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After a one-week theatrical window, Doug Liman’s recent reteaming with “Bourne Identity” collaborator Matt Damon, “The Instigators,” which was also co-written by and co-stars Casey Affleck, is set to debut on Apple TV+ this Friday, August 9. In addition to Damon and Affleck, the film also features performances from Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alfred Molina, Ving Rhames, Jack Harlow, Ron Perlman, Toby Jones, and Paul Walter Hauser, a cast that will no doubt earn at least a few streams despite middling to negative reviews, including IndieWire’s, which calls the film, “Flimsy in most respects but fun enough in its fumbling.”

No matter what you think of “The Instigators,” it is obvious the intention behind the film is to tell a heist story more focused on human flaw than it is on claiming any riches. Simply put, if you’re coming in expecting “Heat” or “Ocean’s 11,” expect to be disappointed.

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Today we talk about the movie star. The person who if you looked up “movie star” in the dictionary there would be a picture of him. Robert Redford!

Today we talk the esteemed career of the quintessential movie star. Our B-Sides include: The Hot Rock, The Great Waldo Pepper, Havana, and The Last Castle. Our guest today is Blake Howard, podcast producer, host, and really good guy. Check out One Heat Minute Productions for everything new and relevant in Blake’s world.

We discuss a million things, from why The Hot Rock is so hard to find, to the airplane stunts in The Great Waldo Pepper, to why Havana doesn’t work. There’s an investigation into...

Ryan Gosling showed off his singing and dancing chops in “Barbie” with its musical centerpiece, “I’m Just Ken.” Now, fans of the Greta Gerwig blockbuster can watch behind-the-scenes footage of Gosling rehearsing the epic pop number alongside his Ken co-stars including Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa.

In the four-minute featurette, Gosling goes through the various stages of rehearsal as he makes Gerwig burst out laughing as he strips off his white fur coat. The video intercuts clips of Gosling practicing his moves in sweatpants and a backwards hat in a dance studio with footage from the finished film.

The video also features footage of Gosling playing drums on the track, various Kens contributing backup vocals and Guns N’ Roses axeman Slash recording its guitar solo.

After the release of “Barbie,” “I’m Just Ken” became a viral phenomenon, dominating TikTok and landing Gosling his first appearance on the Billboard charts,...

When you consider the evidence, the 1970s was the greatest crime movie period since the 1930s. Maybe it’s because of the grim film stock, but those 10 years were so filled with the criminal element even a highly-rated political journalism feature like All the President’s Men (1976) is really an investigation into indictable acts. The decade is defined by Francis Ford Coppola’s first two The Godfather movies, but those tell the story of the dons who live in compounds on Long Island. Most illicit infractions are committed on the street, and so many fall between the cracks.

Crime and gangster movies historically and consistently break boundaries in motion picture art. This is especially true when independent filmmakers muscle their way in packing something heavy. The 1970s was an experimental decade for motion pictures with wildly varied visions behind the lens. Some of these films were considered old-fashioned, others have proven...

His job is Billboard Hot 100!

Ryan Gosling (aka “Barbie”‘s Ken) has officially made his debut on the iconic song chart. In this week’s ranking, the 42-year-old actor landed himself in the 87th position with his song, “I’m Just Ken”, from the “Barbie” soundtrack. In the past, Gosling made an appearance on Billboard’s Jazz charts with his song “City of Stars” from 2016’s “La La Land”. However, this is the first time he has cracked the Hot 100.

The ballad, performed by Gosling, also found itself at number 4 on the Hot Rock Songs, number 5 on the Hot Rock and Alternative Songs and number 39 on the Digital Song Sales charts. Gosling’s song is part of Barbie: The Album, the soundtrack to Greta Gerwig’s record-breaking film, which also features songs by Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, and more.

For its part, the soundtrack as a whole debuted in...

Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, Chris Stein, and many more artists have paid tribute to Tom Verlaine, the influential singer and guitarist for punk legends Television, who died following a “brief illness” at the age of 73.

Smith — Verlaine’s former partner and regular collaborator — posted a photograph of them together on Instagram. “This is a time when all seemed possible,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”

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“I have lost a hero,” Michael Stipe wrote,...

“Bernard and Huey” helmer and co-founder of Slamdance Film Festival Dan Mirvish, now behind “18 ½,” knew that making a movie about Watergate would still be “resonant and relevant,” he says. Not just in the U.S., but all over the world.

