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MSNBC panelists admonished Trump for likening the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to two children fighting at school.

“Boy, it’s a lot beyond that,” Washington Post Foreign Affairs Columnist David Ignatius who’s covered issues in the Middle East for 45 years, told the panel of journalists. “This has been now a year of war, almost to the day. It began with Israel just shattered by a surprise attack.”

Watch the discussion below:

Trump made the controversial remarks on Wednesday during while campaigning in Milwaukee, just a day after Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, and nearly a week after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed on Sept. 27.

“This has really been bad, but they have to finish that process however it turns out, they have to finish that process. This is a little bit like two kids fighting in the schoolyard. Sometimes you just...

Update: A lot of the media focus on the State Dinner was on the presence of Hunter Biden, but a standout moment was the performance of Joshua Bell.

Violinist Joshua Bell performs Vivaldi The Four Seasons "Summer" after White House State Dinner for Modi & India pic.twitter.com/rQJtDNuYm4

— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) June 23, 2023

Previously: The guest list for the White House State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi includes a number of entertainment and media figures, including Netflix’s Bela Bajaria, Universal’s Donna Langley, director M. Night Shyamalan, Wasserman Media Group’s Casey Wasserman and James Murdoch.

Also on the list: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

In the news business, guests include columnists Tom Friedman and David Ignatius, The Wall Street Journal’s Tarini Parti, writer Anand Giridharadasas, as well as CBS News’ Neeraj Khemlani. Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti,...

Gas up the Learjets and break out the Moncler vests, it’s time for corporate chieftains to let their hair down, as only the one percent of the one percent knows how.

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, Warner Bros. Discovery honcho David Zaslav, Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple head Tim Cook, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are heading to Idaho in July to attend the annual “summer camp for moguls,” known more formally as Sun Valley. And Bob Iger, back on the throne at the Walt Disney Company, will also be touching down in the resort town after a brief, unhappy (for shareholders) interregnum. They’ll be mixing and mingling with other media barons, Silicon Valley heavyweights and political players at the media finance retreat hosted by Allen & Co.

Among those getting tapped to dust off their Brooks Brothers casual wear are two former treasury secretaries,...

A new debt ceiling bill is officially on its way to President Biden’s desk to be signed, after he worked with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to get bipartisan support and the Senate approved it on Thursday night. So, on Friday morning, the hosts of “Morning Joe” lavished Biden in praise.

In discussing the new bill, the hosts cited a Washington Post column from David Ignatius, in which Ignatius argues that Biden “delivered” this week on his inauguration promise that “My whole soul is in this, bringing America together.” But, for Joe Scarborough, Biden “not only delivered this week, he’s been delivering for quite some time.”

“You look at how he once again, once again, defied expectations, not only from the haters, but his own party, and it’s a pretty remarkable record,” Scarborough said. “You look at the bipartisan legislation and anybody who would mock that, Willie, please,...

“Mortal Kombat” star Lewis Tan has landed the leading role in an anticipated adaptation of the David Ignatius novel “Quantum Spy.”

Tan will serve as star and co-executive producer on the pilot from Boies/Schiller Entertainment, Anonymous Content, Flame Ventures and “24” alum Tony Krantz.

The project was first in development at NBC, though Boies/Schiller has renewed rights solely and will take the project to a slew of buyers this week, sources said. The work from Ignatius, the award-winning Washington Post columnist, follows a top-secret American quantum research lab compromised by a Chinese mole.

Tan will play newly-assigned Chinese-American CIA officer Harris Chang, tasked to hunt down the traitor. Soon, he’s caught in an ever-expanding maze of spymasters, assassins and temptations turning the investigation into a personal obsession. Though action-packed and sexy, the property also gets to the heart of a timely discussion in content and across the country...

AT&T CEO John Stankey made his first comments on the WarnerMedia/HBO Max streaming bombshell as the shockwaves continued Friday.

The move to put the studio’s entire 2021 slate on HBO Max at the same time as theaters is “an appropriate decision for the moment we’re in,” Stankey said in an interview streamed on the Washington Post website. “Hey, we have a bunch of movies that are ready to go, and they’ve been sitting on the shelf.”

After testing “a couple of different concepts,” including an ultimately star-crossed theatrical run for Tenet, as well as studying the moves of rival companies, the team at WarnerMedia decided to pull the trigger. Ultimately, Stankey said, executives didn’t believe that “just pushing them until people feel safe going back to theaters was the right answer.

