Francis Ford Coppola may very well be the greatest American filmmaker. The Godfather, an epic three-motion-picture coup, redefined gangster movies and film; Apocalypse Now remains the greatest Vietnam War allegory ever made; Bram Stoker’s Dracula is perched atop most lists of horror classics. Coppola hit every genre, created art for art’s sake, and still managed to touch the pulse of moviegoers’ needs, desires, and fantasies.
More than anything, Coppola pursues innovation. This was exemplified in Distant Vision, which presented live cinema, performed twice, broadcast live to select screening rooms in 2015 and 2016, and not included in the list. The 25-minute film was made with students, staff, and teachers at UCLA, Coppola’s alma mater.
Coppola learned his trade at the “Roger Corman Film Academy,” where fresh filmmakers graduated by finishing movies quickly with pocket change for funding. By the time Coppola sandwiched the 1974 paranoid masterpiece The Conversation between The Godfather and The Godfather,...
More than anything, Coppola pursues innovation. This was exemplified in Distant Vision, which presented live cinema, performed twice, broadcast live to select screening rooms in 2015 and 2016, and not included in the list. The 25-minute film was made with students, staff, and teachers at UCLA, Coppola’s alma mater.
Coppola learned his trade at the “Roger Corman Film Academy,” where fresh filmmakers graduated by finishing movies quickly with pocket change for funding. By the time Coppola sandwiched the 1974 paranoid masterpiece The Conversation between The Godfather and The Godfather,...
- 8/26/2023
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Swedish cult film streaming service Cultpix, which launched in April, continues to beef up its catalogue while expanding deals with distribution partners.
Company co-founders Rickard Gramfors and Patrick von Sychowski will be attending the Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mfic) in Lyon, France, where they will be on the lookout for new acquisitions.
“This is the first time that either of us are attending and we are already in discussions via email with other market participants,” von Sychowski said. “We are hugely impressed by the caliber of companies attending Mfic and the rights libraries that they represent and we are confidant about making several deals there.”
Cultpix has increased its offering from an initial 400 titles when it went online to some 600 films and TV shows, adding an average of five to six new titles a week, von Sychowski said.
Specializing in classic genre and vintage cult films and TV shows,...
Company co-founders Rickard Gramfors and Patrick von Sychowski will be attending the Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mfic) in Lyon, France, where they will be on the lookout for new acquisitions.
“This is the first time that either of us are attending and we are already in discussions via email with other market participants,” von Sychowski said. “We are hugely impressed by the caliber of companies attending Mfic and the rights libraries that they represent and we are confidant about making several deals there.”
Cultpix has increased its offering from an initial 400 titles when it went online to some 600 films and TV shows, adding an average of five to six new titles a week, von Sychowski said.
Specializing in classic genre and vintage cult films and TV shows,...
- 10/9/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Ryan Lambie Feb 21, 2017
Before he made The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola got his start by editing monsters into a Soviet sci-fi film...
Everyone loves a good success story, and Hollywood history's full of them. Actors sleeping in their cars until they get their first lucky break. Writers papering the walls of their lodgings with rejection letters until they finally get a script in front of a receptive producer. Filmmakers who've spent years paying their dues before a studio finally comes calling.
See related Robot Wars interview: presenter Angela Scanlon Robot Wars episode 6 review Robot Wars episode 5 review Robot Wars episode 4 review Robot Wars episode 3 review
Director Francis Ford Coppola, before he shot to fame - and, for a time, considerable wealth - with such films as The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, scrabbled around at the lower end of the industry like just about everyone else.
Before he made The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola got his start by editing monsters into a Soviet sci-fi film...
Everyone loves a good success story, and Hollywood history's full of them. Actors sleeping in their cars until they get their first lucky break. Writers papering the walls of their lodgings with rejection letters until they finally get a script in front of a receptive producer. Filmmakers who've spent years paying their dues before a studio finally comes calling.
See related Robot Wars interview: presenter Angela Scanlon Robot Wars episode 6 review Robot Wars episode 5 review Robot Wars episode 4 review Robot Wars episode 3 review
Director Francis Ford Coppola, before he shot to fame - and, for a time, considerable wealth - with such films as The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now, scrabbled around at the lower end of the industry like just about everyone else.
- 2/20/2017
- Den of Geek
By Hank Reineke
Though the 1966 space-age vampire flick Queen of Blood is not new to home video, it has been one of the more elusive science-fiction titles of the 1960s. Issued on VHS as Planet of Blood back in the early 1980s on the budget “Star Classics” label and later in 1990 on a much improved laser disc from Image (paired with Mario Bava’s similarly-themed Planet of the Vampires), Queen of Blood has been mostly unavailable to collectors for nearly twenty-five years. In March 2011 MGM finally re-issued the title as part of its Limited Edition Collection, but only as a made-on-demand release. In 2015, Kino Lorber has – very happily for genre fans and collectors - rescued this title from the wasteland of cult-film marginalia with their superb Blu-Ray release of this Roger Corman-Curtis Harrington classic.
Queen of Blood (for reasons we’ll get into a little later on) more...
