Matt Edwards Dec 14, 2017
As action comedy thriller Jean-Claude Van Johnson arrives on Amazon Prime Video, Matt looks at the history of action movie star satire...
In the new Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson, action star Jean-Claude Van Damme attempts to relaunch his career by playing a fictionalised version of himself. In the show, Jean-Claude goes to Bulgaria to star in a movie which has been set-up to allow him to undertake covert missions for the agency as his alter-ego name Jean-Claude Van Johnson.
See related The Oa: 10 questions (sort of) answered The Oa: Netflix renews for season 2 Netflix's The Oa: spoiler-free review
This might all seem a bit familiar, for a couple of reasons. Of course, it’s not the first time that hyper-flexible jaw-punter Van Damme has relaunched his career by playing a fictionalised version of himself. 2008's excellent Jcvd, where he plays a down-on-his-luck version of himself who...
As action comedy thriller Jean-Claude Van Johnson arrives on Amazon Prime Video, Matt looks at the history of action movie star satire...
In the new Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson, action star Jean-Claude Van Damme attempts to relaunch his career by playing a fictionalised version of himself. In the show, Jean-Claude goes to Bulgaria to star in a movie which has been set-up to allow him to undertake covert missions for the agency as his alter-ego name Jean-Claude Van Johnson.
See related The Oa: 10 questions (sort of) answered The Oa: Netflix renews for season 2 Netflix's The Oa: spoiler-free review
This might all seem a bit familiar, for a couple of reasons. Of course, it’s not the first time that hyper-flexible jaw-punter Van Damme has relaunched his career by playing a fictionalised version of himself. 2008's excellent Jcvd, where he plays a down-on-his-luck version of himself who...
- 12/11/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Nov 1, 2017
Matt chats to We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong about his joyful Cartoon Network cartoon series...
We Bare Bears is showrunner Daniel Chong’s hyper-enthusiastic, utterly pleasant and wonderfully sweet cartoon series, currently in its third season on Cartoon Network. It’s one of the very nicest, exciting, entertaining and joyful programmes on the air, based on the web comic that Chong, a former Pixar artist who worked on Toy Story shorts and the exceptional Inside Out, drew and published himself.
See related Red Dwarf Xii episode 3 review: Timewave Red Dwarf Xii episode 2 review: Siliconia Red Dwarf Xii episode 1 review: Cured
In London to attend a BAFTA Kids We Bare Bears event (the show won a BAFTA in 2016), Chong sat by while your Den of Geek representative and an audience made up of families and animation enthusiasts watched three as-yet unaired episodes of the show. Afterwards he took questions from the audience,...
Matt chats to We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong about his joyful Cartoon Network cartoon series...
We Bare Bears is showrunner Daniel Chong’s hyper-enthusiastic, utterly pleasant and wonderfully sweet cartoon series, currently in its third season on Cartoon Network. It’s one of the very nicest, exciting, entertaining and joyful programmes on the air, based on the web comic that Chong, a former Pixar artist who worked on Toy Story shorts and the exceptional Inside Out, drew and published himself.
See related Red Dwarf Xii episode 3 review: Timewave Red Dwarf Xii episode 2 review: Siliconia Red Dwarf Xii episode 1 review: Cured
In London to attend a BAFTA Kids We Bare Bears event (the show won a BAFTA in 2016), Chong sat by while your Den of Geek representative and an audience made up of families and animation enthusiasts watched three as-yet unaired episodes of the show. Afterwards he took questions from the audience,...
- 10/29/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Oct 20, 2017
How about experiencing Hammer Horror - live? We went to London to find out more...
Hammer House Of Horror Live: The Soulless Ones is the resurrected horror brand's first stab at immersive theatre. Den of Geek headed to West London, excited to experience what promised to be a night of ghastly fun and ghouls, and keen to find out what the on earth immersive theatre is.
“Would you like a cape?” asked the usher.
“No thanks.”
“No, you have to take a cape. I just asked to be polite.”
It didn’t seem so polite to me, but he tipped me off that I should hang onto to my satchel as the bag check gets busy at the end of the night so I considered us squared away.
I found myself in a dim hallway, having picked up my ticket from the box office and cleared through...
How about experiencing Hammer Horror - live? We went to London to find out more...
Hammer House Of Horror Live: The Soulless Ones is the resurrected horror brand's first stab at immersive theatre. Den of Geek headed to West London, excited to experience what promised to be a night of ghastly fun and ghouls, and keen to find out what the on earth immersive theatre is.
“Would you like a cape?” asked the usher.
“No thanks.”
“No, you have to take a cape. I just asked to be polite.”
It didn’t seem so polite to me, but he tipped me off that I should hang onto to my satchel as the bag check gets busy at the end of the night so I considered us squared away.
I found myself in a dim hallway, having picked up my ticket from the box office and cleared through...
- 10/11/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Nov 13, 2017
Edgar Wright chats to us about making Baby Driver, A Fistful Of Fingers, Bad Boys 3 and what he's up to next...
There’s a scene in Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s hit crime film from this summer that’s just being released on home video now, where the eponymous Baby is warned by a more experienced criminal that everyone in their game eventually ends up with blood on their hands and that it doesn’t wash off so easily. Baby plays it cool. Later Baby is given some driving gloves that are white leather on one side and red leather on the other. And, later in the movie, when he thinks he’s clear of the game he takes the gloves off, removing the red from his palms, soon to discover that blood really doesn’t wash off quite so easily.
If you’re a fan...
Edgar Wright chats to us about making Baby Driver, A Fistful Of Fingers, Bad Boys 3 and what he's up to next...
There’s a scene in Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s hit crime film from this summer that’s just being released on home video now, where the eponymous Baby is warned by a more experienced criminal that everyone in their game eventually ends up with blood on their hands and that it doesn’t wash off so easily. Baby plays it cool. Later Baby is given some driving gloves that are white leather on one side and red leather on the other. And, later in the movie, when he thinks he’s clear of the game he takes the gloves off, removing the red from his palms, soon to discover that blood really doesn’t wash off quite so easily.
If you’re a fan...
- 9/25/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Sep 5, 2017
Ahead of thee release of the new take on Stephen King's It, we chatted to its director, Andy Muschietti...
It’s not often that you get to describe your afternoon's work as ‘top secret clown business’. On an angrily sunny bank holiday Monday I pulled my curtains shut, bundled the door closed and prepared to interview director Andy Muschietti about his new film, an adaptation of Stephen King’s horror tale It. It was spooky clown business of the creepiest order, and embargoed clown business to boot.
In spite of our phone connection, which ran between the UK and La, being tormented by an evil entity (the signal must have passed through Derry, Maine), it was great fun chatting with the director about watching horror movies, unpredictable clowns and scaring children. Here’s how we got on.
Congratulations on the film.
Thank you very much. Did you enjoy it?...
Ahead of thee release of the new take on Stephen King's It, we chatted to its director, Andy Muschietti...
It’s not often that you get to describe your afternoon's work as ‘top secret clown business’. On an angrily sunny bank holiday Monday I pulled my curtains shut, bundled the door closed and prepared to interview director Andy Muschietti about his new film, an adaptation of Stephen King’s horror tale It. It was spooky clown business of the creepiest order, and embargoed clown business to boot.
In spite of our phone connection, which ran between the UK and La, being tormented by an evil entity (the signal must have passed through Derry, Maine), it was great fun chatting with the director about watching horror movies, unpredictable clowns and scaring children. Here’s how we got on.
Congratulations on the film.
Thank you very much. Did you enjoy it?...
- 9/4/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Jul 28, 2017
Judd Apatow chats to us about The Big Sick, directing, stand-up comics and bad interviews...