Stars And Strife Starz Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: David Smick Screenwriter: David Smick Cast: Alan Greenspan, Alice Rivlin, Amy Chua, Arthur Brooks, Chrissy Houlahan, David Ignatius, Derek Black, others Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 8/17/20 Opens: September 21, 2020 Are we Americans destined to have the […]

The post Stars and Strife Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

During a recent Washington Post Live event, hosted by columnist David Ignatius, Wounded Warrior Project (Wwp) Government Affairs Director Derek Fronabarger joined toxic exposure activist and comedian Jon Stewart to discuss toxic exposure, burn pits, and the challenges that ill and injured veterans face when it comes to receiving treatment.

“You’ve got thousands of veterans and their families, once again returning from war, facing a tremendous health crisis due to toxic exposures or traumatic brain injuries and having to battle their own government to get their conditions recognized,” Stewart said.

“There’s a misperception in the general public that if you’re a veteran, you have Va health care, and that’s not the case,” Fronabarger said. “There is a very complex formula to get into a Va hospital and receive treatment. The difficulty with rare illnesses and toxic exposures is that you have individuals who are around burn pits for a year,...

Actress Yvette Monreal and comic book legend Geoff Johns talk the real-world based origin story of Stargirl‘s Wildcat.

“The new DC Comics series Stargirl looks and feels like a vintage superhero show. But in the fourth episode, ‘Wildcat,’ the series plants its feet firmly in the 21st century introducing a new and more relatable origin to Yolanda Montez, an honor roll student who dons the mask of the fallen Jsa superhero, Wildcat.”

Read more at Inverse.

On this day, we celebrate Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who sacrificed their careers protesting against racism in the 1968 Olympics.

“On October 16, 1968, track and field stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos stepped onto the Olympic podium in Mexico City to receive their medals for the 200-meter dash; Smith had won the gold, Carlos the bronze. They were wearing black socks—no shoes—and badges that read ‘Olympic Project for Human Rights.’ Smith had also donned a black scarf,...

Exclusive: NBC has put in development Quantum Spy, based on David Ignatius’ CIA thriller novel The Quantum Spy, from writer Dave Kalstein (Treadstone), Boies/Schiller Film Group, Tony Krantz’s Flame Ventures, Anonymous Content and Universal Television, a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios.

Adapted by Kalstein, Quantum Spy is a thriller centered around Harris Chang, a newly promoted Chinese-American CIA officer. After America’s top-secret quantum research lab is compromised, he’s tasked with finding the traitor and ends up in the middle of a global conspiracy that leads him to uncover dark secrets from his own past.

Kalstein executive produces alongside Bsfg President Zack Schiller and Bsfg co-founder David Boies, Anonymous Content’s Alex Goldstone (Apple TV+’s Dickinson) and Flame Ventures’ Krantz. Ignatius will co-executive produce. Boies/Schiller Film Group, Flame Ventures, Anonymous Content co-produce. Universal TV is the studio.

Kalstein is a co-executive producer on Treadstone, set...

After a tense competition, Boies/Schiller Film Group has acquired the rights to adapt the CIA novel The Quantum Spy by David Ignatius into a series. Dave Kalstein (NCIS: Los Angeles) will be writing the script, as well as executive produce and serve as showrunner. Deadline has provided the following description of the novel and upcoming series:

The Quantum Spy is rooted in reality, a story ripped from today’s headlines: The 21st century’s biggest challenge is a secret twilight struggle between the U.S. and China for mastery of quantum computing technology that is the new Manhattan Project. Hyper-fast quantum computers are the digital equivalent of a nuclear bomb, able to shred military-grade encryption and crack any code. The nation who builds a quantum computer first will attain global dominance, and its adversaries will have no security, no safety, and no secrets.

In the book, when America’s...

Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Boies/Schiller Film Group has optioned rights to David Ignatius’ CIA thriller novel The Quantum Spy for series development, marking the company’s first foray into television. Bsfg is partnering with Anonymous Content and Tony Krantz’s Flame Ventures on the project, which will be taken to market this fall. Dave Kalstein (Treadstone) is set to pen the adaptation and will also executive produce and serve as showrunner. Casting for the lead role is already underway.

