Netflix is continuing to roll out its celebration of iconic films, this time turning the page to 1984.
As part of the streaming platform’s “Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection,” Netflix has unveiled the 1984 films celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2024 with classics like “Footloose” and “Sixteen Candles” alongside Oscar contenders “Amadeus” and “Iceman.”
The Milestone Movies hail from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Sony — the distributors that license content to Netflix.
Starting today, April 1, 2024, Netflix subscribers can revisit Brian de Palma’s erotic noir “Body Double” and Kevin Bacon’s breakout performance in “Footloose.” How about a double feature? There’s also “Repo Man” and “Beverly Hills Cop,” streaming just in time for franchise reboot “Beverly Hills Cop: Axle F” out this summer.
In addition to the cinematic celebrations in your Netflix queue, in-person special screenings of select films will continue at the Paris Theater in New York and Los Angeles...
As part of the streaming platform’s “Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection,” Netflix has unveiled the 1984 films celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2024 with classics like “Footloose” and “Sixteen Candles” alongside Oscar contenders “Amadeus” and “Iceman.”
The Milestone Movies hail from Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Sony — the distributors that license content to Netflix.
Starting today, April 1, 2024, Netflix subscribers can revisit Brian de Palma’s erotic noir “Body Double” and Kevin Bacon’s breakout performance in “Footloose.” How about a double feature? There’s also “Repo Man” and “Beverly Hills Cop,” streaming just in time for franchise reboot “Beverly Hills Cop: Axle F” out this summer.
In addition to the cinematic celebrations in your Netflix queue, in-person special screenings of select films will continue at the Paris Theater in New York and Los Angeles...
- 4/1/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
In 1978, American author William Wharton published a novel called Birdy, and this literary opus managed to combine the very best of postmodernist allegory with a poignant coming-of-age story inside of a main character’s fractured and complex psychological pathology. In the novel, the title character was a young adult who lived with a stern, post-Depression, World War II set of working-class parents in the blue-collar suburbs of Philadelphia. He spends his days immersing himself in the lives of his pet birds, and even goes so far as to picture himself as a bird, which is the surface-level allegory of Wharton’s
Why Alan Parker’s Birdy (1984) Is a Forgotten Postmodern Masterpiece...
Why Alan Parker’s Birdy (1984) Is a Forgotten Postmodern Masterpiece...
- 5/31/2022
- by Charles Switzer
- TVovermind.com
For many of us, the 2020 version of the holidays is going to be a more homebound one than usual. What better time to build your physical-media collection with DVDs, Blu-rays, and books to help keep the season bright?
Blu-ray debuts
This year saw the first release of several Christmas favorites on Blu-ray, from Paul Feig’s 2019 sleeper hit “Last Christmas” (Universal Home Entertainment) to the first North American hi-def releases of the moving and funny anime classic “Tokyo Godfathers” (Gkids/Shout Factory), a contemporary adaptation of the Christmas-set Western tale “3 Godfathers,” and the all-star WWII drama “A Midnight Clear” (Shout Selects). The latter, a 1992 adaptation of the William Wharton novel from writer-director Keith Gordon, features a cast of up-and-coming actors who would eventually become filmmakers themselves, including Ethan Hawke, Peter Berg, Frank Whaley, and Gary Sinise.
Stone-cold classics
Bedford Falls never looked so good: Paramount Home Entertainment offers “It’s a Wonderful Life...
Blu-ray debuts
This year saw the first release of several Christmas favorites on Blu-ray, from Paul Feig’s 2019 sleeper hit “Last Christmas” (Universal Home Entertainment) to the first North American hi-def releases of the moving and funny anime classic “Tokyo Godfathers” (Gkids/Shout Factory), a contemporary adaptation of the Christmas-set Western tale “3 Godfathers,” and the all-star WWII drama “A Midnight Clear” (Shout Selects). The latter, a 1992 adaptation of the William Wharton novel from writer-director Keith Gordon, features a cast of up-and-coming actors who would eventually become filmmakers themselves, including Ethan Hawke, Peter Berg, Frank Whaley, and Gary Sinise.
Stone-cold classics
Bedford Falls never looked so good: Paramount Home Entertainment offers “It’s a Wonderful Life...
- 11/24/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
A working-class Londoner who started out in advertising, Parker knew how to play to the crowd but wasn’t afraid to take risks or challenge convention.
That was evident from his feature debut, Bugsy Malone, an inspired pastiche of Hollywood gangster films that saw Parker defy genre norms with the recruitment of an all-child cast wielding ‘Splurge’ guns firing whipped cream instead of bullets.
It was a decision that drew anger in some quarters with noted critic John Simon famously branding the film “an outrage” in New York Magazine.
“Wholesome youngsters have been duped into acting like adults,” he said, “stupid, brutal, criminal adults, at that.”
Bugsy Malone flopped in the US but Parker soon established himself stateside with Midnight Express and Fame, two box office hits and examples of Parker’s unrivalled versatility and habit of defying expectations.
In time, Bugsy Malone enjoyed critical reappraisal, emerging as a firm...
That was evident from his feature debut, Bugsy Malone, an inspired pastiche of Hollywood gangster films that saw Parker defy genre norms with the recruitment of an all-child cast wielding ‘Splurge’ guns firing whipped cream instead of bullets.
It was a decision that drew anger in some quarters with noted critic John Simon famously branding the film “an outrage” in New York Magazine.
“Wholesome youngsters have been duped into acting like adults,” he said, “stupid, brutal, criminal adults, at that.”
Bugsy Malone flopped in the US but Parker soon established himself stateside with Midnight Express and Fame, two box office hits and examples of Parker’s unrivalled versatility and habit of defying expectations.
In time, Bugsy Malone enjoyed critical reappraisal, emerging as a firm...
- 8/6/2020
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
In the late 1970s, when Hollywood was in the middle of its most seismic transformation since the collapse of the studio system, there was a much-talked-about trend that seemed to fit all too snugly into the new world order. That was the arrival of hotshot British movie directors who had honed their craft in the rarefied world of English TV commercials.
At first there were two such transplants: Alan Parker and Ridley Scott. They were soon joined by Adrian Lyne (who made his first feature in 1980) and Scott’s younger brother, Tony Scott (who released his first major film in 1983). All four became players in the industry, and each developed his own style and brand and personality. Ridley Scott was the artiste of the group, crafting visionary sci-fi like “Alien” and “Blade Runner.” Adrian Lyne, director of “Foxes” and “Flashdance,” was the youth-culture maven, and Tony Scott, of “Top Gun” fame,...
At first there were two such transplants: Alan Parker and Ridley Scott. They were soon joined by Adrian Lyne (who made his first feature in 1980) and Scott’s younger brother, Tony Scott (who released his first major film in 1983). All four became players in the industry, and each developed his own style and brand and personality. Ridley Scott was the artiste of the group, crafting visionary sci-fi like “Alien” and “Blade Runner.” Adrian Lyne, director of “Foxes” and “Flashdance,” was the youth-culture maven, and Tony Scott, of “Top Gun” fame,...
- 7/31/2020
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Acclaimed UK director Alan Parker, a towering figure in the UK industry, passed away this morning following a lengthy illness, the British Film Institute has confirmed.
Two-time Oscar nominee Parker was best known for directing classic films including Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning and The Commitments, as well as big-budget Madonna movie Evita.
Parker was a passionate supporter of the UK film industry and a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain. He was the founding Chairman of the UK Film Council in 2000, a position he held for five years, and prior to that he was Chairman of the BFI. He received a Cbe in 1995 and a knighthood in 2002. He was also an Officier des Arts et Letters (France).
Parker was born in Islington, London, February 14, 1944. He began his career in advertising as a copywriter but quickly graduated to writing and directing commercials. By the late 1960s...
Two-time Oscar nominee Parker was best known for directing classic films including Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning and The Commitments, as well as big-budget Madonna movie Evita.
Parker was a passionate supporter of the UK film industry and a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain. He was the founding Chairman of the UK Film Council in 2000, a position he held for five years, and prior to that he was Chairman of the BFI. He received a Cbe in 1995 and a knighthood in 2002. He was also an Officier des Arts et Letters (France).
Parker was born in Islington, London, February 14, 1944. He began his career in advertising as a copywriter but quickly graduated to writing and directing commercials. By the late 1960s...
- 7/31/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
(Keith Gordon, 1992; Second Sight, 15)
This haunting small-scale war movie, given a very limited release 20 years ago and available for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray, is based on a widely praised novel by William Wharton, who was wounded serving in the Us infantry during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45, the setting for the film. An ironic, at times surreal fable about the madness of war, it centres on a six-man intelligence and reconnaissance squad dispatched by a reckless, vainglorious major (a mortician in civvy street) on a dangerous mission on the snowbound border of France, Belgium and Germany in the Ardennes, and how they become involved with an equally disillusioned Wehrmacht unit who want to negotiate a separate peace. The film's witty, intelligent narrator is Sergeant Will Knott (Ethan Hawke), and the plot's twists are matched by the sharpness of its moral insights.
The writer-director,...
This haunting small-scale war movie, given a very limited release 20 years ago and available for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray, is based on a widely praised novel by William Wharton, who was wounded serving in the Us infantry during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45, the setting for the film. An ironic, at times surreal fable about the madness of war, it centres on a six-man intelligence and reconnaissance squad dispatched by a reckless, vainglorious major (a mortician in civvy street) on a dangerous mission on the snowbound border of France, Belgium and Germany in the Ardennes, and how they become involved with an equally disillusioned Wehrmacht unit who want to negotiate a separate peace. The film's witty, intelligent narrator is Sergeant Will Knott (Ethan Hawke), and the plot's twists are matched by the sharpness of its moral insights.
The writer-director,...
- 4/21/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
William Wharton's autobiography describes how his Us army unit killed German prisoners in the second world war
The graphic and often painful memoirs of celebrated American author William Wharton – which include an account of his role in the killing of German prisoners during the second world war – are to be published for the first time in English.
Wharton's first novel, Birdy, was an instant bestseller and was turned into an award-winning film by director Alan Parker. Despite the critical acclaim that greeted subsequent books and a legion of admirers that included the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, he has been largely out of print in the UK. He died in 2008.
Now his war memoirs are to be published in English for the first time, along with his complete works – eight novels and two non-fiction books. Curiously the memoir, entitled Shrapnel: Tales Not Told, had been quietly published only in Polish,...
The graphic and often painful memoirs of celebrated American author William Wharton – which include an account of his role in the killing of German prisoners during the second world war – are to be published for the first time in English.
Wharton's first novel, Birdy, was an instant bestseller and was turned into an award-winning film by director Alan Parker. Despite the critical acclaim that greeted subsequent books and a legion of admirers that included the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, he has been largely out of print in the UK. He died in 2008.
Now his war memoirs are to be published in English for the first time, along with his complete works – eight novels and two non-fiction books. Curiously the memoir, entitled Shrapnel: Tales Not Told, had been quietly published only in Polish,...
- 2/19/2012
- by Dalya Alberge
- The Guardian - Film News
Artist and novelist William Wharton has died in California after a lengthy battle with ill health. He was 82.
Born Albert du Aime in Pennsylvania, Wharton first made his name as an Expressionist painter but switched to literary success with the novel Birdy in 1979.
The book, which became a cult movie starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine, earned the writer an American Book Award in 1979. He was also a Pulitzer Prize runner-up.
Wharton went on to write Dad and A Midnight Clear, which also became movies.
Born Albert du Aime in Pennsylvania, Wharton first made his name as an Expressionist painter but switched to literary success with the novel Birdy in 1979.
The book, which became a cult movie starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine, earned the writer an American Book Award in 1979. He was also a Pulitzer Prize runner-up.
Wharton went on to write Dad and A Midnight Clear, which also became movies.
- 11/3/2008
- WENN
Four years after his death, Danish producer Just Betzer's estate has been sold to Astrablu Media for an undisclosed amount.
Astrablu's acquisition encompasses Betzer's Panorama Films International and film library, including his 1988 Oscar-winning Babette's Feast, which won for best foreign language film.
The Las Vegas-based indie production company's deal also includes a slate of literary properties in development before Betzer died of a heart attack in November 2003. He was 59.
"The acquisition of the beloved 'Babette's Feast' and the other titles, in conjunction with the development of our high-profile properties, allows us to aggressively expand our production slate," said Astrablu's president and CEO Josi Konski. "Just Betzer was not only a partner but a great friend with a keen eye for quality projects whose vision I highly respected."
Among the literary titles included in the deal are Jailbird, based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel with a screenplay penned by Buck Henry; Last Lovers, based on the William Wharton novel; and Marilyn, based on the diary of Danish journalist Hans Jorgen Lembourn and his 40-day love affair with Marilyn Monroe.
Astrablu's acquisition encompasses Betzer's Panorama Films International and film library, including his 1988 Oscar-winning Babette's Feast, which won for best foreign language film.
The Las Vegas-based indie production company's deal also includes a slate of literary properties in development before Betzer died of a heart attack in November 2003. He was 59.
"The acquisition of the beloved 'Babette's Feast' and the other titles, in conjunction with the development of our high-profile properties, allows us to aggressively expand our production slate," said Astrablu's president and CEO Josi Konski. "Just Betzer was not only a partner but a great friend with a keen eye for quality projects whose vision I highly respected."
Among the literary titles included in the deal are Jailbird, based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel with a screenplay penned by Buck Henry; Last Lovers, based on the William Wharton novel; and Marilyn, based on the diary of Danish journalist Hans Jorgen Lembourn and his 40-day love affair with Marilyn Monroe.
- 10/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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