Dennis Hopper

BLUE VELVET Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: November 20th, 2011 at 6:52 am

David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet is a masterpiece, one of the great achievements of cinema. But as the new Blu-ray suggests, making it involved getting the exact right balance of tone – 52 minutes of newly discovered deleted scenes are included and they show that Lynch had to get the right mix between the standard mystery/noir plot and his more out there sensibilities. He found it, but any one of those additional scenes might have ruined that balance.

Kyle MacLachlan stars as Jeffery Beaumont, who comes home from college after his father has a stroke. While sorting out his feelings, he finds an ear, which he takes to the cops. From there he’s sucked into a different world featuring a singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a madman (Dennis Hopper). Our review of the Blu-ray of Blue Velvet follows after the jump.

Dennis Hopper Dead at 74

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 29th, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Actor Dennis Hopper passed away Saturday morning in his Venice, California home at the age of 74, after several years of struggle with prostate cancer.

Hopper amassed a solid resume of television and film work throughout the fifties and sixties, including an early appearance in Rebel Without a Cause.  The actor made a name for himself in 1969 with the counterculture opus Easy Rider, which he directed, co-wrote, and starred in.  He remained a steady presence in Hollywood over the last several decades, with memorable turns in Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, Hoosiers, and Speed.

Hopper always brought a certain intensity to every role he signed on for, and excelled at keeping the audience engaged with characters that were often less than admirable.  Our condolences go out to his friends and family.

George Romero’s SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD Review

by Ti Alan Chase    Posted: April 10th, 2010 at 2:05 pm

“Survival isn’t just for the living.”  So says the tagline for Survival of the Dead, the most recent addition to George Romero’s zombie oeuvre. It’s a great premise.

Romero effectively created the zombie genre with Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978).  But it was with 1985′s Day of the Dead that he introduced the unique notion that the living dead could rise above their mindless craving for human flesh and could relearn human behaviour.  Twenty years later, when he finally made a fourth Dead movie – 2005′s Land of the Dead -  he expounded further on that idea, going so far as to make his signature black hero a zombie instead of a living human.  More after the jump:

WATERWORLD Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: November 15th, 2009 at 9:14 am

Hollywood has figured something out, which is that even if you spend a shit-ton of money on a film, that in and of itself can attract an audience. It’s hard to look at the relative success of Waterworld at the box office as anything more than rubbernecking on the freeway, and it was worthwhile for many who had grown tired of Kevin Costner. My review of Waterworld after the jump.

Tricia Helfer, J.K. Simmons, Scott Caan, and Dennis Hopper Provide A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ENDINGS

by Adam Charles    Posted: September 22nd, 2009 at 8:00 pm

Okay, so, an easy rider, a casino thief, a Cylon, and Juno’s dad enter a bar.  When they come out they realize they signed on to star in a film called “A Beginner’s Guide to Endings,” says The Hollywood Reporter.  Actually, they said that Dennis Hopper, Scott Caan, Tricia Helfer, and J.K. Simmons agreed to roles for the dark comedy from newcomer Jonathan Sobol – but my story involves a bar.  Click the jump to hear more about the project and fewer bad jokes.

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