A few weeks ago, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with director Steve Mitchell about his new documentary, King Cohen, which profiles maverick filmmaker Larry Cohen and his wild journey throughout his decades-spanning career (you can read that interview Here). And now that this writer finally had the opportunity to see King Cohen as part of the 2017 Fantastic Fest lineup, I had a few more questions for Mitchell, who managed to craft an entertaining, informative, and heartfelt celebration of a truly one-of-a-kind talent in Cohen.
Great to catch up with you again, Steve. You did a great job with this project, and I loved how it balanced out all these things I’ve enjoyed about Larry’s career so far, and also dove into a lot of things I had no idea about. Is there an art to balancing out the stuff that fans are going to expect versus...
Great to catch up with you again, Steve. You did a great job with this project, and I loved how it balanced out all these things I’ve enjoyed about Larry’s career so far, and also dove into a lot of things I had no idea about. Is there an art to balancing out the stuff that fans are going to expect versus...
- 10/2/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Michael Parks, longtime Hollywood mainstay and beloved character actor and singer, has passed away at the age of 77. The news was announced by filmmaker Kevin Smith, who took to his Instagram to share that “the best actor I’ve ever known” and his “cinematic muse,” had died. No cause of death was named.
Smith directed Parks in both his “Tusk” and “Red State,” having relished the longtime actor’s career since first seeing him in Robert Rodriguez’s “From Dusk Till Dawn.” Though Parks’ career stretched back to 1960, when he made his screen debut on TV’s “Zane Grey Theater,” in recent years, the supporting standout had enjoyed a revival at the hands of both Quentin Tarantino (who Smith deemed Parks’ “biggest fan”) and Smith, who continued to craft roles for the singular actor.
I hate to report that my cinematic muse #michaelparks has passed away. Michael was, and will likely forever remain,...
Smith directed Parks in both his “Tusk” and “Red State,” having relished the longtime actor’s career since first seeing him in Robert Rodriguez’s “From Dusk Till Dawn.” Though Parks’ career stretched back to 1960, when he made his screen debut on TV’s “Zane Grey Theater,” in recent years, the supporting standout had enjoyed a revival at the hands of both Quentin Tarantino (who Smith deemed Parks’ “biggest fan”) and Smith, who continued to craft roles for the singular actor.
I hate to report that my cinematic muse #michaelparks has passed away. Michael was, and will likely forever remain,...
- 5/10/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
New York’s greatest B-movie legend is coming back to the Big Apple. Prolific writer-director-producer Larry Cohen returns to his native New York this weekend to appear at a retrospective of his New York-set films at the newly-renovated Quad Cinema.
Read More: ‘Kill Switch’ Teaser Trailer: Dan Stevens Stars in Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller — Watch
The writer behind 2002’s “Phone Booth” and director of “A Return to Salem’s Lot,” Cohen directed 20 movies and wrote dozens of screenplays for both film and television during his roughly 50 year career. Many of his most well-known films were set in New York.
“It was my favorite place to shoot,” Cohen said. “New York is the world’s greatest backlot.”
The retrospective, entitled “Larry Cohen’s New York,” will include the “Whisper” cut of Cohen’s 1976 horror-thriller “God Told Me To,” a version that has never been screened in New York before. The other films...
Read More: ‘Kill Switch’ Teaser Trailer: Dan Stevens Stars in Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller — Watch
The writer behind 2002’s “Phone Booth” and director of “A Return to Salem’s Lot,” Cohen directed 20 movies and wrote dozens of screenplays for both film and television during his roughly 50 year career. Many of his most well-known films were set in New York.
“It was my favorite place to shoot,” Cohen said. “New York is the world’s greatest backlot.”
The retrospective, entitled “Larry Cohen’s New York,” will include the “Whisper” cut of Cohen’s 1976 horror-thriller “God Told Me To,” a version that has never been screened in New York before. The other films...
- 5/4/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Warner Brothers helped create the heroic myth of the FBI and its founder, J Edgar Hoover, in the 1930s when the studio was persuaded to balance its gangster movies with pictures that made heroes of FBI agents battling the underworld, Nazi agents and communist subversives. The keystone of the edifice came in 1959 when James Stewart starred in The FBI Story, which depicted the bureau as the embodiment of Americanism. Warners gave and Warners taketh away, and since Hoover's death in 1972, which occurred a month before the Watergate break-in, the studio has contributed to the dismantling of Hoover and everything he stood for, starting with All the President's Men and culminating in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar.
In Scorsese's The Aviator, Leonardo DiCaprio created a flattering portrait of another American hero, Howard Hughes. In J. Edgar, he portrays Hoover as a deranged control freak, raised by an overbearing mother to have an inflated sense of destiny.
