Ray Harryhausen Double Feature Coming to Jersey City

In tribute to the late special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, the Landmark Loews theater in Jersey City will be showing a double-feature of two of his very best films on Saturday, June 8. 

First up at 6:30 PM is the Kong-esque monster movie 20 Million Miles to Earth, featuring that marvelous creation of destruction and pathos, the Ymir. 

At 8:20 PM is Harryhausen's masterpiece, the mythological epic Jason and the Argonauts, with its stone giant, writhing hydra, and jaw-dropping army of swashbuckling skeletons.

Admission Each Film:  $7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (65+) and Children (12 & younger).

The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theater
54 Journal Square
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Telephone: (201) 798-6055

Review: 'The Best Film You’ve Never Seen'

As far as I’m concerned, hipping adventurous film goers to undiscovered gems is the most admirable thing a movie writer can do. Robert K. Elder takes an interesting tack in his new book The Best Film You’ve Never Seen by letting filmmakers chuck in their two cents. Their choices are as diverse as the directors Elder chose to interview. Kevin Smith, that maker of talky low-fi character comedies, discusses Fred Zinnemann’s historical epic A Man for All Seasons. John Waters gabs about Tennessee Williams while explaining why he digs Boom!, Joseph Losey’s critically and commercially disastrous adaptation of The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore.  Contemporary cult director Edgar Wright makes his case for the B-crime picture Super Cops. These were among my favorite entries in the book, not because of my feelings about these particular films—I actually haven’t seen any of them—but because these are some of the more articulate, well-informed, and fan-boy enthusiastic contributors. A few of my own favorite underappreciated and/or wrongly derided movies are discussed on these pages, but I’m not sure if Jay Duplass deepened my appreciation of Joe Versus the Volcano much and I’m sure that John Dahl was off base by instructing viewers to fast forward through the first twenty minutes of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Even when I felt that the interview subjects weren’t pulling their weight, Elder had so clearly done his homework on each film before conducting his interviews that he never failed to salvage each discussion with his own insights and trivial tidbits, making The Best Films You’ve Never Seen a consistently worthwhile read. 

Pre-order Robert K. Elder’s The Best Films You’ve Never Seen at Amazon.com here:

Two Clash Box Sets Coming This September (Pre-order info inside)

This September 10, Sony Legacy will be dropping two Clash box sets like a couple of bombs of righteous rage. Sound System will collect all five of The Clash's original albums on 8 CDs augmented with three extra discs of "demos, non-album singles, rarities and B-sides" and a "DVD with previously unseen footage by both Don Letts and Julien Temple, original promo videos and live footage." A massive grab bag of goodies rounds out this heavy package: "an owner's manual booklet, reprints of the band's original 'Armagideon Times' fanzine as well as a brand new edition curated and designed by Paul Simonon and merchandise including dog tags, badges, stickers and an exclusive Clash poster."

For the more economical Clash fan, there will be the 5 Albums Studio Set, which boils the big box down to its essence, featuring those five original albums remastered and packaged in mini-LP covers. And for those who are all like, "Clash? What's a Clash?"there will be a new 2-disc comp called Hits Back.

Sound System, 5 Albums Studio Set, and Hits Back are ready to be pre-ordered now. The track run down follows:

So Long, Ray Manzarek

I was never a massive Doors fan, but I do like a lot of their stuff, and I'd feel remiss not at least mentioning the passing of Ray Manzarek yesterday. So in brief tribute, here's my very favorite Doors song--and one of my favorite songs by anyone. Ray's piano work has a lot to do with why I love this one so much. 

Beatles 'Help!' coming to Blu-ray This Summer

Beatlemaniacs who long to see Ringo's nose hairs in high definition, rejoice! On June 25, the Fab's 1965 flick Help! will be coming to Blu-ray. According to The Beatles.com, this disc will pair "the digitally restored film and 5.1 soundtrack with an hour of extra features, including a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film, memories of the cast and crew, an in-depth look at the restoration process, an outtake scene, and original theatrical trailers and radio spots. An introduction by the film’s director, Richard Lester, and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese are included in the Blu-ray’s booklet."

