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Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is now available to own on digital platforms, and ScreenRant has a clip to remind you of (or introduce you to) the movie’s blend of action, high stakes, and the occasional lighthearted moment. Tom Cruise’s final Mission (until we hear otherwise) was a critical success, and honored the franchise’s nearly 30-year history.

In addition to Tom Cruise, the movie stars Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), and Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2). The story sees Cruise’s Ethan hunt doing his best to stop a rogue AI called the Entity before it destroys humanity.

ScreenRant is happy to present an extended clip from Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning to celebrate its digital release. Take a look to witness the chemistry between Ethan Hunt and Hayley Atwell...

This week's Empire Podcast has the holy trinity of Ds — Dinosaurs, Davids, and Dolls. Yes, a very special, star-studded edition of your favourite movie pod sees our intrepid interviewing adventurer Chris Hewitt sits down for a pre-lunch chat about dinosaurs and sandwiches with Jurassic World Rebirth stars Mahershala Ali and Rupert Friend, [25:28 — 36:36 approx.] while friend of the pod Mike Muncer goes deep with the legendary David Cronenberg on his most personal film yet, The Shrouds. [1:02:07 - 1:18:07 approx.] Oh, and in case you're wondering where the doll comes into the equation, there's also an excerpt from our epic spoiler special chat with M3GAN 2.0 director Gerard Johnstone (the full thing will be available to spoiler special subscribers next week). [1:44:33 — 1:56:03 approx.]

Either side of that little lot, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Dan Jolin as they celebrate Independence Day by talking about the most evil British movie villains. Plus,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.News Bedknobs and Broomsticks.The military parade US president Donald Trump held on his own birthday was a boon for beleaguered Hollywood prop houses, many of which received a much-needed injection of capital by fulfilling rental orders for vintage guns and period costumes. “I’m no fan of Trump, hate him in fact, but this was a real life raft for us,” said one prop house manager.Since 2021, Nielsen has been tracking US viewership of traditional television as compared to streamers. In the month of May, Americans watched more television via streaming services than linear cable or broadcast for the first time.Related: In the first quarter of 2025, for the first time ever, more people in the United...

“Let me ask you something,” composer Lalo Schifrin told me a few years ago during a long conversation that, sadly, would be our last. “When you write your articles, do you require a piano? I imagine you don’t, because you already have all the words that you need in your mind, which you then elaborate with your knowledge of grammar and syntax, right? It’s exactly the same for me. I don’t need a musical instrument in order to compose a piece. The notes are in my head.”

I had the privilege of interviewing Schifrin, who died Thursday at 93, multiple times during the past three decades. The most memorable meeting with the Emmy-nominated (Mission: Impossible theme) and Oscar-nominated composer (Sting II, The Amityville Horror) was a leisurely lunch at one of his favorite Beverly Hills restaurants when I was still in my early 20s and just getting started in journalism.

San Francisco may lag behind the likes of New York and Los Angeles in terms of sheer volume of films shot on location in the city, but it makes up for it with some extremely memorable screen appearances. There was the giant octopus attack in "It Came From Beneath the Sea," with real footage of the Golden Gate Bridge spliced with Ray Harryhausen's creature on the rampage. Steve McQueen was behind the wheel for the famous car chase in "Bullitt," and Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand topped it with the best action scene ever in "What's Up, Doc?" Union Square was the setting for Gene Hackman's wire-tapping in "The Conversation," and Alcatraz Island took center stage in "The Rock". Then there was "Dirty Harry," the best Frisco movie of the 1970s, and weirdly, we have Frank Sinatra to thank for that choice of location.

Ol' Blue Eyes may...

Lalo Schifrin, the legendary Argentine-American composer best known for creating the iconic "Theme From Mission: Impossible," died Thursday at the age of 93.

In 1966, Bruce Geller, the creator of the Mission: Impossible TV series, tasked Schifrin with a simple, yet daunting directive: "Make something exciting." Despite having little time and no script to work with, Schifrin composed the now-famous piece, originally titled "Burning Fuse," in just minutes. Influenced by his jazz background, the theme’s distinctive 5/4 time signature — rumored but never confirmed to be inspired by Morse code for the letters "M" (dash-dash) and "I" (dot-dot) — gave it its unique tension and swing.

“It was a bit of a production panic because they were so late with their deadlines,” Schifrin said in a 2018 interview with The Independent. “I didn’t have a clue what the television show was at first. I had never been to a TV shoot.”

