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Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver’s scenes from Marriage Story are reportedly being repurposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in their quest to save cattle from wolves.

According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, the scene being used is the most dramatic moment of the 2019 Noah Baumbach film.

“Riding to the rescue are drone cowhands, whose quadcopters have thermal cameras that can reveal any wolf lurking in the darkness and bathe it in a spotlight. A loudspeaker broadcasts alarming sounds like fireworks, gunshots and people arguing. One recording is of the fight between Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver in the movie Marriage Story,” reads the report from WSJ.

A Usda district supervisor in Oregon added, “I need wolves to respond and know that, hey, humans are bad.”

Related: Noah Baumbach On His Personal Approach To Filmmaking And How Hitchcock Influenced ‘Marriage Story’ – Behind The Lens

WSJ...

All The Film References In James Gunn’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Series! ( Photo Credit – Facebook )

Full of pop culture references, including iconic movies, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy series is a fan-favorite in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While Peter Quill’s references are concentrated in 1980s American culture, there are quite a few others scattered around.

Here are the eight classic movies alluded to in the famed James Gunn-directed series (in no particular order).

1. The Maltese Falcon (1941) Streaming On – Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ Rt Score – 99% Director – John Juston

The film noir follows Pi Sam Spade, who, while investigating the murder of his partner, encounters a statue, The Maltese Falcon. In the first movie of the MCU trilogy, Peter Quill describes the ‘Orb’ as having a ‘Maltese Falcon sort of vibe.’

2. North By Northwest (1959) Streaming On – Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ Rt Score – 97% Director – Alfred Hitchcock

A classic spy thriller,...

The Chain Reaction episode of What Happened to This Horror Movie? was Written and Edited by Jaime Vasquez, Narrated by Tyler Nichols, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

In the summer of 1996, Chain Reaction hit theaters with just about everything you’d want from a ’90s action thriller. Keanu Reeves was still riding high as the sympathetic action hero from Speed. Morgan Freeman brought his A-game and his signature weapon voice. Even director Andrew Davis was a hot commodity, fresh off directing The Fugitive, which had critics cheering and audiences running to theaters like they were being chased by Tommy Lee Jones. Throw in classic ‘90s plot elements like government conspiracy, corrupt suits, and a groundbreaking scientific discovery, and you’ve got popcorn gold. Or at least you should. The script went through many rewrites, which resulted in a frustrated cast. Filming took...

Slashers aren’t my personal favorite sub-genre—they’re high up there—but I do consider them to be perhaps the most significant of the horror family for one particular reason…at one point or another, just about every teenager encounters them. Everything from Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street to more recent fare such as the Fear Street trilogy, these films about teens confronting sex, drugs and death, they speak to a pivotal moment in our lives that allows them to resonate during a crucial age. Of course, it helps that they also tend to be pretty damn fun.

Every generation has that handful of slasher films that were important to them. I grew up in the 90s, so the big one for me was Scream, Wes Craven’s brilliant meta movie that managed to be scary while poking fun at the formulaic tropes that had developed over the years.

It was Alfred Hitchcock's last movie, and this is your last chance to stream it on Netflix. Family Plot, Hitchcock's final stint in the director's chair, is leaving Netflix at the end of July. The suspense thriller with a pseudo-supernatural twist stars Bruce Dern and Karen Black. An adaptation of Victor Canning's 1972 novel The Rainbird Pattern, Family Plot reunited Hitchcock with screenwriter Ernest Lehman, who had previously penned North by Northwest for the director. The two clashed over the screenplay: Lehman wanted a darker film, while Hitchcock preferred it to be more comedic.

It was also the only time that Hitchcock worked with another Hollywood legend: John Williams composed the score for the film. Hitchcock encouraged the composer to take a light touch with the score, telling him, "Mr. Williams, murder can be fun." While the film is not considered to be one of Hitchcock's masterpieces, critical...

Jimmy Stewartis known for his feel-good films like It's a Wonderful Life and his more suspenseful work with Alfred Hitchcock in Rear Window. The latter iconic thriller is about to leave Netflix, and you can still stream it today before it is gone, just like Jeff's ability to stop his neighbor's alleged crimes. The film is as contained as it can be with Jeff (Stewart) just watching everything from a window because he is a wheelchair user after an accident. But as a news photographer, he finds himself watching his neighbors as his new subjects.

While he is observing them with binoculars from his apartment, he believes that he has seen a murder taking place across the way from him. He doesn't have his camera and doesn't have proof that he saw what he believes, and it weighs on him and consumes him, forcing him to try to solve this...

If it feels like summer is speeding by, now may be the perfect time to take a beat, feel the sun on your skin — or the air conditioning — and maintain a vacation mindset with these movies and shows before they leave Netflix.

