SHAZAM! (2019)comes to life on the big screenwhen it plays at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, IL ( 252 N Main St, Edwardsville, IL 62025) at 7:00pm Tuesday July 13th. $3 Tickets available starting at 3pm day of movie at Wildey Theatre ticket office. Cash or check only. (cash, credit cards accepted for concessions) Lobby opens at 6pm. Read Jim Batts’ WAMG review of SHAZAM! HERE
In Philadelphia, Billy Batson is an abandoned child who is proving a nuisance to Child Services and the authorities with his stubborn search for his lost mother. However, in his latest foster home, Billy makes a new friend, Freddy, and finds himself selected by the Wizard Shazam to be his new champion. Now endowed with the ability to instantly become an adult superhero by speaking the wizard’s name, Billy gleefully explores his new powers with Freddy. However, Billy soon learns that he has a deadly enemy, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, who was previously rejected by the wizard and has accepted the power of the Seven Deadly Sins instead. Now pursued by this mad scientist for his own power as well, Billy must face up to the responsibilities of his calling while learning the power of a special magic with his true family that Sivana can never understand.
Don Castle and Elyse Knox in the forgotten Noir classic I WOULDN’T BE IN YOUR SHOES will be available on Blu-ray July 20th from Warner Archive
An out of work husband-and-wife dance team soon find themselves in more dire straits when the husband is wrongly accused of murder, while his wife sets out to prove his innocence. Based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich.
Tom (Don Castle) and Ann (Elyse Knox) are a down-and-out dance team, and while Don seeks engagements, Ann works as an instructor at a dance academy, with Detective Judd (Regis Toomey) one of the many customers she meets. On a hot summer night Tom, awaken from his sleep, tosses his only pair of shoes out the window to quiet two noisy cats. He goes down to retrieve them and can’t find them, but Ann discovers them in front of their door the next morning. A near-by recluse is found murdered in his old shack that same day while Tom finds a wallet filled with old $20 bills. Footprints, bearing an imprint like those on a tap-dancer’s shoes, plus Don’s new-found wealth combine to make a good circumstantial evidence case for Judd against Tom and he is convicted. On the night before his execution, Ann seeks Judd’s help in proving Tom is innocent. He turns up a suspect, Kosloff (Robert Lowell), but an air-tight alibi clears him.
Alternaversal, the production company responsible for the “100 percent Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Netflix, today announced its nationwide tour of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) LIVE: Time Bubble Tour, with the first 27 of an expected 80 nationwide dates, taking the tour through spring 2022. The long-running series (34 years old next Thanksgiving!) has also garnered the Peabody Award for Broadcast Excellence and multiple Emmy award nominations.
The “Time Bubble Tour,” supervised by series creator Joel Hodgson, will launch in October of 2021 in York, PA, and feature the beloved returning cast of the 2019 “Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour,” Emily Marsh, Conor McGiffin, Nate Begle, and Yvonne Freese, along with the world’s only movie-riffing robots, Tom Servo, Crow, and GPC. The show features the film Making Contact and will include all the tour signatures: hilarious riffing, wisecracking robots, and silly sketches. The show will be directed by Tim Ryder, an alumni of the Second City Mainstage cast and writer and performer from the MST3K TV series.
“I’m thrilled to announce that the MST3K live show is back on the road for audiences to enjoy together again, especially after a year that’s been tough on all of us. I’ve learned to never underestimate the power of hanging with friends and watching a cheesy movie while bots yell stuff at the screen,” said series creator, Joel Hodgson.
Making Contact (1985) is the Roland Emmerich directed film that Emily and the Bots will riff, featuring animated toys and an evil ventriloquist dummy in an overcrowded childhood during the eighties.
Tickets to the first wave of tour stops go on sale on Friday, July 9 at 12 Noon Eastern with the exception of the performance in Chicago. Ticket on sale date information for the Chicago performance on December 11 will be announced at a later time. For a complete list of currently available tickets and additional information, visit mst3klive.com.
