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Variety: ‘True Detective’ Season 2 Finale Recap
For a series named after a lurid men’s crime magazine, the second season of HBO’s “True Detective” was woefully short on pulp, and tonight’s feature-length finale was no exception. While last week’s ungainly info-dump managed to unmask the killers of both Caspere and Stan, expose two conspiracies, introduce a love story and kill off a main character, tonight’s underwhelming conclusion barely had enough plot to fill up 30 minutes, let alone 90.
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Variety: The Secret ‘Fantastic Four’ Film You Weren’t Meant to See
When audiences see 20th Century Fox’s “Fantastic Four” reboot this weekend, they’ll likely assume that it’s the third entry in the cinematic superhero saga. But a new documentary hopes to dispel that myth once and for all.
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Variety: ‘True Detective’ Recap: The Walls Close In
Though it probably wasn’t enough to change the minds of frustrated viewers whose complaints about the second season of “True Detective” prompted HBO’s president of programming to publicly defend the series earlier this week, tonight’s penultimate episode, at the very least, tied up several loose ends.
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The Robot’s Voice: 12 Revelations From the Makers of Starchaser: The Legend of Orin in 3D
Ask most science-fiction fans to list their favorite genre movies of 1985 and they’ll name Back to the Future, Brazil, Cocoon and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Ask me and you’ll hear the same list, plus one extra title… Starchaser: The Legend of Orin. I spoke with the film’s director/producer, Steven Hahn, and its screenwriter, Jeffrey Scott, about the challenges of bringing this groundbreaking 3D adventure to movie screens.
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DISH Network: Fun Shark Trips for the Whole Family
No creature on earth has captured man’s imagination more ferociously than the ocean’s greatest predator: the shark. Adapted perfectly to suit their environment, and driven by instincts older than time, these silent sentinels of the deep have inspired countless documentaries, films and TV shows. But why just watch them onscreen when you can satisfy your curiosity up close and in person? To help you plan a jaw-some vacation, here are a few family-friendly destinations guaranteed to make a fin-tastic getaway!
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Variety: Eli Roth & Courtney Love at ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ Live Read
“It’s probably the first film that didn’t condescend to American teenagers.”
So began Film Independent’s curator Elvis Mitchell as he introduced a special Live Read Thursday of Cameron Crowe’s script for the 1982 comedy “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” The event concluded this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival with a one-night-only reading, chosen and directed by filmmaker Eli Roth, and performed exclusively for those present in the audience. As always, no recordings were allowed.
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Variety: ‘Jaws’ Anniversary: 10 Movies That Are Better Than The Book
When novelist John le Carré famously quipped that “having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes” he summed up the disappointment that countless authors feel about the often lackluster adaptations of their work. And yet, on rare occasions, the exact opposite can be true. Case in point: the Oscar-winning “Jaws,” which drastically improved upon Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel. As Steven Spielberg’s shark classic celebrates its 40th anniversary, here are ten movies that bettered their literary source material.
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Variety: The Best and Worst Disaster Movies of All Time
Moviegoers have thrilled to disaster since the dawn of the silent film era. From the 1901 drama “Fire!” about a burning house to the 1928 epic “Noah’s Ark,” whose climactic flood scene drowned three actors, Hollywood has reveled in catastrophe from the very beginning. The genre exploded in popularity during the ’70s with a string of blockbusters featuring all-star casts. Though the trend soon faded, the development of CGI effects brought it roaring back to life two decades later. The chaos continues on May 29 with the release of “San Andreas,” about a massive quake that destroys California. While we wait to assess the damage, here are ten essential disaster movies, plus five that barely register on the Richter scale.
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The Robot’s Voice: 10 Secrets From the Cast & Crew of the ’80s Rambo Cartoon
“His name was Rambo, and he was just some nothing kid for all anybody knew…”
So begins David Morrell’s harrowing novel “First Blood,” which I read in one white-knuckle sitting more than three decades ago. Back then, a film adaptation was still a ways off, but the cinematic quality of the writing made a movie version inevitable. The idea that such a brutal book could inspire a children’s cartoon, however, was completely absurd. Which makes the 1986 animated series “Rambo: The Force of Freedom” one of the most unlikely kids shows ever broadcast. Since this month marks the 30th anniversary of the blockbuster movie “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” I spoke with the cartoon’s cast and crew, including Rambo voice actor Neil Ross, head writer/story editor Mike Chain and writer/assistant story editor Jack Bornoff, about the challenges and rewards of bringing Morrell’s iconic character to the small screen.
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Audio Book Review: ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ Read by Rosamund Pike
A review of the audio book version of Ian Fleming’s novel “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
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Matthew Chernov 