HK and Cult Film News's Fan Box

Sunday, December 31, 2017

"Matrix" Trinity's Escape Set to Janet Jackson's "That's the Way Love Goes"




I don't own or claim any rights to any of these materials--just having a little fun with them.

If you like this, please check out the entire movie, "The Matrix", as well as other music by Janet Jackson!





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Friday, December 29, 2017

"Sex Madness" (1938) Falling Window Blooper




Dwayne Esper's vintage exploitation films were done on very low budgets--too low for needless retakes.

And so, when a window falls down in the background during an early scene from "Sex Madness" (1938), watch the two actresses keep right on going.

And notice how the startled blonde stumbles her line a bit. But NO RETAKES!






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Dallas Film Festivals' Directors and Programmers Name Their Top Ten Films of 2017



DALLAS AND NORTH TEXAS FILM FESTIVALS’ DIRECTORS AND PROGRAMMERS ANNOUNCE THEIR CHOICES FOR 2017’s TOP TEN FILMS

BABY DRIVER, GET OUT, AND THE SHAPE OF WATER RANK 1-2-3 AMONG THE TOP CHOICES


DALLAS, TX (December 29, 2017) – The heads of prominent Dallas and North Texas Film Festivals announced their selections for the Top Ten Films of 2017 during WFAA’s Midday at 8 news broadcast today with Edgar Wright’s BABY DRIVER, Jordan Peele’s GET OUT, and Guillermo del Toro’s THE SHAPE OF WATER taking the top three spots among films released in 2017.

Justina Walford (Artistic Director, Women Texas Film Festival), Michael Cain (Director, EARTHxFilm), and Studio Movie Grill Programmer Todd Donnell announced the list of films on the broadcast with WFAA’s Jason Wheeler.


The films were chosen by representatives of Dallas and North Texas-based film festivals, and Studio Movie Grill (which served as a sponsor and host for both the Dallas Video Fest and the Women Texas Film Festival this past year), including Walford, Cain, and Donnell, along with Bart Weiss (Director, Dallas Video Fest, Artistic Director, 3 Stars Cinema), Maverick Moore (Director, Deep in the Heart FF), Thomas Schubert (Festival Liaison, Asian Film Festival of Dallas), Susan Kandell (Programmer, 3 Stars Cinema), and John Wildman (Publicist and Programming Consultant, WTxFF).

Dallas and North Texas film festivals’ Top 10 Films of 2017:

1.                     BABY DRIVER (DIR: Edgar Wright)
2.                     GET OUT (DIR: Jordan Peele)
3.                     THE SHAPE OF WATER (DIR: Guillermo del Toro)
4.                     THE BIG SICK (DIR: Michael Showalter)
5.                     DUNKIRK (DIR: Christopher Nolan)
6.                     LADY BIRD (DIR: Greta Gerwig)
7.                     THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (DIR: Martin McDonagh)
8. (TIE)            MOTHER! (DIR: Darren Aronofsky)
                        JIM AND ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND (DIR: Chris Smith)
9.                     COLOSSAL (DIR: Nacho Vigalondo)
10. (TIE)          THE DISASTER ARTIST (DIR: James Franco)
                        STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (DIR: Rian Johnson)
            
Other films cited by the group included: Dee Rees’s MUDBOUND; Patty Jenkins’s WONDER WOMAN; Denis Villeneuve’s BLADE RUNNER 2049; Frederick Wiseman’s EX LIBRIS: NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY; Agnieszka Smoczynska’s THE LURE; David Lowery’s A GHOST STORY; Raoul Peck’s I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO; Sean Baker’s THE FLORIDA PROJECT; Jeff Orlowski’s CHASING CORAL; Trey Edward Shults’s IT COMES AT NIGHT; and Macon Blair’s I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE.



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"DEN OF THIEVES" With Gerard Butler and 50 Cent -- Watch the Trailer NOW!



"DEN OF THIEVES"

In Theaters from STXfilms January 19, 2018

DEN OF THIEVES is a gritty Los Angeles crime saga which follows the intersecting and often personally connected lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and the state's most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank of downtown Los Angeles.

                                    WATCH THE TRAILER:


Official Website 

https://www.facebook.com/DenOfThieves
https://www.instagram.com/DenOfThieves/
https://twitter.com/den_of_thieves
#DenOfThieves




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Thursday, December 28, 2017

Phantom Hand Blooper in "From Russia With Love" (1963)



When Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) greets Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) at the door in the second James Bond movie "From Russia With Love" (1963, with Sean Connery), something odd happens--a phantom hand appears where you might least expect it.  See if you can spot it!


