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Las Vegas four-piece and indie sleaze godfathers The Killers are practically immortalized for their contributions to mainstream indie rock in the aughts and onward. The group is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album Hot Fuss in early 2025, but The Killers are far from just a one-hit wonder.

Their discography is full of hits and each album has a certain acclaim in its own right. Among the band's long list of accomplishments, one controversial lyric stands as a top-tier The Killers lore. Quite apart from questions of its origin, the oft-maligned, grammatically imaginative lyric was the center-point of one of the band's biggest hits, which became the most streamed song on Spotify in 2008, and the first single released on the way to a triple-platinum album success, according to Far Out Magazine.

The Killers' Most Controversial Lyric Explained & How Brandon Flowers Defended It The Killers Say Follow Your Heart...

Starting on November 23, fans can immerse themselves in the world of artist Masato Hisa. The manga creator behind Nobunagun , the Batman Ninja manga adaptation , Jabberwocky and many more action-packed titles will host a month-long exhibition featuring his iconic artwork. Masato Hisa Exhibition -Ride On Amazing Time- will feature illustrations for Hisa's two current works, Kamuya Ride and the Mirrorman anniversary project Mirrorman 2D . Fans can also peruse art from his 2011 manga Area 51 , as well as his monster designs for Kamen Rider Revice and the Super Sentai series Ryusoulger . Merch will also be available at the exhibition, including keychains, shirts, standees and mugs: Related: Stars Wars: Visions Returns for Volume 3 with Trigger, Wit Studio and More The exhibition will run from November 23 to December 24 at Osaka's Bear Trap Gallery. Then from January 4-26, 2025, a joint exhibition will open featuring the works of Masato Hisa alongside Shigurui: Death Frenzy and Apocalypse Zero creator Takayuki Yamaguchi.

Thanks to Steven Spielberg and his various acolytes, ’80s kids didn’t lack for entertainment made directly for us. But that doesn’t mean we weren’t periodically traumatized by a Gremlins or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or, in the case of my younger brother, The ‘Burbs.

Nobody, though, specialized in making movies that were ostensibly for kids but definitely weren’t for all kids like Terry Gilliam. One of my first moviegoing memories is abruptly leaving a revival screening of Jabberwocky because it wasn’t the movie my parents thought it was. Audiences experienced similar unease with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and, before that, 1981’s Time Bandits, a frequently playful juvenile romp that’s also nonstop dark imagery and narrative jagged edges. The film replicates the chaotic weirdness of childhood dreams, but resists any of the pat moralizing that often anchors kid-friendly storytelling.

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Shelley Duvall's legacy shines in Time Bandits, offering physical comedy alongside Michael Palin in standout performances. The film's episodic structure allows for Duvall's dual role to add humor and heart to an enduring love story. Duvall's comedic timing and expressive face elevate her role in the absurd-yet-epic struggle between good and evil.

The late Shelley Duvall, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 75, was known for her sunny and warm onscreen persona, beginning with her early work for director Robert Altman. It helped her Wendy Torrance become a memorable heroine in the classic adaptation of The Shining, and let her steal the show in movies like Roxanne and The Portrait of a Lady. It also grounded the ethos of her classic TV series Faerie Tale Theatre, which she executive produced and hosted, and which reflected her spirit even when she wasn't onscreen. With those credentials, it's...

Because Hollywood won’t rest until it’s turned every Terry Gilliam movie into a TV show, Apple TV+ will soon be releasing a Time Bandits series, starring Lisa Kudrow as a temporal plunderer.

While recycling ‘80s films for modern audiences doesn’t always work (I’m looking at you 2014’s RoboCop), this show is produced by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, and judging from the recently-released trailer, it looks like a lot of fun.

Gilliam’s original 1981 Time Bandits was a box-office success when it first came out, and it’s generally regarded to be one of the best children’s fantasy films of its era. But, like much of Gilliam’s work, it was a huge pain in the ass to get made.

As Monty Python fans are well aware, George Harrison put up his own money to fund Life of Brian, mortgaging his home and office when...

Dragons are a part of nearly every major culture. While some of us seem to think that this means they were once real creatures that terrorized our ancestors, it’s more likely that there’s something inherently and universally fascinating about reptilian monsters hovering above humankind on the food chain.

That’s why it makes sense that there are so many unique dragons in media, both friendly and demonic. However, some of these fire-breathing creatures are more monstrous than others, and that’s why we’ve decided to compile a list of six of the scariest dragons in film, as we horror hounds tend to prefer fantasy stories with a hint of darkness.

