Back by Popular Demand with Dennis Camlek

Ready for the Kumite? In the ‘80s, Cannon Films pumped out cheap, glorious B-movies fueled by the home video boom. 1988’s “Bloodsport” was the crown jewel of this era. While it stumbled in theaters it exploded on VHS to become an immortal cult classic. John Carpenter (no, not THAT John Carpenter) joins the show to celebrate the film that launched Jean-Claude Van Damme into superstardom...and to ma...

Michael Lewis’ acclaimed best seller " Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" may not have been obvious source material for a major Hollywood screen adaptation. After all, the book was about sabermetrics, how empirical and statistical analysis was being deployed to identify overlooked talent. Producer Brad Pitt was determined to develop this fascinating story about challenging anecdotal wis...

In today’s highly fragmented media landscape, most people can’t last more than a few seconds without checking their phones for another dopamine hit. We live in a doomscroll culture where audiences raised on social media crave quick, bite-sized content. Yet, modern movies are longer than ever. If collective attention spans are shrinking, why is Hollywood making longer films? Author and USC Film Pro...

Propelled by Survivor’s massive hit single ”Eye of the Tiger,” 1982’s “Rocky III” mirrored Sylvester Stallone’s meteoric rise to fame and ushered in the Reagan 80’s with energy and vibrancy. The film explored new terrain for the franchise, showing the consequences of celebrity, complacency and mortality. Jim Camlek and Nick Malone lace up their gloves and return to the ring to pity any fool who do...

Film comedies are often time capsules, but some, like Harold Ramis’ 1980 cult classic “Caddyshack,” resonate universally. Film and television producer - and now Clemson University film professor in practice - Sam Sokolow joins the show to discuss his career accomplishments, recent pivot to education and why a lowbrow golf comedy has far more significance than one might realize. "I mean, he’s been...

Given the massive success of “Top Gun,” you can’t blame Paramount for running it back with producers Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott and actor Tom Cruise. 1990's “Days of Thunder” would inevitably, and perhaps unfairly, be labeled as “Top Gun on Wheels,” but the reality is the film is a superb technical achievement, an entertaining, high octane action vehicle that thrust y...

It’s not every day that you fall in love with your Fiance’s brother, but such is the premise of 1987’s “Moonstruck,” the critically acclaimed and universally adored film that made Cher a movie star. She won a richly deserved Best Actress Academy Award for her performance as repressed widower Loretta Castorini. This cinematic gem about family, sugar cubes and Cosmo’s moon also took home hardware fo...

With “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” considered a costly, poorly received misfire, Paramount tapped veteran producer Harve Bennett and rising filmmaker Nicholas Meyer to refashion the sequel. Meyer’s vision was clear: Hornblower in space. “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” a rousing, superbly crafted entertainment, ultimately saved the franchise and is considered one of the great science fiction f...

1988 was a transformative year for Tom Cruise. In July he headlined the forgettable guilty pleasure that is “Cocktail,” and at year's end he co-starred with Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson’s critically-acclaimed “Rain Man.” The highest grossing film of the year, winning the Academy Award for Best Picture (among others), “Rain Man” catapulted Cruise’s career to the next level and the paradigm-shif...

Time has been kind to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” His adaptation of the best-selling novel was initially dismissed by critics and author Stephen King, however it has since been hailed for its chilling aesthetic, superb visual fabric and harrowing sound design. Always ahead of his time, Kubrick got the last laugh, as "The Shining" is now rightfully considered one of the greatest horror films i...

Celebrated screenwriters with a distinct world view, Joel and Ethan Coen pivoted in 2007 with an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men ; and in typical Coen Bros. fashion they turned in one of the great works of the 21st century, the winner of the Best Picture Academy Award. While guest Jason Thompson would never take a satchel of drug money he still joins Dennis to celebrat...

In 1973 most 15 year olds barely scratch together enough cash to buy an album, yet Cameron Crowe was already touring with bands like Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers and Fleetwood Mac, and writing about it for Rolling Stone . He harnessed those talents into a successful filmmaking career and that early experience was showcased in the critically-acclaimed "Almost Famous." Music lovers Laura Lubran...

It's amazing to think that bounty hunter Jack Walsh was a consolation prize for Robert DeNiro after he lost the starring role in “Big” to Tom Hanks. It worked out for both of them - and for us, luckily - as 1988’s “Midnight Run” would become an adored masterpiece of the buddy action genre. Television development executive (and former colleague) Hugh Fitzpatrick joins Dennis to savor every morsel o...

