Albert Brooks: Defending My Life pays tribute to a pioneer whose irreverent humor has spanned late night TV, comedy albums, features, animated voice work and a novel. But what makes the film sing is the extended rap session between Brooks and his dear friend Rob Reiner, who directed the HBO documentary. The Hollywood legends met as teenagers at Beverly Hills High School, and Reiner structures the film around a lunch in which they swap anecdotes and punchlines about Brooks’ influential career. It’s an energizing way to frame what might otherwise be just another gushy celebrity profile.
Onscreen, Brooks tells stories about the early days of Saturday Night Live and Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, his friendships with Carrie Fisher and Stanley Kubrick, the seven movies he’s written and directed and the marriage that made him a new father in his 50s. Many of today’s wry humorists owe a debt to Brooks,...
Onscreen, Brooks tells stories about the early days of Saturday Night Live and Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, his friendships with Carrie Fisher and Stanley Kubrick, the seven movies he’s written and directed and the marriage that made him a new father in his 50s. Many of today’s wry humorists owe a debt to Brooks,...
- 6/3/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jean-Paul Vignon, the romantic French vocalist and actor who impressed audiences on both sides of the Atlantic during an eight-decade career, died March 22 of liver cancer in Beverly Hills, his family announced. He was 89.
Performing a repertoire of contemporary pop and American standards, Vignon debuted in the U.S. in 1963 at the famed New York supper club The Blue Angel, where he opened for stand-up comic Woody Allen.
Ed Sullivan would soon showcase him on his Sunday night CBS variety show in eight appearances — including one in which he sang a duet with young Liza Minnelli — and he became a regular guest on Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin’s programs.
Signed to Columbia Records, Vignon released his first U.S. album, Because I Love You, in 1964. Three years later, he had a supporting role opposite William Holden and Cliff Robertson in the World War II film The Devil’s Brigade.
In...
Performing a repertoire of contemporary pop and American standards, Vignon debuted in the U.S. in 1963 at the famed New York supper club The Blue Angel, where he opened for stand-up comic Woody Allen.
Ed Sullivan would soon showcase him on his Sunday night CBS variety show in eight appearances — including one in which he sang a duet with young Liza Minnelli — and he became a regular guest on Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin’s programs.
Signed to Columbia Records, Vignon released his first U.S. album, Because I Love You, in 1964. Three years later, he had a supporting role opposite William Holden and Cliff Robertson in the World War II film The Devil’s Brigade.
In...
- 4/3/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paul Reubens' Pee-wee Herman wasn't always kid friendly.
My introduction to the most lovable dweeb in the history of dweebs came via "The Pee-wee Herman Show," the stage show that, in 1981, announced Reubens as the most inventively bizarre comedic talent since Ernie Kovacs. The production caught fire at Los Angeles' Groundlings theater, and eventually moved to the Roxy, where a performance was taped as an HBO special. I was eight years old when I saw a promo for the special, and I was both excited and perplexed. Why was something this zany and childlike airing at 10 Pm, which was, with few exceptions, exactly my bedtime?
Fortunately, one of those exceptions was the weekend, when I was allowed to stay up for "Saturday Night Live." While 11:30 Pm was a tall order for an eight-year-old who woke up early for cartoons, 10 Pm was doable. Honestly, any excuse to skip "Fantasy Island" was welcome.
My introduction to the most lovable dweeb in the history of dweebs came via "The Pee-wee Herman Show," the stage show that, in 1981, announced Reubens as the most inventively bizarre comedic talent since Ernie Kovacs. The production caught fire at Los Angeles' Groundlings theater, and eventually moved to the Roxy, where a performance was taped as an HBO special. I was eight years old when I saw a promo for the special, and I was both excited and perplexed. Why was something this zany and childlike airing at 10 Pm, which was, with few exceptions, exactly my bedtime?
Fortunately, one of those exceptions was the weekend, when I was allowed to stay up for "Saturday Night Live." While 11:30 Pm was a tall order for an eight-year-old who woke up early for cartoons, 10 Pm was doable. Honestly, any excuse to skip "Fantasy Island" was welcome.
- 7/31/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Filmmaker Tom Gormican discusses his favorite films featuring… Nicolas Cage.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
Mandy (2018)
Pig (2021)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Lord of War (2005)
The Weather Man (2005)
Moonstruck (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Vampire’s Kiss (1988)
Con Air (1997)
Face/Off (1997)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Adaptation (2002)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Wild At Heart (1990) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
The Wicker Man (1973) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
The Wicker Man (2006)
Being John Malkovich (1999) – Marshall Harvey’s trailer commentary
The Family Man (2000)
Joe (2013)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Rock (1996) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Operation Mad Ball (1957)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Valley Girl (1983) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)
Mandy (2018)
Pig (2021)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Lord of War (2005)
The Weather Man (2005)
Moonstruck (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Vampire’s Kiss (1988)
Con Air (1997)
Face/Off (1997)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Adaptation (2002)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Wild At Heart (1990) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
The Wicker Man (1973) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
The Wicker Man (2006)
Being John Malkovich (1999) – Marshall Harvey’s trailer commentary
The Family Man (2000)
Joe (2013)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
The Rock (1996) – Alex Kirschenbaum’s review
Operation Mad Ball (1957)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Valley Girl (1983) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review...
- 5/3/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Joseph Behar, the five-time Daytime Emmy-winning director who had long stints on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and General Hospital and on the game show Let’s Make a Deal, has died. He was 94.
Behar, who also helmed TV programs featuring Ernie Kovacs when the famed comedian was first starting out, died June 26 at his home in Manhattan Beach, his wife, Carolyn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Behar spent 22 years as a director on NBC’s Days of Our Lives — beginning with the show’s first broadcast in November 1965 — and from 1963-77 also called the shots for the ...
Behar, who also helmed TV programs featuring Ernie Kovacs when the famed comedian was first starting out, died June 26 at his home in Manhattan Beach, his wife, Carolyn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Behar spent 22 years as a director on NBC’s Days of Our Lives — beginning with the show’s first broadcast in November 1965 — and from 1963-77 also called the shots for the ...
- 7/19/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Joseph Behar, the five-time Daytime Emmy-winning director who had long stints on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and General Hospital and on the game show Let’s Make a Deal, has died. He was 94.
Behar, who also helmed TV programs featuring Ernie Kovacs when the famed comedian was first starting out, died June 26 at his home in Manhattan Beach, his wife, Carolyn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Behar spent 22 years as a director on NBC’s Days of Our Lives — beginning with the show’s first broadcast in November 1965 — and from 1963-77 also called the shots for the ...
