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12 episodes with pyun
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2 episodes with pyun
2 episodes with pyun
2 episodes with pyun
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Before delving into the fabled (and shockingly good) Pyun work print cut of Captain America (1990), we revisit Captain America: The First Avenger and give some much needed and deeply reverential space to that one First Avenger trailer with Tool in it. Support Marvelous! on Patreon to get the full episode and more!
Let's dip our toes back into the Pyun'iverse! with this movie about the worst kickboxers who say they are the best -- which in all fairness, everything Albert Pyun touched was the BEST!DISCLAIMER: Language, Spoilers, and Chicken Nuggies!BLOODMATCHdir. Albert Pyunstarring: Thom Matthews; Hope Marie Carlton; Marianne Taylor
In this Scene Missing episode, John Siuntres joins Wayne Mousseau and Mitch Hallock to dissect the newly unearthed Director's Cut of the infamous 1990 Captain America film. Long dismissed as a curious relic of pre-MCU comic-book cinema, this version restores nearly 20 minutes of footage, deepening the Cold War paranoia and emotional stakes that the theatrical release fumbled.The trio dives into how director Albert Pyun's original vision—once buried under studio edits and budget constraints—finally gets its due. They discuss the extended opening in 1943, richer character beats for Steve Rogers and the Red Skull, and the tonal tug-of-war between gritty espionage and pulp heroics.Wayne spotlights Pyun's visual ambition on a shoestring budget; Mitch breaks down how the new cut reframes Cap as a tragic man out of time; and John connects the film's underdog spirit to the larger legacy of Marvel adaptations before Blade and X-Men changed the game. It's a spirited, funny, and surprisingly affectionate reassessment of a movie once mocked and now rediscovered—part history lesson, part fandom therapy session. Scene Missing proves again that even flawed heroes deserve a second look.
Last season, we did an in-depth review of Captain America (1990). Little did we know that Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Video would release the restored Director's Cut! Join us as we discuss the merits of this version of the film.New cult classic? Is this version great? Is this version good? Is the disliked original better than the director's vision? Let's find out together as we explore Captain America: The Pyun Cut!
Nathan and Ryan dive into Albert Pyun's Brain Smasher… A Love Story, the offbeat action-comedy where Andrew Dice Clay plays a tough bouncer who finds himself protecting a supermodel (Teri Hatcher) from a gang of “not ninjas” in Portland. The hosts break down the film's strange blend of romance, martial arts parody, and Pyun's signature low-budget flair, while asking the big question: is this secretly a charming cult gem or just a bizarre 90s curiosity?
Adkins Undisputed: The Most Complete Scott Adkins Podcast in the World
Intro to Big Bad Film Fest's West Coast premiere of Captain America: The Pyun Cut and Mike, Vyce, Liam, and Max's live Q&A with legendary action director Koichi Sakamoto and his new film, Isolated (2025).Find Us on these Platforms:The Boys-Action For Everyone: Twitter/BlueSky/Twitch/Instagram https://x.com/A4EPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/a4epodcast.bsky.social https://www.twitch.tv/action4everyone https://www.instagram.com/a4epodcast/Michael Scott: BlueSky- https://bsky.app/profile/hibachijustice.bsky.socialVyceVictus: Twitter/BlueSky/Instagram/Letterboxd- https://x.com/VyceVictus https://bsky.app/profile/vycevictus.bsky.social https://www.instagram.com/vycevictus/ https://letterboxd.com/vycevictus/ Liam O'Donnell: Twitter/Instagram- https://x.com/LiamODin https://www.instagram.com/liamodin/?hl=enMax Deering: Twitter/Bluesky/Letterboxd/Polygon/Neonsplatter/Fangoria- https://x.com/ODSTSpartan https://bsky.app/profile/odstspartan.bsky.social https://letterboxd.com/ODSTSpartan/https://www.polygon.com/horror/562913/sinners-black-vampire-movies-list-watchhttps://www.neonsplatter.com/editorials/the-neon-splatter-interview-micho-rutare-of-predator-killer-of-killershttps://www.fangoria.com/the-night-of-the-hunter-at-70-religious-horror-noire/https://discussingfilm.net/2025/08/20/6-vampire-movies-to-stream-sinners/https://discussingfilm.net/2025/08/20/6-vampire-movies-to-stream-sinners/
Welcome back to Not A Bomb! This is the podcast where we explore some of cinema's biggest box office failures and decide whether they deserve a second chance. We are celebrating five years of discussing cinematic flops! Before the MCU assembled its mighty empire… before Chris Evans' chiseled jawline became America's favorite shield… there was Menahem Golan.From the minds that brought you some of cinema's most glorious disasters comes what many call the worst superhero movie ever forged in celluloid—Albert Pyun's 1990 Captain America! The Not A Bomb boys are suiting up and once again teaming with Pyun to deep-dive into the red, white, and… “what were they thinking?”This Cap didn't soar into box offices—he barely thawed out long enough to see a theatrical release in the Philippines! And yet, through the decades, this star-spangled oddity has built a cult following worthy of Hydra's secrecy.So… have Brad and Troy sworn allegiance to this cinematic super-soldier, or will they hurl the shield straight into the trash heap of history? Grab your headphones, true believers—there's only one way to find out!To celebrate the last 25 years of film, the Not A Bomb podcast is compiling a Top 25 list from the Not A Bomb community. If you would like to submit your own list, please use this form to enter your 25 choices. For a film to be eligible, it must have been released between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2025. Those are the only rules. Thank you for being a part of the community! Stay tuned for a special episode revealing the results in December. Head over to Not A Bomb 25 in 25 to fill out the form!Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at NotABombPod@gmail.com or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.Cast: Brad, Troy
Introducing the short story [Night Work] from Pyun Hye-young's collection of novels [To the Kennels and Other Stories], we talk about people living in tourist areas. Translated by Sora Kim Russell and Heinz Insu Fenkl
Albert Pyun takes us to the distant apocalyptic future where cyborgs are like android vampires and it is exactly what you'd expect.DISCLAIMER: Language and Spoilers!!KNIGHTSdir. Albert Pyunstarring: Kris Kristofferson; Lance Henriksen; Kathy Long
In this bonus episode of What's the TEA? host Jason Blitman talks to Hannah Silva about the exploration of queer single parenting and AI in her book, My Child, The Algorithm as well as Tom Pyun about his debut novel, Something Close to Nothing. What's the TEA? gets the inside scoop on new books–authors are tasked with describing their books with 3 words using the letters T, E, and A.Hannah Silva is a writer and performer working in sound poetry, radio and experimental non-fiction. An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love (BBC Radio 4) starred Fiona Shaw and was the starting point for My Child, the Algorithm. Silva has authored seven other plays for BBC Radio 3 and 4, winning the Tinniswood Award and numerous placements in the BBC Audio Drama Awards. Her debut poetry collection Forms of Protest was Highly Commended in the Forward Prizes. Talk in a bit, a record of sound poetry and music was in the Wire's Top 25 albums of 2018. She lives in London with her child.Tom Pyun earned his MFA at Antioch University Los Angeles and has been awarded fellowships by the Vermont Studio Center, VONA, and Tin House. His creative fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Rumpus, Reed Magazine, Joyland, and Blue Mesa Review. His essay, “Mothers Always Know,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net 2015.BOOK CLUB!Use code GAYSREADING at checkout to get first book for only $4 + free shipping! Restrictions apply.http://aardvarkbookclub.comWATCH!https://youtube.com/@gaysreadingBOOKS!Check out the list of books discussed on each episode on our Bookshop page: https://bookshop.org/shop/gaysreading MERCH!Purchase your Gays Reading podcast merchandise HERE! https://gaysreading.myspreadshop.com/ FOLLOW!@gaysreading | @jasonblitman CONTACT!hello@gaysreading.com
Take a step into the Pyun'iverse again, as Will and Matt watch what it would be like for Albert Pyun (Nemesis) to make his very own James Bond. Lance Henriksen stars as an American accented spy on her majesty's secret service... but let's focus on his Olympiad gymnast daughter instead... Also starring Tim Thomerson and Tim Thomerson's hair! DISCLAIMER: Language and Spoilers!SPITFIREdir. Albert Pyunstarring: Lance Henriksen; Debra Jo Fondren; Sarah Douglas
Today on the podcast, I spoke with Suji Pyun about her thoughts on global citizenship. Suji is an education consultant who has extensive teaching experience in both South Korea and California. She identifies as Korean American and is part of the 1.5 generation. She shares about the work she does in mentoring students to craft their own stories and identities. There are great insights into the power of mentorship, storytelling, and global citizenship. Enjoy the conversation!
In today's episode, I chat with Sean Pyun, CEO of Golfzon America, about how the integration of advanced technology with golf simulators is reshaping the accessibility and enjoyment of golf, especially in urban environments where playing on traditional golf courses is challenging. Sean shares insights from his journey with Golfzon, emphasizing their commitment to realism without cutting corners and their substantial investment in technology. We also explore the impact of golf simulators in cultivating new enthusiasts and discuss the broader implications of golf simulation technology on the sport's future. Sean's unique perspective on strategic partnerships and market expansion offers valuable lessons on innovation and growth in the sports industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Will and Matt will always welcome any entry into the Pyun'iverse! And this is no exception. Welcome to the world of Crimeland, where nicknames make no sense, accents are less than ideal, and Rob Lowe is a crackhead. It's most definitely a film that only Pyun could make, and only Will and Matt could review!*DISCLAIMER: Language and Spoilers!!CRAZY SIXdir. Albert Pyunstarring: Rob Lowe; Mario Van Peebles; Ice-T*this isn't factual, others have reviewed it.
