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Earlier this month, Warner Bros. (barely) released Clint Eastwood‘s 40th film as director, the exquisitely crafted and morally probing courtroom drama “Juror #2.” Like many of Eastwood‘s movies, it somehow feels like both a summation of all that came before it and something new in his oeuvre; it’s filled with the aesthetic preferences and thematic preoccupations that have obsessed him going back to the 1970s, but the abundance of rich visual and philosophical ideas are expressed with more clarity and concision than ever. With nothing to lose and nothing to prove, Eastwood has created a film as clean and fast as one of his 1990s programmers but as wrenching in its internal tensions as masterpieces like “Unforgiven” and “Mystic River.”

This is all in keeping with the overall trajectory of Eastwood’s career, as his filmmaking has grown increasingly confident with each film. Not every experiment has worked — even as an Eastwood partisan,...

It was the year 2008 when Yellowstone actor Kevin Costner starred in an iconic film titled Swing Vote. Starring Madeline Carroll and several other stars such as Stankey Tucci, Kelsey Grammar, and more, the film was an underrated gem.

Costner in a still from Yellowstone | Credits: Linson Entertainment

Following the presidential election, Kevin Costner’s character is the last person whose vote can bring a majority to one party or the other. The 10 days that follow are shown in Swing Vote but for that role, Costner had to evolve above his morals.

Kevin Costner Had a Tough Role in Swing Vote

Kevin Costner grew up as a Republican. The actor revealed that he was raised in a Republican household and politics was one of the key talks in their little home during his childhood.

Kevin Costner in a still from Swing Vote | Credits: Touchstone Pictures

Of course, mixing politics and acting...

Guy Ritchie is one of the most recognizable British auteurs, thanks to his bold narratives that are a kind of Quentin Tarantino-esque stories framed by British humor and set in a British working-class and criminal milieu.

However, despite his colossal contribution to pop culture, which rivals that of the aforementioned Tarantino, Guy Ritchie's films are far from box office success. While many of his films have indeed made huge sums of money at the worldwide box office, there are also plenty of absolute commercial failures despite warm reviews from audiences, such as RocknRolla, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the recent The Covenant.

The same seems to be the case with Ritchie's new big screen project, the feature length film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Although it was released less than a week ago, the box office numbers are far from reassuring, but the movie...

Actor Clint Eastwood has starred in a variety of movies, but was once mostly known for action films like Dirty Harry. Still, the filmmaker wasn’t afraid of branching out in his younger years. But when he did a film that was too unlike his typical work, his inner circle panicked.

Everyone thought Clint Eastwood was making a big mistake doing this feature Clint Eastwood | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

After building his reputation as an action star, Eastwood wanted to experiment with other genres. To do this, he began eyeing the feature Every Which Way but Loose. The 1978 movie was a huge departure from Eastwood’s usual work. The veteran actor played a trucker and part-time fighter with a pet orangutan named Clyde. Although it had action elements, it functioned heavily as a comedy, targeting a much younger audience than Eastwood’s films were used to.

When his team discovered Eastwood was actually considering the project,...

Iron Maiden and Z2 Comics have announced a graphic novel based on the band’s Piece of Mind album, arriving November 21st. Below you can get an exclusive first look at the special alternate cover featuring Eddie as “The Trooper” and its accompanying collector’s card.

The graphic novel celebrates the 40th anniversary of the legendary 1983 album, which contains all-time Maiden classics such as “Where Eagles Dare,” “Die with Your Boots On,” and “The Trooper.”

With a solid track record of heavy metal collaborations with Anthrax, King Diamond, and more, Z2 Comics pulled out all the stops for Iron Maiden: Piece of Mind. The book features stories based on each of the album’s songs, including writing from frontman Bruce Dickinson (“Revelations”) along with an introduction penned by longtime Maiden manager Rod Smallwood.

“When the idea of a Piece of Mind 40th Anniversary graphic novel first came up, I felt...

Cult Horror Masterpiece, The Wicker Man, Arrives on a SteelBook in 4K Ultra HD October 17: "The cult horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man, arrives on a SteelBook® in 4K Ultra HD™ (+ Blu-ray™ + Digital) on October 17th from Lionsgate. Directed by Robin Hardy (The Fantasist), the film follows Police Sergeant Howie, as he investigates Lord Summerisle and his secretive pagan society. The Wicker Man will be available for the suggested retail price of $27.99."

Official Synopsis

When a young girl mysteriously vanishes, Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) travels to a remote Scottish island to investigate. But the seemingly quiet community is not as it appears, as the detective uncovers a secretive pagan society led by the strange Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee). While the townsfolk tempt and threaten him with bizarre rituals and wanton lust, Howie must race to discover the truth behind the girl's disappearance before his clash with Lord Summerisle builds...