The Quantum Spy is rooted in reality, a story ripped from today’s headlines: The 21st century’s biggest challenge is a secret twilight struggle between the U.S. and China for mastery of quantum computing technology that is the new Manhattan Project. Hyper-fast quantum computers are the digital equivalent of a nuclear bomb, able to shred military-grade encryption and crack any code. The nation who builds a quantum...

The “Morning Joe” panel took considerable delight Monday analyzing President Trump’s Twitter outbursts from over the weekend. The team said that the president’s attacks levied at Robert Mueller was evidence that he is starting to lose it. “He’s hearing footsteps. He’s anxious. Every tweet conveys anxiety,” said Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed. Also Read: Stormy Daniels Was 'Threatened With Physical Harm' to Keep Quiet About Trump Affair, Lawyer Says (Video) “You see this sort of unhinging of this president. His cavalier tweets,” she said. “The corruption that appears to be happening inside the White House just to cover...

Joe Scarborough was no fan of Donald Trump’s speech in Pennsylvania on Saturday, saying the whole affair looked like something out of 20th century fascism. “He actually talked about the fake media. He got people booing. The booing is getting stronger by the day whenever he goes out there and whips up like it’s a Mussolini rally,” said Scarborough on Monday’s “Morning Joe.” “Yes, that’s what I said,” Scarborough clarified to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who chuckled at the suggestion. Also Read: 'Morning Joe': Trump's North Korea Announcement 'Painfully Obvious' Ploy to Distract From Stormy Daniels Scarborough elaborated. “There is certainly nothing American...

The “Morning Joe” crew was not amused by the theatrics of Sam Nunberg. The former Trump campaign aide took over the news cycle yesterday in a series of televised interviews where he said he would not cooperate with a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller. “You could hear the desperation and that’s what Mueller has going for him,” said show regular David Ignatius. That’s power.” Co-host Joe Scarborough said he just felt sorry for Nunberg. Also Read: 'Morning Joe' Misses When Oscars Honored 'Movies Americans Actually Saw' “I actually felt for Nunberg yesterday. As much of a clown show he was putting...

ICM Partners announced Thursday that it has acquired The Sagalyn Agency, a Washington, D.C.-based run by Raphael Sagalyn. Raphael Sagalyn, who founded the agency three decades ago, will become a partner at ICM. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sagalyn represents journalist turned thriller writer David Ignatius, sci-fi novelist Daniel Suarez and Francine Mathews, author of 24 novels, including 14 under the pseudonym Stephanie Barron. Also Read: ICM Partners Vows to Reach 50-50 Gender Parity in Next 2 Years Sagalyn’s other clients include historians Rick Atkinson, David Maraniss, Jeff Shesol, Susan Glasser, Peter Baker, Peter Finn, Ronen Bergman, Eugene Robinson, Michael Dobbs...

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were still fixated Wednesday on a cabinet meeting that occurred earlier this week in which staffers bizarrely praised President Donald Trump. “If the president seems delusional about his accomplishments, you can point no further than that room,” Brzezinski said. “There are no real men in the inner circle of the White House… none at all.” Scarborough explained that nobody in the White House tells Trump “the truth” when he isn’t doing well. Guest David Ignatius called the meeting a “parade of sycophancy.” Also Read: 'Morning Joe' Rips Trump's 'Sick,...

Julieta

Over fifty new photos from Pedro Almodovar's "Julieta" (formerly known as "Silencio") are now online at Indiewire. Though not confirmed, the film is very likely to make its debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival following its release in Spain on April 8th. Sony Pictures Classics is handling the U.S. distribution.

The Increment

Gideon Raff and Doug Liman's Hypnotic label are developing a film adaptation of David Ignatius' 2009 spy thriller novel "The Increment" for Universal Cable Productions. Raff will write and direct.

The story follows a CIA officer as he attempts to find the sender of an encrypted message from one of Iran's nuclear facilities. So begins a cat-and-mouse game involving the CIA, the U.K. black ops units known as the Increment and Iran's Revolutionary Guard. [Source: Variety]

The Fight Before Christmas

Broad Green Pictures is developing the comedy "The Fight Before Christmas" from a pitch...

