News

Just last month, we were excited to learn that industrial rock icon Trent Reznor will be re-assembling his legendary band Nine Inch Nails with an all-new lineup and a tour kicking off this summer. But that's not the only Trent event this year: this week, the experimental band How to Destroy Angels – a project Reznor founded with his wife Mariqueen Maandig, his fellow Golden Globe-winning composer Atticus Ross, and acclaimed visual artist Rob Sheridan – finally released their long-awaited full length album debut. After teasing us for two years with singles, EPs (the first self-titled release in 2010, followed by An Omen last fall) and some beautifully spooky music videos, they've made good on the ominous promise of those earlier experiments with a truly monolithic record that is equal parts ambient experimentation (in the vein of Nin's epic 1999 album The Fragile or their instrumental collection Ghosts I-iv) and dark, sultry electro-pop. While...

You never know what you're gonna get when Tool's Maynard James Keenan busts out another record from his amazingly weird side project Puscifer... but that chaotic unpredictability is what I love most about them. If ever there were a band that totally defies classification from one album to the next (we're talking abstract musical genius on the level of The Residents here) and still rocks danceable beats and head-banging riffs while simultaneously not giving a shit, Puscifer would totally be that band. From the minimalist electro grooves of their debut album V is for Vagina (and the half dozen remix albums that followed) to the insane mashup of industrial metal and melancholy folk ballads that is their semi-concept record Conditions of My Parole, Puscifer is in constant creative flux, with a revolving repertoire and crew that includes major names from many musical genres. Before you even start playing their latest effort,...

It's not always easy to choose the right Valentine's Day music, and on a day (and night) when there are so many important decisions to be made (where to eat, what to wear, how many sprays of cologne/perfume, whether to be jaded and cool or have fun), why not let someone else do the picking?

HuffPost Entertainment has grabbed a wide array of mixes and playlists from musicians of all sorts of genres. So whether you and your date are the type to sing along to One Direction in the car, jam to the classics or "rage" (sorry) all night, we've got something for you. The best part is, you don't even have to tell your date it's not a custom mixtape crafted solely for his or her enjoyment.

Motown Classics, Courtesy of HuffPost Detroit

Stevie. Marvin. Smokey. Throw in The Temptations and The Isley Brothers for good measure...

The giallo is strong with this one. Director Ryan Haysom and cinematographer Jon Britt enjoyed a great year in 2012, with their neo-giallo serial killer short Yellow proving something of a festival darling around the world. I was able to catch it at London's Film4 FrightFest last August, and the film does a masterful job of recapturing the look and feel of classic Italian sleaze and horror.Those skills are again on display in Haysom and Britt's latest project, co-directed with Tj Lee - a music video for Antoni Maiovvi's "Darkroom," from the Ep "Stockholm Synthdrone." Maiovvi (real name Anton Maiof) cites the likes of Goblin, Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter among his influences, so this seems like a perfect fit. You can check out the...

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

Dubstep, drumstep, glitchstep, chillstep, fill-in-the-blank-step... the electronic dance music field is growing at an exponential rate, leaving its underground roots far behind as some of my favorite established electro-rockers like Celldweller and Front Line Assembly incorporate modern Edm elements into their sound, metal bands mash up their riffs with dubstep elements (like Korn's collaboration with electro-house superstar Skrillex), and more genre crossovers are being born than I can possibly keep up with. The landscape is so overrun now that it takes an artist with unique skills to stand above the herd... and a dark and spooky image doesn't hurt either; it's certainly one way to get my attention. That finally happened this year, when I was introduced to the ominous team Blackburner, whose stage identities are concealed behind bizarre robotic killer rabbit suits with glowing Cylon eyes. If you're having trouble picturing that, I've included images and clips showing these bass-dropping bunny-borgs in action.

(l. to r. - David Kates, Joshua Mosley)

The animated "Mass Effect: Paragon Lost" will be out later this month on DVD and Blu-ray to provide viewers with a little backstory on the hotheaded James Vega who spends much of "Mass Effect 3" busting Commander Shepherd's chops. But according to "Mass Effect" composers Joshua Mosley and David Kates, there's more to the character than that--something they were able to explore in the soundtrack they put together for the first animated release for the RPG.

Kates is a series veteran, having worked on both the first and second "Mass Effect" games while Mosley--whose work can be found in "Splosion Man"--is new to the franchise. Both men have clear visions about the sounds of the "Mass Effect" universe and spoke answered a few questions for MTV Multiplayer about their work bringing that sound to animation. You can also check out previews from...

Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.

As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.

****

124: (Tie) Inside (À l’intérieur)

Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury

Written by Alexandre Bustillo

2007, France

Four months after the death of her husband, a pregnant woman is tormented by a strange woman who invades her home with the intent on killing her and taking her unborn baby. This movie is not recommended for women on the brink of motherhood. Inside is one of the most vicious and...

Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.

****

Enjoy!

150: Session 9

Directed by Brad Anderson

Written by Stephen Gevedon and Brad Anderson

2001, USA

If there was ever a perfect setting for a horror movie, it would be the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital. Built in 1878 on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts, it was a multi-acre, self-contained psychiatric hospital rumoured to have been the birthplace of the pre-frontal lobotomy. The hospital was the setting for the 2001 horror film Session 9, where an asbestos clean-up crew discover a series of nine tapes, which have recorded a patient with multiple personalities, all of which are innocent, except for number nine. With a shoestring budget and no real special effects, Session 9...

As the New York Times so aptly observed this weekend, eerie '80s synths score are synonymous with the German experimental electronic music group Tangerine Dream. And yet, the group and their sinister and moody but anonymous modulations were never celebrated as loudly in that era (or since) compared to the works of other '80s synth-heavy composers like Harold Faltermeyer ("Top Gun," "Fletch," "Beverly Hills Cop"), John Carpenter ("Escape from New York," "The Thing"), Vangelis ("Chariots of Fire," "Blade Runner") and even Giorgio Moroder ("Scarface," "Cat People").

The cinephile-friendly arthouse BAMCinematek tries to right that wrong this week in Brooklyn with their retrospective series centered around the atmospheric and ambient scores written and performed by Tangerine Dream. And so to help celebrate the undervalued composers we give you five of their best scores. Make sure to head to Bam this week if you're in the New York area (and hurry,...

Buckle up and hit the gas with us as we find cinema's best high-speed crooks-on-wheels

This week's Clip joint is by David Keeble, who you can follow on Twitter here, and visit his website here. Think you can do better? If you've got an idea for a future Clip joint, send a message to [email protected].

Heists and getaway scenes in films are always fun to watch. They are scenes that build up suspense, which is then slowly released to the audience as we watch our heroes and anti-heroes try to get in and out of danger. Heists and getaways also have the ability to be incredibly creative about just how our characters pull them off. From Johnny Depp jumping over a bank counter with a Thompson sub-machine gun during America's Great Depression in Public Enemies (2009) to Robert De Niro and his crew causing one of the...

Chopped my finger off while preparing dinner – strange, I didn't hear a big, dramatic chord in the background. Whispered sweet words in my wife's ear – strange again, I couldn't hear the beautiful sound of harps trilling in the background. And stranger still, when I tripped over in the street, I didn't once hear silly whaa-whaa-whaaaaa comedy music. Just deafening laughter from passers by.

Yet whenever I see most TV programmes and films these days, there's musical cues ahoy to be found in the background. TV, in particular, can't seem to get through a programme without striking up the band. Even In EastEnders – although music is strictly limited to a pointedly chosen classic hit from years gone by. Say that furious hard nut Derek Branning is threatening hapless cheeky chappie Alfie Moon in the Queen Vic over a packet of pork scratchings, the cunning producers will heavily signpost the scenario with...

Considering it's where most of us (bar the weird home-schooled kids) spend our crucial formative years, where we have our first fights, our first loves, our first tentative steps into adulthood, it's no surprise that high school has long been a popular setting for movies. A range of genres (though generally leaning towards comedy) have taken place in those hallways, particularly from the 1980s onwards, when John Hughes, among others, made an entire career out of the lives and loves of 15-18 year olds.

The latest film to head back to class is "21 Jump Street" (review here) the big-screen reboot of the '80s TV show, which stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as youthful-looking cops who are sent back to high school in order to bust a drug-running ring. While you might assume this to be another lazy remake, you'd be very wrong, as Tatum, Hill, co-writer Michael Bacall,...

Back for their third year we are proud to present the annual HeyUGuys movie awards – The Truffles.

At the end of each year our wonderful team of writers like to round up the various movieland highs and lows into our own unique categories, to reward the diverse, the challenging and the downright lovely and both tar and feather the cinematic outcasts which offended, disgusted and just plain irritated us.