Behar, who also helmed TV programs featuring Ernie Kovacs when the famed comedian was first starting out, died June 26 at his home in Manhattan Beach, his wife, Carolyn, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Behar spent 22 years as a director on NBC’s Days of Our Lives — beginning with the show’s first broadcast in November 1965 — and from 1963-77 also called the shots for the ...
- 7/19/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
You’ve asked questions. Prepare for the answers.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Beguiled (1971)
Tenet (2021? Maybe?)
Smokey Is The Bandit (1983)
Robin Hood (2010)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
The Devils (1971)
Song of the South (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Dillinger (1973)
Marcello I’m So Bored (1966)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Big Wednesday (1978)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Payback (1999)
Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
Blowup (1966)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Medium Cool (1969)
25th Hour (2002)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Palm Springs (2020)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mandy (2018)
The Sadist (1963)
Spider Baby (1968)
Night Tide (1960)
Stark Fear
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Léolo (1992)
The Howling (1981)
Showgirls (1995)
Green Book (2018)
The Last Hurrah (1958)
The Best Man (1964)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Candidate (1972)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
The Man (1972)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Four Lions (2010)
Pump Up The Volume (1990)
Nightmare In The Sun (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Nanny (1965)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Beguiled (1971)
Tenet (2021? Maybe?)
Smokey Is The Bandit (1983)
Robin Hood (2010)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
The Devils (1971)
Song of the South (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Dillinger (1973)
Marcello I’m So Bored (1966)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Big Wednesday (1978)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Payback (1999)
Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
Blowup (1966)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Medium Cool (1969)
25th Hour (2002)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Palm Springs (2020)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mandy (2018)
The Sadist (1963)
Spider Baby (1968)
Night Tide (1960)
Stark Fear
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Léolo (1992)
The Howling (1981)
Showgirls (1995)
Green Book (2018)
The Last Hurrah (1958)
The Best Man (1964)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Candidate (1972)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
The Man (1972)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Four Lions (2010)
Pump Up The Volume (1990)
Nightmare In The Sun (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Nanny (1965)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man...
- 7/24/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
He’s been gone a long time, but one of television’s most original talents is having a renaissance month. Ernie Kovacs is celebrating his 100th birthday year with the release today of The Ernie Kovacs Album: Centennial Edition by Omnivore Recordings, a prelude to the grand opening of the Ernie Kovacs Centennial Exhibit at the National Comedy Center on August 7.
The Ernie Kovacs Album Centennial Edition, Grammy nominated in 1977, was long-out-of-print. It’s now been remastered from the original sources and will be reissued on CD and digital formats for the first time. The new collection has been expanded to feature six never-heard-since-broadcast bonus tracks, liner notes, new photos and the original album artwork. One is previewed below:
The National Comedy Center will celebrate the centennial year of Kovacs with the acquisition and display of never-before-seen material and rare artifacts courtesy of the comedian’s estate.
Laura Laplaca, director...
The Ernie Kovacs Album Centennial Edition, Grammy nominated in 1977, was long-out-of-print. It’s now been remastered from the original sources and will be reissued on CD and digital formats for the first time. The new collection has been expanded to feature six never-heard-since-broadcast bonus tracks, liner notes, new photos and the original album artwork. One is previewed below:
The National Comedy Center will celebrate the centennial year of Kovacs with the acquisition and display of never-before-seen material and rare artifacts courtesy of the comedian’s estate.
Laura Laplaca, director...
- 7/19/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The archives of the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, including Ball’s handwritten notes and family photographs, will be digitally preserved by the National Comedy Center.
Located in Ball’s Jamestown, NY hometown, the Center is undertaking the project to mark the 30th anniversary of her death. Most of the material has not been exhibited before, and the trove of production papers and telegrams will be gradually added to the exhibit.
The National Comedy Center opened last summer near the existing Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum. It celebrates all comedy as an art form and stages grand exhibitions of famous comedians and their material. It is the first state-of-the-art museum dedicated to telling the story of comedy in America.
It celebrates comedy’s great minds and unique voices, from Ernie Kovacs to Charlie Chaplin to Dave Chappelle. Exclusive collections and exhibits give fans a look behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes of comedy.
Located in Ball’s Jamestown, NY hometown, the Center is undertaking the project to mark the 30th anniversary of her death. Most of the material has not been exhibited before, and the trove of production papers and telegrams will be gradually added to the exhibit.
The National Comedy Center opened last summer near the existing Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum. It celebrates all comedy as an art form and stages grand exhibitions of famous comedians and their material. It is the first state-of-the-art museum dedicated to telling the story of comedy in America.
It celebrates comedy’s great minds and unique voices, from Ernie Kovacs to Charlie Chaplin to Dave Chappelle. Exclusive collections and exhibits give fans a look behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes of comedy.
- 4/27/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
We are super proud to present the Criterion Collection's Ingmar Bergman's Cinema box set. Not only is it easily the box set of the year, collecting 39 films on 30 gorgeously packaged Blu-rays complete with huge book, but Mike and myself will be covering it one film at a time on our new podcast MindFrame(s), which you can currently find on iTunes. Other box sets we covered here include The Ernie Kovacs Centennial Collection, which brings together a magnificent assortment of the late comedian's groundbreaking work in early TV. The Critters Collection not only offers all four Critters films, but also commentaries and special features on each disc! Indicator has just released what is likely to be the definitive version of Curse of the Demon,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 12/19/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Donald Trump has been trying very hard to do a lot to this nation, thus far with pathetically little success. However, while he might not be making America great, he’s most certainly been making American comedy fantastic.
Take Stephen Colbert. After he took over The Late Show, he has been losing badly to The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon. Then the Manchild from Hell won the election – thanks to a little help from his friends – and that very evening Colbert had something of a nervous breakdown, live on CBS. To his vast credit, he put all that energy into his job: making jokes at the expense of our Megalomaniac-In-Chief. Now, six months later, he’s leaped over Fallon in the ratings.
Certainly, there’s no shortage of material. Indeed, many other comics have made similar journeys on the Trump Turnpike (“what will that asshole think of next?”). Seth Myers,...
Take Stephen Colbert. After he took over The Late Show, he has been losing badly to The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon. Then the Manchild from Hell won the election – thanks to a little help from his friends – and that very evening Colbert had something of a nervous breakdown, live on CBS. To his vast credit, he put all that energy into his job: making jokes at the expense of our Megalomaniac-In-Chief. Now, six months later, he’s leaped over Fallon in the ratings.