The looming return of the school year brings all sorts of hustle and bustle, so how about a relaxing family-friendly trip to the fictional Lego city of Bricksburg? Watching Lego construction worker Emmet (Chris Pratt) take on the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) in The Lego Movie should set the tone for laughter and bonding.

Researchers report that watching horror movies can be akin to meditation in that they calm the noise in the brain, allowing us to becomepresent and alert. If you could use a mental reset before taking on the fall, catch Hitchcock classics The Birds and Psycho for some old fashioned frights, and...

The 1940s represent the absolute pinnacle of suspense cinema. This was a decade shaped by global conflict and societal anxiety, conditions that created the perfect storm for stories of paranoia, betrayal, and psychological torment. From this crucible of uncertainty emerged the shadowy world of film noir, the sophisticated psychological thriller, and the modern spy film.

This definitive ranking showcases the ten greatest thrillers of the decade, films that entertained audiences and rewrote the rules of suspense cinema. Each entry on this list combines critical acclaim, box office success, and lasting cultural impact, representing the very best of what made 1940s thriller movies so enduringly powerful.

10. The Stranger (1946)

Director: Orson Welles

Stars: Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young

Orson Welles’s brutally effective post-war thriller operates on a premise both simple and terrifying: one of the architects of the Final Solution has escaped justice and now lives as a beloved...

I love horror movies from the 1980s. They are the films that made me a horror fan in the first place, since I was born in the ’80s and started watching horror before the end of the decade. So I really enjoyed watching the epic In Search of Darkness series, which dedicated three epic documentaries to the horror movies of the ’80s. My favorite genre movies to watch are slasher movies, and it’s the classic 1986 slasher Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI that I credit with getting me into horror in the first place. So I’m very glad to see that the team behind In Search of Darkness has decided to turn their full attention to the slasher sub-genre with the new 4+ hour documentary Slasher Trash, which is available for pre-order until August 14th at slashertrashdoc.com. You can watch the trailer for the documentary in the embed above.

Immediately after landing on Netflix, the 2005 thriller Flightplan has jumped up the viewership charts. The movie was directed by Robert Schwentke and headlined by Jodie Foster; it debuted only a few years after Foster led David Fincher's Panic Room to critical and commercial success. Flightplan was an even bigger hit, grossing $223 million at the global box office against a reported budget of $55 million. But it earned poor reviews, and is currently sitting at a 37% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. According to FlixPatrol, Flightplan was the fourth-biggest movie on Netflix worldwide on July 29. The leader board was topped by the newly released Happy Gilmore 2.

Also starring Sean Beanand Peter Sarsgaard, Flightplan has been described as a remake of one of Alfred Hitchcock's earliest classics, The Lady Vanishes. Released in 1938, before Hitchcock moved to Hollywood, The Lady Vanishes follows a young woman who tries to solve the...

Rob Reiner is an unabashed Stephen King fan. He third movie was Stand by Me, based on the King story "The Body." Shortly after the release of that film, he formed his own production company, Castle Rock Entertainment, named after a fictional Maine town that serves as the setting for many a King tale. Over the years, Castle Rock has churned out several adaptations of the horror master's works, including The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, The Green Mile, Needful Things, Dolores Claiborne, Hearts in Atlantis, and Dreamcatcher — but, ironically, not the King-adjacent series Castle Rock, which was produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot.

During a weekend appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, Reiner shared some behind-the-scenes anecdotes of his two acclaimed King features, Stand by Me (1986) and Misery (1990), which earned a Best Actress Oscar for Kathy Bates — the only film based on the novelist's work to win an Academy Award.

"For Misery,...

“Monster” found its Lizzie Borden for Season 4. The Netflix anthology series cast Ella Beatty in the lead role for the next installment of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s hit true crime saga, TheWrap has learned.

The series also cast Rebecca Hall to play Lizzie’s stepmother Abby, and Vicky Krieps will play Bridget Sullivan, a maid in the Borden home. The news comes as Netflix prepares to debut Season 3 later this year, which will star Charlie Hunnam as serial killer Ed Gein.

The casting marks the return for all three actresses into the Murphy universe. Beatty, whose parents are Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, previously appeared in a recurring role on “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” on FX. Hall is in the cast of Murphy’s upcoming FX drama “The Beauty” and Krieps is set to star in “Monster” Season 3.

Borden’s story has been depicted across multiple TV and film adaptations,...

In a very subtle but meaningful way, Lindsay Lohan and Jaime Lee Curtis’s 2003 movie Freaky Friday added a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 cult classic Psycho. According to IMDb, the Disney movie has been hiding this unexpected tribute to the horror masterpiece for over 22 years.

