Author: Tom Stockman

Check out the All-New Trailer for IP MAN: THE AWAKENING – Hitting Digital, Blu-ray and DVD June 21st

The Action-Packed Martial Arts Drama IP MAN: THE AWAKENING Debuts Exclusively on the Streaming Service Hi-YAH! May 20 Before Hitting Digital, Blu-ray & DVD June 21st.

Read the review from Mark Glass HERE. Glass says, “Miu Tse should be a rising star with a bright future.”

Check out the trailer:

While visiting Hong Kong, a young Master Ip intervenes in a kidnapping attempt, unintentionally igniting a turf war with a ruthless human trafficking ring in action-packed martial arts drama IP MAN: THE AWAKENING,debuted May 20 exclusively on the martial arts streaming service Hi-YAH! before hitting Digital, Blu-ray and DVD June 21 from Well Go USA Entertainment. When the ruthless gang kidnaps one of Ip Man’s close friends, he is forced to face the group’s brutal boxing champion head-on. Co-directed by Li Xi Jie and Zhang Zhu Lin, IP MAN: THE AWAKENING stars the rising wing chun martial arts master Miu Tse (aka Miao Xie, My Father is a Hero) assuming the legendary title role alongside cast members including Chen Guan Ying, Zhao Yu Xuan, and Hao Yan Fei. The bonus features include an all-new English dub.

While visiting Hong Kong, a young Master Ip intervenes in a kidnapping attempt, unintentionally igniting a turf war with a ruthless human trafficking ring. In retaliation, the gang kidnaps one of Ip Man’s close friends, leaving him with no choice but to challenge the group’s notoriously brutal boxing champion head-on.

IP MAN: THE AWAKENING has a runtime of approximately 80 minutes and is not rated.

Tom Cruise Double Feature TOP GUN: MAVERICK With DAYS OF THUNDER May 27-28th at The Sky View Drive-in in Lichtfield, IL

“Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits are legendary. What he has to teach you could mean the very difference between life and death.”

It’s Tom Cruise Weekend at the SkyView in Lichtfield, IL. TOP GUN: MAVERICK With DAYS OF THUNDER screen Friday May 27th and Saturday May 28th at the Sky View Drive-in in Lichtfield, Il. (1500 Historic Old Route 66) . Admission is only $7 (free for kids under 5). TOP GUN: MAVERICK starts at 8:30. The Sky View’s site can be found HERE.

TOP GUN: MAVERICK:

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

DAYS OF THUNDER:

Cole Trickle enters the high-pressure world of Nascar racing. He’s a hot driver with a hot temper, and this attitude gets him into trouble not only with other drivers, but members of his own team as well.

Kathleen Turner in John Waters’ SERIAL MOM Playing May 31st at the Landmark Theatre’s Plaza Frontenac – RetroREPLAY ‘May is For Mothers’

“Hey, can I borrow your mother? My Aunt is coming for dinner and she’s always getting on my nerves.”

Landmark’s The Plaza Frontenac Theatre (210 Plaza Frontenac, in the Plaza Frontenac Shopping Center, Frontenac, MO, 63131) hosts RetroREPLAY Tuesdays. Tickets are only $7 and can be purchased in advance HERE. The RetroREPLAY for May 31st is Kathleen Turner in John Waters’ SERIAL MOM (1994). Showtimes ar 1pm and 7pm

A picture perfect middle class family is shocked when they find out that one of their neighbors is receiving obscene phone calls. The mom takes slights against her family very personally, and it turns out she is indeed the one harassing the neighbor. As other slights befall her beloved family, the body count begins to increase, and the police get closer to the truth, threatening the family’s picture perfect world.

THE NEVERENDING STORY Screening at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville Tuesday May 31st

“Having a luck dragon with you is the only way to go on a quest.”

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THE NEVERENDING STORY (1984) will be on the big screen when it plays at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, IL (252 N Main St, Edwardsville, IL 62025) at 7:00pm Tuesday May 31st. Tickets are only $3  Tickets available starting at 3pm day of movie at Wildey Theatre ticket office.  Cash or check only. (cash, credit cards accepted for concessions)  Lobby opens at 6pm.

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world threatened by “The Nothing,” a darkness that destroys everything it touches.