Certainly, there’s no shortage of material. Indeed, many other comics have made similar journeys on the Trump Turnpike (“what will that asshole think of next?”). Seth Myers,...
- 8/2/2017
- by Mike Gold
- Comicmix.com
Carl Reiner is mourning the loss of his longtime friend, legendary comedian Don Rickles.
Rickles died of kidney failure on Thursday morning, his rep confirmed to Et. He was 90.
Reiner, 95, tells Et the two had known each other since Rickles came to California to pursue his career, when he was still unknown.
News: Don Rickles Dies at 90: Jimmy Kimmel, Bob Newhart and More Stars Pay Tribute
"I knew Don Rickles from the early, early days of his career when he came to California," Reiner says. "I was doing a program with Ernie Kovacs, who told me to see a new comic. I went with Frank Sinatra to see this young comedian, Don Rickles. I got to know him well after that."
"He did my movie, Enter Laughing, a key scene in the movie," he continues. "I just saw the movie on TV last week and called him to tell him about it, but was not...
Rickles died of kidney failure on Thursday morning, his rep confirmed to Et. He was 90.
Reiner, 95, tells Et the two had known each other since Rickles came to California to pursue his career, when he was still unknown.
News: Don Rickles Dies at 90: Jimmy Kimmel, Bob Newhart and More Stars Pay Tribute
"I knew Don Rickles from the early, early days of his career when he came to California," Reiner says. "I was doing a program with Ernie Kovacs, who told me to see a new comic. I went with Frank Sinatra to see this young comedian, Don Rickles. I got to know him well after that."
"He did my movie, Enter Laughing, a key scene in the movie," he continues. "I just saw the movie on TV last week and called him to tell him about it, but was not...
- 4/6/2017
- Entertainment Tonight
Skip Williamson (L), Jay Lynch
In this space two weeks ago, I wrote about the death of cartoonist and comix legend Jay Lynch. I noted his half-century friendship with Skip Williamson; despite their physical distance, I don’t think two people could have been closer.
As fate would have it, Skip died eleven days after Jay. Each was 72 years old. For long-time friends of the pair, for long-time fans of the pair – and I count myself among both groups – the timing was crippling. Skip long had heart problems so even though it was shocking, it wasn’t totally unexpected. However, there’s a kind of appropriateness about that timing that makes complete sense.
I won’t repeat their mutual history other than to mention the first comic book they pioneered was Bijou Funnies. Both had contributed to Harvey Kurtzman’s Help! Magazine and, later, to Playboy. Skip’s most revered character was Snappy Sammy Smoot,...
In this space two weeks ago, I wrote about the death of cartoonist and comix legend Jay Lynch. I noted his half-century friendship with Skip Williamson; despite their physical distance, I don’t think two people could have been closer.
As fate would have it, Skip died eleven days after Jay. Each was 72 years old. For long-time friends of the pair, for long-time fans of the pair – and I count myself among both groups – the timing was crippling. Skip long had heart problems so even though it was shocking, it wasn’t totally unexpected. However, there’s a kind of appropriateness about that timing that makes complete sense.
I won’t repeat their mutual history other than to mention the first comic book they pioneered was Bijou Funnies. Both had contributed to Harvey Kurtzman’s Help! Magazine and, later, to Playboy. Skip’s most revered character was Snappy Sammy Smoot,...
- 3/22/2017
- by Mike Gold
- Comicmix.com
It’s Obi-Wan versus Fidel! Well, not really. The pre-Bond espionage genre lights up with cool intrigues and comic absurdities, as a Brit vacuum salesman in Havana is recruited to spy for Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The filmmakers and stars are all top caliber, and the location is legendary: Castro’s Cuba, immediately after the revolution.
Our Man in Havana
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O’Hara, Ernie Kovacs, Noël Coward, Ralph Richardson, Jo Morrow, Gregoire Aslan.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Music Score: Frank and Laurence Deniz
Art Direction: John Box
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Written by Graham Greene from his novel
Produced and Directed by Carol Reed
One of the best pre-James Bond spy pictures is this brilliant, yet lumpy adventure with an historically unique setting — it was filmed in Castro’s Cuba,...
Our Man in Havana
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1959 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date March 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O’Hara, Ernie Kovacs, Noël Coward, Ralph Richardson, Jo Morrow, Gregoire Aslan.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Music Score: Frank and Laurence Deniz
Art Direction: John Box
Film Editor: Bert Bates
Written by Graham Greene from his novel
Produced and Directed by Carol Reed
One of the best pre-James Bond spy pictures is this brilliant, yet lumpy adventure with an historically unique setting — it was filmed in Castro’s Cuba,...
- 3/18/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The already-incredible line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival just got even more promising. Ang Lee‘s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk will hold its world premiere at the festival on October 14th, the NY Times confirmed today. The adaptation of Ben Fountain‘s Iraq War novel, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), follows a teenage soldier who survives a battle in Iraq and then is brought home for a victory lap before returning.
Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...
Lee has shot the film at 120 frames per second in 4K and native 3D, giving it unprecedented clarity for a feature film, which also means the screening will be held in a relatively small 300-seat theater at AMC Lincoln Square, one of the few with the technology to present it that way. While it’s expected that this Lincoln Square theater will play the film when it arrives in theaters, it may be...
- 8/22/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In any medium, the fringe — as opposed to the mainstream — is often where the greatest risk-taking happens, and television is no exception. Late night television comedy — most notably David Letterman and Saturday Night Live (and going back to Ernie Kovacs, but all TV was a petri dish then), always has represented the progressive forefront and unsupervised playground of network television. The phrase "not ready for prime time players" perhaps best describes the landscape of late night. But slowly, over years and decades, the mainstream shifts to embrace what once was the fringe. Indeed, yesterday's weirdo in
read more...
read more...
- 5/20/2015
- by David Miner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As opposed to most comedic efforts that hit television these days, FX‘s latest, The Comedians, starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad, is one of those concept efforts that is either going to take off, or crash, and you aren’t going to have to wait around to see if it “catches on,” or, “hits its stride.” You either love it, or hate it, and you aren’t going to change your mind.
With hints of The Office, Episodes, Christopher Guest mockumentary films, and a host of other comedic turns, some going back to the earliest days of “screen” comedy, The Comedians is as much a kind of love letter to comedy itself as it is a true effort to join the ranks.
While there is a solid background to the show’s, somewhat meandering, statement on the comedic world in general, and the one in which we now find ourselves,...
With hints of The Office, Episodes, Christopher Guest mockumentary films, and a host of other comedic turns, some going back to the earliest days of “screen” comedy, The Comedians is as much a kind of love letter to comedy itself as it is a true effort to join the ranks.
