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R.I.P. Peter Graves, 1926-2010

Monday, March 15th, 2010

There’s really not much to say here – another long-time Wtf-Film favorite and Minneapolis, MN native has passed away.  Actor Peter Graves (younger brother of James Arness), famous for his turn as the pilot in Airplane!, has ascended to that all-day peplum matinee in the sky at the age of 83.  He was found dead of natural causes in his home Sunday afternoon.

Best known around these parts as a regular in the down-and-dirty no-budget world of 50s science fiction, Graves starred in such classic cheapie programmers as Killers From Space, It Conquered The World, Beginning of the End, and Red Planet Mars. Needless to say, he will be missed.

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The FX Magic of Ray Harryhausen continues with ‘Mysterious Island’ and ‘It Came From Beneath the Sea’, this weekend at the Trylon Microcinema

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Take-Up Productions and The Trylon Microcinema’s month-long celebration of the career of one-man effects powerhouse Ray Harryhausen continues this weekend with two of my personal favorites: the loose and fanciful adaptation of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island and the early monster-from-the-deep programmer It Came From Beneath the Sea.  It’s a veritable giant seafood buffet!  Showtimes are as follows:

Mysterious Island
Friday: 7:00pm, 9:00pm
Saturday: 7:00pm, 9:00pm

It Came From Beneath the Sea (HD)
Sunday: 5:20pm, 7:00pm

Tickets are $8.00, and can be purchased (cash-only) at the door or in advance online.  For the complete schedule for this series and advance ticketing information, click here.

The Trylon Microcinema is located at 3258 Minnehaha Ave S in Wtf-Film’s own Minneapolis, MN, and is the home of Take-Up Productions.

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The FX Magic of Ray Harryhausen at the Trylon Microcinema – this weekend, ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and ‘Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers’

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The Trylon Microcinema, an intimate 50-seat house located at 3258 Minnehaha Ave. S in Wtf-Film’s own Minneapolis, MN, is quickly becoming the most exciting film venue in the city for eclectic cinema aficionados.  This past Halloween brought a month-long tribute to the cinema of David Cronenberg, for instance.  Films are screened in either 35mm or HD (non-film screenings are denoted on the schedule).

Starting this weekend, as lead-up to the big-budget remake of Clash of the Titans, the Trylon is hosting a retrospective of the special effects films of Ray Harryhausen, from his early days toiling on low-budget science fiction programmers to his heyday in the mid-60s.  This weekend brings a classic double feature, the epic fantasy Jason and the Argonauts and the ultimate in 50s alien invasion cinema Earth vs. The Flying Saucers. Screening times are listed below:

Jason and the Argonauts
Friday, 05 March: 7:00pm, 9:00pm
Saturday, 06 March: 7:00pm, 9:00pm

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (HD)
Sunday, 07 March: 7:00pm, 9:00pm

Cash is accepted at the door, or tickets can be purchased in advance online (see the link below).  Seating is limited, so I suggest planning ahead (and yes, I realize I posted this too late for anyone to act on the shows tonight – next week’s announcement will be more timely).

A full listing for Trylon and Take-up Productions’ Harryhausen celebration can be found here:  Titans.  Will.  Clash. – The FX Magic of Ray Harryhausen

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‘Max Headroom’ coming from Shout! Factory

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Shout! Factory is quickly becoming one of my favorite DVD companies, and this news only furthers that opinion.  From the press release:

Shout! Factory and Warner Home Video, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc., announced a multi-property alliance to bring the highly anticipated Warner Bros. television series Max Headroom and The Norm Show to the home entertainment marketplace. Under its multi-year agreement with Warner Home Video, Shout! Factory will be the exclusive media company to distribute Max Headroom and The Norm Show DVDs for home entertainment releases in the United States and Canada. The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory founding partners Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; and Jeff Brown, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Non-theatrical Franchise Marketing.

Production has begun to develop a wide range of bonus content for Max Headroom: The Complete Series DVD box set, as well as re-transferring the episodes from the original elements to provide the highest picture quality.

“Max Headroom is a uniquely sought-after television property, boasting a large fan following and consumer interests. We have been pursing this property with Warner Bros. for years, and we’re thrilled that it’s finally coming to fruition,” state Shout! Factory founding partners. ”We’re pop culture fanatics at Shout!, and both of these shows are loved by fans of TV and are highly requested.  We’ll do them justice with great extras and packaging.”

You can read the full press release on Shout! Factory’s agreement with Warner Brothers here: Shout! Factory and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Inc. Announce Content Deal

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A home video release 45 years in the making – ‘Crack in the World’ coming to DVD in 2010

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Color me surprised, but when a company I’ve never heard of announces that they’ve licensed titles from Paramount’s hefty catalog of previously unreleased productions it can be nothing but good news.

There is no firm street date as yet for this Olive Films DVD, just one of around 20 older Paramount properties the company intends to release by the end of the year.  And while I find it doubtful that there will be much in the way of supplemental content given past experience, this is still exceptional news for fans who have been waiting for a proper video release of the title for the past two decades or more.

You can read Wtf-Film’s review of the film here: Crack in the World (1965) dir. Andrew Marton

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Gamera, The Giant Monster – cover art and more

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Thanks to both SciFi Japan and August Ragone’s The Good, The Bad, and the Godzilla blog, we’re getting a nice sneak peak at the cover art for Shout! Factory’s upcoming Gamera, The Giant Monster DVD Special Edition.  It looks great to this reviewer, and is an improvement over what Kadokawa has produced for their own recent Blu-ray editions.

August is working with Shout! Factory and, thanks to his latest blog entry, we know a little more about the work that’s going into these releases:

“For Shout’s Gamera releases, I’ve assembled an international rag-tag unit of die-hard fans, known as the “Z Plan Team”, who have been working overtime in gathering as much information and materials on the original films as possible for the on-disc Special Features supplements (as well as the corresponding printed booklets), and we have uncovered tons of fascinating facts and trivia about the production of Daiei’s beloved series. The Special Features will also include Audio Commentaries, with the first recorded by none other than Yours Truly.”

Sounds like good stuff all around to me, as August says in his entry, “I can say that these will be DVDs that any self-respecting kaiju eiga fan shouldn’t pass up!” SciFi Japan has a nice new article up as well, including an interview with Cliff Macmillan, VP of DVD Production and Acquisitions for Shout! Factory. Click here to check it out.

Gamera, The Giant Monster streets on May 18th, and can currently be pre-ordered through Amazon.com at a discounted price of $17.99.  Click here to order.

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