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Last year, legendary filmmaker John Carpenter teamed up with Shout! Factory to host a kaiju movie marathon called Masters of Monsters, which consisted of the original Godzilla film, Rodan; Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster, and The War of the Gargantuas. That marathon was re-run earlier this month. Now the folks at Far Out magazine have dug up a 1996 article from Film Comment magazine in which Carpenter named The War of the Gargantuas as “the ultimate Japanese monster movie” – and included it on a list of his seventeen favorite “guilty pleasure” movies. It’s a fun list, so we have it included below, with thanks to this site.

Carpenter started out the Film Comment guilty pleasures article by saying, “I wasn’t raised a Catholic, so guilt never played much of a role in my life. We Methodists don’t worry about guilt all that much. In terms of cinema, however, guilt has always been very important.

Demolition will soon begin on a resort once favored by Elvis Presley and other Hollywood royalty before it was heavily damaged by a hurricane three decades ago.

The Coco Palms Resort on the island of Kauai will be torn down for a new 350-room hotel, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The resort is best known in movie lore as the location where Presley and Joan Blackman’s characters married in the 1961 movie “Blue Hawaii”.

It’s also the site of other key scenes in the movie, including the last where Presley sings the “Hawaiian Wedding Song” and holds Blackman’s hand while they board a raft to cross a lagoon.

In its heyday, it was famed for being frequented by other Hollywood stars like Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Bing Crosby.

The 46-acre (19-hectare) grounds were also once home to Kauai’s last queen, Deborah Kapule, who died in 1853.

The resort...

Elvis Presley’s handlers found the formula that would keep his stardom solvent through the 1960s in this well-confected, calculatedly vacant star vehicle that Everybody liked and enjoyed in 1961. The coolest celeb in America ended up in some of the squarest, least-hip films of the era. Why do we like it so? Cutting through the fog of nostalgia reveals the appeal. The Hawaiian scenery is a knockout, plus there’s good support from Joan Blackman and especially Angela Lansbury, who humbles herself to play an idiot mother caricature for Mister ‘Rock-a-Hula.’

Blue Hawaii

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Paramount Presents

1961 / Color/ 1:85 widescreen / 101 min. / Street Date November 15, 2022 / Available from / 39.99

Starring: Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury, Nancy Walters, Roland Winters, John Archer, Howard McNear, Steve Brodie, Christian Kay, Iris Adrian, Hilo Hattie, Jenny Maxwell, Pamela Austin (Kirk), Darlene Tompkins, Jose De Vega, Frank Atienza, Ralph Hanalei, Gregory Gaye.

Cinematography: Charles Lang...

Don't have a Blue Christmas, go to Blue Hawaii! This November, Elvis Presley's classic 1961 surf film is coming to 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever as a part of the Paramount Presents line, just in time for the upcoming holiday season. Blue Hawaii tells the story of a recently discharged Army soldier named Chadwick "Chad" Gates, played by Presley, who returns to his home in Hawaii with his surfboard, his girlfriend, and his mother, played by the late, great Angela Lansbury. The film tells the story of Chad's struggle to return to normalcy, the trials of an unrequited schoolgirl crush, and his eventual marriage to his girlfriend Maile, played by Joan Blackman.

Formerly only available via import, 88 Films are set to release to exploitation “classics” on Blu-ray this June 24th- Pets, from director Raphael Nussbaum and Star Time, the magnum opus from writer/director Alexander Cassini. Full details and artwork for both release are below; and you can pre-order both films at the following links: Pets | Star Time.

Pets

Teenage Runaway Bonnie (Candice Rialson) has escaped the clutches of her controlling brother, only to become immediately embroiled in a twisted web of sexual manipulation. Initially convinced to aid in a carjacking, Bonnie is then taken in by a lecherous lesbian artist who hopes to groom her into a sapphic lover, only to have her plans thwarted by the perverse advances of a local gallery owner whose bizarre proclivities include the keeping of an unusual assortment of ‘pets.’ A truly unparalleled exploitation film viewing experience, Raphael Nussbaum’s Pets veers between moments of...