To be included on this list, dragons need to stand out in either their villainous behavior or nightmarish design, but they don’t necessarily have to appear in a traditionally scary movie. And for the purposes of this article,...

A blood and mead-soaked 150 million film adaptation of the classic epic poem "Beowulf" — one that sees Robert Zemeckis directing from a script by Neil Gaiman and "Pulp Fiction" co-writer Roger Avary — reads like the sort of things we movie buffs would talk about all the time. So why has the film's legacy amounted to little more than being the inspiration for the (somewhat literal) running gag that is Seth Rogen's uncanny valley Viking dwarf Bob in the "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" movie?

It's plainly because Zemeckis' 2007 fantasy-adventure was part of his ill-conceived detour into mo-cap animation in the aughts, the results of which were three films that are fundamentally hurt by their creepily life-like, yet still not convincing, CGI human characters. 15 years later, the mo-cap human warriors, royalty, and half-human creatures in "Beowulf" have only grown more off-putting, which is too bad since the actors behind them seem to be having a ball,...

Billy Corgan tried fan service on the Smashing Pumpkins’ last album, 2018’s Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 — which saw the reunion of three-quarters of the band’s grunge glory-days lineup — but he must have decided half-hearted nostalgia wasn’t worth the hassle after the record got a tepid response.

The Pumpkins’ latest, Cyr, features the same lineup as Shiny and Oh So Bright, but it feels more like a Corgan solo album. The principal Pumpkin produced the record himself and wrote all of its songs, which the band played mostly on synthesizers.

By Lee Pfeiffer

British actor David Prowse has died at age 85. Prowse was originally a bodybuilder before he turned to acting. His sizable physique and imposing presence gained him many bit roles, mostly in British films, beginning with an amusing "blink-and-you'll-miss-him" cameo as Frankenstein's monster opposite David Niven in 1967 spoof version of "Casino Royale". He would later appear in a small role in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". His most notable role was that of Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. The role allowed Prowse to capitalize on his fame for decades, as he was a popular fixture at fan conventions and autograph shows around the world. However, he ran afoul of LucasFilm when he publicly griped about having had his voice for Darth Vader replaced by that of James Earl Jones. Prowse also implied he had been cheated out of royalties on the films due to "Hollywood accounting". LucasFilm,...

Jan Svankmajer’s Faust (1994) starts playing on the Webster Film Series Virtual Cinema on 09/18. Please visit webster.edu/film-series for more information. A link to the screening room can be found Here

Review by Stephen Tronicek

I’ve heard my father’s home country of the Czech Republic (Czechia) called, “The Wild West of Europe.” That people went there when they, “wanted to do drugs and shoot illegal fireworks.” It’s quite fitting then, that whatever Czech cinema I have experienced tends to break rules and throw all genre constraints out the window. From the groundbreaking satire of Miloš Forman, to the surreal experiments of Věra Chytilová, Czech cinema has never feared being different.

This brings us to Jan Švankmajer, the stop-motion animation guru behind some of Czech cinemas best films. Švankmajer’s approach to allegorical storytelling comes with the same tongue in cheek demeanor of Forman and Chytilová, but...

Tony Sokol Jan 22, 2020

Monty Python creator, writer and director Terry Jones threw away punchlines to refresh comedy.

Screenwriter, director, and author Terry Jones, a founding member of Monty Python, died at the age of 77, according to Variety. He had been suffering from frontotemporal dementia, which his son Bill revealed publicly in September 2016. The disease left the comedian unable to speak.

"Over the past few days his wife, children, extended family and many close friends have been constantly with Terry as he gently slipped away at his home in North London," Jones' family said in a statement. "We have all lost a kind, funny, warm, creative and truly loving man whose uncompromising individuality, relentless intellect and extraordinary humour has given pleasure to countless millions across six decades."

Terence Graham Parry Jones was born in North Wales on Feb. 1, 1942. He met his long-term collaborator Michael Palin while studying English at Oxford University.

Tony Sokol Dec 30, 2019

Neil Innes played with the Rutles, wrote for Monty Python and performed in the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour.

"I have suffered for my music," Neil Innes admitted on the British comedy series Rutland Weekend Television. "Now it's your turn." The renowned comedian and musician, who played the John Lennon role in The Beatles spoof band The Rutles and collaborated with the Monty Python Flying Circus, died unexpectedly on Sunday night at age 75, according to his official website. A spokesman for the Innes family said the artist had not been ill.