FIRST WAVE 10/30/2021 York, PA The Pullo Center
11/2/2021 Cleveland, OH Mimi Ohio Theatre
11/4/2021 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre
11/6/2021 Rochester, NY Auditorium Theater
11/7/2021 Washington, D.C. Warner Theater
11/10 & 11/11/2021 Boston, MA The Wilbur
11/12/2021 New Haven, CT Shubert Theatre
11/15/2021 Milwaukee, WI The Pabst Theater
11/16/2021 Kalamazoo, MI State Theatre
11/20/2021 Detroit, MI Masonic Theater
11/21/2021 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Memorial Hall
11/23/2021 Des Moines, IA Hoyt Sherman Place Theater
12/22/2021 Los Angeles, CA The Theatre at Ace Hotel
12/26/2021 San Diego, CA Balboa Theatre
1/15/2022 Dallas, TX Winspear Opera House
2/5/2022 New York City, NY Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR THE TOUR
“If the tour is coming anywhere near your town, and you consider yourself an MST3K fan, you absolutely owe it to yourself to get a ticket.” – Geek.com
“MST3K contains some of the HIPPEST, deepest SATIRE of the generation.” – Los Angeles Times
“30 years later, that INGENIOUS B-movie spoof is STILL GOING STRONG.” – The New York Times
ABOUT ALTERNAVERSAL
Alternaversal is the production company founded by Joel Hodgson after bringing the series back with a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign in 2015, raising over 6 million dollars! The series currently resides on Netflix with 20 feature-length episodes and is one of the platforms highest-rated comedies. Last May, Hodgson sponsored a second Kickstarter campaign that broke the previous record by raising $6.5 million, funding a new season of shows and shorts that will premiere on its very own platform, “The Gizmoplex,” next December!
ABOUT “MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000”
Premiering in 1988 on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, MST3K, the long-running and original “talk back” show has earned its place in history as one of the Top 100 TV Shows of all time, according to Time, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly. Set on the Satellite of Love, the series follows a hapless host trapped by mad scientists on a satellite in space, who is forced to watch some of the most outrageously cheesy movies the world has ever seen.
“All your life has been spent in pursuit of archaeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your wildest aspirations. You want to see it opened as well as I. Indiana, we are simply passing through history.”
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK screensSunday Night July 11th at the Sky View Drive-in in Litchfield, Il. (1500 Historic Old Route 66) This is part of the Sky View’s ‘Throwback Sundays’. The second Sunday of the month, they screen a classic movie. Admission is only $7 (free for kids under 5). The movie starts at dusk (8:00-ish). The Sky View’s site can be found HERE.RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARKwill be followed by a screening of BOSS BABY 2.
The year is 1936. An archeology professor named Indiana Jones is venturing in the jungles of South America searching for a golden statue. Unfortunately, he sets off a deadly trap but miraculously escapes. Then, Jones hears from a museum curator named Marcus Brody about a biblical artifact called The Ark of the Covenant, which can hold the key to humanly existence. Jones has to venture to vast places such as Nepal and Egypt to find this artifact. However, he will have to fight his enemy Rene Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it.
“Fast worker, that boy. He just met her and he’s rounding third.”
Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly in TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME (1949) will be available on Blu-ray July 20th from Warner Archive. Ordering information can be found HERE.
Whether its Batter up! or Curtain Up!, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly are ready when they play early-1900s 1900s vaudevillians who spend the winter performing onstage and the summer performing on the field.
The Wolves baseball team gets steamed when they find they’ve been inherited by one K.C. Higgins, a suspected “fathead” who intends to take an active interest in running the team. But K.C. turns outs to be a beautiful woman who really knows her baseball. Second baseman Dennis Ryan promptly falls in love. But his playboy roommate Eddie O’Brien has his own notions about how to treat the new lady owner and some unsavory gamblers have their own ideas about how to handle Eddie.
“Would you like something to drink? I have some milk.”
Dario Argento’s THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS (1971) will be available on 4K Ultra HDfrom Arrow Video August 24th. It can be pre-orderedHERE
Following the success of his debut feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, distributor Titanus tasked writer-director Dario Argento with delivering a follow-up in short order. The resulting film, granted a greatly enhanced budget and heralded in its US marketing campaign as nine times more suspenseful than its predecessor, was The Cat O Nine Tails
When a break\-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle\-maker Franco Arnò (Karl Malden, Patton, One\-Eyed Jacks), who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institutes scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus, Beneath the Planet of the Apes) to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperiled in their search for the truth. And worse still, Lori (Cinzia De Carolis, Cannibal Apocalypse), Francos young niece, may also be in killers sights
This second entry in the so-called Animal Trilogy found Argento further refining his distinctive style and cementing his reputation as the master of the giallo thriller. Co-starring Catherine Spaak (Il Sorpasso) and Rada Rassimov (Baron Blood), and featuring another nerve-jangling score by the great Ennio Morricone (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly), The Cat O Nine Tails remains one of Argentos most suspenseful and underrated films.
