Just in time for awards season and Hollywood’s biggest celebration, a unique look at some of Tinsel town’s stellar filmmaking during the industry’s early years in Academy Collection: The Envelope Please, Volume 1, unveiling on DVD February 23, 2010 from Infinity Entertainment Group. 

Just the words, “The envelope please,” instantly evoke visions of Hollywood’s most-glamorous event, biggest stars and most-prestigious honor … the ACADEMY AWARDS.  Academy Collection: The Envelope Please, Volume 1 is a rare look at “Best Picture” contenders during the infancy of the movie industry, award-nominated/winning movies from the first decade of this legendary gala (1929-39).

This four-disc collection includes eight full-length films, all “Best Picture” nominees: The Racket (1928), Alibi (1929), The Front Page (1931), A Farewell to Arms (1932), The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), A Star is Born (1937), Pygmalion (1938) and Love Affair (1939).  

The Racket, produced by Howard Hughes, was popped into my player.  I thought, I’d watch the movie while I worked. I couldn’t work. The Racket is beyond Coppola and Scorsese. It’s a master piece.  The ensemble piece winds around, intertwining characters, making a great story.

The Front Pagewith Pat O’Brien and Adolphe Menjou stirs with laughter, a comical depiction of that era.  An original Broadway play brought to Hollywood for the first time in 1931.

The DVD has Bonus Material: Original trailers from other “Best Picture”-nominated/winning films of the decade. 

Screenhead has 4 copies of Academy Collection: The Envelope Please, Volume 1 to give away. Post your name and we will pick the winners Sunday, March 14, 2010.

Alice in Wonderland Exclusive Clip – Clothe This Girl

I love the look of Alice in Wonderland. It’s not dark like some of Tim Burton’s other films.  It’s light and entertaining.

The news today is getting more reboots than a twelve year old Packard Bell, folks–word out of the Keanu Reeves Jekyll and Hyde reboot camp is that they’ve lost their director.

Nicholas Refn, a Danish director of some note, reportedly left the project so he could focus his efforts on the Ryan Gosling heist film Drive.  Quoth the Refn:

“I just couldn’t do it when they needed me. Keanu is a wonderful actor and I’m sure it will be a fantastic film with him in.”

So from the sounds of things, strictly a time conflict.  But does that mean that the Jekyll remake is down for the count?  Neither necessarily nor likely, in fact–once they get a replacement director the film is back in action.  But in case you were interested in seeing Keanu handle the role, well, you’ll be disappointed as this likely pushes back the start date by a matter of months.

Earlier this week Screenhead reported that there were rumours of a Taxi Driver remake. At first it seemed that Lars Von Trier would be working with Scorsese and Robert De Niro to remake it. Then it was speculated that Von Trier was challenging Scorses to remake his own movie and include De Niro (Trier did this before with the film The Five Obstructions). Anyone with any sense of taste would, like me, be screaming for blood if the utter classic film was to be remade. It’s one of those rare moments where time, place, mood, direction and performance all culminate to make one of the highlights of cinema. De Niro defined his acting chops, Scorsese managed to successfully blend European-arthouse with American issues and setting, and Bernard Herrmann’s score was brilliantly murky. To remake it now, whoever the director and cast, would be to undoubtedly pale in comparison.

Fortunately, the rumours, which started circulating at the Berlin Film Festival, seem to be untrue. According to Screen Daily, sources from Von Trier’s company Zentropa deny the rumour. Which is a big relief, as considering how awful Antichrist was, anything Von Trier touches would probably turn to crud.

However, Scorsese, who is busy promoting the upcoming Shutter Island, is interested in returning to the world of crime with de Niro. The project would feature gangsters looking back as opposed to the ascent of mobsters featured in the likes of Mean Streets and Goodfellas.

Come along for a look back at a legend as you relish the career of one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars of vaudeville, film and television in Mickey Rooney: The Long & Short of It, available now from Infinity Entertainment Group. 

