When Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opened a year ago, it hit like a mutagen bomb. Despite our fab four characters of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael being around for decades—this year marks their 40th(!) anniversary—never before had anyone really thought about treating them like… teenagers.
In the dizzyingly animated film, the characters were played by real adolescents like Nicolas Cantu (Leo), Micah Abbey (Donnie), Shamon Brown Jr. (Mikey), and Brady Noon (Raph). None of whom were old enough to vote when first stepping into the recording booth—a place where they recorded entirely together and in a style apropos of writers and producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The creatives who long favored spontaneity, and in this case the filmmakers wanted to catch the giggling authenticity of youth.
But you can’t be a kid forever, even if you’re a pizza-loving turtle in a half-shell.
In the dizzyingly animated film, the characters were played by real adolescents like Nicolas Cantu (Leo), Micah Abbey (Donnie), Shamon Brown Jr. (Mikey), and Brady Noon (Raph). None of whom were old enough to vote when first stepping into the recording booth—a place where they recorded entirely together and in a style apropos of writers and producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The creatives who long favored spontaneity, and in this case the filmmakers wanted to catch the giggling authenticity of youth.
But you can’t be a kid forever, even if you’re a pizza-loving turtle in a half-shell.
- 7/26/2024
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Though the summer movie season is winding down (if it ever really started this year), Amazon Prime’s list of new releases for September 2021 is chock full of worthwhile movie options.
For starters, Amazon’s library movie titles are quite good this month. September 1 sees the arrivals of heavyweights such as Apollo 13, Arachnophobia, Romeo + Juliet, The Descent, and The Social Network. And if that weren’t enough, the streamer is trying out some intriguing original movies as well. Cinderella, a modern update on the classic fairy tale, premieres on September 3. That will be followed by “exotic thriller” The Voyeurs (Sept. 10), musical adaptation Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sept. 17), and French thriller The Mad Woman’s Ball (Sept. 17).
Read more Movies How Arachnophobia Became the Perfect Creepy Crawly Horror Comedy By Jack Beresford Movies Quentin Tarantino Calls The Social Network the Best Movie of the 2010s By David Crow
Things...
For starters, Amazon’s library movie titles are quite good this month. September 1 sees the arrivals of heavyweights such as Apollo 13, Arachnophobia, Romeo + Juliet, The Descent, and The Social Network. And if that weren’t enough, the streamer is trying out some intriguing original movies as well. Cinderella, a modern update on the classic fairy tale, premieres on September 3. That will be followed by “exotic thriller” The Voyeurs (Sept. 10), musical adaptation Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sept. 17), and French thriller The Mad Woman’s Ball (Sept. 17).
Read more Movies How Arachnophobia Became the Perfect Creepy Crawly Horror Comedy By Jack Beresford Movies Quentin Tarantino Calls The Social Network the Best Movie of the 2010s By David Crow
Things...
- 8/31/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
In a story likely to evoke a bit of déjà vu, yet another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is reportedly in the works, with SNL Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost set to co-write the script with brother Casey Jost, awaiting a yet-to-be tapped director. However, news on this particular project arrives a mere five years after the franchise’s last live-action iteration released its sequel and presumed swan song, 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, leaving a possibility that the new movie might just be a threequel. Moreover, like its predecessor, the mysterious movie project will be a production of Paramount Pictures and the very same producers, notably the auteur of onscreen explosions himself, Michael Bay. So, are we getting a new iteration of the Turtles or not?
While the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie project, as reported by Deadline, has a tight lid securing indicative details such as its plot,...
While the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie project, as reported by Deadline, has a tight lid securing indicative details such as its plot,...
- 8/3/2021
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
Contains spoilers for the movie Lake Mungo.
“We were thinking it’d be nice if we could make a film that was kind of a curiosity, but if you saw it years from now you wouldn’t know anything about where it came from.”
This quote from a 2009 interview with Lake Mungo director Joel Anderson proved to be strangely prescient. Anderson was speaking ahead of the film’s screening at the Brisbane Film Festival – the movie had already premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, played South by Southwest in the US, and would go on to tour several more festivals before eventually finding its way onto DVD.
Anderson conducted a few interviews. He talked about how the film had in part come about because he wanted to make something cheap and manageable that could be shot in sections because he’d had trouble getting financing for a different, bigger, more...
“We were thinking it’d be nice if we could make a film that was kind of a curiosity, but if you saw it years from now you wouldn’t know anything about where it came from.”