Plot: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back in a battle against “The Entity,” a state-of-the-art, self-aware AI that threatens to topple the world’s government. Battling an old foe (Esai Morales) for a key that The Entity wants, Hunt has to recruit his old team, plus a master pickpocket (Hayley Atwell) for his most impossible mission yet.

Review: One has to give Tom Cruise and his director Christopher McQuarrie credit. The two consistently push the envelope, and in each other, the two have found kindred spirits bent on delivering the type of old-school thrills you don’t see anymore. After watching the latest Indiana Jones lose its soul in a sea of CGI and the various superhero movies, it’s a treat to see Cruise and McQuarrie doing real, cutting-edge practical action with some legitimate stakes. When people die, they stay dead, and as invincible as Cruise’s Ethan Hunt may seem,...

[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers.]

Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones is back in fine form for swan song “The Dial of Destiny,” dodging former Nazi rival Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) alongside estranged goddaughter/treasure hunter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) while chasing after Archimedes’ Antikythera (the titular dial).

But director James Mangold fully embraced the senior daredevil archaeologist being out of step in the turbulent ’60s, putting Indy firmly in the time period by collaborating with production designer Adam Stockhausen (“Asteroid City”) on several action-packed historical recreations. Audiences see everything from the Nazi castle and plunder train during the 1944 prologue (boasting a de-aged Ford by Ilm) and the Apollo 11 astronaut ticker-tape parade in New York City to the Ear of Dionysius cave in Sicily and a battle with the invading Romans in 213 Bce.

“We had a very unusual early process where I was able to do sketching work in real-time as [Mangold] was developing the script,” Stockhausen told IndieWire.

The most striking aspect of the commemorative events marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June 2019 was the testimony of the veterans who participated in the conflict and who spoke eloquently and movingly about the events of 6 June 1944.

These interviews should be compulsory viewing so people understand the courage and sacrifice of a generation of men and women who displayed the “unconquerable resolve” the Queen spoke about during her speech in Portsmouth.

The film world has, of course, brought us many depictions of the Normandy landings and the subsequent battles. You will find a number of those titles in this list of the 20 greatest Second World War films.

These 20 movies only scratch the surface of the countless number made about the momentous event, but remind us of the horrors and sacrifices made during the devastating global conflict.

Scroll through the gallery below to see the 20 greatest war films:...

One of the great pleasures of yesteryear filmmaking was Hollywood's unshakable belief in the power of movie stars. This was especially true in the 1960s when Baby Boomers came of age and clamored for films that reflected their rambunctious, rock-and-roll taste. The studios, run by aging/dying moguls, were caught flat-footed. To stay afloat, they leaned on old favorites and newcomers who cut a classically dashing figure. Method acting might've been all the rage, but viewed on a big, flickering screen, process practitioners like Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Warren Beatty looked the matinee-idol part.

Clint Eastwood was a breed apart. He was familiar to U.S. moviegoers due to his portrayal of Rowdy Yates on the CBS TV Western "Rawhide," but that familiarity cut both ways. His lean build, chiseled facial features, and labored emoting belonged to a different era. It wasn't until he teamed up with Sergio Leone...

Clint Eastwood entered the 1970s at a transitional point in his career. He was for certain a movie star, but, despite hits like the crime-thriller "Coogan's Bluff" and the World War II flick "Where Eagles Dare," he was still primarily associated with Westerns. This was hardly a precarious place to be. He'd earned enough studio goodwill to take a risk or two on a movie that wasn't a straight-down-the-middle commercial play.

Thomas P. Cullinan's novel "The Beguiled" presented such a risk. The Southern Gothic about a wounded Union soldier cared for by a headmistress (Geraldine Page) and her young female charges at a Mississippi seminary was dark and creepy and just about as far from the macho heroics of "A Fistful of Dollars" as Eastwood could get. His character becomes an object of desire for many of the women in the house, and he uses his worldly charm to encourage their advances.

Cinema Retro has received the following announcement:

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Of all the countless action adventure TV shows that filled our screens in the 1960s, perhaps none of them have fascinated audiences quite as much as The Prisoner. In 1967, Patrick McGoohan stepped away from the colossal Itc hit show Secret Agent (or Danger Man in the UK) and used his commercial clout to create a series that has thrilled and baffled in equal measure for over fifty years.

He played a nameless secret agent who is kidnapped during the titles sequence of the first episode, and wakes up in a bizarre, pastel-hued location where everyone is known only by their number, and where escape is made impossible by a malevolent bouncing ball.

In ‘The Village’, the authorities are determined to discover why this new arrival resigned. However, No. 6 as he is now known, is equally determined...