Focusing on the infamous “18½-minute gap” from a taped conversation between Nixon and his chief of staff H.R. Haldeman after the Watergate break-in, allegedly erased by Nixon’s secretary by mistake, a Bugeater Films and Kyyba Films production – starring Willa Fitzgerald and John Magaro – will open theatrically on May 24 in Los Angeles, New York and Omaha, later expanding to other cities.

“[On ‘Bernard and Huey’] our last day of shooting was on the day of the 2016 presidential election. I had a feeling that the word ‘impeachment’ or the echoes of Watergate and Nixon would come back to haunt us,” Mirvish tells Variety.

“When we showed the film at the São Paulo International Film Festival,...

This review for “The Bad Guys” was originally published on March 29, 2022.

Billed as “a caper,” there’s something refreshingly old-fashioned and simple about “The Bad Guys.”

No singing, no dancing, no moral lessons — it’s just a cartoon, with fast-talking, wise-cracking animals, lots of silly car chases and a host of fart gags.

Based on the comic books by Australian author Aaron Blabey and riffing on the heist-movie genre, “The Bad Guys” follows a band of bank-robbing villains. They’re not so much Reservoir Dogs as Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark, and Ms. Tarantula who, in public penance for their criminal ways, are sworn to go straight. For a bit.

Half the fun is trying to work out who’s doing the voice work. In a knowing nod to the “Ocean’s” movies, the handsome, silver-grey Mr. Wolf is continually being likened in the script to George Clooney,...

The journalist and podcaster talks about some of her favorite cinematic grifters and losers with Josh and Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Third Man (1949) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

All About Eve (1950)

The Hot Rock (1972) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Die Hard (1988)

Sunset Boulevard (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Producers (1967) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Panic In The Streets (1950) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

The Music Man (1962)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s review

The Band Wagon (1953) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

A Night At The Opera (1935) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Animal Crackers (1930) – Robert Weide...

(Welcome to Now Stream This, a column dedicated to the best movies streaming on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and every other streaming service out there.) There are a lot of streaming services out there, and the list is growing larger every week. As a result, it can be difficult to navigate through the world of streaming and […]

The post The Best Streaming Movies to Watch Right Now: ‘Streets of Fire’, ‘The Hot Rock’, ‘The Lookout’, ‘To Die For’, ‘Face/Off’, and More appeared first on /Film.

(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Film: The Hot Rock Where You Can Stream It: The Criterion Channel The Pitch: Robert Redford plays a talented thief who gets out of jail and is immediately roped into participating in the heist […]

The post The Quarantine Stream: ‘The Hot Rock’ Follows Robert Redford’s Quest to Steal a Very Large Diamond appeared first on /Film.

While the summer movie season will kick off shortly––and we’ll be sharing a comprehensive preview on the arthouse, foreign, indie, and (few) studio films worth checking out––on the streaming side, The Criterion Channel and Mubi have unveiled their May 2021 lineups and there’s a treasure trove of highlights to dive into.

Timed with Satyajit Ray’s centenary, The Criterion Channel will have a retrospective of the Indian master, along with series on Gena Rowlands, Robert Ryan, Mitchell Leisen, Michael Almereyda, Josephine Decker, and more. In terms of recent releases, they’ll also feature Fire Will Come, The Booksellers, and the new restoration of Tom Noonan’s directorial debut What Happened Was….

On Mubi, in anticipation of Undine, they’ll feature two essential early features by Christian Petzold, Jerichow and The State That I Am In, along with his 1990 short documentary Süden. Also amongst the lineup is Sophy Romvari’s Still Processing,...

First of five comic Donald E. Westlake adaptations featuring the character of Dortmunder, ex-con and master thief (sort of), played here by Robert Redford. George Segal plays Dortmunder’s brother-in-law turned partner-in-crime. Westlake, who wrote under no less than 15 pseudonyms (some of whom turned up as character names in his work), was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for The Grifters.

The post The Hot Rock appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Above: US 30" x 40" poster for The Black Bird. Art by Drew Struzan.As you might be able to tell from the name-above-the-title tagline above, George Segal, who died last month at the age of 87, was a big deal in the 1970s. By the ’90s, when I started getting into the films of both Segal and his one-time co-star and fellow traveler Elliott Gould, both of these New York-born Jewish superstars of the ’70s had been reduced to playing sitcom fathers on TV: Gould in Friends and Segal in Just Shoot Me. (And by the 2010s Segal was best known as a sitcom grandfather on The Goldbergs.) But Segal’s films in particular have not survived well in the public memory, perhaps because he devoted his career mostly to comedy and a kind of dark, sophisticated relationship comedy at that. California Split, the film he made with Gould for Robert Altman...

