ecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) (01/09/85)
Upcoming Films
by Mark R. Leeper
I have had a couple of people come to me and ask now that DUNE and 2010
are out, what films are coming up to look forward to. Frankly, this is a
slow time coming up. There are only one or two big films I know about.
Beyond that I can just look at the latest VARIETY to see what films they say
are currently in production.
Fox's publicity has been talking about an science fiction comedy called
COCOON. It has an all-star cast and is directed by Ron (Splash!) Howard.
The publicity is pretty cagey as to what the plot is, but I suspect it will
be in the style of AIRPLANE!. Cast includes people like Don Ameche, Hume
Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, and Gwen Verdon. I am not holding out hopes that it
will be particularly good.
Better sounding is ENEMY MINE, also from Fox. It is based on a story by
Barry Longyear. It stars Dennis ("Who's the best pilot you ever saw?")
Quaid and Lou ("Mayo-naise") Gossett. The director is Wolfgang Petersen who
directed DAS BOOT superbly and THE NEVERENDING STORY. The story concerns a
human and an alien who must overcome a mutual hatred and learn to cooperate
when they are stranded on a hostile planet.
Fox is also going to re-release RETURN OF THE JEDI on March 29. Now
you can see the first two films on a VCR and complete the show on the wide
screen.
1984 will get an early 1985 release. [It has already played briefly in
Los Angeles.--ecl] It was Richard Burton's last film and is based on the
Orwell, of course. I have heard the rock music score and I prefer the
silence of reading the book. It will probably not even be up the the Edmund
O'Brien film and that was not nearly as effective as the BBC version that
was run on PBS in the middle Sixties.
Warner Brothers will soon release LADYHAWKE about two lovers who are
cursed with shape-changing. The man is a horse by day and the woman is a
hawk by night. That makes it tough for them to get together since neither
is into bestiality.
Golon-Globus is planning to make back-to-back KING SOLOMON'S MINES and
ALLEN QUARTERMAIN, based on the novels by H. Rider Haggard.
Now to VARIETY: Columbia has a horror film called FRIGHT NIGHT starring
Roddy McDowall. Paramount is pulling together EXPLORERS, a fantasy-
adventure directed by Joe Dante. Universal has two films that may be
fantasy, guessing by the titles. They are WEIRD SCIENCE and BACK TO THE
FUTURE. The former is supposed to have some special effects. Steven
Spielberg is the executive producer of the latter. He performs the same
function on Richard Donner's GOONIES. Universal also has LEGEND, a
fantasy-adventure directed by Ridley Scott starring Tim Curry. That will be
released in August.
MGM/United Artists is working on A VIEW TO A KILL, the next Roger Moore
James Bond film. The cast includes Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace
Jones, and Patrick Macnee. Filming is in London, Iceland, Switzerland,
France, Scotland, and San Francisco. Richard Maibaum is the first name for
script credits. (Maibaum worked on the script of all the films but YOU ONLY
LIVE TWICE, LIVE AND LET DIE, and MOONRAKER; the last two at least were the
two worst United Artist James Bond films in my opinion. I think they know
better than to do a Bond film without Maibaum.)
Also from MGM/UA is RED SONJA. This is nominally a Conan film, but
Conan will have a small part only. Red Sonja is another Robert E. Howard
hero and she will be the main character. The title character is played by
Brigitte Nielsen. The villain is played by Sandahl Bergman, who played
Valeria in the first Conan film. The director is Richard Fleisher, who
directed the second.
Now for the independents: In the land down under George Miller is
directing his third Mad Max film known as either MAD MAX III or ROAD WARRIOR
II. Along with Mel Gibson it stars Tina Turner. From the same country is
FROG DREAMING, a fantasy adventure.
A Portuguese-Spanish production will star Timothy Bottoms and Ray
Milland. It is called SEA SERPENT.