While there is a solid background to the show’s, somewhat meandering, statement on the comedic world in general, and the one in which we now find ourselves,...
- 4/7/2015
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Article by Sam Moffitt
It’s tough to say goodbye to Sid Caesar. I’ve been pondering what I can possibly say about a comedy legend who has been around as long as I can remember and contributed so much to comedy, mostly on television but also many times in motion pictures.
Firstly Sid Caesar was in on the ground floor of television, his earliest programs done live in 1949 before the video switch board had even been invented. In those earliest shows the director was on the stage telling the floor managers which cameras and mikes to hook or unhook to the coax and audio cables! Consider that just for a moment!
Caesar’s wonderful book Caesar’s Hours: My Life in Comedy, with Love and Laughter, co written with Eddie Friedfeld tells all about Sid Caesar’s years in show business and the legendary live variety shows; Your Show of Shows...
It’s tough to say goodbye to Sid Caesar. I’ve been pondering what I can possibly say about a comedy legend who has been around as long as I can remember and contributed so much to comedy, mostly on television but also many times in motion pictures.
Firstly Sid Caesar was in on the ground floor of television, his earliest programs done live in 1949 before the video switch board had even been invented. In those earliest shows the director was on the stage telling the floor managers which cameras and mikes to hook or unhook to the coax and audio cables! Consider that just for a moment!
Caesar’s wonderful book Caesar’s Hours: My Life in Comedy, with Love and Laughter, co written with Eddie Friedfeld tells all about Sid Caesar’s years in show business and the legendary live variety shows; Your Show of Shows...
- 3/31/2014
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Filmmaker Harold Ramis, who exerted a strong creative hand in such popular comedies as National Lampoon's Animal House, the Ghostbusters series and Groundhog Day, has died in Chicago of a rare autoimmune disease, People has confirmed.
His wife, Erica Mann Ramis, told the Chicago Tribune he was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. Monday.
An actor, writer, director, producer and a gentleman – whose dry wit, long face and eyeglasses often had him compared to the legendary 1930s playwright George S. Kaufman, a compliment Ramis enjoyed – Ramis was born in Chicago and grew up idolizing the Marx Brothers,...
His wife, Erica Mann Ramis, told the Chicago Tribune he was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. Monday.
An actor, writer, director, producer and a gentleman – whose dry wit, long face and eyeglasses often had him compared to the legendary 1930s playwright George S. Kaufman, a compliment Ramis enjoyed – Ramis was born in Chicago and grew up idolizing the Marx Brothers,...
- 2/24/2014
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- People.com - TV Watch
Filmmaker Harold Ramis, who exerted a strong creative hand in such popular comedies as National Lampoon's Animal House, the Ghostbusters series and Groundhog Day, has died in Chicago of a rare autoimmune disease, People has confirmed. His wife, Erica Mann Ramis, told the Chicago Tribune he was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. Monday. An actor, writer, director, producer and a gentleman - whose dry wit, long face and eyeglasses often had him compared to the legendary 1930s playwright George S. Kaufman, a compliment Ramis enjoyed - Ramis was born in Chicago and grew up idolizing the Marx Brothers,...
- 2/24/2014
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
The BBC has confirmed the recovery of nine episodes of th Patricke Troughton era Doctor Who, a complete set of The Enemy of the World, and all but part three of The Web of Fear. Both adventures are available now from iTunes, with DVD releases to follow. Part three of Web of Fear, still missing, is included with a restored audio track and a series of telesnaps. It’s unknown if it may at some time receive the animated treatment that many past adventures have gotten.
The rumors circulating around fandom since the early summer have ended up being truer than many assumed, but not as true as most hoped. The episodes, hailing from Nigeria (not Ethiopia, as the rumor claimed) and ended up falling far short of the outlandish tales of a hundred or more episodes.
While it was standard practice to record the broadcasts onto 16mm film, those...
The rumors circulating around fandom since the early summer have ended up being truer than many assumed, but not as true as most hoped. The episodes, hailing from Nigeria (not Ethiopia, as the rumor claimed) and ended up falling far short of the outlandish tales of a hundred or more episodes.
While it was standard practice to record the broadcasts onto 16mm film, those...
- 10/11/2013
- by Vinnie Bartilucci
- Comicmix.com
Shirley Jones Movies: Innocent virgins and sex workers galore (photo: Shirley Jones and Burt Lancaster in ‘Elmer Gantry’) (See previous post: “Shirley Jones: From Book to Movies.”) I haven’t watched The Cheyenne Social Club (1970), a comedy Western directed by Gene Kelly, and starring 62-year-old James Stewart as a cowpoke who inherits an establishment that turns out to be a popular house of prostitution. Henry Fonda plays Stewart’s partner. And I’m sure Shirley Jones, as one of the sex workers, looks lovely in the film. Hopefully, director Kelly gave this likable, talented actress the chance to do more than just stand around looking pretty. But then again … For all purposes, The Cheyenne Social Club ended Shirley Jones’ film stardom; that same year she turned to TV and The Partridge Family. Jones would return to films only nine years later, as one of several stars (among them Michael Caine,...
- 8/28/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Produced and distributed by Mvd Entertainment Group, in association with Ediad Productions,"Here's Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection", available November 19, 2013, is a new four DVD box set, featuring 12 Hours of the early 1960's TV series "Here's Edie" and "The Edie Adams Show".
Performances include classic Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Andre Previn, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Nancy Wilson, Buddy Hackett, Bob Hope, Dick Shawn, Rowan & Martin, Peter Falk, Sir Michael Redgrave, Zsa Zsa Gabor and a whole lot more :
"...more than 50 years after it premiered on the ABC network, the variety shows 'Here's Edie' and 'The Edie Adams Show' are set for release on DVD and digital formats, the first time either series has been seen in any format since its original broadcast more than a half century ago.
"The 'wow' factor of this box set resides in the eclectic guest stars Edie Adams...
Performances include classic Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Andre Previn, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Nancy Wilson, Buddy Hackett, Bob Hope, Dick Shawn, Rowan & Martin, Peter Falk, Sir Michael Redgrave, Zsa Zsa Gabor and a whole lot more :
"...more than 50 years after it premiered on the ABC network, the variety shows 'Here's Edie' and 'The Edie Adams Show' are set for release on DVD and digital formats, the first time either series has been seen in any format since its original broadcast more than a half century ago.
"The 'wow' factor of this box set resides in the eclectic guest stars Edie Adams...
