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It’s always nice to see a standout effort from years past getting some love from the streaming scene, and that’s just what we’re here to talk about today. I’m talking about the chilling ‘90s crime thriller Copycat trending on Netflix right now!

The flick currently holds the #10 spot on the platform overall. Having recently added the film to their catalog, Copycat may continue to rise in the coming days. No matter what, it’s nice to see people connecting with this harrowing effort 30 years on from release.

If you haven’t yet experienced the film, Copycat is a supremely terrifying crime thriller that benefits from a competent script filled with twists and turns. Ann Biderman (Primal Fear) and David Madsen (Knightwatch) effectively mix pop psychology with serial killer lore, crafting a narrative that seamlessly blends elements of true crime with narrative fiction.

Not to mention, the...

A new episode of the Revisited video series has arrived online this morning – and since the latest entry in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus, is currently in theatres, we decided this would be a good time to look back at one of the least popular Alien movies, the 1997 release Alien: Resurrection (watch it Here). In the video embedded above, you’ll hear how this film’s odd and wacky tone managed to kill the franchise. For a while, anyway.

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet from a screenplay written by Joss Whedon, Alien: Resurrection has the following synopsis: The saga continues 200 years after Ripley sacrificed herself for the sake of humanity. Her erstwhile employers long gone, this time it is the military that resurrects the one-woman killing machine through genetic cloning to extract the alien from within her, but during the process her DNA is fused with the queen and then the aliens escape.

Clockwise from left: The Big Lebowski (Working Title Films/Gramercy Pictures), Barber (Fubar Films), Stars At Noon (Canal+)Image: The A.V. Club

For the first full month of spring, Hulu adds some fan-favorite films as well as some recent indie movies before the summer movie season begins and we turn our attention to big-budget blockbusters.

Alien and Aliens are two of the most highly respected and beloved sci-fi horror films ever made… and all of the films that have followed have either been divisive in one way or another, or just flat-out poorly received. One of the least popular entries in the franchise is the 1997 installment Alien: Resurrection (watch it Here), which put some fans off with its wild and weird tone and its crazy ideas. Decades down the line, Alien: Resurrection director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is currently doing the press rounds to promote a theatrical re-release of his very popular 2001 romantic comedy Amélie, and JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols took the opportunity to ask him about the making of his Alien sequel. Here’s how it went:

Tyler Nichols: I’m also a big horror fan, so I have to ask you about your work on Alien: Resurrection. Because I still think of the underwater...

Joss Whedon has never made his intense dislike for Alien Resurrection a secret, but in pointing the finger elsewhere he overlooks the issues inherent in his own screenplay. The Alien franchise was intended to come to a close with 1992's Alien 3, which went through a notoriously difficult production and ended with the death of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. Despite the latter's mixed reception, Fox later greenlit another sequel and hired an up-and-coming Joss Whedon to write. His original concept saw Aliens' Newt being resurrected, but during development, the studio requested it focus on a Ripley clone instead.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet soon came on as director, with Alien Resurrection arriving in 1997. The fourth outing is regarded as something of a dud thanks to its goofy tone and over-the-top action sequences. While it's not a fan favorite, Resurrection still has its defenders. Weaver is having a lot of fun as Ripley's clone,...

"Alien: Resurrection" is the type of misfire that demands study; it's what happens when a director and a writer aren't even reading the same book, much less on the same page. Writer Joss Whedon lives and breathes screwball humor and self-deprecating snark. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, on the other hand, made surreal French fantasy movies like "Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children." Moreover, Jeunet has made no secret of his distaste for Whedon's writing.

Whedon openly dislikes "Alien: Resurrection" what became, often pointing to parts of his script that were executed in ways incongruent with his intent. For instance, he's said the film taught him the lesson "casting is storytelling." Whedon continued:

"I wrote two characters for 'Alien: Resurrection' and their arc was that you would not know what way they were going to go. One of them turned out to be insane — and what do they do?...

While already not the most beloved installment in the franchise, Alien Resurrection director Jean-Pierre Jeunet offers his blunt thoughts on Joss Whedon's criticisms for the film. The fourth movie in the long-running sci-fi/horror series picked up 200 years after the events of Alien 3, in which Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley sacrificed herself to prevent Weyland-Yutani from getting their hands on a Xenomorph queen embryo. Alien Resurrection sees Ripley cloned with the queen embryo in tow, now a hybrid of her human host, and resulting in a new onslaught of terror aboard a space vessel full of mercenaries and military scientists.