Hammer Horror: Four Gothic Horror Films

Blu ray – All Region

Imprint

1971-72

Starring Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, Eric Porter

Cinematography by Kenneth Talbot, Dick Bush

Directed by Peter Sasdy, John Hough, Robert Young

In December of 1959, Hammer Studios released a bit of Yuletide cheer called The Stranglers from Bombay, a censor-baiting melodrama highlighted by severed limbs and Marie Devereux’s cleavage. The studio would spend the next decade expanding upon those themes and wore the inevitable X Certificates like badges of honor. But as an ancient reprobate said, “Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough” and by the seventies the bad boys of Bray seemed positively sedate. Though the power to shock had waned, Hammer was still a thriving business—there were two Dracula films produced in 1970 alone. Still, no one could blame them for shaking things up—Anthony Hinds, the studio’s guiding light,...

It feels like we’ve been here before. A C-list DC Comics villain has been brought to life by a major Hollywood talent—Idris Elba as Bloodsport in this case—only to be saddled in a seemingly generic scene with the character’s adolescent daughter. When we saw a variation of this cliché in the first Suicide Squad movie, it stood in for barebones character development; a familiar story beat which allowed Will Smith’s Deadshot to prove he really just wants to make his little girl proud. But that was then, and this is now. This is James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.

Hence when Elba’s incarcerated baddie takes a look at his daughter through prison plexiglass, and she reveals that she too has gotten pinched and is now awaiting a court date for nicking a smartwatch, he has only one question: Why did she get caught for swiping something so stupid?...

In November 2019, I found myself in the middle of a war zone. Well, the closest approximation of a war zone I’ve ever found myself in during my time visiting the sets of blockbuster movies. If I had been brought to this particular set in Atlanta on a sunny autumn afternoon without knowing what movie it was that I was supposed to be getting a peek at, the scene presented to a group of journalists probably would have convinced me that this was some new war movie or straight up action blockbuster, and not one that features a collection of DC villains and antiheroes at its core.

The set in question is called “Jotunheim” and it’s apparently an objective Task Force X needs to conquer in The Suicide Squad. But for all intents and purposes, this could be the kind of Nazi fortress that the gritty characters of movies...

For me it usually starts with the title, and The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) has a doozy; provocative and exploitative, it evokes images of rituals, bloodlust, and other sundry delights. And sometimes the stars align, the film more or less living up to the promise of the title, or at least to the promise of the promise.

Released by Cannon Releasing Corp. Stateside in April and by its own Tigon Pictures in the U.K. in July, The Blood on Satan’s Claw didn’t do well; Tigon had a hit with The Witchfinder General (1968) with Vincent Price, and were looking to replicate that success. Regardless of its fate, The Blood on Satan’s Claw is an effective example of folk-horror, killer kids, and some light Satanism, as a treat.

We open on a field in early 18th Century England, as Ralph (Barry Andrews - The Spy Who Loved Me) ploughs the...

Written and directed by Arthur Barron, this bittersweet high school romance won over some pretty hard-bitten critics upon its release in 1973. Robbie Benson plays the love-shy Jeremy and Glynnis O’Connor is the young ballet student who breaks the ice (she also sings the title tune). The movie was co-produced by Elliot Kastner who knew his way around blockbuster action (Where Eagles Dare) and quirky art-house material (Tony Richardson’s Laughter in the Dark).

The post Jeremy appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Iron Maiden played a high adrenaline, career-spanning setlist on their last tour and documented it for a new live album, Nights of the Living Dead: Legacy of the Beast: Live in Mexico City. The material comes from the three nights the group played at a Mexico City arena last September.

A limited-edition triple-lp will feature vinyl colored to match the Mexican flag; the collection will also be available in a limited-edition two-cd book format, as well as conventional two-cd, three-lp and digital releases. The record, in all its formats, will come out on November 20th.

From the people that brought you Pandemic Parade chapters 1-8, comes yet another thrilling episode featuring Jesse V. Johnson, Casper Kelly, Fred Dekker, Don Coscarelli, Daniel Noah, Elijah Wood and Blaire Bercy.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Wondrous Story of Birth a.k.a. The Birth of Triplets (1950)

Contagion (2011)

The Omega Man (1971)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

The Last Man On Earth (1964)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Fantastic Voyage (1966)

Innerspace (1987)

The Howling (1981)

The Invisible Man (2020)

The Sand Pebbles (1966)

Where Eagles Dare (1969)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Goldfinger (1964)

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965)

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)

Dr. No (1962)

From Russia With Love (1963)

Bellman and True (1987)

Brimstone and Treacle (1982)

Richard III (1995)

Titanic (1997)

Catch 22 (1970)

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)

The Graduate (1967)

1941 (1979)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Jaws (1975)

The Fortune (1975)

Carnal Knowledge (1970)

Manhattan...