While many moviegoers were shocked to see Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks among those snubbed at yesterday’s Academy Award nominations, Captain Phillips has still been recognised for “Best Picture” and Greengrass is already lining up his next project. Michael De Luca’s first move as Sony Pictures’ new production president has been to reteam with Captain Phillips producer Scott Rudin and director Paul Greengrass for a big screen adaptation of David Ignatius’ novel, The Director.

The book isn’t actually set to hit stores until June, and Deadline has no additional details on when production might start and certainly nothing on a possible release date. However, the synopsis for The Director does give us an idea as to what we should expect from the eventual movie.

Graham Weber has been director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid in a dirty T-shirt walks into...

Paul Greengrass has signed on for The Director.

The Captain Phillips director will write and helm the cyber espionage thriller based on the forthcoming novel by David Ignatius, reports Deadline.

The Sony Pictures film centres around the new director of the CIA, who must deal with a crisis less than a week after taking the post.

All hell breaks lose when a scruffy boy walks into the American consulate in Hamburg with a list of CIA agents' names, claiming that the agency has been hacked.

The director teams with a talented and unstable young tech expert and plunges into the world of European cyber espionage.

Captain Phillips scored six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, although Greengrass is not in the running for Best Director.

He currently has no other projects on the horizon since the completion of his latest film.

Catch up on all the latest TV and Movies releases...

After delivering one of the best films of 2013 with Captain Phillips, all eyes are on director Paul Greengrass to see what he’ll do next. Well, it looks like he’ll be working with Sony again as the two will be bringing David Ignatius’ spy novel, The Director, to the silver screen. If Ignatius’ name sounds familiar, it’s because he also wrote Body of Lies, which was adapted into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

Back to The Director though, Greengrass’ isn’t officially confirmed just yet but apparently he hopes to adapt and direct the project. For those who haven’t picked up the book, which is likely every single one of you reading this article since it doesn’t hit store shelves until this Spring, you can check out the official plot synopsis below:

Graham Weber has been director of the CIA for less than...

Tomorrow morning we'll see if Paul Greengrass will earn his second Oscar nomination for "Captain Phillips," but even if he somehow misses out, the filmmaker is keeping an eye toward his next gig. He doesn't have anything lined up as his next go project — he dropped out of "The Trial Of The Chicago 7" last fall while "Memphis" is still on the backburner — but it looks like he got on with his "Captain Phillips" producer Scott Rudin just fine. Deadline reports that Greengrass is slated to helm and write "The Director," with Rudin producing, over at Sony. Based on the forthcoming novel by David Ignatius, the story concerns hacking, the CIA and a search into the darkest corners of the web for a spy. Here's the Amazon synopsis: Graham Weber has been director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid in a dirty T-shirt walks...

Given the success they’ve enjoyed with Captain Phillips (which seems likely to continue with some Oscar nominations later today), it’s hardly surprising that producer Scott Rudin, producer-turned-newly-minted-Sony-chief Michael De Luca and director Paul Greengrass might be looking to combine their talents once again. Rudin has now landed a deal to make an adaptation of David Ignatius’ cyber-thriller book The Director at the studio, and Greengrass may direct it.The Body Of Lies author’s new novel, not due to land in bookshops until this June, focuses on Graham Weber, who has just become Director of the CIA. One morning, a Swiss teenager walks into the American consulate in Hamburg, announces that the agency has been hacked and produces a list of agents’ names as evidence.With the agency scrambling to find and plug the source of the leak, Weber assigns in-house tech expect James Morris, head of the Internet Operations Centre,...

After bringing the real-life story of Captain Phillips to life (which we'll likely see getting some Oscar nominations tomorrow morning), director Paul Greegrass may have found a new project. The Wrap reports that Sony Pictures has picked up the rights to David Ignatius' spy novel The Director, winning a bidding war against other studios. While the filmmaker's involvement isn't official, Greengrass has every intention of adapting the book himself and directing the film. This isn't the first time Ignatius' work has hit the big screen since he wrote Body of Lies, turned into the film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. As for the story of The Director, here's the official synopsis: Graham Weber has been director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid in a dirty T-shirt walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and says the agency has been hacked, and he...

On the day of its re-release in theaters, "Captain Phillips" director Paul Greengrass and producer Scott Rudin are said to be reuniting for a film adaptation of "Body of Lies" author David Ignatius' upcoming spy novel "The Director" at Sony Pictures.

The story follows Graham Weber, a man who has been director of the CIA for less than a week. It's at this point a kid walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and says the agency has been hacked, and that he has a list of agents names to prove it.