With a cast that also included Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, J.E. Freeman, Gary Dourdan, Chucky actor Brad Dourif, and Michael Wincott, Alien Resurrection hit theaters in late 1997 to generally mixed reviews from critics, with some praise aimed towards its direction, Weaver's performance and its visual effects,...

Feature number three for the Coen Brothers is an eccentric gangster saga with a wonderful slate of mugs — Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, Albert Finney, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman, Steve Buscemi — slinging highly entertaining hardboiled dialogue. The witty, insightful story is at heart not a comedy, and the direction impresses in the formal sense — no superfluous camera acrobatics this time. Barry Sonnenfeld’s visual stick in the mind — the Byrne-Turturro execution scene in the woods is one of the highlights of 1990s filmmaking.

Miller’s Crossing

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1112

1990 / Color / 1:85 / 113 115 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 8, 2022 / 39.95

Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, J.E. Freeman, Albert Finney, Mike Starr, Al Mancini, Richard Woods, Tom Toner, Steve Buscemi, Mario Todisco. Michael Badalucco, Frances McDormand.

Cinematography: Barry Sonnenfeld

Production Designer: Dennis Gassner

Art Director: Leslie McDonald

Costume Design: Ricahrd Hornung

Film Editor: Michael R. Miller...

William Hurt, Christine Lahti and Elizabeth Perkins do excellent work in this superior drama which delivers an important, unforced life lesson. An emotionless hotshot surgeon gets a dose of his own medicine when he’s hit by a cancerous tumor, and is put through the same wringer that so humiliates his patients. What might be a cynical critique becomes a curiously uplifting drama about the need to include some humanity in one’s profession. Asserting the importance of kindness and empathy to people in need, director Randa Haines’ show is more uplifting than a faith-based film.

The Doctor

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1991 / Color / widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date March 5, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95

Starring: William Hurt, Christine Lahti, Elizabeth Perkins, Mandy Patinkin, Adam Arkin, Charlie Korsmo, Wendy Crewson, Bill Macy, J.E. Freeman, Ed Rosenbaum.

Cinematography: John Seale

Film Editor: Lisa Fruchtman, Bruce Green

Production Designer: Ken Adam

Original Music: Michael Convertino...

Cage runs off with Laura Dern while doing his best Elvis impression.“Did I ever tell ya that this here jacket represents a symbol of my individuality, and my belief in personal freedom?”

I don’t remember the first time I saw every Nicolas Cage movie I’ve seen but the ones I do remember I’ll never forget. Wild At Heart is a first-time viewing I will most certainly never forget. I saw it for the first time when I was about 18, roughly 13 years or so after the film was released. By that time I was already a huge fan of Cage so I was making my way through his back catalogue, tracking down all the stuff I hadn’t seen yet.

I would go to Borders (shout out to those that remember Borders) just about every Friday and pick up a new DVD. On this particular Friday I had purchased Wild At Heart. A...

The sad news has just reached us the legendary character actor, Jon Polito has passed away at the age of 65. His cause of death is unknown at this time. You may not know his name, but you definitely know his face, having starred in countless films and t.v. shows in his long, long, Longgggg career (his IMDb credits number more than 200 credits), including The Crow, American Gangster, Desperate Housewives, Seinfeld, Highlander, Scrubs, and a lead role in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Streets. But he is best known for his five collaborations with the Coen brothers which began with Miller’s Crossing, where he pretty much stole the show as gangster Jonny Caspar, constantly screaming about getting "the high hat". He was originally offer the role of The Dane, Caspar’s enforcer (eventually played by J.E. Freeman), but turned it down, saying he would only play Caspar.

Midway through David Lynch’s Palme d’Or winning, bizarro road-tripping love story, Lula tells her lover Sailor, ‘This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top,’ as if describing not the actual world, but the cinematic pop-nightmare universe which Lynch has envisioned for them to inhibit. Alternately weird and romantic, hysterical and disturbing, Wild at Heart is a farcical melodrama heightened by sweltering sexual passion, non-stop pop culture references and a remarkably unhinged sense of the contradiction between self-confidence and diffidence. And despite a plot that weaves in spousal murder, Elvis sing-a-longs and a warped Wizard of Oz motif, Sailor and Lula still receive their happy ending in the sun. Who would have thought that Barry Gifford’s pulpy novel could be blended like a sugary spiked milkshake with the likes of ‘Love Me Tender’ and Glinda the Good Witch. Only from the mind of David Lynch.