He sings, he fixes cars, and he takes punches better than De Niro’s Raging Bull. Elvis Presley excels in one of his few ’60s pictures that shows an interest in being a ‘real movie,’ a remake of a boxing saga with entertaining characters and fine direction from noir specialist Phil Karlson. Plus Charles Bronson, Lola Albright and Joan Blackman in standout roles.

Kid Galahad

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1962 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date August 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson, Robert Emhardt, Liam Redmond, Judson Pratt, Ned Glass, George Mitchell, Roy Roberts, Michael Dante, Richard Devon, Jeff Morris, Edward Asner, Frank Gerstle, Seamon Glass, Bert Remsen.

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey

Film Editor: Stuart Gilmore

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

Written by William Fay, Francis Wallace

Produced by David Weisbart

Directed by Phil Karlson

What, a good Elvis Presley picture?...

Hampton Fancher at the reflecting pool with Henry Moore's Reclining Figure (Lincoln Center) 1963–5 Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Hampton Fancher, the beguiling subject of Michael Almereyda's Escapes and co-screenwriter of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Denis Villeneuve's upcoming Blade Runner 2049, shared some memories of Jerry Lewis, who died at the age of 91 this past Sunday, August 20, at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We started out with Michael Pfleghar's film Romeo Und Julia 70 where Hampton interviewed Jerry Lewis, went onto the connection to Joan Blackman and Hal B Wallis for Norman Taurog's Visit To A Small Planet, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's In A Year With 13 Moons (In Einem Jahr Mit 13 Monden) and You're Never Too Young with Dean Martin and Lewis, a gurney in Frank Tashlin's The Disorderly Orderly and a rabbit in Geisha Boy, meeting Jack Benny and Buddy Hackett,...

Escapes at the IFC Center: "It's like that Thom Andersen movie Los Angeles Plays Itself. This is not a portrait of a place but a portrait of a person." Photo: Ed Bahlman

Escape artist Hampton Fancher reveals beating out Jean-Pierre Léaud and the pathway that led him to star in Michael Pfleghar's Romeo und Julia 70, opposite Tina Sinatra. Norman Taurog's Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley and Joan Blackman, Teri Garr, Brian Kelly and Flipper surface. Michael Almereyda makes a Skinningrove (his film on photographer Chris Killip) connection to a scene with Harrison Ford in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and remarks "it's called Escapes for a reason as almost every episode involves a near-death experience."

Hampton Fancher starred with Tina Sinatra in Michael Pfleghar's Romeo Und Julia 70

When do you think you know a person? What does this knowing entail? A face, a name, a voice,...

William Holden (1918 - 1981) belatedly discovers the charms of chauffeur's daughter Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) in 'Sabrina', directed by Billy Wilder.

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January 01, 1954| Credit: John Kobal Foundation

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Dustin Hoffman kisses Ann Bancroft in a scene from the film 'The Graduate', 1967.

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January 01, 1967| Credit: Archive Photos

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Burt Lancaster (1913 - 1994) and Deborah Kerr(1921 - 2007) in a scene from 'From Here to Eternity', Halona Cove, Oahu, Hawaii, 1953. The film was directed by Fred Zinnemann, for Columbia Pictures.

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January 01, 1953| Credit: Columbia Pictures, Getty Images

Cary Grant (1904 - 1986) and Ingrid Bergman kiss in 'Notorious'. Title: Notorious Studio: Rko Director: Alfred Hitchcock

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January 01, 1946| Credit: Hulton Archive

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Sean Connery and Japanese actress Mie Hama locked in a passionate embrace on a boat during the filming of 'You Only Live Twice', on location in the village of Akime, in South Japan.

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August 01, 1966| Credit: Keystone Features, Getty Images

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Grace Kelly (1929.1982) and Cary Grant (1904.1986) kissing in...