Turns out, Freaky Friday added a similar character name from Alfred Hitchcock‘s movie. But then, here’s the twist—even though the hidden detail seems to point toward the legendary director and his horror flick, it’s not really about the man behind the camera. Instead, it’s a quiet, touching salute to the woman in front of it.

Meanwhile, Freaky Friday stars Lindsay Lohan as Anna, a rebellious teenager, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tess, her overworked mother. After a heated argument and a mysterious fortune cookie incident at a Chinese restaurant, the two magically switch bodies. Chaos follows—from Tess having...

For those that can't get enough of Stephen Kingadaptations, fans of the author's work will witness the highly anticipated prequel to the It film adaptation very soon. It: Welcome to Derry premieres on HBO and HBO Max in October (no specific date has been announced yet), and to make horror fans more excited than they already are, the streamer has just released another teaser trailer. To be honest, this one looks very creepy.

The teaser was unveiled by HBO right as the show had its showcase at the San Diego Comic-Con, where series creators Andy and Barbara Muschietti talked about the production. They confirmed that the show will explore the origins of Pennywise, and how It (the entity) eventually took the form of the evil clown. The creative team also said that they're not planning to "solve" all the mysteries in the book.

The It: Welcome to Derry trailer provides...

Tony in a tux, Ziva in a wedding dress … what exactly is going on in the NCIS: Tony & Ziva series premiere?! Well, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, and showrunner John McNamara stopped by TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine’s studio at San Diego Comic-Con, and you know we had to get the scoop, especially after the trailer released during their panel! The series came about, McNamara says, “because Michael would not stop bugging me. We both have a deep love of espionage, movies, books, TV, and we’ve been friends for actually 31 years, and there’s always been talk between seasons or when we’re both free of like, ‘Let’s do a thing in Europe, would that be cool? A Hitchcock thing.'” Then, Weatherly came to him with the idea of a Tony and Ziva spinoff set in Europe. Getting de Pablo on board was, for the showrunner,...

"A horrifying nordic thriller that’s equal parts Hitchcock and The Wicker Man," the new comic book series Black Diamond asks readers the chilling question of how far they would go to save their own child from a sacrificial cult, making fresh tracks of terror on its trek to the peak of parental horror.

Before the first of four issues of Black Diamond hits the scare-filled slopes on September 3rd from Panick Entertainment, Daily Dead had the pleasure of catching up with writer and creator Brendan Columbus to discuss the snowy scares, occult undercurrents, and compelling conflict within the pages of his new comic book series that features artwork by Danilo Beyruth, coloring by Lee Loughridge, lettering by Saida Temafonte, a main cover by Ben Templesmith, and a Zoop cover by Shane Pierce.

You can read our full Q&a with Brendan below, and we also have a look at...

Is Mel Brooks a great filmmaker?

Well, he’s directed 11 movies, some of which are considered to be all-time comedy classics — yet he generally doesn’t get much praise for his directorial skill.

People clearly love Brooks, but he tends to be recognized for his accomplishments as a writer and performer more than as the auteur who delivered the fartiest scene in cinema history.

This may not be entirely fair. In addition to the fact that directing comedy is its own unique skillset, Brooks did show off some more obvious moments of filmic grandeur over the course of his career. Part of what made Blazing Saddles work was the fact that so much of it had the look and feel of a genuine Hollywood Western.

And Young Frankenstein similarly went out of its way to evoke the style of classic Universal monster movies, complete with authentic props and black-and-white cinematography that Brooks insisted on using,...

The definition of "cinematography" has gotten looser in recent years. Film fans love to praise the way a movie looks -- especially lately, when movies often don't look that great! -- but in certain corners of online film spaces, "great cinematography" has started to mean "you can take a screencap and it'll look cool as a desktop wallpaper." The popular X account One Perfect Shot, for example, even spawned a TV series about cinematography, but for most of its existence, it didn't actually post shots; it posted frames. A "shot" is a length of film between cuts, often involving movement and change. "Cinematography," then, is more than just a succession of aesthetically pleasing frames. It involves all of the decisions that go into how an image is actually captured -- lighting, contrast, movement, and more.

The best directors and cinematographers maintain meticulous control over their images. That becomes especially important in horror films; in here,...

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” is widely regarded as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and 65 years after its initial release, it continues to scare audiences.

“This is the first slasher,” said director Joseph Kahn, one of the panelists for the screening. “This is a straight up, a knife doesn’t penetrate, but it’s slashing on the screen in a way that you’ve never seen before.”

Kahn was speaking at the Variety 120 Screening Series presented by Barco, a summer-long program hosted by Jazz Tangcay that celebrates Variety‘s 120th anniversary by showing iconic films such as “All About Eve” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He was joined by filmmaker and director Julie Pacino, who described Hitchcock’s directing as “scary as fuck.”