Forced to come...

Lalo Schifrin, the Argentine-American composer who was best known for writing the Mission: Impossible theme, has died. He was 93 years old.

Schifrin died in a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday, June 26th, due to complications from pneumonia.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 21st, 1932, Schifrin was the son of a professional violinist. After studying piano and jazz in his youth — including a span where he was frequently gigging at jazz clubs in Paris — Schifrin’s career reached a new level after he returned to Buenos Aires and formed a 16-piece band that ultimately secured a regular TV spot.

From there, Schifrin had his first interaction with providing music for television, but first took a career detour as the pianist in Dizzy Gillespie’s band, for whom he composed the album Gillespiana. By 1963, though, he was getting offers to compose for Hollywood films and moved to Los Angeles.

In 1965, Schifrin...

Lalo Schifrin, the Argentine-American composer who was best known for writing the Mission: Impossible theme, has died. He was 93 years old.

Schifrin died in a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday, June 26th, due to complications from pneumonia.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 21st, 1932, Schifrin was the son of a professional violinist. After studying piano and jazz in his youth — including a span where he was frequently gigging at jazz clubs in Paris — Schifrin’s career reached a new level after he returned to Buenos Aires and formed a 16-piece band that ultimately secured a regular TV spot.

From there, Schifrin had his first interaction with providing music for television, but first took a career detour as the pianist in Dizzy Gillespie’s band, for whom he composed the album Gillespiana. By 1963, though, he was getting offers to compose for Hollywood films and moved to Los Angeles.

In 1965, Schifrin...

Lalo Schifrin, the Oscar-nominated and Grammy-winning composer behind the “Theme From Mission: Impossible,” has died at the age of 93.

The composer’s son Ryan confirmed his father’s death to the Associated Press, adding that Schifrin died Thursday due to complications from pneumonia at his home in Los Angeles.

The Buenos Aires, Argentina-born Schifrin, the son of an orchestral violinist, had an early start in music, training on the piano at the age of six. However, upon entering college, Schifrin opted to study law, but his musical roots ultimately took hold.

Lalo Schifrin, the legendary composer best known for writing the iconic Mission: Impossible theme and various popular film scores, has died. According to Variety, the Grammy winner died on Thursday, June 26, of complications from pneumonia. The Argentine pianist and composer was a trailblazer, becoming one of the first to blend a wide range of musical sounds into both television and film scores that ranged from many genres, including rock and jazz. Schifrin's notable credits include composing music for Bullitt (1968), The Amityville Horror(1979), Here's Lucy (1971), The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), Money Talks (1997), the Rush Hour film series (1998-2007), and hundreds more. He was 93.

His Mission: Impossible work came as a result of praise from previous projects. In fact, the composer had no idea what the Mission: Impossible production was about before getting invited onto the set by producer Bruce Geller. During an interview with SoundTrack Fest, he said that he was invited...

Lalo Schifrin, the five-time Grammy-winning composer of the Mission: Impossible theme and six-time Oscar nominated maestro on movies such as Dirty Harry, Cool Hand Luke, and Bullitt, has sadly died at the age of 93. As reported by Variety, the Argentine-American multi-instrumentalist passed away earlier today of complications related to pneumonia.

Born into a musical family in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 21 June, 1932, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that music was in Boris Claudio Schifrin's blood. His father, Luis Schifrin, was the concertmaster of Buenos Aires' Philharmonic Orchestra, and by the tender age of just six, young Lalo had already begun a six-year course studying piano. Even a spell studying sociology and law at university as a young man couldn't distract Schifrin from his true calling: by the age of 20, Lalo — who had developed a particular love for jazz as a boy — found himself playing piano by night in the...

The Mission: Impossible theme is one of the most iconic (and hummable) pieces of cinematic music. Sadly, it’s been announced that the man behind the classic tune, Lalo Schifrin, is dead. He was 93.

Schifrin told the New York Post in 2015 that it took him just three minutes to create the Mission: Impossible theme, and he did it without seeing any footage from the show. “Orchestration’s not the problem for me. It’s like writing a letter. When you write a letter, you don’t have to think what grammar or what syntaxes you’re going to use, you just write a letter. And that’s the way it came,” Schifrin said. “Bruce Geller, who was the producer of the series, put together the pilot and came to me and said, ‘I want you to write something exciting, something that when people are in the living room and go...

