#movie:the-karate-kid

[yahoo-premium-partners]

Ten-episode season to premiere in 2018, described as a half-hour comedy that takes place 30 years after the All Valley Karate Tournament

[ethanalter]

10 Classic '80s and '90s Movies That Influence 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'

Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon in Spider-Man: Homecoming (Photo: Sony Pictures)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for key scenes and plot points of Spider-Man: Homecoming.

If you’re a Marvel Comics fan, Spider-Man: Homecoming is a veritable gold mine of Easter eggs from the wall-crawler’s 55-year-and-counting career of catching thieves just like flies. At the same time, it’s equally rich with homages to popular teen movies from the ’80s and ’90s. Even before the film went into production, Marvel Studios chief, Kevin Feige, made a point of describing it as a “John Hughes movie,” directly name-checking the writer and director responsible for so many of that era’s high school classics.

In separate interviews with Yahoo Movies, star Tom Holland explained that director Jon Watts gave the young cast a must-watch list of classic movies to watch before shooting began, while Homecoming  co-writer John Francis Daley elaborated on the Spidey-Hughes connection. “What John Hughes was best at was finding the funny in the relatable… and to keep Peter as a truly normal, grounded, relatable person I think is really set him apart from all the other versions of Spider-Man that people have seen.” Homecoming‘s cinematic influences do extend beyond Hughes, though. Here’s a list of 10 teen favorites that are overtly, or subtly, referenced by Spider-Man and his amazing friends.

Matthew Broderick in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ (Photo: Everett Collection)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) This one is kind of a gimme; while in hot pursuit of the Vulture’s henchmen, poor Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has to forego his usual web-slinging action due to the fact that he’s in that dreaded low-rise territory known as suburbia. Crashing through backyard after backyard, he passes a pool party where Matthew Broderick’s own climactic backyard chase from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is playing out on a TV screen. “Great movie,” Peter calls out as he continues on to the next yard. (Wonder if he considers Ferris Bueller to be as ancient a film as The Empire Strikes Back?) “That scene is a perfect example of our challenge to take Spider-Man out of a world where he’s comfortable,” director Watts told Yahoo Movies. “If you put him in the suburbs where there’s nothing tall to swing from, what does he do? It was a great opportunity to put him in an awkward situation.”

Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy in ‘The Breakfast Club’ (Photo: Universal/courtesy Everett Collection)

The Breakfast Club (1985) At a press conference in June, Zendaya revealed that Ally Sheedy’s proto-Goth girl, Allison Reynolds, is a direct ancestor of her Homecoming character, Michelle “M.J.” Jones. And the two do have a lot in common, including a quiet manner that masks a caustic wit, as well as a flair for epic side-eye and eye-rolls. In fact, Michelle is glimpsed sitting in detention alongside Peter — the Anthony Michael Hall of her school — in one memorable Homecoming scene, despite the fact that she’s not even supposed to be there. Speaking with the press, Zendaya made it clear that she hopes modern teens take away the same lesson from Michelle that their parents learned from Allison, namely that: “It’s OK to be weird. If you make things awkward and uncomfortable, that’s cool. I love that Michelle’s outspoken and says what everyone’s thinking, but she just doesn’t care.”

William Zabka and Ralph Macchio in ‘The Karate Kid’ (Photo: Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection)

The Karate Kid (1984) He may not pledge allegiance to Cobra Kai, but Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) is totally the Johnny Lawrence to Peter’s Daniel LaRusso. Whether calling him “Penis Parker” (itself an indirect shout-out to another ’80s classic, E.T.) or engaging in some decidedly unsportsmanlike trash talk during Academic Decathlon training sessions, Flash is always eager to humiliate his rival on the most public stage possible. But Peter, like LaRusso before him, scores the final knockout, hijacking Flash’s car and leaving him by the side of the road with his homecoming date. Revolori, who previously played the hero of Wes Anderson’s acclaimed 2014 film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, has said that he enjoyed breaking bad in Homecoming, especially since the movie doesn’t make an issue about his race. “The fact that there’s not a single line of exposition to explain why I look the way I look. I’m just in the movie. It’s not about being a certain race, and I think that’s the kind of diversity we need in Hollywood right now.”