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Hope you enjoy it!





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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Parking Lot On Mars? Classic Blooper from "Assignment: Outer Space" (1960)




In the 1960 Italian sci-fi flick "Assignment: Outer Space" (originally "Space Men") a spaceship crashes on Mars. 

But the explosion is clearly just a fireball filmed in a parking lot--complete with building, telephone pole, and Chevy...




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Tuesday, December 26, 2017

"KING KONG VS. FRANKENSTEIN" Main Titles (What If?)



There was a time when famed "King Kong" animator Willis O'Brien pondered the possibility of pitting the giant ape King Kong against an oversized Frankenstein monster in what would certainly have been quite a rumble. (The idea was later "borrowed" for KING KONG VS. GODZILLA.) 

Not sure exactly what the movie would've looked like, but here--just for fun--is our version of what the opening credits might have looked like. (One of Willis O'Brien's actual preliminary drawings appears at the end.)

We neither own nor claim any rights to any of this material. Just having a little Monster Kid fun with it!




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Thursday, December 21, 2017

SHOCK WAVE -- DVD Review by Porfle



Bomb squad and hostage crisis stories are always inherently tense to some degree, but SHOCK WAVE, aka "Chai dan zhuan jia" (Cinedigm, 2017), takes things to a whole new level.  It's one of those "through the wringer" experiences that just leaves you...well, wrung out.

Chinese action superstar Andy Lau (THE WARLORDS, BATTLE OF THE WARRIORS) plays veteran bomb defuser extraordinaire J.S. Cheung, whose nerves of steel don't keep him from having a warm heart, as his girlfriend Carmen Li (Jia Song, RED CLIFF) will attest.

They have a nice meet-cute under odd circumstances that lead to a deep relationship which might or might not lead to marriage.  What we're already certain of, if movies like this have taught us anything, is that if there's a big bomb crisis later on in the movie then eventually the girlfriend will get mixed up in it.


Naturally, there's a big bomb crisis later on in the movie, thanks to Cheung's mortal enemy and top bad-guy bomb expert Peng Hong (Wu Jiang), whose brother was sent to prison by Cheung during an undercover assignment. 

Nursing a big, festering grudge against Cheung, Peng Hong plans a massive attack in which Hong Kong's Cross-Harbor Tunnel is taken over and its thousands of hostages threatened with explosive doom unless the imprisoned brother is set free.

What sets SHOCK WAVE apart from most of the other hostage-crisis films is its scale--it looks as though the filmmakers have full use of an actual tunnel filled with automobiles, and the mayhem that occurs inside it will involve all manner of full-scale gun battles, car crashes, and explosions. 


This isn't just some direct-to-video yarn here, but epic, heart-pounding action that exploits every facet of bomb-defusing, hostage negotiating, and all-around shoot-em-up chaos while also exploring all the emotional human elements.  Hostages get killed as do brave cops, and Cheung's character must suffer every tragic loss while feeling partly responsible for it. 

The film begins with a sustained action sequence involving a bank robbery that ends badly.  That leads us into the drawn-out suspense of the tunnel situation which will take up the rest of the film. 

Things slow down in the second half to concentrate on the human side of Cheung's ordeal (including the "girlfriend" part that we knew was coming) as well as exploring other peripheral aspects of the situation, but this just gears us up for one of the most calamitous finales imaginable for a film like this.  I'm talking "intense" in the full sense of the word.


Andy Lau is great as the heroic, likable cop, while Wu Jiang makes an ideal non-cliche' bad guy who loves putting Cheung and the city of Hong Kong through hell.  The rest of the cast are fine as well.
 
Director Herman Yau (THE WOMAN KNIGHT OF MIRROR LAKE, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN) is in top form throughout, staging it all with brisk bravado and clearly aiming to knock our socks off.  My only complaint is the obvious use of CGI for many of the explosions, which had me yearning for the good old days when they just blew everything up for real. 

Still, SHOCK WAVE is mind-boggling in its mix of human drama with the most nail-biting suspense and explosive, car-crashing, bullet-spraying carnage one could ask for in an action flick.  And after all that, it ends on a note of genuine emotional resonance.  Well done.


SHOCK WAVE DVD BASICS              
Street Date:         January 2, 2018
Language:           Cantonese, Mandarin                      
Runtime:             119 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English
(Also available in Blu-Ray+DVD)

EXTRAS:
Making-of featurette
Trailer




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Helen Mirren in "WINCHESTER": The Ghost House Based On a True Story In Theaters Feb. 2nd -- New One Sheet!