George Segal with Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn during the filming of "The Bridge at Remagen" in 1968.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actor George Segal has passed away at age 87. Segal became a rising young star in the 1960s and went on to enjoy success in both feature films and television. He made his big screen debut in "The Young Doctors" in 1961 and within a few years had appeared in "Ship of Fools" and his first starring role in "King Rat". The 1965 adaptation of James Clavell's novel found Segal as an American prisoner in a Japanese P.O.W. camp in WWII. He uses his guile and survival skills to not only stay alive but to thrive, much to disgust of British P.O.W.s who think his actions border on collaboration with the enemy. Segal's biggest break came the following year when he was cast in Mike Nichols' screen...

Following the announcement that George Segal had died at age 87, the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated actor’s peers in Hollywood paid tribute on social media.

Segal, who died while recovering from bypass surgery, was nominated for five Golden Globes, an Academy Award nomination, a BAFTA nomination and won two Golden Globes during the course of his career. Segal received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

“He was a great actor. Too many of these type of posts lately. Rip George!” Ed Asner wrote.

Barbra Streisand, who starred with Segal in the 1970 rom-com “The Owl and the Pussycat,” also paid tribute: “So sorry to hear about George Segal‘s passing. We had such fun making Owl and the Pussycat. May he Rest In Peace…”

“It was a true honor being a small part of George Segal’s amazing legacy. By pure fate,...

Beloved actor George Segal died today, his wife, Sonia Segal, revealed.

“The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery,” she said in a statement, according to Deadline.

Segal was a cast member on ABC's The Goldbergs in a role he's held since the series debuted in 2013. He played Albert "Pops" Solomon.

The actor filmed up to episode 16 of the eighth season before his passing, with the network set to air the episode on April 7.

It is also expected to pay tribute to the star on-air.

While Segal has been a firm fixture on the 1980s-set comedy series, he is also well known for playing Jack Gallo on NBC's hit series, Just Shoot Me.

Segal's popularity soared in the 1960s and 1970s.

Some of his most acclaimed roles are in films such as Ship of Fools (1965), King Rat (1965), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?...

George Segal, whose long career included playing Albert “Pops” Solomon on “The Goldbergs,” and garnering an Oscar nom for supporting actor for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” died Tuesday. He was 87.

His wife Sonia announced his death, saying, “The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass surgery.”

Segal’s longtime manager Abe Hoch said, “I am saddened by the fact that my close friend and client of many years has passed away. I will miss his warmth, humor, camaraderie and friendship. He was a wonderful human.”

Some of the top directors of the 1960s and ’70s, including Robert Altman, Mike Nichols, Paul Mazursky and Sidney Lumet cast Segal for his gently humorous everyman quality, and he often played an unlucky-in-love professional or a writer who gets in over his head.

In Nichols’ 1967 Edward Albee adaptation “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,...

Lee Wallace, the Ed Koch look-alike who coincidentally or not played mayors in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Tim Burton’s Batman, died Sunday in New York after a long illness, his family announced. He was 90.

Wallace also appeared in other notable films including Klute (1971), The Hot Rock (1972), The Happy Hooker (1975), Thieves (1977), Private Benjamin (1980) and Used People (1992).

He was a regular performer with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts starting in the mid-1960s and appeared opposite Glenn Close in a Yale Repertory production of Uncle Vanya in 1981.

Wallace also worked in eight Broadway productions, from A Teaspoon Every ...

Lee Wallace, the Ed Koch look-alike who coincidentally or not played mayors in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Tim Burton’s Batman, died Sunday in New York after a long illness, his family announced. He was 90.

Wallace also appeared in other notable films including Klute (1971), The Hot Rock (1972), The Happy Hooker (1975), Thieves (1977), Private Benjamin (1980) and Used People (1992).

He was a regular performer with the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts starting in the mid-1960s and appeared opposite Glenn Close in a Yale Repertory production of Uncle Vanya in 1981.

Wallace also worked in eight Broadway productions, from A Teaspoon Every ...

The Grammys’ rock categories are usually filled with interesting, though sometimes questionable, choices. This year in particular, the rock genre boasts a lot of noteworthy contenders ranging from hard rock to more Americana-inflected music. Let’s take a look at who’s in the hunt for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song nominations this year.

The Killers might be the front-runners with their hit “Caution.” The song was number-one on rock and alternative radio, and the band might be overdue for a Grammy at this point with seven past nominations and no wins. Joining them will likely be Brittany Howard with “Stay High,” which could earn her a win due to passion for her potential Album of the Year contender, “Jaime,” not to mention the fact that she’s been nominated five times before for Best Rock Performance, including a win for “Don’t Wanna Fight” in 2016 with her band Alabama Shakes.

Pat Healy is another one of those actors that, whenever I see his name in the credits, it immediately becomes a must-see affair for this writer. His latest project is The Pale Door, where he plays a cowboy who, along with a group of cohorts, comes across a coven of witches who have nefarious plans for the outlaws. Co-written and directed by Aaron B. Koontz, The Pale Door is headed to theaters and VOD and digital platforms this weekend, courtesy of Rlje Films and Shudder.

Earlier this week, Daily Dead had the chance to briefly speak with Healy, and he talked about the allure of working on The Pale Door, his love of Westerns and his experiences bonding with his fellow cast members.

So great to speak with you, Pat. Obviously you've worked with Aaron before, with him in a producing role, so I'm sure part of the draw of...

Ron Leibman, an Emmy-winning actor who garnered a Tony for his work in Broadway’s “Angels in America” and played the father of Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel Green on “Friends,” died on Friday. He was 82.

Robert Attermann, CEO of Abrams Artists Agency, confirmed the news to Variety. No further details were immediately available.

Leibman, a native of New York, played Dr. Leonard Green on “Friends” as a no-nonsense father who gave grief to David Schwimmer’s Ross, the romantic interest of Aniston’s Rachel. He received an Emmy Award in 1979 for portraying a reformed convict who became a criminal attorney on the CBS series “Kaz.”

Leibman won a Tony Award in 1993 for playing a fictional version of Roy Cohn in Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.”

Leibman broke into the entertainment business in 1956 on the soap opera “The Edge of Night” and made his movie debut in the 1970 comedy “Where’s Poppa?,...

Ron Leibman, the actor who played Rachel Green’s father on “Friends,” Dr. Leonard Green, has died at the age of 82.

His agent, Robert Attermann of Abrams Artists Agency, confirmed Leibman’s death to TheWrap.

“We at Abrams Artists Agency are saddened to hear the news of Ron’s passing,” Attermann said in a statement. “Ron was an incredibly talented actor with a distinguished career in film, TV and theatre. Our thoughts go out to his wife, Jessica, and his family.”

Over Leibman’s long acting career, which began in the late 1950s, Leibman won a Tony for his role in the 1993 play “Angels in America.” He also won an Emmy in 1979 for best lead actor in the drama series “Kaz,” on which he played the title character, Martin “Kaz” Kazinsky.

Also Read: Shelley Morrison, 'Will and Grace' Star, Dies at 83

Leibman also acted opposite Sally Field as Rueben in the 1979 film “Norma Rae,...

Drum goddess Janet Weiss announced she’s leaving Sleater-Kinney on Monday — surprising news for fans, given that the band is on the verge of releasing their excellent new album and tickets have already gone on sale for their upcoming tour. “After intense deliberation and heavy sadness, I have decided to leave Sleater-Kinney,” Weiss wrote in her statement. “The band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on.”

Related: 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time

It’s a sad moment because for some of us,...

Director Peter Yates remains an interesting fixture of the 1970s New American Cinema throng whose early works continue to resonate and inspire, particularly his early crime thrillers, such as Robbery (1967) and the Steve McQueen classic Bullitt (1968). While his 1970’s body of work includes a number of titles hailed as masterpieces, an uneven trend became evident for Yates by the 1980s, which includes overlooked gems and camp classics. Lately, many of Yates’ lesser known titles have begun to resurface, the latest of which is his 1989 ‘wrong man’ revenge thriller An Innocent Man (1989), which starred Tom Selleck and was a final tipping point for Yates into his least successful clutch of titles in the early to mid-1990s.…...

