Displaying items by tag: Bud Elder

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We’ve got a great new View from the Cheap Seats column from our own Bud Elder today, entitled The Biggest Movie Story in America, featuring another of Bud’s great stories and a rundown of recent releases. Don’t miss it.

Also today, Tim Salmons has just turned in a new review of Scream Factory’s Invaders from Mars (1986) on Blu-ray.  [Read on here…]

I had to sit on maybe the biggest movie story in America. For a long time. And now that it’s been completed and is over, I’m shocked that the whole thing hasn’t been on the front page of The New York Times.

I’ve perhaps casually mentioned that I helped create (didn’t get in the way of) a film school here in Oklahoma City, actually at Oklahoma City Community College. The idea was, unlike film degrees that are based on watching and studying themes and points of view and reading scripts, the creative side, so to speak, to offer a technical, hands on degree program, why a community college was selected in the first place. And to enhance the experience, we got the finest equipment in the world – Avid editors and cameras and lenses and lights and then, through a lot of hard work from a lot of good people, here came the ultimate – a full end studio, built to the specs of an actual Hollywood soundstage. If another state funded school has a facility like this, I’d like to see it.  [Read on here...]

(Photo by Robin Holland Photography)

Robert Altman said his last “that’s a wrap,” can you believe it, some eight or nine years ago and it seems as though any hope of mainstream studio films with emotional weight, sharp characters, social satire and natural, cliché free dialogue was buried right next to him.

Every Hollywood director since the beginning of the medium owes a debt to Robert Altman. His style was so distinctive, so fresh and so natural that people would say to themselves, “Oh that’s what directors do.”  [Read on here...]

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We’ve got a new View from the Cheap Seats column for you guys today from our own Bud Elder, who checks in with some good stories about movie awards season, The Oscars, and his thoughts on some of the movies both nominated and newly available on disc from the indie BD labels. Do check it out.  [Read on here…]

Now where was I?

Sorry, I’ve not been here. I missed a bit – I’ll admit it and it for sure wasn’t to do with health or disinterest or a lack in passion. I just had to do stuff. But now I’m back.

But I come with good stories. Specifically regarding how movie awards season works.  [Read on here...]

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We’re pleased today to present the final review of Adam’s month-long Hell Plaza Oktoberfest 8 here at The Bits: It’s none other than the 1977 zombie/Nazi classic Shock Waves, directed by Ken Wiederhorn and presented on Blu-ray by Blue Underground! Congrats to Adam on another great Oktoberfest. We trust you all enjoyed it. If you did, be sure to send a little thanks and appreciation to Adam over on his Jahnke’s Electric Theater Facebook page.

Also here at The Bits today, we’ve got Bud Elder’s new View from the Cheap Seats column. This month, Bud asks the question: “What Movies Changed the Way You Look at Life?” He posts his own answer to this question, and challenges each of you to share your own lists too.  [Read on here…]

Darn that Facebook.

I’ve gotten a hoot out of it – have loved reconnecting with high school friends and long lost family and have discovered as well that there are people in the world with pages dedicated to interests close to my heart, such as those kept by my favorite authors, pictures of the New York I loved in the 70s and 80s and tributes to great character actors such as Timothy Carey.  [Read on here...]

We’ve got a new review for you today and a great new column as well.

First, Tim Salmons has turned in his thoughts on Scream Factory’s Eve of Destruction on Blu-ray. Nothing like a little B-grade rampaging cyborg action. Do check it out.

Also today, our own Bud Elder has a new View from the Cheap Seats column for you as well, in which he tells more tales of his time leading Hollywood types around the state of Oklahoma on location scouting trips. Don’t miss it.  [Read on here…]

Here are a couple of other stories from the salt mines of Oklahoma location scouting. There’s many, many more. But I can only bore so much..

Both tales involve the terrific writer, film critic and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter. In his 1993 novel Point of Impact, Hunter created the character Bob Lee “The Nailer” Swagger, which has now been featured, along with his father, Earl, in some 12 novels, the most recent of which is Sniper’s Honor.  [Read on here...]

As promised, we’re kicking things off today with Bud Elder’s new View from the Cheap Seats column, in which he details the history of John Wayne’s The Alamo and the sad state of affairs regarding MGM’s apparent lack of interest in preserving the film properly. It’s well worth reading and includes some new technical details on the condition of the film from Robert Harris. Don’t miss it.

Also today, Todd Doogan checks in with this week’s Doogan’s Queue, running down the latest Blu-ray and DVD titles in stores today. [Read on here…]