In the last entry for this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun Karl of The GMologist Presents and I discuss the 1997 movie Mean Guns. Spoilers within. Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Captain America https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73njV3S1DBb Raven Hawk https://anchor.fm/jason376/episodes/525-Raven-Hawk-1996-e26vkmc Vicious Lips https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/542-Vicious-Lips-1986-e28aeht Radioactive Dreams https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/555-Radioactive-Dreams-1985-e299b5c Alien From L.A. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/565-Alien-From-L-A--1988-e29l0c9 Brainsmasher... A Love Story https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/577-Brainsmasher----A-Love-Story-1993-e299bf6 Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr PLAY web forum http://www.dekahedron.com/boards/index.php Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
Before the huge Marvel Cinematic Universe took over our movie houses, there was another universe that took over our TV-sets... the Pyun-iverse! Where the budgets are low and all are welcome! Tune in as Will and Matt discuss the 1997 Pyun masterpiece, Mean Guns, starring rapper Ice-T and Highlander Christopher Lambert! DISCLAIMER: Language and Spoilers!MEAN GUNSdir. Albert Pyunstarring: Christopher Lambert; Ice-T; Michael Halsey
In the eleventh entry during this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun Daniel Norton of Bandit's Keep and I discuss the 1993 movie Brainsmasher... A Love Story. Spoilers within. Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Captain America https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73njV3S1DBb Raven Hawk https://anchor.fm/jason376/episodes/525-Raven-Hawk-1996-e26vkmc Vicious Lips https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/542-Vicious-Lips-1986-e28aeht Radioactive Dreams https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/555-Radioactive-Dreams-1985-e299b5c Alien From L.A. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/565-Alien-From-L-A--1988-e29l0c9 Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr PLAY web forum http://www.dekahedron.com/boards/index.php Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
Recorded in partnership with the Hawaii International Film Festival. Jeff and Phil welcome Lisa D'Apolito, director of the forthcoming documentary Albert Pyun King of Cult Movies, and Anderson Le, Artistic Director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, to talk about the life and career of prolific cult filmmaker Albert Pyun. They discuss Pyun's passion for movie-making by any means necessary, from chasing early cinema dreams in Hawaii, to breakout success with The Sword and the Sorcerer, to his ridiculously extensive 50+ movie resume stuffed with direct-to-video titles like Nemesis, Dollman and Crazy Six. Also: The Good, The Bad, and The WTF of the films of Albert Pyun. This episode is sponsored by the Westside Theatre's Little Shop of Horrors, starring Constance Wu and Corbin Bleu. Use the discount code LSOPOD10 for $10 off tickets.
In the tenth entry during this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun Spenser aka Free Thrall from Keep Off the Borderlands and I discuss the 1988 movie Alien From L.A. Spoilers within. We also talk about Spenser's experience moving his show to Substack. You can find his projects here: https://freethrall.carrd.co/ Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Captain America https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73njV3S1DBb Raven Hawk https://anchor.fm/jason376/episodes/525-Raven-Hawk-1996-e26vkmc Vicious Lips https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/542-Vicious-Lips-1986-e28aeht Radioactive Dreams https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/555-Radioactive-Dreams-1985-e299b5c Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr PLAY web forum http://www.dekahedron.com/boards/index.php Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Attend: BSerCon 3 https://tabletop.events/conventions/bser-con-3-online (sadly not in 3D) Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
In a special bonus episode of NostalgiaCast '90s Palooza, returning guest Jason of @BingeMovies takes us on a guided tour of the many films that inspired and were inspired by the most unsung of movie directors, the late, great(?) Albert Pyun! We talk about his Menahem Golan-produced 1990 masterwork(?) CAPTAIN AMERICA, and its legacy that lives on in the X-MENs, WINTER SOLDIERs, and NAKED GUNs of today. Enter the Pyun-iverse with us now!
In the ninth entry during this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun Daniel Norton of Bandit's Keep and I discuss the 1985 movie Radioactive Dreams. Spoilers within. Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Captain America https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73njV3S1DBb Raven Hawk https://anchor.fm/jason376/episodes/525-Raven-Hawk-1996-e26vkmc Vicious Lips https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/542-Vicious-Lips-1986-e28aeht Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr PLAY web forum http://www.dekahedron.com/boards/index.php Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Come to: GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
In the eighth entry during this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun I discuss the 1986 movie Vicious Lips. Spoilers within. Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Captain America https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73njV3S1DBb Raven Hawk https://anchor.fm/jason376/episodes/525-Raven-Hawk-1996-e26vkmc Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr PLAY web forum http://www.dekahedron.com/boards/index.php Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Come to: GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
The late great B-movie master who was reknown for post-apocalyptic settings, cyborg characters, work for Cannon Films and other bizarre yet creative low-budget thrillers gets a highlight tonight thanks to comic book creator and podcaster Steven Honeycutt. We also get into tons of fun trivia while highlighting how many of Pyun's films starred B-movie actors like Andrew Divoff (Air Force One, Wishmaster films), rapper Ice-T (Law & Order: SVU, New York Undercover), Carey Lowell (Law & Order, License to Kill), Lance Henriksen (Millennium, Aliens), Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, The Hitcher), Norbert Weisser (Schindler's List, Breaking Bad) and even Christopher Lambert (Highlander & Fortress films)! MAIN LINKS: LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/JURSPodcast Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JackedUpReviewShow/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2452329545040913 Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackedUpReview Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacked_up_podcast/ SHOW LINKS: YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCIyMawFPgvOpOUhKcQo4eQQ iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-jacked-up-review-show-59422651/ Podbean: https://jackedupreviewshow.podbean.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7Eg8w0DNympD6SQXSj1X3M Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jacked-up-review-show-podcast/id1494236218 RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/the-jacked-up-review-show-We4VjE Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1494236218/the-jacked-up-review-show-podcast Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9hNDYyOTdjL3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz Anchor: https://anchor.fm/s/a46297c/podcast/rss PocketCasts: https://pca.st/0ncd5qp4 CastBox: https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Jacked-Up-Review-Show-Podcast-id2591222
On the penultimate episode of the series, Bryan Manning, Luther Manhole and Raygun Busch explain who Andrew Dice Clay is to Kathryn Mohr. It's time to talk about Brain Smasher... A Love Story, Pyun's underrated 1993 ninja extravaganza set in Portland, Oregon. This episode was edited by Tim Crisp.
Tim Macuga is in the studio with Raygun Busch, Bryan Manning, and Luther Manhole to discuss Pyun's pièce de résistance, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back. This episode was edited by Tim Crisp.
Cavebabble Episode 288 joins forces with Talon, a three-bladed sword, and a bunch of farmers to overthrow the tyrant, Cromwell. It shouldn't take more than 100 minutes. Join us for a look at the 1982 cult classic, The Sword and the Sorcerer, directed by Albert Pyun. This episode is brought to you by With What.
In the seventh entry during this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun I discuss the 1996 movie Raven Hawk. Spoilers within. Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Captain America https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/73njV3S1DBb Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr PLAY web forum http://www.dekahedron.com/boards/index.php Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Come to: GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
Will and Matt are diving back into the "Pyun-iverse" with BLAST from 1997 wherein Los Angeles pretends to be Atlanta, the movie pretends to be Die Hard, and Linden Ashby pretends he isn't actually just Johnny Cage!DISCLAIMER: Spoilers and Language!BLASTdir. Albert Pyunstarring: Kimberly Warren; Rutger Hauer; Linden Ashby
July 13, 2023 - Bringing together a wealth of primary sources and with contributions from leading experts, Dress History of Korea presents the most recent approaches to the interpretation of dress and fashion of Korea. Through close analysis of visual, written, and material sources—some newly excavated or recently re-discovered in global museums—the book reveals how dress and adornment evolved from the period of state formation to the modern era. As in other cultures, modern Korean fashion owes many of its styles to historic dress and this process of adaptation is explored within high fashion and popular culture contexts in ways that benefit historians, curators, and designers alike. Authors with a range of academic and curatorial experience discuss the close relation of dress and adornments to the socio-political and cultural history of Korea and place the dress history of Korea within broader contexts in studies of fashion, material culture, museology, and costume design. Join us for a conversation with Minjee Kim and Kyunghee Pyun, the editors of this anthology. Video version available here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCraL67-KoQ For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1696-dress-history-of-korea
PATREON: Greetings Binge Lords! We regret to inform you that the shop is currently closed in observance of July 4th. However, we have a Special Feature formerly exclusively available on Patreon that we would like to share with you. In this feature, we explore the works of Albert Pyun, a director who was once compared to Ed Wood during the Video Store era. Pyun was a prolific writer and director for Cannon, producing an average of three movies per year for two decades. Unfortunately, much of his work is fading into obscurity. Join Jason as he takes you on a guided tour of Pyun's extensive catalog 80s of B-movies. HOST: Jason Binge Movies comes to you from the last video store in the universe. Store manager Jason and his guests rank and review movies to determine which are most worthy of preservation for all time. At Binge Movies the very strange, deeply analytical, and highly ridiculous meet to make a movie review show unlike any other. Become a Patron Binge Movies Merchandise Elite Patrons: Heather Sachs Joe Buttice Pete Nerdrovert Dan Kawecki
Elevated Global Supply is a premier source of custom cannabis packaging products. Utilizing a diverse network of manufacturing partners and employees across the globe, EGS acts as your full-service provider for all packaging substrates. Custom Design, Sourcing, Manufacturing, and Logistic Solutions. Check them out egspkg.com and follow them on IG @ElevatedGlobalSupplySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bryan Manning, Luther Manhole, and Raygun Busch speak with Randall Taylor of Amulets about Pyun's influential 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle, Cyborg.