Villains have always been and will always be some of the most fascinating and memorable characters in the world of genre film. Here we will take a look at the greatest villains of cinema from the 1990’s.

The criteria for this article is the same as in my previous articles Cinema’s Greatest Villains: The 1970’s and Cinema’s Greatest Villains: The 1980’s: the villains must be from live-action films-no animated features-and must pose some type of direct of indirect lethal threat. The villains can either be individuals or small groups that act as one unit.

The villains must be human or human in appearance. Also, individuals that are the central protagonists/antiheroes of their respective films were excluded.

Brad Dourif as The Gemini Killer in The Exorcist III (William Peter Blatty, 1990): Veteran actor Dourif is intense and unforgettable as an executed murderer inhabiting someone else’s body in...

I remember getting my hands on Joss Whedon's script for Alien: Resurrection back in the mid 90's and I thought it was great! I was so excited for the movie that was going to come out, then I saw it, and it sucked ass. They ended up changing a lot of stuff, but Whedon's script was still good. He ended up getting a story credit on the film to which he says, "There is always going to be a shitty Alien movie out there. A shitty Alien movie with my name on it."

In a recent interview with Total Film Magazine the Avengers director talked about Prometheus and reflects on his own contribution the franchise saying,

Yes, I did see Pro-meaningless," he joked. "In all seriousness, Alien: Resurrection was, I thought, the lowest I could ever feel. And then they cancelled Firefly. 'Yup, there you go. That's me feeling even lower.

Joss Whedon has discussed his work on Alien: Resurrection.

The Avengers director has a writing credit on the poorly-received Alien franchise film.

"In all seriousness, Alien: Resurrection was, I thought, the lowest I could ever feel," he told Total Film magazine.

"And then they cancelled Firefly. 'Yup, there you go. That's me feeling even lower.'

"Let me quote King Lear - 'The worst is not, so long as we can say, "This is the worst".'"

He complained about the miscasting of Brad Dourif and Je Freeman in the two characters he wrote for the Jean-Pierre Jeunet-directed 1997 movie.

"You don't ever get over it," he added. "When you are making a movie you are making something that is going to last forever, especially now with the internet.

"So there is always going to be a s**tty Alien movie out there. A s**tty Alien movie with my name on it.

Wild at Heart

Directed by David Lynch

Written by David Lynch

1990, USA

Wild at Heart, a hyper, often violent and oddly romantic take on The Wizard of Oz, starts off with a lit match and a brutal attack, and ends with a visit from Glenda the Good Witch and Nicolas Cage singing “Love me tender”. For all its wackiness it finds David Lynch at his deprived Americana best.

Beginning in Cape Fear, South Carolina, Sailor Ripley (Cage, in what is arguably his best performance) is a petty criminal, deeply in love with an oversexed white trash Marilyn Monroe wannabe Lula Pace Fortune (Laura Dern). Her deranged, homicidal, overbearing mother Marietta (Diane Ladd) works to end, her daughters relationship, and in the process gets Sailor sent away to prison. Ten months later he walks out, slips into a snakeskin jacket and rides off with Lula heading for New Orleans. Their followed...

Tom Noonan as Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter (Michael Mann, 1986, USA):

Noonan is absolutely incredible as a serial murderer in this underrated adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon. With all respect to the talented but miscast actors involved in Brett Ratner’s 2002 adaptation Red Dragon (USA), with the exception of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, the acting in this earlier, superior version of the book exists on a much higher level. Most notably, there’s nothing resembling a comparison between Noonan’s Francis Dollarhyde and Ralph Fiennes’ interpretation. This role is by far Noonan’s finest film work to date and should not be missed.

Other notable Tom Noonan performances: Phoenix (Danny Cannon, 1998, USA).

Christopher Walken as Brad Whitewood Sr.in At Close Range (James Foley, 1986, USA):

Having once described his role in this film as “the hillbilly Lucifer”, Walken is incredible as a rural crime boss bringing his son,...

Chicago – Few directors have ever kickstarted their career more confidently than Joel and Ethan Coen. And they did it with such an array of genre and subject matter from the gritty noir of “Blood Simple” to the subversive comedy of “Raising Arizona” to the gangster epic “Miller’s Crossing” to the heavily-symbolic drama “Barton Fink” to the whimsical charmer “The Hudsucker Proxy” and head-first into one of the best movies ever made — “Fargo.” Four of their first six films have been collected in the “Coen Brothers Collection” and while Fox was, very sadly, only able to send over one of them individually, we didn’t want this stellar collection to go unmentioned.

The “Coen Brothers Collection” would be worth the purchase price if any single one of the films in it were removed. In other words, all four of these flicks are So good that you could take any one...

As already discussed in the review of Alien 3 (1992), the troubled production helmed by David Fincher was a bit of a mess thanks to Fox's insistence on shooting without a completed script. Despite being a shaggy film in which the thematic scenes involving the Christ-esque Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) grants salvation to the planet's damned prisoners are far more engrossing than the stereotypical cat-and-mouse alien scenes, Fincher's tone and general direction were admirable because of the risks they took: it's a nihilistic film, through and through, ending with the suicide of the queen alien impregnated Ripley. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the French director of such acclaimed films as City of Lost Children (1995) and Delicatessen (1991), who would later direct Amelie and Micmacs, two amazing pieces of cinema), was brought in to pick up the pieces on the Joss Whedon (yes, the Joss Whedon of Firefly and Buffy fame) scripted Alien Resurrection (1997). Yet, despite...

Edgar Wright returns to the New Beverly grindhouse in Los Angeles with his resume of flicks along with a boatload of his favorites. This is the second time the fan favorite filmmaker has taken over the retro theater where he will be present for Q & A’s and a raucous good time.

january 14, 15 The Wright Stuff II – Triple Feature! All Tickets $10

Shaun Of The Dead Fri / Sat: 7:30 2004, UK / France / USA, 99 minutes Edgar Wright will appear In Person, schedule permitting, Friday & Saturday to discuss! directed by Edgar Wright; written by Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright; starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran Trailer

Hot Fuzz Fri / Sat: 9:30 2007, UK / France / USA, 121 minutes directed by Edgar Wright; written by Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright; starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Bill Nighy

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Fri / Sat: 11:59pm (Midnight) 2009, USA / UK / Canada,...

Our look back at the Alien films concludes with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s divisive 1997 instalment, Alien: Resurrection…

The upturned nose. The doleful eyes. The wobbly, gelatinous skin. Back in 1997, Alien: Resurrection’s Newborn, the half human, half xenomorph that appears at the movie’s climax, was too, too much for your humble writer.

It remains the only time, before or since, that I’ve had to restrain myself from either heckling the cinema screen like a madman, or walking out of the theatre in a rage.

Everything about its movement and design ran counter to my perception of what the Alien films should be, and like a petulant child, I vowed never to watch Resurrection again.

At the very least, I hope my little series of Alien Anthology retrospectives has demonstrated one thing: my enduring affection and enthusiasm for the movies, and the remarkable creature that sprang from the collective imaginations of Hr Giger,...

Holy God. That’s one of the first reactions one has to 20th Century Fox’s six disc Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology. It was put together by Charles de Lauzirika, and he’s the guy who’s been doing all the supplements for this franchise for years now, including the awkwardly named Alien Quadrilogy. His task was to make a collection that had not only improved picture and sound quality, but all the supplements of previous releases, and even more additional content. He and his team delivered; this is the mother lode. Of course, the series is also presented immaculately, with each film offering two cuts, deleted scenes, commentaries and isolated scores. The six disc set has over 60 hours of supplements. It’s mind-boggling and overwhelming, but also the perfect franchise for this sort of study, and it’s perfect for Blu-ray. Our humbled review of the Alien...

Just listening to Carter Burwell’s score for this film alone is enough to make my day. I just recently watched Miller’S Crossing again for the umptee-nth time and I swear to you the DVD menu played in it’s loop for a good 15-20 minutes before I even hit play, listening to the Opening Titles track. Burwell’s score is haunting and enchanting at the same time, drawing from traditional Irish music and notched up with a bit of cinematic flair. The film however, proved somewhat challenging for the Coen Brothers, who suffered writer’s block during the scripting of the film. As a remedy, Joel and Ethan took a few weeks off and in that time wrote a film about writer’s block called Barton Fink.

The opening scene is very reminiscent of Coppola’s The Godfather, but does so with dignity and yet still has Coen Brothers written all over it.