Lalo Schifrin, the six-time Oscar-nominated composer, pianist and conductor renowned for his electric, jazz-infused themes and music for Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Starsky & Hutch and Bullitt, died Thursday. He was 93.

Schifrin, who received an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2018, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Los Angeles, his son Ryan Schifrin told The Hollywood Reporter. He lived for the past few decades in a Beverly Hills home once owned by Groucho Marx.

A native of Argentina whose father was the Buenos Aires Philharmonic concert master for more than three decades, Schifrin was trained in the world of classical music before being hooked on American jazz when he was a teenager.

He artfully blended the two genres, and the combustible energy and rhythmic vitality of his compositions were especially well-suited for action-suspense movies and TV shows.

The workaholic Schifrin received Oscar nominations for his scores for Cool Hand Luke...

Lalo Schifrin, the legendary Argentinian composer behind the themes for “Mission Impossible” and “Starsky and Hutch” – along with feature film classics like “Dirty Harry” and “Cool Hand Luke” – has died, according to media reports. He was 93 years old.

The musical craftsman’s career spanned decades. He earned all six of his Academy Award nominations for Best Score in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s – for “Cool Hand Luke” (1968), “The Fox” (1969), “Voyage of the Damned” (1976), “The Amityville Horror (1979), “The Competition” (1980) and “The Sting II” (1983).

He finally earned an honorary Academy Award at the 2019 ceremony, becoming only the third composer to notch the honor.

Additionally, Schifflin won four Grammys and earned 19 nominations during his four decades-long career, several of which were for his work on the “Mission: Impossible” films.

The composer implemented a diverse range of musical genres into his film and TV scores, from jazz and rock to modern and complex orchestral writing techniques.

Lalo Schifrin, the legendary composer who penned the Mission: Impossible theme and did scores for more than 100 other films and TV shows ranging from The Cincinnati Kid, Cool Hand Luke and The Sting II to Dirty Harry and the Rush Hour trilogy, has died. He was 93.

His son, writer-director Ryan Schifrin, confirmed to Deadline that his father died “peacefully” on Thursday morning.

Also a pianist and conductor, Schifrin won four Grammys on 19 career nominations spanning 40 years and was six-time Academy Award nominee for The Sting II, The Competition, The Amityville Horror, Voyage of thye Damned, The Fox and Cool Hand Luke. He received an Honorary Oscar at the 2019 Governor Awards.

He earned three consecutive Grammy noms for the stirring, dramatic, 5/4-time Mission: Impossible theme from 1967-69, and variations of his composition have appeared in all of Tom Cruise’s M:i movies. Among those who worked on version of theme for those films are Hans Zimmer,...

Lalo Schifrin, the composer of some of the most iconic themes in TV and movie history, has died at the age of 93. Active for over seven decades, Schifrin composed scores for films like Bullitt, Dirty Harry, and Cool Hand Luke, but may be most remembered for his indelible theme to the Mission: Impossible TV series, a thrilling piece of music that instantly conjures up images of espionage and suspense. Variety reports that Schifrin died of complications of pneumonia.

Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 21, 1932. The son of a violinist, Schifrin was interested in music at an early age; at 20, he moved to Paris to study at the Paris Conservatory, while playing piano in jazz clubs at night. He returned to Argentina, where he began scoring films before relocating to the United States; he considered the 1964 Jane Fonda thriller Joy House to be his first success.

Lalo Schifrin, the Grammy-winning composer of “Mission: Impossible” and film scores including “Cool Hand Luke,” “Dirty Harry” and “Bullitt,” died Thursday of complications from pneumonia. He was 93.

The Argentine musician was among the first to apply a broad range of musical ideas to film and TV scores, from jazz and rock to more modern and complex techniques of orchestral writing. His heyday was the 1960s and ’70s, when he produced several film and TV scores that are now regarded as classics.

In November 2018, Schifrin became only the third composer in the history of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences to receive an honorary Oscar. Clint Eastwood, for whom Schifrin composed eight scores, made the presentation “in recognition of his unique musical style, compositional integrity and influential contributions to the art of film scoring.”

Actress Kathy Bates said at the event: “His work cannot be easily labeled. Is what he creates jazz?...

Nicole Avant, film producer, activist and former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, was at Taormina Film Festival on Friday to receive an award for the film “The Triple Six Eight,” which tells the true story of the only Black female regiment in the American army during World War II. Variety sat down with her earlier in the day.

What are you working on at the moment?