Heading into UK cinemas this week, The Big Sick is a reinvigorating romantic comedy. It has a brilliant cast of characters, a unique pitch (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, awkward situations and a medically induced coma ensue) and a balance of drama and comedy that means you never know whether to brace yourself for a broken heart or split sides. A breath of fresh air, it’s the sort of film regular cinema goers need. It’s also the sort of film that needs regular cinema goers; it needs those that see it and enjoy it to shout about it, to tell people that it’s worth paying attention to.
Directed by Michael Showalter, the film stars Kumail Nanjiani, who co-wrote the script with his real life spouse Emily V. Gordon...
Judd Apatow chats to us about The Big Sick, directing, stand-up comics and bad interviews...
Heading into UK cinemas this week, The Big Sick is a reinvigorating romantic comedy. It has a brilliant cast of characters, a unique pitch (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, awkward situations and a medically induced coma ensue) and a balance of drama and comedy that means you never know whether to brace yourself for a broken heart or split sides. A breath of fresh air, it’s the sort of film regular cinema goers need. It’s also the sort of film that needs regular cinema goers; it needs those that see it and enjoy it to shout about it, to tell people that it’s worth paying attention to.
Directed by Michael Showalter, the film stars Kumail Nanjiani, who co-wrote the script with his real life spouse Emily V. Gordon...
- 7/27/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Aug 22, 2017
Greg McLean chats to us about The Belko Experiment, Jungle and Jason Statham...
The Belko Experiment is a brilliant film. It’s a blackly comic, oppressively bleak and brutally violent rugby tackle of a film, crashing into you with all it has and leaving you in a heap before sprinting off down the pitch, its smash and dash effect owing to a taut sub-90 minute runtime. Its UK release cinema release was fairly low key, tethered to the launch of the much higher profile Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2 (the two films share writer-in-common James Gunn). While Gunn’s terrific Guardians sequel thrilled a considerably larger audience, it was his collaboration with Wolf Creek director Greg McLean, released just two weeks earlier, that really tickled this writer’s brain.
With the home video release of both films imminent (again, Belko arrives two weeks ahead) we had the...
Greg McLean chats to us about The Belko Experiment, Jungle and Jason Statham...
The Belko Experiment is a brilliant film. It’s a blackly comic, oppressively bleak and brutally violent rugby tackle of a film, crashing into you with all it has and leaving you in a heap before sprinting off down the pitch, its smash and dash effect owing to a taut sub-90 minute runtime. Its UK release cinema release was fairly low key, tethered to the launch of the much higher profile Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2 (the two films share writer-in-common James Gunn). While Gunn’s terrific Guardians sequel thrilled a considerably larger audience, it was his collaboration with Wolf Creek director Greg McLean, released just two weeks earlier, that really tickled this writer’s brain.
With the home video release of both films imminent (again, Belko arrives two weeks ahead) we had the...
- 7/24/2017
- Den of Geek
Tom Cruise stars in The Mummy, the launch of Universal's Dark Universe. Here's our review...
If your expectations of The Mummy led you to anticipate an action movie, which the initial trailer that has been spamming every Odeon screening I’ve been to this year seemed to suggest, you’ll likely be surprised by it. Rather than a re-tread of the Brendan Fraser-led Stephen Sommers’ remake, a greater emphasis is placed on horror this time around.
See related Lara Croft Tomb Raider 1 & 2: What went wrong? Walton Goggins interview: The Hateful Eight
There’s a lot to like about the film, which sees Tom Cruise’s Nick Morton tangling with a disgruntled ancient undead villain, Sofia Boutella’s Ahmanet, and drawing the attention of Dr Jekyll (Russell Crowe) as he does so. Cruise is on good form, whether conniving, charming or fighting as hard as he possibly can. At...
If your expectations of The Mummy led you to anticipate an action movie, which the initial trailer that has been spamming every Odeon screening I’ve been to this year seemed to suggest, you’ll likely be surprised by it. Rather than a re-tread of the Brendan Fraser-led Stephen Sommers’ remake, a greater emphasis is placed on horror this time around.
See related Lara Croft Tomb Raider 1 & 2: What went wrong? Walton Goggins interview: The Hateful Eight
There’s a lot to like about the film, which sees Tom Cruise’s Nick Morton tangling with a disgruntled ancient undead villain, Sofia Boutella’s Ahmanet, and drawing the attention of Dr Jekyll (Russell Crowe) as he does so. Cruise is on good form, whether conniving, charming or fighting as hard as he possibly can. At...
- 6/5/2017
- Den of Geek
Matt Edwards Jun 5, 2017
Alex Kurtzman chats to us about The Mummy, Univeral's Dark Universe of films, and writing for Michael Bay.
The Mummy (2017) is directed by Alex Kurtzman. We were interested enough in chatting to the director of The Mummy, but Kurtzman has a fascinating CV, having worked on several high profile films and TV series as a writer and producer with Roberto Orci, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek (2009), Fringe and the first two Michael Bay Transformers movies.
Den of Geek sat down with Kurtzman to chat about his experience making The Mummy and the upcoming Dark Universe, the collection of linked Universal Monster movies that he’ll be working on, and what it was like to work with Michael Bay.
When did you come onto The Mummy?
The studio came to me, it’s got to be four or five years ago now, and asked if I...
Alex Kurtzman chats to us about The Mummy, Univeral's Dark Universe of films, and writing for Michael Bay.
The Mummy (2017) is directed by Alex Kurtzman. We were interested enough in chatting to the director of The Mummy, but Kurtzman has a fascinating CV, having worked on several high profile films and TV series as a writer and producer with Roberto Orci, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Star Trek (2009), Fringe and the first two Michael Bay Transformers movies.
Den of Geek sat down with Kurtzman to chat about his experience making The Mummy and the upcoming Dark Universe, the collection of linked Universal Monster movies that he’ll be working on, and what it was like to work with Michael Bay.
When did you come onto The Mummy?
The studio came to me, it’s got to be four or five years ago now, and asked if I...
- 6/3/2017
- Den of Geek
Kicking off today's Highlights is an excerpt from 's Horror Library Volume 6. Also: a new exclusive clip from Besetment, Death Camp foreign distribution details, a Living Dead Dolls Resurrection XI teaser video, The Dead Next Door Blu-ray release details, and information on Ty Arthur's new novel, Light Dawning.
Read an Excerpt from Horror Library Volume 6: Horror Library Volume 6 is now available from Cutting Block Books:
From Amazon: "The multiple Bram Stoker Award® nominated Horror Library anthology series is back!
Shepherded by new editor Eric J. Guignard -- himself a past Stoker winner -- Horror Library Volume 6 is imbued with a new level of literary energy and purpose. It features 27 brand new horror short stories, written by 27 different authors, including well-known pros and up-and-coming new talents.
As always, if you'd like a snapshot of where modern literary horror fiction is headed, you've found the right book.
Don't miss Horror Library...
Read an Excerpt from Horror Library Volume 6: Horror Library Volume 6 is now available from Cutting Block Books:
From Amazon: "The multiple Bram Stoker Award® nominated Horror Library anthology series is back!
Shepherded by new editor Eric J. Guignard -- himself a past Stoker winner -- Horror Library Volume 6 is imbued with a new level of literary energy and purpose. It features 27 brand new horror short stories, written by 27 different authors, including well-known pros and up-and-coming new talents.
As always, if you'd like a snapshot of where modern literary horror fiction is headed, you've found the right book.
Don't miss Horror Library...
- 5/19/2017
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Matt Edwards May 19, 2017
As season 5 of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles airs in the UK, Matt salutes the terrific penultimate run...
Earlier this year Nickelodeon announced that they would be launching a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon in 2018. Normally, this would be good news. However, in this instance, it served as confirmation that the current cartoon, the 2012 computer animated series we’ve come to refer to as 'Nick Turtles', would be finishing with its fifth season. And as much as we’re excited for a fresh take on the material, this current version is one of the best takes on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to date.
