The Movie Sneak

ARTHUR'S (FILMIC) KINGDOM - A CHAT WITH "RUSH HOUR", "WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING", "LAST MAN STANDING" PRODUCER ARTHUR SARKISSIAN

Old-school retro while "new era" ballsy as hell, the films of producer Arthur Sarkissian - among them the RUSH HOUR series, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, Walter Hill's LAST MAN STANDING, Rutger Hauer's back-in-day classic WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, Martin Campbell's THE FOREIGNER with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan, THE PROTÉGÉ, MEMORY and more - were all shepherded to the screen by Mr. Sarkissian not necessarily because of how critics or studios or distributors would react to them, ... but more importantly by how audiences would. And this is because Sarkissian grew up falling in love with films like THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, KELLY'S HEROES, JAWS and others while watching them in theaters surrounded by audiences laughing, screaming, cheering and more. As such, it's my great honor to present a nifty sit-down wherein "filmic king" Arthur delves into his past, inspirations, mentorship under iconic Hollywood mogul Howard W. Koch, Sr., early involvement with MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, AIRPLANE and Abel Ferrara's KING OF NEW YORK and much, much more. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the last of Hollywood's great gentleman producers, Mr. Arthur Sarkissian.  __________________________________ Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.

"WHERE WERE YOU IN '82?": RELIVING THE GREATEST MOVIE SUMMER OF ALL TIME!

What could make the greatest film summer of them all, 1982 - where within four months POLTERGEIST, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, E.T., ROCKY III, BLADE RUNNER, THE THING, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, TRON, FIREFOX, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, PINK FLOYD: THE WALL, THE SECRET OF NIMH, THE ROAD WARRIOR, NIGHT SHIFT, DINER and more, ... which 40 years ago all opened back-to-back / week-after-week - even better? How 'bout reliving that time with the people with whom you first saw many of those movies! That's what we did - inviting three of our closest life-long friends to step into the WayBack Machine with us to that most memorable summer. And, hey, in doing so we realized it wasn't just the films themselves which gave us that lifetime of memories we cherish to this day, but the fact that it was also a very special time of life associated with those movies which we came to emotionally - sometimes subconsciously - link to them. And as such, whether - like us - you got to those now-classic flicks of '82 in the first "POS" car you ever owned or on bicycles, whether those four months helped heal a first-time broken heart, or whether it was the last time you and your own personal STAND BY ME / STRANGER DAYS / FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH-like group of friends were ever together in the same room before separating to the four winds, to this day every time you rewatch one of those films a piece of you zooms back to the time and place you first saw it - and with whom you saw it - faster than Doc Brown can say "Great Scott!" or "1.21 gigawatts!". __________________________________ THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art". Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.

"RARA AVIS" - INDEPENDENT'S DAY, 2022 - THREE TRULY ONE-OF-A-KIND FILMS AND FILMMAKERS TO WATCH IN '22

The concept of independent cinema isn't as new as some believe, and there have always been two kinds. One is where stars break from the system to do their own thing - such as when Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith joined to form the (then) independent company United Artists to oppose the financial and creative strangulation of the “Big Five” studios of the day. And the other where a relative upstart / outsider has the chutzpah to not only tear down long-established walls, but in the process build bridges for others into the industry - such as when 100 years before Tyler Perry African-American novelist Oscar Micheaux establish himself as the first black American “one man studio”, directing and producing 40 films and seven novels in just under 30 years between 1919 and 1948.  That spirit still exists today. And in celebration THE MOVIE SNEAK sits down with three filmmakers for our annual fireside on the current state of the independent cinematic arts. Stacy Layne Wilson takes us behind-the-scenes on her new “Lo Fi, Sci Fi, Rock ‘n Roll Comedy” THE SECOND AGE OF AQUARIUS. Filmmaker Amanda Kasmira Cryer gives us a little pre-vis on her searing in-the-works documentary INSIDE MEN which delves into prison reform and the need to do away with the “for-profit” incarceration system. And ahead-of-his-time writer / director Chris Chan Lee chats with us about his acclaimed hard-hitting 1997 coming-of-age drama YELLOW, and his “currently on the festival circuit" SILENT RIVER – which begins as a Sam Shepard-like drama about a man seeking reconciliation with his estranged wife, then branches in mind-bending genre territory worthy of Rod Serling and Richard Matheson. Recently returned from Europe where just a few weeks ago SILENT RIVER picked up a Jury Award at the Paris International Film Festival, we’re honored to have Chris -- along with Stacy and Amanda – join us for our Second Annual Celebration of “INDEPENDENT’S” DAY.  More on STACY LAYNE WILSON @ ... * Staci Layne Wilson Official Website [https://www.stacilaynewilson.com/] * Staci Layne Wilson - IMDb [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2672601/] More on AMANDA KASMIRA CRYER @ ... * Amanda Cryer - IMDb [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0190538/?ref_=nm_mv_close] * Kazzy Reacts - YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/KazzyReacts/featured] More on CHRIS CHAN LEE @ ... * Chris Chan Lee - IMDb [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0497022/] * FILM AND TV NOW - CHRIS CHAN LEE (SILENT RIVER) INTERVIEW - YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4mWyvNPFUM] __________________________________ THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art". Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.

THE 5TH ANNUAL "CHEAPIE BIN AWARDS" - FOR FILMS MANY DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT, ... BUT SHOULD!

It's that time of year again where - as certain as those proverbial death, taxes and the changing of the seasons (though usually a lot more fun) - THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST unleashes its choices for the annual CHEAPIE BIN AWARDS. The world's most unpretentious awards show (which really doesn't actually give out any trophies), THE CHEAPIE BINS celebrates a love of film by delving into our favorites from the last year. The twist, though, is they aren't necessarily films which opened within the last year. But are rather films we've only just seen in that last year via taking a chance / a flyer / a gamble and picking them up for a buck or two in a local supermarket, drug store or Dollar Store / Dollar Tree cheapie bin. As such, we take into consideration old and new, and everything from studio fare and critical gems to contemporary action flicks and old-school grindhousers in our awards categories - "Best Remake or Reboot", "Most Surprising Film, ... In A Good Way", "Most Technically Impressive", "Fave Film Which The Rest of The World Absolutely Hated", "Favorite Guilty Pleasure" and "Best CHEAPIE BIN-DER Of The Year".  "The envelope please" 😄   *NOTES* The audio distortion during the first 30 seconds of the episode is intentional. And some film audio clips contain explicit language which some may find offensive. Just givin' you a heads up! __________________________________ THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art". Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.

NEO-GEO NAZISM: THE MOVIES VS. WHITE SUPREMACY

"Neo" means "new". But from Charlottesville, to the plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, to the January 6th terror attack (and Sept.18th rally attempting to recasts the insurrectionists as "political prisoners") and beyond, it's the same age-old supremacist doctrine which earlier fueled Germany's "Beer Hall Putsch" and the Holocaust, South Africa's once all dominant Apartheid, and America's "Jim Crow". So, let's be clear there's nothing "new" about any of this at all. Art - including cinema - is society's subconscious. And in the 1980s, when long-standing ethnic / cultural barriers were being torn down (remember MTV refusing to air black artists until the success of Michael Jackson and Prince forced them too?), there was rising blowback among those who felt they were losing long-held power. And before this blowback was publicly acknowledged (or maybe even realized) by the general public, filmmakers had already picked up on it and addressed the threat in a remarkable number of mainstream films between 1988 - '89 where white supremacists and their doctrine were challenged head-on as a modern day threat: among those films - Costa-Gavras' BETRAYED and MUSIC BOX, Oliver Stone's TALK RADIO, John Frankenheimer's DEAD BANG, Clint Eastwood's PINK CADILLAC, Richard Donner's LETHAL WEAPON 2, along with MISSISSIPPI BURNING, MURDERER'S AMONG US, A DRY WHITE SEASON, TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT, HANNA'S WAR and others. And it's remarkable how, when re-watching these films today, they all seem as if they could have been shot as recently as just last week.  In one of our most stark and raw installments (yes, we've still got film audio clips, but no background music or slick production this time around) Craig and Jim recall the era, and do in-depth retros on the various films as they related to the social / political landscape of their day, ... as well as how many still amazingly / tragically closely relate to our present.   *NOTE* THIS EPISODE CONTAINS FILM AUDIO CLIPS AND LANGUAGE WHICH SOME MY FIND DISTURBING. ______________________________________________________________________________ THE MOVIE SNEAK PODCAST is part of The GullCottage/Sandlot - a film blog, cinema magazine, growing reference library and online network "Celebrating The Art of Cinema, ... And Cinema As Art". Explore the GULLCOTTAGE / SANDLOT @ www.gullcottageonline.com Rights to film / TV clips and other audio excerpts held by copyright owners. Presented here for educational and criticism purposes.