News

Earlier this month, Steve Albini tragically passed away just a week before the release of To All Trains, his band Shellac’s first new album in a decade. Now, the discographies of Shellac and Albini’s earlier band, Big Black, have both returned to Spotify and other DSPs.

The move comes as a bit of a surprise, considering Albini’s outspoken distaste for Spotify in the past. Always a critic of exploitation and imbalances of power — especially within the music industry — he pulled Shellac and Big Black from the platform in 2022. That same year, he even tweeted “Spotify is a terrible company and I don’t want to be part of their business.”

Nonetheless, Albini’s views on Spotify (like most of his views) were nuanced. “I don’t fault the bands who have their music on Spotify by choice,” he said in a 2022 interview. “It’s one of the...

Exclusive: Mike Goodridge has been on a rare journey. Not many in the industry can boast a CV that includes running a trade publication, an international sales company, a film festival and being the producer of multiple Cannes Film Festival movies.

Goodridge, the former editor of Screen International, CEO of Protagonist, and artistic director of the Macao Film Festival, is on the Croisette this year with Un Certain Regard thriller Santosh. In the UK-Germany-France co-production by filmmaker Sandhya Suri, a government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh (Shahana Goswami) inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low-caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.

Filming begins this summer in Asia on Good Chaos/Nine Hours production for Netflix The Ballad Of A Small Player, Ed Berger’s...

Oh, Canada debuting this week on the Croisette is high time to see lesser-seen Schrader on the Criterion Channel, who’ll debut an 11-title series including the likes of Touch, The Canyons, and Patty Hearst, while Old Boyfriends (written with his brother Leonard) and his own “Adventures in Moviegoing” are also programmed. Five films by Jean Grémillon, a rather underappreciated figure of French cinema, will be showing

Series-wise, there’s an appreciation of the synth soundtrack stretching all the way back to 1956’s Forbidden Planet while, naturally, finding its glut of titles in the ’70s and ’80s––Argento and Carpenter, obviously, but also Tarkovsky and Peter Weir. A Prince and restorations of films by Bob Odenkirk, Obayashi, John Greyson, and Jacques Rivette (whose Duelle is a masterpiece of the highest order) make streaming debuts. I Am Cuba, Girlfight, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Dazed and Confused are June’s Criterion Editions.

Exclusive: Mike Goodridge’s growing UK production company Good Chaos, which is in Cannes with Un Certain Regard title Santosh, has had a minority equity investment from Cameron Lamb’s Paris-based audio platform Alexander.

The investment will give Alexander an opportunity to develop its growing non-fiction IP library, across film and TV formats, while Good Chaos has been able to grow its headcount, operations and production reach.

The companies’ first joint film project is Wife, Witch, Poisoner, Whore, a period thriller based on the Alexander audiobook by Katherine Rundell, and narrated by Helena Bonham Carter.

The official synopsis reads: “Beautiful, rich, clever, and determined English noblewoman Frances Howard was a dazzling celebrity at the court of James I. But when the unhappy teenage bride rebelled against the patriarchy of her day, she was put on trial for witchcraft, infidelity and murder – very nearly at the expense of her life.”

Good Chaos is on a roll.

Exclusive: Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) has been set to lead a new action-thriller from director Baltasar Kormákur (Everest), which Black Bear is launching this week for the Cannes market.

In the currently untitled pic, Statham will play Mason who lives in isolation in a remote Scottish island. When he rescues a young girl from the ocean in a terrible storm, he sets a chain of events in motion that brings a violent attack to his hideaway, forcing him back into the world to confront the ghosts of his past.

Principal photography is scheduled to commence in November in the UK and Iceland with production services and filming to take place at Kormákur’s Rvk Studios facility in Reykjavik. Script comes from Ward Parry.

Producers include Statham (Levon’s Trade) for Punch Palace Productions, Kormákur for Rvk Studios, John Friedberg (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare) for Black Bear, and Jon Berg...

A new “Heroes” reboot series is in development from creator Tim Kring, Variety has confirmed.

The reboot, titled “Heroes: Eclipsed,” is set years after the events of the original superhero series, as new evolved humans are discovering their powers. Kring is executive producing “Heroes: Eclipsed” with his manager, Mosaic’s Jordan Cerf. Casting has yet to be announced.

“Heroes” ran for four seasons on NBC from 2006 to 2010, and starred Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Milo Ventimiglia, Masi Oka, Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar and Greg Grunberg. Kring then worked on the 2015 limited series “Heroes Reborn,” with Coleman reprising his role as Noah Bennet. Zachary Levi, Robbie Kay, Kiki Sukezane, Ryan Guzman, Rya Kihlstedt and Judith Shekoni also starred in “Heroes Reborn.”

