John Landis
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The Quest, Amazon Women on the Moon and Pierrot Le Fou: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations
Brian Trenchard-Smith, who began making movies in the 1970s as part of the Australian New Wave that also included Peter Weir and George Miller, is not only one of the most talented and entertaining directors of his generation but one of the most versatile; his output includes lyrical children’s films and lowbrow sex comedies, disreputable exploitation flicks and tender romances, documentaries and low-budget disaster movies, and episodic TV episodes ranging from Flipper and Mission: Impossible reboots to the ’90s guilty pleasure Silk Stalkings. A filmmaker who freely admits that he never met a green light he didn’t like, Trenchard-Smith is a craftsman whose best work […]
by Jim Hemphill on Oct 23, 2020 -
“Making a Hammer Film As If It Was Directed by Scorsese”: John Landis on Innocent Blood and Operating Muppets with Tim Burton
One of the most underrated films by one of America’s most underrated filmmakers just arrived on Blu-ray in the form of Warner Archive’s 25th-anniversary release of John Landis’ Innocent Blood. To call Landis underrated might seem perverse given that he’s directed some of the most successful and enduring movies of the late 1970s and early 1980s – National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, Coming to America – but I still think his body of work has never quite gotten its critical due in this country, partly because his movies are so damn […]
by Jim Hemphill on Oct 3, 2017 -
“It’ll Never Make a Movie:” Animal House at 35
“No one wants to make this movie.” That’s what studio chief Ned Tanen told John Landis in the mid-70s about this vulgar frat house comedy called Animal House. Thursday night, Landis was reminiscing at the movie’s 35th anniversary at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox with producers Ivan Reitman and Matty Simmons, plus co-stars Stephen Furst (Dorfman) and Martha Smith (Babs). Based on stories that ran in The National Lampoon magazine, Animal House pits a dysfunctional fraternity against an uptight university administration. Made for $2.7 million in 1978, Animal House was a box-office smash that made a star of John Belushi and […]
by Allan Tong on Jul 22, 2013 -
AUGUST VOD CALENDAR
Now up on our VOD calendar are titles available for the month of August. Some of the highlights: Meek’s Cutoff, The Beaver, Jane Eyre and John Landis returns to features after over a decade of directing for TV with his dark comedy Burke and Hare (which hits theaters in September), starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as the legendary 19th century body-snatchers. For titles from previous months go to our VOD Calendar homepage.
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 1, 2011 -
DALLAS INTERNATONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The 2011 Dallas International Film Festival closes today, wrapping up an 11 day fest that accomplished what all regional fests should: screening favorites on the festival circuit while highlighting the talents of filmmakers in its community. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Dallas Film Society (which took over the festival when the three-year licensing and consulting deal with AFI wasn’t renewed before the 2010 fest) — specifically chairman Michael Cain and artistic director James Faust — the 5th DIFF has integrated itself nicely into a Dallas arts community that already has a full calendar of events to choose from […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Apr 10, 2011 -
HAILING “INTO THE NIGHT”
Here’s the BBC’s Mark Kermode hailing as a “forgotten gem” John Landis’s Into the Night, starring Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer. It’s been years since I’ve seen this film but I’ve always remembered it fondly as well. To see if it holds up I’m going to put it on my Netflix queue.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 31, 2010 -
FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: SPRING, 1996
Spring, 1996. It’s so strange now to look back at a piece in this issue by David Leitner on the new digital camera technology and read this bit of breaking news: 1996 will witness the inauguration of prerecorded films on CD-sized Digital Versatile Disks or “DVDs” (you and I will call them Digital Video Disks). DVDs not only doom VHS but also CD-ROMs as we know them for the mere reason that single-sided DVDs store 8.5 gigabytes compared to the puny 680 megabytes of CDs while manufacturing costs are the same. Also in this issue was filmmaker John Landis (yes, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 17, 2010 -
NYFF.45 #4
In Jamie Stuart’s final episode of his shorts series from the New York Film Festival, things have gotten a little out of hand for our video reporter. But he manages to get an interview with John Landis, whose documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project premiered at the fest. Approximate running time: 4:01. Download the short here by right clicking and choosing Save Target or Save Link. (26M) Please visit Jamie’s site at www.mutinycompany.com.
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 22, 2007
