: A Farewell To Mr. Cinema”
Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evRsJy8GxrU&spfreload=10
La Premiere
Documentary, UK/Israel, 74 minutes
Directed by Christopher Sykes
Sunday, May 22, 7:00 pm, Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
Speakers for Golan: Farewell to Mr. Cinema. Sam Firstenberg and Sybil Danning.
This film is the final chapter in the extraordinary life and career of Menahem Golan, Israeli movie director, producer, mogul and 'madman'. Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus, pursued the American Dream and turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world; Cannon Films. Golan produced movies featuring such stars as Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson.
In his eighties and living in Jaffa, Golan looks back to his great days in Hollywood, forward to a new blockbuster, and dreams of the Oscar he has always wanted...
“In Search Of Israeli Cuisine”
La Premiere
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOd6cyFvBr8
Documentary, United States 2015, 97 minutes
Thursday, May 19, 7:30 pm Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hill
Q&A with Amelia Saltsman, cookbook author and personality and Rob Eshman, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal.
Sunday, May 22, 4:30 pm, Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
Q&A with Elana Horwich, owner of Meal with a Spiel
Director: Roger Sherman
Starring: Michael Solomonov
Michael Solomonov, the James Beard award-winning celebrity chef-restaurateur travels across Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition. Developed in only the last 30 years and using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations, Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries to street bazaars, Israeli-American Solomonov interviews chefs, home cooks, farmers, vintners, and cheese makers drawn from the more than 100 cultures that make up Israel today — Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, and Druze. This journey to his homeland reaffirms that Israeli cuisine is a beautiful and delectable reflection of the country’s unique diversity.
In a gastronomical expedition, celebrity chef-restaurateur Michael Solomonov zigzags Israel to savor a food revolution rooted in centuries-old tradition.
Israel’s food scene is among the most dynamic in the world, extending beyond falafel and hummus to include tasty ethnic and regional specialties. Having won the James Beard award for embracing these authentic flavors, Israeli-American Solomonov returns to his homeland to discover his culinary heritage anew. From Tel Aviv’s most exclusive eateries, to street bazaars, to simmering pots in family kitchens, “In Search Of Israeli Cuisine” excites the taste buds with multi-cultural recipes passed on and elevated. But even food is not immune to sectarian conflict, as Palestinian cooks chafe when their savory secrets are adapted by Jewish chefs. Equally eye-opening is the story behind the ingredients that Israel produces using both ancient farming techniques and high-tech innovations. Combining a procession of mouthwatering dishes and interviews with chefs, home cooks and farmers of all backgrounds, Oscar-nominated documentarian Roger Sherman presents a diverse portrait of the Israeli people told through the very personal language of food.
Rob Eshman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Jewish Journal, Blog “Foodaism” to lead discussion. Additional guests Tbd. Sponsored by the Jewish Journal and the Consulate General of Israel
Food sponsored by Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill and Yrf Darca
For the full array of programming go to: http://lajfilmfest.org/...
- 5/5/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Cannon Films, the iconic independent film studio of the 1970s and 1980s which essentially continued the careers of the likes of Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris through and after their prime, are back - more than twenty years after shutting their doors.
Responsible for the likes of "Masters of the Universe," "Cyborg," "Breakin'," "Cobra," "Lifeforce," "Invasion U.S.A.," "American Ninja," "Death Wish II," and "Bloodsport," the studio is now back with a new slate of movies is on the horizon.
Formed under the new hand of Richard Albiston, Cannon Films Ltd. was established in 2014 and is moving forward with the ideals of former chairman Menahem Golan about putting the artist first. Today comes word of eight films which mark their inaugral slate - "America Ninja Apprentice," "Return of The Delta Force," "U.S. Sniper," "Allan Quatermain and the Jewel of the East," "Curse," "Zombi: They Live," "Writer's Block" and "The Leopard Hunts at Midnight".
Source: Joblo,...
Responsible for the likes of "Masters of the Universe," "Cyborg," "Breakin'," "Cobra," "Lifeforce," "Invasion U.S.A.," "American Ninja," "Death Wish II," and "Bloodsport," the studio is now back with a new slate of movies is on the horizon.
Formed under the new hand of Richard Albiston, Cannon Films Ltd. was established in 2014 and is moving forward with the ideals of former chairman Menahem Golan about putting the artist first. Today comes word of eight films which mark their inaugral slate - "America Ninja Apprentice," "Return of The Delta Force," "U.S. Sniper," "Allan Quatermain and the Jewel of the East," "Curse," "Zombi: They Live," "Writer's Block" and "The Leopard Hunts at Midnight".