Though the 1966 space-age vampire flick Queen of Blood is not new to home video, it has been one of the more elusive science-fiction titles of the 1960s. Issued on VHS as Planet of Blood back in the early 1980s on the budget “Star Classics” label and later in 1990 on a much improved laser disc from Image (paired with Mario Bava’s similarly-themed Planet of the Vampires), Queen of Blood has been mostly unavailable to collectors for nearly twenty-five years. In March 2011 MGM finally re-issued the title as part of its Limited Edition Collection, but only as a made-on-demand release. In 2015, Kino Lorber has – very happily for genre fans and collectors - rescued this title from the wasteland of cult-film marginalia with their superb Blu-Ray release of this Roger Corman-Curtis Harrington classic.
Queen of Blood (for reasons we’ll get into a little later on) more...
- 1/24/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Curtis Harrington took an assignment nobody else would and fashioned a gem of low-budget Sci-Fi. A Russian space epic provides expensive-looking special effects scenes for a new horror show about a deadly alien rescued from a crash landing on Mars. The extras include excellent interviews with Roger Corman and effects specialist / historian Robert Skotak.
Queen of Blood Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1966 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date December 1, 2015 / 29.95 Starring John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Florence Marly, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, Robert Boon, Don Eitner, Forrest J Ackerman. Cinematography Vilis Lapenieks Film Editor Leo Shreve Original Music Ronald Stein Written by Curtis Harrington from the Soviet film Mechte navstrechu Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, George Edwards Directed by Curtis Harrington
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
A.I.P. released some tacky movies in its day but none were less respected than those cobbled together from foreign imports spiked with new filmed-in-Hollywood storylines.
Queen of Blood Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1966 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date December 1, 2015 / 29.95 Starring John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, Florence Marly, Judi Meredith, Dennis Hopper, Robert Boon, Don Eitner, Forrest J Ackerman. Cinematography Vilis Lapenieks Film Editor Leo Shreve Original Music Ronald Stein Written by Curtis Harrington from the Soviet film Mechte navstrechu Produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, George Edwards Directed by Curtis Harrington
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
A.I.P. released some tacky movies in its day but none were less respected than those cobbled together from foreign imports spiked with new filmed-in-Hollywood storylines.
- 11/28/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
B-movie titan Roger Corman has a storied history of giving some of the most revered filmmakers of this generation their start in Hollywood from Martin Scorsese and James Cameron to more outre favorites like Penelope Spheeris and George Armitage. In fact, Corman was such a prolific mentor that retroactively, this group of filmmakers has been affectionately dubbed alumni of the ‘Roger Corman Film School’. The extensive history has been written about by dozens of outlets over the years, and even inspired books like Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Nashawaty’s 2013 oral history.
Among those hallowed alumni, Francis Ford Coppola stands near the top. And now, courtesy of a kind Youtube account, and i09 who dug up the video, we have our look at Coppola’s lost first film, Battle Beyond the Sun. This isn’t Coppola’s only collaboration with Corman (see another here), but it’s a fascinating curio nonetheless.
Among those hallowed alumni, Francis Ford Coppola stands near the top. And now, courtesy of a kind Youtube account, and i09 who dug up the video, we have our look at Coppola’s lost first film, Battle Beyond the Sun. This isn’t Coppola’s only collaboration with Corman (see another here), but it’s a fascinating curio nonetheless.
- 11/3/2015
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
Ahead of Interstellar's launch, here's a selection of 10 underappreciated sci-fi films about space travel...
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar wears many of its influences proudly. The director has openly said that his film is inspired by such acclaimed pieces of cinema as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff, as well as the human warmth of Steven Spielberg's 80s output. Interstellar depicts a near future where life on Earth teeters on the brink of extinction. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former test pilot turned farmer, joins a last-ditch mission to enter a wormhole in space and find a new home for humanity; he realises that the only way to save his family is to leave it behind.
It's the latest film to tap into our fascination with the depths of space - a topic that has been explored many times since the earliest days of cinema.
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar wears many of its influences proudly. The director has openly said that his film is inspired by such acclaimed pieces of cinema as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff, as well as the human warmth of Steven Spielberg's 80s output. Interstellar depicts a near future where life on Earth teeters on the brink of extinction. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former test pilot turned farmer, joins a last-ditch mission to enter a wormhole in space and find a new home for humanity; he realises that the only way to save his family is to leave it behind.
It's the latest film to tap into our fascination with the depths of space - a topic that has been explored many times since the earliest days of cinema.
- 11/3/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Check out this letter from a young Francis Ford Coppola to the epic Lee Marvin, asking him to join the cast of Apocalypse Now. The 1960s were an exciting time for Francis Ford Coppola. He enrolled at UCLA Film School to complete his graduate studies and worked on several projects, which helped him land an assistant gig with super producer Roger Corman. Coppola reedited a Russian sci-fi film, which became Corman's Battle Beyond the Sun. The young filmmaker was eventually hired as dialogue director, producer and soundman on several other features. Corman gave him an opportunity to create his own film, which became the cult horror movie Dementia 13, based on Coppola's own screenplay. After connecting with filmmaker George Lucas, winning...
Read More...
Read More...
- 4/9/2013
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.