Weber seeks help from the unstable yet charismatic James Morris, the head of the CIA's Internet Operations Center and the pair go on a mole hunt through the hacker underground of Europe and the United States.

Greengrass isn't officially involved at this point, but is planning to adapt the script and direct the film.

Source: The Wrap...

The team behind the critical hit Captain Phillips are reuniting to adapt The Director, an upcoming book by David Ignatius. Paul Greengrass is in negotiations to write and direct the adaptation, which will be produced by Scott Rudin. Rudin was a producer on Phillips, which Greengrass directed. The deal comes under the aegis of Michael De Luca, also a Phillips producer who is now transitioning to his new job as production president of Columbia Pictures (he officially starts in February). The cyber-thriller is set in motion when a teen walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and claims the

read more...

Breaking: Well, looks like former New Line production president Michael De Luca isn’t taking long to make that transition to the executive suites. I’m told that his first deal at Sony Pictures as production president is The Director, a novel by David Ignatius that reteams De Luca with his Captain Phillips producer Scott Rudin and director Paul Greengrass. De Luca, Rudin and Dana Brunetti produced Captain Phillips. Related: Goal For New Sony Pictures Structure With Michael De Luca: Better-Quality Slates Greengrass will adapt the novel — will be published by W.W. Norton in June — and direct the film. This comes as Captain Phillips became a global hit and got four Golden Globe nominations. In The Director, Graham Weber has been director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid in a dirty T-shirt walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and says the agency has been hacked,...

Sony Pictures has won a bidding war for David Ignatius’ spy novel “The Director,” which will reunite the “Captain Phillips” team of producer Scott Rudin and director Paul Greengrass, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap. While some caution that Greengrass isn’t officially involved with the project yet, sources tell TheWrap that his attachment is only a matter of time, as he plans to adapt the script and direct the film. Ignatius’ novel follows Graham Weber, who has been director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid walks into the American consulate in Hamburg and.

Paul Greengrass is one of those directors that you see attached to several different projects that unfortunately don't wind up panning out. Most recently the director dropped out of Aaron Sorkin's Chicago 7 biopic then it was rumored that he was in line to take on Stephen King's The Stand. We've still got no confirmation on the latter. After great success with Captain Phillips, producer Scott Rudin is moving on to an adaptation of David Ignatius' upcoming novel, The Director. Another...

TheWrap has the exclusive that David Ignatius' new spy novel The Director , which is due to be released at the end of May, has sold its film rights to Sony Pictures with Scott Rudin on board to produce it. Sony and Rudin are hoping to get Paul Greengrass, the director of their recent hit Captain Phillips , starring Tom Hanks, to helm the movie, but he is not officially confirmed as of yet. Ignatius previously wrote "Body of Lies," which was turned into a film by Ridley Scott starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe and based on a screenplay by Oscar winner William Monaghan ( The Departed ). Ignatius' latest novel follows Graham Weber, the director of the CIA for less than a week when a Swiss kid walks into the American consulate to inform them that the CIA has...

Breaking: In a move that gives the ICM Partners publishing division a foothold in D.C., the agency has established what it is calling a “strategic alliance” with Raphael Sagalyn’s The Sagalyn Agency. The D.C. outpost will now be called ICM/Sagalyn. The alliance melds Sagalyn’s strong non-fiction author list and ICM’s list dominated by fiction authors. Sagalyn has long run a one-man shop in D.C., where he represents over 100 authors, journalists and business and political experts. His list includes National Book Award finalists Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Steve Olson, Pulitzer Prize finalist Robert Wright and New York Times bestselling authors Dan Pink, Claire Shipman, Katty Kay, Franklin Foer, David Ignatius, Daniel Suarez, Howard Kurtz, David Simon, Ross Douthat, Del Quentin Wilber, Ian Bremmer, NPR reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Vanity Fair editor Cullen Murphy, MIT economist Simon Johnson, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and Harvard professor Robert Putnam.