Can’t Hardly Wait (1998) If only Peter had re-watched this nostalgic ’90s favorite before heading over to Liz Allan’s shindig, he would have realized that a high school house party is the absolute worst place to try and impress the girl you’ve been crushing on for years. Sure enough, his plan to swing in and make a big splash as Spider-Man is thwarted by an unplanned side mission involving the Shocker. Can’t Hardly Wait‘s Preston (Ethan Embry) is similarly unable to persuade his dream girl, Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), of his affection due to a series of increasingly crazy circumstances. According to Daley, an early version of the storyline involved Peter hosting the party instead of Liz, but is similarly prevented from joining the festivities in costume. “All the cool kids from school burst into his bedroom while he’s gone and just start going through all his s—t, like all the toys he still kept.” Adds Daley’s co-writer, Jonathan Goldstein: “That’s very Hughes-ian, like the characters Anthony Michael Hall used to play. The kid who’s too old to still be doing this stuff.”

Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Ilan Mitchell-Smith in ‘Weird Science’ (Photo: Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)

Weird Science (1985) We should probably be glad that geek buddies Peter and Ned (Jacob Batalon) are only applying their serious science and tech skills to making web fluid and hacking Tony Stark-designed super-suits. Otherwise, they might go and do something really weird…like building a cyber-girlfriend who steps out of the computer and into reality. Here’s another fun connection between Weird Science and Homecoming: Robert Downey Jr. is a big ol’ spoilsport in both. Back in ’85, he dropped a red Icee on dorks Gary and Wyatt, and 32 years later, he drops a bomb on Peter by taking away the teen’s Spider-Man suit after his Staten Island Ferry mishap.

Jon Cryer and Molly Ringwald in ‘Pretty in Pink’ (Photo: Paramount / Courtesy: Everett Collection)

Pretty in Pink (1986) High school law eschews the designated dork from taking the pretty girl to the big school dance. But Hughes went and upset the natural order of things by having Duckie (Jon Cryer) swoop in and rescue his best friend and longtime crush object, Andie (Molly Ringwald) from being stood up at the prom by status-conscious Blane (Andrew McCarthy). Truthfully, it was a bridge too far for audiences at the time, who demanded that the ending be reshot with the pretty girls and the popular guy walking off into a happily ever after. For a brief moment, though, Duckie got to be the hero who gets the girl, a geek dream that Peter gets to live out when he asks the significantly more popular Liz to the homecoming dance and she says yes. For better or for worse, he ultimately loses the girl to her villainous dad rather than a petty prepster.

Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the Future’ (Photo: Universal/courtesy Everett Collection)

Back to the Future (1985) No sooner has he gotten to Hill Valley High’s “Enchantment Under the Sea” dance than Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) has to ditch his date — and future Mom — Lorraine (Lea Thompson) in order to take care of some pressing time travel business. Peter isn’t able to bust a move at his school’s homecoming soiree either, regretfully abandoning Liz on the dance floor in order to thwart her Vulture father’s plot to raid Tony Stark’s airborne storage locker. At least Marty gets to invent rock and roll during his time brief time at the Hill Valley dance; Peter has to bail before he can show off how he can out-Rihanna Rihanna.

Jennifer Connelly and Frank Whaley skate the night away in Career Opportunities (Photo: Universal Pictures)

Career Opportunities (1991) Peter Parker isn’t the only nerd lucky enough to spend a night locked in a facility with Jennifer Connelly. This John Hughes-scripted comedy traps awkward outcast Jim (Frank Whaley) and knockout Josie (Connelly) in a Target store after closing time, where they have to contend with their wildly different backgrounds, as well as a pair of bungling burglars. Midway through Homecoming, Spider-Man’s attempt to foil a Vulture robbery lands him in deep storage inside the U.S. Department of Damage Control, with only his “suit lady,” a.k.a. his in-suit A.I. K.A.R.E.N. (voiced by the Beautiful Mind Oscar winner), for company. We’ll leave it to you to decide whether Target for the Damage Control storage locker has better toys.