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Here’s the Trailer For the Western Adventure HOSTILE TERRITORY Written, Directed-by and Starring Brian Presley -Debuts on Blu-ray and DVD June 14th

Arriving Just in Time for Father’s Day, The Western Action/Adventure HOSTILE TERRITORY Debuts on Blu-ray & DVD June 14 – Available on Digital Now. Here’s the trailer:

Written, directed by, and starring Brian Presley (The Great Alaskan Race), the action-packed western adventure HOSTILE TERRITORY gallops onto Digital, Blu-ray™ and DVD June 14 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Former P.O.W. Jack Calgrove (Presley) is willing to move heaven and earth to be reunited with his children following the Civil War. After returning home, Jack finds out his wife has died and that his children, presumed orphans, are heading deep into the West aboard a train crossing contested territory in the midst of clashes between American settlers and Native American tribes. Calgrove and another former soldier are joined by a troop of Native American sharpshooters and a freed slave as they race to intercept the orphan train before all hope is lost. This wild-west story also stars Craig Tate (12 Years a Slave), Natalie Whittle (“Orbital Redux”), Matt McCoy (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle), Lew Temple (Waitress) and Brad Leland (“Friday Night Lights”). Bonus material includes behind-the-scenes

Upon returning home after the Civil War, former POW Jack Calgrove finds out his wife has died and his children—now presumed orphans—were loaded on a train bound for hostile territory deep in the American West. With the help of a fellow Union soldier, a troop of elite Native American sharpshooters, and a former slave searching desperately for her own daughter, Calgrove races to intercept the orphan train before all hope is lost.

HOSTILE TERRITORY has a runtime of approximately 94 minutes and is rated R for violence.

Uncle Sam wants you… DEAD! Blue Underground to Release William Lustig’s UNCLE SAM 25th Anniversary on 4K Ultra HD June 21st

“Don’t be afraid, it’s only friendly fire.”

Blue Underground will release William Lustig’s UNCLE SAM (1996) 25th Anniversary on 4K Ultra HD June 21st . Check out this classic trailer

Despite a relatively short-lived career as a director, spanning 16 years and 8 films, William Lustig has had a major impact on genre cinema. While filming “making-of” features for Anchor Bay, Lustig formed Blue Underground and started to bring exploitation cinema to the home video market with high-quality DVDs loaded with special features. More than 20 years later, Blue Underground is still thriving and upping its game to include 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases. Blue Underground’s latest 4K release is Lustig’s very own Uncle Sam, available everywhere on June 21, 2022.

Master Sergeant Sam Harper (David Fralick) is tragically killed in a horrible accident in Kuwait after his helicopter is shot down by friendly fire. Sam’s charred remains are shipped back to his hometown of Twin Rivers, just as the town is preparing for its annual Fourth of July celebration. While being stored at his sister’s house, Sam’s dead body becomes reanimated and goes on a patriotic killing spree over the course of the holiday weekend. Uncle Sam is an over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek satire about American’s obsession with military dominance and the great lengths the nation will go in order to appeal to the country’s youth.

Uncle Sam wants you to enjoy this brand-new restoration, scanned in 4K 16-bit from the original 35mm negative, just in time for the film’s 25th anniversary. Uncle Sam was directed by Lustig from a script written by the iconic Larry Cohen. The film stars Robert Forster, Timothy Bottoms, Bo Hopkins, P.J. Soles, and Isaac Hayes. The 4K release includes two audio commentary tracks, deleted scenes and more.

Judy Garland and Robert Walker in THE CLOCK Available on Blu-ray June 7th From Warner Archive

“Joe, Joe, Joe, darling, Joe. I thought I’d lost you. I didn’t know where to look.”

Judy Garland and Robert Walker in THE CLOCK (1945) will be available on Blu-ray June 7th from Warner Archive

Judy Garland stars with Robert Walker as a New Yorker and a GI on a 48-hour leave who meet in New York’s Pennsylvania Station—under The Clock. Over two whirlwind days, the impossible happens: Two strangers meet and fall in love with each other, with the City–and its iconoclastic, eccentric inhabitants in this romance directed by Vincente Minnelli.

After ten years of musical appearances on film, M-G-M finally let Judy Garland exhibit her extraordinary acting talents without the need for song, and the results are unforgettable.Despite this romantic classic being very decidedly not a musical, the film is well-regarded for its haunting original score by composer George Bassman.

Special Features:

  • Vintage Pete Smith Specialty Hollywood Scout
  • Classic Tex Avery Cartoon “Screwy Truant” (HD)
  • Audio-only bonus: Radio Show Adaptation with Judy Garland and John Hodiak
  • Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)

Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in FOR ME AND MY GAL Available on Blu-ray June 7th From Warner Archive

“You think anything’s going to stand in the way of us playing the Palace this time? Oh no, not even a war.”

Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in FOR ME AND MY GAL (1942) will be available on Blu-ray June 7th from Warner Archive. It can be purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store

Judy Garland got top billing at the mere age of 20 as the central star of this quintessential classic that introduced none other than Gene Kelly, making his film debut as her co-star. 

Directed with panache by the legendary maven of the movie musical Busby Berkeley, the films casts Gene and Judy as young vaudeville performers Harry Palmer and Jo Hayden. 