- 8/6/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Doris Day movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars 2013′ lineup continues (photo: Doris Day in ‘Calamity Jane’ publicity shot) Doris Day, who turned 89 last April 3, is Turner Classic Movies’ 2013 “Summer Under the Stars” star on Friday, August 2. (Doris Day, by the way, still looks great. Check out "Doris Day Today.") Doris Day movies, of course, are frequently shown on TCM. Why? Well, TCM is owned by the megaconglomerate Time Warner, which also happens to own (among myriad other things) the Warner Bros. film library, which includes not only the Doris Day movies made at Warners from 1948 to 1955, but also Day’s MGM films as well (and the overwhelming majority of MGM releases up to 1986). My point: Don’t expect any Doris Day movie rarity on Friday — in fact, I don’t think such a thing exists. Doris Day is ‘Calamity Jane’ If you haven’t watched David Butler’s musical...
- 8/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Eddy Friedfeld, Carl Reiner and Fran Zigman. (That's Mel Brooks on the phone). (Photo: Karen Caesar.)
By Eddy Friedfeld
The late great Larry Gelbart once said about his friend and colleague, the still great Carl Reiner: “Carl Reiner and my maid have a lot in common- they both abhor a vacuum.” Having spent time with Mr. Reiner, I can attest that Mr. Gelbart was spot on.
His newly released autobiography, I Remember Me, is a very entertaining and wonderful and inspiring collection of anecdotes. His third biography, following My Anecdotal Life and How Paul Robeson Saved My Life and Other Mostly Happy Stories, is a collection of funny and poignant, and extremely well-crafted stories range from friends and family, including his late wife of 65 years, Estelle (whose When Harry Met Sally iconic line “I’ll have what she’s having,” rated ahead of Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca close “This...
By Eddy Friedfeld
The late great Larry Gelbart once said about his friend and colleague, the still great Carl Reiner: “Carl Reiner and my maid have a lot in common- they both abhor a vacuum.” Having spent time with Mr. Reiner, I can attest that Mr. Gelbart was spot on.
His newly released autobiography, I Remember Me, is a very entertaining and wonderful and inspiring collection of anecdotes. His third biography, following My Anecdotal Life and How Paul Robeson Saved My Life and Other Mostly Happy Stories, is a collection of funny and poignant, and extremely well-crafted stories range from friends and family, including his late wife of 65 years, Estelle (whose When Harry Met Sally iconic line “I’ll have what she’s having,” rated ahead of Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca close “This...
- 4/19/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
I was something of an odd kid growing up so it may have made sense that I liked odd comedians. My memory was that I was the only person in our household who liked Ernie Kovacs; I must have been about 7 or 8 when his TV show was on. I thought he was funny and just so damn strange.
The same must be said as well for Jonathan Winters who died Thursday at the age of 87. A remarkable improviser, he could become anyone or anything. Hand him a prop or a hat and he could do four or five characters one after the other, morphing from one to the next in a heartbeat. Famously, Jack Paar just gave him a stick and Winters turned in character after character , including a terrific imitation of Bing Crosby.
I have a memory of Winters on The Jack Parr Show simply taking it over. Parr...
The same must be said as well for Jonathan Winters who died Thursday at the age of 87. A remarkable improviser, he could become anyone or anything. Hand him a prop or a hat and he could do four or five characters one after the other, morphing from one to the next in a heartbeat. Famously, Jack Paar just gave him a stick and Winters turned in character after character , including a terrific imitation of Bing Crosby.
I have a memory of Winters on The Jack Parr Show simply taking it over. Parr...
- 4/14/2013
- by John Ostrander
- Comicmix.com
When an actor gets pigeon-holed as an action star, it becomes very difficult to shake that title. You are deemed bankable more for your screen presence, physical attributes and ability to run from explosions, rather than your thespian skills.
Most action stars are not known for their acting chops. That is why it always baffles the mind when these movie tough guys decide in starring in a flat out comedy instead of their usual mind-numbing brand of cops ‘n robbers thrills.
Comedy takes a certain set of skills, and sometimes even the most brilliant of comic actors have had difficulty tackling this genre. But why do action stars, known for spending most of their previous screen credits running around with guns and spouting witty one liners, think that doing comedy would be a good idea? Here are 10 movies which show why action movie stars should not attempt comedy.
10. John Wayne...
Most action stars are not known for their acting chops. That is why it always baffles the mind when these movie tough guys decide in starring in a flat out comedy instead of their usual mind-numbing brand of cops ‘n robbers thrills.
Comedy takes a certain set of skills, and sometimes even the most brilliant of comic actors have had difficulty tackling this genre. But why do action stars, known for spending most of their previous screen credits running around with guns and spouting witty one liners, think that doing comedy would be a good idea? Here are 10 movies which show why action movie stars should not attempt comedy.
10. John Wayne...
- 1/28/2013
- by Kyle Hytonen
- Obsessed with Film
Wednesday is kind of a lame night for Halloween, so celebs and us regular folks have been celebrating since the weekend! But yesterday marked the final costumed hurrah, where Hollywood A-listers got their last chance to venture out in bizarre costumes, before it’s officially considered weird again. Kim Kardashian showed up to her Halloween party at Miami’s Fontainebleau in a skin tight Cat Woman catsuit, while boyfriend Kanye West donned a Batman outfit (natch), making them 2-0 with the hilarious couples costumes. Batman and his crew were a pretty popular choice this year. Kim’s sister Kourtney went as the Dark Knight alongside Scott Disick, who battled it out with Paris Hilton for the title of the Sexiest Robin. At first we thought Basketball Wives star Gloria Govan Also went as the great caped one, but it turned out to be a cat burglar. Our bad.
Kristen Stewart...
Kristen Stewart...
- 11/1/2012
- by Jordan Runtagh
- TheFabLife - Movies
Mars Attacks • Abrams ComicArt • hardcover $19.95, also available in electronic format. Publication date: October 1, 2012
There’s a seminal moment in every weirdo’s life where we experience something so outrageous our worldview is altered severely and forever. For Ray Bradbury and Michael Moorcock, it was Edgar Rice Burroughs. For nascent Nasa scientists, it was Ray Bradbury and Buck Rogers. EC Comics begat a generation of filmmakers, satirists, and cartoonists. I have no doubt we will be appreciating the influence of The Simpsons and South Park as its early adopters enter the creative workplaces.
For me, it was Mars Attacks.
I love to collect things. I suspect if comic books were unnumbered I wouldn’t have made it to the Marvel Age. So I would dutifully check out the counter-spaces at my local drug stores to see what the Bazooka Joe boys at Topps were offering in the realm of what we now call “non-sports cards.