In the sixth entry during this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun my friend B.J. from The Arcane Alienist podcast joins me to discuss the 1990 movie Captian America. Spoilers within. Audio clips from Shout! Factory TV extras and a recorded Q&A. The Arcane Alienist podcast https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/arcanealienist Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Omega Doom https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/W44fw8U7zAb Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Invite for the Audio Dungeon Discord https://discord.gg/j5H8hGr Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Come to: GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
We here at Cinema Degeneration thought it was time for another Appreciation Month topic! We bring to you a celebration of the life and career of the late great filmmaker Mr. Albert Pyun. Pyun was a maverick director with over 50 directing credits to his resume before he passed away unfortunately in late 2022. Often operating well outside the studio system Pyun delivered films the only way he knew how...his way. We are continuing the adventures and our 8th and final episode with a complex action/drama in Pyun's filmography with the 1997 European thriller "CRAZY SIX", starring Rob Lowe, Thom Matthews, Burt Reynolds, Ice-T, Mario van Peebles and Norbert Weisser. This flashy crime thriller is a story about an addict known only as Crazy Six takes on a daring heist with his posse when they steal weapons grade plutonium from the European mob and the insanity that follow. Join our hosts Dustin Hubbard and Cameron Scott as they discuss this unique chapter of Pyun's epic film history that shows that sometimes it pays to be just a little bit crazy Join us for the last episode in an intense celebration of the expansive Pyuniverse! "I never saw a place where there are so few brains and so many guns!"
In the fifth entry in this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun my friend Daniel from Bandit's Keep joins me to discuss the 1996 movie Omega Doom starring Rutger Hauer. We also discuss The Warrior and the Sorceress near the end of the episode. Spoilers within. Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Nemesis https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/487-Rons-Old-School-Compendium--Nemesis-with-Karl-Rodriguez-e211smd Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Come to: GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
In the fourth entry in this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun my friend Karl from joins me to discuss the 1992 sci fi action movie, Nemesis. This podcast is full of spoilers for the movie. First I talk about a brand new rules supplement on Lulu for AD&D 1E type games. "Ron's Old-School Compendium" is a compilation including hundreds of all-new monsters, spells, and magic items designed to be compatible with 1st Edition AD&D, OSRIC, and other old-school fantasy role-playing game systems. These entries can be converted with minor effort to accommodate other similar games, as well. Ron's Old-School Compendium on Lulu https://www.lulu.com/shop/ron-christopher/rons-old-school-compendium/paperback/product-jkqj2g.html?page=1&pageSize=4 You can find Karl on his show The GMologist Presents https://anchor.fm/karl-rodriguez Previous shows in the Year of Pyun series The Sword and the Sorcerer https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/455-The-Sword-and-the-Sorcerer-with-Jason-Hobbs-e1t2plk Cyborg https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/467-Cyborg-with-Joe-Richter-e1uqi9s Dollman https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/episodes/481-Dollman-with-Joe-Richter-e20f9tp Come to: GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
In the third entry in this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun my friend Joe from joins me to discuss the 1991 sci fi action movie, Dollman. This podcast is full of spoilers for the movie. Dollman is free on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUXw0NOElk8 Where to find Joe: Hindsightless https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-richter9 Come to: DaveCon in Bloomington, MN on 13-16 April, 2023 https://www.davecon.net/ GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason376/message
Welcome to the podcast where we talk to successful consultants in various industries. Today we are joined by Tom Pyun, a former nonprofit leader who transitioned to consulting. Tom is here to share his experience on why he decided to become a consultant, how he got his clients, and how he dealt with imposter syndrome. He shares his strategies for getting clients, including networking, leveraging social media, and creating a personal brand. He shares his thoughts on who is best suited to consulting, highlighting the importance of diverse skills, adaptability, communication, and a strong work ethic. To learn more about Tom and his consulting services, you can visit his website at www.tompyunconsulting.com or connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/tompyun/. If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a review. "Work to live, not live to work" - Tom Pyun --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nonprofitlowdown/support
We continue our look back at the movies released by independent distributor Vestron Pictures, focusing on their 1988 releases. ----more---- The movies discussed on this episode, all released by Vestron Pictures in 1988 unless otherwise noted, include: Amsterdamned (Dick Maas) And God Created Woman (Roger Vadim) The Beat (Paul Mones) Burning Secret (Andrew Birkin) Call Me (Sollace Mitchell) The Family (Ettore Scola) Gothic (Ken Russell, 1987) The Lair of the White Worm (Ken Russell) Midnight Crossing (Roger Holzberg) Paramedics (Stuart Margolin) The Pointsman (Jos Stelling) Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) Promised Land (Michael Hoffman) The Unholy (Camilo Vila) Waxwork (Anthony Hickox) TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. At the end of the previous episode, Vestron Pictures was celebrating the best year of its two year history. Dirty Dancing had become one of the most beloved movies of the year, and Anna was becoming a major awards contender, thanks to a powerhouse performance by veteran actress Sally Kirkland. And at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1987, Dirty Dancing would win the Oscar for Best Original Song, while Anna would be nominated for Best Actress, and The Dead for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Costumes. Surely, things could only go up from there, right? Welcome to Part Two of our miniseries. But before we get started, I'm issuing a rare mea culpa. I need to add another Vestron movie which I completely missed on the previous episode, because it factors in to today's episode. Which, of course, starts before our story begins. In the 1970s, there were very few filmmakers like the flamboyant Ken Russell. So unique a visual storyteller was Russell, it's nigh impossible to accurately describe him in a verbal or textual manner. Those who have seen The Devils, Tommy or Altered States know just how special Russell was as a filmmaker. By the late 1980s, the hits had dried up, and Russell was in a different kind of artistic stage, wanting to make somewhat faithful adaptations of late 19th and early 20th century UK authors. Vestron was looking to work with some prestigious filmmakers, to help build their cache in the filmmaking community, and Russell saw the opportunity to hopefully find a new home with this new distributor not unlike the one he had with Warner Brothers in the early 70s that brought forth several of his strongest movies. In June 1986, Russell began production on a gothic horror film entitled, appropriately enough, Gothic, which depicted a fictionalized version of a real life meeting between Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, John William Polidori and Claire Clairemont at the Villa Diodati in Geneva, hosted by Lord Byron, from which historians believe both Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John William Polidori's The Vampyre were inspired. And you want to talk about a movie with a great cast. Gabriel Byrne plays Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Shelley, Natasha Richardson, in her first ever movie, as Mary Shelley, Timothy Spall as John William Polidori, and Dexter Fletcher. Although the film was produced through MGM, and distributed by the company in Europe, they would not release the film in America, fearing American audiences wouldn't get it. So Vestron would swoop in and acquire the American theatrical rights. Incidentally, the film did not do very well in American theatres. Opening at the Cinema 1 in midtown Manhattan on April 10th, 1987, the film would sell $45,000 worth of tickets in its first three days, one of the best grosses of any single screen in the city. But the film would end up grossing only $916k after three months in theatres. BUT… The movie would do quite well for Vestron on home video, enough so that Vestron would sign on to produce Russell's next three movies. The first of those will be coming up very soon. Vestron's 1988 release schedule began on January 22nd with the release of two films. The first was Michael Hoffman's Promised Land. In 1982, Hoffman's first film, Privileged, was the first film to made through the Oxford Film Foundation, and was notable for being the first screen appearances for Hugh Grant and Imogen Stubbs, the first film scored by future Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman, and was shepherded into production by none other than John Schlesinger, the Oscar winning director of 1969 Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. Hoffman's second film, the Scottish comedy Restless Natives, was part of the 1980s Scottish New Wave film movement that also included Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl and Local Hero, and was the only film to be scored by the Scottish rock band Big Country. Promised Land was one of the first films to be developed by the Sundance Institute, in 1984, and when it was finally produced in 1986, would include Robert Redford as one of its executive producers. The film would follow two recent local high school graduates, Hancock and Danny, whose lives would intersect again with disastrous results several years after graduation. The cast features two young actors destined to become stars, in Keifer Sutherland and Meg Ryan, as well as Jason Gedrick, Tracy Pollan, and Jay Underwood. Shot in Reno and around the Sundance Institute outside Park City, Utah during the early winter months of 1987, Promised Land would make its world premiere at the prestigious Deauville Film Festival in September 1987, but would lose its original distributor, New World Pictures around the same time. Vestron would swoop in to grab the distribution rights, and set it for a January 22nd, 1988 release, just after its American debut at the then U.S. Film Festival, which is now known as the Sundance Film Festival. Convenient, eh? Opening on six screens in , the film would gross $31k in its first three days. The film would continue to slowly roll out into more major markets, but with a lack of stellar reviews, and a cast that wouldn't be more famous for at least another year and a half, Vestron would never push the film out to more than 67 theaters, and it would quickly disappear with only $316k worth of tickets sold. The other movie Vestron opened on January 22nd was Ettore Scale's The Family, which was Italy's submission to that year's Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The great Vittorio Gassman stars as a retired college professor who reminisces about his life and his family over the course of the twentieth century. Featuring a cast of great international actors including Fanny Ardant, Philip Noiret, Stefania Sandrelli and Ricky Tognazzi, The Family would win every major film award in Italy, and it would indeed be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, but in America, it would only play in a handful of theatres for about two months, unable to gross even $350k. When is a remake not a remake? When French filmmaker Roger Vadim, who shot to international fame in 1956 with his movie And God Created Woman, decided to give a generational and international spin on his most famous work. And a completely different story, as to not resemble his original work in any form outside of the general brushstrokes of both being about a young, pretty, sexually liberated young woman. Instead of Bridget Bardot, we get Rebecca De Mornay, who was never able to parlay her starring role in Risky Business to any kind of stardom the way one-time boyfriend Tom Cruise had. And if there was any American woman in the United States in 1988 who could bring in a certain demographic to see her traipse around New Mexico au natural, it would be Rebecca De Mornay. But as we saw with Kathleen Turner in Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion in 1984 and Ellen Barkin in Mary Lambert's Siesta in 1987, American audiences were still rather prudish when it came to seeing a certain kind of female empowered sexuality on screen, and when the film opened at 385 theatres on March 4th, it would open to barely a $1,000 per screen average. And God Created Woman would be gone from theatres after only three weeks and $717k in ticket sales. Vestron would next release a Dutch film called The Pointsman, about a French woman who accidentally gets off at the wrong train station in a remote Dutch village, and a local railwayman who, unable to speak the other person's language, develop a strange relationship while she waits for another train that never arrives. Opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on New York's Upper West Side on April 8th, the film would gross $7,000 in its first week, which in and of itself isn't all that bad for a mostly silent Dutch film. Except there was another Dutch film in the marketplace already, one that was getting much better reviews, and was the official Dutch entry into that year's Best Foreign Language Film race. That film, Babette's Feast, was becoming something more than just a movie. Restaurants across the country were creating menus based on the meals served in the film, and in its sixth week of release in New York City that weekend, had grossed four times as much as The Pointsman, despite the fact that the theatre playing Babette's Feast, the Cinema Studio 1, sat only 65 more people than the Lincoln Plaza 1. The following week, The Pointsman would drop to $6k in ticket sales, while Babette's Feast's audience grew another $6k over the previous week. After a third lackluster week, The Pointsman was gone from the Lincoln Plaza, and would never play in another theatre in America. In the mid-80s, British actor Ben Cross was still trying to capitalize on his having been one of the leads in the 1981 Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire, and was sharing a home with his wife and children, as well as Camilo Vila, a filmmaker looking for his first big break in features after two well-received short films made in his native Cuba before he defected in the early 1980s. When Vila was offered the chance to direct The Unholy, about a Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who finds himself battling a demonic force after being appointed to a new parish, he would walk down the hall of his shared home and offered his roomie the lead role. Along with Ned Beatty, William Russ, Hal Holbrook and British actor Trevor Howard in his final film, The Unholy would begin two weeks of exterior filming in New Orleans on October 27th, 1986, before moving to a studio in Miami for seven more weeks. The film would open in 1189 theatres, Vestron's widest opening to date, on April 22nd, and would open in seventh place with $2.35m in ticket sales. By its second week in theatres, it would fall to eleventh place with a $1.24m gross. But with the Summer Movie Season quickly creeping up on the calendar, The Unholy would suffer the same fate as most horror films, making the drop to dollar houses after two weeks, as to make room for such dreck as Sunset, Blake Edwards' lamentable Bruce Willis/James Garner riff on Hollywood and cowboys in the late 1920s, and the pointless sequel to Critters before screens got gobbled up by Rambo III on Memorial Day weekend. It would earn a bit more than $6m at the box office. When Gothic didn't perform well in American theatres, Ken Russell thought his career was over. As we mentioned earlier, the American home video store saved his career, as least for the time being. The first film Russell would make for Vestron proper was Salome's Last Dance, based on an 1891 play by Oscar Wilde, which itself was based on a story from the New Testament. Russell's script would add a framing device as a way for movie audiences to get into this most theatrical of stories. On Guy Fawkes Day in London in 1892, Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, arrive late at a friend's brothel, where the author is treated to a surprise performance of his play Salome, which has recently been banned from being performed at all in England by Lord Chamberlain. All of the actors in his special performance are played by the prostitutes of the brothel and their clients, and the scenes of the play are intertwined with Wilde's escapades at the brothel that night. We didn't know it at the time, but Salome's Last Dance would be the penultimate film performance for Academy Award winning actress Glenda Jackson, who would retire to go into politics in England a couple years later, after working with Russell on another film, which we'll get to in a moment. About the only other actor you might recognize in the film is David Doyle, of all people, the American actor best known for playing Bosley on Charlie's Angels. Like Gothic, Salome's Last Dance would not do very well in theatres, grossing less than half a million dollars after three months, but would find an appreciative audience on home video. The most interesting thing about Roger Holzberg's Midnight Crossing is the writer and director himself. Holzberg started in the entertainment industry as a playwright, then designed the props and weapons for Albert Pyun's 1982 film The Sword and the Sorcerer, before moving on to direct the second unit team on Pyun's 1985 film Radioactive Dreams. After making this film, Holzberg would have a cancer scare, and pivot to health care, creating a number of technological advancements to help evolve patient treatment, including the Infusionarium, a media setup which helps children with cancer cope with treatment by asking them questions designed to determine what setting would be most comforting to them, and then using virtual reality technology and live events to immerse them in such an environment during treatment. That's pretty darn cool, actually. Midnight Crossing stars Faye Dunaway and Hill Street Blues star Daniel J. Travanti in his first major movie role as a couple who team with another couple, played by Kim Cattrall and John Laughlin, who go hunting for treasure supposedly buried between Florida and Cuba. The film would open in 419 theaters on May 11th, 1988, and gross a paltry $673k in its first three days, putting it 15th on the list of box office grosses for the week, $23k more than Three Men and a Baby, which was playing on 538 screens in its 25th week of release. In its second week, Midnight Crossing would lose more than a third of its theatres, and the weekend gross would fall to just $232k. The third week would be even worse, dropping to just 67 theatres and $43k in ticket sales. After a few weeks at a handful of dollar houses, the film would be history with just $1.3m in the bank. Leonard Klady, then writing for the Los Angeles Times, would note in a January 1989 article about the 1988 box office that Midnight Crossing's box office to budget ratio of 0.26 was the tenth worst ratio for any major or mini-major studio, ahead of And God Created Woman's 8th worst ratio of .155 but behind other stinkers like Caddyshack II. The forgotten erotic thriller Call Me sounds like a twist on the 1984 Alan Rudolph romantic comedy Choose Me, but instead of Genevieve Bujold we get Patricia Charbonneau, and instead of a meet cute involving singles at a bar in Los Angeles, we get a murder mystery involving a New York City journalist who gets involved with a mysterious caller after she witnesses a murder at a bar due to a case of mistaken identity. The film's not very good, but the supporting cast is great, including Steve Buscemi, Patti D'Arbanville, Stephen McHattie and David Straithairn. Opening on 24 screens in major markets on May 20th, Call Me would open to horrible reviews, lead by Siskel and Ebert's thumbs facing downward, and only $58,348 worth of tickets sold in its first three days. After five weeks in theatres, Vestron hung up on Call Me with just $252k in the kitty. Vestron would open two movies on June 3rd, one in a very limited release, and one in a moderate national release. There are a lot of obscure titles in these two episodes, and probably the most obscure is Paul Mones' The Beat. The film followed a young man named Billy Kane, played by William McNamara in his film debut, who moves into a rough neighborhood controlled by several gangs, who tries to help make his new area a better place by teaching them about poetry. John Savage from The Deer Hunter plays a teacher, and future writer and director Reggie Rock Bythewood plays one of the troubled youths whose life is turned around through the written and spoken word. The production team was top notch. Producer Julia Phillips was one of the few women to ever win a Best Picture Oscar when she and her then husband Michael Phillips produced The Sting in 1973. Phillips was assisted on the film by two young men who were making their first movie. Jon Kilik would go on to produce or co-produce every Spike Lee movie from Do the Right Thing to Da 5 Bloods, except for BlackkKlansman, while Nick Weschler would produce sex, lies and videotape, Drugstore Cowboy, The Player and Requiem for a Dream, amongst dozens of major films. And the film's cinematographer, Tom DiCillo, would move into the director's chair in 1991 with Johnny Suede, which gave Brad Pitt his first lead role. The Beat would be shot on location in New York City in the summer of 1986, and it would make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market in May 1987. But it would be another thirteen months before the film arrived in theatres. Opening on seven screens in Los Angeles and New York City on June 3rd, The Beat would gross just $7,168 in its first three days. There would not be a second week for The Beat. It would make its way onto home video in early 1989, and that's the last time the film was seen for nearly thirty years, until the film was picked up by a number of streaming services. Vestron's streak of bad luck continued with the comedy Paramedics starring George Newbern and Christopher McDonald. The only feature film directed by Stuart Margolin, best known as Angel on the 1970s TV series The Rockford Files, Newbern and McDonald play two… well, paramedics… who are sent by boss, as punishment, from their cushy uptown gig to a troubled district at the edge of the city, where they discover two other paramedics are running a cadavers for dollars scheme, harvesting organs from dead bodies to the black market. Here again we have a great supporting cast who deserve to be in a better movie, including character actor John P. Ryan, James Noble from Benson, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs from Welcome Back Kotter, the great Ray Walston, and one-time Playboy Playmate Karen Witter, who plays a sort of angel of death. Opening on 301 screens nationwide, Paramedics would only gross $149,577 in its first three days, the worst per screen average of any movie playing in at least 100 theatres that weekend. Vestron stopped tracking the film after just three days. Two weeks later, on June 17th, Vestron released a