Category: Movies

34 Things We Learned from Matt Reeves’ ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ Commentary

Posted on by

Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present  34 Things We Learned from Matt Reeves’ ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

12. The “donkey” apes used by the humans are named not because they’re being used as animal workers (like I assumed) but as a reference to Donkey Kong.

15. The way the virus shifts after killing off 99.9% of humanity towards a mutation that leaves the survivors unable to speak was an idea that originated in the original Planet of the Apes franchise where the apes used mute humans as slave labor. Co-writer Mark Bomback researched viruses and discovered details on the Spanish flu that mutated into catatonia and other non-lethal physical effects. “The humans are beginning to devolve while the apes evolve.”

20. The Colonel’s (Woody Harrelson) greeting to Caesar includes a whole Wellington/Napoleon reference that was added by the actor himself. Reeves thought it wouldn’t work seeing as he’s speaking to an ape, so Harrelson added the “you’re probably not much of a reader” line. It was also his suggestion to shoot an ape early on to spur Caesar and the apes back to work.

 

13 Intriguing Facts About the 1962 Graveyard Smash the “Monster Mash”

Posted on by

Me-TV presents 13 Intriguing Facts About the 1962 Graveyard Smash the Monster Mash.  Here are three of my favorites…

THE CRYPT-KEEPERS FEATURED SOME KEY FIGURES.
“The Crypt-Kickers” band behind the original “Monster Mash” recording featured Gary S. Saxton, who wrote the 1960 smash hit “Alley Oop” that Pickett said inspired his song. The flip side of the record featured Leon Russell (whose “A Song for You” has been covered by more than 200 artists) on “Monster Mash Party.” Russell played piano, which he also did on songs for bands like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Elton John calls Russell a mentor. Considering this track record, it makes even more sense why the “Monster Mash” single took off.

THE BEACH BOYS LOVED TO PLAY IT LIVE.
Several successful cover versions of “Monster Mash” exist, including a memorable version by the Beach Boys. They made it a feature of their live show, where Mike Love came out of “his cage” to step up on vocals and the audience would flip out. Later the punk band the Misfits would revive the song again for audiences in 1997, as it was a favorite childhood song of the band’s bassist, Jerry Only, who said the decision to cover it was a “no-brainer” for the heavily Halloween-themed band who performed on the holiday every year. We wonder whose fans loved it more. Hear Beach Boys fans lose their minds screaming in response to the song below. (Click over to see the video of the Beach Boys playing the Monster Mash.)

PICKETT APPEARED IN FILMS OF VARIED CLASSIC GENRES.
When Pickett wrote “Monster Mash,” he was also an aspiring actor. He went on to appear in a handful of films that matched his heavy sense of genre, including the beach party movie It’s a Bikini World (1967), a foray into biker culture in Chrome and Hot Leather (1971) a horror movie (of course) Deathmaster (1972), and a novelty sci-fi film, Lobster Man From Mars (1989). Additionally, he wrote a bunch of musicals like Frankenstein Unbound.

 

“The Walking Dead” Poster Homages to Classic Movie Posters!

Posted on by

Horror fans will recognize that The Walking Dead poster above pays homage to the original Night of the Living Dead poster.

That’s just one of the many classic poster adaptations for The Walking Dead that Greg Nicotero had created.  Others include homages to Alien; Back to the Future; Blade Runner; The Exorcist; Ghostbusters; The Omega Man; The Shinning; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Psycho; The Thing; Raiders of the Lost Ark and more.

 

Harvey (1950) / Z-View

Posted on by

Harvey (1950)

Director: Henry Koster

Screenplay: Mary Chase & Oscar Brodney from the play by Mary Chase

Stars:  James Stewart, Wallace Ford, William H. Lynn

The Pitch: “Let’s turn ‘Harvey’ into a movie!”

Tagline: The Wonderful Pulitzer Prize Play… becomes one of the Great Motion Pictures of our Time!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Folks know Elwood P. Dowd (Stewart) to be a bit, uh, eccentric.  After all he believes that his best pal is a six-foot tall invisible rabbit.  When his sister has had enough and decides to have Elwood committed a comedy of errors ensues.

Rating:

“Aliens” – 20 Facts You May Not Know

Posted on by

Neil Gaskin and Film ’89 present Fact File – No.1 – Aliens (1986).  Here are three of my favorites…

2. Sigourney Weaver salary for Aliens was 28 times more than that of the first film:  Weaver was paid $35,000 for the first film and $1 million for the sequel. (she went on to earn $4 million for Alien 3 and $11 million for Alien: Resurrection).

5. For a science fiction film, it did usually well at the Academy Awards:  Aliens was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver. It unsurprisingly won for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects.

14. It was the last roll of the dice for one of its stars:  Lance Henriksen had privately pledged to quit acting if this part didn’t work out for him after years of journeyman roles. It proved to be one of his most successful films.

34 Things We Learned from Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver” Commentary

Posted on by

Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 34 Things We Learned from Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

10. Baby’s guardian, Joe, was written as a deaf African American man in his 80s, and CJ Jones was the only performer they auditioned who is actually deaf. “I started auditioning other very good actors who were pretending to be deaf, it made me feel immediately uncomfortable.”

13. The Michael Myers / Mike Myers mask gag originally featured two Halloween masks and one Austin Powers, but while Mike Myers had had granted permission “the Halloween people hadn’t said no, but they definitely hadn’t said yes.” Wright had to write an alternative for the scene and call Myers back to extend the permissions (for three masks). Myers shared a story with him about the first time he went to the bank with a paycheck from Saturday Night Live. It was made out to Michael Myers, and the teller said “Michael Myers? Are you gonna stab me?

21. The idea of having Doc’s nephew accompany Baby while casing the Post Office came from one of Wright’s interviews with ex-cons.