There’s a seminal moment in every weirdo’s life where we experience something so outrageous our worldview is altered severely and forever. For Ray Bradbury and Michael Moorcock, it was Edgar Rice Burroughs. For nascent Nasa scientists, it was Ray Bradbury and Buck Rogers. EC Comics begat a generation of filmmakers, satirists, and cartoonists. I have no doubt we will be appreciating the influence of The Simpsons and South Park as its early adopters enter the creative workplaces.
For me, it was Mars Attacks.
I love to collect things. I suspect if comic books were unnumbered I wouldn’t have made it to the Marvel Age. So I would dutifully check out the counter-spaces at my local drug stores to see what the Bazooka Joe boys at Topps were offering in the realm of what we now call “non-sports cards.
- 9/26/2012
- by Mike Gold
- Comicmix.com
Ernie Kovacs, the funniest guy you've never heard of, was just shy of his 43rd birthday when he died in a 1962 car accident in Los Angeles. Over the course of his tragically short career, he logged hundreds of hours of live TV on things like "Take a Good Look" (1959-61) and the various incarnations of "The Ernie Kovacs Show" (1953, 1954-55, 1955-56, 1956, 1957), displaying an undeniable fourth wall-breaking genius and pioneering a unique comedic voice that would go on to influence everyone from David Letterman to Captain Kangaroo -- everyone who was lucky enough to have seen him, that is, as a lot of his work was erased, discarded or never recorded in the first place, surviving only in videotape and kinescopes snippets. A talent ahead of his time, Kovacs, who often worked with his collaborator and wife Edie Adams, has gotten more recognition posthumously, his growing repution meriting a new box...
- 5/2/2012
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
DVD Playhouse—April 2012
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
By Allen Gardner
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Warner Bros.) An eleven year-old boy (newcomer Thomas Horn, in an incredible debut) discovers a mysterious key amongst the possessions of his late father (Tom Hanks) who perished in 9/11. Determined to find the lock it matches, the boy embarks on a Picaresque odyssey across New York City. Director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth have fashioned a film both grand and intimate, beautifully-adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, thought by most who read it to be unfilmable. Fine support from Jeffrey Wright, Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, Viola Davis and the great Max von Sydow. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-hd 5.1 surround.
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection (Anchor Bay) Adapted from Koushun Takami’s polarizing novel (compared by champions and detractors alike as a 21st century version of A Clockwork Orange) and set in a futuristic Japan,...
- 4/13/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
For the past two years, I've been lucky enough to be a small part of a show called Portlandia. The series -- created by the prolifically talented Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and returning on Friday for a second season -- has been described by many a stinging satire of Hipster culture. While it does parody Hipster earnestness, the show pays loving tribute to communities Like Portland everywhere -- Silver Lake, Austin, Bolder, Williamsburg, Minneapolis, Northampton, Berkeley, etc, etc, etc -- and much has been made about how the show has puts Hipster Culture in the spotlight.
I must say, however, Hipsters are not a new TV phenomenon. With thick glasses, just-so-avant-garde fashion and knowing smirks, Hipsters have had a special place on TV since the beginning of the medium -- even before the birth of the term. For more than half a century, TV Hipsters have had a profound effect on American culture.
I must say, however, Hipsters are not a new TV phenomenon. With thick glasses, just-so-avant-garde fashion and knowing smirks, Hipsters have had a special place on TV since the beginning of the medium -- even before the birth of the term. For more than half a century, TV Hipsters have had a profound effect on American culture.
- 1/4/2012
- by Evan Shapiro
- Aol TV.
Bright Lights Film Journal editor Gary Morris introduces #74: "This issue opens with Jd Markel's enchanting exegesis of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, but as in Jd's previous contribution, expands into a much wider cultural critique…. In the Movies section, one of our new writers — come on down, Graham Daseler! — appears with two delightful entries, one on My Dinner with André, the other on the life and career of John Huston. Bl regular David Pike authoritatively analyzes Denis Villeneuve's disturbing feature Incendies, while Bl newbie Barry Stephenson offers a thoughtful study of ritual in Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. First-time contributors William Anselmi and Sheena Wilson shine light on the dark side of cinema technologies in a daring piece on Inception. And two recent returnees to these cyberpages, Mark Chapman and Alex Kirschenbaum, stylishly weigh in on, respectively, the 'aesthetic of disavowal' of Haneke's La Pianiste and Scorsese's The Color of Money...
- 11/14/2011
- MUBI
Ryan Dunn's sudden death early Monday shocked Jackass fans. Here are five other TV stars whose lives were abruptly ended in car crashes: 1. Justin Mentell: Best known for playing a young lawyer during the early days of Boston Legal, the actor had returned to his native Midwest to work on art and music when he was killed in a single-car accident in 2010. He was 27. 2. Lamont Bentley: In 2005, the Moesha favorite—he played Brandy's friend-turned-boyfriend Hakeem on the 1990s comedy—was on his way home from a Los Angeles movie screening when his car careened off the freeway. The actor was 31. 3. Ernie Kovacs: On a rainy night in 1962, the influential comic was 42, and in...
- 6/21/2011
- E! Online
John Landis King Faisal tells us about Havana, about Graham Greene, about auteurism, and about Carol Reed’s Our Man In Havana.
Director Carol Reed filmed his extremely well-cast adaptation of Grahame Greene’s spy novel on location in Havana only three months after Fidel Castro’s January 1959 revolution, and completed it just before Cuba aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Alberto Cavalcanti had explored the idea of directing this in the late ’40s (but set in Estonia) and Alfred Hitchcock was also interested, but former film critic Greene nixed him.
Click here to watch the trailer, then come along for some bonus material.
Really interesting stuff from Mr. Landis here and love that he mentions how good the Cuba stuff in The Godfather Part II is. (You know, the stuff that almost featured Sam Fuller.) And, of course, why wouldn’t it be interesting?
Graham Greene is one of...
Director Carol Reed filmed his extremely well-cast adaptation of Grahame Greene’s spy novel on location in Havana only three months after Fidel Castro’s January 1959 revolution, and completed it just before Cuba aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Alberto Cavalcanti had explored the idea of directing this in the late ’40s (but set in Estonia) and Alfred Hitchcock was also interested, but former film critic Greene nixed him.
Click here to watch the trailer, then come along for some bonus material.
Really interesting stuff from Mr. Landis here and love that he mentions how good the Cuba stuff in The Godfather Part II is. (You know, the stuff that almost featured Sam Fuller.) And, of course, why wouldn’t it be interesting?
Graham Greene is one of...
