1976, Brian de Palma directs Carrie, the first novel by Stephen King. Since then, more than 50 directors have adapted the master of horror’s books, in more than 80 films and series, making him the most adapted author alive in the world . What’s so fascinating about him that filmmakers cannot stop adapting his works?
KING ON SCREEN reunites the filmmakers that have adapted Stephen King’s books for cinema and TV, including Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Walking Dead), Tom Holland (The Langoliers, Chucky), Mick Garris (The Stand, Sleepwalkers) and Taylor Hackford (Dolores Claiborne, Ray). It is a movie made for the fans and with the fans, led by an international ambition.
Check out the trailer now and see the film in select theaters August 11, 2023 and On Demand and Blu-Ray September 8, 2023.
(AP) — James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of “The Godfather” and to television audiences as both the dying football player in the classic weeper “Brian’s Song” and the casino boss in “Las Vegas,” has died. He was 82.
His manager Matt DelPiano said he died on Wednesday. No cause was given and Caan’s family, who requests privacy, said that no further details would be released at this time.
Adam Sandler, who acted with him in “Bulletproof” and “That’s My Boy” wrote that he, “Loved him very much. Always wanted to be like him. So happy I got to know him. Never ever stopped laughing when I was around that man. His movies were best of the best.”
A football player at Michigan State University and a practical joker on production sets, Caan was a grinning, handsome performer with an athlete’s swagger and muscular build. He managed a long career despite drug problems, outbursts of temper and minor brushes with the law.
Caan had been a favorite of Francis Ford Coppola since the 1960s, when Coppola cast him for the lead in “Rain People.” He was primed for a featured role in “The Godfather” as Sonny, the No. 1 enforcer and eldest son of Mafia boss Vito Corleone.
Sonny Corleone, a violent and reckless man who conducted many killings, met his own end in one of the most jarring movie scenes in history. Racing to find his sister’s husband, Corleone stops at a toll booth that he discovers is unnervingly empty of customers. Before he can escape he is cut down by a seemingly endless fusillade of machine-gun fire. For decades after, he once said, strangers would approach him on the street and jokingly warn him to stay clear of toll roads.
Caan bonded with Brando, Robert Duvall and other cast members and made it a point to get everyone laughing during an otherwise tense production, sometimes dropping his pants and “mooning” a fellow actor or crew member.
Despite Coppola’s fears he had made a flop, the 1972 release was an enormous critical and commercial success and brought supporting actor Oscar nominations for Caan, Duvall and Al Pacino.
Caan was already a star on television, breaking through in the 1971 TV movie “Brian’s Song,” an emotional drama about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, who had died of cancer the year before at age 26. It was among the most popular and wrenching TV movies in history and Caan and co-star Billy Dee Williams, who played Piccolo’s teammate and best friend Gale Sayers, were nominated for best actor Emmys.
After “Brian’s Song” and “The Godfather,” he was one of Hollywood’s busiest actors, appearing in “Hide in Plain Sight” (which he also directed), “Funny Lady” (opposite Barbra Streisand), “The Killer Elite” and Neil Simon’s “Chapter Two,” among others.
He also made a brief appearance in a flashback sequence in “The Godfather, Part II.”
But by the early 1980s he began to sour on films, though Michael Mann’s 1981 neo-noir heist film “Thief,” in which he played a professional safecracker looking for a way out, is among his most admired films.
“The fun of it was taken away,” he told an interviewer in 1981. “I’ve done pictures where I’d rather do time. I just walked out of a picture at Paramount. I said you haven’t got enough money to make me go to work every day with a director I don’t like.”
He had begun to struggle with drug use and was devastated by the 1981 leukemia death of his sister, Barbara, who until then had been a guiding force in his career. For much of the 1980s he made no films, telling people he preferred to coach his son Scott’s Little League games.
Short on cash, Caan was hired by Coppola for the leading role in the 1987 film “Gardens of Stone.” The movie, about life at Arlington National Cemetery, proved too grim for most audiences, but it renewed Caan’s acting career.
He returned to full-fledged stardom opposite Kathy Bates in “Misery” in 1990. In the film, based on Stephen King’s novel, Caan is an author taken captive by an obsessed fan who breaks his ankles to keep him from leaving. Bates won an Oscar for the role.