Back in 2015, while promoting “Reborn,” Kring teased the possibility of developing more storylines in the “Heroes” universe following the 13-episode event series.

“I’ve always felt that...

You may know Skeet Ulrich as Fp Jones from Riverdale, but the 47-year-old actor has actually been steaming up the silver screen since the '90s. Yep, in case you can't recall (or weren't born yet), Skeet played Chris Hooker in The Craft, Billy Loomis in Scream, and Juvenal in Touch. While Skeet has undergone a series of transformations throughout the years, the one thing that's remained the same is his killer good looks. We don't know if it's his rugged scruff or his creepily sexy smirk, but there's something about him that is just so irresistible. RelatedWhy Fp and Alice Are the Og Jughead and Betty on Riverdale...

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

The Marlene Dietrich retrospective continues, while a series of contemporary French classics begins running.

Miracle Mile and The Spirit of the Beehive also screen.

Film Forum

One of the greatest filmmakers, comedy or otherwise, is put center stage in “The Lubitsch Touch.”

Léon Morin, Priest continues playing, while The Bad News Bears screens on Sunday.

Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSOf course, the biggest news in the film world over the last week has been the repeated announcements of the films included in the various festivals in Cannes this May, from the Official Selection (films by Almodóvar, Maren Ade, the Dardennes, Paul Verhoeven, and Sean Penn) and the Directors' Fortnight (Paul Schrader, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Marco Bellocchio), to Critics' Week (Oliver Laxe and Chloë Sevigny) and the increasingly higher profile Acid (including Damien Manivel's follow-up to A Young Poet, which is currently playing exclusively on Mubi in the Us).Speaking of festivals, many South Korean filmmakers will be boycotting the major Asian festival of Busan, due to interference with the organization from the city government.On a lighter note, the Loch Ness Monster has been found! Actually, no: that's no monster,...

Look at LL Cool J's reaction -- it's huuuuuge!

This Thursday, January 28, "Frozen" star Josh Gad is taking on "The Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco on Spike's "Lip Sync Battle." Spike just posted a couple of teasers for the showdown, including Josh as Donald Trump, performing The Divinyls' "I Touch Myself."

The clip takes a random turn at the end when Kaley's Tbbt co-star Johnny Galecki shows up, also wearing a Trump wig, and makes out with Gad's Trump. As one fan put it in the YouTube comments, "Oh my gosh I just saw Leonard make out with Olaf..." Yep, while dressed as Trump! Things you don't see every day.

Kaley laughs, but LL clearly wishes he could unsee it. Megyn Kelly should put that one on repeat.

Here's a preview of Kaley getting dirty to Ludacris's "Move Bitch":

Watch the full battles play out on Thursday.

Justin Timberlake visited his buddy Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show Wednesday night, which usually means one thing: A new installment in their beloved, Roots-assisted "History of Rap" megamix. The pair wasted no time as the show opened with Timberlake and Fallon singing Jay Z and R. Kelly's "Fiesta" to kick off the dance party.

"History of Rap" spans over 30 years of hip-hop, from LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells" and Whodini's "Friends" to Fetty Wap's "My Way" and Drake's "Know Yourself." Along the way, Timberlake and...

Back-to-school time isn’t just for the kiddos anymore. Justin Timberlake made a triumphant return to The Tonight Show on Wednesday, and with a little help from his old pal Jimmy Fallon, the former *Nsync-er gave us all a history lesson… in rap.

RelatedFall TV Spectacular: Exclusive Scoop and Photos on 43 Returning Favorites!

Timberlake and Fallon performed another classic “History of Rap” medley, their sixth overall, consisting of 23 jams from Public Enemy to Fetty Wap.

To save you the trouble of pausing and Googling — because, honestly, who has time for that? — here’s a rundown of the songs performed in...

Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks, will make its World Premiere at the 53rd New York International Film Festival, running from September 25 to October 11. The film was one of 26 announced as part of the festival’s main slate, along with one of four World Premieres.

Some of the main slate highlights include Todd Haynes’s Carol, featuring Cannes Best Actress Winner Rooney Mara alongside Cate Blanchett, Miguel Gomes’s three part saga Arabian Nights, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin, the Us premiere of Michael Moore’s latest Where to Invade Next, Michel Gondry’s French film Microbe et Gasoil, and the World Premiere of the documentary Don’t Blink: Robert Frank, about the life of the fames photographer and filmmaker.

Previously announced films include the World Premiere of The Walk, Robert Zemeckis’s Philippe Petit biopic serving as the opening night film, the World Premiere of...