This quote from a 2009 interview with Lake Mungo director Joel Anderson proved to be strangely prescient. Anderson was speaking ahead of the film’s screening at the Brisbane Film Festival – the movie had already premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, played South by Southwest in the US, and would go on to tour several more festivals before eventually finding its way onto DVD.
Anderson conducted a few interviews. He talked about how the film had in part come about because he wanted to make something cheap and manageable that could be shot in sections because he’d had trouble getting financing for a different, bigger, more...
- 10/14/2020
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
There’s a moment in Arachnophobia where Jeff Daniels’ Dr Ross Jennings, lying in bed one night worried his new hometown of Canaima is under attack from venomous spiders, spots an eight-legged intruder lurking in plain sight on his bedroom wall. The scene builds to a terrifying crescendo when the panic-stricken Jennings, who has a pathological fear of spiders, decides to confront the arachnid – only to discover it’s a coat hook.
It’s a prime example of the power Arachnophobia still possesses, 30 years on from its release. The power to have audiences breaking out in cold sweats one minute and fits of laughter the next.
The story of an ordinary American town that becomes infested with a deadly new species of spider unwittingly transported over from the Amazon rainforest, Arachnophobia might have been a very different prospect in the hands of another filmmaker.
Fortunately, Arachnophobia had Frank Marshall at the helm.
It’s a prime example of the power Arachnophobia still possesses, 30 years on from its release. The power to have audiences breaking out in cold sweats one minute and fits of laughter the next.
The story of an ordinary American town that becomes infested with a deadly new species of spider unwittingly transported over from the Amazon rainforest, Arachnophobia might have been a very different prospect in the hands of another filmmaker.
Fortunately, Arachnophobia had Frank Marshall at the helm.
- 10/11/2020
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
Editor’s Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back every month to see the best sci-fi movies on Netflix.
Updated for March 2020.
You can see a complete list of new Netflix releases here.
Even if the present feels more and more like science fiction every day, actual science fiction is still here to inspire and terrify you.
Science fiction is one of our more dynamic and inspired genres as a species. We need something to aspire to as much as we need something to fear. Science fiction provides both. And the best science fiction can provide even more. Here is our list of the best sci-fi movies on Netflix right now. Come back often to see what the future holds.
Under the Skin
Writer/director Jonathan Glazer worked on developing Under the Skin for over a decade and it shows.
This is a carefully crafted,...
Updated for March 2020.
You can see a complete list of new Netflix releases here.
Even if the present feels more and more like science fiction every day, actual science fiction is still here to inspire and terrify you.
Science fiction is one of our more dynamic and inspired genres as a species. We need something to aspire to as much as we need something to fear. Science fiction provides both. And the best science fiction can provide even more. Here is our list of the best sci-fi movies on Netflix right now. Come back often to see what the future holds.
Under the Skin
Writer/director Jonathan Glazer worked on developing Under the Skin for over a decade and it shows.
This is a carefully crafted,...
- 3/13/2020
- by jbindeck2015
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Jan 6, 2020
Back in the early '90s, saucy thrillers were the cinematic genre du jour. We take a look at some of the key milestones…
Moviegoers have VHS to thank for the glut of erotic thrillers that arrived in theaters and video stores over the first half of the 1990s. While the "video nasty" was the "enfant terrible" of the format in the 1980s, the next decade ushered in the era of the ‘video naughty’ with movies that blended film noir tropes and titillation.
Much of that was down to the rise of video rental giants like Blockbuster. Keen to maintain a family friendly image, the chain was one of many big names to steadfastly refuse to stock adult movies. Yet there remained a need to cater to couples and other adults eager to rent films that were strictly not for kids. Into the void stepped the erotic thriller,...
Back in the early '90s, saucy thrillers were the cinematic genre du jour. We take a look at some of the key milestones…
Moviegoers have VHS to thank for the glut of erotic thrillers that arrived in theaters and video stores over the first half of the 1990s. While the "video nasty" was the "enfant terrible" of the format in the 1980s, the next decade ushered in the era of the ‘video naughty’ with movies that blended film noir tropes and titillation.
Much of that was down to the rise of video rental giants like Blockbuster. Keen to maintain a family friendly image, the chain was one of many big names to steadfastly refuse to stock adult movies. Yet there remained a need to cater to couples and other adults eager to rent films that were strictly not for kids. Into the void stepped the erotic thriller,...