Once again in demand, Caan starred in “For the Boys” with Bette Midler in 1991 as part of a song-and-dance team entertaining U.S. soldiers during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. The following year he played a tongue-in-cheek version of Sonny Corleone in the comedy “Honeymoon in Vegas,” tricking Nicolas Cage into betting his girlfriend, Sarah Jessica Parker, in a high-stakes poker game so he can spirit her away and try to persuade her to marry him.
Other later films included “Flesh and Bone,” “Bottle Rocket” and “Mickey Blue Eyes.” He introduced himself to a new generation playing Walter, the workaholic, stone-faced father of Buddy’s Will Ferrell in “Elf.”
Caan didn’t take a starring role in a TV series until 2003 but his first effort, “Las Vegas,” was an immediate hit. When the series debuted, he was a casino surveillance chief dealing with cheaters and competitors of the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino.
His character rose to become boss of the Montecito but remained the tough guy who had learned judo in an undercover division of the U.S. government. Caan left the show during the fourth season and it was later canceled.
Born March 26, 1939, in New York City, Caan was the son of a kosher meat wholesaler. He was a star athlete and class president at Rhodes High School and, after attending Michigan State and Hofstra University, he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater under Sanford Meisner.
Following a brief stage career, he moved to Hollywood. He made his movie debut in a brief uncredited role in 1963 in Billy Wilder’s “Irma La Douce,” then landed a role as young thug who terrorizes Olivia de Havilland in “Lady in a Cage.” He also appeared opposite John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in the 1966 Western “El Dorado” and Harrison Ford in the 1968 Western “Journey to Shiloh.”
Married and divorced four times, Caan had a daughter, Tara, and sons Scott, Alexander, James and Jacob.
“Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.”
In celebration of The Godfather’s 50th anniversary, Paramount will re-release the Francis Ford Coppola classic in limited AMC Theatres locations in Dolby Vision starting today March 18 at 3 AMC theaters In the St. Louis area: AMC Creve Coeur 12, AMC Edwardsville 12, and AMC CLASSIC Eastgate 6 in Alton
In advance of the 50th anniversary of the first film’s original release on March 24, 1972, Paramount and Coppola’s production company, American Zoetrope, restored all three Godfather films over the course of three years. The entire trilogy will be made available in 4K Ultra HD for the first time on March 22, 2022.
During the restoration process, which was overseen by Coppola, over 300 cartons of film were scrutinized to find the best possible resolution for each frame of all three movies. More than 4,000 hours were spent repairing film stains, tears and other anomalies in the negatives, while over 1,000 hours were spent on color correction to restore the films to Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis’ original vision. In addition to the 5.1 audio that was approved by the film’s sound designer, Walter Murch, during a 2007 restoration project, the original mono tracks of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II have also been restored.
“I am very proud of The Godfather, which certainly defined the first third of my creative life,” said Coppola in a statement, adding that Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone – the director’s new edit of the third film – is included in the restoration. He continued of Coda, “It captures Mario and my original vision in definitively concluding our epic trilogy.”
“We felt privileged to restore these films and a little in awe every day we worked on them,” said Andrea Kalas, senior vice president, Paramount Archives. “We were able to witness first-hand how the brilliant cinematography, score, production design, costume design, editing, performances, and, of course, screenwriting and direction became famously more than the sum of their parts. It was our commitment to honor all of the filmmakers’ exceptional work.”
“Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.”
In celebration of The Godfather’s 50th anniversary, Paramount will re-release the Francis Ford Coppola classic in limited AMC Theatres locations in Dolby Vision starting on February 25, 2022. In the St. Louis area, it will only be playing at the AMC Edwardsville 12 (6633 Center Grove Rd, Edwardsville, IL 62025)
In advance of the 50th anniversary of the first film’s original release on March 24, 1972, Paramount and Coppola’s production company, American Zoetrope, restored all three Godfather films over the course of three years. The entire trilogy will be made available in 4K Ultra HD for the first time on March 22, 2022.
During the restoration process, which was overseen by Coppola, over 300 cartons of film were scrutinized to find the best possible resolution for each frame of all three movies. More than 4,000 hours were spent repairing film stains, tears and other anomalies in the negatives, while over 1,000 hours were spent on color correction to restore the films to Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis’ original vision. In addition to the 5.1 audio that was approved by the film’s sound designer, Walter Murch, during a 2007 restoration project, the original mono tracks of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II have also been restored.