“It is with deep sorrow and great sadness that we have to announce the death of Neil James Innes on December 29, 2019," his family wrote in a statement. “We have lost a beautiful, kind, gentle soul whose music and songs touched the heart of everyone and whose intellect and search for truth inspired us all. He died of...

The CW unleashed a wickedly weird promo for Batwoman last week, which finds Ruby Rose's Kate Kane tumbling down a rabbit hole and into the clutches of a villain who's worse than the dreaded Jabberwocky. The video tease centers on Alice, a vile villainess set to terrorize Batwoman during the first season of her upcoming solo adventures. In the promo, Alice is…...

Michael Palin will exec-produce series of radio specials containing never-before-released audio from Monty Python as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for the iconic comedy troupe. They will play on the BBC in the U.K. and then go out in the U.S.

Palin and his fellow Pythons – John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and the late Graham Chapman – will have their film, TV and radio work showcased to celebrate their group hitting the half-century mark. BBC Radio will premiere five specials, produced by Palin, in September. They will then go out on Sirius Xm in the U.S.

“Join Michael to find out what John’s mother thought about her care home, the extra unpleasant things that were planned for Eric’s Brave Sir Robin, what exactly Terry Jones is so worried about, and why the infamous Fat Ignorant Bastards have never been more relevant to the world today,...

Alright, “Black Mirror” fans, it’s high time we get to the bottom of this whole “Bandersnatch” mystery. Well, as much as we possibly can before the eagerly-anticipated movie drops on Netflix on Friday.

Widely expected to be the “Choose Your Own Adventure”-style “Black Mirror” we’ve been waiting for, the standalone film installment of the Charlie Brooker-created anthology series finally got a trailer in the wee small hours of Thursday that offered a few answers and left us with even more questions, like who or what is Bandersnatch?

The 1-minute, 40-second video reveals that, within the “Black Mirror” universe, “Bandersnatch” is a fantasy novel by an author named Jerome F. Davies who, we’re told, “went cuckoo and cut his wife’s head off.”

Also Read: 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch' Trailer Reveals Film Will Drop Friday - So You Can 'Relax' (Video)

In the trailer, we learn Stefan...

Black Mirror fans now have more clarity on upcoming Netflix film, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. The streamer has dropped a trailer for the movie that releases tomorrow, December 28, with a synopsis that reads, “In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a sprawling fantasy novel into a video game and soon faces a mind-mangling challenge. Welcome back.”

Charlie Brooker’s praised dark anthology series was renewed for a fifth season back in March, although Bandersnatch is not thought to be a part of that order with Season 5 still to come at a later date. The trailer calls it “A Black Mirror Event” and features Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead with Will Poulter and Asim Chaudhry. The latter says, “We’re going to be a hit factory, like Motown, but for computer games.” Poulter’s character then tells Whitehead’s, “When it’s a concept piece, a bit of madness is what you need,...

Hadi Hajaig plots feature in which Gilliam will ”open the contents of his stomach”.

Hadi Hajaig, the filmmaker behind Sam Rockwell thriller Blue Iguana and Sean Bean and Charlotte Rampling action film Cleanskin, is making a feature documentary about the life and work of Terry Gilliam.

Hajaig will conduct several interviews with Gilliam, beginning in the next two weeks, and the pair will discuss his career across the films Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, The Fisher King and Tideland.

Gilliam’s latest film, the long-gestating and troubled The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which premiered in Cannes this year,...

Derrick O’Connor, famed Irish character actor who collaborated with Terry Gilliam on some of the director’s most famous films, died last Friday in Santa Barbara, CA, at the age of 77.

O’Connor starred in three of Gilliam’s films: “Jabberwocky” in 1977, “Time Bandits” in 1981, and “Brazil” in 1985. After his work with Gilliam, O’Connor had his most famous role as Pieter Vorstedt, the villain in the 1989 action sequel “Lethal Weapon 2.”

See him in the Mel Gibson, Danny Glover film here:

Also Read: Ed Schultz, Former MSNBC Host, Dies at 64

Later in his career, O’Connor appeared on hit TV shows like “Alias” and “Monk,” and also had a role as a member of Capt. Jack Sparrow’s crew in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” In Britain and Australia, he starred in several shows like “Stringer,” “Fox,” “The Sweeney” and “Knockback.”

O’Connor’s career also extended to theatre,...

Irish-born stage, film and TV actor’s credits included Brazil, The Sweeney.