James Gunn is always up for sharing his opinions (for better or for worse) as well as interacting with fans on Twitter. Just the other day, in fact, he shared a list of 27 sequels better than the original and before that, he recommended 10 movies to watch during quarantine. But now, The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy director has revealed a new list of films to watch during self-isolation and has come up with 54 action movies that he believes are an A+.

Studios have been releasing some of their new efforts on digital early like Bloodshot and The Hunt in an attempt to capitalize on any extra revenue they can in these difficult times. But forget about new movies for a second. Gunn’s list below begins a proper action film education and all of his suggestions are well worth checking out.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Bullitt (1868)

North by Northwest...

Continuing our series in which writers revisit childhood movie passions, we find out if a war film from a pre-greenscreen era holds up in the digital age

I was 12 in a time before there was streaming, before there was Blockbuster, when someone with a Vcr in their home boasted playground status roughly equivalent to the captain of the football team combined with the kid whose parents ran a newsagent and could get you free sweets. So your favourite film was either one you had seen a single time in the cinema, or one you had seen on one of the three television channels. In practice it was likely to the latter, because they were the only ones you were able to see more than once.

Certain films retained their blockbuster status on TV. Even though they had been made years before, they were repeated frequently over public holidays. The Great Escape was one,...

Issue #46

Highlights Of Issue #46 (2020) Include:

John Wayne and Rock Hudson are "The Undefeated"

Unpublished 1974 interview with Albert Finney

Don Siegel's "Madigan" starring Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda

Interview with writer/director Michael Armstrong

The making of the epic film "Waterloo" starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer

Hammer Films Actor John Richardson interview Part II

Vietnam Before and After: "Go Tell the Spartans" and "Rolling Thunder"

Brian Keith in "The McKenzie Break"

Plus review of DVDs, soundtracks and film books.

USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 USA/ Canada : Cinema Retro #46 $12.00 Usd UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 UK : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £8.50 Gbp Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Europe : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £10.50 Gbp Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 Rest Of The World : Cinema Retro Issue #46 £12.00 Gbp

Issue #47

Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.

Director John Stevenson's tribute to...

Before “The Angry Birds Movie 2” first screened in London, Sony proudly showed off the trailer for the new “Jumanji” movie (“The Next Level”) which the studio is obviously hoping will be its big Christmas hit. That film’s very existence, re-animated by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart et al, proves you can never write off an old franchise or an even older video game — and there’s every chance that the further adventures of the flightless cartoon birds and their green pig adversaries can feather the nest for Sony this summer.

Not that “Angry Birds 2” is a very good film. Let’s not go crazy here. Compared to Disney/Pixar, the work here is rudimentary in terms of artistry, character and script. There are hardly any gags in the dialogue, not even terrible bird-based puns. And as for any wholesome or heart-warming family message, forget it. But that in itself may prove somewhat refreshing,...

David Crow Jul 30, 2019

Oscar winning cinematographer Robert Richardson talks Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Sharon Tate, '60s TV Westerns, and that last shot.

This article contains Once Upon a Time in Hollywood spoilers.

Robert Richardson learned what his next collaboration with Quentin Tarantino would be while sitting in the director’s kitchen. The pair, whose partnership goes back nearly 20 years and five movies (depending how you count Kill Bill), have become as close as family. Yet the thing about Tarantino is you don’t really know what his next project is until it’s staring you in the face.

Like other key cast and crew members, when Richardson was invited to read Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood at the filmmaker’s home—with some cast alleging the kitchen table is special treatment—he had only a faint idea of what Tarantino was working on: a movie about...

David Crow Dec 14, 2019

We try to list and explain as many easter eggs and 1960s pop culture references as we can after viewing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood twice.

This article contains major Once Upon a Time in Hollywood spoilers.

In many ways, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood feels like the movie Quentin Tarantino has been building to over the last decade. A picture that takes his usual giddy historical revisionism trick and adds a wistful layer of melancholy and elegiac fear about the setting of the sun, this is a movie obsessed with the past and future, including Tarantino’s early personal history (he was six-years-old in the summer of ’69) and the tomorrow that is yet to come for his career.

Still, cast all that aside, and what remains is a heartfelt love letter to 1960s Hollywood and all the groovy things we’ve lost from that time of flower power,...