The film stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, who checks into the Bates Motel after stealing $40,000 from her office. Anthony Perkins stars as Norman Bates,...

Two big box office releases just dropped, plus a few hidden gems you might’ve missed.

I’ll admit it — HBO Max has been crushing it lately when it comes to movies. Two massive theatrical releases just dropped on the platform (you’ll find them at the very top of this list), and there’s an even bigger one on the horizon: “Superman” will eventually land here too, though we’re still waiting on a date. Things are definitely looking up for HBO Max subscribers, and if you’ve been wanting a reason to dive back into its movie library, now’s the time. It all starts with these seven picks worth streaming right now.

Top 7 movies streaming on HBO Max right now:

No. 7: ‘Opus’

No. 6: ‘Cleaner’

No. 5: ‘Get Out’

No. 4: ‘Mickey 17’

No. 3: ‘Companion’

No. 2: ‘Sinners’

No. 1: ‘A Minecraft Movie’

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Mix in a dash of Mike Leigh and a sprinkling of Hitchcock suspense and you have an approximation of the atmosphere of this odd couple tale from Paul Andrew Williams who previously gave us the noir drama London To Brighton and revenge thriller Bull.

It starts off amiably enough by describing the mundane existence of 80-year-old Elsie (Brenda Blethyn almost unrecognisable from her Vera persona) and her neighbour Colleen (Birdman’s Andrea Riseborough) who offers to help after social services fall far short.

Both women share a common bond in that they have been consigned to the fringes of society yet seem to rub along - Elsie doesn’t like to make fuss, while Colleen’s precise motives remain unclear although it’s doubtful if she is purely altruistic in her intentions.

The performances of double Oscar-nominated Blethyn and Riseborough provide hypnotic accounts of their characters as two vulnerable souls...

Shutter Island confused the heck out of audiences when the movie was released in 2010. Helmed by director Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley in leading roles, Shutter Island was more than just a film. It was a mind-numbing mystery that challenged the concepts of what the human mind is capable of.

In the end, when DiCaprio’s Teddy Daniels accepts that he is Andrew Laeddis and that he murdered his wife, who drowned their three children. In the movie, DiCaprio says, “Which would be worse: To live as a monster, or to die as a good man?”. In an interview with MTV, Dennis Lehane (author of Shutter Island) revealed that that line wasn’t in the books.

If he were to say it as a statement [and not a question], then there’s no solution here but to stop the lobotomy. Because if he shows any sort of self-awareness,...

Amazon Prime Video has just added a movie that many people see as one of the best thrillers ever made. The film, which also ranks as one of the top movies from the 2000s, is now available for streaming. The movie is none other than No Country for Old Men, the famous crime thriller directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Back in 2008, No Country for Old Men dominated the Oscars. It won four major awards at the 80th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor.

It was the movie that took home the most wins that night, after getting a total of eight nominations. It also beat out other popular movies like There Will Be Blood, Atonement, and Juno.

No Country for Old Men is not just an awards favorite. The movie was also a box office success. Made on a budget of $25 million,...

Amazon Prime Video has just added a movie that many people call one of the greatest thrillers ever made. The film, which also ranks among the top movies of the 2000s, is now available for streaming. It’s called No Country for Old Men, and it’s a crime thriller directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. This movie originally came out in 2007 and was based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy.

When No Country for Old Men was first released, it was a huge hit with both critics and moviegoers. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 93% rating from critics and 86% from audiences.

On Metacritic, it has an impressive score of 92 out of 100, showing that it was loved almost everywhere. The movie went on to win four Oscars at the 80th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor. It also had eight nominations in total,...

The legendary Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most revered filmmakers of all time. Hitchcock crafted some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history, including the dramatic crop duster chase in "North by Northwest" and the chilling shower murder in "Psycho." Beginning his career in the early days of cinema, without a wealth of cinematic classics to look to for inspiration, Hitchcock was a pioneer. He developed new narrative techniques to tell stories on film, paving the way for generations of filmmakers to follow.

Hitchcock's film career spanned over half a century. Some of his first roles in the industry were as a title designer or an art director on other filmmakers' movies, many of which have since been lost. The earliest movie actually directed by Hitchcock that modern audiences can still enjoy is 1925's "The Pleasure Garden," a silent drama based around the Pleasure Garden Theatre in London.

There are few interview subjects more candid, unpredictable, and downright entertaining than Quentin Tarantino. As far as filmmakers go, he exists on a saltily rarified plane with trash-talker supreme Orson Welles. He can be dishy, prickly and outrageously cocky, but as arguably the most influential filmmaker of his generation, he's at least earned the right to sound off on all things cinematic. And while I don't always agree with him, I appreciate that his opinions are coming from a fiercely sincere and deeply knowledgeable place.