- 6/15/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Yonkers - Ernie Kovacs is the patron saint of innovative TV comedies. His impact can be felt on everything from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In to Monty Python’s Flying Circus to Saturday Night Live. Shout! Factory’s The Ernie Kovacs Collection gives a survey of his short yet stellar career that ended in 1962 with his death. Over the course of six DVDs, you realize this guy truly revolutionized what you could do on TV.
The boxset doesn’t have any of the episodes from his original Three to Get Ready show that aired on Philly TV. But we get a healthy helping of his other shows that allowed him to bounce between NBC, CBS, ABC and even the legendary DuMont. Along with creating comedy shows, he hosted talkshows, gameshows and even variety shows. He even contributed to Mad Magazine. His famous mustache and cigar popped up all over the dial.
The boxset doesn’t have any of the episodes from his original Three to Get Ready show that aired on Philly TV. But we get a healthy helping of his other shows that allowed him to bounce between NBC, CBS, ABC and even the legendary DuMont. Along with creating comedy shows, he hosted talkshows, gameshows and even variety shows. He even contributed to Mad Magazine. His famous mustache and cigar popped up all over the dial.
- 4/28/2011
- by UncaScroogeMcD
Ernie Kovacs is really a funny guy, but there's a chance you've never heard of him. My father had when I asked him, and I assume that most alive around that era were aware of Kovacs. I, however, had no idea who he was when I received the press release from Shout! Factory. Turns out, he's a really funny guy.
Kovacs looks like the son of Groucho Marx, but his humor is far, far, far from conventional. In fact,[...]...
Kovacs looks like the son of Groucho Marx, but his humor is far, far, far from conventional. In fact,[...]...
- 4/22/2011
- by Sam McPherson
- TVovermind.com
Whenever a clip of Ernie Kovacs pops up in a TV special about show-business history, the focus tends to be on one of his whimsical visual gags or kooky characters. The biggest revelation of the long-overdue six-dvd box set The Ernie Kovacs Collection is how funny Kovacs could be when he was just standing in front of a camera and talking, as “himself.” Kovacs started his showbiz career as a stage actor in the ’30s, while still in his teens, then moved on to radio before becoming a staple of local Philadelphia television in the early ’50s, as a host ...
- 4/20/2011
- avclub.com
Everett Collection Scene from “Somewhere.”
After “Scream 4”’s lackluster showing at the box office last weekend, it would appear that our cycle of recycling horror conventions for new audiences finally reached its tipping point. That however is not why we elected to exclude any horror-themed titles in this week’s column. Rather, there just happened to be a particularly interesting and eclectic roster of new DVDs and Blu-rays from other genres, although if you’re into social realism, family drama or ecological peril,...
After “Scream 4”’s lackluster showing at the box office last weekend, it would appear that our cycle of recycling horror conventions for new audiences finally reached its tipping point. That however is not why we elected to exclude any horror-themed titles in this week’s column. Rather, there just happened to be a particularly interesting and eclectic roster of new DVDs and Blu-rays from other genres, although if you’re into social realism, family drama or ecological peril,...
- 4/19/2011
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Paley center news from New York: Keith Olbermann will moderate a special panel to include TV cultie fan favorites, comedian and Kovacs fan Joel Hodgson,(Mystery Science Theater 3000), humorist-comedian-writer Robert Smigel, Laugh In creator George Schlatter, Kovacs cast member on his ABC specials Jolene Brand and television historian & Kovacs curator Ben Model. The Paley Center announced today that they will present an evening titled It.s Been Real: The Works of Coming Genius Ernie Kovacs (www.erniekovacs.com) at its New York headquarters on April 12, 2011, that will include screenings of his work and a panel discussion with top comedic performers and writers. The panel discussion will focus on the impact Kovacs has had on television in general and...
- 3/16/2011
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
Shout! Factory is a DVD company that puts out some absolutely great stuff (they're recently responsible for the release of Dark Skies). Here's the press release for their latest endeavor:
Celebrating the Unsung Hero of Television Comedy…At Last
The Ernie Kovacs Collection
featuring more than 13 hours of Kovacs’ original classic television content,
unforgettable characters and a treasure trove of genuine rarities
all collected in a lavishly packaged 6-dvd box set!
Vast Majority Of This Content Has Not Been Seen In Over 50 Years
Own It On DVD April 19, 2011 From Shout! Factory
Los Angeles, CA (January 10, 2011) With a gift for inventive comedy that was alternately cerebral, goofy and just plain absurd, Ernie Kovacs (www.erniekovacs.com) transformed television’s early era into his own personal playground---and invited viewers to enjoy every sight gag and loony character.
Produced and distributed by Shout! Factory in association with Ediad Productions, Inc., the long-awaited The...
Celebrating the Unsung Hero of Television Comedy…At Last
The Ernie Kovacs Collection
featuring more than 13 hours of Kovacs’ original classic television content,
unforgettable characters and a treasure trove of genuine rarities
all collected in a lavishly packaged 6-dvd box set!
Vast Majority Of This Content Has Not Been Seen In Over 50 Years
Own It On DVD April 19, 2011 From Shout! Factory
Los Angeles, CA (January 10, 2011) With a gift for inventive comedy that was alternately cerebral, goofy and just plain absurd, Ernie Kovacs (www.erniekovacs.com) transformed television’s early era into his own personal playground---and invited viewers to enjoy every sight gag and loony character.
Produced and distributed by Shout! Factory in association with Ediad Productions, Inc., the long-awaited The...
- 1/10/2011
- by Sam McPherson
- TVovermind.com
Deadpan farce so dry Ernie Kovacs might've wanted to use it for kindling, the BBC series Look Around You is the kind of comedy freak you'll never find on an American network. For one thing, it mocks a specific form of old public-service film (old? As in, not new? Not post-2005? Forget it!), and for another, the episodes are each nine minutes long. (The whole first season, now available on DVD, is packed into 71 minutes.) How and when was this thing broadcast?...
- 7/28/2010
- Movieline
(Christopher Walken, above.)
[We continue with our postings of some of the best interviews from the previous decade that have thus far only appeared in print, but not on our site. This interview was conducted by our good friend in New York, filmmaker Michael Wechsler. It originally appeared in Venice Magazine in 2003. Walken was just coming off a terrific performance in Catch Me If You Can. This is one of the better talks Walken has ever given. He speaks a lot about his process, in very entertaining fashion, making this a must-read for any aspiring actors.]
Christopher Walken: Dancer in the Dark
by Michael Wechsler
He dances. He can carry a tune. He has become a regular host on "Saturday Night Live." He loves Jerry Lewis, cats, Bugs Bunny, cooking and painting.
Oh, wait, I'm forgetting a few small details. He also won an Academy Award in 1978 for playing a suicidal soldier in Vietnam, gave audiences a lifetime of nightmares and sadistic chuckles playing a heavy in King of New York and a thug amongst thugs in True Romance, and to this day has one of the most recognizable hairstyles of anybody gracing the Silver Screen.
Frankly, I was more than a little nervous about interviewing Mr. Walken, based purely on his resume of psychologically unstable characters. My initial thought was ‘I hope he's nothing like the folks he's played.' Looking through Walken's roles of the past three decades, it feels...
[We continue with our postings of some of the best interviews from the previous decade that have thus far only appeared in print, but not on our site. This interview was conducted by our good friend in New York, filmmaker Michael Wechsler. It originally appeared in Venice Magazine in 2003. Walken was just coming off a terrific performance in Catch Me If You Can. This is one of the better talks Walken has ever given. He speaks a lot about his process, in very entertaining fashion, making this a must-read for any aspiring actors.]
Christopher Walken: Dancer in the Dark
by Michael Wechsler
He dances. He can carry a tune. He has become a regular host on "Saturday Night Live." He loves Jerry Lewis, cats, Bugs Bunny, cooking and painting.
Oh, wait, I'm forgetting a few small details. He also won an Academy Award in 1978 for playing a suicidal soldier in Vietnam, gave audiences a lifetime of nightmares and sadistic chuckles playing a heavy in King of New York and a thug amongst thugs in True Romance, and to this day has one of the most recognizable hairstyles of anybody gracing the Silver Screen.
Frankly, I was more than a little nervous about interviewing Mr. Walken, based purely on his resume of psychologically unstable characters. My initial thought was ‘I hope he's nothing like the folks he's played.' Looking through Walken's roles of the past three decades, it feels...
- 1/13/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
M&C Holiday Web Thump for curious budget conscious consumers: The Best of Spike Jones is brought back from the past, a new DVD set to be released on December 12. .Spike Jones was a hilarious innovator. With a starter.s pistol,assorted screams and a band of crazy musicians, Spike was the Mozart of Mayhem.. - Billy Crystal Spike's comedic genius was light years ahead of his time, directly influencing such iconoclasts as Frank Zappa, Ernie Kovacs, Dr. Demento, Weird Al Yancovic, George Carlin and Billy Crystal. Preceding parodies on YouTube, iconic comedic bandleader Spike Jones and the City Slickers were the original .Bad Boys of Music.. Their legacy comes to DVD in The Best of...
- 12/5/2009
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
I think my favorite class the one year I attended New York University’s film school was the one that introduced me to early American television. My little teenaged world was blown out the Western adventure Sky King, by the witty visual genius of Ernie Kovacs, even by an early episode of General Hospital. I was enthralled to see how TV had changed in the then 30 years since, and how it hadn’t changed. It was supremely exciting -- as someone who had already been fancying herself a total nerd on film and TV for years at that point -- to see stuff the likes of which I’d never even really imagined existed. (Seriously: Ernie Kovacs made my brain explode, in the best way.) If you’ve never had that experience, then please do yourself a favor and pick up the three-disc set The Golden Age of Television, which...
- 11/23/2009
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Sony has released a six-dvd boxed set tribute to Jack Lemmon, marking the first-time release of these films in the DVD format. Here is the official press release. Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 In a career that spanned half a century, Jack Lemmon was truly America’s Everyman. Although he worked in every genre from musical to western, he truly excelled at comedy, turning in a series of nuanced performances that garnered worldwide acclaim. On June 9, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Sphe) honors one of the most versatile and accomplished actors in Hollywood history with The Jack Lemmon Film Collection, in partnership with Chris Lemmon, Jack’s son and biographer. This must-have six-disc boxed set features five classic performances from the gifted two-time Academy Award® winner for Save the Tiger (1973) and Mister Roberts (1955). The set includes Phffft! featuring Kim Novak, Operation Mad Ball, featuring the film debut of Ernie Kovacs,...
- 6/11/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Michael Atkinson
Filmmaking is all about collaboration and fortuity, as much as we genuflect faithfully to the sacredness of the auteur. Take Carol Reed -- a career that spanned almost four decades, encompassing 33 features, and yet only a few are memorable (not, God knows, his late-career Oscar-winner "Oliver!"). Essentially, Reed finds his way onto the pantheon's higher shelves on the strength of only a handful of films, starting with the trio of startling, precise, infinitely rich features he made in the late '40s, one after the other -- "Odd Man Out" (1947), "The Fallen Idol" (1948) and "The Third Man" (1949) -- and ending a little less auspiciously with "Our Man in Havana" (1959). The rogue factor here is that three out of the four were written by Graham Greene, whose particular ironic-tension story skills gave many a medium-boil filmmaker his best shot at sublimity. The first three -- certainly one of...
Filmmaking is all about collaboration and fortuity, as much as we genuflect faithfully to the sacredness of the auteur. Take Carol Reed -- a career that spanned almost four decades, encompassing 33 features, and yet only a few are memorable (not, God knows, his late-career Oscar-winner "Oliver!"). Essentially, Reed finds his way onto the pantheon's higher shelves on the strength of only a handful of films, starting with the trio of startling, precise, infinitely rich features he made in the late '40s, one after the other -- "Odd Man Out" (1947), "The Fallen Idol" (1948) and "The Third Man" (1949) -- and ending a little less auspiciously with "Our Man in Havana" (1959). The rogue factor here is that three out of the four were written by Graham Greene, whose particular ironic-tension story skills gave many a medium-boil filmmaker his best shot at sublimity. The first three -- certainly one of...
- 2/3/2009
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Edie, Bart, myself, Sylvia Komatsu and Ron Simon formed the board that selected the Kovacs Award winner from 1997 until "we realized that it was just getting to be too difficult for Edie to travel and decided to end the award," Bart said in an email sent Thursday, the first day of the 21st annual Video Festival. ...The very first Kovacs honoree was Joel Hodgson of Mystery Science 3000, followed in chronological order, according to Video Festival news releases, by Terry Gilliam, Robert Smigel, Paul ("Pee-wee Herman") Reubens, Martin Mull, Mike Judge and Bill Camfield, a true D-fw television icon who created Slam Bang Theater and the famed, madcap "Icky Twerp" character -- our own Ernie Kovacs -- back when Ktvt-tv (Channel 11) dawned as an independently owned and operated station.
- 11/7/2008
- by Ed Bark
- UncleBarky.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.