New to On Demand & DVD Archives - Page 75 of 90

VOD Spotlight: Bringing “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” to life

August 21, 2012 StayTuned Staff

It’s always a touchy business, taking a revered children’s book and bringing it to the screen in full 3-D. When it’s a story as stylized and personal to its author as The Lorax is, just suggesting the attempt can border on hubris. But in the case of this particular story, producer Chris Meledandri says the idea wasn’t theirs to begin with. “The genesis of the decision to do The Lorax as the follow-up to Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! actually came from [Seuss’ widow] Audrey Geisel,” he recalls of the conversation. “We had talked about wanting to do another […]

“Marley” looks at the life of reggae’s patron saint

August 2, 2012 StayTuned Staff

It’s been more than 30 years since the quintessential Jamaican singer/songwriter/musician Bob Marley died at the age of 36 from malignant melanoma. But in the intervening years, the beats he and the Wailers laid down have never seemed to fade. Generations of reggae and ska fans have been introduced to his work, and his star in the firmament of Jamaican music has never been eclipsed, nor is it likely to be. Yet in spite of this young talent’s astounding and tragically short career, his full story has never been told definitively on film. Finally, Marley takes on the challenge. With the […]

Steve Harvey ends stand-up career with live Pay-Per-View Grand Finale special

August 1, 2012 Jeff Pfeiffer

After more than 27 years in stand-up comedy, Steve Harvey will be headlining his last stand-up comedy show Aug. 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The two-hour farewell performance, called Steve Harvey’s Grand Stand-Up Finale, will also be available to viewers via live Pay-Per-View (PPV) telecast on cable systems around the country Aug. 2 at 11pm ET/8pm PT. After the live show, fans will still be able to access the special via cable PPV for several months, and also on Video On Demand (VOD) beginning Aug. 3. The show is available in both standard and high-definition […]

VOD Spotlight: Maggie Grace shines in “Lockout”

July 17, 2012 StayTuned Staff

After their Internet sci-fi sensation Prey Alone caught the attention of Luc Besson and EuropaCorp, Irish directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger got the leverage they needed to take on a larger-scale project — resulting in the thriller Lockout. The film’s story centers on a future experimental prison in space where 500 of Earth’s most dangerous convicts are kept in an artificial state of hibernation. When the president’s daughter, Emilie Warnock (Maggie Grace), leads a humanitarian expedition to the prison and the inmates are awoken, the ensuing mutiny has the first daughter at the center of a hostage situation. […]

VOD Spotlight: The gang returns for more “Pie” in “American Reunion”

July 10, 2012 StayTuned Staff

There’s almost always a risk in going for the second or third sequel in a film series. Audiences have become jaded against the quick cash-in, and are quick to anticipate a depreciation in quality. But it’s been nine years since we last checked in with the American Pie gang, and it’s safe to say that things aren’t going to be the same for most of them. In American Reunion, we’re brought up to date with what’s going on in the lives of that randy bunch, now in their 30s. Writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who penned the Harold & […]

VOD Spotlight: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes experience sibling rivalry in “Wrath of the Titans”

June 26, 2012 StayTuned Staff

It might seem at odds with formal mythology to conjure up a sequel for a story that’s thousands of years old, but the creators of Wrath of the Titans knew enough to keep it in the family. The film — which features Sam Worthington reprising his role as the heroic Perseus, as well as Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades — takes place a little more than 10 years after Perseus’ defeat of the Kraken. Now living as the sole parent to his 10-year-old son Helius, Perseus is content leading the idyllic life of a village fisherman. […]

VOD Spotlight: Jonah Hill jumps back to “21 Jump Street”

June 26, 2012 StayTuned Staff

When Jonah Hill started re-envisioning 21 Jump Street as an action comedy film, one of the questions that confronted him was whether or not the younger generation — logically a good chunk of the project’s prospective audience — would even remember the series. “I’ll meet teenagers and I’ll ask them if they know the series — they don’t,” he says. “So I tell them it’s about young-looking cops who go undercover in a high school, and they say, ‘That sounds awesome.’ It’s such a great premise for an action comedy.” For Hill, the film was inspired by one of those […]

VOD Spotlight: “The Artist” is silent, but golden

June 26, 2012 StayTuned Staff

I’ve often wondered whether or not a contemporary filmmaker could attempt a silent film in a completely new way and make it an unqualified success. As such, I was intrigued when I first heard of director Michel Hazanavicius’ film The Artist, and its attempt to revisit the silent era. The last major film to do so was Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie in 1976, and that was a deliberate spoof. And even if The Artist isn’t done in the completely new way I’d hoped to see a silent film done, it’s still undeniably new and cinematically refreshing. The Academy obviously agreed, […]

VOD Spotlight: A “green” set sends Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd back to nature in “Wanderlust”

June 19, 2012 Meredith Ennis

In Wanderlust, Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man) and Jennifer Aniston (Horrible Bosses) star as George and Linda, a stressed-out Manhattan couple who find themselves unable to continue living in the city when their employment circumstances change. On their way to Atlanta, where they are reluctantly moving in with George’s brother, they stumble into an alternative community known as Elysium. Production designer Aaron Osborne and his crew did their research for the film by staying at and interacting within an actual 30-year-old commune in the North Georgia Mountains. “We had a great experience at this place called Earthsong,” he tells. […]

VOD Spotlight: Nicolas Cage in “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance”

June 12, 2012 StayTuned Staff

For the filmmakers of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, picking up where the first film left off wasn’t an option. Vaulting ahead a few years allowed them to put the character at an entirely different stage in his development and gave them the opportunity to show how differently John Blaze deals with being the Ghost Rider several years down the road. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance tells a story of redemption, and one that required a different approach to the character. Fortunately for Nicolas Cage, reprising the character of John Blaze for this film was an altogether new experience. “[It […]