The first episode of Lip Sync Battle, the spin-off series based on Jimmy Fallon‘s hilarious Tonight Show segment, featured the Tonight Show host facing off against Furious 7 star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who declared their match as “the lip sync battle of all lip sync battles.” Accompanied by host of everything LL Cool J and color commentator/time filler Chrissy Teigen, each competing star “performs” two songs and the audience decides on the victor, who receives the coveted championship belt.

Johnson came out swinging (which, if you’ve seen his biceps, is nothing to mess with) by performing Taylor “Tay Tay” Swift‘s “Shake It Off.” While the superstar nailed a couple of things, including the giggle at the beginning of the tune, he missed a few cues. Still, he gets bonus points for adding a little bit of edge by flipping Fallon the bird and for making...

The first episode of Lip Sync Battle, the spin-off series based on Jimmy Fallon‘s hilarious Tonight Show segment, featured the Tonight Show host facing off against Furious 7 star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who declared their match as “the lip sync battle of all lip sync battles.” Accompanied by host of everything LL Cool J and color commentator/time filler Chrissy Teigen, each competing star “performs” two songs and the audience decides on the victor, who receives the coveted championship belt.

Johnson came out swinging (which, if you’ve seen his biceps, is nothing to mess with) by performing Taylor “Tay Tay” Swift‘s “Shake It Off.” While the superstar nailed a couple of things, including the giggle at the beginning of the tune, he missed a few cues. Still, he gets bonus points for adding a little bit of edge by flipping Fallon the bird and for making...

Jon M. Chu, the director of the Step Up films and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, is set to develop a new movie project called Can’t Touch This. As most of you know, that is the name of a popular song written by M.C. Hammer. The film is a high school dance comedy that will be set in the 1990s. Having grown up as a teenager in the '90s, the thought of a dance movie called Can’t Touch This made me laugh. I’m glad to hear that it’s going to be a comedy because hard to imagine a movie with a title like that could be taken seriously, unless they tackle it like films such as Dazed and Confused or American Graffiti. Those both had a good balance of drama and comedy.

Chu is definitely the best man for the job. This seems to fit in with...

With Daniel Radcliffe now sporting a pair of horns at screens worldwide, we decided to pit a few other big-screen Beelzebubs against one another in head-to-head combat.

The only rules? No kids (see you, Rosemary's Baby), animals (laters, Devil Dog: Hound Of Hell) or metaphorical stand-ins (ciao, Keyser Söze). Let the Luci-face off commence...

The Heavyweights

Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) in Angel Heart (1987)

An espresso-sipping, egg-peeling businessman with a luxuriant mullet – well, it was the 1980s – Louis Cyphre (De Niro) casts a quietly seething shadow across Alan Parker's dank New Orleans noir. Despite his "dimestore joke" name ("Mephistopheles is such a mouthful in Manhattan," he tells Mickey Rourke's fall-guy Pi) and lethal talons, there's a subtlety to De Niro's El Diablo that means he only needs to raise an eyebrow to convey an eternity of egg-bound malevolence.

vs

John Milton (Al Pacino) in The Devil's Advocate (1997)

More Gordon Gecko than genuine fiend,...

With Chief Vick and Juliet off in San Francisco, new Sbpd Chief Lassiter needs a new head detective. In "Psych's" "A Touch of Sweevil," he finds that person in Betsy Brannigan (guest star Mira Sorvino), who he discovers is a Lassie clone, after first trying to get rid of her by having Gus and Shawn pull out all the crazy stops with their psychic shenanigans.

It's a fun episode, particularly with Yvette Nicole Brown and Tom Arnold rounding out the guest-star list as fellow paranormal consultants.  It also kind of makes us wish Lassie and Brannigan were getting a "Psych" spinoff -- especially since her sidearms are named "Belle Star" and "Beatrix Kiddo."

Best Lines:

Shawn: "If he wants to turn a blind eye to my skill set for four years running, then he can eat a hot, steaming bowl of suck-it soup."

Gus: "Is there a green room, Randall?...

Check out this fun "Psych" promo, airing exclusively at Zap2it now and set to begin running next week on USA. Everyone's favorite psychic detectives are on hiatus during the 2014 Winter Olympics but return with all-new episodes on Wednesday, Feb. 26, when the show starts its run towards the series finale.

We can tease a few things for you when the show returns:

In "1967: A Psych Odyssey," look for some really fun flashbacks to a case from the titular year that feature all your favorite Sbpd faces as characters from the past. Our particular favorite is Gus as "cocoa crooner" Miles Velour. He's the smoothest."1967" also puts some major changes in motion for the "Psych" gang. There's a scene near the end that will get your waterworks going, so have some tissues handy."Shawn and Gus Truck Things Up" is back to light-hearted hijinks involving the local food truck scene.