It has been a tremendous year with some intriguing debuts and some howling missteps from seasonal filmmakers. We had planets colliding, blocks attacked, apes rising and the usual spew of remakes, sequels, prequels and the rest.

Here’s our take on the filmic landscape after a whole year of 2011.

First up on stage…

Adam Lowes

Best use of an old, familiar song on the end credits – Hobo With a Shotgun

Not only were we offered a loving and thoroughly entertaining tribute to those scuzzy,...

Australia may not have an overabundance of horror films but they’ve managed to produce some quality genre pictures. The recent success of the acclaimed documentary Not Quite Hollywood has shed light on a much overlooked aspect of Aussie genre filmmaking, from lowbrow slashers to twisted thrillers and gross-out horror comedies. Back in the 70′s a number of prominent filmmakers began to develop a film movement that would eventually see the successes of such films as Mad Max and The Last Wave. It was during this time that Australian cinema as a whole experienced resurgence due to increased governmental funding and eventually gave way to what international film critics termed the “Australian New Wave” or the “Golden Age of Australian cinema”.

New Zealand hasn’t produced many horror films over the years, but those it has given birth to are remarkably strong entries. In fact one of the biggest filmmakers...

Note: This is the second article in this series of posts. Click here to see the first entry.

Every year I spend the majority of the month of October watching as many horror movies as I possibly can. So I decided to take it upon myself to list off the greatest horror movies ever made. I felt the need to break up the list into several categories. You see, usually when people ask me for recommendations of what horror films they should see, they still have some idea of what sub genre they are interested in watching. So as appose to having one big jumbled list, I’ve broken it down to help with those looking for recommendations in a specific area. Please Note: by the end of the month, the last entry in this series will include a list of what I think are without a doubt, the 31 greatest horror movies ever made.

Over the past few years, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has shown an affinity for depicting hard-boiled tough guys in films like Bronson and Valhalla Rising. His latest, Drive, is a stylized and surreal take on ’80s crime films, right down to its neon signage and Tangerine Dream-inspired soundtrack. Possessing a subtly dark sense of humor, it revels in its sudden tonal shift from quiet introspection and sweetness to unruly brutality, resulting in another gripping and memorable tale from the filmmaker.

Ryan Gosling eases into the role of a solitary, nameless man credited only as Driver. His empty existence as a stunt driver that moonlights as a wheelman comes to a halt after falling for neighbour and single mother Irene (Carey Mulligan). It’s not exactly romantic fireworks, but our anti-hero shows as much affection that a near mute and (on occasion) mentally unstable character can.

Their relationship hits...

Music icon and superstar producer Brian Eno (whose long resume includes Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2 and Coldplay) will release a new Ep, "Panic of Looking," on Warp Records on November 8.  The six-track release is a collaboration between Eno's and lyricist/poet Rick Holland. They also worked together on Eno's last full-length, "Drums Between the Bells."    Eno's next live performance will be at Moogfest in Asheville, N.C., which runs October 28-30, and will include an "Illustrated Talk" by Eno. The fest's other performers include Moby, The Flaming Lips, TV on the Radio, Tangerine Dream, Suicide, St. Vincent and more....

Playing to Tribeca Film Festival audiences this year, Panos Cosmatos' Beyond the Black Rainbow is a surreal journey that - on a visual level - recalls the works of Stanley Kubrick or Ken Russell's Altered States and injects it with a bold, synth-fueled akin to Tangerine Dream. And it's not "check your brain at the door" genre fodder, by any means. Cosmatos weaves a deliberately paced period tale (it's set in 1983) - starring Michael Rogers and Eva Allan - that plays on telekinesis, science and spirituality while focusing on a young, imprisoned girl named Elena (Allan) who is being studied by Dr. Barry Nyle (Rogers) in a "futuristic" facility. Genre-savvy fans will notice Cosmatos' various influences, but that won't deter them from being absorbed into...

Bowie, Christiane F and Taxi zum Klo: these are the things that made Berlin so alluring to the British pop culture of the late 70s and early 80s. Jon Savage remembers a bewitching era

Frank Ripploh is fed up. Stuck in hospital for six weeks with some unnamed contagious sexual disease – most probably hepatitis – he receives a visit from his live-in lover. Instead of listening sympathetically to Frank's moans about the other patients, Bernd gives him a right telling-off about his promiscuity: "I hope lying here teaches you something." After Bernd leaves, a furious Frank pulls his clothes on and hails a taxi. There then follows a mad dash around various public toilets. With the meter running, he desperately searches for a quick pick-up and eventually ends up in Berlin's Tiergarten – a large public park near the centre of the city that was a notorious cruising ground at that time.