Derrick O’Connor, the Irish character actor who played the villain Pieter Vorstedt in Lethal Weapon 2, has died in Santa Barbara, California, from pneumonia. He was 77.

O’Connor was born in Dublin in 1941 and grew up in London. He had lived in the United States since 1990 and most recently lived in the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara, with his wife Mimi.

O’Connor was perhaps best known in the UK and Australia for starring roles in TV shows Stringer, Fox, The Sweeney, and Knockback, and...

Irish character actor Derrick O’Connor, who portrayed the villain in Lethal Weapon 2 and appeared in three of Terry Gilliam’s films among numerous other credits, has died. O’Connor died Friday of pneumonia in Santa Barbara, his publicist Jane Ayer announced. He was 77.

O’Connor’s decades-long career included memorable film performances in Lethal Weapon 2, roles in Gilliam’s films Time Bandits, Brazil and Jabberwocky, as Thomas Aquinas opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in End of Days, as an aspiring buccaneer in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and in John Boorman’s Hope and Glory.

Widely regarded as a superb actor, O’Connor was noted for often paring down – or fully eliminating – his lines in a scene in order to emphasize the physical aspects of his role – a skill that earned him the admiration of many who directed him, especially Terry Gilliam. In Gilliam’s Time Bandits,...

Versatile Irish character actor Derrick O’Connor died from pneumonia on June 29 in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 77.

O’Connor was born in Dublin and raised in London. He had lived in the U.S. since 1990 and was most recently living in the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara with his wife, Mimi.

The actor starred in three of director Terry Gilliam’s films: “Time Bandits,” “Brazil,” and “Jabberwocky.” He played the villain Pieter Vorstedt in “Lethal Weapon 2” and worked opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in “End of Days.”

He also appeared in John Boorman’s “Hope and Glory and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” One of his first movie roles came in the 1973 British science-fiction film “The Final Programme.”

His notable U.S. television appearances include “Alias,” “Carnivale,” “Tracey Takes On,” “Monk,” “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Ghost.” In the U.K. and Australia, he was best...

It was rather a rough start for Terry Gilliam’s solo directorial career. While 1975’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which Gilliam co-directed with Terry Jones (whose next film was 1979’s Life of Brian), became an iconic, seminal film of the decade, he would follow it up with the less well-revered Jabberwocky in 1977, a haphazard medieval comedy inspired by the famous Lewis Carroll poem, the adaptation co-written by fellow Help!

Continue reading...

After a short break, Aaron returns with Will Remmers’ debut appearance. We discuss a lot of the news that we missed from the past few weeks, including potential Criterion titles like Hard Eight, Margaret, The Virgin Suicides, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We get a little deeper into Orson Welles’ Othello and his final documentary, Filming Othello. Will is an opera expert, so a few topics are steered towards that topic and we briefly get into The Tales of Hoffman.

Episode Notes

6:30 – New Releases and Criterion News

48:30 – Short Takes (Jim Henson, Jabberwocky)

53:30 – Othello

1:09:00 – FilmStruck

Episode Links New York Times – Women in Love Restoration Alexander Payne Closet Video Ask Jim Jarmusch Questions Why Barnes & Noble Wants Smaller Stores Kristopher Tapley Tweet About Hard Eight The Beguiled – Sofia Coppola Actor from The Breakfast Club Opens Up About John Hughes Why Billionaire Charles Cohen Believes He...

Surprise! The delightful, self-deprecating audio commentary by Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin is what sold me on Jabberwocky, a very British film loosely inspired by Lewis Carroll's poem. Released in the U.K. and the U.S. in April 1977 -- two months before Star Wars -- the film was savaged by critics, as Gilliam recalls, though it did better in territories where Monty Python and the Holy Grail had not been released, such as Germany. Indeed, the original release did not leave a mark in my memory, though I recall it frequently playing on the lively repertory circuit in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and early 80s. Of course, I was a latecomer to the entire Monty Python phenomenon, since the show was broadcast on...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

More than 17 years after first trying to get his passion project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, off the ground, director Terry Gilliam is finalizing his cut of the movie, and it may be ready to hit theaters next year. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote wrapped production in June, with one of its cast members, Oscar Jaenada, revealing in a September interview that they're planning a world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. While that debut has not yet been confirmed, director Terry Gilliam revealed in a new interview that he has almost finished assembling the cut. Here's what he had to say below.