"WINCHESTER"

Coming to Theaters February 2nd

The Ghost House -- Inspired by true events

On an isolated stretch of land 50 miles outside of San Francisco sits the most haunted house in the world. Built by Sarah Winchester, (Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it is a house that knows no end.


Constructed in an incessant twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week mania for decades, it stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. To the outsider it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman's madness.

But Sarah is not building for herself, for her niece (Sarah Snook) or for the troubled Doctor Eric Price (Jason Clarke) whom she has summoned to the house. She is building a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts, and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters...  


Directed By: 
The Spierig Brothers (Jigsaw, Predestination)
Produced By:
Tim McGahan (Predestination) and Brett Tomberlin
Written By:
Tom Vaughan, The Spierig Brothers (Jigsaw, Predestination)

Cast:
Helen Mirren (Eye In The Sky, The Queen), Jason Clarke (Mudbound, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes), Sarah Snook (Steve Jobs, Jessabelle), Angus Sampson (Insidious, Mad Max: Fury Road), Finn Scicluna-O'Prey (True Story with Hamish & Andy, The Secret River)

IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE FEBRUARY 2, 2018


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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

"HOSTILES" New Western Opens Dec. 22 (Christian Bale, Wes Studi, Rosamund Pike) -- See Trailer and Pics Here!




HOSTILES

In Theaters December 22

Set in 1892, Hostiles tells the story of a legendary Army Captain (Christian Bale), who after stern resistance, reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from Fort Berringer, an isolated Army outpost in New Mexico, to the grasslands of Montana, the former rivals encounter a young widow (Rosamund Pike), whose family was murdered on the plains. Together, they must join forces to overcome the punishing landscape, hostile Comanche and vicious outliers that they encounter along the way.

Hostiles was directed by Scott Cooper from his screenplay based on a manuscript by Donald E. Stewart.

WATCH THE TRAILER

Hostiles opens on December 22nd in New York & Los Angeles, expands into top 10 US markets and the U.K. on January 5th.  The film opens nationwide on January 19th.

It features a cast that also includes Q'Orianka Kilcher, Adam Beach, Timothée Chalamet, Ben Foster, Tanaya Beatty, Jonathan Majors, Jesse Plemons, Rory Cochrane, Ryan Bingham, David Midthunder and John Benjamin Hickey.

Hostiles is being distributed by Entertainment Studios Motion Picture in the US.

A Waypoint Entertainment Film
In Association with BLOOM

A Le Grisbi Production
A Film by Scott Cooper

Christian Bale
Rosamund Pike
Wes Studi
Jesse Plemons
Adam Beach
Rory Cochrane
and Ben Foster


Writer, Director, Producer   Scott Cooper
Based upon the Manuscript by  Donald Stewart
Producer     John Lesher
Producer      Ken Kao
Executive Producer    Will Weiske
Executive Producer     Donald Stewart
Director of Photography   Masanobu Takayanagi
Production Designer    Donald Graham Burt
Film Editor     Tom Cross
Costume Designer    Jenny Eagan
Composer     Max Richter
Casting Director     Francine Maisler

Set in 1892, Hostiles tells the story of a legendary Army Captain (Christian Bale), who after stern resistance, reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from Fort Berringer, an isolated Army outpost in New Mexico, to the grasslands of Montana, the former rivals encounter a young widow (Rosamund Pike), whose family was murdered on the plains. Together, they must join forces to overcome the punishing landscape, hostile Comanche and vicious outliers that they encounter along the way.


Hostiles is directed by Scott Cooper (Black Mass, Out of the Furnace, Crazy Heart) and produced by John Lesher (Black Mass, Birdman, Fury) and Ken Kao (The Nice Guys, Knight of Cups).
The film stars: Christian Bale (The Big Short, American Hustle, The Dark Knight), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Jack Reacher), Wes Studi (Avatar, Heat, Geronimo), Adam Beach (Suicide Squad, Flags of Our Fathers), Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, 3:10 to Yuma), Q’orianka Kilcher (Unnatural), Tanaya Beatty (Twilight), Jonathan Majors (Do Not Disturb), Rory Cochrane (Black Mass, Argo), Jesse Plemons (Black Mass, Bridge of Spies), Timothée Chalamet (Love the Coopers, Interstellar), Paul Anderson (The Revenant, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Ryan Bingham (Crazy Heart), David Midthunder (Comanche Moon), John Benjamin Hickey (Get on Up, Pitch Perfect), Stephen Lang (Avatar, The Nut Job), Bill Camp (12 years a Slave, Birdman)

SYNOPSIS

The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”
D.H. Lawrence

Set in 1892 at the cusp of the Industrial Revolution, the buffalo gone, America’s indigenous population vanquished and the frontier rapidly disappearing into settlements and cities, two bitter adversaries of the Indian Wars are forced into a final, unexpected encounter.