Breaking: In a move that gives the ICM Partners publishing division a foothold in D.C., the agency has established what it is calling a “strategic alliance” with Rapahael Sagalyn’s The Sagalyn Agency. The D.C. outpost will now be called ICM/Sagalyn. The alliance melds Sagalyn’s strong non-fiction author list and ICM’s list dominated by fiction authors. Sagalyn has long run a one-man shop in D.C., where he represents over 100 authors, journalists and business and political experts. His list includes National Book Award finalists Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Steve Olson, Pulitzer Prize finalist Robert Wright and New York Times bestselling authors Dan Pink, Claire Shipman, Katty Kay, Franklin Foer, David Ignatius, Daniel Suarez, Howard Kurtz, David Simon, Ross Douthat, Del Quentin Wilber, Ian Bremmer, NPR reporter Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Vanity Fair editor Cullen Murphy, MIT economist Simon Johnson, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and Harvard professor Robert Putnam.

On the heels of a geopolitically troubling report by the Washington Post's David Ignatius that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta anticipates “that Israel will attack Iran over the next few months", hawkish former Un Ambassador John Bolton spoke with Fox News' Megyn Kelly about the potential military response if a war between the two nations broke out. "I don't think we will be able to stay out and I don't think it's in our interest to stay out," Bolton exclaimed.

Nazis. Wonder drugs. Uzi-toting mothers. Here's what to pick up this season, from the current issue of Newsweek.

Nothing Dauntedby Dorothy Wickenden

Related story on The Daily Beast: The 12 Best Books of Summer

Century-old letters composed in the wilds of Colorado by two young schoolteachers provide the backbone of this stirring narrative by one of their granddaughters.

The Man in the Rockefeller Suitby Mark Seal

At 17, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter left Germany for the U.S., where he pursued a two-decade career as an impostor, most famously as Clark Rockefeller. This spectacular story is all in the entertaining details.

State of Wonderby Ann Patchett

A female research scientist from a Minneapolis drug company is sent to Brazil to find a doctor working on a wonder fertility drug. Think Heart of Darkness with women.

Carte Blancheby Jeffery Deaver

His creator may be long gone, but James Bond (with his gadgets, women, and...

In Hollywood there are certain pairings of Directors and Actors that we've become accustomed to seeing together on billboards and posters.  And why not?  The art of filmmaking is an extremely creative, collaborative, high pressure and stressful undertaking.  When you find someone that you work well with and enjoy working with, it just makes sense to work together again.

Tim Burton with Johnny DeppJohn Ford and John WayneGeorge Cukor and Katharine HepburnSpike Lee and Denzel WashingtonMartin Scorsese and Leonardo DICAPRIOMartin Scorsese and Robert De Niro

And amongst those great pairings you have to add Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe.

With the new "Robin Hood" now in AMC Theatres everywhere (get your tickets as well as theatre and show time information here), I thought it would be a good time to take a moment and look back at the work these Oscar winners have done together before:

Gladiator (2000)The first, and...

This weekend's The Losers, based on a comic book by Andy Diggle, concerns a U.S. black ops team that is betrayed by their CIA handler, a distasteful character named Max (Jason Patric). They swear revenge on their former employers, starting a campaign to hunt down those at the Agency responsible for their betrayal. The result is a bloody, profane action flick, with the Central Intelligence Agency playing the role of the near-omnipotent dastardly villain.

The CIA has a storied movie history, especially recently. Because so few people know the reality of what the Agency actually does, and because words like "spy" and "clandestine" and "black ops" are so desperately intriguing, films about the CIA are, at their best, an opportunity for genre screenwriters to let their imaginations run wild. Some Hollywood efforts to depict the Agency have attempted to hew close to reality as we in the general public...

As every American knows, on Labor Day, citizens are actually forbidden to do work of any kind. So states the original 1912 concept of holiday founder Dr. David Ignatius Labor. The good doctor did make provisions for spending the evening watching steamy sex scenes culled from bad reality shows. Which brings us to TV Love at Its Soupiest, and Daisy de la Hoya (is that really her? Woman needs a shave), who drops by to see Joel. Seth Green does, too (nice boobs!), to plug Titan Maximum. Not a condom, but his new hilarious new cartoon show. Even more fun's in store tonight at 10 p.m. Et/Pt. Don't miss it!

Good morning and welcome to another week of movie magic Boxwishers. It might be terribly frosty out on this cold Monday morning, but we keep the Boxwish fires burning with our nonstop film fun. Last week, we brought you our first instalment of our spring wardrobe guide and today we pick up where we left off with five more fantastic movie-inspired looks. And that’s not all, later this week we’ll be battling it out with some of cinema’s most memorable monsters and aliens thanks to new animation Monsters and Aliens and taking our seasickness pills for a sail onboard The Boat That Rocked. And before we get to any of that, here are some of the top DVDs coming your way from today.