Director John McTiernan hit an incredible trifecta, having helmed the action classics “Die Hard” (1988) and “The Hunt for Red October” (1990)...but it all started with 1987’s “Predator,” a muscular action-horror hybrid, featuring a unique premise: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the world’s best soldiers are hunted down by a far superior alien enemy. The box office hit spawned a hugely successful franch...

The massive success of “Pulp Fiction” created an arms race for talky crime films. Producers flocked to the genre master himself, author Elmore Leonard. After decades of failed adaptations, Hollywood once again raided his bookshelves, and first up was 1995’s “Get Shorty,” a film MGM wanted Quentin Tarantino to direct. Too busy adapting another Leonard bestseller ( Rum Punch , which would become “Ja...

Amazing how a random dinner with a total stranger can quickly turn into a fulfilling friendship, one fueled by a mutual pursuit of creative exploration. Serendipity came calling when Nick Malone first met Dennis in 2012. A former actor turned husband who retired from his craft, he had no idea that Dennis would soon share a screenplay he’d written - “ Keep the Bottle Close ” - a project he intended...

Fifty years ago producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown handed the directing reins of a best-selling novel to a young, upcoming filmmaker named Steven Spielberg. Moviegoers, the motion picture industry, and the country at large had no idea what was in store. An unprecedented release - and a critical and commercial triumph - “Jaws” has endured for decades and will forever remain part of the cultur...

Several weeks into production of "Back to the Future," screenwriter Bob Gale and director Robert Zemeckis had a huge problem: Eric Stoltz was not giving them the performance their Spielberg backed film desperately needed. Enter budding star Michael J. Fox, the actor they wanted from the beginning. Literally working around the clock, Fox spent his days portraying television's Alex P. Keaton and his...

A love letter bidding farewell to the 'Golden Age of Cinema,' Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood" revisits a world you fully want to live in. A magnificent recreation - and readjustment - of how things both were and should have been. One could even argue that this fascinating intersection of movie history and human history should have been the last film of Tarantino's outstanding...

A richly deserved Pulitzer cemented the legacy of David Mamet's 1983 play "Glengarry Glen Ross," but that legacy evolved during the opening minutes of James Foley's 1992 film adaptation. Alec Baldwin's memorable monologue (a scene Mamet wrote specifically for the screenplay) coupled with a murderers' row of actors, catapulted the film into a highly quoted cult classic. Media veteran Jason Wagenhei...

In 1984 a trusted production executive desperately tried to convince Clint Eastwood to pass on “The Cut-Whore Killing,” stressing that the screenplay was not worth his time. Eastwood placed it in a drawer, but not because of the material; only during the latter phase of his career did he feel he could earn the right to properly deconstruct the western genre. Released in 1992, “Unforgiven” would go...

The legend of Bill Murray is real. He doesn't do contracts. If you want to work with him, you leave a message on his 1-800 number and hope he calls you back. Writer and director Sofia Coppola had no idea if he would arrive on set of "Lost in Translation." Lucky for them, he did; they were both nominated for Oscars, and her script won. Writer, film lover and media executive Laura Lubrano joins Denn...

It's hard to fathom that studio execs were initially reluctant to cast Eddie Murphy in 1983's "Trading Places." It only became the fourth highest grossing film of the year and catapulted the actor to massive global stardom (and a lucrative five picture deal at Paramount). The movie also reignited Dan Aykroyd's career and opened many new doors for Jamie Lee Curtis. Channeling his inner Winthorpe, R...

Filmmaker John Hughes was a master of the human condition, his characters always felt rich in authenticity. After a string of acclaimed teen films, he set his sights on adults in 1987's "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," a heartfelt road comedy about the horrors of holiday travel. Steve Cozzolino returns to the show and joins Dennis to savor the comic flavors of this Thanksgiving feast. Remember,...

“Saturday Night Live” made Chevy Chase a star and after one season he left the show to chase fame and fortune on the big screen. After a string of hits and misses, it would take him nearly a decade to find the role he was born to play - Irwin M. Fletcher, investigative journalist in the 1985 comedy “Fletch.” Laced with razor sharp wit and breezy, deadpan charm, the film harnessed Chase’s superb im...