Crime writer known for Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Hombre whose work served as a barometer of modern America

When Elmore Leonard's Stick was published in Britain in 1984, one newspaper called it "a fine first novel". At almost 60, the author would have been amused at such an accolade; it was, in fact, his 21st novel, and Leonard, who has died aged 87, had been selling his fiction regularly, occasionally to Hollywood. But the genres in which he chose to work often failed to attract serious critical attention: westerns first, then crime novels set in the contemporary urban hinterlands.

Westerns as a literary genre still lack respectability, but the craft and energy of Leonard's crime novels, which include Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Labrava, eventually made them impossible to ignore. Still, recognition came late: only in 1992 did the Mystery Writers of America grant him its highest accolade, the Grand Master Edgar.

Chicago – Elmore Leonard was so much a part of the entertainment landscape that many people don’t even realize the extent of his influence and reach on, of course, literature, but also film and television. The same man created the characters you love in “3:10 to Yuma,” “Get Shorty,” “Out of Sight,” and “Justified.”

He passed away from a stroke this morning, as revealed on his Facebook page. He was 87 and, according to the post, surrounded by those he loved.

Born in New Orleans, Leonard would forever be identified with Detroit, the city that became his home in 1934. His first story was published in 1951 and he began his career with a focus on Westerns. He published dozens of short stories in the ’50s, two of which were turned into hit films of the day, “The Tall T” and “3:10 to Yuma”. Over the years, 26 novels or short stories were turned into films or television programs,...

The new trailer for The Canyons, starring Lindsay Lohan has arrived. This may have worked in Robert Rodriguez' Grindhouse, but here, it's just nauseating to watch. I know what they're going for, but when you see this effect applied over modern-day environment, it just doesn't sit right. The thriller directed by Paul Schrader, known for The Walker, Affliction, Touch and classics like American Gigolo and Patty Hearst, also includes Nolan Gerard Funk, Gus Van Sant, James Deen, Amanda Brooks, Tenille Houston, Lauren Shacher and Jarod Einsohn. Brett Easton Ellis (The Informers) scripts with a story focusing on youth, glamor and sex in Los Angeles, circa 2012. This is a teaser, so hopefully the next trailer will be better than what we've seen.

The new trailer for The Canyons, starring Lindsay Lohan has arrived. This may have worked in Robert Rodriguez' Grindhouse, but here, it's just nauseating to watch. I know what they're going for, but when you see this effect applied over modern-day environment, it just doesn't sit right. The thriller directed by Paul Schrader, known for The Walker, Affliction, Touch and classics like American Gigolo and Patty Hearst, also includes Nolan Gerard Funk, Gus Van Sant, James Deen, Amanda Brooks, Tenille Houston, Lauren Shacher and Jarod Einsohn. Brett Easton Ellis (The Informers) scripts with a story focusing on youth, glamor and sex in Los Angeles, circa 2012. This is a teaser, so hopefully the next trailer will be better than what we've seen.

Digital Spy is live at the London leg of Apple's blockbuster product launch, where the world's biggest technology is expected to announce the iPhone 5 and a refresh of the iPod lineup. Apple boss Tim Cook will take to the stage at 6pm UK time (10am local time) at the venue in San Francisco. 19:58Tim Cook loves it. "You guys are absolutely awesome," he enthuses to the band as they finish. And then adds: "That went fantastic." And that is your lot. We are done, no major surprises. But some pretty cool products. Thanks for reading. 19:56This must be among the Foo Fighters' most unusual gigs ever - playing a set to an audience of tech journalists live blogging to the world. Bizarre. 19:53Wonder if the band are getting paid in Apple products? You get a new iPod Touch for every song, lads! Now playing 'Walk'. 19:...

The medical office at the center of Fox’s The Mindy Project is getting mighty crowded.

Amanda Setton and Stephen Tobolowsky have joined the Mindy Kaling-created Fox comedy as series regulars, TVLine has confirmed. In addition, MADtv’s Ike Barinholtz, who’s also a Mindy Project executive story editor, will appear as a recurring character.

Related | Fall TV Preview: Your Guide to What’s New!

The Mindy Project follows Mindy Lahiri, M.D.– played by Kaling — as she looks for love and tries (often unsuccessfully) not to sabotage her romantic chances.

Setton’s tough-girl Shauna Dicanio will work the front of Shulman and Associates,...

Every year, the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox and NBC) order pilots to be considered for the fall season. A pilot, as you may know, is the first episode of a TV series and the final step in a long development process from idea to screen.