One of director Michael Mann’s most underrated movies, The Keep is a great fantasy horror that, Rob argues, deserves to be seen in HD...

Nobody does mood like Michael Mann. When it comes to a stylistic approach to filmmaking, the director of‘The Last Of The Mohicans and Heat has, through a thirty-odd year career, produced a visual flavour all of his own. Nobody does brooding cityscapes and saturated establishing shots like he can. Streets of various metropolises are a playground for gangsters, hustlers and heroes, as they swagger, sunglasses in hand, through tight scripts and tense action sequences.

So, it's a surprise, then, to know that, along with his love for realistic gritty urban sprawls filled with long lingering sunsets and the lowlifes that inhabit them, while cutting his teeth style-wise, Mann actually directed a fantasy film.

Back in 1983, Mann moved away from his love affair with urban American crime (although,...

Reviewed by Randee Dawn

(April 2011, screening at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Panos Cosmatos

Starring: Michael Rogers, Eva Allan, Scott Hylands, Marilyn Norry and Rondel Reynoldsen

Children of the 1980s grew up amid the progressively impersonal — freaky synth music (hello, Tangerine Dream), increasingly necessary computers and the distant if real threat of nuclear annihilation. Strange then, how most retro Reagan-era films focus on the decade’s rapacious greed, big hair and general fluffiness: This was a dystopic, not utopian, time in a lot of ways.

Director Panos Cosmatos has been thinking about this, and with “Beyond the Black Rainbow” he gets it right — that crushing sense of the future superseding the individual. Bridging the gap between Stanley Kubrick’s sterile, absurdist horror and the tweaked-out human transformation vision of “Altered States,” Cosmatos’ “sci-fi retro” film skillfully builds an almost unbearable tension thanks to a well-paced narrative, glowing fluorescent walls,...

Reviewed by Randee Dawn

(April 2011, screening at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Panos Cosmatos

Starring: Michael Rogers, Eva Allan, Scott Hylands, Marilyn Norry and Rondel Reynoldsen

Children of the 1980s grew up amid the progressively impersonal — freaky synth music (hello, Tangerine Dream), increasingly necessary computers and the distant if real threat of nuclear annihilation. Strange then, how most retro Reagan-era films focus on the decade’s rapacious greed, big hair and general fluffiness: This was a dystopic, not utopian, time in a lot of ways.

Director Panos Cosmatos has been thinking about this, and with “Beyond the Black Rainbow” he gets it right — that crushing sense of the future superseding the individual. Bridging the gap between Stanley Kubrick’s sterile, absurdist horror and the tweaked-out human transformation vision of “Altered States,” Cosmatos’ “sci-fi retro” film skillfully builds an almost unbearable tension thanks to a well-paced narrative, glowing fluorescent walls,...

Captain Kirk is headed back to space.

William Shatner, the Emmy winning TV icon, announced the track listing and details for his new space-inspired cover album, Searching For Major Tom. The album will feature a large number of heavy metal covers, as well as songs by U2, Frank Sinatra, Queen and Pink Floyd.

Shatner has had a storied music career, producing confusing, parodied yet somehow enlightening song covers and original bits over the past 40+ years. His first album, The Transformed Man, raised eyebrows with its bizarre covers, which, in what would become his trademark style, boasted dramatic readings of lyrics over music. HIs best known track was a recording of Sonny & Cher's "Mr. Tambourine Man." Check out Urlesque's ranking of his ten best cover songs here.

Shatner announced the album via Twitter back in February.

Here's the track list:

Space Trucking Originally By Deep Purple - Deep Purple Drummer...

We’re gotten word that Ridley Scott’s (Robin Hood) sumptuous 1985 fantasy film Legend starring Tom Cruise (Collateral), Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) is coming to Blu-ray from Universal on May 31.

Amazon has it listed as available for pre-order for the list price of $26.98.

Tim Curry is Darkness in Ridley Scott's 1985 fantasy Legend.

We haven’t received the official word from Universal yet, but we do know that it’s been announced for release in France on May 25 as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. http://video.fnac.com/a3468320/Legend-VIP-Combo-Blu-Ray-Tom-Cruise-Blu-Ray.