The horrors of a 19th-century disease don't stop at death in The Plague of the Zombies, coming to Blu-ray from Scream Factory. Ahead of the January 15th release of the new home media release, the full special features for The Plague of the Zombies Blu-ray have been revealed, including two new audio commentaries:

From the Press Release: "In a remote 19th-century Cornish village, an evil presence lurks within the darkness of the witching hour. A mysterious plague relentlessly consumes lives at an unstoppable rate. Unable to find the cause, Dr. Peter Tompson enlists the help of his mentor, Sir James Forbes. Desperate to find an antidote, they instead find inexplicable horror: empty coffins with the diseased corpses missing! Following a series of strange and frightening clues, they discover a deserted mine where they discover a world of black magic and a doomed legion of flesh-eating slaves ... the walking dead! On...

Exciting news for fans of action! Rod Taylor and Jim Brown in Dark Of The Sun (1968) is available on Blu-ray December 18th from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found Here

Rod Taylor stars in this action classic, playing the leader of a band of mercenaries attempting to smuggle diamonds and refugees out of Congo via steam train at the height of the ’60s Congo Crisis. Directed by master cinematographer Jack Cardiff, Dark of the Sun shocked contemporary audiences with its stark and unflinching scenes of violent brutality. Jim Brown and Yvette Mimieux join Taylor for the hi-octane, high tension action. Overlooked in its initial run, Dark of the Sun is a justly revered classic of the genre, now seen as a seminal entry in the genre. And now it’s more explosive than ever on this stunning, new HD presentation. And did we mention there is a chainsaw fight scene?...

On paper, this should have been a home run. Adapted from Nicholas Dawidoff’s historical biography of the same name, “The Catcher Was a Spy” is a stiff and serene biopic about a man named Moe Berg, an enigmatic Jew who capped off his middling career with the Boston Red Sox by traveling to Nazi Germany under secret government orders to determine if Hitler was building an atomic bomb, and to assassinate the Nobel Prize-winning scientist in charge of the project if so.

It’s a hell of a war story, combining the foreign intrigue of “The Third Man” with the high-wire suspense of “Where Eagles Dare” (with a touch of homoerotic tension drizzled on top for good measure). Throw in an all-star cast that surrounds Paul Rudd’s lead performance with pinch-hitters like (take a deep breath) Paul Giamatti, Mark Strong, Tom Wilkinson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce,...

A middling entry in the genre of blow-it-up big action spectacles, Paul Wendkos’ Spain-filmed western gives us all the excitement promised by the poster, but with some cardboard characters and lumpy storytelling. George Peppard is on the job, however, and once again proves he can carry a big picture, flaws and all.

Cannon for Cordoba

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: George Peppard, Raf Vallone, Giovanna Ralli, Don Gordon, Pete Duel, Nico Minardos, John Russell, John Larch, Gabriele Tinti, Francine York, Lionel Murton, Hans Meyer, Aldo Sambrell, Luis Barboo.

Cinematography: Antonio Macasoli

Film Editor: Walter A. Hannemann

Special effects: Emilio Ruiz del Río

Original Music: Elmer Bernstein

Written by Stephen Kandel

Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly

Directed by Paul Wendkos

While providing backing for independent writer-producers like Billy Wilder, Walter Mirisch also shepherded various less ambitious war movies and westerns,...

Author: Competitions

To mark the release of Clint Eastwood 40 Film Collection, out now, we’ve been given a copy of the boxset to give away on DVD.

For nearly 40 years, Clint Eastwood has called Warner Bros home. This essential collection contains the extraordinary films created during his partnership with the studio, where Eastwood opened Malpaso Productions in 1975. The deluxe boxset includes: Where Eagles Dare (1968), Kelly’s Heroes (1970), Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet (1977), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), Bronco Billy (1980), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Honkytonk Man (1982), Firefox (1982), Sudden Impact (1983), City Heat (1984), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Bird (1988), The Dead Pool (1988), Pink Cadillac (1989), White Hunter, Black Heart (1990), The Rookie (1990), Unforgiven (1992), A Perfect World (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Absolute Power (1997), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), True Crime (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), Blood Work (2002), Mystic River (2003), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Letters from Iwo Jima...

Felicity Jones leads a band of Rebels against the Empire in Rogue One. Finally, a classic Star Wars prequel? Ryan finds out...

If Jj Abrams had the weight of several worlds on his shoulders when he made The Force Awakens, spare a thought for director Gareth Edwards. In taking on Rogue One, the first in a planned string of Star Wars spin-offs, the British filmmaker has an equally difficult task: not only does his film have to follow a numbered sequel like last year's Episode VII, but it also attempts to tell a (relatively) self-contained story away from the new trilogy - and, just to add to the creative tension, it's effectively another prequel.

See related  Justice League: new behind the scenes pics Future DC films will be "hopeful and optimistic" DC Comics movies: upcoming UK release dates calendar The Crow reboot to finally shoot in January

This is,...

