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2009 | 2006

6 articles from 2009

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Paramount Targets Matt Helm

19 October 2009 8:52 AM, PDT | HollywoodNorthReport.com | See recent HollywoodNorthReport.com news »

According to studio reports, Gary "Pleasantville" Ross will replace Steven Spielberg as director of Paramount's Bourne-like reimagining of Matt Helm, based on the secret agent character previously portrayed as a wise-cracking 'James Bond' ladykiller by actor/singer Dean Martin in four films during the 1960's and as a 'no-nonsense' tough guy by actor Tony Franciosa in a 1960's TV series. Matt Helm will be produced by Alex "Transformers" Kurtzman and Robert Star Trek" Orci from a new screenplay by Paul Attanasio, set for a summer 2010 production start. Created by author Donald Hamilton, the character appeared in 27 books over a 33-year period beginning in 1960, establishing 'Helm' as one of the most pragmatic of all fictional secret agents. Premise of the books, follows Us government counter-agent 'Matt Helm', whose primary job is to 'nullify' enemy agents. While the novels were set in the post-wwii Cold War era, the current script is set in the present. »

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Gary Ross to Direct Matt Helm Before Venom

13 October 2009 4:24 AM, PDT | Reelzchannel.com | See recent ReelzChannel news »

The last movie Gary Ross wrote and directed was 2003's Seabiscuit. Except for a little scriptwriting duties for The Tale of Despereaux, Ross has remained relatively quiet in Hollywood. But that's all changed.

While still finishing the script to Spider-Man 4, Ross was hired to rewrite and direct the Spider-Man 3 spin-off movie Venom, but that's not all. ThePlaylist reports that Ross will also direct Matt Helm, a project previously associated with Steven Spielberg.

A 33-volume, pulp novel series about a suave super-spy that began in the 1960s, Matt Helm was written Donald Hamilton. The series has already been adapted into four movies with Dean Martin in the 1960s (The Silencers, The Ambushers, Murderers Row, The Wrecking Crew), and a TV show in the '70s with Anthony Franciosa in the title role.

Paramount is currently seeking Bradley Cooper for the lead, which will be updated from the swinging ' »

- Ryan Gowland

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Rare Movie Alert! "Rio Conchos" On Fox Movie Channel Today At 2:00 Pm (Est)

6 August 2009 9:45 PM, PDT | Cinemaretro.com | See recent CinemaRetro news »

The terrific rip-snorting 1964 western Rio Conchos will get a rare American TV broadcast today on Fox Movie Channel at 2:00 Pm (Est) - letterboxed and uncut. The movie has never been released on DVD. The film stars Richard Boone, Anthony Franciosa, Edmond O'Brien, Stuart Whitman and Jim Brown, in his first major film role. Curiously, it's a loose remake of John Wayne's The Comancheros, which had only been released by Fox only three years before. »

- nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)

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Woh NYC ’09: Dario Argento Comes to New York (with Video!)

12 June 2009 10:00 PM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

He’s been called everything from the Maestro of the Macabre and the Master of Italian Horror to the “Garlic Flavored Hitchcock”, but true horror fans know him as simply Argento. Last weekend at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors, Manhattan’s Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center was abuzz over the mere notion of his pending presence, even overshadowing the likes of horror visionaries Tobe Hooper and Guillermo Del Toro.

Dario Argento took the stage at 1:30pm on Sunday June 7th, accompanied by a translator and the woman who literally wrote the book on the Italian filmmaker, author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams Of Dario Argento and Film Critic Maitlan McDonagh. McDonagh led the director through a slightly disappointing interview/Q&A that merely managed scratch the surface of the artist’s genius. The lack of depth and substance seemed to be mostly due to McDonagh’s »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (The Horror Professor)

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Four Blaxploitation Films Off the Beaten Path

17 February 2009 8:09 AM, PST | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

By this point, we're all familiar with "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" and "Superfly" and "Shaft," we know all about Pam Greer and Fred Williamson and Jim Brown. But the 1970s produced dozens and dozens of blaxploitation films beyond the handful that have come to stand-in for the entire genre. Many were formulaic, some were downright terrible, but a lot were a cut above. These four uniquely superb blaxploitation films, largely forgotten to history, deserve rediscovery by new audiences and fresh eyes.

"Across 110th Street" (1972)

Directed by Barry Shear

Some 30 years before the groundbreaking crime series "The Wire," an unassuming blaxploitation picture covered similar territory with much the same complexity, albeit on a much smaller scale and with significantly fewer critical accolades. Both were shot in real locations with local actors; both draw parallels between the structure and politics of the underworld and the police force. Often in "Across 110th Street, »

- Matt Singer

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Four Blaxploitation Films Off the Beaten Path

12 February 2009 6:52 AM, PST | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

By Matt Singer

By this point, we're all familiar with "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" and "Superfly" and "Shaft," we know all about Pam Greer and Fred Williamson and Jim Brown. But the 1970s produced dozens and dozens of blaxploitation films beyond the handful that have come to stand-in for the entire genre. Many were formulaic, some were downright terrible, but a lot were a cut above. These four uniquely superb blaxploitation films, largely forgotten to history, deserve rediscovery by new audiences and fresh eyes.

"Across 110th Street" (1972)

Directed by Barry Shear

Some 30 years before the groundbreaking crime series "The Wire," an unassuming blaxploitation picture covered similar territory with much the same complexity, albeit on a much smaller scale and with significantly fewer critical accolades. Both were shot in real locations with local actors; both draw parallels between the structure and politics of the underworld and the police force. Often in "Across 110th Street, »

- Matt Singer

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2009 | 2006

6 articles from 2009

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