“I am very proud of The Godfather, which certainly defined the first third of my creative life,” said Coppola in a statement, adding that Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone – the director’s new edit of the third film – is included in the restoration. He continued of Coda, “It captures Mario and my original vision in definitively concluding our epic trilogy.”
“We felt privileged to restore these films and a little in awe every day we worked on them,” said Andrea Kalas, senior vice president, Paramount Archives. “We were able to witness first-hand how the brilliant cinematography, score, production design, costume design, editing, performances, and, of course, screenwriting and direction became famously more than the sum of their parts. It was our commitment to honor all of the filmmakers’ exceptional work.”
“Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.”
In celebration of The Godfather’s 50th anniversary, Paramount will re-release the Francis Ford Coppola classic in limited AMC Theatres locations in Dolby Vision starting on February 25, 2022. Here’s a trailer for the 50th Anniversary:
In advance of the 50th anniversary of the first film’s original release on March 24, 1972, Paramount and Coppola’s production company, American Zoetrope, restored all three Godfather films over the course of three years. The entire trilogy will be made available in 4K Ultra HD for the first time on March 22, 2022.
During the restoration process, which was overseen by Coppola, over 300 cartons of film were scrutinized to find the best possible resolution for each frame of all three movies. More than 4,000 hours were spent repairing film stains, tears and other anomalies in the negatives, while over 1,000 hours were spent on color correction to restore the films to Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis’ original vision. In addition to the 5.1 audio that was approved by the film’s sound designer, Walter Murch, during a 2007 restoration project, the original mono tracks of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II have also been restored.
“I am very proud of The Godfather, which certainly defined the first third of my creative life,” said Coppola in a statement, adding that Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone – the director’s new edit of the third film – is included in the restoration. He continued of Coda, “It captures Mario and my original vision in definitively concluding our epic trilogy.”
“We felt privileged to restore these films and a little in awe every day we worked on them,” said Andrea Kalas, senior vice president, Paramount Archives. “We were able to witness first-hand how the brilliant cinematography, score, production design, costume design, editing, performances, and, of course, screenwriting and direction became famously more than the sum of their parts. It was our commitment to honor all of the filmmakers’ exceptional work.”
“Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.”
On Sunday, June 4, and Wednesday, June 7, THE GODFATHER makes a rare return to more than 700 theaters nationwide, giving both longtime fans and a new generation a chance to see one of the most influential films ever made back on the big screen. Tickets are available now at https://www.fathomevents.com/events/the-godfather.
WHAT:
It’s an epic saga that redefined American cinema and remains one of the greatest films ever made. On June 4 and June 7, Fathom Events and the TCM Big Screen Classics series commemorate the 45th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather by bringing the milestone film back to movie theaters nationwide for two days only.
The iconic story of a New York mafia family’s rise to power, The Godfatherwon the Academy Award® for Best Picture, was the highest grossing film of 1972 and is widely considered to be one of the most influential films in cinematic history.
Ranked second on the list of greatest American films by the American Film Institute, behind only Citizen Kane, The Godfather will be presented with specially produced commentary by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) host Ben Mankiewicz before and after the feature.
WHO:
Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Paramount Pictures
WHEN:
Sunday, June 4, 2017; 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (local time)
Wednesday, June 7, 2017; 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (local time)
participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in more than 700 select movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website(theaters and participants are subject to change).
Star Thrower Entertainment, Ball and Chain Productions and Anonymous Content will partner on THE WAITING, a thriller to be directed by Kasra Farahani, starring James Caan (THE GODFATHER, MISERY, ELF), Logan Miller (SCOUTS VS ZOMBIES, NIGHT MOVES, THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT) and Keir Gilchrist (IT FOLLOWS, IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, “United States of Tara”).
Farahani’s short film NOON was optioned within 24 hours of its release by 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment where it is currently in feature development.
Speaking about their film, Co-founders of Star Thrower Entertainment Tim White and Trevor White said, “Mark and Jeff have crafted an excellent script that seamlessly combines elements of a riveting thriller and fascinating character study. This script, together with Kasra’s elegant vision and our compelling cast, makes THE WAITING the type of filmmaker and talent driven project ideal for Star Thrower.”
