The Bearded Trio

Q&A with film director Ron Howard Wednesday, 1 July at 8.15pm Now's your chance to get your questions answered by director, Ron Howard thanks to the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the #EdFilmFestAtHome event.  It all takes place on YouTube and various social media platforms.  The Q&A is taking place tomorrow so make sure you get your questions in.  Details are below: The event will be hosted on the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s YouTube channel   &  Facebook  and will take place at 8:15pm BST. You can Ask questions via Twitter or Facebook by tagging @EdFilmFest or using #EdFilmFestAtHome . Follow @edfilmfest for links and live updates The legendary film director brings his latest documentary, Rebuilding Paradise, to UK audiences for the very first time. The film, available now until 5 July on Curzon Home Cinema as part of Ed Film Fest at Home, chronicles the post-fire lives of the residents of Paradise, Californ...

Steven Spielberg Appears Briefly In Duel We all love the 1971 Steven Spielberg directed classic, Duel about a business commuter pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer across the empty deserted roads of America.  Some say Duel is a precursor to Steven Spielberg's other classic, the 1975 in-the-water thriller, Jaws.  Duel is one and a half hours of pure edge-of-your-seats entertainment and shows the early potential of Steven Spielberg even back in 1971. The TV movie, originally 74 minutes in length was made for ABC's "Movie of the Week" and Spielberg was under pressure to complete the filming of the movie in just 10 days.  He did it in 13 much to the amazement of the crew who said it couldn't be done.  Insisting on using on-location shots rather than what would have ultimately been fake-looking studio shots, Spielberg can be forgiven for the odd blooper here and there due to the pressure he was under to complete the TV mo...

Spock Talks Star Wars Yes, you read that right.  This is a 1983 documentary that I came across on Youtube and is has Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy presenting the show.  Well this makes perfect sense.  What next?  Billy Dee presenting the making of Star Trek Into Darkness? The show was called Standby...Lights! Camera! Action! and aired on the Nickelodeon channel in the US.  This would have been filmed slap bang in between Wrath of Khan (1982) and Search for Spock (1984.)  Other movies covered in the show included E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, The Goonies, Cocoon and Back to the Future to name a few.

Michael Heather looks back At Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and why it deserves more love My favourite Indiana Jones film is Raiders Of The Lost Ark, probably not the opening statement you expected in a piece celebrating the (fortune and) glories of Indy's second celluloid adventure. However, Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom has somehow become the somewhat unloved sequel/prequel dismissed even by its own director who claims that “the only good thing to come out of it was meeting my wife”. The undeniably perfect pacing, framing, composing and overall genius of ‘Raiders’ is well documented but I just as often these days feel like I need to defend the movie or part of a minority (albeit strong) that needs to champion the many awesome aspects of Indy's darkest escapade. No time for love? Far from it. Every recollection like this seems to start with its own authors personal context and I have no intention of straying from that formula, unlike the film itself. I w...

NOSTALGIA AND STAR WARS One of the most powerful words in Star Wars fandom is Nostalgia. A quick search for the definition of nostalgia states: a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. During my years observing Star Wars fandom, this word comes up in my mind over and over again, for both good and bad reasons. One of my preferred Star Wars podcasts, Skytalkers , recently did a deep two-part dive on the concept of nostalgia within Star Wars, its place, and where its listeners feel Star Wars media and creators have hit and missed with nostalgia. It’s a great listen, I highly recommend it, and you should absolutely subscribe to that channel. You have time. Inspired by that podcast, I decided to take a crack at nostalgia within Star Wars, a highly complex topic. How should we define nostalgia within Star Wars films and publishing? Is nostalgia an attempt by the creators to devise a callback for ...

Lego Indiana Jones and Lara Croft Crossover Was Pitched To Lucasfilm Over on YouTube , there is a channel ( GameHut ) that has been created by founder of TT Games, Jon Burton.  Now, gamers will be familiar with TT Games as they have brought us the fantastic Lego games such as Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones. What is interesting is in the video below, TT Games pitched an idea of creating a Lara Croft game but thought that it needed a bit more to it so decided to approach Lucasfilm with the idea of a Lara Croft/Indiana Jones crossover Lego game. Thinking Lucasfilm would be enthusiastic about the idea, they had the opposite reaction.  Apparently, Lucasfilm have never been happy with the creators of Lara Croft (Toby Gard/Eidos.)  In the video, Jon Burton said that Lucasfilm thought Lara was too similar to their hero with the whip and hat, Indiana Jones and going as far as claiming they "stole" their idea.  The concept was shot down immediately ...

Chewbacca's Bandolier Vintage Advert This is a scan of an advert from the Return Of The Jedi magazine (No.19 Oct 26 1983) On page one it shows Chewbacca and how you too can own his Bandolier and fill it with your kenner Star Wars figures. According to the advert there are two secret compartments for secret messages, laser pistols and other vital battle gear. Just collect 5 Star Wars action figures cut out send their package names away. Bargain!