In Scorsese's The Aviator, Leonardo DiCaprio created a flattering portrait of another American hero, Howard Hughes. In J. Edgar, he portrays Hoover as a deranged control freak, raised by an overbearing mother to have an inflated sense of destiny.
- 1/22/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
While news articles report the decline of the once-robust DVD market, film buffs and collectors have occasion to rejoice. More rare, obscure, and once-unattainable titles are being released now than ever before, from the camp classic Cobra Woman with Maria Montez to Larry Cohen’s The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, not to mention Wings (at last). No longer complacent about home video revenue, several major studios are licensing titles from their libraries to specialized distributors who are happy to reach a modest but loyal customer base. Winner and still champion in this arena is Warner Home Video’s Warner Archive, which now offers more than one thousand titles, with new...
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- 12/12/2011
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
"It would be one thing if J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood's bio-pic of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, were merely another Eastwood film shot in the cloudy, patent-medicine weak-tea sepia tones of a Ken Burns production, with its minor-key piano chords and historically appropriate pop songs," writes James Rocchi for Box Office. "It would be another thing if J. Edgar were simply another Leonardo DiCaprio film where the star — through makeup and miracles — portrays another complex American legend whose public persona was only the smallest part of his complex life, as the actor did in the Martin Scorsese-directed The Aviator. But between Eastwood's direction and Dustin Lance Black's screenplay, what you feel leaking off the screen in every scene is missed opportunity. This material could have inspired a serious and artistic examination of the role of law and intelligence in America, of the toxic nature of secrets, or...
- 11/10/2011
- MUBI
It can’t get any better!
All hail The Cinefamily, one of the treasures of Los Angeles cinema, and all hail Larry Cohen, one of the treasures of the cinema.
And this weekend, October 15th and October 16th, these two great treasures finally come together to fill your chest (and heart and mind and soul). Yes, The Cinefamily will be presenting two full nights of Larry Cohen programming. “Why?”, you might ask (if you are a person who asks needless questions). Well, let’s allow The Cinefamily to explain:
Meeting Larry Cohen is to bear witness to how his vast, active mind truly pours out an endless stream of ideas. His creativity seems to be on tap: a veritable faucet he can turn on at will. He likes making movies by trusting his creative instincts (which sometimes involve no permits, no schedules, or no production manager), working by the seat...
All hail The Cinefamily, one of the treasures of Los Angeles cinema, and all hail Larry Cohen, one of the treasures of the cinema.
And this weekend, October 15th and October 16th, these two great treasures finally come together to fill your chest (and heart and mind and soul). Yes, The Cinefamily will be presenting two full nights of Larry Cohen programming. “Why?”, you might ask (if you are a person who asks needless questions). Well, let’s allow The Cinefamily to explain:
Meeting Larry Cohen is to bear witness to how his vast, active mind truly pours out an endless stream of ideas. His creativity seems to be on tap: a veritable faucet he can turn on at will. He likes making movies by trusting his creative instincts (which sometimes involve no permits, no schedules, or no production manager), working by the seat...
- 10/15/2011
- by Danny
- Trailers from Hell
Film producer and Blue Underground DVD company founder William Lustig is back in New York City for his annual sponsorship of a cult movie festival that opens Thursday at the Anthology Film Archives. It's a treasure trove of flicks you never get to see on the big screen anymore because most were dismissed by critics in their day. Among the gems: White Line Fever, 99 44/100 Dead, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Machine Gun McCain, Dark of the Sun and The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. The festival is so popular that today's Wall Street Journal ran a major article about it. Click here for the film calendar.
- 8/10/2010
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Caddyshack Actor Resin Dies
Caddyshack actor Dan Resin has died at the age of 79.
The star, best known for his role as Mr. Beeper in the 1980 comedy film, passed away on Friday in Oakland, New Jersey after suffering complications from Parkinson's disease.
Resin began his career on Broadway in the 1950s, with roles in productions such as My Fair Lady and Once Upon a Mattress.
He later stepped offstage and in front of the camera and starred in commercials and TV shows, as well as films including Wise Guys, The Sunshine Boys and The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.
He is best remembered for his role opposite Chevy Chase and Bill Murray in Caddyshack.
Resin is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret, and three daughters, according to Variety.com.
The star, best known for his role as Mr. Beeper in the 1980 comedy film, passed away on Friday in Oakland, New Jersey after suffering complications from Parkinson's disease.
Resin began his career on Broadway in the 1950s, with roles in productions such as My Fair Lady and Once Upon a Mattress.
He later stepped offstage and in front of the camera and starred in commercials and TV shows, as well as films including Wise Guys, The Sunshine Boys and The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.
He is best remembered for his role opposite Chevy Chase and Bill Murray in Caddyshack.
Resin is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret, and three daughters, according to Variety.com.
- 8/2/2010
- WENN
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