THE WAITING was written by Mark Bianculli and Jeff Richard. The film will be produced by Tim White and Trevor White of Star Thrower Entertainment; Giri Tharan of Ball and Chain Productions; Rosalie Swedlin of Anonymous Content; and Elana Barry. Star Thrower Head of Production Allan Mandelbaum, who brought the project in, will also produce. Star Thrower and Ball and Chain will finance and produce. Anonymous Content who developed the project and initially set it up at Warner Brothers will also produce.
Principal photography is set to begin this month in Los Angeles.
Mysterious events occur in THE WAITING when two high school filmmakers decide to create the illusion of a haunting on an unsuspecting neighbor.
Farahani comes from an impressive background in production design and art direction for studio blockbusters including AVATAR, STAR TREK, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and THOR.
Farahani is represented by UTA and Management 360. Caan is repped by CAA, Miller by Innovative Artists and Primary Wave Entertainment, and Gilchrist by ICM, Thruline Entertainment and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman.
Tim and Trevor White founded Star Thrower Entertainment, a film and television production and finance company, in order to create meaningful and lasting entertainment. From its inception, Star Thrower has been committed to supporting artists, empowering them to transform their visions into an enduring legacy of innovation. Their first film JAMSEY BOY was directed and co-written by Trevor, and starred Mary-Louise Parker, Taissa Farmiga, and James Woods.
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA was nominated for best animated feature! Legendary Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata revisits Japan’s most famous folktale in this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork featuring an all-star cast including Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Lucy Liu and more. The Blu-ray and DVD will be available February 17, but you can win a copy for FREE. We Are Movie Geeks has two copies of the THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA Blu-ray. Want one? All you have to do is answer this simple question and leave it in the comments section: What is your favorite movie from Studio Ghibli? (mine is definitely SPIRITED AWAY)
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA is a critically praised film that features the best of Japanese folklore and artful animation. Legendary Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata revisits Japan’s most famous folktale in this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork featuring an all-star cast including Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, and Lucy Liu. The 3-disc Blu-ray™ includes the film on Blu-ray™ and DVD as well as a separate DVD with a feature length documentary on the making of the film, titled Isao Takahata and His Tale of The Princess Kaguya. Certified 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and called “Gorgeous and magical!” by The Washington Post, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, is available to own on DVD and Blu-ray™ with DVD as well as On Demand on February 17, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, in partnership with GKIDS.
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter (James Caan) and his wife (Mary Steenburgen), a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady (Chloë Grace Moretz). The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her – but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime. From Studio Ghibli, the studio that brought you Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, and The Wind Rises comes a powerful and sweeping epic that redefines the limits of animated storytelling and marks a triumphant highpoint within an extraordinary career in filmmaking for director Isao Takahata.
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA will be available on DVD and Blu-ray™ with DVD.
• Blu-ray™ unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.
• DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing movies in more places, both at home and away.
Bonus Features on DVD and Blu-ray™
• “Isao Takahata and His Tale of The Princess Kaguya” – 86-minute documentary on the making of The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
• Announcement of the Completion of the Film
• Japanese Trailers and TV Spots
• US Trailers
“It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.“
THE GODFATHER screens this Friday and Saturday nights (June 27th and 28th) at midnight at the Tivoli Theater as part of their ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’ Midnight series.
Everyone has their favorite THE GODFATHER characters, favorite moments, favorite lines. There are so very many good reasons why THE GODFATHER will always be remembered so fondly. No matter how many times you see it the film never fails to make an impact. Even if you’ve seen it so often you essentially have it memorized line for line and shot for shot, it remains a thrilling experience. From the famous opening scene with Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone receiving requests for favors on the occasion of his daughter’s wedding all the way to the end and the final settling of all family business the film never lets up. It’s an undeniably powerful story and one which retains the capacity to surprise. Initially it seems obvious that the story is about Don Vito Corleone. He is the Godfather after all, but for as powerful a presence as Brando is, as the story plays itself out there comes the moment where you realize this is the story of Don Vito’s son Michael, as played so well by Al Pacino. When Michael comes into his own, the film, gripping from the start, becomes even more compelling. Has any character in any film evolved more than Michael Corleone does here? The Michael we meet at his sister’s wedding bears no resemblance to the man we see in the end.