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985) Not a teen movie, you say? Perhaps that’s true, but Tim Burton’s feature filmmaking debut is nevertheless an ’80s classic for young kids and teenagers alike. Besides, it can’t be accidental that Spider-Man’s first big victory in Homecoming involves stopping a bicycle thief. And he doesn’t even have to leave Queens to do it! Poor Pee-wee Herman has to travel all the way to Texas to recover his beloved two-wheeled ride. Here’s an eye-popping face-off we want to see in the Homecoming sequel: Spider-Man vs. Large Marge.

 Watch: Tom Holland Wants His Peter Parker to Be This Generation’s Marty McFly:

Get more Spider-Man scoop from Yahoo Movies:

Your Ultimate Guide to the Spider-Man: Homecoming Easter Eggs

Decoding the End Credits of Spider-Man: Homecoming

Revisiting the James Cameron Spider-Man Movie That Never Was

[kevinpolowy]

From Zabka to Zane: The 'Best' Bastard Boyfriends in Movies

Why are girls always attracted to jerks? It’s become a standard trope in the movies, but it’s one that any “nice guy” will agree rings true. Boyfriends (or jealous ex-boyfriends) of the film’s love interest are sure to be some combination of three characteristics: wealthy, snobby, unfaithful. While he may not be quite as bad as most, there’s another of the model coming off the assembly line in the new Daniel Radcliffe-Zoe Kazan romantic comedy, What If, this time played by Rafe Spall.

In real life, we hate them. In the movies, we also hate them, but applaud their fearless performances. Here are the 10 best actors who have been their best while being the worst boyfriends.

  10. Craig Kilborn, Old School (2003) Jerk of All Trades: Mark, the very tall and very smarmy boyfriend of Mitch’s (Luke Wilson) object of affection, Nicole (Ellen Pompeo). Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Cheats on Nicole with a caterer in a bathroom at a kid’s birthday party. Prime Put-Down: “What are you gonna do? Tell on me? You know you can’t, buddy. It’s guy code. Guys don’t tell on other guys. That’s something chicks do. You’re not a chick, are you?” Comeuppance: Dumped (offscreen).

9. Anthony Michael Hall, Edward Scissorhands (1990) Jerk of All Trades: The beer-muscled Jim, boyfriend to Kim (Winona Ryder). Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Frames Eddie Scissorhands (Johnny Depp) for burglary, repeatedly tries to attack him. Prime Put-Down: "Go you freak!" Comeuppance: Dumped, and then pushed out a window, where he falls to his death.

8. Ben Affleck, Mallrats (1995) Jerk of All Trades: Dim-witted ‘Fashionable Male’ mall-store manager Shannon Hamilton, boyfriend of (Shannen Doherty) and nemesis to Brodie (Jason Lee). Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Has sex with an underage girl Prime Put-Down: "I have no respect for people with no shopping agenda." Comeuppance: Gets cheated on, dumped and arrested for statutory rape.

 7. Craig Sheffer, Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) Jerk of All Trades: Hardy Jenns, the rich, Corvette-driving ex-boyfriend of Amanda (Leah Thompson). Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Refers to his girlfriend as “his property,” cheats on her, and then arranges a whole house party just so he can beat up Keith (Eric Stoltz). Prime Put-Down: “I want you to beg.” Comeuppance: Dumped, and humiliated at his own house party when school tough guy Duncan (Elias Koteas) and gang show up to “wipe the floor with his ass.”

  6. Jason Schwartzman, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (2010) Jerk of All Trades: Pretentious club owner/music exec Gideon Graves, the most evil of Ramona’s (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) seven evil exes whom Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) must defeat. Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Plants mind control devices in his girlfriend’s head. Prime Put-Down: "Well, if my cathedral of cutting-edge taste holds no interest for your tragically Canadian sensibilities, then I shall be forced to grant you a swift exit from the premises… and a fast entrance into hell!" Comeuppance: Defeated.

5. Jim Youngs, Footloose (1984) Jerk of All Trades: Good ol’ boy Chuck Cranston, who makes Ren’s (Kevin Bacon) new life in the country even tougher. Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Beats up girlfriend Ariel (Lori Singer), insists on settling disputes with tractor chicken. Prime Put-Down: "I thought only pansies wore neckties." Comeuppance: Dumped. Also misses out on a great dance party.

4. Matthew Glave, The Wedding Singer (1998) Jerk of All Trades: Snotty rich businessman Glenn Gulia, about to marry Julia (Drew Barrymore), therefore resulting in the awful name Julia Gulia. Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Regularly cheats on Julia, and makes it clear to Robbie (Adam Sandler) he has no intention to stop. Prime Put-Down: “Hey, asswipe, don’t go snitching to Julia about this. I know you got a little crush on her, but you gotta face the facts: she’d rather go to bed with a REAL man. Not some poor singing orphan.” Comeuppance: Dumped, and also humiliated by Billy Idol on an airplane.

3. Bradley Cooper, Wedding Crashers (2005) Jerk of All Trades: Ivy League snob Zack Lodge, who only dates Claire (Rachel McAdams) because of her dad’s political power. Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Regularly cheats on and mocks Claire, takes a friendly game of football way too seriously, and is just overall insufferable. Prime Put-Down: "Big tree fall hard, right?" Comeuppance: Gets wine spiked with eye drops, which have a laxative effect, and of course, dumped.

2. William Zabka, Karate Kid (1984) Jerk of All Trades: Johnny Lawrence, the Cobra Kai captain and jealous ex of Ali (Elizabeth Shue), who fights Daniel-San (Ralph Macchio) all kinds of dirty. (See also any other Zabka movie from the ’80s.) Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Jump Daniel on Halloween. Prime Put-Down: Here’s your first lesson. How to take a fall! Comeuppance: Defeated with that one sweet kick.

1.   Billy Zane, Titanic (1997) Jerk of All Trades: Caledon ‘Cal’ Hockley, the rich and snobby (stop us if you’ve heard this before) older boyfriend to Kate Winslet’s Rose. Typical Boorish-Boyfriend Behavior: Frames Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) for theft; Tricks Rose into boarding the lifeboat. Prime Put-Down: " Where are you going? To him? To be a whore to a gutter rat?" Comeuppance: Dumped. And while he gets off the boat safely, but it’s later revealed he committed suicide when he lost his fortune in the stock market crash.

Honorable Mentions:

Aaron Dozier, Better Off Dead (1985) Steve Antin, The Goonies (1985) George Gray, Can’t Buy Me Love (1987) Peter Facinelli, Can’t Hardly Wait (1998) Daniel Cosgrove, Van Wilder (2002) Photos: CBS, DreamWorks, Miramax, Paramount, Everett (6)

[benfalkyahoomovies]

The Karate Kid 30 Years On - Cobra Kai Speaks!

'The Karate Kid' is 30 years old this weekend. To celebrate, we caught up with Martin Kove, one of the film's stars, to help us delve into its history.

?None of us really knew what was going on, it was just magic,? says Martin Kove, sitting in his Philadelphia hotel. The actor, who played evil Cobra Kai instructor John Kreese in the first three ?Karate Kid? movies, is in between engagements at Wizard World, where he?s celebrating 30 years of the original classic movie alongside the fans.

Read more: The Cast of Bugsy Malone: Then and Now

"As it was all cut together, then I think the actors knew [it was something special]. It?s like one big family even thirty years later.?

Kove has spent the last couple of days sharing the stage with Ralph Macchio, relishing the role which turned him into a pop culture icon (as anyone with a ?Sweep The Leg? T-shirt will tell you).

?Little kids come up to me in the supermarket, give me a punch on the hip and say, ?you hurt Ralph!?? he continues. ?[Kreese] is the kind of character the public enjoy hating.?

But Kove?s admission that initially no-one guessed this comparatively low-key movie, shot in 42 days around Los Angeles, would eventually gross more than a hundred million at the box office and become a phenomenon isn?t actually that hard to believe.

?The Karate Kid ? what kind of lame title is that??

You?d be forgiven for agreeing with Ralph Macchio, who thought those very words when he first showed up to audition for the lead role.