As nothing’s official yet, we can only guess—and hope!—that the new Blu-ray edition will include all the awesome bonus features that were included on the Ultimate Edition DVD that Universal issued in 2002. Here’s a list of all the goodies that came in that package,...

At first glance, I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite when considering the list of amazing horror authors out there. There are plenty of writers in the fray whose work I’ll anxiously devour whenever a new book hits the shelves: Stephen King, Clive Barker, Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Skipp & Spector, Brian Keene, Edward Lee – the list is seriously endless.

Having recently acquired a Kindle, I spent the last seven months filling it with the works of my favorite novelists. In reviewing the virtual library I’ve accumulated, I was surprised to find the results so heavily weighted in one particular writer’s favor. From vampires, ancient evils, a recurring anti-hero and a sprawling menagerie of secret and supernatural histories, there is perhaps no writer as ambitious and fascinating as F. Paul Wilson.

Wilson’s first bestseller was 1981’s World War II horror story, The Keep, a page-turner about German...

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe if you’ve heard the ambient sounds of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Underground Film is a label which refers to a feature which exists outside the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. The first use of the term was coined in a 1957 essay by famed American film critic Manny Farber, entitled Underground Films.

In the late 1950s, underground film was used to describe early independent filmmakers working in San Francisco,...

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe if you’ve heard the ambient sounds of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Here are the letters P-t…

Pauline Kael (1919 – 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. She is often regarded as the most influential American film critic of her day.

Although a big advocate of the New Hollywood of the 70’s, some of her reviews carried a somewhat contrarian viewpoint of what many considered classics in modern era.

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe if you’ve heard the ambient sounds of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Here are the letters K-o…

King Vidor (1894 – 1982) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades. He resides in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest career of any film director (it began in 1913 and ending in 1980). In 1979 he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award, having been nominated five previous times for a Best Director Oscar.

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe if you’ve heard the ambient sounds of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Here are the letters F-j…

Fat City (1972) is an American character-based drama film directed by John Huston, and star’s Stacy Keach, Susan Tyrrell and a young Jeff Bridges. The film is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Leonard Gardner, who also wrote the screenplay. Tyrrell received an Oscar nomination for her role as Keach’s bitter,...

Here at HeyUGuys, we aim to provide you with an all-encompassing look into the world of film. Whether you’re a fully-fledged cineaste, or just possess a casual interest, there’s something for anyone with our alternative A-z of cinema, which starts today and runs through the week.

If you’ve ever wondered just what it is an Executive Producer does, or maybe you’ve heard the ambient soundscape of Tangerine Dream in an 80’s film favourite without knowing who you were listening to, this is the list for you!

Here are the letters A-e…

American Movie is the title of an award-winning 1999 documentary which follows the exploits of wannabe auteur Mark Borchardt as he attempts to pull together the funds to make his long-cherished feature film, “the great American movie” Northwestern.

Borchardt (with best friend and acid/booze casualty Mark Schank in tow) embarks on the making of a...

Fans of classic Euro-horror/giallo soundtracks and vintage synth-based progressive rock should rejoice at the announcement that Pittsburgh-based duo Zombi have just wrapped up work on their latest full-length album, entitled Escape Velocity. The follow-up to their 2009 release Spirit Animal is coming out this spring, and the band posted some interesting details about it. Hit the jump for more info – and to see the weird retro booty-tastic cover art! The team of Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra have drawn legions of fans with their homages to everything from the '70s Italian horror-movie themes of Goblin, Fabio Frizzi and Riz Ortolani, to electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream and prog-rock icons like Rick Wakeman and Keith...

According to reports, Universal Pictures and Dino De Laurentiis Co. will develop a reboot of the 1984 feature "Firestarter", to be scripted by Mark L. Smith.

Based on author Stephen King's novel, the original "Firestarter" feature starred Drew Barrymore as 'Charlie McGee', who develops 'pyrokinesis':

"...'Andrew' and 'Charlie McGee', are a father-daughter pair on the run from a government agency known as 'The Shop'. During his college years, Andy had participated in a Shop experiment dealing with 'Lot 6', a drug with hallucinogenic effects similar to LSD. The drug gave his future wife, 'Victoria Tomlinson', minor telepathic abilities, and him an autohypnotic mind domination ability known as 'the Push'.