Short in stature but never confidence, the 5’ 3” Mickey Rooney was the #1 U.S. box office actor from 1939-41, starring in over 200 films opposite such leading ladies as Lana Turner, Anne Rutherford and Judy Garland (and marrying Ava Gardner).  His Academy, Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning career in stage, television and film spans nine decades—the lengthiest of any screen star.

Mickey Rooney: The Long & Short of it, a six-disc collector’s set, includes 14 classic films (1932-76); three Mickey McGuire film shorts (1929-43); television shows and appearances (1954-57); and movie trailers charting his career (1934-86).

What a collection to have in your library! If you’ve ever wanted to know Mickey Rooney, now is the time to get to know him.  I don’t think we’ll ever see such a career or personality in film and television again. 

Screenhead has 4 copies of Mickey Rooney: The Long & Short of It to give away. Please post your name and we will pick the winners Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

The winners are Michael Capp (45), Nicholas Elias Nieves (50), Chuck A. (58) and Candie L. (74).

Congratulations everyone. You will enjoy this collector’s set.

“Who’s on First?” is one of my favorite Abbot & Costello sketches. I have always found their movies hilarious. That is why I find the first release in a series of classic Hollywood comedy collector’s sets, Legends of Laughter: Abbott & Costello, worth placing it in my DVD player every now and then for an upbeat moment.  

Burlesque entertainers “Bud” Abbott and Lou Costello first teamed in 1936, going on to become one of the greatest and most enduring comedy teams in showbiz history—stars of radio, film and television (helping pioneer the fledgling medium) throughout the ’40s and ’50s.

So immensely popular were the funnymen, their personal efforts during a 1943 World War II Bond Drive helped deliver an astounding $89 million in just three days ($1 billion+ today)! 

During a 20-year partnership, the tall and slim Abbott’s devious, acerbic and exasperated straight man was counterpoint to the pudgy Costello’s dim-witted, child-like, stumbling demeanor. Their style of knockabout comedy and precision, rapid-fire wordplay set the side-splitting framework for their most-famous routines, including “Who’s on First?” (often called the greatest comedic skit of all time), “Two Tens for a Five,” “Hertz U-Drive” and “Fleeing Flu.”

This special, six-disc collector’s set includes extremely rare bloopers from film and TV; 17 celebrity-studded episodes of The Abbott & Costello Show on radio (1942-49), a 1943 World War II PSA, “The Autobiography of a Jeep”; the feature films Africa Screams (1949) and Jack and the Beanstalk (1952); 20 classic movie trailers, charting their careers from 1940-59; and 14 TV episodes, hosted by the duo, of the Colgate Comedy Hour (1951-54).

Take a look at who is featured in the collection:Marlene Dietrich; Errol Flynn; Lucille Ball; Lon Chaney, Jr.; Jane Russell; Veronica Lake; Rudy Vallee; Louis Armstrong; Dorothy Lamour; Peter Lorre; Hedda Hopper; Bella Lugosi; Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake (Blondie & Dagwood); Joe Besser and Shemp Howard (Three Stooges); Charles Laughton, Peggy Lee; The Andrew Sisters; Hoagy Carmichael; Alan Hale, Alan Ladd; Victor Borge; Les Paul and Mary Ford; Rhonda Fleming; Gale Storm; The Nicholas Brothers; Mel Blanc; Clyde Beatty; and more!

 
Alice in Wonderland Exclusive Mad Hatter Featurette in HD

Trailer Park Movies | MySpace Video

Alice in Wonderland will arrivein March when all the children are on spring break.  This featurette focuses on Johnny Depp and his character the Mad Hatter. It appears the Mad Hatter plays an important role in Tim Burton’s story.

The featurette introduces never-before-seen footage. It’s quite a remarkable production design. The art direction is to die for in a a rather silly and mad way.

Sam Worthington looks like he is having fun flying on that creature going into the mouth of that humongous monster.  Of course, he had a lot of practice in Avatar.

Clash of the Titans opens April 2, 2010.  UGO has four other images for you to check out. If you click on the monster, Zeus will send you to UGO, so you can see the other posters.