THE POOP SCOOP: Denis Villeneuve's DUNE Production Photos

Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”) directs Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ “Dune,” the big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal bestseller of the same name. The film is slated for a December 18, 2020, worldwide release from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary.

A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaa, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, David Dastmalchian. Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa and Oscar winner Javier Bardem. Villeneuve directed “Dune” from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth based on the novel of the same name written by Frank Herbert. Villeneuve also produced the film with Mary Parent, Cale Boyter and Joe Caracciolo, Jr. Hans Zimmer is creating the score. “Dune” was filmed on location in Hungary and Jordan. 

 

Rest in Peace, Fred Willard

Fred Willard (1939-2020)

WAR OF THE WORLDS (4K) and Why We Rewatch Movies

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005)

Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins, Lisa Ann Walter, Ann Robinson, Gene Barry. Directed by Steven Spielberg. (116 min)

ON 4K BLU-RAY FROM PARAMOUNT

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

This is why I rewatch movies. While checking-out the new 4K Ultra release of War of the Worlds (which looks awesome, by the way), I noticed couple of things about the film that never occurred to me before.

First, Tom Cruise plays just a regular dude here, not a larger-than-life man of action. He ain’t some hot-shot pool player, fighter pilot, bartender, race driver, lawyer, agent or assassin. Ray Ferrier’s just a run-of-the-mill, blue-collar everyman with no particular skills or aspirations. In fact, his character is kind of shiftless and unreliable. In War of the Worlds, he doesn’t take charge or save the day and rarely does anything one would consider heroic. Think about it...when was the last time you saw Cruise convincingly play the guy next door?

Second, this is probably the closest director Steven Spielberg ever came to shoot-from-the-hip guerrilla filmmaking, especially during the initial attack scene, where the camera follows Ferrier’s attempt to flee the carnage in a lengthy, chaotic single take. It’s a disorienting, in-your-face sequence that invites stylistic comparisons to the D-Day invasion in Saving Private Ryan. And throughout the film, the action and jaw-dropping visual effects are mostly rendered from the point-of-view of its characters, giving the film a gritty intimacy you don’t usually find in big-budget blockbusters (including Spielberg's).

Not everyone wants Santa Claus to come to town.

Ray is a divorced deadbeat dad forced to protect his two kids when a towering alien machine erupts from the ground and starts incinerating everything in sight. He and his family high-tail it out of town, hoping to make it to the kids' mother's house ahead. Ray doesn't have much of a plan beyond that and is forced to improvise when the house turns out to be abandoned. Meanwhile, he learns hordes of other tripods have popped up all over the world, wreaking havoc where ever they go.

Ray heads toward Boston - where his ex-in-laws live - though there’s no assurance they'll be any safer there. Estranged son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) is constantly defiant, sometimes for good reason, but mostly because he’s snarky little punk (not-to-mention an epic dumbass). Ray's anxiety-ridden daughter, Rachel (Dakota Fanning), depends on them both, but trusts Robbie more than her dad. The relationship between these three is the crux of the story and the entire invasion is seen through their eyes...no news flashes, extended battle scenes taking place elsewhere, military strategies, sub-plots or attacks on Washington. The world is simply getting its ass kicked while this family runs, hides and avoids mob panic. When you think about it, narrative simplicity is another thing else it shares with Saving Private Ryan.

Extreme Neighborhood Watch.

War of the Worlds was always aesthetically unusual, weirdly-lit with considerable grain and washed-out colors. By design, it never had a clean, sharp & pristine image, which is nicely enhanced by this 4K transfer. There's no problem with the sound, either, which is as clean - and loud - as one could hope for. The result is an awesome assault on the senses. Elsewhere, the film remains a unique anomaly in the careers of both Cruise and Spielberg, a sci-fi action film that manages to turn a global alien invasion into a personal struggle for survival, much like H.G. Wells' original novel. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

4K, BLU-RAY & DIGITAL COPIES

FEATURETTES (all carried over from the previous Blu-ray release) - “Revisiting the Invasion”; “The HG Wells Legacy”; “Steven Spielberg and the Original War of the Worlds”; “Characters: The Family Unit”; “Scoring War of the Worlds”; “We Are Not Alone”; “Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens”; “Previsualization”

PRODUCTION DIARIES

GALLERIES

TRAILER

KITTY CONSENSUS:

MEE-OW! LIKE TAUNTING A MOUSE TO DEATH.