Cavalry Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale), a former war hero, now jailer, and Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), a Northern Cheyenne war chief, now prisoner, are forced to partake in a hollow publicity stunt to bolster the personal and political fortunes of Blocker’s commanding officer.


Stuck in Fort Berringer, a miserable New Mexican prison outpost, Yellow Hawk is to be released to Blocker and returned to the Cheyenne homeland in Montana. It’s a particularly cynical gambit, as Yellow Hawk is dying and upon his death, his family will be imprisoned on a reservation. A belligerent Blocker believes the Chief should die in prison and is threatened with court martial when he refuses to accompany his enemy home.

The plan is set in motion and Blocker and his men and Yellow Hawk and his family become complicated traveling companions. Not long after their departure, the group happens upon Rosalee Quaid, a traumatized survivor of a Comanche massacre, and she reluctantly joins the group.
Blocker, Yellow Hawk and Quaid turn into the unlikely heart of Hostiles. They are tenacious fighters who have been shaped by suffering, violence and loss and it’s created in them no end of suspicion and anger.

Compelled to work together to endure and survive a 1,000-mile journey of Odyssey-like proportions, they’re forced to confront their preconceived notions of one another, and realize that the worst of their differences were created by forces beyond their control. Their transformation from a place of antagonism and fear to one of compassion and tolerance is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and our capacity for change.


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SHATTERED -- DVD Review by Porfle



Sometimes it's a chore to watch one of those Lifetime Channel-type dramas that gets a female protagonist into an untenable situation and then pulls out all the predictable stops to get her out of it.

Every once in a while, though, I find myself in the middle of one and stop and think: "Hmm...I'm enjoying this."  It's such a pleasant surprise that I'm compelled to regard the movie in a much more charitable light rather than wincing at every tired plot turn or turgid dialogue exchange.

In the case of SHATTERED (2017), the surprise doesn't stop there. In fact, it's full of surprises.  Just when things seem headed in the old familiar directions and we settle in to see them played out, the movie deftly sidesteps expectations and heads down an entirely different avenue.  Not just once, but several times--enough to keep us not just interested, but intrigued.


Molly Burnett (THE WEDDING PARTY, "Days of Our Lives") stars as Maureen, a smalltown single girl who meets, falls for, and marries Ken (Tom Malloy, HERO OF THE UNDERWORLD), the son of the town's wealthiest man.  They adopt a son named Logan, have a daughter named Emma, and start living the happy, carefree lives of the upper-class married.

But not is all as it seems.  Tom's father, Forest Burnett (the venerable Ray Wise, "Twin Peaks", THE AGGRESSION SCALE, HALLOWEED, CHILLERAMA), is an aspiring big fish/little pond politician whose fake smile masks a volatile demeanor as well as some deep, dark secrets.  His trophy wife Kate (Arianne Zucker) knows the secrets, but is trapped by fear and dependence. 

Maureen's trapped too but she just doesn't know it yet. Things start to go wrong when her adopted son Logan turns out to be a deeply troubled mental case who wields sharp instruments and mutters "Kill!"  Attempts to find out about his real parents and get professional help for him are blocked by the Burnetts, who fear the bad publicity. 


Or, in Forest's case, is there even more to it than that?  Of course there is, and thereby hinges the inevitable morass of marital and parental disaster that we're about to watch Maureen wade through like a leech-infested swamp for the next 90 minutes or so.

As I said, it all sounds so comfortingly yet tiresomely predictable, until something happens that comes right out of left field and changes everything. This messes with all our predictions to a degree that we're never quite sure what's going to come out of left field next. 

Not that any of it is particularly world-shaking, mind you.  The story progresses at a leisurely pace, with none of the dramatic intensity or thriller-type incidents usually found in these films (thus thwarting expectations yet again), and plays itself out with a sort of off-kilter calm. 


I was halfway through the big climactic scene before I realized it was the big climactic scene--that's how deceptively unsensational this story is.  It's just engaging enough to hold our attention and make us want to stick around to see how it all plays out. 