I have a few things on my slate. I have something with Tracey Edmonds, my fellow producer, that was greenlit at Netflix called “Movement.” I can’t talk too much about it. And I hope to be working on something with Griffin Dunne, because I read “The Friday Afternoon Club.” I think it’s one of the best books that I read all year. I did a book event with him in Los Angeles, and so I’ve been nudging him to make this into a TV series.

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on the set of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning from Paramount Pictures and Skydance.

“There is never an easy day on Mission: Impossible. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Cruise’s legendary superspy Ethan Hunt has by now made both their names synonymous with achieving the unimaginable. But in The Final Reckoning, an eighth entry that is the jaw-dropping, satisfying arc to a now 30-year story, the pair of them are facing their most dangerous and narratively complex challenge ever. Simply put the film is Epic!

The 9th movie is the culmination of Hunt’s journey, bringing back characters and plot threads from the franchise’s very beginning while delivering the spectacular action fans have come to expect.

Read Cate Marquis’s review: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/05/mission-impossible-the-final-reckoning/

Here are a few of the brilliant highlights from Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Ever catch yourself daydreaming about something so wild it feels like chasing a lightning bolt? That’s Tom Cruise, at five years old, conjuring a vision of soaring off a cliff on a motorcycle. He was so captivated by the audacious exploits of the Imf agents in the original Mission: Impossible series that he vowed to one day be part of such thrilling escapades.

Now at 62, and he’s not just dreaming; he’s doing it, heart and soul, in the Mission: Impossible saga. We’ll also unpack the clever roots of the 1960s TV series that sparked it all. Let’s jump in.

How Tom Cruise turned a five-year-old’s dream into reality A still from Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning | Credits: Paramount Pictures

While the rest of us were falling off bikes in our driveways as kids, Tom Cruise, who’s now 62 but moves like time missed his address,...

There was a time when wealthy businessmen like Wes Anderson’s fictional Zsa-zsa Korda bent the rules, amassed their fortunes and quietly plotted out the succession plans for the dynasties they had built. Now, such men run countries, though one shouldn’t read too strong a political message into Anderson’s latest divertissement, “The Phoenician Scheme.” A tongue-in-cheek look at one such titan, the dense but undeniably enjoyable saga doubles as a moving father-daughter tale and ultimately seems far more interested in exploring the robber baron spirit of 20th-century capitalism than its consequences.

Inspired by the likes of J. Paul Getty, J.P. Morgan and Anderson’s late father-in-law, Lebanese construction mogul Fouad Mikhael Malouf, “The Phoenician Scheme” promotes Benicio del Toro from bit player (the incarcerated artistic genius in 2021’s “The French Dispatch”) to protagonist in the Anderson universe. Meanwhile, Mia Threapleton marks the most significant new addition to the helmer’s ever-expanding company,...

Nearly 30 years after the release of the 1996 "Mission: Impossible" movie, most people assume the Brian De Palma film was a big success. There's the fact that it grossed over $450 million worldwide at the box office, in addition to earning solid reviews from critics. And any movie that spawns a franchise spanning four decades has to be special. The potentially final and, notably, longest entry, "Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning," has leaned hard into referencing earlier films in the series with its pre-release marketing campaign, especially quintessential moments like Impossible Missions Force (Imf) agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) not only dangling from a wire in a highly pressurized and sensitive CIA location but also wielding a knife that plays a crucial part in that set piece.

Yet, there's one aspect of the 1996 film that, as critical as it is to the movie series' entire reason for being, is easy to...

When the idea was first mooted at the back-end of the 20th century, making a big-screen adaptation of the hit 1966-73 show Mission: Impossible smacked of studio IP-grab desperation, the kind of lazy thinking that, at around the same time, gave us The Saint (1997), a film now best forgotten and humbly described on Rotten Tomatoes as merely “watchable,” mostly by fans of the late, great Val Kilmer. Production troubles on that first M:i were legendary, since it went into production without a script that anyone could agree on and, more perplexingly, starred Tom Cruise at a time when his stock was rising as a movie star in serious, glossy Oscar-winning movies, not pulpy American TV reboots.

Thirty years later and here we are: Tom Cruise is the biggest Hollywood movie star in the world bar none, the M:i franchise has beaten its primetime namesake’s seven-year winning streak three times over,...

In the mid-1990s, when Tom Cruise accepted Paramount Pictures' offer to bring his then-new production company to the studio and pick a project to develop, Cruise expressed a desire to take on a long-gestating big-screen adaptation of the "Mission: Impossible" TV series. Although the "Mission: Impossible" films under Cruise's stewardship have never sought to completely distance themselves from the series, they initially did look toward carving their own path away from it. 

This change of direction was boldly stated by the use of the TV show's longstanding protagonist, Jim Phelps, being revealed as the villain of the 1996 film. For the next several installments of the "M:i" franchise, each movie took a unique approach to the exploits of Imf Agent Ethan Hunt (played by Cruise). The only connective tissue between films, besides the appearance of Hunt and fellow team member Luther (Ving Rhames), were a couple of elements retained from the original series,...

In some ways, “Secret Mall Apartment” does what it says on the tin. The documentary charts the adventures of an artist collective in Rhode Island that found a hidden space inside the bowels of the Providence Place Mall in 2003. There, the collective created a domestic hideaway in defiance of the consumer mecca that the mall represented, documented the project, and used the space undetected for years.

Director Jeremy Workman and editor Paul Murphy knew there was more nuance to the story than a clandestine performance piece, though. They didn’t want the documentary to feel like a conventional, fill-in-the-blank news item. So they didn’t work in a conventional way, either.

Workman, based in New York, and Murphy, hailing from Australia, divided up the material and worked siloed on specific sequences and with specific types of footage — Murphy with the astonishing Dv shot on an Optio stills camera from the...

Neo-noir is a relatively recent wave of cinema that brought the success and popularity of the film noir genre back into the spotlight through great movies. The 1970s saw an uptick in neo-noir projects, and the decade has come to define the inception of neo-noir. However, these films couldn't exist without the original works of the noir genre and the actors that helped to create the archetypes seen frequently onscreen. The best film noir movies of all time were primarily produced between the 1940s and 1960s, so many actors of the Hollywood Golden Age starred in these crime thrillers.

While there are still dark shadows, detectives, and horrible crimes, there's much more to the neo-noir genre. There are many underrated neo-noir movies from the 1980s, as the 1970s and '80s were the peak of the revival of film noir. It's hard to know where to begin when unpacking the neo-noir genre,...

Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell franchise is one of the best stealth action-adventure video game series of all time. The series started with 2002’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell but undoubtedly, the most important game for the franchise was 2005’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory as the game featured new mechanics and improved graphics.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was released in 2005 (Image via Ubisoft)

Not just technical improvements, but the game’s sound design and music were also highly impressive for its time. Amon Tobin, the Brazilian musician and composer, explained in a past interview that the game’s music was inspired by the music of Tom Cruise’s 1996 movie, Mission: Impossible.

The Music Of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Was Inspired By Tom Cruise’s 1996 Hit

In June 2022, PCGamer reached out to Amon Tobin to understand the process of creating the score...

Michael Ritchie’s Prime Cut never quite recovers from an early botched opportunity. Up until then, Ritchie effectively primes us for the reveal of the film’s big bad, seemingly eavesdropping on characters in a Chicago bar as they trade exposition pertaining to Mary Ann (Gene Hackman), the owner of a meatpacking plant who uses his business as a front for running drugs and prostitutes.

The trouble is that Mary Ann’s supposed to pay up to some folks in Chi-town, who claim he owes them half a mil, and that’s where enforcer Nick (Lee Marvin) comes in, swinging down to the former’s fortress in Kansas City in a limo fully decked out with guns and expendable goons. Nick and Mary Ann have a history, of course, working for the same bosses, sleeping with the same gold-digging henchwomen. After first stopping at an atmospherically sleazy flophouse, Nick walks...

The opening credits sequences of the Mission: Impossible franchise have evolved over the years, with each movie bringing its own unique style and elements to the table. Every Mission: Impossible movie uses Lalo Schifrin's iconic theme tune, but they each add their own spin on it. The best Mission: Impossible credits sequences can get audiences even more excited for the movie.

The Mission: Impossible franchise begins every movie with a dynamic opening credits sequence, and these brief scenes have become one of the franchise's most popular traditions. Mission: Impossible is an adaptation of a TV series which began in the 1960s, and the movies use the same iconic theme tune by the Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin. The movies also reference the show's opening credits, especially with the image of a lit fuse that the first few movies use. Over the course of seven movies, the franchise has developed plenty of its own motifs.