From the 87 drama and comedy pilots ordered this year, a new crop of television shows will be selected -- and I read the scripts for each and every one of them. Over the course of this week, I'm walking you through the network's pilot slates, offering a bit of analysis on their present schedules and providing you with a rundown of the drama contenders. (Plus, a little bit of info about the comedies, too.) Of course, not all of these shows will find their way to your TV set -- in fact, most of them you may never hear of again.

Leonard is regarded as the greatest American crime writer, surpassing even Raymond Chandler. But it is time to drop the qualification of genre

The best novelists create a world around the reader. You can feel it bubbling up in irrepressible invention. So we have "a guy by the name of Booker, a twenty-five-year old super-dude twice convicted felon" in his Jacuzzi when the telephone rings. No one answers it, and Booker gets out of the Jacuzzi. At the other end of the line, a woman, Moselle, asks him to sit down. When he does, she informs him that he's triggered a bomb in the chair – "when you get up, honey, what's left of your ass is gonna go clear through the ceiling". The bomb-disposal boys arrive in their nonchalant way: "Booker said 'Another one goes hmmmmm. I'm sitting here on high explosives the motherfucker goes hmmmmm.'" Is there a bomb?...

Dancers broke the record for Longest Team Dance Marathon.

By Gil Kaufman

Dancers participate in the Longest Team Dance Marathon at O Music Awards 2

Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

They came, they danced, they kept on dancing and then they danced a bit more and set a Guinness World Record. And it all happened at the O Music Awards on Monday night when a group of tireless hoofers grinded it out for 24 hours to snatch the Guinness record for the Longest Team Dance Marathon.

The group of dancers — a lucky 13 — assembled at the Roxy in Hollywood on Halloween Eve to kick off their attempt with some musical assistance from DJ Diamond Kuts. And then they were off, tearing it up, with minimal five-minute breaks per hour, for 24 hours. And it was all for a good cause, to raise awareness for National Bullying Prevention Month and to raise cash for a...

Home Invasion is a weekly article that we post to compile all the DVD & Blu-Ray Releases for this week that might be of interest to you. Included are links back to Amazon.com to purchase the item(s). We also included the descriptions and Specifications of the discs – if provided.

DVD & Blu-Ray Releases for October 4th, 2011:

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters: Season One

Scary doesn’t get any sillier than Season 1 of the hit Nickelodeon show Aaahh!!! Real Monsters! These monsters-in-training make fright a hoot as they try to learn the tricks of the scary monster trade. Check out Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm and their herculean efforts to master The Gromble’s class on proper scare techniques. So pull up a seat in the Monster Academy, the scariest (Not!) place under the city dump, and get ready for lessons so bizarre, they’re scary!

Buy the DVD @ Amazon...

DVD Playhouse—August 2011

By Allen Gardner

High And Low (Criterion) Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 adaptation of Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom is a multi-layered masterpiece of suspense and one of the best portraits ever of class warfare in post-ww II Japan. Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy businessman who finds himself in a moral quandary when his chauffer’s son is kidnapped by ruthless thugs who think the boy is Mifune’s. Beautifully realized on every level. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince; Documentary on film’s production; Interview with Mifune from 1984; Trailers and teaser. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 4.0 surround.

Leon Morin, Priest (Criterion) One of French maestro Jean-Pierre Melville’s rare non-crime-oriented films, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a devoted cleric who is lusted after by the women of a small village in Nazi-occupied France. When Fr. Morin finds himself drawn to a...

Getty Fans at 2010′s Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park

Now in its seventh year at Grant Park in Chicago, Lollapalooza is offering this weekend a spectacularly diverse collection of contemporary rock and pop acts including after-dark headliners Coldplay, Deadmau5, Eminem, Foo Fighters, Muse and My Morning Jacket as well as familiar talent like Big Audio Dynamite, Bright Eyes, the Cars, Cee-Lo Green and Deftones. As is customary at these mega-festivals with many stages, some of the best music is...

By Zachary Swickey

With July quickly approaching, we are about to wave goodbye to the first half of 2011. And what a year it has already been: current reigning Queen of Pop, Lady Gaga, sold a million records in a week; the Beastie Boys proved they still have it; and everyone’s favorite Parliament-smoking hipsters, The Strokes, sold-out Madison Square Garden!

We’ve already seen a slew of solid album releases from music veterans and some second efforts that show no signs of the sophomore slump. We have plenty of records to look forward to in the second half of the year – Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye and Jay-z’s Watch the Throne project, Modest Mouse, Santigold and new Outkast and Dr. Dre records (if we’re lucky) – but before we get ahead of ourselves, here are ten of our favorites albums (so far) in 2011.

10. The Strokes – Angles

After making their...