"Both his and Vicky's powers are physiologically limited. In his case, overuse of the Push gives him crippling migraine headaches and minute brain hemorrhages, but their daughter 'Charlie' developed a 'pyrokinetic' ability, with the full extent of her power unknown. After...

Universal Pictures are planning some Stephen King action, with a remake of Firestarter, his pyrokinetic horror thriller written in 1980 and filmed by Mark Lester in 1984.Not in the top tier of King novels, Firestarter didn't make for a totally enthralling movie the first time around either, but Universal and the De Laurentiis Co. are nevertheless eyeing little Charlie McGee as the centre of a potential new franchise: "A unique, character-driven thriller with a supernatural edge, based on a timeless concept and enhanced by recent visual effects advances". Lots of 3D CGI fire then.The first film starred Drew Barrymore as Charlie the telekinetic flamethrower, because a small girl who can blow things up and burn people at will was the obvious next move after Et. Freddie Jones, Martin Sheen, Heather Locklear and David Keith headed up the adult cast, along with a ponytailed George C. Scott, and Keith Flint gooning under a bridge.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend last week and hopefully have a few movies to share. This week I caught up with a film I thought I'd never see and a personal holiday favorite. I did also watch Guillermo del Toro's Cronos for the first time as well as a couple of awards screeners including Barney's Version and Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, but more on those films a little later down the line.

The Keep (1983) Quick Thoughts: Did any of you take my advice last week and watch Michael Mann's second feature film The Keep on Netflix Instant Play, which as far as I know is the only way you can watch it now unless you own the VHS or Laser Disc edition? Well I decided to give it a go and there are some moments that are quite good, such as the opening sequence and...

Ben Stiller and James Franco are attached to Noah Baumbach’s upcoming film “While We’re Young,” reports Vulture. Actresses Greta Gerwig and Cate Blacnhett are also said to be in talks.

This news will probably be met with a variety of reactions across the internet. You see, people tend to feel strongly one of three ways about director Noah Baumbach: they love him, they hate him or they have no idea who he is.

For those in the latter camp, Baumbach co-penned Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” He also wrote and directed “The Squid and the Whale” and most recently “Greenberg,” which also starred Ben Stiller.

Story details are sparse for “While We’re Young,” but Vulture says they were told “it’s about a free-spirited Brooklynite twenty-something couple (Franco — and, possibly, Gerwig) who inspires an uptight documentarian (Stiller) and his wife (possibly Blanchett,...

In his latest Music in the movies column, Glen returns to the work of Jerry Goldsmith, and takes a look back at his greatest compositions...

Following on from the sci-fi themes of Jerry Goldsmith article a few weeks back, here's the promised follow-up exploring some of (well, a lot of) his other great scores. The piece is a little longer than usual, so I'll keep the intro to a minimum and get on with the celebration of the great man's scores.

Patton

Goldsmith's score for this 1970 biopic about the legendary Us General George S Patton, stands as one of the greatest pieces that he composed throughout his career, which is high praise, indeed.

Stirring, emotional and inspirational are but a few of the adjectives that could be used to describe this masterclass in composing, which has Goldsmith creating a suitably militaristic march to the score backed by heavy use of...

With only tiny bit of extra footage, nothing of any significance has been added to James Cameron's 3D extravaganza, writes Ben Child

James Cameron's 3D box office behemoth is back in the multiplexes, with an additional nine minutes of footage to tempt cinemagoers back to Pandora, the far-flung moon inhabited by majestically terrifying jungle beasties and 12-ft tall, blue-skinned extras from a Tangerine Dream album cover shoot. Now almost three hours long, the movie is as visually spectacular as ever, and the 3D work is still the best yet seen in what remains a pretty fickle field. But there's not much here to delight anyone who did not adore Avatar the first time around, a mere ... ooh ... nine months or so ago. Of the new footage, the much-trumpeted "Pandoran porn" scene, in which we finally get to see some Na'avi nookie, is hardly worth the editing time, while...

Hamsterdam, MD - News at 4:20. As part of the celebration for the upcoming season of Weeds, Glick University polled over 4,000 Americans about what TV News personalities they wanted to see get high during a broadcast.

Naturally there were ground rules including the disqualifications of news organizations that contain notorious on air potheads. This meant no votes were collected for the cast of The Daily Show, Colbert Report and Fox and Friends. You think Steve Doocey is sober? Hard to think that any of those folks have eyes that aren’t pied 24-7.