When you get to be an actor of a certain age, you have the option of a lucrative career pivot into action movies. Just ask Liam Neeson, or Denzel Washington, or any of the other A-listers who’ve reinvented themselves as late-act ass-kickers. We’ll confess that we did not have June Squibb on our Geri-Action Bingo Card — after several decades treading the boards in the New York theater scene, the 94-year-old actor had carved out a nice little niche for herself as an Every-Gran who stole scenes and secured...

Dan Wallin, the music scoring engineer who recorded such classic film scores as “Spartacus,” “Bullitt,” “The Wild Bunch” and “Out of Africa,” died early Wednesday in Hawaii. He was 97.

Twice Oscar-nominated for best sound (1970’s “Woodstock” and 1976’s “A Star Is Born”), he won a 2009 Emmy for sound mixing on the Academy Awards telecast and received two additional Emmy nominations in the sound mixing category.

But it was Wallin’s skill behind the console, recording and mixing musical scores for movies and TV, that won him legions of fans among nearly all of Hollywood’s top composers and ensured steady employment for more than half a century.

He recorded the music for an estimated 500 films, including those for “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Cool Hand Luke” and “Finian’s Rainbow” in the 1960s; “The Way We Were,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Nashville,” “King Kong” and “Saturday Night Fever” in the 1970s; “Somewhere in Time,” “The Right Stuff...

There are few cinematic adaptations of classic television shows that have taken on a life of their own quite like the Mission: Impossible franchise. While the classic series from 1966 was very influential in the development of espionage stories in popular media, the film saga transformed Tom Cruise into the biggest action star of his generation, and continues to deliver death-defying stunts with each installment. The Mission: Impossible series has developed an extensive mythology revolving around Ethan Hunt’s personal and professional challenges, yet still finds ways to homage the original show. Most notably, each installment brings back the classic Mission: Impossible theme song by Lalo Schifrin. While both the show and films are known for their shocking twists, the Mission: Impossible theme song has its own secret message.

“Taking from an elderly person is as bad as stealing from a child,” growls Jason Statham in “The Beekeeper,” reinforcing the image of “helpless” old people in need of defending. (He spends the rest of the movie knocking heads after scammers steal money from his gullible landlady.) With “Thelma,” writer-director Josh Margolin tries out a different approach, casting nonagenarian character actor June Squibb as an unlikely yet satisfying action star. It’s a cute idea, celebrating the willpower and determination of a 93-years-young woman. If audiences are willing to suspend their disbelief for “The Beekeeper,” why not do the same when it’s Squibb on a rampage?

“Thelma” bloomed out of Margolin’s relationship with his own grandmother, and its more endearing dialogue exchanges were directly lifted from things the real-life Thelma says and does. Squibb’s character has a doting — and slightly dopey — grandson of her own, Daniel, who visits regularly,...

In the middle of August this year, three legends of the music industry died within 72 hours of each other: founder of A&m Records Jerry Moss; music lawyer Abe Somer; and my father, the “Black Godfather” himself, Clarence Avant. These three men helped define the recording industry of the past six decades, and what’s more, they were inseparable best friends.

Somer, Moss, and Avant met in New York City in the early 1960s, and in the six decades since, never left one another’s side, never once let their “soul contract” expire.

Heist movies tend to operate by a narrative rule of three: You show the preparation; you detail the execution, bit by painstaking bit; and you map out how the criminals and/or their crew get away with it, or don’t. The Delinquents, Argentine writer-director Rodrigo Moreno’s left-of-center contribution to the genre, dispenses with the first part entirely, and fast-forwards you right to second base. A bank manager named Morán (Daniel Elías) wakes up in the morning, gets dressed, and leisurely strolls through the streets of downtown Buenos Aires to work.

Nearly a quarter-century has passed since Aardman hatched its first feature, and the generation that flipped for “Chicken Run” — tickled by the novelty of watching a pseudo-serious genre movie rendered silly by an ensemble of stop-motion poultry — has grown up to be parents. Distributed by DreamWorks, the 2000 toon reimagined “The Great Escape” with chickens, as a doomed flock schemed to fly the coop of a WWII-style concentration camp run by the intimidating Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson).

In the tasty (if young-skewing) sequel commissioned by Netflix, “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” it’s the other way around … or, as gung-ho Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) puts it in her trailer-ready motivational speech, “Last time, we broke out of a chicken farm. Well, this time, we’re breaking in!” Where the tongue-in-beak original was a sendup of war movies, “Nugget” serves as a riff on “Mission: Impossible”-style action flicks, putting Ginger in...