"Well, we've almost finished the cut. We're just fiddling now, figuring out a few things here and there so it's pretty much what it is. We've got still months of work to do on visual effects, sound, music. But as far as the tale, it's...

This week we are seeing some incredible releases from the various Us distributors. The Criterion Collection is releasing the new restoration of Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky, Kino has a massive new set of Fritz Lang films, and Bertrand Tavernier’s new documentary, My Journey Through French Cinema is finally out from Cohen.

Beach Rats (Blu-ray) $24.41 8 new from $22.78 6 used from $19.99 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Cease Fire - 3D [Blu-ray] $21.75 $34.95 11 new from $21.73 4 used from $21.72 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Driftwood [Blu-ray] $17.49 $29.95 14 new from $17.47 4 used from $17.46 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Fritz Lang: The Silent Films [Blu-ray] $89.95 9 new from $89.95 4 used from $77.46 Buy Now Amazon.com Good Time [Blu-ray] $14.99 $24.99 12 new from $14.99 5 used from $15.99 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Hangover Square [Blu-ray] $18.39 $29.95 12 new from $14.88 4 used from $14.39 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Jabberwocky (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] $23.80 $39.95 12 new from $19.97 2 used from $29.16 Buy Now Amazon.com Free shipping Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth: Special Edition [Blu-ray + DVD] $17.67 $39.95 12 new from $17.67 3 used from $27.68 Buy Now Amazon.

November is still a ways away — who knows what the hell will have happened in our collective Twitter feed by the time good ol’ Nov. comes around? In the event that we’re all still here in three month’s time, here’s what to expect from Criterion in the penultimate month of 2017.

For starters, Criterion is releasing a 4K restoration of “The Philadelphia Story,” the 1940 screwball comedy starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart (Stewart ended up winning an Oscar for his performance — the first and last Academy Award of his career).

Continue reading ‘The Philadelphia Story,’ Terry Gilliam’s ‘Jabberwocky’ & More Coming To Criterion at The Playlist.

November over at The Criterion Collection may look a smidge slim, offering up just four new titles, but each new addition to the collection is a seminal selection well-deserving of the Criterion treatment. Of most interest, however, is Donna Deitch’s feature debut “Desert Hearts,” a seminal lesbian drama that’s been going through something of a resurgence as of late, thanks to last year’s 30th anniversary and a continued adoration for its forward-thinking subject matter.

As we recently explored, in the early ’80s, Deitch was a film school grad with only docs under her belt, eager to make a different kind of feature about lesbians in love, and “without the help of Kickstarter or industry backing, she launched an unorthodox grassroots campaign that eventually gained the support of Gloria Steinem, Lily Tomlin, and Stockard Channing. The result was a hit at Sundance in 1986 that went on to become...

Aaron welcomes back Jonathan Laubinger, who has just returned from Bergman Week in Sweden. We talk about October announcements, the latest news and rumors, the polarizing nature of Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, and plenty of other topics.

Episode Notes

4:20 – Bergman Week

19:30 – October 2017 Releases

43:40 – News Items

51:30 – Straw Dogs

1:00:00 – Short Takes (Secrets of Women, Taipei Story)

1:07:30 – FilmStruck

Episode Links Criterion Now – Contest Thread Bergman Week Night of the Living Dead – Janus Tour Annette Badland Tweet about Jabberwocky Harold Lloyd Coming Back to the Collection Venice Classics 2017 Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena Closet Video Criterion on the Brain – Straw Dogs Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Jonathan Laubinger: Twitter | Instagram Criterion Now: Twitter | Facebook Group Criterion Cast: Facebook | Twitter

Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.

Louisa Mellor Jun 9, 2017

Poldark returns for series three this Sunday. If you’ve never had the pleasure, here’s what you’ve been missing…

Warning: contains spoilers for Poldark series one and two.

See related Why you should play Ori And The Blind Forest

Welcome to eighteenth century Cornwall, land of sumptuous landscapes, confusing personal pronouns and Captain Ross Poldark. The bearer of an ancient name and a tousled mane, Poldark’s the hero around this way. (Well, he is until series two episode seven, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves).

Known variously as Ross, Mr Ross, Mr Ross Sir, Cap’n Poldark, ‘that classless ruffian bringing shame upon his family name’ or ‘ee with t’alluring scar who can blast us tin-mine any time ee choose’, depending on who’s addressing him, Poldark is cut from typical Byronic cloth. He’s a gentleman rebel given to fits of...

