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A pilot shot down over Afghanistan. Insurgents determined to kill her. A ragtag unit of soldiers desperately holding out against the odds. An underground bunker full of humanoid monsters with slimy skin and nasty sharp pointy teeth. You might well feel that you’ve seen this film – or two films, here spliced together – many times before. There is however a reason why Neil Marshall’s latest offering has been such a hit with genre fans, and that’s that it brings a freshness to the whole enterprise which makes it much more fun than, by any reasonable standard, it ought to be.

The pilot is Kate Sinclair, played by Charlotte Kirk, who previously appeared in Marshall’s silly but enjoyable Cromwell-era revenge tale The Reckoning. Then, as now, Kirk sports immaculate make-up, even when dirt and bruises have been applied over the top of it. She does a lot of her own.

Though it sets out on a ghost hunt, Adrian Sibley’s fitfully fascinating documentary works better as an exploration of its subject’s public and private personas, charting Richard Harris’ rise from local sports star to screen legend via an unexpected heyday as a chart-topping pop star in 1968.

Rather than start with a séance, however, The Ghost of Richard Harris, screening in the Classics section of the Venice Film Festival, opens with the more prosaic sight of the actor’s three sons — Damien, Jared and Jamie — going through their late mother’s lock-up, where they find journals full of poetry, King Arthur’s crown (a prop from 1967’s Camelot) and trinkets from the Harry Potter franchise, in which their father played Dumbledore until his death in 2002, aged 72.

This set-up proves to be somewhat self-defeating, as the three middle-aged men, while reminiscing, then admit that they were packed away to boarding...

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Apple TV+ is rounding out the cast of its forthcoming series Sugar.

The show, produced in house at Apple Studios, has added Dennis Boutsikaris, Alex Hernandez, Lindsay Pulsipher, James Cromwell and Anna Gunn to the cast. The five actors join the previously cast Colin Farrell, who will play the lead role, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Amy Ryan.

Apple is keeping a lid on details about the series so far, describing Sugar only as a “genre-bending” series; it’s reportedly a present-day take on a private eye story. As such, there are no descriptors for the roles the five newly cast actors will play. Boutsikaris (Better Call Saul), Hernandez (Apple’s Invasion, UnReal) and Pulsipher (True Blood, Justified) will all be series regulars, and Emmy winners Cromwell (Succession, Babe) and Gunn (Breaking Bad) will recur.

Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, The Cell) created Sugar and...

Apple TV+’s Colin Farrell-led drama series Sugar has rounded out its cast.

Dennis Boutsikaris (Better Call Saul), Alex Hernandez (Invasion) and Lindsay Pulsipher (The Beast) are joining the series as regulars.

Separately, Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn and Succession’s James Cromwell are set to recur.

The LA-set contemporary take on a private detective story stars Farrell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Amy Ryan. It was created by Mark Protosevich (Thor) with Fernando Meirelles directing.

Protosevich and Meirelles exec produce alongside Farrell, Simon Kinberg, Audrey Chon, Scott Greenberg and Chip Vucelich and the project comes from Apple Studios.

As Deadline revealed in December, the streamer won a heated auction for the project, beating out Netflix.

Boutsikaris is repped by Aka Talent Agency and Main Title Entertainment, Hernandez is repped by A3 Artists Agency, Hckr Agency and Brookside Artists Management and Pulsipher is repped by Elevate Entertainment, Buchwald, and Kopeikin Law.

“Time to pay up,” James Cromwell’s Ewan Roy ominously warns his younger brother Logan (Brian Cox) in the final moments of “Dundee,” the second season episode of “Succession” that Cromwell submitted for Emmy Awards consideration. Last month, he earned his career-fifth Emmy nomination for his recurring role on the celebrated HBO drama series, his first bid since his 2013 victory for “American Horror Story: Asylum.” His nomination is for Best Drama Guest Actor.

Watch our exclusive interview with James Cromwell

In each of Cromwell’s guest appearances on “Succession,” his virtuous, erudite character Ewan spars with his estranged brother Logan, the Machiavellian head of media conglomerate Waystar Royco. Cromwell’s submission “Dundee” is no exception, as Ewan and Logan trade vicious barbs during a visit to their hometown in Scotland, where Logan will be feted for his 50 years in business. Though Ewan still holds a board seat, he seizes on...

Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies' July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the finest performers of the studio era. On Thursday night, TCM presented five Colman star vehicles that should be popping up again in the not-too-distant future: A Tale of Two Cities, The Prisoner of Zenda, Kismet, Lucky Partners, and My Life with Caroline. The first two movies are among not only Colman's best, but also among Hollywood's best during its so-called Golden Age. Based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Jack Conway's Academy Award-nominated A Tale of Two Cities (1936) is a rare Hollywood production indeed: it manages to effectively condense its sprawling source, it boasts first-rate production values, and it features a phenomenal central performance. Ah, it also shows its star without his trademark mustache – about as famous at the time as Clark Gable's. Perhaps...

By Tim Greaves

As British noir crime dramas of the Fifties go, The House Across the Lake (1954) is probably as good an example as you could hope to dip into. The tale unfolds in flashback, related by our main protagonist to another character (precisely who is not revealed until the final reel), is embroidered with expositional narration and, though clichéd and not in the least unpredictable, delivers atmosphere by the barrel.

The film is an early entry on the CV of writer-director Ken Hughes (the arguable highpoints of whose career, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Cromwell, remain perennial favourites, whilst his latter-day offerings, Night School and Sextette, are best brushed under the proverbial carpet). Hughes scripted The House Across the Lake from his own source novel, “High Wray”, and also commandeered the director’s chair. Nowadays understandably marketed as a Hammer film, it’s actually the fruit of the company’s earlier incarnation Exclusive Films.

Timothy Dalton will guest-star in a multi-episode arc on the NBC's action-comedy "Chuck." Dalton will be playing a mysterious stranger who has a history with Chuck's (series star Zachary Levi) mom, played by Linda Hamilton ( Terminator , Terminator 2: Judgment Day ). This marks Dalton's first series appearance on American television since he guest-starred on "Charlie's Angels" in 1979. Dalton is perhaps best known for his portrayal of James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill . He can next be seen in The Tourist opposite Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. His other film credits include Hot Fuzz , The Beautician and the Beast , The Rocketeer , Flash Gordon , Wuthering Heights , Cromwell and The Lion in Winter . Dalton recently added his...

Interests varied today in the Twitter Report feed, but everyone found something to like or dislike. Brian Michael Bendis, for instance, became a fan of his daughter liking Jackie Chan, even if it meant leaving "iCarly" behind. A couple of dislikes, meanwhile, were handed out to "Twilight" and "Arkham Asylum," but C.B. Cebulski dished out what I believe was a like for some hot sauce in New Jersey.

All of these cheers and jeers are retweeted after the jump. There, you will also find out who's sad that he hasn't received an email from an alleged Russian spy and how awesome the results are when you ask Jill Thompson to do a commission of Death and Supergirl.

I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is your Twitter Report for July 6, 2010.

@thejillthompson Supergirl and Death commission. Got a buncha commissions to mail finally! http://twitpic.com/22v7rc

-Jill Thompson, Artist ("Beasts of Burden,...