VIVARIUM: Just Say "Woah"

VIVARIUM (2019)

Starring Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Aris, Senan Jennings, Eanna Hardwicke. Directed by Lorcan Finnegan. (97 min)

ON DIGITAL FROM LIONSGATE

Review by Fluffy the Fearless

One thing is certain...you aren’t likely to see a weirder film this year. And if nothing else, Vivarium is visually fascinating and a potential good viewing choice while firing-up a fat one.

Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) are a young couple looking to buy a home. Real estate agent Martin (Jonathan Aris) takes them to a newly-built neighborhood called Yonder, street-after-street of identical green homes. After Martin suddenly disappears, they find they are literally unable to escape the neighborhood. No matter which direction they take, they always end up back at house #9. They even try burning it down one night, only to find it rebuilt the next day.

With no choice but to stay, Gemma and Tom end up being the only tenants in the neighborhood. Then an infant boy arrives in a box, with instructions that they’ll be released once they've finished raising him. He's a bizarre kid, to put it mildly. He grows at an accelerated rate, speaks with an adult voice and screeches incessantly until his needs are met. He’s also a strong candidate for the most irritating child character in movie history, which is probably by design so we can empathize with the couple’s growing resentment of him. Gemma makes fleeting attempts to bond with the boy, while Tom takes a turn for the worse, both physically and mentally. He ends up occupying his days digging a hole in the yard because he’s convinced there’s something else beneath them.

No, they don't come with instructions.

Despite the bizarre scenario and surreal imagery, Vivarium isn’t perplexing, telling a relatively straightforward story that’s easy to follow (a definite positive when one is stoned). It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the boy isn’t human. In fact, it’s immediately obvious, which means most of the film spends its time dropping hints as to who or what is behind Gemma & Tom’s imprisonment (though with hindsight, the opening title montage pretty-much gives it away). The payoff is pretty 'woah'-worthy, but this is also the type of thing Rod Serling could have managed in a fraction of the time. With some lengthy, repetitive stretches where nothing consequential happens, there simply isn’t enough to the story for a 90 minute film...not without chemical enhancement, anyway.

For baked potatoes, however, Vivarium might be an ethereal wonder. The striking artifice of the production design – the stark uniformity of the neighborhood, the interior & exterior of the house, even the sky itself – enhances the isolation of the main characters, as well as creating an unsettling tone not-unlike a bizarre dream. That alone might make it worth checking out for altered viewers looking to just push play, fall into the sofa and let the movie flow over them.

But even without herbal enhancement, Vivarium remains aesthetically engaging, with a concept that instills just-enough curiosity to ride-out the duller stretches and see how everything plays out.

KITTY CONSENSUS:

NOT BAD, PARTICULARLY AFTER A BIT OF CATNIP.

Rest in Peace, Jerry Stiller

Jerry Stiller (1927-2020)

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH...Game of Suckers

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH (1980)

Starring Adolph Caesar, Fred Williamson, Ron Van Cleef, Aaron Banks, Bruce Lee (archival footage). Directed by Matthew Mallinson. (90 min)

ON BLU-RAY FROM THE FILM DETECTIVE

Review by Tiger the Terrible😼

It must have been great to be an exploitation filmmaker in the days before the internet. By the time word gets-out your “movie” is a complete sham, you’ve already banked a shit-ton from the same clueless rubes who preferred dining at Denny’s because the menu didn’t require reading. Back then, a creative ad & title change could dupe horror fans into seeing the same movie twice, while indiscriminate martial arts fans marveled at how Bruce Lee managed to remain so prolific after his death.

