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Prisoners of the Ghostland screenwriter/producer Reza Sixo Safai joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his wildest cinematic experiences.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Infested (2002)

The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary

Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Mandy (2018)

Candy (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

S.O.B. (1981)

The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Robin Hood (1973)

The Story of Robin Hood (1952)

Modern Times (1936)

The Kid (1921)

The Deer (1974)

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Qeysar (1969)

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The Warriors (1979)

New Jack City (1991)

Colors (1988)

The Whip And The Body (1963)

Blow Out (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Porky’s (1981)

Cinema Paradiso (1988) – Glenn Erickson’s Region B Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review

Circumstance (2011)

Ninja 3: The Domination (1984)

Flashdance (1983)

Debbie...

Dreamscape Immersive, the location-based Vr startup led by co-chairmen Walter Parkes and Kevin Wall, CEO and former Disney Imagineering chief Bruce Vaughn, COO Aaron Grosky, just closed a $30M Series B financing round. Returning Series A investors — Bold Capital Partners, 21st Century Fox, and Warner Brothers — also participated in the round. Since announcing the series led by AMC Entertainment, the company has gotten interest in other strategic investments so it…...

Disney has unveiled a first-look preview of James Cameron's Avatar at its Florida theme park.

Pandora: The Land of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom will open in 2017 to coincide with the release of Cameron's Avatar sequel.

Attractions confirmed for The Land of Avatar include a Banshee flight simulator and a boat ride through the mystical Pandora.

Cameron can be seen in Disney's newly-released promotional video personally examining elements of The Land of Avatar, from wildlife to interactive displays.

Disney Imagineering chief Bruce Vaughn described Pandora: The Land of Avatar in a blog accompanying the promo as "one of the most dynamic and collaborative" attractions in the history of Disney parks.

Ground was broken for the construction of Pandora: The Land of Avatar in January 2014, three years after Disney signed an exclusive contract with the director.

Avatar 2 will be released on Christmas Day in 2017, with two more sequels to follow...

Back in January 2014, construction began on the Avatar Land theme park at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, although we haven't heard any updates on this ambitious project since then. Today, the Disney Parks blog posted a new video where Avatar director James Cameron is shown several features that will be implemented in the park, including the bioluminescent forrest, while visiting Disney's Glendale, California offices. Here's what the director had to say about what he has seen so far of Avatar Land.

"I think one of the things that people loved about the movie is that they felt as if they had visited Pandora...Now, thanks to Disney's amazing Imagineers, people are going to truly experience Pandora firsthand. From the details in the plants to the production and design, extraordinary thought and care has gone into this entire world. The teams have really created something special, and it's not going to be like anything else.

Back in January 2014, construction began on the Avatar Land theme park at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, although we haven't heard any updates on this ambitious project since then. Today, the Disney Parks blog posted a new video where Avatar director James Cameron is shown several features that will be implemented in the park, including the bioluminescent forrest, while visiting Disney's Glendale, California offices. Here's what the director had to say about what he has seen so far of Avatar Land.

"I think one of the things that people loved about the movie is that they felt as if they had visited Pandora...Now, thanks to Disney's amazing Imagineers, people are going to truly experience Pandora firsthand. From the details in the plants to the production and design, extraordinary thought and care has gone into this entire world. The teams have really created something special, and it's not going to be like anything else.

Chicago – As the 48th Annual Chicago International Film Festival reaches its halfway point with its enormously anticipated centerpiece screening of Tom Tykwer, Andy and Lana Wachowski’s star-studded epic, “Cloud Atlas,” Hollywood Chicago will continue to single out an array of titles that are not to be missed. Here are the highlights covering October 15th to October 17th, 2012 (stay tuned on the 18th for more highlights).

The second installment of our Ciff 2012 preview includes an astonishing stop-motion epic from a Chicago animator, a brain-twisting and unapologetically sensual teen drama from Switzerland and the latest work from David Chase, best known as the creator of HBO’s hit crime series, “The Sopranos.” Chase is among the many filmmakers scheduled to attend the screenings of their own films, and it must be said that the post-film Q&As are often the brightest highlights for cinephiles.

Among the top tier of films screening...

With Looper set to open Canada’s premier film festival, we got word yesterday that Paul Andrew Williams‘ dramedy Song For Marion will be taking the closing slot of the Toronto International Film Festival. We’ve got our first look at the film today, which follows “a curmudgeonly retiree” (Terence Stamp) who takes his ill-stricken wife’s (Vanessa Redgrave) place in their local choir for seniors. Described as a “hilarious and heartwarming comedy-drama” one can see the stills above and below, also featuring Gemma Arterton and Christopher Eccleston.

We’ve also got a batch of stills of the next feature from A Time for Drunken Horses director Bahman Ghobadi, Rhino Season. In what looks to be a visual stunning drama, Monica Bellucci leads the “haunting love story that spans three decades” which follows “a Kurdish poet and family friend of Ghobadi’s who was unjustly incarcerated during Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Tiff announced their last batch of titles for their primo Gala and Special Presentation events and it comes as no surprise that we’ve got ourselves several future Venice (Bad 25, Love is All You Need, Spring Breakers, Passion and The Master) and left over Cannes titles (White Elephant, On The Road, The Paperboy) set for some Special Presentation spots, but it’s the World Premieres that Tonrot have managed to lasso that have got out attention. First up in the trio of Gala screenings announced, it’s their Closing Night Film in Song for Marion which may do wonders for both the fest and the title itself — as it may be this year’s The King’s Speech type. What Maisie Knew, Arthur Newman, Greetings from Tim Buckley and after a long post-production phase Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow (see pic above) are all repping the new wave of U.S...

As if the line-up couldn’t get any better, Toronto International Film Festival have went ahead with what looks to be their final announcement of premieres. Added to the slate is the oft-rumored The Master, showing in 70mm, as well as Brian De Palma‘s Passion, Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers, Peter Webber‘s WWII romantic drama Emperor, a Jeff Buckley biopic, as well as Cannes premieres such as Lee Daniels‘ The Paperboy (review here) and Walter Salles’ On the Road (review here). Check out the new additions below.

Galas

Song for Marion Paul Andrew Williams, UK Closing Night Film

A feel-good, heart-warming story about how music can inspire you. Song for Marion stars Terence Stamp as Arthur, a grumpy pensioner who can’t understand why his wife Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton...

With the release of a second teaser trailer of Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" this morning, we got another look at one of the most anticipated films of the year. And with the picture already slated for an October 13th release, for some traveling film critics and fans, and those prepared to head to Italy, the Venice Film Festival could be where the film makes its world premiere, with artistic director Alberto Barbera suggesting a few weeks back that Anderson was heading to the Lido for the fest, which kicks off on August 29th.

With the announcement of the opening film due any day now -- it was on June 21st last year and today, the fest announced their lineup of rare and restored films that will unspool -- and "The Master" trailer reminding us that its one of the candidates, it seemed like a good opportunity to look...

3:30pm was the most anticipated event of the day for many fans: Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, a 90-minute long arena presentation that would update guests on everything unfolding at the various Disney vacation destinations. The line was cut off at about 2:40, with many waiting in line on stand-by. Thousands of attendees slowly but surely filled the arena.

(Mickey Mouse jams on the drums, above)

First off was a generic video of special moments within the parks. Mickey Mouse emerged from behind the curtain, playing the drums to a rock version of “When You Wish Upon a Star,” with the Disney orchestra right nearby. Then this talking version of Mickey chatted with Tom Staggs of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. Staggs joked that Mickey should join Dancing with the Stars. He made a ton of quips throughout the presentation, which sported an office-like set-up full of Disney knick-knacks. Staggs talked...

Gorgeous Monica Bellucci will star in Rhinos Season, the follow up to Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi‘s art film success No One Knows About Persian Cats.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice star, just confirmed to Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ that she had enrolled the cast of the new Ghobadi’s film. Bellucci was recently in Romania, where her 2010 The Whistleblower was set — a drama telling experiences of a Nebraska cop (Rachel Weisz) who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. Bellucci described ‘Rhinos Season’ as “a political film” which starts from before the revolution in Iraq and fast forward to the present day. Rumor has that it’s

also a great love story in which I will play an Iranian woman,”

Bellucci told us.

Expatriated 1960s-70s’ Iranian megastar Behrouz Vossoughi, who made more than 90 movies in Iran before he moved to Los Angeles after the Shah was overthrown in 1979, is also attached.

Monica Bellucci will star in Rhinos Season, the followup to Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi's arthouse hit No One Knows About Persian Cats.