DVD Playhouse June 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Kiss Me Deadly (Criterion) Robert Aldrich’s 1955 reinvention of the film noir detective story is one of cinema’s great genre mash-ups: part hardboiled noir; part cold war paranoid thriller; and part science- fiction. Ralph Meeker plays Mickey Spillane’s fascist detective Mike Hammer as a narcissistic simian thug, a sadist who would rather smash a suspect’s fingers than make love to the bevvy of beautiful dames that cross his path. In fact, the only time you see a smile cross Meeker’s sneering mug is when he’s doling out pain, with a vengeance. When a terrified young woman (Cloris Leachman, film debut) literally crossed Hammer’s path one night, and later turns up dead, he vows to get to the bottom of her brutal demise. One of the most influential films ever made, and perhaps the most-cited film by the architects...

Welcome to a potential new feature on the Jiba: Mindhole Blowers, where we troll the Internet and listen to DVD Commentaries of our favorite films and bring you some of the fascinating minutia about them. Because Cameron Crowe is back in the spotlight, with a documentary on Pearl Jam coming out soon, and filming on We Bought a Zoo having already begun, we kick off the series with one of my all-time favorites: Singles:

Citizen Dick's album name, Touch Me, I'm Dick, was a direct reference to a Mudhoney song, "Touch Me, I'm Sick." There was a complete listing of songs on the fictional Citizen Dick album made up by Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament. Chris Cornell ended up writing songs based on each title. One, "Seasons," made it onto the soundtrack. Another, "Spoonman," wound up on a future Soundgarden album.

Cameron Crowe toyed with the idea of naming the movie,...

Fox is the latest broadcast network to unveil its official 2011-12 schedule, and the key word is stability. Save for a few minor tweaks — most notably House’s move to 9 pm on Mondays to make way for Steve Spielberg’s dinosaur epic Terra Nova — the network’s lineup remains virtually unchanged.

Buried in Fox’s announcement is the news that after 23 years, America’s Most Wanted will morph from a weekly series into quarterly specials — which is a fancy way of saying it’s been canceled. “We have not made money on the show in quite a while,” said Fox president Kevin Reilly.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

DVD Playhouse—April 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood’s spiritual thriller follows a trio of characters whose seemingly disparate paths converge: Matt Damon as a blue collar Joe who tries to fight against his psychic powers that see “the other side,” Cecile de France as a journalist who somehow survives the tsunami that crushed Indonesia, and a London schoolboy (Frankie and George McLaren) who seeks answers after losing his twin brother. Like all of Eastwood’s films, the narrative construction is tight as a drum, with solid work by all involved. That said, “solid” would have to be the operative word to describe the proceedings here, as well as “unremarkable” and “uninvolving” on an emotional level. Perhaps we expect too much when we see Clint’s name on a film these days, but that’s the flip side of being one of the best. Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.

DVD Playhouse: January 2011

By

Allen Gardner

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox) Sequel to the seminal 1980s film catches up with a weathered, but still determined Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who seems to savor every syllable of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff’s screenplay) just out of jail and back on the comeback trail. In attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), Gekko forges a reluctant alliance with her fiancé (Shia Labeouf), himself an ambitious young turk who finds himself seduced by Gekko’s silver tongue and promise of riches. Lifeless film is further evidence of director Oliver Stone’s decline. Once America’s most exciting filmmaker, Stone hasn’t delivered a film with any teeth since 1995’s Nixon. Labeouf and Mulligan generate no sparks on-screen, and the story feels forced from the protracted opening to the final, Disney-esque denouement. Only a brief cameo by Charlie Sheen,...

DVD Playhouse December 2010

By

Allen Gardner

America Lost And Found: The Bbs Story (Criterion) Perhaps the best DVD box set released this year, this ultimate cinefile stocking stuffer offered up by Criterion, the Rolls-Royce of home video labels, features seven seminal works from the late ‘60s-early ‘70s that were brought to life by cutting edge producers Bert Schneider, Steve Blauner and director/producer Bob Rafelson, the principals of Bbs Productions. In chronological order: Head (1968) star the Monkees, the manufactured (by Rafelson, et al), American answer to the Beatles who, like it or not, did make an impact on popular culture, particularly in this utterly surreal piece of cinematic anarchy (co-written by Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo), which was largely dismissed upon its initial release, but is now regarded as a counterculture classic. Easy Rider (1969) is arguably regarded as the seminal ‘60s picture, about two hippie drug dealers (director Dennis Hopper...