Source: Joblo,...
- 2/17/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Cannon. A name that means excellence in cinema history. Ok, maybe excellence isn’t the word. However, when I saw that logo or the Cannon name, I knew that I was at least due for a treat. After seeing Mark Hartley’s excellent documentary, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, it seems that there has been a spike in interest into the Cannon film history. While there is another documentary that we are waiting to see, one that probably paints the combination of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus in a more positive light, news has been posted on the site, The Action Elite (boss name, gang), which was pulled from company portion of the Cannon Films website. It looks like this info has been on Cannon’s site since September or November.
Further investigation alludes that this information may have been published last year based off their Cannon’s Facebook.
Further investigation alludes that this information may have been published last year based off their Cannon’s Facebook.
- 2/17/2016
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
Enter the Ninja
The film that heralded the start of the ninja craze in the West, Enter the Ninja was one of many martial arts action films made by the uber-prolific producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus after they purchased Cannon Films in the late 70s.
Directed by Golan, Enter the Ninja tells the story of Cole (Franco Nero), a Westerner who is trained in the art of ninjitsu in Japan. Finishing his training he heads the Philippines to visit his war buddy Frank Landers (Alex Courtney) and his newlywed wife Mary Ann (Susan George), who are the owners of farm which is under attack from unscrupulous businessman Charles Venarius (Christopher George) because – unbeknownst to the Landers – there’s a huge oil deposit under their land! Of course having Franco Nero’s ninja on their side means that the Landers can easily see off Venarius’ henchmen. That is until he...
The film that heralded the start of the ninja craze in the West, Enter the Ninja was one of many martial arts action films made by the uber-prolific producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus after they purchased Cannon Films in the late 70s.
Directed by Golan, Enter the Ninja tells the story of Cole (Franco Nero), a Westerner who is trained in the art of ninjitsu in Japan. Finishing his training he heads the Philippines to visit his war buddy Frank Landers (Alex Courtney) and his newlywed wife Mary Ann (Susan George), who are the owners of farm which is under attack from unscrupulous businessman Charles Venarius (Christopher George) because – unbeknownst to the Landers – there’s a huge oil deposit under their land! Of course having Franco Nero’s ninja on their side means that the Landers can easily see off Venarius’ henchmen. That is until he...
- 1/31/2016
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
★★★☆☆ Aside from a couple of exceptions, Cannon Films' Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus may not be remembered in the annals of film history as purveyors of quality cinema, but they certainly showed a skill for spotting and quickly capitalising on growing social trends. This is the duo who reaped vast box office rewards by bringing the breakdance phenomena to the screen with Breakin' and the quickly cobbled-together sequel barely a later year. But three years prior to that, they crafted a cinematic response to the growing legions of adolescent fans in the west enthralled by the ninja mythos. The three titles in what would become a loosely-related chop-socky trilogy have now been restored and re-released via world cinema archivists Eureka Video.
- 1/20/2016
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Columbia Pictures
If you’re watching a movie with a scene where the indestructible cop hero clings to the roof of a speeding vehicle, it was probably made in the 1980s. In a lot of these films, the driver doesn’t attempt to swerve or hit the brakes, he just holds his hands in front of his face before crashing through a plate glass window.
At Cannon Films, the home of Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson, B-grade action films seemed to roll off the conveyor belt every week as founders Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus sought to fashion new stars in the mould of Arnold Schwarzenegger. These cheapies were cranked out by no-name filmmakers, scored by musically ungifted composers who owned an inordinate number of synthesizers and invariably concluded with freeze-frame endings following the climactic rooftop confrontation.
Elsewhere, Sylvester Stallone was setting the standard for over the top, wildly jingoistic...
If you’re watching a movie with a scene where the indestructible cop hero clings to the roof of a speeding vehicle, it was probably made in the 1980s. In a lot of these films, the driver doesn’t attempt to swerve or hit the brakes, he just holds his hands in front of his face before crashing through a plate glass window.
At Cannon Films, the home of Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson, B-grade action films seemed to roll off the conveyor belt every week as founders Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus sought to fashion new stars in the mould of Arnold Schwarzenegger. These cheapies were cranked out by no-name filmmakers, scored by musically ungifted composers who owned an inordinate number of synthesizers and invariably concluded with freeze-frame endings following the climactic rooftop confrontation.
Elsewhere, Sylvester Stallone was setting the standard for over the top, wildly jingoistic...
- 1/11/2016
- by Ian Watson
- Obsessed with Film
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