Going back through the time portal, there was a point when Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits was practically an obsession. It had most everything to do with the director. For my close friends and I, Gilliam was part of an impeccable shortlist of directors whose work we would never miss in the theater, placing him right alongside Scorsese, Tarantino, De Palma and the Coen Brothers. His second bona fide solo film, Time Bandits, (following 1977’s Jabberwocky) was considered to be the epochal and definitive example of how one dodges the "sophomore slump," in this case establishing himself aside from his former career as the reclusive animator and sole American member of legendary comedy troupe Monty Python. The terminal bleakness that would characterize most of his later...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Stars: Michael Worth, Tahmoh Penikett, Kacy Barnfield, Raffaello Degruttola, Steven Waddington | Written by Raul Inglis, Rafael Jordan | Directed by Steven R. Monroe

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe. Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, the frumious Bandersnatch!

Taking the classic nonsense Lewis Carrol poem Jabberwocky as its inspiration (the poem is referred to in the film as a song recited to children to frighten them) Jabberwock (orJabberwock: Dragon Siege to give the film its full title) is yet another in the line of low-budget dragon movies to be released straight to DVD in the UK (other dragon-based titles include Age of the Dragons, Dawn of the Dragon Slayer, Dragon Dynasty, Dragon Crusaders, and so on and so forth) and like...

Ryan Lambie Jul 26, 2016

They cost millions and they’re very, very odd. We take a look at 12 expensive and eccentric Hollywood films from the past 40 years...

The risk-averse nature of filmmaking means that the world’s more maverick and outrageous writers and directors have to make do with relatively low budgets. Nicolas Winding Refn drenched the screen in all kinds of sordid, violent and startling imagery in such films as Only God Forgives and this year’s The Neon Demon, but the combined budget of those probably didn’t even match the catering budget for something like Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

Every so often, though, a truly bonkers film slips through the Hollywood studio system - often by accident. From horror sequels to original sci-fi adventures, here are 12 incredibly expensive and gloriously eccentric Hollywood movies from the past 40 years.

The Exorcist II (1977)

Budget: $14 million

Like most films made for purely financial reasons,...

Disney’s first trip down the rabbit hole, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, made over a billion dollars globally six years ago, a staggering figure that has led some to surrender to the tide of popular opinion (combined, of course, with the haze of nostalgia) and start believing it was actually good.

A supremely confusing, color-blasted concoction, Alice exposed Burton’s biggest weakness – that is, basic coherence – more thoroughly than any of his previous cinematic outings, and did so whilst failing to infuse any of the director’s Gothic imagination or endearing weirdness. It was, at best, a great coffee-table book, overstuffed with resplendent visuals – but calling Alice in Wonderland even a decent film would be to do it a great kindness.

The problem with adapting Lewis Carroll’s lackadaisical, topsy-turvy stories for the big screen is that they defy storytelling convention by nature. Burton was right to delve...

Believes six impossible things — like implausible character motivations, or big emotions — because they’re in the script, without bothering to earn them. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): hated the first film

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Alice Through the Looking Glass may bear even less resemblance to anything Lewis Carroll wrote than its predecessor, Tim Burton’s 2010 flick Alice in Wonderland, so perhaps it’s not surprising that it follows up on the adventure that Burton’s adaptation hinted was in store for Alice, something that Carroll would never have imagined for her. Glass opens with adult Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska: Crimson Peak, Madame Bovary), now captain of an English merchant ship in 1847, executing a daring escape from pirates on the high seas. It’s a thrilling sequence, not least because Alice’s all-male crew appears to have no...

Terry Gilliam’s first film as solo director was 1977’s Jabberwocky but Time Bandits, a mix of absurdist fairy tales and Ashcan realism, established his style for years to come. He’s helped considerably by a remarkably high profile cast including Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson and, memorably, John Cleese as a petulant, self-absorbed Robin Hood. Michael Palin co-stars and co-wrote the Python-like script with Gilliam.

It’s time to talk remakes and we’re delving into Disney again with their two versions of one of the most famous children’s stories ever. With a sequel coming out this May, it’s a good time to dissect the previous cinematic adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (2010).

When Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, he created the best-ever example of the ‘Literary Nonsense’ genre. It’s become an enduring classic for 150 years. It’s been adapted many times. The most famous version is the 1951 animated classic Alice in Wonderland by Disney Studios. It’s one of Disney’s most visually interesting films, because the storyline is so artfully illogical and filled with characters who were meant to be animated. It utilizes some great voice actors, perfectly suited for their roles.