Direction by Natasha Kermani (IMITATION GIRL) is capable, with adequate-to-good performances.  Old pro Ray Wise comes off best, naturally, as does Arianne Zucker (once a co-star with Molly Burnett on "Days of Our Lives") as Forest's morally-conflicted wife.  Morgan Freeman's son Alfonso appears briefly as a mental health doctor.

I haven't revealed much about the plot (madness, infidelity, scandal, etc.) because finding out is the fun part.  SHATTERED is like a passable TV-movie that gradually evolves from dull to interesting and manages to stay that way until the end, which is more than I can say for a lot of movies I've seen.


Official site



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On 1/9, Time Life Socks it to Home Audiences with "LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON!"




THIS JANUARY, TIME LIFE SOCKS IT TO HOME VIEWERS WITH THE LATEST DVD INSTALLMENT OF TV'S LEGENDARY, STAR-STUDDED, POP CULTURE VARIETY SHOW

ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON

Street Date: January 9, 2018
DVD SRP: $39.95


The Hilarious 6-Disc Set, Available for the Very First Time at Retail

Features 26 Complete, Remastered Episodes from the Iconic and Groundbreaking Emmy® And Golden Globe®-Winning Series

Guest Stars Including Mel Brooks, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr., Kirk Douglas, Hugh Hefner, Jack Lemmon, Liberace, Bob Newhart, Richard Nixon, Don Rickles, and Many More!

PROGRAM SYNOPSIS

When, in 1968, presidential nominee Richard Nixon rhetorically queried "Sock it to me?" on "Laugh-In," it helped to elevate him to the White House and was named by Time Magazine as one of the "Top 10 Presidential Pop Culture Moments."  That's just one of the many unforgettable pop culture highlights in a transformative season full of them.  Home audiences are sure to laugh along with ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON when it arrives on DVD this January, courtesy of the TV DVD archivists at Time Life.


The '60s gave us "in-crowds," "be-ins" and "love-ins," and starting in 1968, the happening place for free-form comedy was "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," broadcast from beautiful downtown Burbank. Straight man Dan Rowan and wisecracking co-host Dick Martin led a gaggle of goofballs including Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Gary Owens, Jo Anne Worley and Alan Sues through a rapid-fire assault of one-liners, skits, bits and non sequiturs that left viewers in hysterics and disbelief.

ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON includes such classic,long-running features as "Sock It to Me," "Cocktail Party," "The Fickle Finger of Fate" and "Gladys and Tyrone,"; lighthearted salutes to higher education, machines, pollution, dancing class, police, the telephone company, the post office, and Raquel Welch; Pigmeat Markham, reclaiming his "Here Comes the Judge" routine, dispensing justice with a large rubber gavel to the noggin; Tiny Tim singing and exploring Burbank and more.

Following its boffo inaugural season, all of Hollywood got in line to appear on TV's must-see variety show, and THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON features an astounding line-up of guest stars - some of the 20th century's most talented performers and outsized personalities.  Home audiences will thrill to the appearances of Jack Benny, Victor Borge, Mel Brooks, Johnny Carson, Tony Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Phyllis Diller, Kirk Douglas, Peter Falk, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hugh Hefner, Rock Hudson, Davy Jones, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon, Liberace, Rich Little, Marcel Marceau, Bob Newhart, Richard Nixon, Vincent Price, Don Rickles, Rod Serling, Nancy Sinatra, The Smothers Brothers, John Wayne, Flip Wilson, Henny Youngman, and many more.

For LAUGH-IN aficionados, Time Life also offers LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE SERIES, available exclusively at TimeLife.com/Laugh-In.  Perfect for holiday gift giving, the attractively-packaged deluxe DVD collection - never before available together on any format - includes all 140 episodes from all six seasons on 38 discs.  Loaded with specially-produced and exclusive extras including all-new interviews with Executive Producer and Creator, George Schlater and Lily Tomlin, the rarely-seen pilot-episode, as well as Laugh-In Memories, a collectible memory book filled with jokes, pictures from the show, behind-the-scenes photos, and more!


CAST

Dan Rowan
Dick Martin
Ruth Buzzi
Judy Carne
Henry Gibson
Goldie Hawn
Arte Johnson
Gary Owens
Jo Anne Worley
Pigmeat Markham
Chelsea Brown
Dave Madden
Alan Sues

BONUS FEATURES

Dick Martin Interview
Gary Owens Interview
Ruth Buzzi Interview

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Format: DVD/6 Discs
Running Time: 1425 minutes
Genre:  TV DVD/Comedy
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Stereo



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John Wayne Body-Surfs Down a Water Chute in "The Lawless Frontier" and "The Lucky Texan" (1934)




John Wayne (and stuntman Yakima Canutt) body-surfs down a water chute tunnel in THE LAWLESS FRONTIER... ...and slides down it again on a tree limb in THE LUCKY TEXAN (both 1934).