The chase is on: a mix of icy ruthlessness and warm romanticism enliven Ken Follett's novel of pre-invasion esponage intrigue. Kate Nelligan heats up the screen with Donald Sutherland, the 'seventies most unlikely sex star. Plus a lush and wondrous music score by Miklos Rozsa. Eye of the Needle Blu-ray Twilight Time 1981 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date September 13, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store29.95 Starring Donald Sutherland, Kate Nelligan, Christopher Cazenove, Ian Bannen, Philip Martin Brown, Bill Nighy, Stephen MacKenna, Sam Kydd. Cinematography Alan Hume Original Music Miklos Rozsa Written by Stanley Mann based on the novel by Ken Follett Produced by Stephen Friedman Directed by Richard Marquand

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

We're all familiar with this kind of thriller -- over shots of fresh-faced troops moving off to war, a portentous scrolling text tells us about the desperate situation of London -- and the Free World -- as Hitler's Luftwaffe threatens.

Laurence Bowen’s London-based Dancing Ledge Productions has entered into a deal with publisher HarperCollins to adapt the novels of Alistair MacLean as event TV series. The first project under the pact is San Andreas, a thriller set on board a torpedoed Ww II hospital ship. Tony Marchant (The Secret Agent) is adapting. HarperCollins owns the rights to bestselling author MacLean’s novels which also include The Guns Of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare. Each…...

Modern spy movies have nothing on this Brit thriller produced just as war broke out -- Rex Harrison, Margaret Lockwood and Paul Henried clash with Nazi agents, and risk a daring escape to Switzerland. The witty screenplay is by the writers of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes and the director is Carol Reed, in terrific form. Night Train to Munich Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 523 1940 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September, 2016 / Starring Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul von Hernried, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, James Harcourt, Felix Aylmer, Roland Culver, Raymond Huntley, Fritz (Frederick) Valk. Cinematography Otto Kanturek Film Editor R. E. Dearing Written by Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder story by Gordon Wellesley Produced by Edward Black Directed by Carol Reed

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Alfred Hitchcock's successful series of 1930s spy chase thrillers -- The Man Who Knew Too Much; The 39 Steps --...

By Tim Greaves

Writer Derek Pykett (whose excellent book " MGM British Studios: Hollywood in Borehamwood" was reviewed here earlier this year) has turned his hand to directing; setting up and playing host to a dozen intimate interviews with some of Britain's most respected and beloved thesps, the results are now available on DVD with "From Stage to Screen", a privately produced, limited edition 6-disc box set.

With each performer given their own ‘episode’ and a total running time of 15 hours, there's so much material here that it'll take the average viewer a number of sittings to get through it all. Beyond starting with disc one and working through methodically, where one begins is probably going to be proportionate to the level of esteem in which the viewer holds each particular actor or actress represented within the set; I confess that at the time of writing I still have a fair bit to get through.

By Tim Greaves

Between the early 1950s and mid 1980s the Children's Film Foundation was a non-profit making establishment behind dozens of films aimed at a young audience, most of them screening as programme constituents at Saturday morning 'Picture Shows'. I didn't catch many of these during my own childhood. But I do recall a couple of particularly enjoyable ones that I did get to see in the early 1970s: Cry Wolf (1969) and All at Sea (1970), both of which are conspicuously absent from the half dozen or so collections issued on DVD to date. Many of the Cff’s films had a run-time of around an hour, although there were also a number of serials in their catalogue. Masters of Venus was one such production. Comprising eight 15-minute instalments, it arrives on DVD in the UK in a restored release from BFI.

On the day prior to mankind's first mission to Venus,...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Happy Birthday to one of We Are Movie Geeks favorite stars. Clint Eastwood was born on this day in 1930, making him 86 years old. The actor and two-time Oscar winning director hasn’t let his age slow him down a bit. Sully, his new movie as a director, opens in September.

We posted a list in 2011 of his ten best directorial efforts Here

Clint Eastwood has appeared in 68 films in his six (!) decades as an actor, and here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are his ten best:

Honorable Mention: Honkytonk Man

By the 1980s, Clint Eastwood was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. With his own production company, directorial skills, and economic clout, Eastwood was able to make smaller, more personal films. A perfect example is the underrated Honkytonk Man, which also happens to be one of Eastwood’s finest performances.

Memorial Day is that time Americans set aside each year to remember and honor the sacrifices of our fallen military veterans. But it's also a day off from work, and for those who want to spend the day in front of their TV without feeling unpatriotic or ungrateful — relax, we've got you've covered. We've scoured the streaming services and digital rental outlets, and we've found nine movies (and one mini-series) that'll fill your entire holiday with thoughtful, provocative, appropriate entertainment. By the time you're done, our nation's fighting forces may...

In recognition of Memorial Day, Turner Classic Movies (North America) features a blockbuster string of classic films showing back-to-back on Monday. Consider this line-up: "55 Days at Peking" starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven, , "The Great Escape" starring Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough, "The  Guns of Navarone" starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven, "Where Eagles Dare" starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood and "Kelly's Heroes" starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and Don Rickles. Things kick off at 11:30 Am (Est). ...

By Doug Oswald

Three teenage boys discover a gunshot outlaw and nurse him back to health in “The Spikes Gang,” a 1974 western directed by Richard Fleischer available for the first time on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Lee Marvin plays Harry Spikes, an outlaw who inspires Gary Grimes, Ron Howard and Charles Martin Smith to join him as outlaws. Harry is calm, cool and calculating, endearing himself to the boys who have romanticized his life as an outlaw.

Will (Grimes), Les (Howard) and Tod (Smith) are farm boys seeking excitement and adventure and find it in Harry who recovers from his wounds with the boy’s help. The three boys are bored with the farm life as well as the harsh treatment they receive from their parents. Harry offers the boys a reward for helping him, but they turn him down instead asking to join Harry who declines their offer. The boys,...

This forgotten Alistair MacLean action thriller packs a rare starring role for the young Anthony Hopkins -- he's really good as secret agent Philip Calvert, battling gold thieves in the Scottish Isles. He's got a James Bond attitude in a more down-to-Earth adventure. When Eight Bells Toll Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1971 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 94 min. / Street Date March 8, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Anthony Hopkins, Robert Morley, Nathalie Delon, Jack Hawkins, Corin Redgrave, Ferdy Mayne, Wendy Allnutt, Maurice Roëves, Derek Bond, Leon Collins, Peter Arne, Oliver MacGreevy, Tom Chatto, Del Henney. Cinematography Arthur Ibbetson Film Editor John Shirley Original Music Angela Morley Written by Alistair MacLean from his novel Produced by Elliott Kastner Directed by Etienne Périer

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Producer Elliott Kastner stretched Alistair MacLean's brand of military action adventure to James Bond extremes in the expensive, very popular Where Eagles Dare of 1968. Several MacLean adaptations got underway,...

MGM British Studios: Hollywood in Borehamwood

By Derek Pykett (Published by BearManor Media £20.00), 444 Pages, Softcover, Isbn: 9781593938833 (also available £26.50 Hardcover)

Review by Tim Greaves

Several of the greatest films of all time were made at MGM British Studios and some of Hollywood's most prolific names laid foot upon the stages there. In an eminently readable trip down memory lane, “MGM British Studios: Hollywood in Borehamwood” is a bounteous treasure trove primarily comprising interesting and amusing memories of some of those who had the privilege to work there. Sub-titled "Celebrating 100 Years of the Film Studios of Elstree/Borehamwood", the tome boasts a voluminous collection of stories from those who worked in front of and behind the camera back in those halcyon days – some names are familiar, others not so much, but all of them have tales to tell; if nothing else, author Derek Pykett deserves an award for his prowess in undertaking...

StudioCanal has acquired the Stephen Harding's WW2 nonfiction thriller novel "The Last Battle".

Sounding like a more dramatic variation of Alistair MacLean's "Where Eagles Dare," the story is set weeks after Hitler's suicide but before the German surrender and at a castle high in the Austrian Alps.

The action follows a daring attempt by a small band of American soldiers to liberate French prisoners being held there, prisoners who could provide damning war crimes testimony and are to be executed by around two-hundred hardened Waffen SS troops hot on the heels of the Americans.

Bryce Zabel penned the script and will produce with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman. No word on a production schedule as yet.

Source: Deadline...

By Doug Oswald

Released by Universal in 1967, “Tobruk” opens with the feel of a 1960s spy thriller. Rock Hudson is Major Donald Craig, a Canadian prisoner of war on board a German transport ship anchored somewhere off the North Africa coast in late 1942. A group of frogmen surface near the ship and sneak on board with silencers fixed to their guns in order to capture Craig. The frogmen are led by Captain Bergman (George Peppard) who reveal themselves to be part of a team of German commandos.

The commandos take Craig to a German airfield and fly him to a desert landing strip. They’re unexpectedly greeted by a group of British soldiers led by Colonel Harker (Nigel Green). It’s revealed that Bergman is the leader of a German-Jewish commando unit attached to a group of British commandos operating in North Africa. They secured the rescue of Craig due...

Commando, the iconic Arnie action movie with one of the biggest kill counts in the world, is 30 years old. That's right, it's been three decades since we met "Chenny!" and Bennett let off some steam.