comedy horror film that should have done better. Waxwork was an interesting idea, a group of college students who have some strange encounters with the wax figures at a local museum, but that's not exactly why it should have been more popular. It was the cast that should have brought audiences in. On one side, you had a group of well-known younger actors like Deborah Foreman from Valley Girl, Zack Gailligan from Gremlins, Michelle Johnson from Blame It on Rio, and Miles O'Keeffe from Sword of the Valiant. On the other hand, you had a group of seasoned veterans from popular television shows and movies, such as Patrick Macnee from the popular 1960s British TV show The Avengers, John Rhys-Davies from the Indiana Jones movies, and David Warner, from The Omen and Time after Time and Time Bandits and Tron. But if I want to be completely honest, this was not a movie to release in the early part of summer. While I'm a firm believer that the right movie can find an audience no matter when it's released, Waxwork was absolutely a prime candidate for an early October release. Throughout the 1980s, we saw a number of horror movies, and especially horror comedies, released in the summer season that just did not hit with audiences. So it would be of little surprise when Waxwork grossed less than a million dollars during its theatrical run. And it should be of little surprise that the film would become popular enough on home video to warrant a sequel, which would add more popular sci-fi and horror actors like Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation, David Carradine and even Bruce Campbell. But by 1992, when Waxwork 2 was released, Vestron was long since closed. The second Ken Russell movie made for Vestron was The Lair of the White Worm, based on a 1911 novel by Bram Stoker, the author's final published book before his death the following year. The story follows the residents in and around a rural English manor that are tormented by an ancient priestess after the skull of a serpent she worships is unearthed by an archaeologist. Russell would offer the role of Sylvia Marsh, the enigmatic Lady who is actually an immortal priestess to an ancient snake god, to Tilda Swinton, who at this point of her career had already racked up a substantial resume in film after only two years, but she would decline. Instead, the role would go to Amanda Donohoe, the British actress best known at the time for her appearances in a pair of Adam Ant videos earlier in the decade. And the supporting cast would include Peter Capaldi, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, and the under-appreciated Sammi Davis, who was simply amazing in Mona Lisa, A Prayer for the Dying and John Boorman's Hope and Glory. The $2m would come together fairly quickly. Vestron and Russell would agree on the film in late 1987, the script would be approved by January 1988, filming would begin in England in February, and the completed film would have its world premiere at the Montreal Film Festival before the end of August. When the film arrived in American theatres starting on October 21st, many critics would embrace the director's deliberate camp qualities and anachronisms. But audiences, who maybe weren't used to Russell's style of filmmaking, did not embrace the film quite so much. New Yorkers would buy $31k worth of tickets in its opening weekend at the D. W. Griffith and 8th Street Playhouse, and the film would perform well in its opening weeks in major markets, but the film would never quite break out, earning just $1.2m after ten weeks in theatres. But, again, home video would save the day, as the film would become one of the bigger rental titles in 1989. If you were a teenager in the early 80s, as I was, you may remember a Dutch horror film called The Lift. Or, at the very least, you remember the key art on the VHS box, of a man who has his head stuck in between the doors of an elevator, while the potential viewer is warned to take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs. It was an impressive debut film for Dick Maas, but it was one that would place an albatross around the neck of his career. One of his follow ups to The Lift, called Amsterdamned, would follow a police detective who is searching for a serial killer in his home town, who uses the canals of the Dutch capital to keep himself hidden. When the detective gets too close to solving the identity of the murderer, the killer sends a message by killing the detective's girlfriend, which, if the killer had ever seen a movie before, he should have known you never do. You never make it personal for the cop, because he's gonna take you down even worse. When the film's producers brought the film to the American Film Market in early 1988, it would become one of the most talked about films, and Vestron would pick up the American distribution rights for a cool half a million dollars. The film would open on six screens in the US on November 25th, including the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills but not in New York City, but a $15k first weekend gross would seal its fate almost immediately. The film would play for another four weeks in theatres, playing on 18 screens at its widest, but it would end its run shortly after the start of of the year with only $62,044 in tickets sold. The final Vestron Pictures release of 1988 was Andrew Birkin's Burning Secret. Birkin, the brother of French singer and actress Jane Birkin, would co-write the screenplay for this adaptation of a 1913 short story by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, about a about an American diplomat's son who befriends a mysterious baron while staying at an Austrian spa during the 1920s. According to Birkin in a 2021 interview, making the movie was somewhat of a nightmare, as his leading actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Faye Dunaway, did not like each other, and their lack of comfort with each other would bleed into their performances, which is fatal for a film about two people who are supposed to passionately burn for each other. Opening on 16 screens in major markets on Thursday, December 22nd, Burning Secret would only gross $27k in its first four days. The film would actually see a post-Christmas bump, as it would lose a screen but see its gross jump to $40k. But after the first of the year, as it was obvious reviews were not going to save the film and awards consideration was non-existent, the film would close after three weeks with only $104k worth of tickets sold. By the end of 1988, Vestron was facing bankruptcy. The major distributors had learned the lessons independents like Vestron had taught them about selling more volumes of tapes by lowering the price, to make movies collectables and have people curate their own video library. Top titles were harder to come by, and studios were no longer giving up home video rights to the movies they acquired from third-party producers. Like many of the distributors we've spoken about before, and will undoubtedly speak of again, Vestron had too much success with one movie too quickly, and learned the wrong lessons about growth. If you look at the independent distribution world of 2023, you'll see companies like A24 that have learned that lesson. Stay lean and mean, don't go too wide too quickly, try not to spend too much money on a movie, no matter who the filmmaker is and how good of a relationship you have with them. A24 worked with Robert Eggers on The Witch and The Lighthouse, but when he wanted to spend $70-90m to make The Northman, A24 tapped out early, and Focus Features ended up losing millions on the film. Focus, the “indie” label for Universal Studios, can weather a huge loss like The Northman because they are a part of a multinational, multimedia conglomerate. This didn't mean Vestron was going to quit quite yet, but, spoiler alert, they'll be gone soon enough. In fact, and in case you are newer to the podcast and haven't listen to many of the previous episodes, none of the independent distribution companies that began and/or saw their best years in the 1980s that we've covered so far or will be covering in the future, exist in the same form they existed in back then. New Line still exists, but it's now a label within Warner Brothers instead of being an independent distributor. Ditto Orion, which is now just a specialty label within MGM/UA. The Samuel Goldwyn Company is still around and still distributes movies, but it was bought by Orion Pictures the year before Orion was bought by MGM/UA, so it too is now just a specialty label, within another specialty label. Miramax today is just a holding company for the movies the company made before they were sold off to Disney, before Disney sold them off to a hedge fund, who sold Miramax off to another hedge fund. Atlantic is gone. New World is gone. Cannon is gone. Hemdale is gone. Cinecom is gone. Island Films is gone. Alive Films is gone. Concorde Films is gone. MCEG is gone. CineTel is gone. Crown International is gone. Lorimar is gone. New Century/Vista is gone. Skouras Films is gone. Cineplex Odeon Films is gone. Not one of them survived. The same can pretty much be said for the independent distributors created in the 1990s, save Lionsgate, but I'll leave that for another podcast to tackle. As for the Vestron story, we'll continue that one next week, because there are still a dozen more movies to talk about, as well as the end of the line for the once high flying company. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
In the second entry in this Year of Pyun where I celebrate the movies of Albert Pyun my friend Joe from joins me to discuss the 1989 post apocalyptic / action movie, Cyborg. This podcast is full of spoilers for the movie. Where to find Joe: Hindsightless https://anchor.fm/joe-richter9 Come to: DaveCon in Bloomington, MN on 13-16 April, 2023 https://www.davecon.net/ GrogCon in Orlando, FL on 29 Sep to 1 Oct, 2023 https://www.grogcon.com/grogcon4/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ Ways to contact me: Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145 Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast The podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com Find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jason376/message