The pair dream of stardom, but the United States enters World War I and Harry receives his draft notice–trapping the two between their obligation to each other’s dreams and their duty to their country.

A box-office smash for Producer Arthur Freed, the film is filled with song after song from the WWI era, with standouts including “Ballin’ the Jack,” “After You’ve Gone,” and of course Garland and Kelly’s sublime duet of the title tune.

The chemistry between Judy & Gene was natural and infectious, and led to their teaming again for The Pirate (1947) and Summer Stock (1950), both also available as remastered Blu-ray releases from Warner Archive.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • Commentary by Judy Garland biographer John Fricke,
  • Vintage Musical Shorts: Every Sunday and La Fiesta de Santa Barbara 
  • For Me and My Gal Deleted Finale
  • Three Cheers For The Yanks (Outtake)
  • Photo Re-Creations With Original Recordings
  • Audio Only Bonuses: Screen Guild Players Radio Show from March 23,1943, with Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, and Dick Powell
  • Leo is on the Air Radio Trailer
  • Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)

James Stewart, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland in ZIEGFELD GIRL Available on Blu-ray June 7th From Warner Archive

“Mr. Ziegfeld says, if I don’t watch my figure, no one else will.”

James Stewart and Judy Garland in ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941) will be available on Blu-ray June 7th from Warner Archive. It can purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store 

An amazing all-star cast came together for this beloved classic drama about love and fame, set against the backdrop of the legendary Ziegfeld Follies. Judy Garland, Lana Turner, and Hedy Lamarr–three of the screen’s most glamorous leading ladies-star with James Stewart as young hopefuls seeking fame as a Ziegfeld Girl. Garland portrays Susan Gallagher, who leaves her vaudevillian father to climb the ladder of stardom. Turner portrays Sheila Regan who drops her loyal beau Gilbert Young (James Stewart) for a wealthy suitor, forcing Young to resort to bootlegging to earn the money to win Sheila back, and Hedy Lamarr is the exotic Sandra Kolter. whose quest for stardom nearly destroys her marriage to the struggling violinist who adores her. Highlighted by spectacular musical sequences staged by the great Busby Berkeley, Ziegfeld Girl represents the kind of colossal entertainment only M-G-M could bring to the screen.

Special Features:

  • Introduction By Judy Garland Biographer John Fricke
  • Vintage Musical Short-A New Romance Of Celluloid, We Must Have Music
  • Our Gang Short-Melodies Old And New
  • Audio-Only Outtakes:  Too Beautiful To Last (Tony Martin); We Must Have Music Finale (Judy Garland And Tony Martin) 
  • Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)

RONDO AND BOB – The TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Art Director ‘Bob’ Burns is Searching for Cult Movie Star Rondo Hatton in This Documentary Streaming in June

Award-winning documentary Rondo and Bob, fixing on Texas Chain Saw Massacre art director Robert Burns and his obsession with cult actor Rondo Hatton, will be released on streaming platforms this June. Check out this trailer:

Robert A. “Bob” Burns is a significant name in horror film art direction for his work in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, Re-Animator, The Howling. His props also appear in Poltergeist. From a young age he showed signs of being a genius and could create complex designs all in his head, draw detailed cartoons and create outrageous puns. In high school and college he studied drama, which he later utilized in films including Confessions of a Serial Killer.

While attending the University of Texas he edited the Texas Ranger humor magazine and discovered Rondo Hatton, a former Tampa, Florida, sports reporter, who contracted acromegaly, a condition that caused his face, hands and feet to grow out of proportion to the rest of his body. It caused the former athlete and All-American kid to close himself off from the outside world until he met his second wife Mae. Together they went to Hollywood where Hatton became the Creeper in a series of films starting with the Sherlock Holmes story The Pearl of Death. He died of a heart attack brought on by his medical condition.

The documentary weaves together the stories of Burns and Hatton and delves into their horror filmographies and personal life stories. The Creeper becomes a metaphor for Burns’ lifelong belief in his inner ugliness, a lack that left him unable to feel true love.

The film mixes interviews with archival film footage and rare video of Burns and the people he tried desperately to love. Along the way it examines vital touchstone films of the horror genre and tells the true stories of two of its important players.

To bring the characters of Rondo and Bob fully to life, scenes from Burns’ and Hatton’s lives have been recreated using actors.

The film, written and directed by Joe O’Connell, features veteran stuntman Gary Kent (Bubba Ho-Tep, “The Green Hornet”), actress Dee Wallace (Cujo, The Howling), Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon, Joseph Middleton, Joe Bob Briggs, Hills Have Eyes producer Peter Locke, Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Edwin Neal, filmmaker Fred Olen Ray, and many more.

Rondo and Bob will be available on streaming platforms June 7 from Electric Entertainment.