Fist of Fear, Touch of Death is “Brucesploitation” at its most shameless. Vultures had already been picking at Lee’s corpse for years, cobbling together new movies with unused or existing footage from other films, but this pseudo-documentary takes it to another level, not-so-much a movie as patchwork of unrelated sequences in search of a plot. In this case, it’s the so-called “World Karate Championship,” as presented by a TV reporter played by Adolph Caesar (who would later be nominated for an Oscar...not for this film, of course).

Oscar nominee Adolph Caesar. Seriously, he was.

Caesar is the one constant in a film that includes cameos by Fred Williamson & Ron Van Cleef, who show up for a couple of painfully bad sketches, while real-life martial artist Aaron Banks offers a conspiracy theory that Bruce Lee was killed by the dreaded Touch of Death, a so-called karate move where the victim dies weeks later. The middle act features Bruce Lee’s “biography,” a fabricated account of his youth consisting almost entirely of redubbed footage from a drama he did back in 1957, along with flashbacks of the samurai (!) grandfather who inspired him, lifted from a different film (which doesn't feature Lee).

Not a better mouse trap.

That’s the extent of Lee’s “involvement.” What follows is another sketch featuring a guy in a Kato costume, then about twenty minutes of lethargic footage from karate matches. If the whole thing weren’t so hilariously piecemeal, it would be offensive. Instead, we watch in slack-jawed wonder that anyone was ever gullible enough to be suckered by this, even in the prehistoric ‘80s. Perhaps we’re laughing more at their expense than the snake oil salesmen who subjected them to it. Of course, Fist of Fear, Touch of Death is now a nostalgia piece. Not for its content, but for the audacity of everyone involved on both sides of the camera, who probably couldn’t get away with such a stunt today.

Or could they? Maybe they’re still here in abundance, but simply skip the theaters and go straight to YouTube, where those who prefer the Denny’s menu like to get their news. Shit, now that I think about it, Fist of Fear, Touch of Death just might be ripe for a remake. Just slap some old footage together, throw it on the internet and laugh your ass off as it goes viral.

EXTRA KIBBLES

"THAT’S BRUCESPLOITATION!” - An entertaining retro doc, featuring interviews with producer Terry Levine, director Matthew Mallinson, stars Fred Williamson & Ron Van Cleef.

SUPPLEMENTAL BOOKLET – Includes an essay by William Sloan & Justin Decloux.

TRAILERS

KITTY CONSENSUS:

LMAO...

The Fully-Restored MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM

MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933)

Starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Gavin Winton, Edwin Maxwell. Directed by Michael Curtiz. (78 min)

ON BLU-RAY FROM

WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION

Review by Mr. Paws😸

Long-thought lost to the ravages of time, this little obscurity is historically noteworthy for inspiring the much-better-known remake, House of Wax, widely considered one of the best horror films of the 1950s and a high point in Vincent Price’s career. Though not as atmospheric or creepy, Mystery of the Wax Museum is a nifty film in its own right.

Morbid premise aside, this one doesn’t really unfold like a horror film. As per the title, it’s more of a mystery and almost upbeat in tone, largely thanks to a highly amusing performance by Glenda Farrell as fast-talking, wise-cracking reporter Florence Dempsey (a persona she would soon take to the bank in the Torchy Blane series). Despite being third billed, she’s the main protagonist with the most screen time. Her quasi-antagonistic banter with beleaguered newspaper editor Jim (Frank McHugh) is witty enough to be right-at-home in  His Girl Friday.

"All I'm saying, honey, is maybe lay-off the tanning visits for awhile."

As deranged, vengeful sculptor Ivan Igor, Lionel Atwill makes a suitably menacing villain. However, fans of legendary scream queen Fay Wray will probably be disappointed. Not only is she largely absent throughout the first half of the film, her character largely exists to be put in peril. Speaking of which, it isn’t until Igor’s grisly agenda is revealed – during the final act - that Mystery of the Wax Museum ventures into horror territory, but does so quite effectively. Sinister production design and imaginative make-up effects (for its time, anyway) provide some punch to a genuinely suspenseful climax.