If you see… Angelina Jolie star as a woman whose child is kidnapped only to be reunited with an imposter in the true-life period drama Changeling.

12.00 Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 It's fair to say that the more complicated a subject is, the more infuriatingly oversimplified and dumbed down the Hollywood studio machine will render it - hackers cracking national defense grids with laptops, dinosaur DNA courtesy of a mosquito, etc. So when you hear Warner Brothers announce a film that dares to tackle the geo-political instability in the Middle East and the global War on Terror, you would be forgiven for not being exactly brimming over with confidence.

William Monahan knows a little something about weaving subtle misdirection as characters are forced into dangerous alliances having previously penned The Departed. He also has a strong stance on torture and the importance of depicting abhorrent physical brutality so as to properly convey the true essence of what is dangerously close to becoming just another word. Thanks to its tight and tidy script, some classy performances and Scott's confident,...

Ridley Scott's Body of Lies was not a well received film by critics who were pretty much split down the middle giving it a 51% rating over at RottenTomatoes and then by audiences who only turned out to give it just over $39 million at the box-office. Considering we are talking about a Ridley Scott film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe those are some dreadful numbers. Thankfully, they say nothing of the quality of this film. Body of Lies is an enjoyable action film with a bit of political intrigue and a slew of modern gadgetry competing against old school word-of-mouth. Among plenty of other things, Body of Lies takes a firm stance when it comes to the disconnect between those calling the shots in the Middle East and those on the ground carrying out the orders. At home is Ed Hoffman (Crowe), CIA head honcho, and on the ground...

On the whole, I think Body of Lies is one of the more overlooked films of the year. I understand why audiences weren't drawn to it, however; in this political and economic landscape, movies about a wholly unpopular war have not done well at the box office.

But should this be somewhere north of the 62nd biggest hit of 2008? Sure, without question. Both the lead performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe were on target, the action was pretty good, and Mark Strong's performance was one of the better supporting roles we've seen over the course of the past 12 months.

Hopefully, it will find more a groove on DVD. As a $70 million film that hasn't even crossed $100 million worldwide, it definitely needs to. And we've learned that Body of Lies will be out on DVD, two-disc special edition DVD, and Blu-Ray on February 17th.

We don't know all the...

Get your winter warmers out Boxwishers, as those clever meteorological chaps reckon we’re in for a cold weekend here in Blighty. With temperatures expected to nosedive you might not fancy leaving the comfort of your home to wander outside, but if you do make it past your front door might we suggest a trip to your local multiplex? From a cutesy rom-com to a pulse-racing action thriller to a quirky black comedy, there’s an exciting array of new movies on general release from today for you to choose from and we’ve got the skinny on all of them…

If you see… Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe star as CIA agents in the Middle Eastern thriller from acclaimed director Ridley Scott – Body of Lies.

Why Not Read the novel by Washington Post writer David Ignatius that the film is based on. Rock out to the sounds of the...

I'm still reeling from Body of Lies' remarkable box office flameout. The $70-million, Ridley Scott-directed, heavily-advertised spy thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe opened three weekends ago to third place and 12.8 million dollars, and will struggle to get to $35 million domestic by the end of its theatrical run. What the hell happened? A B-grade Jack Ryan movie with Ben Affleck can make almost four times that, and a film with this sort of pedigree winds up dead on arrival?

The answer, of course, is that The Sum of All Fears isn't the proper point of comparison. Because it turns out that Body of Lies isn't much of a "spy thriller" after all. Writing Part One of this column back in the summer, I mused that Scott and screenwriter William Monahan were going to have a tough time making author David Ignatius's ultra-realistic depiction of CIA grunt work into compelling pop cinema.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe Director: Ridley Scott Release Date: October 10, 2008 Running Time: 128 min MPAA Rating: R Distributor: Warner Bros. - - - Yes, you've seen it before. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Eagle Eye, the Shia Labeouf flop, used the same device to drive its plot to hell, but unfortunately not back again. That movie’s characters had insight on how to defeat the odds of their fate thanks to people who could see them but they couldn’t see where their help was coming from. Body of Lies is a more complex, grown-up version of that movie - and that isn’t a good thing. Their only differences are found in the actors and directors, which Body of Lies holds a superior command over any movie this year for that matter. Using this device in an intelligent film, director Ridley Scott doesn’t...

