News Bites: Planes, Lanes, and Submersibles

Took a brief break from this last week, but here’s another dose of short-but-interesting news items for you:

First off, some sad news; it was mentioned a few days ago that Charles Durning had died, but sadly he’s not alone (somehow these things always happen in groups, especially at the end of the year). Actor Jack Klugman, star of Quincy M.E. and The Odd Couple has passed away at the age of 90. Additionally, Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and other marionette TV shows, has passed away at the age of 83. Both will be missed for their contributions to entertainment.

NBC has officially passed on picking up The Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane as a series, which really comes as no surprise. The pilot was mediocre, and it’s doubtful a series would have been able to recoup the high costs.

Originally scheduled for a direct-to-video release, Disney’s Planes, the spin-off to Pixar’s Cars franchise which curiously isn’t under the Pixar label, is now being given a theatrical release of August 9, 2013.

After Disney became leery of the project with the failure of Mars Needs Moms, Robert Zemeckis has decided not to do a remake of Yellow Submarine after all. This is probably a good thing — it’s hard to imagine anybody was really looking forward to a Beatles movie without the Beatles.

The Austrian town of Oberburgl is hoping to find Alfred Hitchcock’s lost second film, The Mountain Eagle, which was filmed there.

And finally, Quentin Tarantino is considering a companion piece to Inglourious Basterds, tentatively titled Killer Crow, about disenfranchised African-American soldiers in World War II.

Weekly Weblinks: Superman and Splinter Cell

It’s Friday morning, time for the Weekly Weblinks. Things kind of got away from me this week, and I’m considering some changes here, but that’s a discussion for another day. Today, we’ve got another batch of blog posts and a slew of news to read up on. There aren’t any new movie reviews in this week’s blog posts — I’m not even sure there are new movies out that people have had a chance to review yet — but there’s some great discussion on some classics. And in the news, the 1980s are being pillaged again for Hollywood’s idea machine. Or lack-of-ideas machine. So read on to see what it’s all about!

Weekly Weblinks: Willis and White Whales

It’s the first Friday in October, and you know what that means! Being Friday means it’s time for the Weekly Weblinks, and being October means there’s a lot of spooky and scary content to be shared. From other bloggers, we have reviews of two spooky flicks for kids, a horror anthology for adults, and an in-depth look at the master of suspense, plus a new sci-fi feature that’s getting a lot of love lately and a whole lotta love for some actors who don’t get the spotlight often.

The press agencies are getting into the Halloween spirit as well, although there aren’t any horror films mentioned in the news bites. No, instead they’re settling for just making the news itself horrifying. You’re sure to find something to scream about, so read on for the Weekly Weblinks!

Weekly Weblinks: Shuffles and Charades

It’s time once again for the Weekly Weblinks. It’s the last Friday in September, and that means we’re almost to that time of year when half the movie blogs, this site included, start filling their rosters with a bunch of horror films and monster movies. But even though we’ve had a few early arrivals, this week is (almost) free from frights, at least in the blog posts, though certain classics make appearances in the news post.

On the blogging front, a couple classic films get reviewed, as well as one of 2012′s, and a combination review and interview about an under-the-radar film from last year. In the news, a franchise relaunches, another gets a sequel, and a couple unexpected movie-to-TV adaptations. Read on for the details!

Secret Agent

If Alfred Hitchcock is known for a “type” of movie, it’s probably thrillers. And espionage thrillers are a subgenre that he returned to time and time again. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that one of his films was simply titled Secret Agent. The 1936 film stars John Gielgud in the lead role, as a British soldier whose death is faked so he can become an undercover agent for the government during the first world war. Now dubbed Richard Ashenden, he is sent on assignment by “R” (Charles Carson) to find a German double agent and eliminate him before he escapes to enemy territory. Complicating the issue is that “R” does not know what the double agent looks like, nor any details. Ashenden’s predecessor on the task was killed before he could relay any of the critical information to headquarters. So Ashenden is going into a dangerous mission, effectively blind.

Weekly Weblinks: Moonrise and Marvels

It’s Friday morning (at least if I actually schedule this correctly this week!) and so it’s time once again for the Weekly Weblinks. Every week I select a handful of blog posts that I’ve enjoyed reading, and feature them here to spread the word and help build the community. This week’s selection of blog posts includes a couple reviews of newly-released movies, an in-depth look at Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematography, and more.

Also included are a few tidbits of news, which this week mostly consists of superhero movie rumors, as well as the latest from our favorite corporate nutcases at Hasbro, so read on!

Notorious

It’s been a little while since we’ve talked about Alfred Hitchcock here, so I thought it was time to queue up another one of his films for review. This time it’s the 1946 film Notorious, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, and widely regarded as a classic.

Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, daughter of a German-American who placed more emphasis on the “German” part than the “American” part and betrayed the United States, providing financial aid to Germany during the war. Alicia does not share her father’s politics; in fact, she seems to want nothing to do with politics at all. She would much rather spend her days and nights socializing and carousing. All that changes when she is visited at one of her parties by a man called Devlin (Grant).

The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps is a 1935 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with the classic Hitchcock plot: an ordinary man finds himself mixed up in acts of espionage against his will and has to find a way to extricate himself and save the day. Adapted from the first of adventure novelist John Buchan’s “Richard Hannay” novels — and apparently adapted very loosely — it stars Richard Donat in the lead role as Hannay.

Hannay is enjoying himself at a public performance by “Mr. Memory” (Wylie Watson in a small amusing role) when a fight breaks out in the audience and shots are fired. After the theatre clears out, he is approached by an attractive young woman (Lucie Mannheim), who asks if she can come home with him. He thinks she’s just being pleasantly forward, but when they get to his rented apartment, Miss Annabelle Smith reveals that she is the one who fired the shots, as a diversion to escape two men who are hunting her. She’s a spy, charged with protecting a national secret, and if she doesn’t get a message to a certain Scottish village in time, the secret will be smuggled out of the country.

Sabotage (The Woman Alone)

Any film buff — and just about everyone else — knows the name of Alfred Hitchcock, and can name several of his classic films. Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds and more have earned respected places as part of pop culture history. 1936′s Sabotage — originally released in the U.S. as The Woman Alone — is more obscure, and possibly overlooked.

Of course, when a man directs over 60 films, there are bound to be a few that fall by the wayside, and some of them may even deserve to. But even if I went into it knowing nothing beyond “this is a Hitchcock film”, that’s enough to make me a little curious about it, so I decided to check it out.