The bad guys he's chasing are played by Earl Dwire and Eddie Parker, respectively.




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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Random Media Heralds in a "BLUE WORLD ORDER" with Billy Zane on VOD January 16th



A Blue World Order Begins January 16th

Jake Ryan, Billy Zane and Stephen Hunter Headline Indie Sci-Fi


Available Nationwide on VOD and DVD from Random Media


Los Angeles, CA-- Random Media brings humankind to the edge of ruin in Blue World Order.  Starring Billy Zane (Titanic, The Phantom), Jake Ryan ("Home and Away", The Great Gatsby) and Stephen Hunter (Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy), Blue World Order will premiere nationwide January 16th on Cable and Digital VOD, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, inDemand, Dish and more. 

Blue World Order is the first feature from writer-directors Che Baker and Dallas Bland.  The duo collected the awards for Best Film at the Canberra International Film Festival and the LA Invasion Film Festival amid screenings around the world.  Bruce Spence (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Matrix Revolutions), Jack Thompson (The Man from Snowy River, Around the Block) and newcomer Billie Rutherford round out the cast of survivors in search of a new beginning after nuclear war and a deadly plague have pushed humankind to the edge.


After a nuclear war decimated the Northern Hemisphere, the surviving population was infected with a deadly bacterium. In an attempt to rebuild civilization, a self-appointed government called The Order distributed an immunization to the bacteria, which inadvertently killed all the children. Only one man, Jake Slater, remained immune. The only child that survived is his daughter, Molly. Now, Jake scavenges the wasteland searching for a way to keep her alive, unaware that she is the key to the survival of humankind.

The DVD physical release of Blue World Order (SRP $19.95) will be available from all major online retailers.

WATCH THE TRAILER:




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Monday, December 18, 2017

"MORTAL ENGINES" New Peter Jackson Sci-Fi Epic -- Watch the Trailer NOW!



MORTAL ENGINES                                
December 14, 2018


From Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings", "The Hobbit", "King Kong")

Genre:  3D Epic Adventure

Following the conclusion of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies, three-time Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh return to the screen with a startling and sweeping new vision of a future where Earth’s cities now roam the globe on huge wheels, battling each other in a struggle for ever-diminishing resources.

This is the world of Mortal Engines, the story of how two unlikely heroes come together and change the course of the future.  Universal Pictures and MRC’s epic adaptation of the award-winning book series from Philip Reeve, published in 2001 by Scholastic, Mortal Engines is directed by Oscar®-winning visual-effects pioneer Christian Rivers (King Kong).

Jackson and Walsh co-wrote the screenplay with their fellow Oscar®-winning collaborator, Mortal Engines executive producer Philippa Boyens, with whom they crafted The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies.  Zane Weiner (The Hobbit series), Amanda Walker (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Deborah Forte (Goosebumps) also produce, while Ken Kamins (The Hobbit series) joins Boyens as executive producer.  Universal will distribute the film worldwide.

WATCH THE TRAILER

Cast:  Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Leila George,
  Ronan Raftery, Colin Salmon, Patrick Malahide,
  Regé-Jean Page, Stephen Lang and Hugo Weaving

Directed by:  Christian Rivers

Writers:  Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens
Based on the Book by: Philip Reeve
Produced by:  Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Zane Weiner,
Amanda Walker, Deborah Forte
Executive Producers:  Ken Kamins, Philippa Boyens

https://www.facebook.com/MortalEnginesMovie
https://twitter.com/mortal_engines
https://www.instagram.com/mortalengines/



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Friday, December 15, 2017

Presenting -- The JOHN WAYNE/ "GREEN BERETS" Lunchbox!



Okay, this isn't a real lunchbox--we were just having a bit of fun with one of the goofier characters from John Wayne's controversial 1968 Viet Nam epic, THE GREEN BERETS. Namely, the doggedly "cute" little Vietnamese kid named "Ham Chunk" (Craig Jue) who's intended to make our heartstrings go all a-flutter.  (Click pics to enlarge.)


In the movie, Ham Chunk is an orphan who hangs around a U.S. military base deep in the combat zone and likes to play pranks on the soldiers (after which he points and utters his catchphrase, "Ha ha, you funny!")