To celebrate, here are the top five Hollywood actors in order of on-screen deaths delivered, starting with - you guessed it - one Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Nb: All statistics come from the experts in this field, MovieBodyCounts.com, who spend more time watching stunt men pretend to die than you could possibly imagine.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger - 312 career kills

5 most bloodthirsty films (by total kills)

1. Commando (1985): 81

2. Total Recall (1990): 44

3. True Lies (1994): 51

4. Predator (1987): 25

5. Eraser (1996): 29

Watch his most iconic kill (from Commando)

Matrix: "Remember, Sully, when I promised to kill you last?"

Sully: "That's right, Matrix! You did!"

Matrix: (Dropping Sully off a cliff): "I lied."

2. Dolph Lundgren - 239 career kills

5 most...

Great news for Hammer Horror fans, as Eureka! Entertainment is bringing Terence Fisher's The Man Who Could Cheat Death to dual-format Blu-ray/DVD on 21 September.Fisher helped define the vibrant look of many of Hammer's classic gothic horror tales, and after scoring notable successes with the likes of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) he delivered this "Bava-esque" tale of scientific malevolence starring Anton Diffring (Fahrenheit 451, Where Eagles Dare), Christopher Lee and Hazel Court.Doctor and amateur sculptor Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring) has discovered a murderous method of maintaining his youth, once every ten years he murders a young woman and removes her parathyroid glands to replace his own. But after 104 years, he's run into some problems. His collaborator...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Jeremy Clarkson has joked about what could replace Top Gear on TV at the weekend, following his suspension by the BBC.

The presenter was temporarily dropped from the channel after a "fracas" with a producer, with widespread reports suggesting that Clarkson allegedly aimed a punch at the co-worker.

Jeremy Clarkson: A list of people offended by the Top Gear star

An investigation is under way at the corporation and no-one else has been suspended over the incident. All three remaining episodes in the current series of Top Gear have reportedly been delayed.

Taking to Twitter hours after the news, Clarkson jested with his fellow Top Gear hosts that 1968 World War II movie Where Eagles Dare could replace it in the schedule.

James May first wrote: "No Top Gear this weekend, apparently. How about [the film] 633 Squadron instead?" to which Richard Hammond replied: "No, surely, Last of the Summer Wine; no one will notice the difference.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Well, it's that time of year again when pundits everywhere weigh in on the merits (or lack thereof) of the previous evening's Oscar telecast.

Here are my random observations:

Host Neil Patrick Harris was affable and likable and worked like hell to put on a good show. But there lies the rub. Traditionally, Oscar hosts never had to be chosen for their ability to carry Busby Berkeley-like song and dance extravaganzas. Dear old Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope and Johnny Carson were simply there to keep the traffic flowing to the podium in between rattling off some memorable one-liners. Billy Crystal quashed that tradition with his ever-outrageous opening production numbers that razzed the Academy and some of the nominees. The idea should have been retired with him when he announced he would no longer host the event. Last evening's opening act was certainly opulent and contained some...

The 2014 finale of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! won the reality TV battle on Sunday evening, overnight data reveals.

Carl 'Foggy' Fogarty's victory jumped by over a million viewers from last week to an average rating of 10.21m (40.7%) at 9pm on ITV, with an added 311,000 (2.0%) on +1.

This is down by over 700k from last year's finale, but it is up from 2012's rating of 9.5m. ITV2's spinoff show entertained 1.38m (11.0%) at 10.30pm.

Earlier, The X Factor rose by around 400k from last Sunday to 8.17m (31.4%) at 8pm (172k/0.7% on +1).

BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing dipped slightly from last week to 9.29m (35.2%) at 7.30pm.

Countryfile appealed to 6.75m (29.4%) at 6.30pm, while Antiques Roadshow brought in 5.52m (21.2%) at 8pm. Michael Palin's Remember Me concluded with 4.07m (15.5%) at 9pm.

BBC Two's coverage of the Snooker UK Championship scored 2.07m (8.0%) on average from 7pm.

On Channel 4,...

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting the recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes a trailer for The Devil’s Hand and Motivational Growth, screening details from Cub, the short film lineup from Screamfest, first details on The Nightmare, and more:

The Devil’s Hand Trailer and Release Date Announced: “When six girls are born on the sixth day of the sixth month to different mothers in the small, devout village of New Bethlehem an ancient prophecy is set in motion — on their 18th birthday one of the girls will become the Devil’s Hand. As the day approaches and one by one the young women begin to disappear, terror overtakes the quiet community and those remaining girls band together to uncover who or what is behind these treacherous acts.

The Devil’s Hand will be available OnDemand and open in theaters...