See related Game Of Thrones season 6: new deleted scene released Game Of Thrones: HBO ruling out spin-offs, for now Game Of Thrones season 6: breaking down Blood Of My Blood's vision Game Of Thrones season 6: 9 questions about The Door...
As season 5 of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles airs in the UK, Matt salutes the terrific penultimate run...
Earlier this year Nickelodeon announced that they would be launching a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon in 2018. Normally, this would be good news. However, in this instance, it served as confirmation that the current cartoon, the 2012 computer animated series we’ve come to refer to as 'Nick Turtles', would be finishing with its fifth season. And as much as we’re excited for a fresh take on the material, this current version is one of the best takes on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to date.
See related Game Of Thrones season 6: new deleted scene released Game Of Thrones: HBO ruling out spin-offs, for now Game Of Thrones season 6: breaking down Blood Of My Blood's vision Game Of Thrones season 6: 9 questions about The Door...
- 5/17/2017
- Den of Geek
Fast & Furious 8 is another enjoyable, big, noisy blockbuster that makes an unexpected lunge towards comedy...
I’ve got a theory about the Fast & Furious films. I call it the ‘Vin Diesel pub theory’. My suggestion is that the Fast & Furious films as we see them aren’t the events as they take place in the Fast & Furious cinematic universe (Ffcu). Rather, they’re the events as told by an aging Vin Diesel in a pub in the Ffcu. Every time he tells a story he gets further and further from the truth. Perhaps it started with him playing up his street racing experience in the first film. As the crowds have gotten bigger, now he’s a superman flipping cars through the snow and fighting Charlize Theron over a bastarding great submarine.
See related Top 10 music documentaries Top 10 music concert films John Lennon and Yoko Ono biopic in development
That...
I’ve got a theory about the Fast & Furious films. I call it the ‘Vin Diesel pub theory’. My suggestion is that the Fast & Furious films as we see them aren’t the events as they take place in the Fast & Furious cinematic universe (Ffcu). Rather, they’re the events as told by an aging Vin Diesel in a pub in the Ffcu. Every time he tells a story he gets further and further from the truth. Perhaps it started with him playing up his street racing experience in the first film. As the crowds have gotten bigger, now he’s a superman flipping cars through the snow and fighting Charlize Theron over a bastarding great submarine.
See related Top 10 music documentaries Top 10 music concert films John Lennon and Yoko Ono biopic in development
That...
- 4/11/2017
- Den of Geek
Here's our look at small, low-budget horror A Dark Song, out now in the UK...
The atmosphere in A Dark Song is heavy. No matter whether we’re in the thick of the film's religious rituals or in one of the moments of levity, for a time we’re not far from the feeling that something is about to go awfully wrong, or right in an awful way. It’s a small, low budget horror film that, when it works, is capable of getting under your skin.
See related Geeks Vs Loneliness: being lonely on purpose Geeks Vs Loneliness: how food gave me an anxiety attack Geeks Vs Loneliness: giving up the guilt
Sophia (Catherine Walker) drafts in occult ritualist Joseph Solomon (Steve Oram) to help her conduct rituals that will allow her to contact a dead relative. If they want the process to work, and to avoid potentially dark consequences,...
The atmosphere in A Dark Song is heavy. No matter whether we’re in the thick of the film's religious rituals or in one of the moments of levity, for a time we’re not far from the feeling that something is about to go awfully wrong, or right in an awful way. It’s a small, low budget horror film that, when it works, is capable of getting under your skin.
See related Geeks Vs Loneliness: being lonely on purpose Geeks Vs Loneliness: how food gave me an anxiety attack Geeks Vs Loneliness: giving up the guilt
Sophia (Catherine Walker) drafts in occult ritualist Joseph Solomon (Steve Oram) to help her conduct rituals that will allow her to contact a dead relative. If they want the process to work, and to avoid potentially dark consequences,...
