roger corman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

1. Steven Spielberg
Love him or hate him, he's an uncanny businessman, a pure entertainer, and a genuine artist with a highly recognizable style (though he rarely transcends the middlebrow), and he has remained relevant for four decades. He has launched or at least aided some interesting careers, most notably Joe Dante (Gremlins), sometimes referred to as the anti-Spielberg, and Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), who unfortunately went on to make more films. It would take a book to talk in detail about Spielberg's wide-ranging and influential achievements, from "Columbo" to the one-two release of Jurassic Park and Schindler's List in 1993. He's enormously popular, but he has his share of unsung masterpieces that intellectuals can continue to debate and defend. Indeed, in terms of both quantity and quality, I'd argue that few other cinematic legacies come close to this.
Title Count: nearly 500
Essential Films: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Innerspace (1987), Empire of the Sun (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

• Ollie Johnston (1912-2008) - Animator who was the last surviving member of Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men", who worked on classic features from 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to 1981's The Fox and the Hound. After retiring from animating at Disney, he was a story consultant on 1989's Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland and voiced characters in Brad Bird's The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. He was co-subject of the documentary Frank and Ollie and appears in The Pixar Story. He died of natural causes April 14, in Sequim, Washington. (Variety)

• Bebe Barron (1926-2008) - Composer who, with husband Louis Barron, scored Forbidden Planet, which was the first commercial feature film to include only electronic music. She also recorded music for Maya Deren's The Very Eye of Night and scored other experimental shorts, including Bells of Atlantis, which featured Anaïs Nin. She died April 20 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
• Hazel Court (1926-2008) - Actress who starred in '50s and '60s horror films, including Roger Corman's The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven and Premature Burial and Sidney J. Furie's Doctor Blood's Coffin, Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein and David MacDonald's Devil Girl from Mars. She died of a heart attack April 15, in Lake Tahoe, California. (Variety)

• Ralph E. Donnelly (c.1932-2007) - Exhibitor who worked in the cinema business since the 1940s, primarily in New York City, working as a film buyer for City Cinemas, RKO-Stanley Warner Theaters, Creative Film Services and Associated Independent Theaters. He also was former president of Cinema 5 Theaters, he established Manhattan's First Avenue Screening Room and the Mini Cinema in Uniondale, New York and he was one of the founders of the annual ShowEast exhibitors convention. He died September 21 in Palm Harbor, Florida. (Variety)
• Gary Franklin (c.1928-2007) - Film critic and entertainment journalist known for his trademark Franklin Scale ("on a scale of 1-10, 10 being best ... "). He played a radio reporter in the 1977 film Rollercoaster and he appears as himself in An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. He died October 2 in Chatsworth, California. (Variety)
• Richard Goldwater (c.1936-2007) - President and co-publisher of Archie Comics. He was credited as an executive producer on Josie and the Pussycats, which was based on Archie Comics characters, of which he was also credited as co-creator. He died October 2. (news from me)
• Charles B. Griffith (1930-2007) - Screenwriter and director who worked for producer Roger Corman. Some of Corman's films that he scripted include Death Race 2000 (directed by Paul Bartel), The Little Shop of Horrors, A Bucket of Blood and Not of this Earth. As a director, Griffith made the Jaws knockoff Up from the Depths, the Ron Howard-starred car chase movie Eat My Dust and the 1989 fantasy Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II. He also served as a producer, a production manager, an assistant or second unit director and an actor, appearing as multiple characters in The Little Shop of Horrors and appearing uncredited in Bartel's Eating Raoul. Quentin Tarantino dedicated his recent Grindhouse segment Death Proof to Griffith. He died September 28 in San Diego. (Variety)
• George Grizzard (1928-2007) - Actor (pictured) most recently seen as the older John Bradley in the modern sequences of Flags of Our Fathers (Ryan Phillippe played the young, WWII-era Bradley). He also played Tobey Maguire's father in Wonder Boys, Tawny Kitaen's father in Bachelor Party, a senator in Otto Preminger's Advise & Consent, a governor in Seems Like Old Times and the President in Wrong is Right. He also co-starred in Mark Robson's film of Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June as well as the director's From the Terrace, which stars Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Myrna Loy. Grizzard was most successful on television, for which he won an Emmy, and on stage, for which he won a Tony. He died of complications from lung cancer October 1, in New York. (AP)

It's taken quite some time for me to wrap my head around a remake of the Roger Corman classic Death Race 2000. But, now that the Hollywood Reporter tells us that action stud Jason Statham is in negotiations to star, I can kind of see where they're going with this. Though it was originally being called Death Race 3000, it seems they've since shortened it to Death Race and, instead of Paramount overseeing the project with Tom Cruise (imagine that one!) in the starring role, pic has since moved to Universal (following the Par/Cruise fallout) with Paul W.S. Anderson attached to write and direct.

For those not familiar with the original (and I don't blame you), Death Race 2000 starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone as two guys who race across the country in their heavily armed cars, scoring points by mowing down innocent bystanders. In true Corman fashion, it was classic B-movie, drive-in type fare -- and, seeing how well Grindhouse did at the box office, something tells me Death Race will make a killing (pun intended). Will it be The Transporter meets Alien vs. Predator? Ya know, part of me really hopes so. I've always been a fan of those warped futuristic gaming movies (remember The Running Man?), and so I do think the project has potential. Will it resemble Corman's 1975 version in any way, shape or form? Probably not. After all, they do want some people to show up and buy tickets for this thing. Studio is currently eying a late summer/early fall production start and, though no one else has been cast, is it wrong of me to suggest The Rock to star alongside Statham?