Other features include:

• “The Beatles in Help!” – a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester, the cast and crew, including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of The Beatles on-set.
• “A Missing Scene” – a film outtake, featuring Wendy Richard
• “The Restoration ofHelp!” – an in-depth look at the restoration process
• “Memories of Help! ” – the cast and crew reminisce
• 1965 Theatrical Trailers – two original U.S. trailers and one original Spanish trailer
• 1965 U.S. Radio Spots (hidden in disc menus)

Review: The Rolling Stones in 'Crossfire Hurricane'

When Mick Jagger contacted Brett Morgen about making a fiftieth anniversary documentary on The Rolling Stones, the filmmaker rightfully believed Mick wanted a series not unlike the great Beatles Anthology. Not so. Mick was very emphatic about wanting a lean, under-two hours documentary. Why the hip shaker wanted to place such a ridiculous constriction on such a bountiful history is anyone’s guess. This left Morgen with the task of condensing five decades of dirty work and eighty hours of audio interviews down to 110 minutes. I don’t envy the dude, yet as a hardcore Stones freak I can’t be anything but disappointed with Crossfire Hurricane. 

No use crying over the miniscule running time. It’s how Morgen chose to fill it that I find inadequate. He condenses the band’s story down to a handful of overly familiar tales: Mick and Keith’s first songwriting efforts, the Redlands bust, Brian Jones’s death, Altamont, Keith’s heroin issues, the band’s self-imposed exile from England, Mick Taylor’s departure and Ronnie Wood’s arrival, etc. What salvages the narration is having the Stones do it themselves, and it’s particularly enlightening hearing Mick and Keith talk about being scared during the Altamont insanity and Mick discuss Brian (his shocked exclamation of “fuck” after Morgen informs him that Brian died just two weeks after being fired from the band is an unexpectedly poignant moment). 

The main problem of Crossfire Hurricane is that the guys’ chatter plays out over footage that makes “Satisfaction” seem like a long-lost outtake. Way too much of these 110 minutes are wasted with extended clips from readily available films such as Charlie Is My Darling, The T.A.M.I. Show, The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, One Plus One, Gimme Shelter, and Let’s Spend the Night Together. Eagle Rock Entertainment somewhat makes up for this by supplementing its DVD with choice unreleased live and TV footage from 1964 and 1965. However, these bonus features just shine further light on how the film could have been comprised of more exotic footage. Some of Morgen’s other choices are kind of questionable too, such as overlaying orgasm noises over Keith’s statement that being in the band was like an orgy or dropping pig oinks over Mick’s discussion of the hedonistic seventies. Still, it was smart on the director’s part to spend the vast majority of the film’s running time in the sixties (the eighties and beyond barely sneak in before the closing credits).

So, if a UFO lands on Earth tomorrow, and the aliens slither down the ramp and ask, “What are these Rolling Stones?” the president would not be out of order to show them Crossfire Hurricane. However, to proclaim that this doc “is and will remain the definitive story of the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band,” as the liner notes of this DVD does, is ludicrous. At least, I hope it is, because I’m gonna hold out for a truly all-encompassing, anthology-style documentary on The Rolling Stones until I croak.

Get Crossfire Hurricane on DVD or Blu-ray at Amazon.com here:

Psychobabble Has Joined Frankensteinia's Peter Cushing Centennial Blogathon

This coming May 26th marks the 100th birthday of one of cinema's most luminous stars, and to celebrate this event, the great Frankenstein blog Frankensteinia is hosting a blogathon in tribute to Peter Cushing. This will involve bloggers from across the blogoverse blogging blogs about Peter Cushing. Frankensteinia hosted a similar tribute to Boris Karloff back in 2010, and I participated then. I'm not sure if my involvement in the Peter Cushing Centennial Blogathon will be quite so prolific, but I do have one piece in the can and hope that inspiration will strike to get me writing more over the event's run from May 25 through May 31.