According to Variety, Monica Bellucci described Rhinos Season as "a political film" spanning from before the revolution in Iran to the present, "but also a great love story in which [she] will play an Iranian woman."

Exiled 1960s-70s' Iranian megastar Behrouz Vossoughi, who made more than 90 movies in Iran before moving to Los Angeles after the Shah was deposed in 1979, is also attached.

Production will start in Turkish locations in March.

Clint Eastwood is currently shooting his J. Edgar Hoover biography called J. Edgar, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and Armie Hammer in the key secondary role of Hoover colleague and reported lover Clyde Tolson. Even as the film shoots it is adding cast members to fill out ancillary roles. The latest addition is Stephen Root, a character actor that is always a pleasure to see on screen. (You can see him right now doing great work in Cedar Rapids.) Mr. Root will play Arthur Koehler, "an introverted man and wood specialist who helps J. Edgar Hoover piece together the mystery of the Lindbergh kidnapping case through an examination of the ladder used by the abductor." [Variety [1]] After the break, Monica Bellucci makes up for Manual of Love 3 and Fernando Meirelles' 360 gets another actor. One of the good, underseen indies of late 2010 was Bahman Ghobadi's film No One Knows About Persian Cats,...

Film Will Also Star Famed Iranian Actor Behrouz Vossoughi If you didn't see Bahman Ghobadi's latest effort, "No One Knows About Persian Cats," we definitely urge you to seek it out. It was a wonderful, moving little picture about an indie rock duo who struggle to remain inspired and creative under the strict laws in Tehran. We caught it during its festival run a couple of years ago at the Festival Du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal --you can check out our review here--and we're heartened to learn that the director's next effort has landed an international star, and is likely…...

Monica Bellucci will star in Rhinos Season for Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi (No One Knows About Persian Cats). Bellucci described Rhinos Season as "a political film" which starts from before the revolution in Iran and moves to present day. Apparently, it's "also a great love story in which I will play an Iranian woman," Bellucci told La Republica. Shooting starts in Turkey some time next month. Iranian mega star Behrouz Vossoughi is also attached to star. Turkish producer Menderes Demir (I Saw The Sun) is serving as Rhinos Season's production manager...

Monica Bellucci will star in Rhinos Season for Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi (No One Knows About Persian Cats). Bellucci described Rhinos Season as "a political film" which starts from before the revolution in Iraq and moves to present day. Apparently, it's "also a great love story in which I will play an Iranian woman," Bellucci told La Republica. Shooting starts in Turkey some time next month. Iranian mega star Behrouz Vossoughi is also attached to star. Turkish producer Menderes Demir (I Saw The Sun) is serving as Rhinos Season's production manager...

At the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York last week some of us were lucky enough to enjoy Pomegranates: Like a Phoenix from the Ashes, a fascinating compilation of rare film clips, commercials and music videos from Sixties and Seventies Iran, a cinematic follow-up to the superb Pomegranates compilation of pre-revolutionary Persian pop, funk and folk on the Finders Keepers record label.

Curated by Mahssa Taghinia and Tom Fitzgerald, the evening included such gems as this must-see clip of the amazing Faroozan—a Persian cross between Rita Hayworth and Fergie—as well as extended clips from what Taghinia described as three of the most important films of the period: Gheysar (a.k.a. Qeysar) (1969), Gavaznha (The Deer) (1975), and Bon Bast (Dead End) (1977).

This led me, naturally, on a search for movie posters of the era, of which there is very little written online. Even the Iranian-born, London-based poster-buff...

Pink slips were issued Wednesday at Disney Parks and Resorts and more are on the way, courtesy of a reorganization designed to eliminate redundancies at a unit that employs 80,000 workers.

Disney wouldn't say how many were laid off or how many more layoffs are expected.

The reorganization, said Parks and Resorts chairman Jay Rasulo, is not only a response to the weak economy but also a way to further the successes of a shake-up four years ago.

Rasulo said a reorganization in 2005 led to speedier delivery of theme-park shows based on "High School Musical" and to the simultaneous openings of "Toy Story Mania" at parks in Florida and California, and he seeks more of the same.

With Wednesday's announcement, resort development will merge with attractions and entertainment development and be led by Bruce Vaughn, the chief creative executive at Imagineering, and Craig Russell, the chief design and project delivery executive.