By Todd Garbarini
William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A., which opened on Friday, November 1, 1985 to lukewarm notices and underwhelming box office despite being championed by Roger Ebert’s four-star review, is a highly stylized, dark, and uncompromising crime thriller that boasts a then-unknown cast with a story and a pace that feels more suited to the 1970’s. It also contains what I consider to be the greatest car chase ever filmed and edited for a major motion picture, which took no less than five weeks to plan and shoot. Having seen Mr. Friedkin’s brilliant East Coast police thriller The French Connection (1971) on VHS in 1986, I made it a point the following year to catch up with his West Coast-based story of a Secret Service agent, Richard Chance (William Petersen), whose best friend and partner Jim Hart (Michael Greene) has been murdered by artist/currency counterfeiter Rick Masters...
William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A., which opened on Friday, November 1, 1985 to lukewarm notices and underwhelming box office despite being championed by Roger Ebert’s four-star review, is a highly stylized, dark, and uncompromising crime thriller that boasts a then-unknown cast with a story and a pace that feels more suited to the 1970’s. It also contains what I consider to be the greatest car chase ever filmed and edited for a major motion picture, which took no less than five weeks to plan and shoot. Having seen Mr. Friedkin’s brilliant East Coast police thriller The French Connection (1971) on VHS in 1986, I made it a point the following year to catch up with his West Coast-based story of a Secret Service agent, Richard Chance (William Petersen), whose best friend and partner Jim Hart (Michael Greene) has been murdered by artist/currency counterfeiter Rick Masters...
- 1/6/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
As all lovers of crime, suspense thriller, war, western, horror and science fiction films know, creating a truly great cinematic villain is no easy task. When it happens, it’s virtually impossible to forget that character.
We’ll now take a look at the greatest film villains of the 1980’s.
The criteria for this article is the same as my previous article Cinema’s Greatest Villains: The 1970’s: the villains must be from live-action films-no animated features-and must pose some type of direct or indirect lethal threat. The villains can be either individuals or small groups that act as one unit.
The villains must be human or human in appearance, so no shape-shifting alien from John Carpenter’s amazing 1982 The Thing, no Aliens from James Cameron’s classic 1986 sequel and no Predator from John McTiernan’s beloved 1987 film of the same name.
Also, individuals that are the central protagonists/antiheroes...
We’ll now take a look at the greatest film villains of the 1980’s.
The criteria for this article is the same as my previous article Cinema’s Greatest Villains: The 1970’s: the villains must be from live-action films-no animated features-and must pose some type of direct or indirect lethal threat. The villains can be either individuals or small groups that act as one unit.
The villains must be human or human in appearance, so no shape-shifting alien from John Carpenter’s amazing 1982 The Thing, no Aliens from James Cameron’s classic 1986 sequel and no Predator from John McTiernan’s beloved 1987 film of the same name.
Also, individuals that are the central protagonists/antiheroes...
- 6/12/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
It’s closing time, Newbies. Hard to believe 25 episodes have come and gone this quickly. But as a wise man once said, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” What that means for Jess, Nick, Schmidt, Winston, Cece, Schivrang, and… Taylor Swift? Well, you’ll just have to click through. Fair warning for everyone who hasn’t seen tonight’s episode: Stop now because there are Spoilers Ahead!
It was the day of Cece and Shivrang’s wedding. Maid of Honor Jess was in a gorgeous aqua and coral sari, Schmidt and Winston were looking predictably dapper as well,...
It was the day of Cece and Shivrang’s wedding. Maid of Honor Jess was in a gorgeous aqua and coral sari, Schmidt and Winston were looking predictably dapper as well,...
- 5/15/2013
- by Lanford Beard
- EW.com - PopWatch
Nicol Williamson as Merlin in Excalibur (John Boorman, 1981, UK):
Turning in by far the best acting in Boorman’s epic, Williamson sets the bar for all other interpretations of the Merlin character. Best known as an acclaimed stage actor with a history of incredibly unprofessional behavior, this is Williamson’s most memorable film role and will have you chanting the “charm of making” in no time.