EA Mobile, Harmonix, and MTV Games today announced that Rock Band Reloaded is now available on the App Store. The iPad-exclusive HD version and the version for iPhone and iPod Touch offers players an initial setlist of songs from artists including Nirvana, Billy Idol, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails and Vampire Weekend. More than 20 songs are currently available with new tracks launching throughout the holidays. Plus, for the first time, Rock Band Reloaded players now have a fifth Way to play by singing directly into their iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad utilizing new vocal recognition features. For the first time on iPad, Rock Band Reloaded includs a device-exclusive Multiplayer mode where players can challenge each...

DVD Playhouse September 2010

By

Allen Gardner

The Girl Who Played With Fire (Music Box Films) Follow up to the hit The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo finds Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) joining forces once again as Blomkvist is about to break a story on Sweden’s sex trade, which leads unexpectedly to a dark secret from Elizabeth’s past. Starts off well, then quickly nose-dives into sensationalism and downright silliness, with a pair of villains who are straight out of a Roger Moore-era James Bond film. A real letdown for those of us who felt Dragon Tattoo had finally breathed life into the cinema’s long-stagnant genre of the thriller. Bonuses: English language track; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.

The Killer Inside Me (IFC Films) Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic, and notorious, novel about the psychotic mind of a small town sheriff (Casey Affleck,...

Writer/director Charles Matthau, son of actor Walter Matthau, will adapt the 1988 crime novel "Freaky Deaky" by author Elmore Leonard.

Matthau will direct from his own script with actor William H. Macy attached to star.

To be set in 1974, premise of "Freaky Deaky" follows a radical 1960's couple who became activists, then 'explosives experts' for hire.

Several of Elmore's books have been adapted to film, including "Hombre" (1967), "Get Shorty" (1995), "Rum Punch" (aka "Jackie Brown") (1997) and "Out of Sight" (1998).

Other Elmore novels turned into films include "Mr. Majestyk" (Charles Bronson), "Valdez Is Coming" (Burt Lancaster), "52 Pick-Up" (Roy Scheider), "Stick" (Burt Reynolds), "The Moonshine War" (Alan Alda), "Last Stand at Saber River" (Tom Selleck), "Gold Coast" (David Caruso), "Glitz" (Jimmy Smits), "Cat Chaser" (Peter Weller), "Touch" (Christopher Walken), "Pronto" (Peter Falk), "Be Cool" (John Travolta) and the Toronto-lensed "Killshot" (Mickey Rourke).

"Freaky Deaky" starts shooting in 2011.

Click the images to enlarge...

DVD Playhouse—August 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Black Orpheus (Criterion) Winner of the 1959 Best Foreign Film Oscar and that same year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, Black Orpheus is a modern-day update of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice reset in 20th century Brazil during Carnival in Rio. Director Marcel Camus offers up a visual feast with some of the decade’s most ravishing color cinematography. A classic. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Archival interviews with Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn; Interviews with Brazilian cinema scholar Robert Stam, jazz historian Gary Giddins, and Brazilian author Ruy Castro; Documentary on the film; Trailer. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.

The Last Song (Touchstone) Sentimental adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ (by Sparks and Jeff Van Wie) sentimental novel about a father and daughter attempting to repair their damaged relationship. Greg Kinnear, as the dad in question, comes off best, while tween sensation Miley Cyrus...

DVD Playhouse—June 2010

By

Allen Gardner

The White Ribbon (Sony) On the eve of Ww I, a small village in Germany is struck by a series of tragic, seemingly unconnected events until the townspeople, and the audience, start to connect the dots. Shot in stark, beautiful black & white, director Michael Haneke has fashioned a haunting metaphorical drama that is as coldly chilling as anything made by Ingmar Bergman, and darkly unsettling as anything from the canon of David Lynch. A rich, tough, brilliant cinematic experience you’re not likely to forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bd bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; featurettes. Widescreen Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.

Alice In Wonderland (Disney) Tim Burton’s take on the Lewis Carroll classic finds young Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a 19th century girl who finds herself in an unhappy engagement to a boorish suitor, tumbling down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, where she encounters magical cakes,...

DVD Playhouse—April 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Ride With The Devil (Criterion) Ang Lee’s revisionist take on the Civil War is awash in moral ambiguity, along with some stunning cinematography, production design, and fine performances. Set during the Kansas-Missouri border war, Tobey Maguire and Skeet Ulrich star as two friends who join up with the Confederate-sympathizing Bushwhackers, finding an odd ally in a former slave (Jeffrey Wright). While it’s fascinating to see America’s bloodiest conflict through the eyes of a foreigner, thereby allowing much of the previously mentioned ambiguity a certain latitude, the film never loses the bad taste it leaves for one simple reason: it asks us, the audience, to side with not just the Confederates, but some of the lowest trash that made up the dregs, and the fringes, of the movement. Big points for audacity, but snake eyes on the story itself. Singer Jewel is impressive in her film debut.