This week, we talk about the 1980s Marvel Cinematic Universe that could have been, and eventually was. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the undisputed king of intellectual property in the entertainment industry. As of February 9th, 2023, the day I record this episode, there have been thirty full length motion pictures part of the MCU in the past fifteen years, with a combined global ticket sales of $28 billion, as well as twenty television shows that have been seen by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is a entertainment juggernaut that does not appear to be going away anytime soon. This comes as a total shock to many of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, who were witness of cheaply produced television shows featuring hokey special effects and a roster of has-beens and never weres in the cast. Superman was the king of superheroes at the movies, in large part because, believe it or not, there hadn't even been a movie based on a Marvel Comics character released into theatres until the summer of 1986. But not for lack of trying. And that's what we're going to talk about today. A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 1980s. But first, as always, some backstory. Now, I am not approaching this as a comic fan. When I was growing up in the 80s, I collected comics, but my collection was limited to Marvel's Star Wars series, Marvel's ROM The SpaceKnight, and Marvel's two-issue Blade Runner comic adaptation in 1982. So I apologize to Marvel comics fans if I relay some of this information incorrectly. I have tried to do my due diligence when it comes to my research. Marvel Comics got its start as Timely Comics back in 1939. On August 31, 1939, Timely would release its first comic, titled Marvel Comics, which would feature a number of short stories featuring versions of characters that would become long-running staples of the eventual publishing house that would bear the comic's name, including The Angel, a version of The Human Torch who was actually an android hero, and Namor the Submariner, who was originally created for a unpublished comic that was supposed to be given to kids when they attended their local movie theatre during a Saturday matinee. That comic issue would quickly sell out its initial 80,000 print run, as well as its second run, which would put another 800,000 copies out to the marketplace. The Vision would be another character introduced on the pages of Marvel Comics, in November 1940. In December 1940, Timely would introduce their next big character, Captain America, who would find instant success thanks to its front cover depicting Cap punching Adolph Hitler square in the jaw, proving that Americans have loved seeing Nazis get punched in the face even a year before our country entered the World War II conflict. But there would be other popular characters created during this timeframe, including Black Widow, The Falcon, and The Invisible Man. In 1941, Timely Comics would lose two of its best collaborators, artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, to rival company Detective Comics, and Timely owner Martin Goodman would promote one of his cousins, by marriage to his wife Jean no less, to become the interim editor of Timely Comics. A nineteen year old kid named Stanley Lieber, who would shorten his name to Stan Lee. In 1951, Timely Comics would be rebranded at Atlas Comics, and would expand past superhero titles to include tales of crime, drama, espionage, horror, science fiction, war, western, and even romance comics. Eventually, in 1961, Atlas Comics would rebrand once again as Marvel Comics, and would find great success by changing the focus of their stories from being aimed towards younger readers and towards a more sophisticated audience. It would be November 1961 when Marvel would introduce their first superhero team, The Fantastic Four, as well as a number of their most beloved characters including Black Panther, Carol Danvers, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Thor, as well as Professor X and many of the X-Men. And as would be expected, Hollywood would come knocking. Warner Brothers would be in the best position to make comic book movies, as both they and DC Comics were owned by the same company beginning in 1969. But for Marvel, they would not be able to enjoy that kind of symbiotic relationship. Regularly strapped for cash, Stan Lee would often sell movie and television rights to a variety of Marvel characters to whomever came calling. First, Marvel would team with a variety of producers to create a series of animated television shows, starting with The Marvel Super Heroes in 1966, two different series based on The Fantastic Four, and both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman series. But movies were a different matter. The rights to make a Spider-Man television show, for example, was sold off to a production company called Danchuck, who teamed with CBS-TV to start airing the show in September of 1977, but Danchuck was able to find a loophole in their contract that allowed them to release the two-hour pilot episode as a movie outside of the United States, which complicated the movie rights Marvel had already sold to another company. Because the “movie” was a success around the world, CBS and Danchuck would release two more Spider-Man “movies” in 1978 and 1981. Eventually, the company that owned the Spider-Man movie rights to sell them to another company in the early 1980s, the legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, New World Pictures, founded and operated by the legendary independent B-movie producer and director Roger Corman. But shortly after Corman acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, he went and almost immediately sold them to another legendary independent B-movie production company and distributor, Cannon Films. Side note: Shortly after Corman sold the movie rights to Spider-Man to Cannon, Marvel Entertainment was sold to the company that also owned New World Pictures, although Corman himself had nothing to do with the deal itself. The owners of New World were hoping to merge the Marvel comic book characters with the studio's television and motion picture department, to create a sort of shared universe. But since so many of the better known characters like Spider-Man and Captain America had their movie and television rights sold off to the competition, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, but again, I'm getting ahead of myself. So for now, we're going to settle on May 1st, 1985. Cannon Films, who loved to spend money to make money, made a big statement in the pages of the industry trade publication Variety, when they bought nine full pages of advertising in the Cannes Market preview issue to announce that buyers around the world needed to get ready, because he was coming. Spider-Man. A live-action motion picture event, to be directed by Tobe Hooper, whose last movie, Poltergeist, re-ignited his directing career, that would be arriving in theatres for Christmas 1986. Cannon had made a name for themselves making cheapie teen comedies in their native Israel in the 1970s, and then brought that formula to America with films like The Last American Virgin, a remake of the first Lemon Popsicle movie that made them a success back home. Cannon would swerve into cheapie action movies with fallen stars like Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, and would prop up a new action star in Chuck Norris, as well as cheapie trend-chasing movies like Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. They had seen enough success in America where they could start spending even bigger, and Spider-Man was supposed to be their first big splash into the superhero movie genre. With that, they would hire Leslie Stevens, the creator of the cult TV series The Outer Limits, to write the screenplay. There was just one small problem. Neither Stevens nor Cannon head honcho Menachem Golan understood the Spider-Man character. Golan thought Spider-Man was a half-spider/half-man creature, not unlike The Wolf Man, and instructed Stevens to follow that concept. Stevens' script would not really borrow from any of the comics' twenty plus year history. Peter Parker, who in this story is a twenty-something ID photographer for a corporation that probably would have been Oscorp if it were written by anyone else who had at least some familiarity with the comics, who becomes intentionally bombarded with gamma radiation by one of the scientists in one of the laboratories, turning Bruce Banner… I mean, Peter Parker, into a hairy eight-armed… yes, eight armed… hybrid human/spider monster. At first suicidal, Bruce… I mean, Peter, refuses to join forces with the scientist's other master race of mutants, forcing Peter to battle these other mutants in a basement lab to the death. To say Stan Lee hated it would be an understatement. Lee schooled Golan and Golan's partner at Cannon, cousin Yoram Globus, on what Spider-Man was supposed to be, demanded a new screenplay. Wanting to keep the head of Marvel Comics happy, because they had big plans not only for Spider-Man but a number of other Marvel characters, they would hire the screenwriting team of Ted Newsom and John Brancato, who had written a screenplay adaptation for Lee of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, to come up with a new script for Spider-Man. Newsom and Brancato would write an origin story, featuring a teenage Peter Parker who must deal with his newfound powers while trying to maintain a regular high school existence, while going up against an evil scientist, Otto Octavius. But we'll come back to that later. In that same May 1985 issue of Variety, amongst dozens of pages of ads for movies both completed and in development, including three other movies from Tobe Hooper, was a one-page ad for Captain America. No director or actor was attached to the project yet, but comic book writer James L. Silke, who had written the scripts for four other Cannon movies in the previous two years, was listed as the screenwriter. By October 1985, Cannon was again trying to pre-sell foreign rights to make a Spider-Man movie, this time at the MIFED Film Market in Milan, Italy. Gone were Leslie Stevens and Tobe Hooper. Newsom and Brancato were the new credited writers, and Joseph Tito, the director of the Chuck Norris/Cannon movies Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A., was the new director. In a two-page ad for Captain America, the film would acquire a new director in Michael Winner, the director of the first three Death Wish movies. And the pattern would continue every few months, from Cannes to MIFED to the American Film Market, and back to Cannes. A new writer would be attached. A new director. A new release date. By October 1987, after the twin failures of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Masters of the Universe, Cannon had all but given up on a Captain America movie, and downshifted the budget on their proposed Spider-Man movie. Albert Pyun, whose ability to make any movie in any genre look far better than its budget should have allowed, was brought in to be the director of Spider-Man, from a new script written by Shepard Goldman. Who? Shepard Goldman, whose one and only credit on any motion picture was as one of three screenwriters on the 1988 Cannon movie Salsa. Don't remember Salsa? That's okay. Neither does anyone else. But we'll talk a lot more about Cannon Films down the road, because there's a lot to talk about when it comes to Cannon Films, although I will leave you with two related tidbits… Do you remember the 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Cyborg? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk martial-arts action film where JCVD and everyone else in the movie have names like Gibson Rickenbacker, Fender Tremolo, Marshall Strat and Pearl Prophet for no damn good reason? Stupid movie, lots of fun. Anyway, Albert Pyun was supposed to shoot two movies back to back for Cannon Films in 1988, a sequel to Masters of the Universe, and Spider-Man. To save money, both movies would use many of the same sets and costumes, and Cannon had spent more than $2m building the sets and costumes at the old Dino DeLaurentiis Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, where David Lynch had shot Blue Velvet. But then Cannon ran into some cash flow issues, and lost the rights to both the He-Man toy line from Mattel and the Spider-Man characters they had licensed from Marvel. But ever the astute businessman, Cannon Films chairman Menahem Golan offered Pyun $500,000 to shoot any movie he wanted using the costumes and sets already created and paid for, provided Pyun could come up with a movie idea in a week. Pyun wrote the script to Cyborg in five days, and outside of some on-set alterations, that first draft would be the shooting script. The film would open in theatres in April 1989, and gross more than $10m in the United States alone. A few months later, Golan would gone from Cannon Films. As part of his severance package, he would take one of the company's acquisitions, 21st Century Films, with him, as well as several projects, including Captain America. Albert Pyun never got to make his Spider-Man movie, but he would go into production on his Captain America in August 1989. But since the movie didn't get released in any form until it came out direct to video and cable in 1992, I'll leave it to podcasts devoted to 90s movies to tell you more about it. I've seen it. It's super easy to find on YouTube. It really sucks, although not as much as that 1994 version of The Fantastic Four that still hasn't been officially released nearly thirty years later. There would also be attempts throughout the decade to make movies from the aforementioned Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer and Iron Man, from