Bonus Features:
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
Audio commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman<\/li>
Nine Lives, an interview with co\-writer\/director Dario Argento
The Writer O Many Tales, an interview with co\-writer Dardano Sacchetti
Child Star, an interview with actress Cinzia De Carolis
Giallo in Turin, an interview with production manager Angelo Iacono
Script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English for the first time
Original Italian, international and US theatrical trailers
Illustrated collectors booklet featuring an original essay on the film by Dario Argento, and writing by Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth and Howard Hughes
Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative
Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards
Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring originally and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative
“slick and spooky…all-encompassing good performances…standout sound design and a killer score that keeps viewer’s hairs thoroughly raised throughout”
– Silver Screen Riot
RLJE Films, a business unit of AMC Networks, has picked up select rights to the horror film, 32 MALASANA STREET fromShudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural. RLJE Films will release 32 MALASANA STREET on Digital HD and DVD on July 20, 2021. Check out this scary trailer::
Written by Ramón Campos (The Misfits Club), Gema R. Neira (“Alta Mar”), David Orea (“45 Revoluciones”)and Salvador S. Molina (“45 Revoluciones”), the film wasdirected by Albert Pintó (Killing God). 32 MALASANA STREETstars Begoña Vargas (La otra mirada), Iván Marcos (Odd Job), and Bea Segura (“El comisario”).
The film was produced by Bambu Producciones’ Ramón Campos and Teresa Fernández-Valdés, with STUDIOCANAL handling worldwide sales.
RLJE Films will release 32 MALASANA STREET on DVD for an SRP of $27.97.
Inspired by true events. In 32 MALASANA STREET, the Olmedo family decides to leave their village behind for a fresh start in the city and buy an old apartment at 32 MALASANA STREET for a suspiciously reasonable price. But soon after they’ve unpacked their bags, they discover something about their new home: they aren’t alone….
“Just married, eh? Well, imagine that. I buried two wives myself. Eh, had to – they was dead you know.”
Lawrence Tierney and Anne Jeffreys in STEP BY STEP (1946) will be available on Blu-ray July 20th from Warner Archive.
Using a white lie, young Evelyn Smith is able to get a sensitive job as secretary to Senator Remmy. They will be working out of the senator’s isolated and usually unused Malibu beachfront house. The current case they will be working on is one of national security, that despite the fact of the war being over. Things take a turn when the senator’s associate, James Blackton, is murdered in the house, Evelyn bound and gagged, and the senator knocked unconscious with a serious concussion by some German spies. Johnny Christopher, a war veteran with the Marines who met Evelyn earlier that day at the beach in his attraction to her, knows that there are unusual goings-on in the house, and is able to rescue Evelyn in the process. However, Johnny and Evelyn become the chief suspects in the senator’s beating and Blackton’s murder. As Johnny and Evelyn go on the run, they have to keep themselves safe while trying to clear their names by finding the three Germans. What they are initially unaware of…
“I can hear it now: “Go to Italy. It’s a peaceful country, nothing much ever happens there.”
Dario Argento’s THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (19709) will available on 4K Ultra HD July 27th from Arrow Video. Ordering info can be found HERE
In 1970, young first-time director Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria) made his indelible mark on Italian cinema with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a film which redefined the ‘giallo’ genre of murder-mystery thrillers and catapulted him to international stardom. Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante, We Own the Night), an American writer living in Rome, inadvertently witnesses a brutal attack on a woman (Eva Renzi, Funeral in Berlin) in a modern art gallery. Powerless to help, he grows increasingly obsessed with the incident. Convinced that something he saw that night holds the key to identifying the maniac terrorizing Rome, he launches his own investigation parallel to that of the police, heedless of the danger to both himself and his girlfriend Giulia (Suzy Kendall, Spasmo).
A staggeringly assured debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage establishes the key traits that would define Argento’s filmography, including lavish visuals and a flare for wildly inventive, brutal scenes of violence. With sumptuous cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and a seductive score by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (Once Upon a Time in the West), this landmark film has never looked or sounded better in this brand new 4K Ultra HD presentation from Arrow Video!
Bonus Materials
New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films
Black Gloves and Screaming Mimis, an interview with author and critic Kat Ellinger exploring the film’s themes and its relationship to both the giallo and Fredric Brown’s novel The Screaming Mimi
The Power of Perception, a visual essay on the cinema of Dario Argento by Alexanda Heller-Nicholas, author of Devil’s Advocates: Suspiria, reflecting on the recurring theme of perception and the role of art in Argento’s filmography
Crystal Nightmare, an interview with writer/director Dario Argento
An Argento Icon, an interview with actor Gildo Di Marco
Eva’s Talking, an archival interview with actor Eva Renzi
Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
2017 Texas Frightmare trailer
Image galleries
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Howard Hughes and Jack Seabrook, and a new essay by Rachael Nisbet
Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative
Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards
Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring originally and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative
“What if my parachute doesn’t open?”…..”Then you’ll be the first one on the ground.”
Errol Flynn in Raoul Walsh’s OBJECTIVE BURMA (1945) will be available July 13th From Warner Archive.
A group of men parachute into Japanese-occupied Burma with a dangerous and important mission: to locate and blow up a radar station. They accomplish this well enough, but when they try to rendezvous at an old air-strip to be taken back to their base, they find Japanese waiting for them, and they must make a long, difficult walk back through enemy-occupied jungle. Starring Errol Flynn and directed by Raoul Walsh.