In presenting the Producers Guild of America’s Milestone Award to Warner Bros. Pictures Group Chairman Toby Emmerich tonight, A Star Is Born director and star Bradley Cooper shared his experiences about the studio boss that underscored Emmerich’s innate ability to gamble on raw talent, and win.

Not only did Emmerich take a chance on having a young Cooper cast in Wedding Crashers back in 2005, but the studio boss rolled the dice on the actor again when he asked to make the fourth remake of a movie as a first-time director-writer with a pop singer who hadn’t previously starred in a major studio motion picture.

“He took a huge swing [on me], the same as he trusted [Wedding Crashers director] David Dobkin,” Cooper said tonight.

Even more sublime for Cooper was how Emmerich allowed him to change the ending of A Star Is Born halfway through production “against all logic and mass market research,...

William Goldman wrote the way Joe Dimaggio played ball: with such deft and consummate skill that the impossible seemed easy. (It wasn’t. And isn’t.) Reading a Goldman screenplay, you never see the armature, the scaffolding. You see people, real people, just a bit more vivid than they might be were they not in a Goldman movie.

Perhaps because he was a novelist long before he was a screenwriter, his screenplays are writerly. They’re literate without ever being literary. And though Goldman’s dialogue was ferociously memorable – is there a more iconic line in all of cinema than the one in which Inigo Montoya announces his name, his motivation, his intention? — Goldman knew that image creates character creates story. The very first words of Goldman’s very first original screenplay:

He was introducing his protagonist; but he might as well have been describing himself.

Goldman was also a master of exposition.

“Who are those guys?”

“Follow the money.”

“Is it safe?”

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

These much-quoted lines are from such films as “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “All the President’s Men,” “Marathon Man” and “The Princess Bride.” But they were the creation of one man, William Goldman, an Oscar-winning screenwriter whose 1983 memoir, “Adventures in the Screen Trade,” is considered one of the best books about what it takes to make a living producing successful movie scripts.

Sadly, his flow of on-screen catchy dialogue has come to an end. Goldman, who once summed up the state of Hollywood creativity in just three words in his book – “Nobody knows anything” – is dead at age 87.

See An in memoriam gallery of 25 celebrities we said good-bye in 2018

He tried to write novels at first, and would do so eventually, but decided to try an original screenplay instead.

(Goldman with James Caan on the set of "A Bridge Too Far"- 1976)

By Lee Pfeiffer

There's an old joke among writers about the naive young starlet who thought she could make it in Hollywood by sleeping with screenwriters. Indeed, the people who made it possible for hit films to exist by writing the scenarios the actors carried out on screen were often regarded as being very low on the industry totem pole- and relatively low-paid as well. Not so with novelist and screenwriter William Goldman, who elevated regard for screenwriters while demanding- and receiving- the kind of breakthrough salaries that revolutionized the film industry's respect for writers. Goldman has died from cancer in Manhattan at age 87. He was known to be opinionated, abrasive and demanding, but no one questioned his talents. He won Oscars for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men". Among his other...

William Goldman, who won Oscars for his original screenplay for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and his adaptation of “All the President’s Men,” died on Friday in his Manhattan home, according to the the Washington Post. He was 87.

His daughter Jenny Goldman cited complications from colon cancer and pneumonia as the cause of his death.

“Butch Cassidy,” a revisionist Western that helped popularize the buddy movie, announced Goldman as a screenwriter able to balance big laughs with a sense of adventure, while “All the President’s Men” cemented his status as a deft writer of suspense. The two are considered to be among the finest screenplays ever written and exemplify Goldman’s range and versatility.

In a 2015 interview with Signature, Goldman was asked about his ability to bounce from genre to genre.

“You cross your fingers and never stop,” he said. “Praying is also good.”

Goldman, who frequently transferred his novels,...

Donald Westlake’s lovably luckless crook John Dortmunder is brought to life by Robert Redford, in a lightweight crime caper engineered by top talent: screenwriter William Goldman and director Peter Yates. Redford’s partner is a worrisome, talkative George Segal; Moses Gunn is the unhappy client, Ron Liebman a jolly master of all things technical and Zero Mostel a major obstacle in the obtaining of a priceless diamond.

The Hot Rock

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 100 min. / How to Steal a Diamond in Four Uneasy Lessons / Street Date August 21, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Moses Gunn, Zero Mostel, William Redfield, Lynne Gordon, Robert Weil, Christopher Guest.