companies like New Line, 20th Century-Fox and Universal, but none of those would ever come to fruition in the 1980s. But the one that would stick? Of the more than 1,000 characters that had been featured in the pages of Marvel Comics over the course of forty years? The one that would become the star of the first ever theatrically released motion picture based on a Marvel character? Howard the Duck. Howard the Duck was not your average Marvel superhero. Howard the Duck wasn't even a superhero. He was just some wise crackin', ill-tempered, anthropomorphic water fowl that was abducted away from his home on Duckworld and forced against his will to live with humans on Earth. Or, more specifically, first with the dirty humans of the Florida Everglades, and then Cleveland, and finally New York City. Howard the Duck was metafiction and existentialist when neither of these things were in the zeitgeist. He smoked cigars, wore a suit and tie, and enjoy drinking a variety of libations and getting it on with the women, mostly his sometimes girlfriend Beverly. The perfect character to be the subject of the very first Marvel movie. A PG-rated movie. Enter George Lucas. In 1973, George Lucas had hit it big with his second film as a director, American Graffiti. Lucas had written the screenplay, based in part on his life as an eighteen year old car enthusiast about to graduate high school, with the help of a friend from his days at USC Film School, Willard Huyck, and Huyck's wife, Gloria Katz. Lucas wanted to show his appreciation for their help by producing a movie for them. Although there are variations to the story of how this came about, most sources say it was Huyck who would tell Lucas about this new comic book character, Howard the Duck, who piqued his classmate's interest by describing the comic as having elements of film noir and absurdism. Because Universal dragged their feet on American Graffiti, not promoting it as well as they could have upon its initial release and only embracing the film when the public embraced its retro soundtrack, Lucas was not too keen on working with Universal again on his next project, a sci-fi movie he was calling The Journal of the Whills. And while they saw some potential in what they considered to be some minor kiddie movie, they didn't think Lucas could pull it off the way he was describing it for the budget he was asking for. “What else you got, kid?” they'd ask. Lucas had Huyck and Katz, and an idea for a live-action comic book movie about a talking duck. Surprisingly, Universal did not slam the door shut in Lucas's face. They actually went for the idea, and worked with Lucas, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics and Howard's creator, Steve Gerber, to put a deal together to make it happen. Almost right away, Gerber and the screenwriters, Huyck and Katz, would butt heads on practically every aspect of the movie's storyline. Katz just thought it was some funny story about a duck from outer space and his wacky adventures on Earth, Gerber was adamant that Howard the Duck was an existential joke, that the difference between life's most serious moments and its most incredibly dumb moments were only distinguishable by a moment's point of view. Huyck wanted to make a big special effects movie, while Katz thought it would be fun to set the story in Hawaii so she and her husband could have some fun while shooting there. The writers would spend years on their script, removing most everything that made the Howard the Duck comic book so enjoyable to its readers. Howard and his story would be played completely straight in the movie, leaning on subtle gags not unlike a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movie, instead of embracing the surreal ridiculousness of the comics. They would write humongous effects-heavy set pieces, knowing they would have access to their producer's in-house special effects team, Industrial Light and Magic, instead of the comics' more cerebral endings. And they'd tone down the more risqué aspects of Howard's personality, figuring a more family-friendly movie would bring in more money at the box office. It would take nearly twelve years for all the pieces to fall into place for Howard the Duck to begin filming. But in the spring of 1985, Universal finally gave the green light for Lucas and his tea to finally make the first live-action feature film based on a Marvel Comics character. For Beverly, the filmmakers claimed to have looked at every young actress in Hollywood before deciding on twenty-four year old Lea Thompson, who after years of supporting roles in movies like Jaws 3-D, All the Right Moves and Red Dawn, had found success playing Michael J. Fox's mother in Back to the Future. Twenty-six year old Tim Robbins had only made two movies up to this point, at one of the frat boys in Fraternity Vacation and as one of the fighter pilots in Top Gun, and this was his first chance to play a leading role in a major motion picture. And Jeffrey Jones would be cast as the bad guy, the Dark Overlord, based upon his work in the 1984 Best Picture winner Amadeus, although he would be coming to the set of Howard the Duck straight off of working on a John Hughes movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Howard the Duck would begin shooting on the Universal Studios lot of November 11th, 1985, and on the very first day of production, the duck puppet being used to film would have a major mechanical failure, not unlike the mechanical failure of the shark in Jaws that would force Steven Spielberg to become more creative with how he shot that character. George Lucas, who would be a hands-on producer, would suggest that maybe they could shoot other scenes not involving the duck, while his crew at ILM created a fully functional, life-sized animatronic duck costume for a little actor to wear on set. At first, the lead actor in the duck suit was a twelve-year old boy, but within days of his start on the film, he would develop a severe case of claustrophobia inside the costume. Ed Gale, originally hired to be the stuntman in the duck costume, would quickly take over the role. Since Gale could work longer hours than the child, due to the very restrictive laws surrounding child actors on movie and television sets, this would help keep the movie on a good production schedule, and make shooting the questionable love scenes between Howard and Beverly easier for Ms. Thompson, who was creeped out at the thought of seducing a pre-teen for a scene. To keep the shoot on schedule, not only would the filmmakers employ a second shooting unit to shoot the scenes not involving the main actors, which is standard operating procedure on most movies, Lucas would supervise a third shooting unit that would shoot Robbins and Gale in one of the film's more climactic moments, when Howard and Phil are trying to escape being captured by the authorities by flying off on an ultralight plane. Most of this sequence would be shot in the town of Petaluma, California, on the same streets where Lucas had shot American Graffiti's iconic cruising scenes thirteen years earlier. After a month-long shoot of the film's climax at a naval station in San Francisco, the film would end production on March 26th, 1986, leaving the $36m film barely four months to be put together in order to make its already set in stone August 1st, 1986, release date. Being used to quick turnaround times, the effects teams working on the film would get all their shots completed with time to spare, not only because they were good at their jobs but they had the ability to start work before the film went into production. For the end sequence, when Jones' character had fully transformed into the Dark Overlord, master stop motion animator Phil Tippett, who had left ILM in 1984 to start his own effects studio specializing in that style of animation, had nearly a year to put together what would ultimately be less than two minutes of actual screen time. As Beverly was a musician, Lucas would hire English musician and composer Thomas Dolby, whose 1982 single She Blinded Me With Science became a global smash hit, to write the songs for Cherry Bomb, the all-girl rock group lead by Lea Thompson's Beverly. Playing KC, the keyboardist for Cherry Bomb, Holly Robinson would book her first major acting role. For the music, Dolby would collaborate with Allee Willis, the co-writer of Earth Wind and Fire's September and Boogie Wonderland, and funk legend George Clinton. But despite this powerhouse musical trio, the songs for the band were not very good, and, with all due respect to Lea Thompson, not very well sung. By August 1986, Universal Studios needed a hit. Despite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in March with Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa, the first six films they released for the year were all disappointments at the box office and/or with the critics. The Best of Times, a comedy featuring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell as two friends who try to recreate a high school football game which changed the direction of both their lives. Despite a script written by Ron Shelton, who would be nominated for an Oscar for his next screenplay, Bull Durham, and Robin Williams, the $12m film would gross less than $8m. The Money Pit, a comedy with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, would end up grossing $37m against a $10m budget, but the movie was so bad, its first appearance on DVD wouldn't come until 2011, and only as part of a Tom Hanks Comedy Favorites Collection along with The ‘Burbs and Dragnet. Legend, a dark fantasy film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, was supposed to be one of the biggest hits… of 1985. But Scott and the studio would fight over the film, with the director wanting them to release a two hour and five minute long version with a classical movie score by Jerry Goldsmith, while the studio eventually cut the film down an hour and twenty-nine minutes with a techno score by Tangerine Dream. Despite an amazing makeup job transforming Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness as well as sumptuous costumes and cinematography, the $24.5m film would just miss recouping its production budget back in ticket sales. Tom Cruise would become a superstar not three weeks later, when Paramount Pictures released Top Gun, directed by Ridley's little brother Tony Scott. Sweet Liberty should have been a solid performer for the studio. Alan Alda, in his first movie since the end of MASH three years earlier, would write, direct and star in this comedy about a college history professor who must watch in disbelief as a Hollywood production comes to his small town to film the movie version of one of the books. The movie, which also starred Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Michelle Pfieffer and screen legend Lillian Gish, would get lost in the shuffle of other comedies that were already playing in theatres like Ferris Bueller and Short Circuit. Legal Eagles was the movie to beat for the summer of 1986… at least on paper. Ivan Reitman's follow-up film to Ghostbusters would feature a cast that included Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah, along with Brian Denny, Terence Stamp, and Brian Doyle-Murray, and was perhaps too much movie, being a legal romantic comedy mystery crime thriller. Phew. If I were to do an episode about agency packaging in the 1980s, the process when a talent agency like Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, put two or more of their clients together in a project not because it might be best for the movie but best for the agency that will collect a 10% commission from each client attached to the project, Legal Eagles would be the example of packaging gone too far. Ivan Reitman was a client of CAA. As were Redford, and Winger, and Hannah. As was Bill Murray, who was originally cast in the Redford role. As were Jim Cash and Jack Epps, the screenwriters for the film. As was Tom Mankewicz, the co-writer of Superman and three Bond films, who was brought in to