He gets adopted by--or rather, adopts--an unconventional lieutenant named Peterson, played by Jim Hutton, who becomes his father figure.  The cuteness factor is cranked up to eleven during their scenes, especially when accompanied by film composer Miklos Rozsa's bathos-enriched "Ham Chunk" theme music.



[SPOILER] When Peterson fails to return from a dangerous mission, the kid loses it.  "Peter-san!  Peter-san!" he wails, searching desperately amongst the empty helicopters to no avail. 

It's up to the Duke to step up, take the poor kid by the hand, and lead him into the sunset (which, famously, sets in the East). [/SPOILER]



Anyway, the lunchbox may be fictitious, but we'd love to have one.  Whether in the lunchroom at school or the breakroom at work, it would make a dandy conversation piece!


[MORE SPOILERS:]



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Gravitas Ventures "THE BILL MURRAY EXPERIENCE"-- iTunes Sale Dec. 15-17, Limited Theatrical and VOD/Digital Dec 19th



This weekend: iTunes sale for the incredibly engaging new feature documentary “The Bill Murray Experience,” which shows we are all on a journey in search of a magic spark in our lives. 

The directorial debut from actress/filmmaker Sadie Katz (“Blood Feast,” “Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort”), “The Bill Murray Experience” takes the viewer on a journey of self discovery with the touch of the stars and is being distributed by Gravitas Ventures across VOD platforms globally and will do a limited theatrical run in Los Angeles beginning December 19th, 2017. 

At a crossroads in her life, actress Sadie Katz embarks on a quest to have a magical experience with legendary comedian Bill Murray.


After ending her engagement and finding herself at a loss for inspiration Katz, finds herself up late at night searching the internet. In her loneliness, she keeps clicking on stories of others having magical chance encounters with her favorite actor and life guru Bill Murray.

Katz shares with the audience that she finds herself at a loss as to why she needs to meet Bill Murray but, that's part of the intrigue and pleasure of knowing that secretly we all wish we had a little Murray Magic in our life...which starts both Sadie and the audience on the quest of finding the unfindable and zany Bill Murray.

The documentary features: Joel Murray (“Mad Men”), P.J. Soles (“Stripes”), and the legend himself Bill Murray.


**HD and SD pricing  $6.99 in US and Canada.  Sale runs Dec 15th through Midnight EST on Dec 17th.  

iTunes link: http://apple.co/2hz3FnT
iTunes Pre-Order Link: http://apple.co/2hz3FnT

WATCH THE TRAILER:
 
Where to follow the filmmakers, the film and its journey:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billmurrayexperiencedocumentary/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sadiekatz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sadie_katz



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Thursday, December 14, 2017

John Wayne: The Crooning Cowpoke




Here's a collection of some of the attempts by various studios in the 1930s to turn the young John Wayne into a singing cowboy.  His voice is dubbed--none too convincingy--in each clip.  In most of these, he's playing a character known as "Singin' Sandy."





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"EXTRAORDINARY MISSION" From the Writer of "The Departed" On Blu-ray and Digital Feb. 6



FROM THE WRITER OF THE DEPARTED

"EXTRAORDINARY MISSION"


Starring Huang Xuan, The Heart-Stopping Race To Defeat A Chinese Drug Cartel
Begins On Blu-ray™ And Digital February 6

It’s all the twisty verve and crazy inventiveness of Hong Kong action cinema.” -- Bleeding Cool


(Los Angeles, CA) – From Alan Mak and Felix Chong, co-writers of The Departed and director of Infernal Affairs, comes the “first rate-action film” (China Film Insider), EXTRAORDINARY MISSION, arriving on Blu-ray™ & Digital February 6 from Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) and Crimson Forest Films.

Blockbuster actor Huang Xuan (The Interpreter) stars in thrilling Hong Kong crime drama as Lin Kai, an undercover officer assigned to penetrate the Twin Eagles drug cartel. To gain cartel boss Eagle’s (Yihong Duan, White Deer Plain) trust, Kai is forced into gradual drug addiction while attempting to locate the cartel’s production base. Stakes are further complicated when Kai realizes Eagle has been plotting a violent revenge against his supervisor Li Jianguo (Jiadong Xing, The Last Women Standing) for over a decade.

The white-knuckle thriller holds an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes and was a smash hit at the Chinese box office. Both Blu-ray™ and DVD collections will feature English subtitles, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $19.97 and $14.93, respectively.

