The Playlist

5 Things You Might Not Know About 'The Bourne Identity,' Released 10 Years Ago Today

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 14, 2012 2:01 PM
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5 Comments

Features

Ten years and one day ago, Doug Liman was an independent director with a couple of critical favorites behind him. Ten years and one day ago, Matt Damon was the promising writer/star of "Good Will Hunting" who's seemingly squandered his potential on a string of questionable choices, kept on the A-list only by his presence in "Ocean's Eleven." Ten years and one day ago, the spy genre was increasingly tired, with the Bond movies moving into new levels of ridiculousness (that year's "Die Another Day" would introduce Madonna and invisible cars to the series).

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If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It: On Its 25th Anniversary, 5 Things You Might Not Know About “Predator”

By Drew Taylor
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June 12, 2012 11:00 AM
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9 Comments

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On June 12th, 1987, audiences around the country got their first look at that (to borrow one of the more quotable bits from the movie) ugly motherfucker that is "Predator." It heralded a number of promising new stars – most notably Arnold Schwarzenegger finally getting a bona fide blockbuster after sleeper hits like "The Terminator" and "Conan The Barbarian" – and director John McTiernan would emerge as one of the freshest, most stylish voices in action filmmaking since John Ford.

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Happy 30th Birthday 'E.T:' 5 Things You Might Not Know About Steven Spielberg's Classic

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 11, 2012 2:48 PM
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4 Comments

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Thirty is a tricky birthday for anyone - your twenties are in the rear-view mirror, and your forties start to sneak up (can you tell this writer is getting closer to the magic 3-0?...). But it's also the point at which you can reach a certain respectability, start to push towards (whisper it) adulthood, and make it clear that you're here to stay. All of which is a long-winded and possibly over-sharing way of saying that thirty years ago today, on June 11, 1982, "E.T: The Extra Terrestrial" was released in theaters.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About Joe Dante's 'Gremlins'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 8, 2012 3:02 PM
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1 Comment

Features

June 8th, 1984 was a great day for movie nerds, particularly those with an affection for special effects, scares and belly laughs. Not only did they get "Ghostbusters" in theaters that day (as we've already looked at, but they also got "Gremlins," the subversive PG-rated horror-comedy from the A-list trio of writer Chris Columbus, director Joe Dante and producer Steven Spielberg.

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We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its Ass: 5 Things You Might Not Know About 'Ghostbusters'

By Jessica Kiang
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June 8, 2012 9:57 AM
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5 Comments

Features

Remember 1984’s “GhostSmashers” aka “GhostStoppers”? Of course you do. With a star-studded cast featuring John Belushi (Peter Venkman), Dan Aykroyd (Ray Stantz), Jeff Goldblum (Egon Spengler), Eddie Murphy (Winston Zeddemore), John Candy (Louis), Sandra Bernhard (Janine) and Paul Reubens (Ivo Shandar/Gozer), the future-set supernatural comedy in which roving teams of ghost catchers protect humanity from the supernatural, directed by Ivan Reitman, cost a whopping $300 million to make, featured hundreds of monsters, including a giant marshmallow man, and spawned not one but two sequels; the second of which got smoothly underway recently with the full, gracious participation of all of the original cast.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About Richard Donner & Steven Spielberg's 'The Goonies'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 7, 2012 11:05 AM
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2 Comments

Features

In the last couple of years, a spate of films, from Joe Cornish's "Attack The Block" to J.J. Abrams' "Super 8," have named one film as a particular influence: Richard Donner's "The Goonies," the 1985 kids' adventure film that served as part of the 1980s golden age of Amblin, Steven Spielberg's production company. Following a group of working class kids from the 'Goon Docks' of Astoria, Oregon, on one last adventure before their homes are demolished, only to end up on a quest, and pursued by a vicious criminal family, the Fratellis, the film is a rollicking adventure that also had a particular feel for the friendships between kids.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About 'Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 4, 2012 11:02 AM
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7 Comments

Features

While "Star Trek" is now a huge, beloved franchise, recently reinvigorated by J.J. Abrams' reboot (and, fingers crossed, next year's sequel to that film), it wasn't always like that. The original 1960s series had low ratings, and only lasted three seasons, and while success in syndication let to a film version being greenlit in the aftermath of "Star Wars," that film, 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," proved hugely expensive, and less profitable than Paramount had hoped.

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The Essentials: 5 Great Howard Hawks Films

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 30, 2012 10:56 AM
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2 Comments

Features

We love a chamelonic director here at The Playlist, and Howard Hawks was one of the first, and one of the best. Across a 55-year career that spanned silents and talkies, black-and-white and color, Hawks tackled virtually every genre under the sun, often turning out films that still stand as among the best in that style. Romantic comedy? Two of the finest ever. War? "To Have And Have Not" and "Sergeant York," the latter of which won him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination (though he did win an Honorary Award in 1975, two years before his death). Science-fiction? The much ripped-off "The Thing From Another World." Gangster movies? "Scarface," which practically invented a whole genre. From film noir and melodrama to Westerns and musicals, Hawks took them all in his stride.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About Ridley Scott's 'Alien'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 25, 2012 10:03 AM
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5 Comments

Features

The success of "Star Wars" changed everything. While "2001" had been a giant hit a decade ago, most put it down to a fluke, but George Lucas' film suddenly proved that science fiction wasn't just for B-movies, but could be a licence to print money. Every studio in town were chasing the genre, but 20th Century Fox, who had distributed "Star Wars" had a head-start: they already had another space-set script in development, "Alien," by Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Walter Hill and David Giler. They swiftly attached new helmer Ridley Scott to the project, and production got underway in the summer of 1978.

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5 Things You Might Not Know About 'The Empire Strikes Back'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 21, 2012 11:00 AM
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6 Comments

Features

After thirty years, three terrible prequels and acres of spin-off material, the "Star Wars" brand has been somewhat tarnished. The fans are still legion, but it's become harder and harder to get excited about the series, and the highlights drift further and further from memory. That being said, we'll always have a place for the original trilogy in our hearts, and much of that comes down to the second (or fifth) installment, 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" Despite the success of the original, creator George Lucas seemed to have taken some of the criticism to heart and took a back seat for the follow-up, handing over the directorial reins to his old film school professor Irvin Kershner ("The Eyes of Laura Mars," "The Flim-Flam Man") and hiring veteran screenwriter Leigh Brackett and bright young thing Lawrence Kasdan, who'd come to fame thanks to his as-yet-unmade scripts for "The Bodyguard" and "Continental Divide."

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