rewrite the script when Murray left and Redford came in. As was Frank Price, the chairman of Universal Pictures when the project was put together. All told, CAA would book more than $1.5m in commissions for themselves from all their clients working on the film. And it sucked. Despite the fact that it had almost no special effects, Legal Eagles would cost $40m to produce, one of the most expensive movies ever made to that point, nearly one and a half times the cost of Ghostbusters. The film would gross nearly $50m in the US, which would make it only the 14th highest grossing film of the year. Less than Stand By Me. Less than The Color of Money. Less than Down and Out in Beverly Hills. And then there was Psycho III, the Anthony Perkins-directed slasher film that brought good old Norman Bates out of mothballs once again. An almost direct follow-up to Psycho II from 1983, the film neither embraced by horror film fans or critics, the film would only open in eighth place, despite the fact there hadn't been a horror movie in theatres for months, and its $14m gross would kill off any chance for a Psycho IV in theatres. In late June, Universal would hold a series of test screenings for Howard the Duck. Depending on who you talk to, the test screenings either went really well, or went so bad that one of the writers would tear up negative response cards before they could be given to the score compilers, to goose the numbers up, pun only somewhat intended. I tend to believe the latter story, as it was fairly well reported at the time that the test screenings went so bad, Sid Sheinberg, the CEO of Universal, and Frank Price, the President of the studio, got into a fist fight in the lobby of one of the theatres running one of the test screenings, over who was to blame for this impending debacle. And a debacle it was. But just how bad? So bad, copywriters from across the nation reveled in giddy glee over the chances to have a headline that read “‘Howard the Duck' Lays an Egg!” And it did. Well, sort of. When it opened in 1554 theatres on August 1st, the film would gross $5.07m, the second best opener of the weekend, behind the sixth Friday the 13th entry, and above other new movies like the Tom Hanks/Jackie Gleason dramedy Nothing in Common and the cult film in the making Flight of the Navigator. And $5m in 1986 was a fairly decent if unspectacular opening weekend gross. The Fly was considered a massive success when it opened to $7m just two weeks later. Short Circuit, which had opened to $5.3m in May, was also lauded as being a hit right out of the gate. And the reviews were pretty lousy. Gene Siskel gave the film only one star, calling it a stupid film with an unlikeable lead in the duck and special effects that were less impressive than a sparkler shoved into a birthday cake. Both Siskel and Ebert would give it the dreaded two thumbs down on their show. Leonard Maltin called the film hopeless. Today, the film only has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 reviews. But despite the shellacking the film took, it wouldn't be all bad for several of the people involved in the making of the film. Lea Thompson was so worried her career might be over after the opening weekend of the film, she accepted a role in the John Hughes movie Some Kind of Wonderful that she had turned down multiple times before. As I stated in our March 2021 episode about that movie, it's my favorite of all John Hughes movies, and it would lead to a happy ending for Thompson as well. Although the film was not a massive success, Thompson and the film's director, Howard Deutch, would fall in love during the making of the film. They would marry in 1989, have two daughters together, and as of the writing of this episode, they are still happily married. For Tim Robbins, it showed filmmakers that he could handle a leading role in a movie. Within two years, he would be starring alongside Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham, and he career would soar for the next three decades. And for Ed Gale, his being able to act while in a full-body duck suit would lead him to be cast to play Chucky in the first two Child's Play movies as well as Bride of Chucky. Years later, Entertainment Weekly would name Howard the Duck as the biggest pop culture failure of all time, ahead of such turkeys as NBC's wonderfully ridiculous 1979 show Supertrain, the infamous 1980 Western Heaven's Gate, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman's Ishtar, and the truly wretched 1978 Bee Gees movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But Howard the Duck, the character, not the movie, would enjoy a renaissance in 2014, when James Gunn included a CG-animated version of the character in the post-credit sequence for Guardians of the Galaxy. The character would show up again in the Disney animated Guardians television series, and in the 2021 Disney+ anthology series Marvel's What If… There technically would be one other 1980s movie based on a Marvel character, Mark Goldblatt's version of The Punisher, featuring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle. Shot in Australia in 1988, the film was supposed to be released by New World Pictures in August of 1989. The company even sent out trailers to theatres that summer to help build awareness for the film, but New World's continued financial issues would put the film on hold until April 1991, when it was released directly to video by Live Entertainment. It wouldn't be until the 1998 release of Blade, featuring Wesley Snipes as the titular vampire, that movies based on Marvel Comics characters would finally be accepted by movie-going audiences. That would soon be followed by Bryan Singer's X-Men in 2000, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in 2002, the success of both prompting Marvel to start putting together the team that would eventually give birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe we all know and love today. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 102, the first of two episodes about the 1980s distribution company Vestron Pictures, is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Howard the Duck, and the other movies, both existing and non-existent, we covered this episode. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.
Welcome to the beginning of my Year of Pyun where I take one episode a month to celebrate the films of one of my favorite directors, Albert Pyun (1953-2022). Today Jason Hobbs joins me to discuss The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), Albert's first movie. Hobb's and Friends https://hobbsnfriends.com/ Random Screed https://anchor.fm/jason-hobbs Jason Hobb's Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/hobbs665 Jason Hobb's YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@JasonHobbs Blog Article on the Tri-Sword http://heropresstwo.blogspot.com/2011/08/treasure-trove-tri-sword.html Attend the BSer Con 2 online convention 20-22 Jan, 2023 https://tabletop.events/conventions/bser-con-2 Come to DaveCon in Bloomington, MN on 13-16 April, 2023 https://www.davecon.net/ Proud member of the Grog-talk Empire having been bestowed the title of The Governor Most Radiant Grandeur Baron The Belligerent Hero of The Valley. https://www.grogcon.com/podcast/ You can contact me through my Google Voice Number for US callers: (540) 445-1145, using Speakpipe for international callers: https://www.speakpipe.com/NerdsRPGVarietyCast through the podcast's email at nerdsrpgvarietycast 'at' gmail 'dot' com or find me on a variety of discords including the Audio Dungeon Discord. Home page for this show https://nerdsrpgvarietycast.carrd.co/ Home page for Cerebrevore, the TTRPG panel discussion podcast https://cerebrevore.carrd.co/ Ray Otus did the coffee cup art for this show, you can find his blog at https://rayotus.carrd.co/ TJ Drennon provides music for my show. Colin Green at Spikepit https://anchor.fm/spikepit provided the "Have no fear" sound clip. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jason376/message
OG co-host Daniel Harper returns to ring in the new year by talking with Lee about two films directed by the late Albert Pyun, "The Sword and the Sorcerer" (1982) & "Cyborg" (1989). Topics brought up: Richard Moll and the guy who played Frank Fontana from "Murphy Brown" popping up in a sword and sorcery film; knives within knives, within knives; gun swords; harems of naked ladies; heroes on crosses; the lack of cyborgs in a movie with cyborg in the title; Van Damme kicking ass; Albert Pyun's visual style and some of his influences; and much much more. So get your tri-bladed sword ready, rub down a naked princess with oil, and escort a cyborg with a cure to a plague with Lee and Daniel, as they pay tribute to Pyun! Lee's recent apperances on other fine podcasts: Movie Melt The Grindbin The Podcast Under the Stairs In relation to a topic brought up on the episode, a YouTube video titled "What Ever Happened to Murphy Brown?". Daniel's other podcast, I Don't Speak German. "The Sword and the Sorcerer" IMDB "Cyborg" IMDB Featured Music: "Round Room Fight" by David Whitaker; "Music at the Mall" & "Atlanta Rumble" by Kevin Bassinson.
We're sharing our best of 2022 lists on this episode of the Fan2Fan Podcast! Bernie, Josh, Michele, Nick, and Pete share favorites of the last year. They talk TV shows including Andor, Light and Magic, Moon Knight, Star Trek, and Stranger Things season 4. They talk movies including Cursed and Sword and Sorcerer. They also talk books and comics including Cat + Gamer, Emmanuelle, Human Target, and Step by Bloody Step. For more info about the Fan2Fan Podcast, visit fanpodcast.com
We're celebrating Albert Pyun in this episode of the Fan2Fan Podcast! After Pyun's recent passing, there has been an outpouring of love for the director and his movies. Bernie, Josh, Nick, and Pete briefly discuss Pyun's impact and share memories of watching his cult classic films including Cyborg, Nemesis, and Dollman. For more info about the Fan2Fan Podcast, visit fanpodcast.com
On this episode, we discuss our Books & Boba October 2022 book club pick, The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, a psychological thriller about a man who wakes up from a coma after suffering debilitating injuries after surviving a car crash that kills his wife and finds himself dependent on his grieving mother-in-law who he's not sure he can trust. It's a story about the terror of not being about to control your own body, and at the same time, a story about toxic masculinity as well.*Support the podcast by purchasing books at our bookshop *---Played by Obie Award winner Francis Jue (Pacific Overtures, Soft Power), a father learns that closing the door to his past means shutting his daughter out in Good Enemy, a haunting and hopeful world premiere play from Yilong Liu. Performances for this smart, thrilling limited engagement begin October 25 at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York. Act now to save 25% on tickets using the code BOBA25Get your tickets now at: goodenemyplay.com---Follow our hosts:Reera Yoo (@reeraboo)Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh)Follow us:FacebookTwitterGoodreads GroupThe Books & Boba November 2022 pick is Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life by Alice WongThis podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective
Bar Talk (our recommendations):Jessica is watching Raised by Wolves (HBOMax); drinking Far North Rye Whiskey.Damien is reading The Hole by Hye-young Pyun; drinking a BBQ Old Fashioned (Redemption rye, blueberry aigre-doux, black lemon bitters, smoked glass).Ryan is reading DRACULA: The New Annotated Edition ed. by Leslie Klinger; drinking the Bowmore 12.If you liked this week's story, check out Starship Troopers (1997, dir. Paul Verhoeven).Up next: ‘The Mummy's Soul' by Anonymous.Special thank you to Dr Blake Brandes for our Whiskey and the Weird music! Like, rate, and follow! Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and at whiskeyandtheweird.com
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