News

Columbia Pictures is set to remake the 1983 action thriller Blue Thunder, only this time instead of a tricked-out hi-tech helicopter, the story will revolve around a more advanced piece of surveillance weaponry with a state-of-the-art Drone at the center of the action. Marvel Studios executive and writer Craig Kyle (Thor) is updating the screenplay, with Fifty Shades of Grey's Dana Brunetti set to produce. The movie will reunite Brunetti with Fifty Shades producer Michael De Luca, who is now president of production at Columbia, and will oversee the project.

The Sony-based studio Escape Artists were simultaneously developing their own take on the material, but will now join this remake as a producer. The new version of the story is said to be 'timely', as it will explore the exploding use of drone technology in our society, both privately and in government sectors. This is just one of many Drone movies heading our way soon.

Retro-active: The Best From Cinema Retro's Archives

By Lee Pfeiffer

Paramount has released a 2 disc special edition of the 1968 comedy classic The Odd Couple as part of the studio's Centennial Collection. The film retains all of its initial appeal, despite the fact that virtually every baby boomer has committed the scenes and dialogue to memory. Although most people regard this as the first historic pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, in fact, that occurred with Billy Wilder's 1965 gem The Fortune Cookie which saw Matthau winning the Oscar for supporting actor. The genius behind the story, of course, is Neil Simon, who adapted his smash hit Broadway play for the film. The part of Felix Unger was originally played on Broadway by the great Art Carney, but Lemmon was a much hotter box-office property and got the role in the feature film. The film is creative in the ways...

Martin Balsam: Oscar winner has ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Day on Turner Classic Movies Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner Martin Balsam (A Thousand Clowns) is Turner Classic Movies’ unusual (and welcome) "Summer Under the Stars" featured player today, August 27, 2013. Right now, TCM is showing Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes (1971), a box-office flop starring Sean Connery in his (just about) post-James Bond, pre-movie legend days. (Photo: Martin Balsam ca. early ’60s.) Next, is Joseph Sargent’s thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Written by Peter Stone (Father Goose, Arabesque) from John Godey’s novel, the film revolves around the hijacking of a subway car in New York City. Passengers are held for ransom while police lieutenant Walter Matthau tries to handle the situation. Now considered a classic (just about every pre-1999 movie is considered a "classic" these days), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was...

.It.s either very new cheese or very old meat.. Neil Simon.s play is transformed into a film that would only cement the fact that its two stars were made for each other. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau would become a team in this tale of opposites driving each other crazy in a New York apartment. Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) is a divorced, sloppy sportswriter who hosts a poker game in his Manhattan digs. His buddies Speed (Larry Haines), Roy (David Sheiner), Vinnie (John Fielder), and Murray (Herb Edelman) are all gathered around the card table in the hot apartment. Oscar gets a call that his pal Felix Unger (Jack Lemmon), who was supposed to be at...