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Hey, Ib Melchoir’s Opus Mars-us is back, in a not-bad new scan and color-grading job. If the nostalgia bug has bitten you deep enough to appreciate a fairly maladroit but frequently arresting space exploration melodrama, this may be the disc for you. Let’s be honest: Nobody can resist the allure of the fabulous Bat-Rat-Spider-Crab, and in glorious Cinemagic, no less.

The Angry Red Planet

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date June 27, 2017 / 17.28

Starring: Gerald Mohr, Nora Hayden, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen.

Cinematography: Stanley Cortez

Film Editor: Ivan J. Hoffman

Original Music: Paul Dunlap

Written by Ib Melchior from a story by Sid Pink

Produced by Norman Maurer & Sid Pink

Directed by Ib Melchior

Unjust though it may be, not all Savant reviews make the national news feed, but my old 2001 coverage of the pretty miserable MGM DVD of The Angry Red Planet got quoted all over the place,...

Monster movies — especially giant monster movies — are not created equal. There are some great ones, which are rightfully considered to be classics. Everything else tends to fall into different categories of bad, from the schlocky but entertaining to the truly cheap and dismal. Two giant monster movies that land closer to the latter end of the spectrum have been packaged together on a new Blu-ray from Scream Factory that seems specially designed for lovers of Z-grade horror.

First up is the 1977 film Tentacles, a cross between a blatant Jaws rip-off and a standard ’70s disaster movie. It tells the story (if you can call it that) of Ocean Beach, a resort town experiencing a series of attacks by a giant octopus. It seems a construction company headed by Henry Fonda (slumming) is building an underwater tunnel and using radio frequencies that are making the octopus unusually aggressive. The only residents...

Oscar-winning Danish director of Babette's Feast

In April 1988, a week before his 70th birthday, the film director Gabriel Axel, who has died aged 95, walked up on stage at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles to receive the best foreign language film Oscar for Babette's Feast (1987), the first Danish movie to achieve that honour. In a mixture of Danish and French, the slim, grey-bearded, bespectacled Axel quoted a line from the character of the General in the film: "Because of this evening, I have learned, my dear, that in this beautiful world of ours, all things are possible."

It was the pinnacle of Axel's long career and marked the beginning of a resurgence of Danish cinema. (Another Danish film, Bille August's Pelle the Conqueror, won the foreign language Oscar the following year.) Despite several fine films, there was previously little in Axel's oeuvre to predict the perfection of Babette's Feast.

Chicago – One of the annual gems of the Chicago movie scene is the Siskel Film Center’s unmissable European Union Film Festival. It provides local movie buffs with the opportunity to sample some of the finest achievements in world cinema. For many of the festival selections, their EU appearance will function as their sole screening in the Windy City.

This year’s edition, running from March 2nd through the 29th, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Andrea Arnold (“Wuthering Heights”), Bruce Dumont (“Hors Satan”), Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon (“The Fairy”), Abdellatif Kechiche (“Black Venus”) and John Landis (“Burke & Hare”). Moviegoers will have the opportunity to see the latest work from some of the world’s most acclaimed and beloved actors, including Léa Seydoux (“Belle Épine”), Tahir Rahim (“Free Men”), Colm Meaney (“Parked”), Noomi Rapace (“Beyond”), Andy Serkis (“Burke & Hare”), Isabella Rossellini (“Late Bloomers”) and Ewan McGregor...

Amir, here, back with more coverage of new Tiff films. The Toronto International Film Festival is winding down but luckily I have a couple of big name movies still scheduled. Here's a few from the last two days.

Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

This Cannes grand prix winner is a slow-paced police procedural in which a doctor, a prosecutor and a group of other police agents drag an alleged murderer along with them in the rural Anatolia region of Turkey so he can show them where he’s hidden his victim’s body. More than half of this gorgeously shot film is spent during the night and I for one wished the morning never came. Gokhan Tiryaki’s impeccable lighting and the varied range of shots he creates in the limitless but monotonous locale of the film easily tops my personal list of best cinematography of the year.

A comic genius with designs at being something more, Dirch Passer was one of the most prolific and beloved Danish performers of all time. From his rise in the late 1940s until his death in 1980 Passer was one of Denmark's leading stars of stage and screen, appearing in over ninety feature films and packing houses for his live comedy revues, many of which were staged with his close friend and professional partner Kjeld Petersen. But though a huge star in Denmark, Passer remains little known outside of Scandinavia a fact that may be remedied by Martin Pieter Zandvliet's A Funny Man.Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Angels And Demons, The Green Butchers) delivers a sterling performance as Passer, a man wracked by nerves and self doubt...

After a tour around the festival circuit with his critically acclaimed Applause, Martin Pieter Zandvliet set his sights on directing a biopic about Denmark’s greatest comedian, Dirch Passer. Three decades after his too-early death, A Funny Man tells the story of the comedian’s tragic life.

Dirch Hartvig Passer was greatly renowned for his improvisational skills and, with a filmography comprising 90 movies, one of Denmark’s most prolific actors. Numerous Danish actors see him as a role model but it is only fitting that Lie Kaas, arguably one of Denmark’s most recognizable leading man would play him in the upcoming bio-pic.

Tiff describes it as “a fascinating and affecting exploration of the dilemma facing every popular artists, A Funny Man is distinguished by Zandvliet’s elegant, sensitive direction and a major, major turn by Kaas (The Green Butchers, Brothers)”.

-...

Nikolaj Lie Kaas takes the lead in Martin Zandvliet's A Funny Man (Dirch), the Toronto International Film Festival selected bio-pic of Danish comic Dirch Passer.Opening in the seductive style of the sixties, »A Funny Man« uncovers the perennial loneliness that comedian Dirch Passer (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) has found himself in after a fast-tracked rise to fame. He struggles between his own desire to gain critical respect and servicing the audience's needs. Costing his kindred friendship to on-stage partner Kjeld Petersen (Lars Ranthe) Dirch takes on Steinbeck's classic »Of Mice and Men«, only for the audience to break out in laughter at his first line. Dirch's Lennie becomes a running joke, and so has, Dirch believes, his own life.Lie Kaas is arguably Denmark's most recognizable...

As noted in previous lineup announcement entries, (Visions, Wavelengths, Future Projections, Galas and Special Presentations), the Toronto International Film Festival (September 9 through 18) has released some of its most anticipated lineups today. We're taking them one at a time, first posting them program by program with descriptions provided by the festival — and then returning over the coming hours and days to add links and further notes. Here's the lineup for the Contemporary World Cinema program.

Karim Aïnouz's The Silver Cliff. A phone message from her husband propels Violeta into the streets of Rio until sunrise. Telling their teenage son that a last minute trip has come up, she sets out to find her husband. Rio at night is her sole companion as she struggles to face his abrupt and sudden change of heart, but the beach also provides renewal, unexpected meetings and a window to a whole other world.

Ozcan Alper's Future Lasts Forever.

Tiff has just announced the final batch of films slated to hit the fest in September. The number of additions is overwhelming. We just posted the complete line-up for the Gala and Special Presentation programs. Now comes the massive wave of movies in the Contemporary World Cinema program. Here is the press release.

Toronto – The Contemporary World Cinema programme delivers 51 cinematic gems from around the globe at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival®. Offering a variety of filmmakers’ voices and perspectives from around the world, the lineup draws from Brazil, China, South Africa, France, Iran, Morocco, the Netherlands, Israel, Portugal, Russia, Canada and more. This snapshot of global trends in cinema also features the North American premieres of new films by directors such as Andrey Zvyagintsev, Gerardo Naranjo, Sion Sono, Asghar Farhadi, Karim Ainouz, Ole Christian Madsen and Cristián Jiménez

Always Brando Ridha Béhi, Tunisia

World Premiere

After meeting Anis Raache,...

After three separate announcements (here, here and here), the Toronto International Film Festival has announced the final line-up for their Galas and Special Presentations, as well as a few other categories. Most notable is Andrea Arnold‘s Fish Tank follow-up Wuthering Heights, the next film from Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo, as well as Dogtooth director Yorgos Lanthimos’ Alps.

We also get Whit Stillman‘s Damsels in Distress starring Greta Gerwig and Geoffrey Fletcher’s Violet & Daisy starring Saoirse Ronan and James Gandolfini. In what should be a little fun we have Gary McKendry‘s Killer Elite starring Robert De Niro, Clive Owen and Jason Statham. We also get Owen’s horror flick Intruders and Joel Schumacher‘s Trespass starring Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage. Check out the full line-ups below.

Galas

Closing Night Film

Page Eight David Hare, United Kingdom

International Premiere

Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is a long-serving M15 officer.

Berlin -- Danish sales exec Natja Rosner has joined Tine Klint's world sales group Level K and will set up an office for the company in New York.

Both Klint and Rosner worked together at Danish sales giant TrustNordisk.

Level K is a boutique specializing in international art house titles. Recent acquisitions include "Crying with Laughter" by Brit director Justin Molotnikov, the Australian psycho-drama "Say Nothing" and "Dirch," the second feature from Danish director Martin P. Zandvliet which stars Nicolaj lie Kaas as famed Danish comic actor Dirch Passer.