- 12/27/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Jan 7, 2020
We take a look at the movie sequels that attempted to up the ante by heading out of this world…
When it comes to the world of franchise moviemaking, space really is the final frontier. Boldly going where no previous entry has gone before represents an easy win for a studio looking to enliven a particular film property. The Fast and Furious franchise is the latest to be weighing up one giant leap for mankind with Chris Morgan, the writer of Hobbs & Shaw, open to taking Dominic Toretto et al into space.
"I would never shoot down space," Morgan told Entertainment Weekly. "Never, never. I would literally never shoot down anything, as long as it hits the parameters: 'Is it badass? is it awesome? Will the audience love it? And will it not break faith with the audience as they're watching it?' I'm down for whatever.
We take a look at the movie sequels that attempted to up the ante by heading out of this world…
When it comes to the world of franchise moviemaking, space really is the final frontier. Boldly going where no previous entry has gone before represents an easy win for a studio looking to enliven a particular film property. The Fast and Furious franchise is the latest to be weighing up one giant leap for mankind with Chris Morgan, the writer of Hobbs & Shaw, open to taking Dominic Toretto et al into space.
"I would never shoot down space," Morgan told Entertainment Weekly. "Never, never. I would literally never shoot down anything, as long as it hits the parameters: 'Is it badass? is it awesome? Will the audience love it? And will it not break faith with the audience as they're watching it?' I'm down for whatever.
- 12/24/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Dec 17, 2019
It could've been Football Manager for filmmakers, but Spielberg's movie-wrangling game didn't quite cut it.
The article comes from Den of Geek UK.
The early 1990s was a glorious time to be Steven Spielberg. It was an era that saw the filmmaker enjoy unparalleled levels of critical and commercial success with Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List.
He was “The King of the World” to borrow James Cameron parlance, and with a renewed sense of invincibility decided to take the next logical step: he was going to star in his own video game.
Released on PC in 1996, Steven Spielberg’s Director’s Chair was an unusual first foray into the medium to say the least. In order to understand how it came about, you have to go back to a simpler time for technology and have a look at Spielberg’s then-fledgling production company, DreamWorks.
Long before making...
It could've been Football Manager for filmmakers, but Spielberg's movie-wrangling game didn't quite cut it.
The article comes from Den of Geek UK.
The early 1990s was a glorious time to be Steven Spielberg. It was an era that saw the filmmaker enjoy unparalleled levels of critical and commercial success with Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List.
He was “The King of the World” to borrow James Cameron parlance, and with a renewed sense of invincibility decided to take the next logical step: he was going to star in his own video game.
Released on PC in 1996, Steven Spielberg’s Director’s Chair was an unusual first foray into the medium to say the least. In order to understand how it came about, you have to go back to a simpler time for technology and have a look at Spielberg’s then-fledgling production company, DreamWorks.
Long before making...
- 12/17/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Dec 13, 2019
J.J. Abrams' Sequel Trilogy opener brought the Skywalker Saga to a new generation, welcoming old friends and new ones…
This was what fans had been waiting for. After the divisive Prequel Trilogy, the Star Wars franchise was born anew with The Force Awakens, a film effectively blending the old with the new. Arriving in December 2015, The Force Awakens felt like the perfect early Christmas present: a brand-new Star Wars movie featuring Leia, Luke, and Han.
But if fans were expecting a direct continuation of the Original Trilogy, then this was not the sequel they were looking for. Instead, The Force Awakens used appearances from the likes of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher to set the wheels in motion for an altogether different, but no less entertaining, Star Wars story.
Stream Star Wars shows with a Free Trial of Disney+, right here!
Three decades on from Return of the Jedi,...
J.J. Abrams' Sequel Trilogy opener brought the Skywalker Saga to a new generation, welcoming old friends and new ones…
This was what fans had been waiting for. After the divisive Prequel Trilogy, the Star Wars franchise was born anew with The Force Awakens, a film effectively blending the old with the new. Arriving in December 2015, The Force Awakens felt like the perfect early Christmas present: a brand-new Star Wars movie featuring Leia, Luke, and Han.
But if fans were expecting a direct continuation of the Original Trilogy, then this was not the sequel they were looking for. Instead, The Force Awakens used appearances from the likes of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher to set the wheels in motion for an altogether different, but no less entertaining, Star Wars story.
Stream Star Wars shows with a Free Trial of Disney+, right here!
Three decades on from Return of the Jedi,...
- 12/13/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Nov 6, 2019
Sometimes the original isn't always the best, as these movie tie-in games prove...
There was a time when every major movie release was accompanied by a tie-in video game. For fans, it was a chance to extend the original cinema-going experience into the interactive arena of gaming. For studios and developers alike, it was a chance to make a few extra bucks.
It didn’t always go to plan, though. Atari was the pioneer of the tie-in video game genre but experienced more problems than most. The publisher's first effort, the 1975 single-player arcade game Shark Jaws, was originally envisioned as a tie-in to Steven Spielberg’s killer white shark classic Jaws. But when Universal rejected plans for a movie game spin-off, Atari was forced to get creative, renaming the game Shark Jaws but ensuring the word “Shark” was written in tiny letters alongside the more visible “Jaws.
Sometimes the original isn't always the best, as these movie tie-in games prove...
There was a time when every major movie release was accompanied by a tie-in video game. For fans, it was a chance to extend the original cinema-going experience into the interactive arena of gaming. For studios and developers alike, it was a chance to make a few extra bucks.
It didn’t always go to plan, though. Atari was the pioneer of the tie-in video game genre but experienced more problems than most. The publisher's first effort, the 1975 single-player arcade game Shark Jaws, was originally envisioned as a tie-in to Steven Spielberg’s killer white shark classic Jaws. But when Universal rejected plans for a movie game spin-off, Atari was forced to get creative, renaming the game Shark Jaws but ensuring the word “Shark” was written in tiny letters alongside the more visible “Jaws.
- 11/6/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Nov 5, 2019
Yep, Bruce Willis once tried to make a video game. It's to remember Activision and Neversoft's Apocalypse.
W.C. Fields famously said: “Never work with children or animals.” For Bruce Willis, that mantra probably reads more like: “Never work with Kevin Smith or video game developers.”
Willis’ "creative differences" with Smith are well-documented - and there for the world to see in their ironically titled movie Cop Out - but Bruce’s fateful foray into the world of gaming is largely forgotten. Developed by Neversoft and released on PlayStation back in October 1998, the title of Apocalypse felt like it was designed to evoke memories of Bruce’s recent blockbuster success, Armageddon, but most PS1 fans knew it as "that Bruce Willis game."
Apocalypse boasted a cover featuring an impressive digital rendering of Willis, staring blankly ahead, as if a passport photo, alongside the word “Apocalypse” over a...
Yep, Bruce Willis once tried to make a video game. It's to remember Activision and Neversoft's Apocalypse.
W.C. Fields famously said: “Never work with children or animals.” For Bruce Willis, that mantra probably reads more like: “Never work with Kevin Smith or video game developers.”
Willis’ "creative differences" with Smith are well-documented - and there for the world to see in their ironically titled movie Cop Out - but Bruce’s fateful foray into the world of gaming is largely forgotten. Developed by Neversoft and released on PlayStation back in October 1998, the title of Apocalypse felt like it was designed to evoke memories of Bruce’s recent blockbuster success, Armageddon, but most PS1 fans knew it as "that Bruce Willis game."
Apocalypse boasted a cover featuring an impressive digital rendering of Willis, staring blankly ahead, as if a passport photo, alongside the word “Apocalypse” over a...
- 11/5/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Oct 21, 2019
Praise the lord of onscreen crazy! We travel back to the era when Nicolas Cage was the biggest action star on the planet...
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
For much of the past three decades, Nicolas Cage has commanded a level of devotion among fans that borders on religious fervour.
While the quality and quantity of his projects has varied wildly, his intense method acting approach – one he describes as “Nouveau Shamadic” – has resulted in some intense and brilliantly manic performances, earning him God-like status among a certain demographic of movie fans.
Taking inspiration from the witch doctors of pre-Christian civilization, Cage prepares for each and every role by working himself into a trance-like state in order to connect with the character and the work. The results are usually even crazier than the preparations.
Watching Cage in his element is something akin to a religious experience.
Praise the lord of onscreen crazy! We travel back to the era when Nicolas Cage was the biggest action star on the planet...
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
For much of the past three decades, Nicolas Cage has commanded a level of devotion among fans that borders on religious fervour.
While the quality and quantity of his projects has varied wildly, his intense method acting approach – one he describes as “Nouveau Shamadic” – has resulted in some intense and brilliantly manic performances, earning him God-like status among a certain demographic of movie fans.
Taking inspiration from the witch doctors of pre-Christian civilization, Cage prepares for each and every role by working himself into a trance-like state in order to connect with the character and the work. The results are usually even crazier than the preparations.
Watching Cage in his element is something akin to a religious experience.
- 10/21/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Oct 2, 2019
We look at the sequences that would have changed the legacies – and future franchise directions – of the films they were cut from.
The editing process of a feature film can prove precarious at the best of times. You can have the best script in the world, a great cast, and some impressive work in the can, but it’s only when the action heads to the edit suite that a film really starts to take shape.
It’s a time-consuming process and one fraught with difficult decisions – particularly in the modern era of ever-expanding movie franchises. Get it right and the results will engage and entertain audiences while leaving them wanting more of the same. Get it wrong, however, and a once-promising premise that could have paved the way for sequels, prequels, and an extended cinematic universe can crumble to dust.
The fine line between a good,...
We look at the sequences that would have changed the legacies – and future franchise directions – of the films they were cut from.
The editing process of a feature film can prove precarious at the best of times. You can have the best script in the world, a great cast, and some impressive work in the can, but it’s only when the action heads to the edit suite that a film really starts to take shape.
It’s a time-consuming process and one fraught with difficult decisions – particularly in the modern era of ever-expanding movie franchises. Get it right and the results will engage and entertain audiences while leaving them wanting more of the same. Get it wrong, however, and a once-promising premise that could have paved the way for sequels, prequels, and an extended cinematic universe can crumble to dust.
The fine line between a good,...
- 10/2/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Sep 19, 2019
The classic 1990s slasher series inspired a lot of hidden gems. Here are some of the best...
The best scary movies start with a truly killer idea. For Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson, it was to take the tropes of the done-to-death slasher movie and inject it with a satirical, self-referential edge tailor-made for the knowing audiences of the 1990s. The result was a black comedy horror whodunit that had audiences laughing and shrieking in equal measure.
Williamson, who would go on after Scream to solidify his legacy with the sharply written teen drama series, Dawson’s Creek, drew his influences from fact and fiction. His first draft was inspired by the chilling story of the real-life Gainesville Ripper, but the finished product also paid homage to movies like Halloween, When A Stranger Calls, and Prom Night.
Craven was the perfect director too, having tested the waters of...
The classic 1990s slasher series inspired a lot of hidden gems. Here are some of the best...
The best scary movies start with a truly killer idea. For Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson, it was to take the tropes of the done-to-death slasher movie and inject it with a satirical, self-referential edge tailor-made for the knowing audiences of the 1990s. The result was a black comedy horror whodunit that had audiences laughing and shrieking in equal measure.
Williamson, who would go on after Scream to solidify his legacy with the sharply written teen drama series, Dawson’s Creek, drew his influences from fact and fiction. His first draft was inspired by the chilling story of the real-life Gainesville Ripper, but the finished product also paid homage to movies like Halloween, When A Stranger Calls, and Prom Night.
Craven was the perfect director too, having tested the waters of...
- 9/18/2019
- Den of Geek
Jack Beresford Aug 6, 2019
Some of the big screen's most memorable performances came from actors who were cast just before the cameras started rolling...
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
Good casting makes all the difference in the movie business. You can have a great script, a big budget, and the best director but without the right actors, everything can fall a little flat.
Yet even good casting can go wrong every now and then. Someone who once seemed perfect for a particular role suddenly falls flat once the cameras start rolling, unable to bring to life what they once successfully conveyed during an audition and initial screen test. Other times injuries, contractual obligations, or other unforeseen personal circumstances can put paid to the best-laid plans.
Then there are the dreaded “creative differences” where conflicts between actors and directors end with one of the injured parties exiting a project...
Some of the big screen's most memorable performances came from actors who were cast just before the cameras started rolling...
This article comes from Den of Geek UK.
Good casting makes all the difference in the movie business. You can have a great script, a big budget, and the best director but without the right actors, everything can fall a little flat.
Yet even good casting can go wrong every now and then. Someone who once seemed perfect for a particular role suddenly falls flat once the cameras start rolling, unable to bring to life what they once successfully conveyed during an audition and initial screen test. Other times injuries, contractual obligations, or other unforeseen personal circumstances can put paid to the best-laid plans.
Then there are the dreaded “creative differences” where conflicts between actors and directors end with one of the injured parties exiting a project...
- 8/6/2019
- Den of Geek
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