10, Bill O’Reilly (Fox News) had a lot of folks who reacted that it’d be like, “Dude, I’m getting high with dad.” Of course this initial elation is cut down with the horrifying fact of “Dude, I’m getting high with dad and it’s just not someone I need to party with.”

Rick Sanchez...

Fabulous Films have announced the long-awaited DVD release of Street Hawk, the classic 80s television show about one man and his motorcycle, on March 22nd 2010.

Broadcast by ABC in the mid 80’s, this series quickly became a massive hit. Jesse Mach, an ex-motorcycle cop injured in the line of duty and now a police trouble shooter, has been recruited for a top secret government mission: to ride Street Hawk, an all-terrain attack motorcycle designed to fight urban crime, capable of incredible speeds of up to 300 mph and immense firepower. Only one man, Norman Tuttle, knows Jesse Mach’s true identity. The Man, The Machine: Street Hawk.

The series stars Rex Smith, Richard Venture, Joe Regalbuto, Jeannie Wilson; with a musical theme composed by Tangerine Dream and produced by Christopher Franke. Series guest stars included: George Clooney, Christopher Lloyd, Dennis Franz, Tom Everett and more!

The series will be released as a 4-disc set,...

For a few seconds during Neil Patrick Harris' opening "What am I doing here?" song-and-dance, I wondered if that sparklemonster would be sticking around for the whole show. No need! Co-hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin descended from high, unbuckled their floating-platform safety belts, and got their scripted-zinger party started. The first time I watched their opening segment, I thought it was awkward; the second time I was more amused -- maybe because it's more fun to watch Steve Martin rev up for a joke about how he and Gabourey Sidibe were both born as poor black children (in...

Here's something interesting ... one of the problems that The Wolfman faced on its way to the big screen was which music to use. Two artists were up for the task. Danny Elfman and former member of Tangerine Dream Paul Haslinger both cooked up some tunes, but in the end the decision was made to go with Elfman's work. So how would the movie have sounded with Haslinger's in place? Read on to find out!

Update: Per Film Score Monthly record producer Ford A. Thaxton has confirmed with Haslinger this is Not his music. Even so, it made for some interesting speculation.

Devin at Chud pointed interested fans in the direction of where we could hear the rejected score over on (where else?) YouTube, and after listening, I'm glad the powers-that-be made the choices they did. While interesting for sure, it just doesn't fit with the classic tone of the film.

Many changes were wrought to Joe Johnston's The Wolfman during production, many of which we talked about yesterday. One of the last-stage changes was a switch from Danny Elfman's original score to a new one by electronic/rock composer Paul Haslinger. Originally working as part of Tangerine Dream in the mid '80s, Haslinger had a part in scoring films like Near Dark, Miracle Mile and Three O'Clock High. (That one is such a fun, underrated little movie.) He moved on to score films like Death Race and Underworld, which made him seem like an odd fit for The Wolfman. Indeed, at the last minute, the film's producers went back to Danny Elfman's score, bolstered by additions from other composers. Now there's a clip of Haslinger's rejected score online, so you can hear what might have been. To my ears, this is a terrible fit for the picture.

This isn't The Wolfman . It just isn't , and while I'm not going to dismiss it as complete trash (which it's not), I'm glad Joe Johnston and Universal realized Danny Elfman's score was the way to go. Below you'll find a cut of Paul Haslinger's score for Wolfman . Haslinger, a former member of Tangerine Dream ( Near Dark ), eschewed the orchestra for a harder approach that grinds and growls, but doesn't fit the classy atmosphere-drenched nature of Johnston's picture. This is more befitting of a Resident Evil film or some hyper-stylized piece of work (like Underworld: Rise of the Lycans , which he scored). Thanks to Devin for pointing this out... For the full story on the soundtrack indecision, check out our interview with director Joe Johnston .

In the final week before the premiere of Universal's long-awaited Wolfman reboot, genre-friendly record label Varese Sarabande has posted excerpts from the upcoming soundtrack CD, featuring 19 cues from the über-Gothic Danny Elfman score. Click through, read on and learn more! Described as "classically Gothic" and "Transylvania-flavored," the final score is mostly comprised of material music Elfman wrote when he was initially attached to the project last year, before being temporarily replaced by composer Paul Haslinger (formerly of Tangerine Dream). According to a recent scoop from Movie Score magazine, Elfman was already committed to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland by the time Universal came...

