Expectations in seeing a movie can make a lot of difference. When I saw the trailer for Bone Lake, I thought it was going to be yet another “young people in the woods meet the sharp side of a machete” flick, but when I actually saw the film, I was pleasantly surprised by its intelligence,…
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies, and many more, at Trailers From Hell. This week, we remember another fallen great, Claudia Cardinale. Cardinale starred with Burt Lancaster in The Leopard, a 1963 epic historical drama about the turbulent times in Italy during the 19th century. When…
A quarter of the twenty-first century is almost over, and there has been no lack of quality horror, filmic or otherwise, during that time. It seems like an appropriate time to take stock and being that this is a column about horror movies, I decided that a list of twenty-five films for 2025 seemed appropriate….
Since the dawn of the age of cinema, one film stands out from all the others as having mastered the art of storytelling as much as it does explore the depths of the human condition. That film is Citizen Kane. At its beating heart lies the most mysterious of symbolic objects: the Rosebud sled. In…
The Hollywood Sign has been blown up, toppled, set ablaze, and swallowed by the earth—so naturally, our fearless leader Joe Dante got there first. On the latest episode of Locationland, Joe joins host Harry Medved to discuss the cinematic legacy of L.A.’s most famous landmark. As a first-time co-director (with fellow TFH Guru Allan Arkush),…
I was -10 years old when the original Star Wars came out in 1977, but even I was swept up in the wave of nostalgia that delivered its abysmal first prequel, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, into expectant multiplexes on May 19th, 1999 (25 years ago this week), when I was all…
Hopefully the passing of Roger Corman, my former boss, mentor and friend of nearly 50 years, will shine more light on the fact that, although his honorary Academy Award was bestowed largely for his vast influence on the movie industry, his accomplishments as an artist and filmmaker are equally defining. Yes, he had an eye…
As the 96th annual Academy Awards fast approach (they’ll be airing this Sunday, on ABC, at 4 p.m. PT), it certainly appears that rabid cineastes have taken to the web to catch up on their prestige Oscar fare. The latest evidence from what should be anyone’s first resource when it comes to tracking down any…
Has it finally happened? Have theatrical movies finally turned a narrative corner? That just might be the case! As a barrage of IP dreck has crashed and burned in recent years while studios have sunk huge sums of cash into the supposed “sure thing” of built-in fanbases for preexisting content, a pair of actual, original…
December 31st marks a very special time of year, film fans: Val Kilmer’s birthday. Kilmer remains one of the all-time favorite movie stars of your trusty Trailers From Hell correspondent in North Hollywood, and I like to commemorate the occasion with a TFH review, provided it doesn’t yet have a corresponding commentary from a TFH…
Our Hell Scoop series continues apace this week, with a chilling new batch of sinister goodies that looks frighteningly familiar. Join us, won’t you? Friday, October 6th: The Exorcist: Believer, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, Totally Killer,V/H/S/85, Johnny Z, Aberrance, Vindicta, Monsters Of California, Cat Person, Foe, When Evil Lurks William Friedkin fans have quite an October…
Welcome to our brand-new spooky column Hell Scoop, wherein we will offer sneak peaks at this week’s upcoming horror and thriller releases. This week, Hollywood has such sights to show us. While the big box office arrival on the stateside film scene seems to be the new Gareth Edwards-helmed, John David Washington-starring original sci-fi actioner…
With perhaps the greatest action movie ever turning 35 years young today, I think it’s high time we tackled the eternal question pondered by fans all across the globe: Hans or Simon Gruber? My answer might surprise you. That’s right, it’s time for our Die Hard Villain Power Rankings. The immortal action franchise is right…
Catch-22 as seen by the Usual Gang of Idiots in Mad Magazine, issue #141 (March 1971)—with some fascinating reader mail.
Although April included a fairly diverse array of interesting original titles, May’s list of the most-sought after films on what should be every movie lover’s top streaming resource, JustWatch, is filthy with Intellectual Property franchise fare. The top 10 most-searched flicks on JustWatch includes just two holdovers from April: reigning Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere…
“I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I’m free.” -Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), The Fast And The Furious (2001) With the arrival of Fast X to theaters earlier this month,…
Last month, it appears that domestic film fans were looking for a little vicarious adventure to liven up their couch surfing. That would explain why the latest JustWatch top 10 chart, which tracks the most-searched for titles on the go-to website for all your streaming needs, is jam-packed with fun fare. Among the titles listed,…
Yesterday, here in the heart of Hollywood, bundles of diverse and exciting flicks were honored with nominations for the 95th annual Academy Awards. While plenty of favorites were suitably recognized, there were quite a few surprises, too. And we talked to a lot of them! On our podcast The Movies That Made Me, Trailers From…
It’s New Year’s Eve once again over at Trailers From Hell, so you know what that means, fellow cineastes: it’s Val Kilmer’s birthday! As such, our Kilmer Birthday Committee (of one) will continue its annual tradition of watching one Val classic in celebration. Tonight’s entertainment: the criminally under-seen and intensely silly Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker adventure comedy Top…
In the latest installment of our 2022 Streaming Wars series, some interesting streaming platforms continue to encroach on the overall market dominance of Netflix, for now still the most popular service. As usual, our pals at JustWatch, the streaming fan’s go-to resource for locating every film and TV title online, compile a quarterly assessment of…
I started my new essay film, It’s a Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie Point, with an attractive if patently absurd proposition. I was convinced that one could seamlessly edit together Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point with Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Imagine situating Daria Halprin, Mark Frechette, and their “dirty hippie” friends in California…
For my money, director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton’s second Caped Crusader collaboration Batman Returns (1992), written by recurring podcast guest Daniel Waters and TFH Guru Sam Hamm, might very well be the best theatrical Batman flick ever. The Dark Knight has appeared in 15 theatrical feature films as of this writing, if you include…
What would it take to overpower the world’s toughest special forces soldiers? A hunter from out of this world, of course. That’s the spark that ignited Predator (1987), one of the all-time great sci-fi action adventures. Released 35 years ago today, the film’s legacy is now secure: it has spawned three direct sequels and an upcoming…
Much ink has been spilled on the return of the so-called “last movie star” in one Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, leaping back onto the silver screen this past weekend in the long-awaited insta-blockbuster navy recruitment video Top Gun: Maverick. While the 59-year-old does seem to be one of the world’s last stars who can reliably…
With recent news of streaming top dog Netflix’s challenges in the marketplace, let’s take a gander at one of its chief competitors: Disney+ continues its ascent among the upper echelon of streaming platforms. Across the first three months of 2022, the House of Mouse continues to make massive gains. The streamer, which debuted in November…
After hovering near the top of the JustWatch charts in March, the biggest blockbuster of the pandemic, Spider-Man: No Way Home, found its way to pole position last month. In general, adventure films and intrigue-laden mysteries ruled the roost. A reminder: JustWatch tracks the most-searched film titles across its platform, which should be everyone’s #1…