It’s not necessary to explain such a familiar story. We all know the Mad Hatter,...

A review of tonight's "Fargo" coming up just as soon as I tell you to kiss my grits... "This kind of thing didn't work in Westerns, and it's not gonna work tonight." -Lou Howard Hawks' 1959 Western "Rio Bravo" didn't invent the idea of lawmen protecting a jail from outlaws looking to free one of their own. (After all, that trope's just a subset of the fort under siege premise that fueled so many Westerns.) But the movie was so entertaining(*) and so successful that Hawks and star John Wayne remade it twice more (as "El Dorado" and "Rio Lobo"), and it's served as inspiration to various unofficial remakes over the years, whether "Assault on Precinct 13," a recent episode of "Banshee," and tonight's crackling installment of "Fargo." (*) Even the musical interlude, designed to take advantage of the primary talents of Wayne's co-stars Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, is fun.

Over the past half-century, Terry Gilliam has lived several lifetimes — first as the mastermind behind the surrealistically satirical animations on Monty Python's Flying Circus and then as a filmmaker with an unparalleled, singular imagination. His oeuvre contains everything from literary flights of fancy (Jabberwocky) and kid-friendly fantasies (Time Bandits) to dystopian epics (Brazil and Twelve Monkeys), kaleidoscopic romps (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) and the occasional slightly warped drama (The Fisher King, Tideland).

Now 74, Gilliam looks back on his life achievements, as well as...

Alice returns to the vibrant, gaudy world of Wonderland in the exciting first trailer for Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation of Lewis Carroll's beloved tale.

While James Bobin (The Muppets, Flight of the Conchords) will serve as director on Through the Looking Glass instead of Burton, the filmmaker remains a producer and the rebooted Wonderland bares his trademark gothic whimsy.

The film follows Alice (Mia Wasikowska) on her quest to save the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) from the clutches of Time — not the dreaded concept,...

'Alice in Wonderland' 2010 with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. 'Alice in Wonderland' 2010: Plenty of visuals, no substance In the interest of full disclosure, I should start this commentary on Alice in Wonderland by saying that I have never been a fan of Tim Burton's works. I've enjoyed a couple of his movies, but the vast majority of them I've found uninspiring and, really, quite boring. Burton's eye for unusual worlds, particularly in terms of art direction and costume design, is not lost on me. But how can I possibly find Tim Burton a great director when he continues to offer the same tricks, over and over again? True, Burton's stories and characters change from movie to movie. What he offers, however, does not. What's there beyond cool visuals? What's there beyond the neo-gothic atmosphere he offers in Batman, or the brilliantly rendered chocolate factory playhouse in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?...

In this monthly column we spotlight new Blu-ray/DVD releases by interviewing directors about the scenes that stood out most for them while making their movies. This month, we talk to Terry Gilliam about his bizarre fairy tale Time Bandits (available for the first time on Blu-ray through the Criterion Collection). After making his mark penning the outlandish animations for Monty Python’s Flying Circus in the early ’70s, Terry Gilliam transitioned to live action: first sharing directing credit with his Python mate Terry Jones for the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail, then with his debut solo effort, Jabberwocky. But it would be his next project, Time Bandits, which would solidify Gilliam as one of the major moviemaking talents of the next decade. Coming...

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I've given up trying to understand my own life," Terry Gilliam says. "I'm just trying to make sense of the world this life is taking place in." The movie director emits a high-pitched giggle.

At the moment, Gilliam's "world" is located in the trendy restaurant in Manhattan's Tribeca Grand Hotel, but, just as he's done for decades, the director is continuing to parse the meaning of life on film. His latest movie, The Zero Theorem, focuses on a discontented misanthrope, played by Django Unchained's Christoph Waltz, who attempts to...

Interview Ryan Lambie 14 Mar 2014 - 06:29

We talk to the legendary director Terry Gilliam about his new film The Zero Theorem, 12 Monkeys, social media and much more...

In person, Terry Gilliam's every bit as mischievous, funny, generous and entertaining as you'd hope. The director of some wonderful science fiction and fantasy films, from Jabberwocky to Time Bandits and Brazil to The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys, he's one of the most imaginative and individual filmmakers working - and then there are the wonderful animated short films he created, which came to international prominence thanks to Monty Python's Flying Circus.

When we meet Mr Gilliam on the fifth floor of a London hotel, the sun's shining through the window and the director's positively beaming. He's encouraged because there's plenty of light and fresh air in the room - a stark contrast, he says, to the sometimes dark and claustrophobic rooms he...