WATCH THE OFFICIAL TRAILER


SYNOPSIS:
From the director of Infernal Affairs comes this action-packed thriller about justice and one man willing to go to any length to get it. When police officer Lin Kai is assigned to go undercover with a notoriously ruthless drug cartel, he unwillingly becomes an addict to their incredibly potent supply. As he works to dismantle the network from the inside, his discovery of an elaborate revenge plot against his police supervisor puts his loyalties to the test.

EXTRAORDINARY MISSION BLU-RAY™                   
Price:                  $19.97

Street Date:         February 6, 2018
Language:           Mandarin                 
Runtime:             120 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English

EXTRAORDINARY MISSION DVD BASICS                
Price:                  $14.93

Street Date:         February 6, 2018
Language:           Mandarin                 
Runtime:             120 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English

About Cinedigm:
Cinedigm powers custom content solutions to the world’s largest retail, media and technology companies. We provide premium feature films and series to digital platforms including iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon, cable and satellite providers including Comcast, Dish Network and DirecTV, and major retailers including Walmart and Target. Leveraging Cinedigm’s unique capabilities, content and technology, the Company has emerged as a leader in the fast-growing over-the-top channel business, with four channels under management that reach hundreds of millions of devices while also providing premium content and service expertise to the entire OTT ecosystem.

About Crimson Forest Films:
Crimson Forest Films is a theatrical and home entertainment distribution label that specializes in bringing top content in film & television to North America and China. Crimson Forest Film’s corporate headquarters is in Los Angeles, California with offices in Shanghai, China.

For more information about Crimson Forest Films please visit www.crimsonforestfilms.com



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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

"MOLLY'S GAME" True High-Stakes Poker Thriller In Select Theaters Christmas Day -- Watch the Trailer NOW!



"MOLLY'S GAME"

In Select Theaters Nationwide Christmas Day
Everywhere January 5th

MOLLY'S GAME is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons.

Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe.

WATCH THE TRAILER:


www.facebook.com/mollysgamemovie
www.instagram.com/mollysgamemovie
www.twitter.com/mollys_game
#MollysGame






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"SHOCK WAVE" With Andy Lau -- China’s #1 Box Office Hit on Blu-ray & Digital Jan 2



HONG KONG SUPERSTAR ANDY LAU HEADLINES
PULSE-POUNDING THRILLER


"SHOCK WAVE"

China’s #1 Box Office Hit Explodes onto Blu-ray™ & Digital January 2

Takes no prisoners when it comes to delivering high-octane action” -- The Star


(Los Angeles, CA) – Blockbuster star Andy Lau (The Great Wall, House of Flying Daggers), one of Hong Kong’s most commercially successful actors ever, headlines the edge-of-seat thriller SHOCK WAVE, arriving on Blu-ray™ & Digital January 2 from Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) and Crimson Forest Films.

Written and directed by Herman Yau (IP Man: The Legend Is Born), with both Yau and Lau as producers, the spellbinding action film captured the #1 box office spot in China and Hong Kong when it hit theaters earlier this year. With a $23 million budget, SHOCK WAVE has become Hong Kong’s second-highest grossing domestic film of 2017 and was celebrated as “disarmingly entertaining” by The Hollywood Reporter.

Set on the busy streets of Hong Kong, Lau stars as Cheung Choi-san, a bomb disposal expert working to protect his city from attack. When a terrorist who specializes in explosives, Hung Kai-pang (Jiang Wu, A Touch of Sin), takes hold of the busy Cross-Harbor Tunnel, he threatens to kill hostages if his demands are not met.

The third collaboration between Yah and Lau, SHOCK WAVE holds an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes and is praised for its high-octane drama that put Lau in a 70-pound bomb disposal suit during filming. The Blu-ray™ + DVD Combo includes an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, including an interview with Lau.

WATCH THE OFFICIAL TRAILER:


SHOCK WAVE BLU-RAY™ + DVD BASICS                
Price:                  $22.97

Street Date:         January 2, 2018
Language:           Cantonese, Mandarin                      
Runtime:             119 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English

SHOCK WAVE DVD BASICS                   
Price:                  $16.97

Street Date:         January 2, 2018
Language:           Cantonese, Mandarin                      
Runtime:             119 minutes             
Rating:                Not Rated
Subtitles:            English



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Modern Vehicle Blooper in "SHANE" (1953)



"SHANE" (Paramount Pictures, 1953) is our all-time favorite western but that doesn't mean we don't love this wonderful modern vehicle blooper that occurs early in the movie. It has been erased from the DVD print but can still be seen in the trailer.

Music courtesy of Royalty Free Music Maker


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