Brando and Pacino are the headliners but they are wonderfully supported by an amazing cast which includes the likes of James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Diane Keaton – and who can forget Al Lettieri (who battled Bronson in MR MAJESTYK and McQueen in THE GETAWAY before his 1975 death at age 47) as Sollozzo? And that’s just scratching the surface. The world of THE GODFATHER is quite unlike any other, often imitated but never duplicated. It’s a triumph in every sense for director Francis Ford Coppola, but perhaps his biggest success is in making you sympathize with the Corleones. We know right from the start that Don Vito Corleone is a man capable of doing monstrous things, but we identify with him anyway. And one cannot help but feel for Michael as he is inexorably pulled into the family business.
Now you can get pulled into the family business on the big screen when THE GODFATHER plays this Friday and Saturday nights as part of The Tivoli’s Reel Late at The Tivoli midnight series.
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!
Action movies typically fall within a finite number of formulas. For this reason, the success of an action movie generally relies a great deal on how well the filmmaker adapts to creating an original story within that formula. Acting is rarely a significant factor in an action film because, well, most viewers are not expecting an action film to win any major awards of a thespian nature.
To put it simply, action films rely greatly on the filmmaker accomplishing two very specific criteria. The first are riveting, exciting action sequences that are masterfully choreographed and meet the bare minimal qualifications for us to willingly suspend our disbelief. The second would be a storyline that is engaging and as unpredictable as possible. This second criteria is so very often the most difficult to achieve and this film just sort of glides along, content to earn that low-to-mid C grade, not ambitious enough to secure the solid B, but with just enough self-respect to avoid slipping into a D grade.
THE OUTSIDER is as original and engaging an action film as its title. Simple, unassuming and vague. Director Brian A. Miller serves up his fourth action offering as director, starring Craig Fairbrass as Lex Walker, an aging but formidable British military contractor currently on mission in the Middle East. When Lex finds out his daughter Samantha (Melissa Ordway) is dead, he throws away his lucrative career as a private soldier and heads to Los Angeles to retrieve his daughter’s body.
Jason Patric plays Detective Klein, the cop working the case, but when Lex arrives stateside, he discovers the body is not his daughter’s and immediately embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery and find his daughter. Lex’s first stop is Most Industries to visit Samantha’s former employer, Schuuster, played by veteran James Caan. It doesn’t take long before Lex is ruffling feathers and finds himself up against nameless security guards and henchmen, busting heads and cracking bones… all in the name of finding his daughter at any cost.
Miller manages to capture an essence of the 90s era action genre. THE OUTSIDER looks and feels like so many of the action films I remember from the late 80s and early 90s, but is missing something. Those films had a certain level of machismo, an element of masculine flamboyance to their central character that says “Hey, I may be a cocky badass, but I’m getting the job done, saving the day and/or the girl.” Fairbrass certainly portrays a confidence in technique. No one is questioning his ability to perform these simulated fight sequences, but there’s no flair. As an action hero, Fairbrass has far less visual appeal than Lorenzo Lamas and slightly more emotional investment than Steven Seagal. In comparison, Jason Patric fairs better in both camps as the detective, but with far, far less screen time.
Eventually, Shannon Elizabeth enters the story and offers up some B-level eye candy as Margo, an added asset to Lex’s mission to help Samantha take down the ruthless criminal businessman Schuuster. Coincidentally, its James Caan and his experience in portraying textured, three-dimensional villains and anti-heroes that outshines the rest of the film. While having a very limited amount of screen time, Caan manages to lift us out of an otherwise lackluster, uncommitted movie-watching experience for a much needed adrenaline boost. Hell. At one point, the now 73-year old James Caan actually gets his fists bloody and beats down one of his own goons! Tell me that doesn’t get your testosterone pumping!
When it’s all said and done, THE OUTSIDER is not a bad film, but its also not a good film. The movie coasts along, riding that mediocre money train that doesn’t turn heads but accumulates enough interest that it most likely will do well enough by investors’ standards. I’m not opposed to this philosophy and methodology of filmmaking. After all, today more than ever, filmmakers of all persuasions have the ability to make the films they want to make and even make a living out of it, but when it comes to what I prefer to see, what I go out of my way to find… THE OUTSIDE resides well outside of my standards for creativity and entertainment. If you enjoy generic, formulaic popcorn movies with minimal personality, you may just enjoy this film.
THE OUTSIDER opens in theaters on Friday, February 7th, 2014