While I enjoy Tarantino's brashness, I think he's at his very best when he goes to the mat for underappreciated film artists. Soon after he broke through with "Reservoir Dogs" in 1992 and established himself as an outspoken cinephile, he championed the films of Brian De Palma. This was not exactly an opportune time to sing the director's praises, as he'd just hit the skids...

Mix in a dash of Mike Leigh and a sprinkling of Hitchcock suspense and you have an approximation of the atmosphere of this odd couple tale from Paul Andrew Williams who previously gave us the noir drama London To Brighton and revenge thriller Bull.

It starts off amiably enough by describing the mundane existence of 80-year-old Elsie (Brenda Blethyn almost unrecognisable from her Vera persona) and her neighbour Colleen (Birdman’s Andrea Riseborough) who offers to help after social services fall far short.

Both women share a common bond in that they have been consigned to the fringes of society yet seem to rub along - Elsie doesn’t like to make fuss, while Colleen’s precise motives remain unclear although it’s doubtful if she is purely altruistic in her intentions.

The performances of double Oscar-nominated Blethyn and Riseborough provide hypnotic accounts of their characters as two vulnerable souls on the edge -.

Wilhelm Sasnal on food in Robert Walser’s 1908 novel: “ I was actually struck by the first scene with the food when I was reading this.”

In the second installment with Wilhelm Sasnal, co-director with Anka Sasnal of The Assistant (Czlowiek Do Wszystkiego), a highlight of the 54th edition of Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films, we discuss how Robert Walser’s novel employs food as security and weapon, costume design and nail polish inspired by cars, and the meaning behind the kids on their bikes dragging cans. A special Polish comic book, his exhibition Painting as Prop at the Stedelijk Museum and what he painted for the film, Hitchcock’s use of artworks, Thomas Bernhard’s Frost and Francis Bacon also came up, as well as his love for the work of Bruno Dumont.

Wilhelm Sasnal with Anne-Katrin Titze on the...

Ryan Murphy and Netflix are in the process of developing a fourth installment of “Monster” that will follow Lizzie Borden, according to media reports.

The new season of the true crime anthology series will turn its attention to Borden, a woman who was tried and acquitted of the axe murders of her mother and father in 1892, though no one else was ever charged in the murders.

While “Monster” remains without a Season 4 renewal, the show is aiming for a potential shoot in the fall, with casting currently underway, per reports. Netflix declined to comment on this story.

The news comes ahead of the premiere of “Monster” Season 3, which centers on notorious 1950s grave robber, murderer and suspected serial killer Ed Gein, who served as inspiration for Norman Bates, the central character in Hitchcock’s classic 1960 film “Psycho.”

Charlie Hunnam stars as Gein, while Laurie Metcalf plays Gein’s mother Augusta,...

The ten-episode series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (read our review Here) was such a huge success for the Netflix streaming service back in 2022 that Netflix ordered two more seasons of the show from its creators, Ian Brennan and American Horror Story co-creator Ryan Murphy. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story was released less than a year ago, and has had quite an impact on the real lives of the title characters. Right before that season premiered last September, it was announced that Sons of Anarchy‘s Charlie Hunnam had signed on to play murderer and graverobber Ed Gein in Monster season 3 (which is apparently called The Original Monster). Although that season doesn’t have a premiere date, it’s expected to be streaming by the end of the year. Now, Variety hears that Monster season 4 is already in the works, even though no official season 4 renewal has been announced,...

Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher formed a great comedy partnership on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Braugher shockingly passed away in 2023, and now Samberg is sharing his memories of working with Braugher.

Samberg spoke about his relationship with Braugher with other comedians. He made the comments on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, via Entertainment Weekly. Poehler said of Braugher, "I never had the pleasure of meeting him, he seemed like he was just playful and fun,” to which Samberg answered, “He was, and just a good person," before going more in-depth.

Braugher played Captain Raymond Holt, a police captain who takes Samberg's Jake Peralta under his wing and forms an almost father-son-like relationship with him. Samberg described him to Poehler as “so deeply moral and kind and pleasant and smart,” before saying, “We all absolutely loved him. I miss him a lot.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine had a memorable cast. In addition to Samberg,...

Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan's Monster Season 3 has yet to land on Netflix, but we're already learning what we can expect from the fourth season of the popular anthology series. According to Nexus Point News, production for Monster Season 4 is set to begin this Fall, with that installment reportedly focusing on the infamous Lizzie Borden murders.

The Lizzie Borden murders refer to the infamous axe slayings of Andrew and Abby Borden that occurred in 1982 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew was Lizzie's father, and was found brutally murdered in the downstairs of their home, while his wife, and Lizzie's stepmother, Abby, was found upstairs. Lizzie became the main suspect and was tried for the homicides, but was acquitted of the crimes by a jury. Though she was found not guilty, many thought she was responsible for the murders, on account of her reportedly attempting to purchase poison the day before...

First Blood.In 1983, Ted Kotcheff attended the Brussels Film Festival as a guest of honor; he was also there to promote the first Rambo movie, First Blood (1982), which would be the biggest commercial success of his directorial career. First Blood had originally been set for production in the early 1970s but was put through the developmental wringer for the better part of a decade, with a revolving door of potential leading men, attached directors, and multiple revisions of its survival-thriller plotline. It was an odd project for Kotcheff, then best known for the barbed social satire of Fun with Dick and Jane (1977) and North Dallas Forty (1979), broad, vulgar comedies that dealt with class warfare by means other than armed combat. “Freud says that guns are an extension of your dick,” scoffs Nick Nolte’s battered wide receiver Phil Elliott in North Dallas Forty, mocking the hardened gridiron ideal he’s...

AMC, Regal and Cinemark in the US are running pre-film adverts and shows that are adding 30 minutes to the start time of a movie.

There’s a fair amount of grumbling in the cinema exhibition industry at how three different American cinema chains are dealing with challenges to ad revenues. Keen to cement the money that comes in via pre-movie advertising, AMC, Regal and Cinemark have all moved towards a 30 minute difference between the advertised start time of a movie and, well, its start time.

That’s the three biggest multiplex chains in America who are giving themselves the wiggle room for more commercials ahead of a film beginning.

I’m in the UK, so was unaware that the chains also run a ten minute pre-show called Noovie. The combination of that, trailers, and advertising? It’s adding half an hour to the running time of a cinema trip.

There...

Subhash K Jha revisits the murder mystery Humraaz, an Abbas-Mustan directed film starring Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, and Amisha Patel that released in 2002.

How can we forget Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder about a husband who hires a charlatan to bump off his wife, when Andrew Davis recently remade the film as A Perfect Murder? Now Abbas-Mustan, the Indian purveyors of slick, intelligent thrillers, give a revivified interpretation to the classic murder thriller .

Humraaz is a gripping Hitch-cock-tale. While the Hollywood films were only about greed and other sleazy motivations Abbas-Mustan add a dash of traditional Indian values to the original when the wife, initially in collusion with her lover to betray her husband, begins to grow progressively conscious of her spousal duties. This is where the film begins to resemble Raghunath Jhalani’s 1978 marital drama Badalte Rishtey where Reena Roy married Jeetendra for his riches but soon...

Whether it be a Palme d'Or, an Academy Award, or even an induction into the Criterion Collection, there are all sorts of honors that can be bestowed upon a popular filmmaker. One of the smaller, yet significant, ones is your last name becoming a lexicon among the general public. Hitchcock, Kubrick, Lynch, Scorsese, Wachowski, and Kurosawa (take your pick) are but a few of many names that immediately conjure images of their cinematic trademarks. In terms of instant recognizability, few hold the industry-wide prestige of Steven Spielberg. The influential filmmaker is not only responsible in forming the template of contemporary blockbusters countless times over ("Jaws"), but has ingrained himself into all sectors of the entertainment industry. But of course, it takes time to achieve that kind of notoriety.

Spielberg had to do what just about every other aspiring filmmaker went through, and he built his credibility from the ground up.

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we sometimes talk about movie stars! We sometimes talk about movie directors! Today, we talk about both! Specifically, the B-Sides of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

It’s just Conor and I today folks, waxing poetic on Tom Cruise’s legendary franchise and the B-Sides that we were inspired to discuss. We’ve chosen one for each of the Mission movies. It’s also July 3rd on the day this episode is published, so happy 63rd birthday Tom Cruise!

For the first Mission: Impossible, we speak on The Avengers from 1998. An adaptation of the popular British television series from the ‘60s, director Jeremiah S. Chechik’s film was dismantled in post-production, slashed to ribbons following bad test screenings. The final product runs well under ninety minutes and is hard to understand. It sits on the other end of blockbusters in the ‘90s adapted from hit televisions from yesteryear.

"Has it ever gone wrong?" "Sometimes we have to walk away..." Bleecker Street has unveiled the trailer for a movie called Relay, a clever thriller from filmmaker David Mackenzie. This first premiered at last year's Toronto Film Festival to mixed reviews, and it just played at this year's Tribeca Film Festival as well. A world-class "fixer" is enlisted by an alluring, unpredictable whistleblower in a "twisty, confident homage to classic paranoid thrillers". A broker of lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten them breaks his own rules when a new client seeks his protection to stay alive. TIFF says the film is "riddled with ingenious feats of misdirection, novel set pieces, and jaw-dropping twists that would have made Hitchcock proud." Starring Riz Ahmed & Lily James, along with Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, Mike Holt, and Eisa Davis. The film currently has 81% on Rt, and looks intriguing enough to watch.