For many of us, 1973’s Enter the Dragon ranks as one of the greatest action films of all time. Bruce Lee’s only solo big-screen English-language outing it’s the movie that turned him into a global icon and kicked off the kung-fu craze of the mid-1970s. Tragically, Lee would die before it ever hit theaters, but his legend remains vital to this day.

In celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary, we dig into the film and its lasting legacy. We examine how Lee’s philosophy made it richer intellectually than people give it credit for while paying tribute to the badass supporting cast. As good as Lee is, he’s ably supported by the late John Saxon and Jim Kelly, two American actors who also happened to be kick-ass martial artists in their own right.

We also dig into how the film featured early roles for future...

Clarence Avant, the judicious manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and many others and came to be known as the “Black Godfather” of music and beyond, has died. He was 92.

Avant, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, according to a family statement released Monday.

Avant’s achievements were both public and behind the scenes, as a name in the credits, or a name behind the names. Born in a segregated hospital in North Carolina, he became a man of lasting and wide-ranging influence, in part by minding two pieces of advice from an early mentor, the music manager Joe Glaser: Never let on how much you know, and ask for as much money as possible, “without stuttering.”

“He exemplified a certain level of cool and street smarts...

A myriad of notable Hollywood stars and figures are remembering the late Clarence Avant.

Known as the “Godfather of Black Music,” Avant died at the age of 92 on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced in a statement.

“Clarence leaves behind a loving family and a sea of friends and associates that have changed the world and will continue to change the world for generations to come,” the Avant/Sarandos family said. “The joy of his legacy eases the sorrow of our loss.”

His death came 20 months after his wife of 54 years, philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, was shot and killed by an intruder in their Beverly Hills home in the early morning hours of Dec. 1, 2021.

The recording industry insider inspired multiple generations of artists and executives. Among the notable names he advised are Quincy Jones, David Geffen, Jay-Z, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Pharrell Williams, Whitney Houston, Antonio “L.

Clarence Avant, the veteran music and entertainment executive known as the “Black Godfather” who was hailed for his influence and guidance by Quincy Jones, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg, Whitney Houston, and others, died at home in Los Angeles on Sunday. He was 92.

Avant’s death was announced Monday through a statement shared by his family. “It is with a heavy heart that the Avant/Sarandos family announce the passing of Clarence Alexander Avant,” the statement read. “Through his revolutionary business leadership, Clarence became affectionately known as ‘The Black Godfather’ in the worlds of music,...

Clarence Avant, who was dubbed the “Godfather of Black Music,” died Sunday in Los Angeles, his family has confirmed. He was 92.

A statement provided by his family including son-in-law Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-ceo, announced Avant’s passing “with a heavy heart,” and said he had “passed away gently.”

“Through his revolutionary business leadership, Clarence became affectionately known as ‘the Black Godfather’ in the worlds of music, entertainment, politics, and sports,” the statement said. “Top artists and executives like Quincy Jones, JayZ, Whitney Houston, Pharrell Williams, Lionel Richie, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Sean Combs, L.A. Reid, Suzanne de Passe, Kenny ‘Baby Face’ Edmonds, Jon Platt, Irving Azoff, Snoop Dogg Reginald Hudland, Benny Medina and Queen Latifah all credit Avant for his inspiration and guidance.”

The news comes almost two years after the shooting death of his wife, Jackie Avant, during a break-in at the family’s Beverly Hills home...

Clarence Avant, the beloved recording industry insider whose work as an executive, label owner, dealmaker and mentor earned him the nickname the “Godfather of Black Music,” has died. He was 92.

Avant died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced in a statement. His death came 20 months after his wife of 54 years, philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, was shot and killed by an intruder in their Beverly Hills home in the early morning hours of Dec. 1, 2021.

Survivors include their daughter, Nicole Avant, a producer, former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas and the wife of Netflix co-ceo and chief content officer Ted Sarandos, and their son, Alexander, a producer (Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!) and talent rep.

“Clarence leaves behind a loving family and a sea of friends and associates that have changed the world and will continue to change the world for generations to come,” the Avant/Sarandos family said.

Back in the 1970s, when Korea was closed to the outside world, locals relied on black market dealers to get their hands on everything from American cigarettes to Ritz crackers. Though this illicit import racket was run mostly by men, it wouldn’t have been possible without half a dozen uniquely talented women — skilled divers known as haenyeo who fished the loot from the sea. At least, that’s the fresh girl-power premise floated by action maven Ryoo Seung-wan (“The Battleship Island”) in his snappy, retro-styled crime saga, “Smugglers.”

