sam elliott Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Yesterday, we kicked off our first installment of Cinematical's Free Flick of the Day, where one of our writers will humbly suggest a good, bad, or truly ugly film you can watch for free over at AOL's /SlashControl. Since the content over there is constantly shifting, we'll try our very best to point you towards the good, the bad, and the ugliest films you can watch there for free.

Today's pick is an ugly little time-waster. Before Troll 2 rose to such "So bad it's good" acclaim, Frogs had the dubious honor of being called "The best bad movie I've ever seen in my life" by Fran Lebowitz, and was reportedly Andy Warhol's favorite horror movie. I first encountered it on a dollar DVD rack, and purchased it as a gift for a friend who adores bad movies. How can you resist a DVD cover like the one to your right for a whole dollar? How can you resist it for free? You can't, and it might be the most fun you have this Halloween. (I hope not.)

Frogs is a 1970s eco-"horror" flick that stars Ray Milland, Sam Elliott, Joan Van Ark, Adam Roarke, and Judy Pace. Milland plays a wealthy, wheel-chair bound Southern patriarch, who has no compassion for wildlife. His chemical company is responsible for wrecking havoc all over the wilderness, but its the critters that surround his plantation that decide to rise up and defend their wetlands. Don't watch this movie alone if you can help it -- not because it's scary, but because it's stupid, and you'll want the company. It's the perfect film to play MST3K / Rifftrax with, and if you can't make at least one trouser snake joke during its mercifully short runtime (particularly with the deliciously hunky Elliott running around in very tight pants), then I don't know what to make of you.

I want to hop Over to AOL /SlashControl, and watch Frogs!

Back in January, we were invited to visit the set of The Golden Compass, which was wrapping up its final week of shooting at that time. Since then, a number of photos have hit the net, in addition to two trailers, a few posters and a whole lot of buzz. Based on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass (originally titled Northern Lights when it was released in Britain) is the first of three books New Line hopes to adapt for the big screen. Unlike New Line's Lord of the Rings franchise, all three His Dark Materials films (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) are not being shot at the same time. While plans to make The Subtle Knife are currently in the works, it's believed the studio will wait to see how well The Golden Compass does in theaters before moving on to its sequel.

Earlier this month, director Chris Weitz dropped somewhat of a bomb on fans (in a letter to the His Dark Materials fansite), letting them know that he, along with Scholastic, New Line and Philip Pullman, have decided to cut out the last three chapters of Book I from the film, and will instead use the material for The Subtle Knife (even though footage from those last three chapters does appear in the trailer for Compass). For those of you that have read The Golden Compass, you'll know that the book ends on a pretty big cliffhanger (with both a major death and a betrayal). The consensus from fans is that this was a good choice, and will make for a better overall cinematic experience. Additionally, it also means there's a very good chance The Subtle Knife will be made into a film as well ... and what a beginning it will have! The Golden Compass opens nationwide on December 7th; below you'll find a gallery of pics from our set visit and make sure to read on after the jump to find out how this monstrous production was pieced together.