- 3/28/2017
- Den of Geek
If you’ve seen writer/director Erik Reese‘s debut Train to Stockholm—a personal, introspective drama—the thought of him helming a down and dirty Nevadan desert revenger doesn’t necessarily come to mind. But that’s exactly what he’s done with Dead Bullet, the successful genre jump as good a calling card as any for his talents. Starting closer to his adopted home of Finland, Reese reworked a Scandinavian-set script that didn’t quite come together as he’d like for the sweltering heat and casino bells of his hometown in the American Midwest. Rather than being about millions of dollars, uncut heroin, or illegal weapons sold to the highest bidder, this tale surrounds one hundred thousand dollars in poker chips. Chump change to Hollywood, but everything to Bill Holden (John T. Woods).
Unafraid to throw us into his world of tough guys without remorse, we don...
Unafraid to throw us into his world of tough guys without remorse, we don...
- 11/8/2016
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
A farm is home to mind-twisting horror in The Suffering, coming out on VOD and DVD on August 2nd from Breaking Glass Pictures, and for our latest Q&A feature, we caught up with co-writer/director Robert Hamilton to discuss the making of his ’70s-style haunted house movie.
Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Robert. How and when did you come up with the story for your new film, The Suffering?
Robert Hamilton: We came up with the concept in the winter of 2013. I had been reading a classic story around Christmas of 2012 (it would be a spoiler to mention which story) and realized it would be the perfect inspiration for a horror film. I pitched [co-writer] Marco [V. Scola] the idea of taking this classic text and loosely adapting it into a modern horror film and he was immediately on board.
Where did filming take place...
Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Robert. How and when did you come up with the story for your new film, The Suffering?
Robert Hamilton: We came up with the concept in the winter of 2013. I had been reading a classic story around Christmas of 2012 (it would be a spoiler to mention which story) and realized it would be the perfect inspiration for a horror film. I pitched [co-writer] Marco [V. Scola] the idea of taking this classic text and loosely adapting it into a modern horror film and he was immediately on board.
Where did filming take place...
- 7/26/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
“Tracking Shot” is a top of month featurette here on Ioncinema.com that looks at the projects that are moments away from lensing. This November, we’ve got a fivesome of projects that we feel are worth signaling out, but before we put the focus on those, the previous month was a rather fruitful one for mostly indiewood film productions. Films that we’ll be seeing in 2016 and which are for the most part still filming include: Mark Williams‘ workplace drama The Headhunter’s Calling (with Alison Brie, Gretchen Mol, Gerard Butler, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina), Philippe Falardeau‘s bio boxing drama The Bleeder (with Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Elisabeth Moss), Taron Lexton’s coming-of-ager In Search of Fellini (with Ksenia Solo, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Maria Bello), Kevin Tent‘s Black List scripted rom-com (with Domhnall Gleeson, Christina Applegate, Thomas Haden Church, Nina Dobrev), Sophie Brooks‘ NYC set Euro-fizzled comedy,...
- 11/2/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Before the North Dakota oil boom (as witnessed in Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters), a good century back, there was the another type of boom. Commonly associated with the West, North Dakota was home to a short lived gold rush. Sabyn Mayfield will tap into the reserves of two up-and-comer players for what will be his directorial debut as THR reports that Boyd Holbrook and Rachel Brosnahan will topline Boomtown alongside Jocelin Donahue and newcomer Tyler Riggs. Holbrook is set to play Jt’s childhood best friend and Brosnahan plays a local bartender in the oil town.
Gist: Co-written by Mayfield and David Newbert, this follows Jt Turner’s (Riggs) journey across the country to Williston, North Dakota, home of the modern day Gold Rush. In an effort to make ends meet, the main character leaves his family behind to pursue a grueling, yet highly coveted, job in a now booming oil industry.
Gist: Co-written by Mayfield and David Newbert, this follows Jt Turner’s (Riggs) journey across the country to Williston, North Dakota, home of the modern day Gold Rush. In an effort to make ends meet, the main character leaves his family behind to pursue a grueling, yet highly coveted, job in a now booming oil industry.
- 10/27/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
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