Cinematography: Ed Brown

Film Editors: Fred W. Berger, Frank P. Keller

Original Music: Quincy Jones

Written by William Goldman from a novel by Donald E. Westlake

Produced by Hal Landers, Bobby Roberts...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Few would argue that George C. Scott was one of the greatest actors of stage and screen. His presence in even a mediocre movie elevated its status considerably and his work as the nutty general in "Dr. Strangelove" was described by one critic as "the comic performance of the decade". When Scott won his well-deserved Oscar for Best Actor in "Patton" (which he famously refused), he seemed to be on a roll. His next film, the darkly satirical comedy "The Hospital" predicted the absurdities of America's for-profit health care system in which the rich and the poor were taken care of, with everyone else falling in between. The film earned Scott another Best Actor Oscar nomination despite his snubbing of the Academy the previous year. From that point, however, Scott's choice of film roles was wildly eclectic. There were some gems and plenty of misfires that leads...

Two weeks ago I wrote about Film Forum’s retrospective of New York in the 70s and collected all the Polish posters I could find for the best known films in the series. This week I want to concentrate on the films which are less well known and whose one sheets are maybe less iconic yet no less interesting. The 70s was a great period in American movie poster design. The illustrative style of classic Hollywood was out and instead a new reliance on photographs and, especially, type. The one thing that strikes me about the posters below is how heavily they rely on explanatory text and taglines (“Watch the landlord get his”...“Their story is written on his arm”...“If you steal $100,000 from the mob, it’s not robbery. It’s suicide”...“The tush scene alone is worth the price of admission”). The only two posters here that feature...

Displaying a transparency that few filmmakers of his fame and / or caliber would even bother with, Steven Soderbergh has, for a couple of years, been keen on releasing lists of what he watched and read during the previous twelve months. If you’re at all interested in this sort of thing — and why not? what else are you even doing with your day? — the 2015 selection should be of strong interest, this being a time when he was fully enmeshed in the world of creating television.

He’s clearly observing the medium with a close eye, be it what’s on air or what his friends (specifically David Fincher and his stillborn projects) show him, and how that might relate to his apparent love of 48 Hours Mystery or approach to a comparatively light slate of cinematic assignments — specifically: it seems odd that the last time he watched Magic Mike Xxl, a...

Fargo creator Noah Hawley is doubling down on his contribution to FX, after inking a deal with the network that will see the showrunner oversee two new dramas over the next three years.

Indeed it’s been a busy week for Hawley, whose Fargo was recently renewed for season 3, along with the critically acclaimed crime drama nabbing a trio of Golden Globe nominations earlier today. Reports indicate that today’s news heralds an extension to the showrunner’s contract at FX, after first signing an overall deal back in 2014.

In light of the deal, FX President and General Manager John Landgraf spoke about Hawley’s burning passion for the Fargo series, which has drew praise for its near-effortless adoption of the anthology format, and teased that there’s still plenty to come as the director nails down his vision for the new pair of dramas.

“In a remarkably short time,...

"Fargo" creator Noah Hawley has extended his production deal with FX Productions and FX Networks for another three years, with two more projects of his on the way.

Hawley will will continue his showrunner duties on "Fargo," continue developing the already announced "X-Men" spin-off series "Legion" and the series adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," and develop two new projects - "Hellhound on His Trail" and "The Hot Rock".

Based on the 2010 Hampton Sides novel, 'Hellbound' looks at Martin Luther King's assassin James Earl Ray and his violent and haphazard journey towards Memphis. The story also covers the sixty-five day search that lead investigators across two continents and sparked the largest manhunt in American history. Alexander Woo ("True Blood") is penning the project which Hawley will executive produce.

'Rock' is a robbery caper drama series remake of the Donald E. Westlake novel and Peter Yates-directed 1972 film of the same name.

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

BAMcinématek

This is the final weekend for marathon screenings of Out 1. We highly recommend taking the plunge.

Museum of the Moving Image

“Lonely Places: Film Noir and the American Landscape” highlights a different atmosphere of the noir picture, and it makes its case with some great films. Out of the Past shows on Friday; Saturday...

A few nights ago, Warner Bros. hosted a very canny event that our own Louis Virtel attended at the Playboy Mansion, a screening of "Entourage" that may have felt like virtual reality for those who attended. While I doubt being surrounded by scantily clad bunnies influenced Louis one way or another on the film, it's likely you'll see a number of reviews that are perhaps more enthusiastic than they would otherwise be, and it'd be hard to blame anyone who fell for it. One of the reasons the setting seemed so right for that particular film is because much of the charge of "Entourage" is watching the core ensemble swagger their way through Hollywood, doing whatever they want and rarely if ever facing any consequences as a result. It's always presented with a wink and a smile, just a case of boys being boys. We live in a world right...

The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen has signed on to direct an action heist thriller called Risk. According to the report, the film blends psychological suspense and action, and the story follows "a brilliant thief who is released early from prison to execute a nearly impossible art heist." Cohen had this to say in a statement:

“I’ve always wanted to make a sophisticated caper/thriller in the style of ‘Topkapi,’ ‘To Catch A Thief’ and ‘The Hot Rock,’ with smart characters and sexy European backgrounds. When I read the script of ‘Risk’, I knew this was it.”

The movie is scheduled to go into production this summer, and it sounds like it could be a really cool movie.

With a hefty box office haul virtually guaranteed for the critically adored The Lego Movie, prepare for other beloved games and properties from your childhood to get a nostalgic big-screen treatment. The upcoming thriller Risk, however, is not an adaptation of the strategic Parker Brothers game – although conquering lands all over the world could make for an intriguing slice of entertainment. Instead, it is a jewelry caper flick that director Rob L. Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) is shopping around at the European Film Market right now.

Risk will follow a thief released early from prison to – what else? – pull off a once in a lifetime art heist. However, as The Hollywood Reporter explains, the criminal will be “drawn into a dangerous triangle between his crime boss and his accomplice in crime – a beautiful, mysterious woman whose motives remain unclear until the explosive ending.”

The script comes from Eric Harlacher,...

Heist thriller to go into production in summer.

Rob Cohen [pictured] will direct upcoming action heist thriller Risk.

Set to go into production in summer, the film follows a brilliant thief as he is released from prison early to execute a nearly impossible art heist.

Cohen previously directed The Fast and the Furious, xXx and Alex Cross.

Umedia’s Adrian Politowski and Karl Richards will be producing the film with Tim Kwok, Ksana Golod and George Parr.

Cohen commented: “I’ve always wanted to make a sophisticated caper/thriller in the style of Topkapi, To Catch a Thief and The Hot Rock, with smart characters and sexy European backgrounds. When I read the script of Risk, I knew this was it.”

Eric Harlacher wrote the screenplay, while Umedia International will be handling sales.

While you may not know the name William Goldman (though, if you're reading this site, you probably should), you've likely seen one of his movies. "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid," "The Hot Rock," "All The President's Men," "Marathon Man," "The Princess Bride"... they speak for themselves. But if you really wanted to get inside the man's brain, here's your chance. In 2010, The Writer's Guild Foundation sat down for a length 90-minute interview with Goldman, and he talks about everything, from the craft of writing, to his career and so much more. He talks about falling into the business by accident after being asked to adapt "Flowers For Algernon," despite having never written a screenplay, the messiness of the "All The President's Men" (which Robert Redford claims to have written) and basically anything else you could ask for. A long weekend for many is ahead on July 4th, and with the temperatures going,...

Fans of Robert Redford, Marlon Brando, John Wayne and Jason Robards rejoice! Altitude Films are releasing Seven classic films between May 27th and June 10th and to celebrate we are offering you the chance to win them all.

Two lucky winners will each receive a bundle of classic movies including a copy of The Fugitive Kind, The Hot Rock, Arabian Nights, Desiree, The Story of GI Joe, The St Valentines Massacre and McLintock!

Here’s the rundown on the films included in this fantastic classic bundle…

Arabian Nights (1942)

Filmed in glorious Technicolor and nominated for four Academy Awards®, Arabian Nights is an action-packed adventure classic.

Starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez, Arabian Nights is a grand tale of intrigue and romance. Haroun-Al-Raschid, the Caliph of Bagdad and his half-brother Kamar are in an epic battle, competing for the throne and for the affections of a beautiful dancer, Scheherazade.

Pre-order your copy now here.

To celebrate the release of The Hot Rock on June 3rd, we are offering you the chance to win one of three copies of the DVD.

Robert Redford, George Segal and Zero Mostel head a crack cast in this hilarious comedy about jewel thieves out to score the biggest heist of their lives.