Hammer and Horror Film Day!

Saturday November the 9th ( 10am – 5pm )

Central Hall Westminster.

Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9Nh

UK’s longest running film fair and convention.

Now in it’s 40th year!

The Convention presents dealers from all over the UK, Europe, Us ,

Canada and South America.

Specialising in rare original film memorabilia and collectables.

Taking place six times a year these are truly unique events for anyone with an interest in films!

With actors and director’s signings, illustrated talks, retrospectives and film screenings taking place through out the day.

Items covering the history of cinema can be found. From the silents to the present.

From rare items of the 1920’s to new releases and the latest heart throb.

Among the many different field of cinema covered at the show is – Classic Hollywood, horror films, sci-fi, the best of British and European cinema as we as cult tv!

"Once Upon a Time in Wonderland" is one of ABC's new drama pilots, coming as a limited series in the fall 2013, which the creators tell us will be a contained 13 episodes, though if it's well-received, it'll be back.

"We're planning on telling a complete tale -- beginning, middle and end," says executive producer Adam Horowitz. "If people like it, hopefully we come back and tell another tale with this cast."

"We're going to ... get a sense of the world with Alice's return [to Wonderland]," adds Ep Edward Kitsis. "You're going to meet Jafar and more of the Red Queen and get a sense of the world."

The Red Queen and Jafar are the "villains" of the piece, working together against Alice, the EPs tell Zap2it.

"[Jafar and the Red Queen] have an uneasy alliance. And like any partnership, with two villains, neither trusts the other," says Kitsis. As for the Red Queen's hatred of Alice, he calls it a "sisterly jealously,...

James Bobin (Flight of the Conchords, The Muppets, the upcoming The Muppets...Again!) is in talks to direct the sequel to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), provisionally titled Into the Looking Glass. It'll be a challenge for any director to match the sheer visual audacity and vibrancy that Tim Burton brought. (And if they don't, then the series will risk losing its muchness.) A few possible candidates with that kind of visual flair that come to mind, who've already made use of colour on that level, are Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Sam Raimi (Oz, The Great and Powerful, which arguably made the most integral use of 3D of any film other than Martin Scorsese's Hugo), Kurt Wimmer (Ultraviolet), the Wachowskis (Speed Racer), and Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers).

James Bobin may not have made a film as obviously visually stylish as those mentioned above with The Muppets,...

Alice in Wonderland

Directed by Tim Burton

Written by Linda Woolverton

Starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Stephen Fry, Helena Bonham Carter

Alice in Wonderland is a truly inexplicable, baffling, painful film to watch. I don’t know what anyone involved in the film was thinking in making it. Did they want to honor the vision from the late Lewis Carroll? Did they want to honor the 1951 animated film? Or did they simply expect, callously if correctly, that if they threw a bunch of CGI against a wall, we’d all show up to watch in awe? There were, I imagine, people who hoped their experience would be that way. Instead, anyone watching this for the first time would likely start out hopeful, devolve into confusion, and then end angry at what they just sat through. Every single decision in this film is a misstep, every line of dialogue forgettable or painful,...

Jabberwock: Dragon Siege

Stars: Michael Worth, Tahmoh Penikett, Kacy Barnfield, Raffaello Degruttola, Steven Waddington | Written by Raul Inglis, Rafael Jordan | Directed by Steven R. Monroe

“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe. Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, the frumious Bandersnatch!”

Taking the classic nonsense Lewis Carrol poem Jabberwocky as it’s inspiration (the poem is referred to in the film as a song recited to children to frighten them) Jabberwock: Dragon Siege is yet another in the line of low-budget dragon movies to be released straight to DVD in the UK (other dragon-based titles include Age of the Dragons, Dawn of the Dragon Slayer, Dragon Dynasty, Dragon Crusaders, and so on and so forth) and like the rest of it’s shelf-filling brethren,...

Let’s start with the basics here. If you are going to read anything that I’m about to write about the recent SyFy release Jabberwock, you’re to want to understand the source material just a wee bit better. That is not to say that youwill in any way, shape or form need the poem that you are about to read tounderstand this offering from the giant monster, CGI specialists, but it will make me feel better knowing that you’ve at least read it once through. Especially since this feature burbled Lewis Carrols’ work and should be slew

with a vorpal sword.

From Lewis Carroll from Through the Looking Glass:

Jabberwocky

`Twas

brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird,...