A Nostalgia Review – “Jaws” (1975) A Guest post by Tim Balogh Nostalgia is a funny thing. Think back to a TV show or movie you were in love with as a 6-year-old. If you were to experience it again now as an adult, it’s very possible that it did not age well; It may even be quite cringe worthy. Or perhaps a show or movie you didn’t like or blew off could actually be quite extraordinary. One movie that I was obsessed with as a kid was 1986’s “An American Tail”, which was produced by Steven Spielberg. I happened to catch a few minutes of the movie while channel surfing and I was horrified by how dark and terrifying the movie is and the underlying events that were occurring in the background. For example, as a kid I saw the Moskowitz family fleeing their home because of cats attacking. But what was really happening was an anti-Jewish arson attack on the humans that lived there. It’s amazing the things that innocence can hide you from in media. Anyways, this isn’t a story about ...

Douglas Meacham takes a look back at the 1975, Spielberg classic Jaws which celebrates its 45th anniversary today. JAWS U.S. Release Date: June 20, 1975 Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss Music by: John Williams Directed by: Steven Spielberg Oscar Wins: Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score “YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT.” – Chief Brody Today is the 45th anniversary of the release of my second all-time favorite film, the first being SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. It is the original summer blockbuster, the first film ever to gross $100 million at the box office, and it did so in just over a month. It would go on to earn over $400 million world-wide, which by today’s currency is somewhere around $2 billion. Anyone who hasn’t seen the film will almost certainly be familiar with its basic plot: A killer great white shark terrorizes the New England island town of Amity, and it’s up to chief of police Martin Brody, shark expert Matt Hooper, and captain “...

Following on from our article where we listed 35 random facts on Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra Terrestrial , I felt it was only fitting that I assemble a bunch of random facts on one of the my favourite Spielberg movies, Jaws. 1 - According to Box Office Mojo the movie’s budget was $7 Million and took $470 million at the box office worldwide and domestic. 2 - The original budget for the movie was green lit at $3.5 million 3 - Several decades after the release of Jaws (1975), Lee Fierro, who played Mrs. Kintner, walked into a seafood restaurant and noticed that the menu had an "Alex Kintner Sandwich." She commented that she had played his mother so many years ago; the owner of the restaurant ran out to meet her, and he was none other than Jeffrey Voorhees, who had played her son. They had not seen each other since the original movie shoot. 4 - When composer John Williams originally played the score for director Steven Spielberg, Spielberg laughed ...

Jaws Lobby Card Found In My Collection Mixed In With Jaws 2 Cards Isn't it nice when you are looking through your collection and you come across something unexpected?  Well, that's what happened to me today when I was looking through my Jaws 2 lobby cards.  I came across one of the cards that is actually from the first (and of course best) Jaws movie.  The scene is actually the deleted scene where we see Michael being saved indirectly by a man in a boat.  The scene was deemed too gory for Spielberg's PG movie so the scene got chopped.  A nice find especially as today is the 45th anniversary of the classic movie.  (Genuinely, this was found today, 20th June.) I spotted the card mixed up in my Jaws 2 cards and on the back it has a description in German.  Grabbing my Google Translate app, here's what it says: The greatest box office success that has ever been seen in the USA is now coming to German cinemas: Steven Spielberg's dramatic shocker "T...

Happy 45th Birthday to Steven Spielberg's masterpiece, Jaws.  We celebrate the movie's anniversary by sharing behind-the-scenes photos from the 1975 classic as well as some fun pictures. Steven Spielberg, producer Richard Zanuck and Roy Scheider soak up the sun and ride the waves in between takes. Filming the iconic dolly-zoom scene with Roy Scheider. When was the first time you watched Jaws? Princess Alexandra and her husband attend a charity performance of the film in December 1975. Lets hope it works.  Or do we?  We wouldn't have had the film we love today if the mechanical shark had behaved itself.  Now, that's an idea for a show.  Time traveler has to go back and make sure the shark doesn't work. He/She has seen the film if the shark had worked and has to go back to fix the timeline.  Legends of Tomorrow episode perhaps? - Rob Makeup artists moisten the shark’s quickly drying skin to preserve the illusion of freshness.  A...

Join Us For Jaws WeMake World Premiere This Saturday On YouTube  and Twitter Our pals over at the number one Jaws website in the world, The Daily Jaws will be premiering the much anticipated Jaws WeMake .  It's a recreation of the classic Steven Spielberg 1975 movie, Jaws that celebrates its 45th anniversary this Saturday, 20th June.  The recreation consists of clips and renditions by fans.  The Bearded Trio will be represented.  Look out for the opening credits which was created by myself.  The zooming through the reefs was actually my back garden where, thankfully I had been putting off cutting the grass, glad I did.  The wave effect was LED disco lights on the ceiling of our garage. We have the trailer for you to whet your appetite as well as the official press release.  We will be on Twitter watching the movie, so join us and The Daily Jaws for live tweets throughout. Thanks to The Daily Jaws, the world's number one Jaws fan site,...