When John Dortmunder (Redford) learns that a huge, rare diamond is just waiting to be lifted in Manhattan, he assembles a team of pros to try and steal the stone.  But all that glitters is not easily gotten, and, despite their careful planning and execution, actually stealing the gem proves a challenge far greater than any of the men bargained for.

Pre-order your copy now here.

Click next for your chance to win.

The post Win The Hot Rock starring Robert Redford and George Segal on DVD appeared first on HeyUGuys.

by Nick Schager

[This week's "Retro Active" is inspired by the heroic fantasy questing of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.]

For those who thought that Star Wars was awesome but could have used more elements from Greek mythology, the legend of King Arthur, and The Lord of the Rings, true satisfaction came in the form of Krull, a shamelessly unoriginal attempt to piggyback on the success of George Lucas' iconic sci-fi franchise. Peter Yates' 1983 film makes plain its derivation from its opening moments, in which a star cruiser passes by the camera, and then table-setting narration lays out the narrative groundwork: on the planet of Krull, an evil race of world-conquering aliens known as Slayers, and led by The Beast, have taken over, but a prophesy foretells that a princess will choose a husband and together they will rule the land, and their son in turn will rule the galaxy. No need to worry about said offspring, however—that's just set-up for a potential sequel that never occurred,...

by Nick Schager

[This week's "Retro Active" pick is inspired by the Nicolas Cage thief thriller Stolen.]

Robbery is fun and games in The Hot Rock, and dramatized with suave grace by Peter Yates, who directs this adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel with an assuredness that enhances its funny-ha-ha hijinks. Yates' use of widescreen alternates between workmanlike efficiency and subtle artistry, highlighting interpersonal dynamics, enhancing suspense and creating tension through his deft alternation between close-ups and expansive master shots that position his protagonists as clownish mice attempting to navigate an enormous maze. That last impression is furthered by Yates' understated interplay between foreground-background images and diagonal visual lines—an early shot of Robert Redford walking away from George Segal alongside a park bench; another of Redford and Segal on a grassy path that stretches first toward, and then away from, the screen—that enhance the sense of characters attempting to operate in an inherently cockeyed world. Certainly, it's a world that provides no clear paths to success,...

Minka Kelly certainly makes a ravishing Jackie O.

Kelly stars as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, opposite actor James Marsden, who will play John F. Kennedy, in "The Butler." The film is about the true story of Eugene Allen, a White House butler who served eight American presidents over the course of three decades.

The 32-year-old actress was photographed with Marsden on the set of the film in New Orleans on Aug. 14.

Kelly donned a simple shift dress, a string of pearls and Jackie's quintessential pillbox hat with her hair coiffed in a short style. Marsden wore a simple black suit with a skinny black tie.

For the two stars, playing one of America's most prominent and scandal-ridden couples should not be too difficult. Both have been ensnared in issues as of late, including a sex tape and an unexpected pregnancy.

A fetching couple for sure, but Kelly and Marsden are not...

It has been about two months since Lee Daniels stopped in Cannes with "The Paperboy" and was roundly savaged by critics, but the director has already dusted himself off and moved on, with principal photography beginning this week on the sprawling historical drama "The Butler." And a few more details have dropped now that the cameras are rolling on Daniels' new film. First up, legendary musician, composer and producer Quincy Jones has been lined up to score the film. Though he worked in film regularly throughout the '60s and '70s, providing memorable work for pictures like "The Italian Job," "The Hot Rock," "The Getaway," "In The Heat Of The Night" and "The Anderson Tapes," since then he has largely stepped out of movie scoring, notably pitching in for Steven Spielberg's "The Color Purple" and less notably for Jim Sheridan's "Get Rich Or Die Tryin." But we're.

Donald Westlake, ever the prolific author, has had two novels released since his death on New Year’s Eve of 2009, both brought to us by the stellar Hard Case Crime imprint. The first, in 2010, is called Memory, and was thought to be his only “lost” novel, until crime writer Max Allan Collins unearthed a manuscript for The Comedy Is Finished, which was published earlier this year. Now, I’m not sure that these novels carry a certain extra weight for their timing—that is to say, had Westlake published these novels when he had written them, would they ring so much more important to me? Or would they be just two more examples of Westlake’s superior writing skills, part of a canon that was revered within the genre well before the man’s passing?

It doesn’t matter.

Westlake will likely be most remembered for his most famous creations,...