I found myself asking one simple question during Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, a well-shot, big-name intelligence thriller that sees Leonardo DiCaprio's CIA man caught up in action in the Middle East -- namely, what is Body of Lies for? I don't mean that in the sense of asking what it supports or believes in -- although, with the film's mix of Hollywood heroics and sneering cynicism, you're certainly left with that question -- but rather in the sense of asking what it is that Body of Lies means to accomplish or communicate. Part of the film feels like an attempt at a sprawling, globe-trotting story of realpolitik and moral complexity, in the mold of Syriana or Scott's own Black Hawk Down; other parts feel like Dolby-pumped slam-bang action, in the mold of Tony Scott's Spy Game or the Bourne Films. And some of Body of Lies feels like a weird,...

Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio in Body of Lies

Photo: Warner Bros. Body of Lies, as purely entertainment, is a lot of fun. It has plenty of action, some great performances and as always, director Ridley Scott delivers a beautiful film that is technically more evolved than the majority of its counterparts. The film's storyline and its proximity to Iraq may cause some viewers to shy away, as it primarily focuses on the war on terror and striking a balance between the boys in the comfy seats back home and the men on the ground doing the dirty work. Overly sensitive moviegoers may not enjoy it for its grittier elements including a torture scene near the end that leaves several possibilities for an ending up in the air, but there is enough spy gadgetry and clandestine eye-in-the-sky coolness to remind you that you are watching a Hollywood movie and not real life.

Body of Lies

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, and Mark Strong

Directed by Ridley Scott

Rated R

The first time I remember seeing somewhat believable spy satellites in movies was Enemy of the State, directed by Tony Scott. Now his older and more revered brother, Ridley, uses a more believable variation of that technology to follow CIA agent Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) through scorching equatorial deserts in Body of Lies. Ironically, in the first film, the spying is to know too much, while in Body of Lies, too little is known in spite of it.

The film is based on a novel by David Ignatius - adapted for the screen by The Departed screenwriter William Monahan - about a search for a high-ranking terrorist that involves the incompatible methods of the intelligence communities of the United States and Jordan.

Ferris is on the ground doing the dirty work of Ed...

Has any other great director seemed as content to make merely good movies as Ridley Scott? Visionary at his best, workmanlike at his worst, Scott has a bad habit of making films whose handsomeness almost, but doesn't quite, hide their shortcomings. Like last year's American Gangster, Body Of Lies has elements of greatness in it but never quite performs the alchemy needed to convert them, settling instead for mere goodness. Still, it's not like the screens are so flooded with decent movies that we couldn't use another, particularly a timely, clear-eyed thriller about the Middle East and the role of the U.S. therein. Screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) adapts a novel by journalist/novelist David Ignatius and the results play like a more comprehensible and explosion-filled Syriana. Body Of Lies opens with a terrorist incident in Manchester, shifts to Iraq, then expands to reveal a web of decisions and deceptions.

The new thriller from Ridley Scott, Body Of Lies, deals with intelligence gathering done by the CIA in the Middle East as part of the broader “War on Terror.” Leonardo DiCaprio plays “Roger Ferris” a field agent who’s mission is to track down an elusive terrorist mastermind. Guiding his every move via satellite and cell phone is Russell Crowe, playing his obnoxious boss “Ed Hoffman.” The story, based on a book by David Ignatius, is a grim but breathtaking glimpse at the moral dilemmas posed by espionage in a completely foreign culture. DiCaprio and Crowe, along with director Ridley Scott and author David Ignatius were kind enough to answer some questions at a very very swanky hotel in Beverly Hills. . . very swanky. Our witty back and forth after the jump.

Steve Mason is now on Facebook. It is hard to think of a movie with a more impeccable pedigree than Body of Lies (Warner Bros.), set for wide release this Friday. Three-time Academy Award nominee Ridley Scott reteams with Oscar winner Russell Crowe for the fourth time in the film adaptation of the David Ignatius bestselling novel, adapted for the screen by William Monahan, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Departed. Add to the mix Leonardo DiCaprio, with 3 Oscar nominations of his own, and you have a project with exceedingly bright commercial and artistic prospects.