There is a Canadian film listed called THE FRANKENSTEIN FACTOR being
produced by (get this) Frank & Stein Film Productions. See you on the
cable.
George Romero is making DAY OF THE DEAD, the third film in his trilogy.
He is filming in Western Pennsylvania, as usual. Someone named Phil Smoot
is producing and directing a film based on his own screenplay. The film is
called THE DARK POWER. Beware of films in which unknowns wear too many
hats.
That wraps it up. Nothing great. My bets are on only ENEMY MINE being
any good at all. Some of the films discussed here may be in production for
a year or more yet before release. They made this list because they are
shooting right now.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrlrsu@cbscc.UUCP (Rick Urban) (01/10/85)
As far as COCOON goes, nowhere have I read that the film is being classified as a comedy, and if there are comedic elements in it, I doubt if they will be of the AIRPLANE variety. The plot concerns the landing of aliens on Earth and their rejuvenating effects on members of a nursing home. The film has an excellent cast, and will be out this summer.
brad@gcc-opus.ARPA (Brad Parker) (01/12/85)
In article <343@ahuta.UUCP> ecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) writes: > Upcoming Films > by Mark R. Leeper > Now for the independents: In the land down under George Miller is >directing his third Mad Max film known as either MAD MAX III or ROAD WARRIOR >II. Along with Mel Gibson it stars Tina Turner. From the same country is >FROG DREAMING, a fantasy adventure. Thanks for a great review, but didn't George Miller die last summer ? I believe he did, and took with him the magic that was Road Warrior. -- J Bradford Parker uucp: seismo!harvard!gcc-opus!brad otherwise: what else is there ? "Say something once, Why say it again ?" - David Burne
ecl@ahuta.UUCP (e.leeper) (01/15/85)
REFERENCES: <4566@cbscc.UUCP> Rick Urban pointed out that while I call the upcoming COCOON a comedy, nowhere did he read that it was to be a comedy. Looking at some press releases, I find that he is quite right. However, Lawrence Gordon, President of 20th Century says the dailies are "exciting, funny, and touching." It probably is more the style of STARMAN than of AIRPLANE, but each was a a comedy nonetheless. Another press release stresses that it was directed by Ron Howard. As it says "Ron Howard, who recently directed the smash hit SPLASH!, also guided the comedy sensation NIGHT SHIFT." It is not actually saying that COCOON is a comedy but it is hinting all around it. (Evelyn C. Leeper for) Mark R. Leeper ...ihnp4!lznv!mrl
ecl@ahuta.UUCP (e.leeper) (01/15/85)
REFERENCES: <343@ahuta.UUCP>, <193@gcc-opus.ARPA> > In article <343@ahuta.UUCP> ecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) writes: > > Now for the independents: In the land down under George Miller is > >directing his third Mad Max film known as either MAD MAX III or ROAD WARRIOR > >II. > > Thanks for a great review, but didn't George Miller die last summer ? > > I believe he did, and took with him the magic that was Road Warrior. > -- No, it was the producer of the Mad Max films (name forgotten here; sorry) who died in a helicopter crash. He had designed the helicopter for ROAD WARRIOR, and I believe that was what he crashed in. (I seem to think his last name was Kennedy, but I could be wrong.) George Miller, the director, is still alive and well. Evelyn C. Leeper ...{ihnp4, houxm, hocsj}!ahuta!ecl
peterb@pbear.UUCP (01/16/85)
All right. I love it, another MAD MAX/ROAD WARRIOR flick! When is it due for release, and whats the plotline, etc... Peter Barada ima!pbear!peterb
boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian) (01/25/85)
> From: ahuta!ecl (Evelyn C. Leeper) > No, it was the producer of the Mad Max films (name forgotten here; sorry) who > died in a helicopter crash. He had designed the helicopter for ROAD WARRIOR, > and I believe that was what he crashed in. (I seem to think his last name was > Kennedy, but I could be wrong.) No, you are correct, his name was Byron Kennedy. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA