Warlock was a 1989 horror film produced by New World Pictures and distributed by Trimark Pictures. It was directed by Steve Miner, written by David Twohy, and produced by Roger Corman. The cast includes Julian Sands, Lori Singer, and Richard E. Grant. The sound track was by Jerry Goldsmith.

The film runs for 103 minutes in color with Dolby sound and in the English language. It received an MPAA rating of R (under-17 restricted). There was a 1993 sequel to this movie called Warlock: The Armageddon and a third film in 1999 called Warlock III: The End of Innocence. Acclaim Entertainment released a video game based on the films for the Super NES and Sega Genesis in 1995. Bluewater Productions also began a Warlock comic book series in 2009.

Trivia:

• Scene in the theatrical previews indicating that the Warlock was the satanic Messiah was cut some time before video distribution.
• The film was originally completed in late 1988 and was one of the last films completed by distributor New World Pictures when they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The film’s trailer was actually shown before early 1989 theatrical releases. Instead of going direct to video, Warlock was picked up and released in theatres by Trimark Pictures in 1991. It’s box office success lead to a sequel, “Warlock: The Armageddon” in which Trimark also released theatrically.

Splash is a 1984 fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The original music score was composed by Lee Holdridge. It was the very first film released by Disney’s Touchstone Films (now known as Touchstone Pictures).

Trivia:

• The first film released under Disney’s Touchstone Pictures label, which was created so the studio could release more adult-oriented fare.
• Daryl Hannah a vegetarian, refused to eat real lobster for the restaurant scene. The crew scooped out the insides of real, cooked lobsters and filled them with a thick, tofu-like paste. In an interview for ‘Biography (1990)’, Director Ron Howard said Hannah cried after each take over the deaths of the lobsters for their shells.
• Before Tom Hanks accepted the role of Allen Bauer, it had already been turned down by John Travolta and Michael Keaton.
• At the time of filming, Daryl Hannah was extremely shy about her body. According to director Ron Howard, she wore both band-aids and makeup over her nipples to conceal them.
• David Morse was considered for the lead role.
• Credited with introducing the girl’s name Madison, which has since become one of the most popular names for newborn girls in the early 21st century.
• When Madison watches television at the department store, the little boy in the toothpaste commercial is Emmanuel Lewis.
• The fountain from the movie is now on display at Disney’s MGM Studios at Walt Disney World. The mermaid fin Daryl Hannah wore is behind the bar at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney.
• The mold used to make the mermaid fountain had also been used to make the ice sculpture in Herbie Goes Bananas (1980).
• The scene at the racquetball court, where John Candy serves and the ball hits him in the head, was done in one take.
• The map from the shipwreck that Madison uses to find Allen’s home is an old map of the Province of New York. It bears the name ‘His Excellency William Tryon Esq.’ Tyron was the colonial governor of the Province of New York from 1771 to 1780.
• The “Crazy Eddie” commercial that surprises Madison was for a real electronics store. Eddie and Sam M. Antar opened Crazy Eddie in Brooklyn, NY in 1971. Their spokesman was WPIX-FM disc jockey Jerry “Dr. Jerry” Carroll, whose frenetic nonstop sales pitch was based on used car salesman Earl “Madman” Muntz. The pitch always ended with “Crazy Eddie, his prices are IN-SA-A-A-A-A-A-ANE!” The chain grew to 43 stores in 4 states. It closed in 1989 after charges of fraud and security violations.
• Jodie Foster auditioned for the role of Madison, but turned it down in order to play a character in The Hotel New Hampshire (1984).
• Rosanna Arquette auditioned for the role of Madison, but had to back out.
• Brooke Shields reportedly turned down an offer to play Madison so she could study French Literature at Princeton.
• Before Daryl Hannah accepted the role of Madison, it had already been turned down by Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Melanie Griffith,, Diane Lane, Kathleen Turner and Sharon Stone.
• Debra Winger reportedly wanted the role of Madison, but Ron Howard turned her down.
• While Allen is offering girls names to the mermaid before she settled on Madison, the last two he suggests are Elizabeth and Samantha. Elizabeth Hanks is Tom Hanks’s daughter and Samantha Lewes was his then-wife.
• According to Biography Channel, Bill Murray and P.J. Soles were considered for the roles of Allen and Madison, but Murray turned it down.