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982, USA):
As an android seeking to prolong his short life, Hauer’s unique screen presence is perfectly utilized in director Scott’s atmospheric science fiction milestone. Hauer brings a sort of “alien” quality to the character Roy Batty and really makes this role a truly superior piece of casting.
Other notable Rutger Hauer performances: Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981, USA), The Hitcher (Robert Harmon, 1986, USA).
Ricardo Montalban as Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (Nicholas Meyer,...
Turning in by far the best acting in Boorman’s epic, Williamson sets the bar for all other interpretations of the Merlin character. Best known as an acclaimed stage actor with a history of incredibly unprofessional behavior, this is Williamson’s most memorable film role and will have you chanting the “charm of making” in no time.
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty in Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982, USA):
As an android seeking to prolong his short life, Hauer’s unique screen presence is perfectly utilized in director Scott’s atmospheric science fiction milestone. Hauer brings a sort of “alien” quality to the character Roy Batty and really makes this role a truly superior piece of casting.
Other notable Rutger Hauer performances: Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981, USA), The Hitcher (Robert Harmon, 1986, USA).
Ricardo Montalban as Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (Nicholas Meyer,...
- 5/25/2012
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
Director Barry Sonnenfeld returns to the popular sci-fi comedy franchise he helped shape with "Men in Black III," the long-awaited sequel that reunites Will Smith's Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones's Agent K -- two Men in Black who monitor and control alien activity on Earth. J must go back in time to 1969 to avert a global extraterrestrial catastrophe and meets up with a young K, played with eerie verisimilitude by Josh Brolin.
The self-effacing Sonnenfeld is the first to admit that 2002's "Men in Black II" had some faults, but he insists that the current sequel is much closer in tone to the 1997 blockbuster original we all enjoyed. We asked Sonnenfeld about "Men in Black III"'s long journey to the screen, what happened to Frank the pug, and what the director would do differently to "Men in Black II" if he could travel back in time.
The self-effacing Sonnenfeld is the first to admit that 2002's "Men in Black II" had some faults, but he insists that the current sequel is much closer in tone to the 1997 blockbuster original we all enjoyed. We asked Sonnenfeld about "Men in Black III"'s long journey to the screen, what happened to Frank the pug, and what the director would do differently to "Men in Black II" if he could travel back in time.
- 5/23/2012
- by Robert DeSalvo
- NextMovie
Oscar-winning director William Friedkin.
In July of 1997, I conducted the first of two lengthy interviews with director William Friedkin, regarded by many as the "enfant terrible" of the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" generation of filmmakers who, for one brief, shining moment, seemed to reinvent American cinema in the late '60s thru the late '70s. Meeting Friedkin was something of a milestone for me at the time: I was still in my 20s, had been writing for Venice Magazine less than a year, and "Billy," as he likes people to call him, was the first person I interviewed who was one of my childhood heroes--a filmmaker whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls when I was growing up.
Below are the two interviews, conducted a decade apart from one another, and posted in reverse chronology. In both, Billy reveals a cunning intellect, a sometimes abrasive personal style,...
In July of 1997, I conducted the first of two lengthy interviews with director William Friedkin, regarded by many as the "enfant terrible" of the so-called "Easy Riders and Raging Bulls" generation of filmmakers who, for one brief, shining moment, seemed to reinvent American cinema in the late '60s thru the late '70s. Meeting Friedkin was something of a milestone for me at the time: I was still in my 20s, had been writing for Venice Magazine less than a year, and "Billy," as he likes people to call him, was the first person I interviewed who was one of my childhood heroes--a filmmaker whose one-sheets hung on my bedroom walls when I was growing up.
Below are the two interviews, conducted a decade apart from one another, and posted in reverse chronology. In both, Billy reveals a cunning intellect, a sometimes abrasive personal style,...
- 2/24/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
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