One month, 280 films and 70,000 words later, my guide to the films of 2010 is now complete. I hope you've enjoyed reading it all - it's been utterly exhausting but an ultimately rewarding venture I've been single-handedly pulling together since early December. If you have liked it, my only request is that you help spread the word about it now that it's all done.

If you're a fellow blogger or site owner, please give it a plug on your site. If you're a reader, give it a mention on Facebook, Twitter or other online places you might venture. A lot of effort went into this, the greatest reward so far has been seeing it talked about and hearing your reactions. I'm glad many of you have gotten a lot of use out of the previous pages, so I hope you enjoy this final part:

Vincere

Opens: 2010

Cast: Filippo Timi, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Corrado Invernizzi,...

Near Dark (1987) Synopsis: A cowboy (Adrian Pasdar) meets a pretty, young gal at the local saloon and discovers too late that her kiss includes a double-pronged love bite of vampiric proportions. Mae (Jenny Wright) and her blood-sucking vampire family (half the cast of Aliens) take Caleb for a ride in their Winnebago and try to make him one of them. But as any good cowboy would, Caleb fights his transformation and sets about rescuing the pale-skinned love of his life. The family isn't too keen on that idea of course and soon the small Texas town is awash in blood, burning flesh, and bar fights. Killer Scene: Speaking of bar fights... Caleb's introduction to the family's unique hobby occurs in a sleazy bar almost halfway into the movie. After insulting the bartender and patrons ("shit-kicker heaven"), the blood-letting begins with a waitress getting her throat slit. More deaths follow including a broken neck, shotgun...

Great movies sometimes do not hit it off with the audience upon first viewing. Not even the sublime Citizen Kane found much appreciation on its release in 1941, taking over twenty years and critical re-discovery in order for everybody to agree it was a pretty special movie.

Cult films are different (and this is not a list of cult movies) – those do tend to find an audience (usually people who become hardcore fans) allowing the film to become celebrated in alternative ways – as opposed to garnering a multitude of awards.

This is a list drawn up of films I consider under-rated; overlooked; not thought about; dismissed, and so forth. I am not suggesting they should be regaled as masterpieces anointed and placed in a cinematic pantheon of greatness.

Compiling lists is very tough and as this is limited to a mere ten films, some wonderful films did not make final cut.

'We wanted to further the connection between the band and the audience,' Jared Leto says of band's 'digital summits.'

By James Montgomery

30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto

Photo: Charles Eshelman/ FilmMagic

When it comes to 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto really only knows one way of operating: global.

He's written songs in Berlin, then recorded them in Hawaii (with Kanye West), held RSVP-only "summits" (basically fan-only recording sessions) in Australia, Italy, France and Japan (to name just a few), drew influence from German electronic act Tangerine Dream and had an entire project helmed by British producer Flood.

So it should come as no surprise that, as the sessions for 30 Seconds to Mars' new album enter the home stretch, he's still expanding borders — with a so-called "digital summit" and some very unorthodox guest stars.

"I actually ended up getting a Twitter from someone in Iran, saying that they wanted...

For a critic like me, who is not only a serious lover of horror but of films in general, watching The Revenant is a genuine pleasure. Written and directed by Phantasm sequel FX wizard D. Kerry Prior, the film—which had its Canadian premiere at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival this past Sunday after a spirited Zombie Walk up Bathurst Street—has been enjoying much International fest love this year, winning awards and picking up a cult of fans. And rightfully so: This is a brilliant, sophisticated horror/comedy that manages to play within a familiar framework while deftly defying clichés at every turn.

Iraq war vet Bart (Heroes’ David Anders) returns from the East in a body bag, much to the dismay of his girlfriend Janet (Louise Griffiths) and slovenly best friend Joey (Chris Wylde, channeling Michael Keaton). But although the picture begins at Bart’s funeral and...

For 14 season, The Amazing Race has attracted millions of viewers to follow a ragtag group of adveturers each season, competing for the fabulous cash prize of 1 million dollars. One of the unifying forces behind the differently themed series' is composer Lee Sanders who provided both original and catalogue music for all seasons of the show. Getting the job after a couple of successful clips done for the Lord of the Rings website, The Amazing Race has been a great opportunity for Lee to deliver something exciting every week.

How did you get interested in music?

I was three years old—my next door neighbors had a piano, and from all reports I became addicted straightaway. I've been formally involved with music in some capacity since about age four, although I did dabble in several other majors as an undergraduate before settling into music composition.

What does your musical education consist of?...