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Action

VOD Spotlight: The gritty landscape of “The Book of Eli”

Filmmakers Allen and Albert Hughes (Menace II Society, From Hell) always bring a distinct visual style to their films, and The Book of Eli is no different. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic America, which is now a wasteland. A wandering warrior named Eli (Denzel Washington) seeks only peace, but if challenged will cut his attackers down quickly. He wants to fulfill his destiny and bring help to a ravaged humanity, but he faces a big challenge when he comes upon Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the self-appointed despot of a makeshift town of thieves and gunmen. In creating the look […]

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Drama

VOD Spotlight: Isle of Mania — Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island”

By Karl J. Paloucek One of the problems with director Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thrillers is that over time, their references to psychoanalysis have not aged well. The science was in its early infancy and its treatment in movies like Spellbound and Psycho that was once clever now seems clumsy and weak. Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese – one of the few directors to come close to catching up to the Master of Suspense with his 1991 remake of J. Lee Thompson’s Cape Fear – has an advantage in being able to rely on decades of development and history where behavioral […]

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Horror

VOD Spotlight: “Legion” imagines the Apocalypse

Legion is a terrifying vision of the Apocalypse from writer/director Scott Stewart (Priest). As mankind destroys itself in a savage fury, a small group of peple trapped on the edge of nowhere prepare to make a last stand, with the help of a mysterious and powerful stranger. Dennis Quaid, Charles S. Dutton, Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki and Kate Walsh star. Stewart’s rewrite of the original script takes a “less is more” approach to the horror elements. “The original was a more explicit, ‘we’re going to show you everything,’ way of telling the story, as opposed to, […]

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Action

VOD Spotlight: “The Wolfman” – Returning To Classic Horror Roots

By Elaine Bergstrom Some of my fondest childhood memories were watching the classic Universal Studios horror films of the ’40s and ’50s at the local theater and on Ghoulardi’s late-night horror film screenings. One of the films I saw was the Lon Chaney Jr. classic The Wolf Man, and it was one of my favorites. Thankfully, the werewolf may have made some smoother and more elaborate transformations thanks to modern special effects, but the tone of the stories – a noble human doomed by a curse and an unfortunate bite – has stayed the same in films such as An […]

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Movies

VOD Spotlight: “Dear John” sparks more interest in author’s book adaptations

Author Nicholas Sparks has hit it big in Hollywood ever since his best-selling novel The Notebook was made into a successful film in 2004. Two of his other books, Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember, had previously been filmed, but The Notebook really helped cue movie audiences in to the Nicholas Sparks style of romantic drama. That was followed by the 2008 adaptation of Nights in Rodanthe, and this year’s The Last Song. That style has also continued with this year’s movie version of Sparks’ Dear John. It’s a romantic drama about a soldier (Channing Tatum) who […]

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Documentary

TCM’s Eastwood movie marathon and new doc celebrate Clint’s 80th birthday

He’s made our day, many times over the years, with dozens of memorable, if not classic, films in which he has starred or directed — or both (and in some cases also served as the composer of music scores). Now, Clint Eastwood is getting his own day on TCM when the movie network devotes 24 hours of programming to the works of the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker. The celebration airs this Monday, May 31 (Eastwood’s 80th birthday), beginning at 6am ET. At the center of the marathon is the world television premiere of The Eastwood Factor, a new documentary written […]

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Comedy

Cham-pan-ya in 3-D: “Saturday Night Live” movies that shoulda been

It’s hard to believe, but there hasn’t been a Saturday Night Live-spinoff movie since 2000’s little-seen The Ladies Man. For a while there, it seemed like the parade of half-hearted, one-note, laugh-free clunkers would never stop. Remember gems like Superstar, A Night at the Roxbury and Stuart Saves His Family. Neither did we, until we decided we better up and do some research for this piece. For every monster success like The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World, there are legendary bombs like It’s Pat (which grossed about $1.95, adjusted for inflation) and — ahem — Blues Brothers 2000. But, much […]

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Interview

Saturday night’s all right for Syfy Original Movies!

Network’s Original Movies Are Cult And Ratings Hits “I’m gonna watch these movies till my eyes pop right out of my head Saturday night, Saturday night, Saturday night on Syfy …” —    “Saturday Night on Syfy” by Sci-Fried “To have a song written about these movies truly shows that [they] are now part of pop culture,” says Thomas Vitale, proudly, referring to the song quoted above. Vitale is executive vice president of programming and original movies at Syfy, and he’s right – his network’s Saturday original movies, long a target of mockery for their low budgets, sensational titles, cheesy […]

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Movies

Shoeless Joe Was A Lefty: Cinema’s Biggest Inaccuracies

with Karl J. Paloucek With his version of Robin Hood, opening in theaters today, director Ridley Scott is purporting to tell the true story behind the legend. It’s safe to assume then that men in tights need not apply. Call it what you will — artistic license or big, fat lies — Hollywood has never been the best source to use if you’re cramming for a history exam. Scott himself took a few liberties with ancient Rome in Gladiator, after all, and there are many who say Robin Hood never existed. We’ve gathered just a few of celluloid’s biggest whoppers, […]

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Movies

Child Catcher Blues: The Scariest Non-Horror Movie Villains

By Stacey Harrison, Karl J. Paloucek Today marks the cinematic return of one of the screen’s best boogeymen: Freddy Krueger. The charred-visage villian — whose murderous bon mots were as sharp as his razor claws — terrified a generation of teen moviegoers throughout the 1980s and early ’90s through seven Nightmare on Elm Street flicks (Let’s not discuss 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, shall we?) that flourished with the genuinely terrifying conceit of a killer stalking you in your dreams. He’s back with a remake that promises to take the character back to his darker days of the 1984 original, and […]