As it turned out, even Macchio couldn?t imagine the kind of franchise he?d help spawn. Three further sequels, launching the career of Hilary Swank and even a 2010 reboot featuring Will Smith?s son Jaden playing a young boy who ? rather confusingly ? goes to China and learns how to be a better person by doing kung fu.

But those kind of lofty dreams didn?t really figure when ?Rocky? director John G Avildsen gathered Macchio and a young Elisabeth Shue in his apartment to test their chemistry in what was then called ?The Karate Kid Project? (stuck for a name, writer Robert Mark Kamen took off the last word and challenged his bosses to come up with a better one. They couldn?t.)

?One was the strawberry shortcake and one was the cannoli,? Avildsen said, before sending the then-22-year-old actor over to Kamen?s house to see if he approved. Kamen thought he was obnoxious, which meant he was perfect. The writer had always wanted someone with a chip on his shoulder. The character?s name was quickly changed from Daniel Webber to Daniel LaRusso to reflect the star?s Italian heritage. Macchio ended up liking the first name so much, he called his son the same.

The other performers quickly slotted into place, though not without some consternation. William Zabka, who plays baddie Johnny Lawrence, physically grabbed Avildsen during his audition, something that?s a Hollywood no-no. His aggression probably got him the part.

Noriyuki ?Pat? Morita was second choice for Mr Miyagi. The studio suggested ?Seven Samurai? legend Toshiro Mifune, but whilst a brilliant actor, the filmmakers worried he was too scary. Morita was a stand-up comedian who was almost laughed out of the room, but his performance ? including an emotional drunk scene that execs at the time thought should be cut ? earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

Morita and ?Ralphie? ? as the older actor affectionately called him ? got on like a house on fire, training under the tutelage of martial artist (and Chuck Norris acolyte) Pat Johnson and trying to convince the audience that ?wax on, wax  off? wasn?t a joke.

?I swear to God,? said Kamen later, ?if I hear [that phrase] one more time, I will strangle the next person.?

For Macchio, it?s the crane kick ? either fans asking him to do it or doing their version of it. ?They all think they?re saying it for the first time,? he?s said.

The film culminates in the tournament, the opening tracking shot of which took more than 500 extras and 36 takes.

?When I say no mercy, wipe the blood from his nose, and Billy Zabka and I have a moment, I think that?s my favourite part,? says Kove.

The final kick is perhaps the movie?s most iconic moment. In the script, it was originally written that Daniel was supposed to stand on one leg, jump and kick with that same leg and then land on it. That quickly proved impossible, but the result remains a classic Hollywood moment.

Thirty years later, Kove only has one regret.

??Karate Kid 3? was written as a vehicle for me, but I couldn?t do it because I got a TV series,? he admits. ?So they had to bring in a character who puts me on vacation because they couldn?t get me out of my contract. Everybody was heartbroken.?

Still, he has a plan for the next one.

?I?m so in love with Eva Green,? he says. ?I?d love to do the next ?Karate Kid? with her. She could be my evil sensei any time.?

Things to look out for in ?The Karate Kid?

- Steve McQueen?s son Chad plays one of the Cobra Kai.

- The fly that Daniel catches in his chopsticks is quite clearly on a string.

- The opening montage of Daniel and his mother crossing the country by car doesn?t actually feature Macchio or the actress who plays his mum.They?re actually doubles.

- It?s not Pat Morita doing the crane kick on the beach. It?s actually the Asian martial artist who gets to the semi-finals of the competition at the end of the film, shot in shadow.

- Watch Macchio?s discomfort at having to shill for Coca-Cola. When drinking a can of Sprite, he was supposed to show the name throughout the take, but did everything he could to avoid it.

- The actor still owns the canary yellow ?47 Ford convertible that he drives in the film.

Read more on Yahoo Movies:

Movie Studio Logos: What Do They Mean?

Rik Mayall?s Harry Potter Role That No-One Ever Saw

22 Disney And Pixar In-jokes That Will Blow Your Mind

How Long Was Bill Murray Stuck In Groundhog Day?

The Most Pointless Uses Of CGI Effects In Movie History

Photos: Press Association/Rex/Moviestore/Everett Collection/Sipa Press