Rap artist Cardi B, the highest-certified female rapper in the USA, has released the long-anticipated announcement video for her sophomore studio album! Aftera string of hit singles between now and 2018, when her first album, Invasion of Privacy, came out, the rapper is releasing a new album, Am I the Drama? in 2025.

Cardi B took to X to announce the box set of her new album on July 1, explaining that they will arrive with signatures from her, and can be ordered from her website. However, the most exciting part of the Am I the Drama? announcement is in the video, which references an iconic 62-year-old horror movie by one of the genre's greatest filmmakers.

Am I The Drama? - September 19thNew box sets are available at https://t.co/RHbWupVvl1. Keep in mind these will be signed by me, with my magical left hand. Make sure yall get them while theyâ...

When it comes to TV anthologies, one of the longer show runs belongs to none other than Tales of the Unexpected, a British series that lasted from 1979 to 1988, and amassed over 100 episodes. And while first conceived as a vehicle for author Roald Dahl’s body of work, eventually other writers and original stories entered the picture. No matter who was behind the wheel, though, this anthology always provided a twist in the tail.

As the title implies, Tales of the Unexpected aspired to surprise its audience. Each episode ended with a glaring turn of events, but not every one of them was shocking. These ten episodes, on the other hand, are a cut above the rest in how twisted they turned out.

The Man from the South (1979)

Image: Michael Ontkean and Jose Ferrer in The Man from the South.

The series started off with a bang. After first being adapted...

When I watch "The Batman," I never want it to end. Even three hours isn't enough time in this world, and the spin-off show "The Penguin" could only tide me over so much. Even "The Penguin" setting the stage for "The Batman Part II" is bittersweet because that sequel remains years away.

Matt Reeves' "The Batman Part II" has been delayed several times. The movie is currently set to open October 1, 2027, but DC Studios co-chief James Gunn told Entertainment Weekly that he hadn't seen Reeves' script as of the end of March 2025.

It's easy to feel cynical right now. On top of these delays, Gunn is reimagining the DC Universe on film and it's difficult to see Reeves and actor Robert Pattinson's Batman fitting into that. DC Studios has even announced a different Batman movie, "The Brave and the Bold," featuring Bruce Wayne and his son Damian/Robin.

But...

A Relentless Output, A Personal Turn Since ‘Call Me By Your Name’ in 2017, Luca Guadagnino has quietly become one of the most consistently productive auteurs working today. He’s not quite working on a clock- but it’s close. With near-annual feature releases, plus the occasional short film or music video nestled in between, Guadagnino’s output is beginning to resemble Woody Allen’s in terms of consistency- that is, if Guadagnino can keep the pace up for another forty-something years. This year continues the streak. After releasing what he has called his most personal project yet, ‘Queer’ (now streaming on HBO Max), Guadagnino already has another film on deck. ‘After the Hunt,’ a psychological drama is set for release this October, starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, as well as two Guadagnino alums- Chloë Sevigny (‘Bones and All’) and Michael Stuhlbarg (‘Call Me By Your Name’). Luca Guadagnino’s...

Alfred Hitchcock’s influence over the horror genre is towering. “Hitchcockian” is one of the few namesake descriptors used to describe (typically lesser) copycats. Film courses teach Hitchcock’s catalog as epitomic examples of tension, mystery, and suspense, while filmmakers worship Hitchcock through tributes and facsimiles. Anyone would kill to have a Rope or Vertigo on their resume, but few will—even if they attempt a shot-for-shot remake.

Enter Gus Van Sant, hot off the success of 1997’s Good Will Hunting. Van Sant’s adoration of Hitchcock is well-documented, as well as his desire to remake Psycho with zero alterations. “It’s a marketing scheme,” Van Sant once answered in response to why Universal would greenlight his remake, continuing, “because they have this little thing they’ve forgotten about that they could put in the marketplace and make money from.” It’s hardly what I’d want to hear from...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

In the Mood for Love and its never-before-seen epilogue In the Mood for Love 2001 begin playing while a restoration of Christiane F. continues.

Museum of Modern Art

A Theater Near You includes films by Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Claire Denis, and more.

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Remakes, Ripoffs & Reinterpretations begins.

Anthology Film Archives

A survey of Jean-Claude Rousseau, including Ruggles of Red Gap on 35mm, begins; a J. Hoberman-curated series on New York avant-garde continues.

Roxy Cinema

Jupiter Ascending and Wigstock: The Movie screen on 35mm, while Carny shows on 16mm this Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

Pursuant to the question of our time––is Tom Cruise evil?––a career-spanning retrospective continues with The Color of Money on 35mm; Blade Runner 2049 and Fleshpot on 42nd Street screen Saturday.

Film Forum

Apocalypse Now‘s “roadshow edition” continues screening,...

General Hospital spoilers and updates reveal Kin Shriner’s (Scott Baldwin) latest social media video is for the birds—well, sort of! We’re not referring to quality problems or subject matter, we’re referring to it winding up as a tribute to the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” starring Tippi Hedren.

“The Birds” Debuted When Kin Was A Little Boy In Elementary School

“The Birds” debuted when Kin was a little boy in elementary school, but anyone who follows him on social media knows he’s really into old movies.

As a matter of fact, that movie has another tie to soaps-Darlene Conley, The Bold and The Beautiful’s original Sally Spectra played a part in the movie.

Kin is fond of using a filter on his camera that makes the finished project look like an old, black and white, out of focus and shaky movie.

The...

Following the announcement of a sequel to Spaceballs, we assess the film-maker’s funniest movies, from the Hitchcock spoof High Anxiety to the impeccable Young Frankenstein

“It’s good to be the king.” Brooks mixes sight gags, dad jokes and Borscht Belt standup in historical vignettes from the stone age to the French Revolution. Results are hit and miss, and the ancient Rome segment goes on for ever, but the tasteless Torquemada musical number is a scream.

Netflix’s Wednesday has captivated audiences with its gothic aesthetics and cinematic influences, but one Easter egg apparently flew under the radar. The hit show reportedly hides a subtle Alfred Hitchcock tribute in Principal Larissa Weems’ (Gwendoline Christie) fashion, as costume designer Colleen Atwood confirmed.

Revealing that Principal Larissa Weems’ look is a direct nod to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, The Birds (1963), she decorated Weems’ wardrobe after finding a vintage poster of Tippi Hedren. Her choice, inspired by the Hitchcock classic, aligned with Weems’ misfit identity, symbolizing her authority and isolation, yet enhancing the series’ overall appeal.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Inspiration Behind Larissa Weems’ Fashion Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems from Wednesday | Credits: Netflix

Wednesday is more than just a gothic-esque TV show, for apart from its storytelling and unmissable Tim Burton aesthetic, it is also a fashion runway in its own crude sense. However, the series also carried a...

General Hospital fans have been scratching their heads, wondering where Scotty Baldwin has been. They weren’t too happy when Kin Shriner hinted that the door was closed on him. But, whatever his status is on the show, the actor never stops entertaining his fans. He recently turned a gripe into comedy gold disguised as an homage to Old Hollywood on social media, and his followers couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s Like a Horror Movie

On X, formerly Twitter, Shriner wrote, “The Birds. Hitchcock was right to make [the] movie.” What he was going on about was illustrated in a video he shared. The actor used his favorite filter on the clip that made it look like old, worn-out film. He panned across his car and stated, “I’m like Rod Taylor. The Birds. It’s every day.”

The birds Hitchcock was right to make movie . pic.twitter.com/rhb...

In Andrew Davis' 1996 thriller "Chain Reaction," Keanu Reeves plays Eddie Kasalivich, a machinist at the University of Chicago who is overseeing a special scientific experiment to turn hydrogen into energy. Eddie isn't a genius, but he knows how the water-filled chain reaction chamber works. Then, one night, he accidentally discovers an obscure sound frequency that stabilizes the experiment and gets it to succeed. It seems that the world's energy supply issues are going to be solved.

Of course, this immediately kicks off a shadowy cover-up wherein the chain reaction chamber is blown up by unknown conspirators and Eddie is framed for the destruction. (The explosion takes out eight full city blocks.) Innocent scientists are killed, so Eddie has to go on the run with a physicist named Lily, played by Reeves at-the-time-future "Constantine" co-star Rachel Weisz. Naturally, they must find a way to prove their innocence and discover who would...

Steven Spielberg was gaining swift recognition in Hollywood back in the 1970s, especially after Jaws made waves of money in theaters with a great box office collection.

During the same time, veteran director Alfred Hitchcock was wrapping up his legacy in 1976 (Jaws was released in 1975). Despite both directors being there at the same time, Spielberg and Hitchcock never had a chance to meet each other. Well, it was Alfred Hitchcock who refused to meet Spielberg because of his “fish movie”.

Why Alfred Hitchcock hated Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ to even grant a meeting

Well, it wasn’t so much that Jaws was the reason why Alfred Hitchcock refused to meet Steven Spielberg, but it was the director himself. Hitchcock had famously lent his voice to Universal Studios’ Jaws theme park for a deal of $1 million, but in doing so, he felt like a… s*x worker.

Steven Spielberg during an award ceremony | Credits: Gage Skidmore,...