Brazil is a 1985 film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm. John Scalzi’s Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies describes the film as a “dystopian satire”.

The film centers on Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), a young man trying to find a woman who appears in his dreams while he is working in a mind-numbing job and living a life in a small apartment, set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. Brazil’s bureaucratic, totalitarian government is reminiscent of the government depicted in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, except that it has a buffoonish, slap-stick quality and lacks a ‘Big Brother’ figure.

Jack Mathews, movie critic and author of The Battle of Brazil (1987), described the film as “satirizing the bureaucratic, largely dysfunctional industrial world that had been driving Gilliam crazy all his life”.[1] Though a success in Europe, the film was unsuccessful in its initial North America release. It has since become a cult film.

The film is named after the recurrent theme song, “Aquarela do Brasil”, as well as referring to the originally intended opening the film, which dealt with the destruction of a rain forest.

Trivia:

• Terry Gilliam tested more than half a dozen actors to play the part of Jill, interviewing or testing Jamie Lee Curtis, Rebecca De Mornay, Rae Dawn Chong, Joanna Pacula, Rosanna Arquette, Kelly McGillis, Ellen Barkin, and he even considered Madonna. Gilliam’s personal favorite was Barkin.
• Robert De Niro wanted to play the role of Jack, but Gilliam had already promised this to Michael Palin. De Niro still wanted to be in the film, so he was cast as Tuttle instead.
• Jonathan Pryce’s role as Sam was written years earlier with him in mind. The character was originally designed to be in his mid-twenties (Pryce was only about 30 when Gilliam was developing the script), but after many years in limbo, Gilliam changed the character’s age to mid-to-late thirties so that then-37-year-old Pryce could still play the role.
• Director Terry Gilliam was reported to have been rather unhappy with Kim Greist’s performance, and as a result many of her scenes were drastically cut and/or trimmed down. Some of these were added for the Sid Sheinberg “Love Conquers All” studio version.
• Gilliam had trouble with studio producers over the black ending he wanted on the film. The producers wanted a “happy Hollywood” film which eliminated (among other things) the final transition and a critical line of dialogue which reveals the fate of Jill. These changes were made, and this “butchered” version was shown on US television at least once. Gilliam threatened to disown the film, and consequently the cinematic release and all videotape versions show the film essentially as he intended it to be seen (although the US cinematic release still omitted the line about Jill).
• When Mr. Helpman spells out the code that Sam’s father used to get to Helpman’s floor on the elevator, the letters are ERE I AM JH. When you rearrange those letters it spells JEREMIAH, Sam’s father’s name.
• Lots of significant names: – Mr. Kurtzman: (German for “short man”): small in stature and success. Named after the editor of “Help” (Harvey Kurtzman), a magazine that director Terry Gilliam worked for in the mid-60s. It was at a photo shoot for this magazine that Gilliam met John Cleese, who would later invite him to join the Monty Python team. – Mr. Helpman: “helped” Sam – Mr. Warrenn: works in a rabbit-warren style place: a maze of corridors – Harvey Lime: possibly a reference to Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949).
• The “young Mrs. Lowry” was played by both Kim Greist and Katherine Helmond.
• The samurai warrior’s suit was covered in electronic components such as resistors and volume knobs. In an early version of the film, all of the samurai warrior’s scenes were in one block.
• The theme song (which Sam listens to in his car) was also featured in Brazil (1944).
• The technician who, right at the start of the film, swats the fly which falls into the printer causing the fatal misprint is Ray Cooper, the percussionist who, among other things, accompanied Elton John on his famous Russian concerts in 1979.
• Director Cameo: [Terry Gilliam] the smoker in the Shangri-La tower who bumps into Sam.
• Director Trademark: [Terry Gilliam] [burst] SWAT teams enter through ceiling.
• During the climactic shootout at Information Retrieval, the janitor is killed and her vacuum cleaner rolls down the steps as the storm troopers walk and fire their weapons in a skirmish line formation. This is a reference to Sergei M. Eisenstein’s film, Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925), when the Cossacks march down the steps of the Port of Odessa, firing away as a baby carriage rolls by.
• Kim Greist is mistakenly billed as “Kim Griest” in various locations, including the early DVD packaging. In the Criterion single-disc reissue of the film, the error is corrected.
• This was River Phoenix’s favorite movie, and he had been filming Dark Blood (1993) with Jonathan Pryce. As a gift, Pryce arranged for Phoenix to meet Terry Gilliam, his hero. The meeting was set to happen the day he died outside the Viper Room. Phoenix never met him.
• Director Trademark: [Terry Gilliam] [burst] at the diner.
• Charles McKeown, who shared the co-credit in writing the film, wrote most of the propaganda slogans that can be seen in the background throughout the film.
• Jack’s daughter Holly is played by Terry Gilliam’s daughter, Holly Gilliam.
• In the autumn of 1985, Terry Gilliam and Robert De Niro appeared on “Good Morning America” (1975) to promote this film which was finished but not yet released. Gilliam was struggling with the studio and the studio head, Sid Sheinberg, quite publicly. De Niro rarely made television appearances to but agreed to help Gilliam out. According to Gilliam “Bobby [De Niro] said very little, he was talkative that day so we might have gotten him to ten words.” Host Joan Lunden asked Gilliam “I hear you’re having trouble with the studio, is this correct?” Gilliam responded with “No, I’m having trouble with Sid Sheinberg, here is an 8×10 photo of him,” and showed the entire nation his photograph. Sheinberg was reportedly furious with this incident, and it helped Gilliam get the release of the film done the way he wanted.
• Terry Gilliam was asked to do a film class during the battle of this film at USC. Terry agreed, and took advantage of the situation by preparing to bring an “audio visual aid”, which was his cut of the film, which would have been allowed. Unfortunately, two days before the event, students advertised a free screening of the film. When he arrived it was announced that Universal would not allow him to show the film. During his speech to the class, he was interrupted by studio executives’ phone calls. They eventually allowed him to show a clip of the film. He showed the entire film, and repeated the screenings for over two weeks. It was during one of these screenings that Los Angeles film critics saw the film, and awarded it the Best Picture of the Year award, which was responsible for getting the film released the way Gilliam wanted it.
• During his trouble with a studio, Terry Gilliam asked daily variety for a full page ad, which cost around $1,500 at the time. He had it bordered like a funeral invitation and it said: “Dear Sid Sheinberg, when are you going to release my film? Signed: Terry Gilliam.”
• According to Terry Gilliam in the book “The Battle of Brazil”, the toolbelt worn by Tuttle and all of its gadgets were supplied by Robert De Niro himself
• In one of the final scenes of the movie, among Jack Lint’s instruments of torture can clearly be seen a rubber bouncy ball and a pacifier.
• Almost all of the soundtrack music is a variation on the main melody in the song “Brazil”.
• The title song (actually named “Aquarela do Brasil” by Ary Barroso) was used in a movie for the first time in Walt Disney’s 6th full length animation _Saludos Amigos (1943)_.
• According to Maxim magazine, director Terry Gilliam was reportedly so stressed during filming that he lost all feeling in his legs for a week.
• Early title for Brazil was “1984 and a 1/2″, an ode to Federico Fellini, but the film Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) was released and the idea was scrapped.
• The “Brazil” theme is heard several times within the film itself. When Sam types “Ere I am JH” into the secret elevator’s control panel, it plays the first eight notes. This is also what he hums when he sends the refund check up the pneumatic tube at Mr. Kurtzmann’s office. It is playing on the radio in his car, and Tuttle whistles in his flat.
• The very first sound in the film is the Telecaster of famous guitarist Amos Garrett.
• Jack Purvis, a regular in the films of Terry Gilliam appears as “Dr. Chapman”, a reference to fellow Python Graham Chapman, who had a medical degree.
• The samurai sequence was originally conceived to reflect Terry Gilliam’s love for Akira Kurosawa films.
• Archibald Buttle’s wife’s name is Veronica. A reference to Archie and Veronica of Archie Comics.
• Gilliam originally wanted to call the film “1984 1/2″, as a tribute to George Orwell’s book “1984″, a major inspiration behind the film, but was prevented by Orwell’s estate.
• Terry Gilliam and his crew were excited to have Robert De Niro on board at first, but as time wore on they found De Niro’s need for “research” and obsession with details increasingly irritating, saying that he “wanted to strangle him”.
• During the time when the studio was blocking the release of the film and were re-editing it for the infamous “Love conquers all” version copies of the directors cut were circulating on video around Hollywood. At one point a number of critics began asking if a film that had been completed, but not released, could be eligible for a Best Picture Oscar, it’s said that the potential embarrassment of this happening forced the studio to release the original version instead of their new one.
• Mrs. Buttle never blinks during the extended monologue Sam gives when he comes over to her apartment.
• The dream scenes were initially meant to form just one long sequence in the middle of the film, but technical difficulties made this impossible. The most important part of the dream sequence was intended to be a scene where Sam flies over a field of eyes, which then start slowly moving to follow his descent on a pillar. The eyes were made of snooker balls with false irises added; the eye symbol is also seen in other Terry Gilliam films including 12 Monkeys. The decision was later made to split the remaining dream scenes to fill the “empty” spaces between chapters.
• Body count: 25
• When Sam goes to see Jack Lint the elevator in Information Retrieval goes up to floor 84, as in 1984.
• When Sam is escaping at the end of the movie with Harry Tuttle, the female custodian is shot in the eye and the buffer falls down the stairs. This scene is based on Sergei M. Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin – during the Odessa massacre scene a mother is shot in the eye and the baby carriage falls down the stairs.
• The odd little bubble-topped car that Sam drives is a 3 wheeled, two stroke single cylinder Messerschmitt KR200 “Kabinroller” (covered scooter) built in Germany in the late 1950′s and up until 1964.
• During the opening scene where you see the paperwork floor with all of the runners dropping and picking up receipts. There is actually only one row of typing stations they just pass forward and backward along the same set of stations.
• The myth behind the name of the film relates to Terry Gilliam being at a beach in the UK one day. Apparently the weather wasn’t particularly great, but a man was sitting on the beach alone listening to the famous song (on a stereo) that we hear in the film. Gilliam was fascinated by the man sitting there despite all the “adversity”, and this became the theme and name for the film.
• The mask used by the torturer also appears used by several extras in the 1994 music video “Basket Case” by Green Day.
• In the Christmas shopping scene, a woman is carrying a banner outside the store with a cross that says “Consumers for Christ”.
• First cinema feature of Roger Ashton-Griffiths.
• The character of Harry Tuttle is most likely named for a character in the first season of “M*A*S*H” (1972), in which Hawkeye and Trapper “invent” an officer – Captain Tuttle so that they can funnel his salary to an orphanage as well as blame things on. When they are creating his personnel file, they list his father as Harry Tuttle.

Labeouf and Fox in Transformers

(CNN) – “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “Land of the Lost” now have another dishonor to add to the critical lambasting they took upon release: the two films are tied for most Razzie nominations for worst films of the year.

“Transformers,” which dominated box office charts if not reviewers’ hearts, picked up seven nominations, including worst picture, worst director (Michael Bay, a Razzie favorite), worst actress (Megan Fox) and worst screen couple (Shia LaBeouf with Fox or any Transformer).

“Land of the Lost,” the Will Ferrell remake of the early-’70s Sid and Marty Krofft children’s show, earned nods for worst picture, worst actor (Ferrell), worst director (Brad Silberling) and worst screen couple (Ferrell and “any co-star, creature or ‘comic riff,’ “) according to the Razzie list.

“Head Raspberry” John Wilson, author of “The Official Razzie Movie Guide” and chief of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, acknowledges that the organization might be risking a backlash from “Transformers” fans, who made the film the No. 2 highest-grossing film of 2009 with more than $400 million at the domestic box office.

“This is not the first time we’ve nominated something that made that kind of money,” he said, noting that the “Star Wars” sequels “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” also earned Razzie nods.

But he doesn’t apologize for the inclusion of “Transformers”: ” ‘Transformers,’ to me, is the personification of what’s wrong with Hollywood right now,” he said. “It’s all about do what already worked, pander to the audience, put in a lot of special effects. … It’s almost as though when they were editing the thing they had a little egg timer running, and every seven minutes something had to blow up or somebody had to yell, ‘Go go go go! Run run run run!’ ”

Other nominees for worst picture are “All About Steve,” “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” and “Old Dogs.”

Though Sandra Bullock is riding a wave of respect for her performance in “The Blind Side” — she’s expected to receive an Oscar nomination tomorrow for best actress — she’s also on the list for a Golden Raspberry for her performance in “Steve,” her 2009 dud.

Wilson observed that Bullock, presuming she gets an Oscar nomination Tuesday, could become the first person to win both a major-category Oscar and Razzie on the same weekend.

“She’s in as good a position as anyone could be to accept both awards,” he said. Noting Bullock’s good sense of humor, he has hopes that she’ll show up at the Razzie ceremony on March 6. (Halle Berry, in a rare appearance by a top star, accepted a Razzie for “Catwoman” in 2005.)

The Razzies, now in their 30th year, are equal-opportunity tributes, giving note to A-listers and D-listers alike. Along with Bullock and Ferrell, nominees this year include Steve Martin (“Pink Panther 2″), John Travolta (“Old Dogs”), Sarah Jessica Parker (“Did You Hear About the Morgans?”) and teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson (“The Twilight Saga: New Moon”). Winners receive a hand-made, spray-painted gold trophy with an estimated street value of about five dollars, according to the Razzie Web site.

Wilson was surprised that the Razzie voters, who number about 650, didn’t back “New Moon” more strongly. The “Twilight” sequel earned four nominations overall.

“Based on the volume of postings we had on the two forums on our Web site, I would have thought ‘Twilight Saga’ would have made more categories than it did,” he said.

Along with their year’s-worst awards, the Razzies are also giving out “The Worst of the ‘Uh-Ohs,’ ” giving tribute to the worst of the decade. Pictures up for that distinction are “Battlefield Earth” (2000), “Freddy Got Fingered” (2001), “Gigli” (2003), “I Know Who Killed Me” (2007) and Madonna’s version of “Swept Away” (2002).

The race is expected to come down to “Battlefield Earth” and “Gigli,” which the Razzies named the worst drama and comedy of its first 25 years, respectively.

The Razzies are sticking with tradition, nominating just five films in each category — unlike the Oscars, which are going to have 10 movies in the running for best picture. But though there were plenty of bad films in 2009, Wilson said, if there were 10 worst picture Razzie nominations, it would dilute the process.

“What I’ve been saying is, if we had 10, then our awards really wouldn’t be any more meaningful than the Golden Globes,” he said.

The Gala 30th Annual Razzie Awards will be held Saturday, March 6 — the night before the Oscars — at Hollywood’s Barnsdall Gallery Theatre.

WORST PICTURE of 2009

“All About Steve”
“G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra”
“Land of the Lost”
“Old Dogs”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

WORST ACTOR of 2009

All three Jonas Brothers / “Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience”
Will Ferrell / “Land of the Lost”
Steve Martin / “Pink Panther 2″
Eddie Murphy / “Imagine That”
John Travolta / “Old Dogs”

WORST ACTRESS of 2009

Beyonce / “Obsessed”
Sandra Bullock / “All About Steve”
Miley Cyrus / “Hannah Montana: The Movie”
Megan Fox / “Jennifer’s Body” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Sarah Jessica Parker / “Did You Hear About the Morgans?”

WORST SCREEN COUPLE of 2009

Any two (or more) Jonas Brothers / “The Jonas Brothers: 3-D Concert Experience”
Sandra Bullock & Bradley Cooper / “All About Steve”
Will Ferrell & Any Co-Star, Creature or “Comic Riff” / “Land of the Lost”
Shia LaBeouf & either Megan Fox or any Transformer / “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Kristin Stewart & either Robert Pattinson or Taylor Whatz-His-Fang / “Twilight Saga: New Moon”

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS of 2009

Candice Bergen / “Bride Wars”
Ali Larter / “Obsessed”
Sienna Miller / “G.I. Joe”
Kelly Preston / “Old Dogs”
Julie White (as Mom) / “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR of 2009

Billy Ray Cyrus / “Hannah Montana: The Movie:
Hugh Heffner (as himself) / “Miss March”
Robert Pattinson / “Twilight Saga: New Moon”
Jorma Taccone (as Cha-Ka) / “Land of the Lost”
Marlon Wayans / “G.I. Joe”

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL (Combined Category for 2009)

“G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra”
“Land of the Lost”
“Pink Panther 2″ (A rip-off of a sequel to a remake)
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
“Twilight Saga: New Moon”

WORST DIRECTOR of 2009

Michael Bay / “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Walt Becker / “Old Dogs”
Brad Silberling / “Land of the Lost”
Stephen Sommers / “G.I. Joe”
Phil Traill / “All About Steve”

WORST SCREENPLAY of 2009

“All About Steve” / Screenplay by Kim Barker
“G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra” / Screenplay by Stuart Beattie and David Elliot & Paul Lovett
“Land of the Lost” / Written by Chris Henchy & Dennis McNicholas
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
“Twilight Saga: New Moon” / Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg

WORST PICTURE of the DECADE

“Battlefield Earth” (2000) Nominated for 10 RAZZIES / “Winner” of 8 (including worst drama of our first 25 years)

“Freddy Got Fingered” (2001) Nominated for 9 RAZZIES / “Winner” of 5

“Gigli” (2003) Nominated for 10 RAZZIES® / “Winner” of 7 (including worst comedy of our first 25 years)

“I Know Who Killed Me” (2007) Nominated for 9 RAZZIES / “Winner” of 8

“Swept Away” (2002) Nominated for 9 RAZZIES / “Winner” of 5

WORST ACTOR of the DECADE

Ben Affleck (nominated for 9 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 2 RAZZIES for his roles in “Daredevil,” “Gigli,” “Jersey Girl,” “Paycheck,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Surviving Christmas”)

Eddie Murphy (nominated for 12 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 3 RAZZIES for his roles in “Adventures of Pluto Nash,” “I Spy,” “Imagine That,” “Meet Dave,” “Norbit” and “Showtime”)

Mike Myers (nominated for 4 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 2 RAZZIES for his roles in “Cat in the Hat,” “The Love Guru”)

Rob Schneider (nominated for 6 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 1 RAZZIE for his roles in “The Animal,” “Benchwarmers,” “Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo,” “Grandma’s Boy,” “The Hot Chick,” “I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry,” “Little Man” and “Little Nicky”)

John Travolta (nominated for 6 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 3 RAZZIES for his roles in “Battlefield Earth,” “Domestic Disturbance,” “Lucky Numbers,” “Old Dogs” and “Swordfish”)

WORST ACTRESS of the DECADE

Mariah Carey (the single biggest individual vote getter of the decade with 70+ percent of ALL votes for worst actress of 2001 for her role in “Glitter”)

Paris Hilton (nominated for 5 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 4 RAZZIES for her roles in “The Hottie & The Nottie,” “House of Whacks” and “Repo: The Genetic Opera”)

Lindsay Lohan (nominated for 5 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 3 RAZZIES for her roles in “Herbie Fully Loaded,” “I Know Who Killed Me” and “Just My Luck”)

Jennifer Lopez (nominated for 9 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 2 RAZZIES for her roles in “Angel Eyes,” “Enough,” “Gigli,” “Jersey Girl,” “Maid in Manhattan,” “Monster-in-Law” and “The Wedding Planner”)

Madonna (nominated for 6 “Achievements,”"Winner” of 4 RAZZIES for her roles in “Die Another Day,” “The Next Best Thing” and “Swept Away”)

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a 1976 film starring Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen, directed by Nicolas Gessner and written by Laird Koenig, based on Koenig’s 1974 novel of the same title. The film fits mostly in the genre of psychological thriller drama with elements of romance and horror.

Trivia:

• Jodie Foster was fourteen at the time of filming and refused to appear nude. Thus, her older sister, Connie Foster, was used as her double in the film’s brief nude sequence.
• In interviews, Jodie Foster usually refrains from saying which of her films are her least favorites, but she has let it slip that this movie isn’t one she is fond of, explaining, “When people are there to simply do a job they don’t have any passion for, those are nearly always bad films.”
• Scott Jacoby told Seventeen Magazine in 1977 that the hamster they used in the cigarette scene was already dead, but that the shot gave Jodie Foster the fits anyway. Foster went on record as saying one of the producers on this film was “nuts”, explaining that he wanted her to show more skin and she refused. Foster had a terrible time with the sexual scene upstairs with Mario. Although her older sister did the shot, Foster was very upset that viewers would think this was her and fought and cried with the producers, to no avail.

Brain Dead is a 1990 horror/psychological thriller starring Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton and George Kennedy and written by Charles Beaumont.

Bill Pullman plays a top neurosurgeon, Dr. Rex Martin, who is active in studying brain malfunctions that cause mental illnesses. High school friend Jim Reston, a successful businessman at Eunice, requires Martin’s aid in reading the mind of John Halsey, a former genius mathematician who once worked for the company and is now a paranoid psychotic at a nearby asylum.

Dr. Martin’s surgery is intended to successfully alter the patient’s mental attitude to unlock the corporate secrets secreted within Halsey’s brain. However, as Martin begins to operate he starts to experience unusual heated paranoic dreams which Halsey has been encountering. Martin floats farther and farther from reality, caught between friendship and loyalty in his business.

Trivia:

Dr Martin mentions that he went to “Miskatonic University”, the college where Re-Animator (1985) took place. Miskatonic University is supposedly located in Arkham, MA, a fictional town created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Black Moon Rising, (1986) is an action film directed by Harley Cokeliss, written by John Carpenter and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn. The focus of the film was the theft of a prototype vehicle called the ‘Black Moon’.

Trivia:

Jeff Bridges, Don Johnson, Tom Berenger and Richard Dean Anderson were all considered for the lead role that eventually went to Tommy Lee Jones.

The Dark Crystal is a 1982 fantasy film directed by puppeteers Jim Henson and Frank Oz, creators of The Muppet Show. Although still marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. Characters for which they are famous do not appear, but some of the same performers are used. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking at the time. The primary concept artist was the fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, famous for his distinctive faerie and dwarf designs. Froud also collaborated with Jim Henson and Frank Oz for their next project, the 1986 film, Labyrinth which was notably more light-hearted than The Dark Crystal.

The Dark Crystal was produced by Gary Kurtz, whose list of credits includes American Graffiti, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Return to Oz, and Slipstream. The screenplay was written by David Odell, who had worked with Henson as a staff writer on The Muppet Show. Trevor Jones provided the film’s atmospheric music. The movie makes an attempt to study the nature of good and evil in terms of conscience, destiny, and the triune nature of harmony. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment, the British production company responsible for producing The Muppet Show.

King Kong is a 1976 American motion picture produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake of the 1933 classic King Kong, about how a giant ape is captured and imported to New York City for exhibition.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aanYNjjoCQo]

The remake’s screenplay was written by Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on the original movie story written by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace, which had been adapted into the 1933 screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose. It starred Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange, in her first movie role, playing a part similar to the one made famous in the original by Fay Wray.

Jessica Lange in King Kong 1976

Directed by
  John Guillermin

Writers
  Idea
   Merian C. Cooper and
   Edgar Wallace
  1933 screenplay
   James Creelman and
   Ruth Rose
  Screenplay
   Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Producers              
  Dino De Laurentiis … producer
  Federico De Laurentiis … executive producer
  Christian Ferry … executive producer

Cast
  Jeff Bridges … Jack Prescott
  Charles Grodin … Fred Wilson
  Jessica Lange … Dwan
  John Randolph … Captain Ross
  Rene Auberjonois … Roy Bagley
  Julius Harris … Boan
  Jack O’Halloran … Joe Perko
  Dennis Fimple … Sunfish
  Ed Lauter … Carnahan
  Jorge Moreno … Garcia
  Mario Gallo … Timmons
  John Lone … Chinese Cook
  Garry Walberg … Army General
  John Agar … City Official
  Keny Long … Ape Masked Man
  Sid Conrad … Petrox Chairman
  George Whiteman … Army Helicopter Pilot
  Wayne Heffley … Air Force General
  Forrest J Ackerman … Fleeing Extra in Crowd (uncredited)

Rick Baker as King Kong

Make Up Department
  Del Acevedo … makeup artist
  Rick Baker … makeup effects
  Jo McCarthy … hair stylist
  Rob Bottin … makeup effects

Special Effects Department
  Joe Day … special effects
  Carlo Rambaldi … special effects
  Glen Robinson … special effects
  Terry W. King … special effects technician (uncredited)
  Andrew Miller … special effects (uncredited)
  Wayne Rose … special effects crew (uncredited)

Visual Effects Department
  Lou Lichtenfield … matte artist
  Barry Nolan … photographic effects assistant
  Aldo Puccini … miniature coordinator
  Frank Van der Veer … photographic effects supervisor
  Harold E. Wellman … additional photographic effects

John Carpenter’s Starman is a 1984 science fiction-fantasy film directed by John Carpenter which tells the story of an alien (Jeff Bridges) who has come to Earth in response to the invitation found on the gold phonograph record installed on one of the Voyager space probes.

The screenplay was written by Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon and Dean Riesner (uncredited). Bridges was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film inspired a short-lived, 1986 television series of the same name which starred Robert Hays and Christopher Daniel Barnes.

Trivia:

• Producer Michael Douglas considered several directors, including Mark Rydell, Adrian Lyne, John Badham and Tony Scott, before settling on John Carpenter.
• Jeff Bridges’ character (Starman) walks in and buys a Cadillac “cash”. In the film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Bridges character (Lightfoot) exclaims that one day he would like to walk up and buy a Cadillac with cash.
• This script was being developed at Columbia at the same time as another script about an alien visitation. The studio did not want to make both, so the head of the studio had to choose which film to make; he decided to make this one and let the other script go to a rival studio. The other script was for _E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)_.
• The only John Carpenter film to have an Academy Award nomination (Jeff Bridges, Best Actor).
• The role of Starman originally went to Kevin Bacon.
• When Jeff Bridges walks outside the house naked and uses a ‘marble’ his hair seems to stand on end. This effect was actually created by shooting Bridges hanging upside-down and then matting the shot onto the background the right way up to give him a surreal look.