Additionally, let’s give a shout-out to those who restored this film. All existing prints were apparently in pretty bad shape, but you couldn’t tell from this transfer. Nearly scratch and blemish free, this doesn’t look or sound like an 87 year old movie. Restoration efforts are also the subject of a revealing featurette and one of the audio commentaries.

From a historical perspective, Mystery of the Wax Museum is an interesting early foray into big screen horror, even if it only dips a toe in the water. The film itself is no House of Wax, but a lot of old-fashioned fun and still a damn sight better than the second remake (you know, the one with Paris Hilton).

EXTRA KIBBLES

"REMEMBERING FAY WRAY” - An affectionate interview Victoria Riskin, Fay’s daughter.

FEATURETTE – Seven-minute short on the restoration, with before & after comparisons of certain scenes.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES – 1) Scott McQueen from UCLA’s Film & TV Archive; 2) Film historian Alan K. Rode

KITTY CONSENSUS:

PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS.

Streaming Service Hi-YAH! Goes Mobile

Hi-YAH! (hiyahtv.com), the premier platform for streaming martial arts and Asian action movies in the U.S., today announced its official launch on mobile devices and connected TVs. As part of the launch, new users will be eligible for a 30-day free trial, after which a monthly subscription fee of only $3.99 will apply. Hi-YAH!—available through app stores for devices including iOS, Android, Roku and Amazon Fire TV—offers both exclusive and non-exclusive content that will be refreshed monthly.

THE POOP SCOOP: Cult Shockers & Forgotten Gems

THE GATES OF HELL + PSYCHO FROM TEXAS (Drive-In Double Feature #6) on Blu-ray 5/26

The Gates of Hell: A reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves. Psycho from Texas: A drifter/hitman is hired by a local business man to kidnap the local oil baron. The hitman had been reared in squalor, suffering the abuses of his whoring mama. When the baron escapes his assistant must chase him while the hitman takes care of a few loose ends. Watch films in DarkForce Entertainment's exclusive 'Drive-In Mode' featuring Cult Director Damon Packard

THE MECHANIC (1972) on Blu-ray 6/2

Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is a veteran hit man who, owing to his penchant for making his targets' deaths seem like accidents, thinks himself an artist. It's made him very rich, but as he hits middle age, he's so depressed and lonely that he takes on one of his victim's sons, Steve McKenna (Jan-Michael Vincent), as his apprentice. Arthur puts him through a rigorous training period and brings him on several hits. As Steven improves, Arthur worries that he'll discover who killed his father. NEW FEATURES: Reversible cover art, a new interview with writer Lewis John Carlino & new audio commentary with Paul Talbot (Author of "Bronson's Loose!; The Making of the Death Wish films")

NARROW MARGIN on Blu-ray 6/30

From Peter Hyams, the acclaimed writer/director of Busting, Capricorn One, Outland, The Star Chamber and 2010, comes this suspenseful remake of the classic 1952 film noir. Screen legend Gene Hackman (The Package, Mississippi Burning) stars as an L.A. District Attorney attempting to take an unwilling murder witness (Anne Archer, The Naked Face) back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to find the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell a friend from foe is a matter of life and death. James B. Sikking (The Pelican Brief), J.T. Walsh (Needful Things), M. Emmet Walsh (Retroactive), Susan Hogan (Phobia) and Harris Yulin (The Midnight Man) co-star in this action-packed thriller.

HAIR (Olive Signature Edition) on Blu-ray 6/30

Hair, the Broadway rock musical sensation of 1968, would find its way to the big screen over a decade later under the masterful direction of two-time Academy Award® winner Milos Forman (Best Director - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - 1976, Amadeus - 1985) in a film adaptation as magical as it is timeless. Based on the Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot stage musical, Hair stars John Savage (The Deer Hunter) as naïve country boy Claude Hooper Bukowski, a Vietnam War draftee who travels to New York where he’s swept up in a world of free love, hallucinogens and romance, courtesy of hippies Berger (Treat Williams), Jeannie (Annie Golden), Hud (Dorsey Wright) and Woof (Don Dacus). Beverly D’Angelo co-stars as Sheila, a beautiful debutante and the object of Claude’s affections.

BETTER DAYS: A Plea for Empathy

BETTER DAYS (2019)

Starring Zhou Dongyu, Jackson Yee, Yin Fang, Huang Jue, Wu Yue, Zhou Ye. Directed by Derek Tsang. (135 min)

ON BLU-RAY FROM WELL GO USA

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😸

I remember being picked on by a guy named Bob, a mammoth douchebag from the high school football team. I never did anything to incur his wrath...I was simply smaller and weaker. One time, he even rammed my chest with the bottom end of a crutch, cracking one of my ribs. I wanted to kill the guy, but felt helpless to do anything about it. At the same time, shit rolls downhill in school - like it does in the real world - and I did my share of pushing-around weaker kids as well.

Watching Better Days, I found myself thinking about one of those guys, named Dan. I'd call him names, occasionally throw things at him or hide his lunch. So did a lot of other kids. Me and a few friends even egged his house for no reason other than good sport. If shit does indeed roll downhill, Dan dwelled at the bottom. Today, it makes me sick to know I did that, because even though I knew how I felt when bullied by Bob, not once did I consider how I made Dan feel. I simply had no empathy. Hell, I probably couldn’t even define it back then.

In my 20+ years as a professional educator, I can attest that not only does bullying continue to be the biggest problem in schools, social media has made it worse. And if there’s a message to be found in Better Days, it’s that people’s lack of empathy is only exacerbated by technology. Just check out the very first scene, in which a young girl commits suicide at school. A large crowd of her peers gather, a majority of them whipping out their phones to get pictures. Only one, Chen Nian (Zhou Dongyu) looks visibly upset, taking off her jacket to cover the body.

The meds are kickin' in.

Soon after, she becomes a target, subjected to vicious physical and verbal abuse, mostly at the hands of cruel classmate Wei Lai (Zhou Ye). All this happens during China’s national college placement exams, which has a huge impact in determining student futures. With police and the school more-or-less unable – or unwilling – to intervene, Chen Nian propositions teen street thug Xiao Bei (Jackson Yee) to provide protection while she focuses on preparing for the exam. During this time, not only does she learn to trust him more than her own shiftless mother, they develop a loving relationship (though it remains platonic). Then, just as exams are about to begin, Wei Lai turns up dead and Chen becomes the primary suspect.

Chen’s harrowing ordeal is tempered by her friendship with Xiao, providing an interesting dichotomy in the narrative. The two leads are likable and engaging, while Wei Lai is suitably hateful. But being that the film – and the novel it’s adapted from – is aimed towards young adults, Better Days is not about revenge (though some characters certainly get what’s coming to them). Ultimately, the film is about awareness, a call for change in a dysfunctional cultural climate. In that respect, it succeeds, being an emotional rollercoaster ride that’s as compelling as it is relevant.

However, the film doesn’t know when to quit. Long-after we’ve gotten the point and the primary conflict has been resolved, it devolves into an anti-climactic and unnecessary police procedural. With seemingly more codas than Lord of the Rings, they could have trimmed at least 30 minutes from the final act without seriously affecting the story.

But until then, Better Days is timely, realistic and – considering the message - appropriately disturbing when it needs to be. Paring it up with something like The Hate U Give would make an eye-opening double feature, revealing some of the cultural conflicts our youth face in society, as well as the fortitude it takes to challenge them.

EXTRA KIBBLES

2 PROMOTIONAL FEATURETTES

TRAILER

KITTY CONSENSUS:

PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS.