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This week’s Round Table focuses on  ”James Bond 23″ (a.k.a., the 23rd 007 film, titled SKYFALL, which began production this week) and on HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2, which makes it home video debut on Tuesday, November 8. As always, Cinefantastique Podcasters Lawrence French, Dan Persons, and Steve Biodrowski offer their [...]

Production starts November 7th on the twenty-third James Bond Eon Production.

La-La Land releases Fantasy Film score, PLUS John Barry’s unused original score!

In this week’s installment of the Cinefantastique Round Table Podcast, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski analyze the hot topics in the world of horror, fantasy, and science fiction films: Sony Pictures will finance and distribute the new James Bond Film; Barry Cooper may star in THE CROW; Peter Jackson films THE HOBBIT in [...]

MGM also makes deal for Home Video release with 20th Century Fox

On January 30, 2011, iconic – and very prolific – composer John Barry passed away, after being in ill health for some time.  He was seventy-seven years old.  There is little doubt a great many will be saddened at the loss of one of film’s truly cherished friends.
Barry was an emotionally introspective and poetic composer [...]

Summer’s gone and so is the Cinefantastique Podcast’s Summer Wrap-up Episode. In its wake, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski debates the merits of classifying James Bond as a member in good standing of the science fiction and/or fantasy genre, while omitting Machete. Also, good news for cult horror fans: numerous titles from Hammer [...]

Writer-director-script doctor Tom Mankiewicz (Thomas F.  Mankiewicz) passed away July 31st from cancer. He was 68.
Best known to most Cinefantastique readers as the screen writer for several James Bond movies, Mankiewiewicz also worked as a director (HART TO HART, TALES FROM THE CRYPT) and often labored behind the scenes as an uncredited creative consultant or ’script doctor’.
He co-wrote [...]

In this post about SAW 3-D, being touted as the finale installment in the Jigsaw saga, Lionsgate president Jason Constantine makes the following statement about the longevity of the SAW franchise:
“You can count on one hand the franchises that lasted seven years — and every year, no less,” says Jason Constantine, Lionsgate’s president of acquisitions [...]

Daniel Craig as James Bond

According to Coming Soon JAMES BOND producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions,  announced today that they have suspended development on the next film in the profitable franchise. BOND 23, as it’s currently known, was previously scheduled for release 2011/2012 but due to financial troubles at MGM [...]

Over at USA Today, Scott Bowles points out that Summer 2009 is loaded with blockbusters that feature origin stories. The motivations for this a fairly clear: Hollywood likes familiar franchises, but audiences are getting tired of sequels rehashing the same old plots. Prequels allow filmmakers to fill in the back story; more than that, an [...]

Much was made in 1983 of the return of Sean Connery to the role of James Bond, in spite of the fact that Roger Moore’s most recent outings had been spectacular financial successes. But the outer space extravagance of Moonraker in 1979 had set many Bond fans pining for the simpler days of the Connery [...]

This week’s science-fiction, fantasy, and horror home video releases are dominated by two action heroes: Bolt and James Bond, both of whom have titles arriving on DVD and Blu-ray.  Some may object to including them under the umbrella of cinefantastique, but both are far enough outside the realm of the ordinary to warrant the genre [...]