“I don’t get the song choices tonight. I really don’t.” – Ellen Degeneres Your Aunt Whittlz took her first steps into Idoldome Oh-Ten this afternoon with what could tentatively be termed optimism, PopWatchers. I have learned my lesson after yea these many years of writing blogs on this here website: You commenters can be tough, but you are never more cutting than when the author expresses a certain weary disdain for the subject at hand. New Season, New Attitude! was my Tlc-reality-show-style motto today, fueled by the gorgeous L.A. weather and a meeting we had with the...

DVD Playhouse: March 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Precious: Based On The Novel “Push” By Sapphire (Lionsgate) In-your-face, but undeniably powerful film that follows the plight of an overweight inner-city teen (Gabourey Sidbe, a real find) who must deal with an abusive mother (Mo’Nique, in a career-making turn for which she won a most-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar), a baby born of her abusive, and absent, father, and trying to survive day-to-day with few people to offer her help, save for a sympathetic teacher (Paula Patton) in a special ed program. Director/producer Lee Daniels, a former personal manager/producer-turned-filmmaker, brings a kitchen sink authenticity to the proceedings, along with a cast of famous powerhouse performers, who manage to disappear into their roles. Tough stuff, but not to be missed. Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (Geoffrey Fletcher). Bonuses: Commentary by Daniels; Featurettes; Interviews with Sapphire and Daniels; Deleted scene. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.

DVD Playhouse—February 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Hunger (Criterion) Harrowing true story of imprisoned Ira member Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) and his 1981 hunger strike protesting the British government’s refusal to recognize him, and other Ira members as political prisoners. Director Steve McQueen delivers the story with true filmmaking panache, mixing startling imagery that blends both stunning beauty and stomach-churning horror. Fassbender is absolutely brilliant in the lead. Not for the faint-of-heart, but not to be missed or, particularly, ignored. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interviews with McQueen and Fassbender; Short documentary; 1981 episode of BBC series “Panorama” that covers the Ira hunger strike; Trailer. Widescreen. DTS-hd audio on Blu-ray.

Adam (20th Century Fox) Quirky romantic comedy about an eccentric, borderline Asperger’s Syndrome, astronomy buff (Hugh Dancy) who is drawn out of his self-imposed shell by a beautiful and sympathetic neighbor (Rose Byrne). Charming film with engaging performances by the two leads,...

This is CNN?

(Above: Handsome Furs, Photo Liam Maloney)

Either CNN is getting insanely hip or Vbs.TV, the video arm of gonzo-hip magazine and lifestyle brand Vice, and SubPop records, the Seattle label that launched Nirvana, have grown way up.

The two arbiters of all things rocking and youthful figuratively hoisted old man Turner atop a throng of music fans Tuesday night at Brooklyn music venue Public Assembly so he could crowd surf to the sounds of Handsome Furs, a Canadian electro-punk duo, the side project of slightly more popular indie outfit Wolf Parade front man Dan Boeckner and his partner Alexei Perry Cox.

The Furs are featured in the CNN.com/Vbs.TV segment "Indie Asia: On tour with Handsome Furs." Right now, the Vbs.TV on CNN.com microsite is offering "The Vice Guide to Liberia." The new "Vbs.TV on CNN.com" will hold a prominent...

(Christopher Walken, above.)

[We continue with our postings of some of the best interviews from the previous decade that have thus far only appeared in print, but not on our site. This interview was conducted by our good friend in New York, filmmaker Michael Wechsler. It originally appeared in Venice Magazine in 2003. Walken was just coming off a terrific performance in Catch Me If You Can. This is one of the better talks Walken has ever given. He speaks a lot about his process, in very entertaining fashion, making this a must-read for any aspiring actors.]

Christopher Walken: Dancer in the Dark

by Michael Wechsler

He dances. He can carry a tune. He has become a regular host on "Saturday Night Live." He loves Jerry Lewis, cats, Bugs Bunny, cooking and painting.

Oh, wait, I'm forgetting a few small details. He also won an Academy Award in 1978 for playing a suicidal soldier in Vietnam, gave audiences a lifetime of nightmares and sadistic chuckles playing a heavy in King of New York and a thug amongst thugs in True Romance, and to this day has one of the most recognizable hairstyles of anybody gracing the Silver Screen.

Frankly, I was more than a little nervous about interviewing Mr. Walken, based purely on his resume of psychologically unstable characters. My initial thought was ‘I hope he's nothing like the folks he's played.' Looking through Walken's roles of the past three decades, it feels...