Featuring a funky Lalo Schifrin-esque score (from composer Chang Ki-ha) and more wide-collared polyester pantsuits than a “Charlie’s Angels” costume contest, the movie presents itself as a lost relic of less enlightened times, but boasts gender dynamics that are very much of this moment. In early scenes, the divers earn their living fetching oysters off the ocean floor — or at...

Major spoilers for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 aheadDid Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 feel familiar? As the seventh film in a franchise, it should, to a certain extent. Franchises work because audiences can walk into the latest sequel with expectations of what the movie will be like, and feel confident those expectations will be met (or tastefully subverted). Over years of watching Mission movies, viewers have been taught that hearing Lalo Schifrin's enduring theme over the opening credits should mean 2+ hours of globetrotting spy intrigue, complete with huge stunts, lengthy action set pieces, and shots of Tom Cruise running. Dead Reckoning Part 1 has all those in spades.

But it also goes much, much further than that. Not content with merely nodding to its history, Mission: Impossible 7 actually repeats plot points from every previous film in the franchise. Character dynamics are revisited or recreated, conversations are repeated in new contexts,...

On May 22, 1996, Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise unveiled the big screen adaptation of Mission: Impossible, which would go on to gross $180 million and kickstart a feature franchise. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

The fuse is burning throughout the big-screen reworking of the cloak-and-dagger TV show Mission: Impossible, but apart from the wham-bam conclusion, there’s a disappointing lack of fireworks in this hotly anticipated production.

An upsy-daisy download takes place as Tom Cruise invades the CIA. The Paramount release will open huge and download gigabucks worldwide. However, tepid word-of-mouth will knock it off the must-see list of many movie goers.

The first production by high-rolling star Tom Cruise and his partner and former agent Paula Wagner, Brian De Palma’s dour and only fitfully entertaining techno-thriller teases one with some of the original show’s team espionage spirit, but overall takes itself too seriously. Set mainly in European cities,...

With this week’s release of an entry in a blockbuster action franchise the old adage of seven being a lucky number will truly be put to the test. Now it’s not the highest number franchise as we’ve gotten Fast X or the longest running like the big flick from almost two weeks ago, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (way back in 1981). Of course, we can add on the inspiration for this series, actually a TV series (overseen by Lucy…really) which exploded onto the airwaves way back in the prehistoric era. Oh, but this “tentpole” has catapulted well past its “network” roots. Still, it’s tough not to hear that infectious theme music from Lalo Schifrin when taking in this rather long title Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. And now I’m seeing that sizzling fuse in my head.

Surprisingly this new installment doesn...

From left: Jon Voight, Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible (Paramount), Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg in Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount) Graphic: AVClub Wtf is the Imf? The answer to that question, like many aspects of the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise itself, can be convoluted, elusive, frustrating, and rewarding, in equal measures.

The Imf then and now: The Mission: Impossible TV cast show (1966-1973) and the stars of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount).Photo: Bettmann (Getty Images)

Wtf is the Imf? The answer to that question, like many aspects of the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise itself, can be convoluted, elusive,...

Every good Mission: Impossible film has to include that iconic theme that tells audiences they're in for a thrilling, action-packed operation with Tom Cruise and his Imf team. After creating a pulse-pounding score to match the incredible heights of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, composer Lorne Balfe is back to flex his musical muscles again with a new soundtrack for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One complete with that classic theme originally by Academy Award-nominee Lalo Schifrin. With the film and the soundtrack less than a week from release, Balfe released a video of a recording session where he conducted an orchestra through the theme.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's unedited score clocked in at more than 14 hours, according to composer Lorne Balfe.

Balfe discussed his mammoth soundtrack for the upcoming action blockbuster in an interview with Variety. "[A]t last count, there [were] over 14 hours of music recorded," he said. Balfe added that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's score was performed by more than 555 musicians based throughout Europe, and was ultimately trimmed down to the two-and-a-half hours' worth of music heard in the finished film. The composer also confirmed that the seventh Mission: Impossible installment will make good use of Lalo Schifrin's original theme tune, which he said is "connected" to both the main titles and Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) musical motif.

Related: Watch: Mission: Impossible 7's Speedflying Stunt Took Tom Cruise Years of Training

A key part of Balfe's assignment involved setting Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning...