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Prior to penning stories that redefined cinema in regards to non-linear stories, Quentin Tarantino spent most of his youth being immersed in grindhouse cinema, whose influence has remained consistent throughout his career. This stems from his time in a video rental store in Manhattan Beach, California, which has been substantial to Tarantino’s encyclopedic movie knowledge.

And given his grasp of movie history, he was undoubtedly the perfect candidate to identify movies based on the blurbs from cheap VHS tapes. Even though he didn’t pass with flying colors during this playful quiz, he still managed to leave viewers astonished with his cinematic expertise.

Quentin Tarantino loves grindhouse movies like no other Quentin Tarintino in a still from Reservoir Dogs | Credit: Miramax Films

One common link across all Quentin Tarantino‘s works has been the incorporation of stylized violence, which teeters on the edge of being gratuitous at times, and...

Now that she’s away from the mob, Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) can finally build her life on her own. However, knowing Charlie, she finds herself roped into absurd schemes through no fault of her own. “The Taste of Human Blood” is one of those episodes, with plenty of absurdity hanging over it. Luckily, it’s got the TV vets and comedic actors to pull off the ridiculous premise with brilliant execution. Kumail Nanjiani and Gaby Hoffman lead a fun ensemble this time around.

Spoiler Alert !!!Spoilers for Poker Face Season 2. Related: ‘The Twilight Zone’ Cast: What Are They Doing in 2025? Poker Face — “The Taste of Human Blood” — Recap

Police officer Fran Lamont (Gabby Hoffman) handles routine crimes in her local community. When she returns to the office, Chief Hal (John Sayles) informs her she’s been nominated for the 2019 Florida Panhandle Cop Award for Officer of the Year. The “FlopaCopas...

Tales of masked killers and man-eating mutants are more associated with the world of film than literature, but if the success of horror writers like Stephen King and Clive Barker has taught us anything, it’s that a good story can transcend the limitations of a single medium. That’s why there are so many popular adaptations in the horror genre, with some of the most popular scary movies of all time having been based on existing short stories and novels.

With Eli Craig’s Clown in a Cornfield bringing Adam Cesare’s 2020 novel to the big screen this Friday, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six horror movies that you may not have known were also adapted from books!

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be focusing on films with lesser-known literary origins, so you shouldn’t expect to see classics like Jaws,...

With superhero movies currently the backbone of Hollywood, it’s interesting to look back upon a time when the characters were not as popular, but even the concepts were unusual. Indeed, the “Fantastic Four,” “Spider-Man,” and the whole “Marvel universe” were just debuting at the time of cult B-movie icon director Roger Corman’s “X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes,” which plays like a superhero origins tale gone horribly wrong. I don’t know how conscious of any of this Corman was. I’m doubtful it was much, if at all, but the concepts play into the story in a dark and unique way.

Well-known to film buffs, Corman was a B-movie legend who launched the careers of many high-profile filmmakers: Joe Dante, John Sayles, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, and even blockbuster master James Cameron. But though he taught Cameron well, Corman was a master...

Scream Factory‘s July home video line-up includes 4K editions of Abigail, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Fade to Black.

Abigail sinks its fangs into 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on July 8. The 2024 vampire film is presented in 4K from the original elements with Dolby Vision.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett directs from a script by Guy Busick and Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground). Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir, and Giancarlo Esposito star.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

4K Presentation From The Original Elements (new) Presented In Dolby Vision (Hdr-10 Compatible) Audio: Dolby Atmos, DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Audio Commentary With Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett And Editor Michael P. Shawver Audio Commentary With Film Critic Drew McWeeny (new)

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

4K Presentation From The Original Elements (new) Audio: Dolby Atmos, DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Audio Commentary With Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin And Tyler Gillett And Editor Michael P.

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

Museum of the Moving Image

Tom Gunning is celebrated in a weekend-long series featuring M on 35mm, Hal Hartley’s Flirt, and an avant-garde program; films by Buster Keaton and Renny Harlin play in See It Big: Stunts!

Nitehawk Cinema

A print of Josef von Sternberg’s The Devil is a Woman screens early on Saturday and Sunday.

Film at Lincoln Center

Films by Charles Burnett, Ousmane Sembène, and more screen in L.A. Rebellion.

Museum of Modern Art

Films by Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey, and Dorothy Arzner play in The Lady at 100.

Film Forum

A new 35mm print of 8½ begins playing, while Mort Rifkin favorite A Man and a Woman continues in a new restoration.

Bam

A retrospective of Sudanese cinema begins.

Roxy Cinema

The French Connection and City Dudes screen this Saturday; The Little Rascals plays for free on Sunday,...

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

Bam

Triple Canopy Presents: In The Hole brings 35mm prints of Salò, Tsai Ming-liang’s The Hole, and more.

Roxy Cinema

Martin Scorsese presents Henry Hathaway’s Kiss of Death on 35mm this Friday; Jerry Lewis’ Smorgasboard shows on 35mm Saturday; Dazed and Confused and Smiley-Face play on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

Essential Cinema brings Erich von Stroheim’s Greed and films by Dziga Vertov; Richard Beymer’s The Innerview plays in a new restoration.

Museum of Modern Art

Films by Howard Hawks, George Stevens, and more play in “The Lady at 100.”

Museum of the Moving Image

The Dead Zone plays throughout the weekend while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shows Saturday and Sunday.

Film Forum

Mort Rifkin favorite A Man and a Woman plays in a new restoration; Bride of Frankenstein screens this Sunday.

IFC Center

Barry Lyndon begins screening for its 50th anniversary; Salò,...

When Gary Brandner finally cast the monster from his mind, and then onto paper, he gave it a familiar form. By that time, werewolves weren’t uncommon to see in Brandner’s industry, however, the late fiction author wanted to break the monotony. So rather than having a single werewolf pop up in a small town, 1977’s The Howling featured a whole community of werewolves. This small twist on the growing genre helped make Brandner’s first horror novel a success as well as attract the attention of Hollywood. Now, sure enough, creative license is part of the deal in these page-to-screen adaptations, yet Joe Dante’s ‘81 rendering is so distinct from its basis that it’s practically a different beast.

The Howling is a far cry from 1933’s The Werewolf of Paris, the Guy Endore-penned novel that many consider to be the Dracula of werewolf literature. Brandner’s...

Not all of the classic Universal Monsters were based on classic stories. While Frankenstein and Dracula came from the minds of Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker, The Wolfman, and previously Werewolf of London, was based on folklore dating back centuries rather than fiction. While the character has had a hard time coming back into the limelight with the disappointing Wolfman from 2010 and even more disappointing Wolf Man from 2025, the myth has done well for itself even while not being as in the public favor as the Zombie or Vampire. Those original films may not be based on books but that didn’t stop writers from creating their own stories or studios from adapting them. This includes the likes of Hammer Studios Curse of the Werewolf being adapted from The Werewolf of Paris and The Wolfen getting turned into the 1981 movie Wolfen. Speaking of 1981, there were two other rather small werewolf...

We love speaking with filmmaker Andrew Davis. In late 2023 The Fugitive director came on our podcast The B-Side to discuss a slew of hidden gems as well as the 4K release of his Harrison Ford blockbuster.

Davis is back to talk about his novel Disturbing the Bones, a political thriller that reads like an entertaining, extrapolated version of some of his best films. The plot concerns an archaeological dig in Illinois wherein a body is discovered. It leads to a murder investigation amidst a global crisis spurned by a catastrophic, nuclear mistake.

The Film Stage spoke with Davis about the book, his Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Collateral Damage, his upcoming projects, and the state of both the film industry and the country.

You will earnestly learn about a lot of little things if you read/listen to this interview. Enjoy!

The Film Stage: Andrew Davis, welcome back! Today we’re...

At a time when California is looking up its tax credits to $750M annually, there’s some serious competition from across the pond, and that’s Ireland.

The Taoiseach of Ireland/Prime Minister of Ireland Michael Martin was here in Austin, TX on Monday along with Cinetic CEO John Sloss, The Astronaut filmmaker Jess Varley, and Irish producer Tristan Orpen Lynch to share the great experience of not only shooting in the country of leas and cliffs, but also the extremely competitive tax credit.

Sloss recently produced the Richard Linklater Berlin premiere, Blue Moon, over in Ireland, in addition to Varley with her SXSW world premiere The Astroanaut, and Lynch with his drama series Mix Tape.

Currently the Irish tax incentive for the screen industries, Section 481, provides a tax credit of up to 32% on eligible Irish expenditures based on 80% of a pic’s budget. That will soon rise to 40% for productions under 20 million Euros.

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

Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research

My screening series Amnesiascope hosts the La Clef Revival Collective for a screening of Bye Bye Tiberias this Sunday.

Spectacle

Meanwhile, La Clef presents Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s Dernier Maquis on Saturday.

Anthology Film Archives

A Volker Spengler retrospective brings three films by Fassbinder while a Matías Piñeiro-curated series offers Antonioni and Straub-Huillet.

Nitehawk Cinema

A secret Hong Kong film plays on 35mm Sunday afternoon.

Museum of the Moving Image

Snubbed Forever concludes with The Lady from Shanghai and Vertigo.

IFC Center

Hideaki Anno’s Love & Pop plays in a new restoration; eXistenZ, Mulholland Dr., Paprika, Dogra Magra, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas show late.

Roxy Cinema

Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart screen.

Film Forum

Play It As It Lays begins a week-long run; Godard’s A Woman Is a Woman continues...

Turns out you don’t have to be Irish to be lucky come March. That’s right, repertory cinemas from coast to coast will be raining down four-leaf clovers in the form of cinematic gems like “Matewan,” “The Watermelon Woman,” “The Cable Guy,” and many more. And we know what you’re thinking…you just got through slamming back Oscar film after Oscar film, maybe it’s time to take a little break from the movies. After all, spring’s around the corner — it might be nice to step outside for a bit, breathe in the fresh air.

Well, you’re wrong.

Fresh air is for people who can’t appreciate a random assortment of food scents and possibly carbon dioxide from a leaking soda machine tank. You’re of a different breed and as such, we know there’s no better place for you than the comfy cozy darkness of your local cinema.

Quick LinksDogfight Was Initially A Flop Upon Its Theatrical DebutRiver Phoenix and Lili Taylor Give World-Class Performances in DogfightDogfight Is a Thought-Provoking Deconstruction of Masculinity

Nancy Savoca's 1991 period coming-of-age romantic drama Dogfight is a massively underrated gem from the 1990s American independent film movement. Following a decade of blockbuster excess in the 1980s, the 1990s saw an explosion in low-budget independent moviemaking led by filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater, Quentin Tarantino, and Kevin Smith. Although the 1990s independent film movement produced countless high-profile auteurs, many prominent directors from that era have fallen out of the public consciousness. Filmmakers such as Savoca, Carl Franklin, and Whit Stillman were all integral members of the 1990s independent film movement, yet their films remain largely unknown to modern audiences.

After graduating from film school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Savoca began her movie career as a production...

It's commonplace for the most thoughtful and probing sci-fi texts to tackle contemporary issues through the lens of a fantastical setting or concept. Perhaps due to its own budget constraints, no sci-fi film has ever felt more perceptible to modern social sensibilities quite like The Brother From Another Planet, the groundbreaking satire on race, immigration, and cultural assimilation by John Sayles.

For over a century of cinema, monsters like werewolves and vampires have given audiences a non-stop slew of classic films, from Dracula and The Lost Boys to recent hits like Nosferatu. With Blumhouse producing their own take on The Wolf Man, audiences have been given a unique adaptation of a beloved monster. However, it's far from the only werewolf movie out there, with audiences being spoiled for choice when it comes to the iconic legend.

Werewolves have been at the forefront of horror and dark fantasy alike since the 1980s but can be difficult to pull off on the big screen -- especially in live-action. When the monster is done well, it can be the most terrifying thing on screen, and some movies have captured the sheer horror of its transformation and violent nature. After experiencing 2025's Wolf Man, audiences should look to these classics for a good follow-up.

Harry...

Before Men in Black turned alien hunters into slick government agents, The Brother From Another Planet offered a completely different take on the sci-fi genre. John Sayles’ 1984 sci-fi comedy flipped the genre, trading in intergalactic wars and explosive special effects for the quiet, absurd reality of a mute alien trying to survive in Harlem.

With dry and situational humor, the film combines social commentary on race and immigration with its otherworldly premise. The Brother From Another Planet is a smart, relatable exploration of what it means to be an outsider, making it a must-see for fans looking for more than just space battles.

The Brother from Another Planet Plot, Explained

Image via Cinecom

Starring Joe Morton, The Brother from Another Planet follows The Brother, a mute alien who crash-lands on Earth and seeks refuge in Harlem. Using his ability to fix machines, he earns the trust of locals, including a...

Jurassic World was trapped in development hell for more than a decade - but it wasn't for lack of trying on the studios part. It's strange to look back now and think that the Jurassic Park movie franchise took a 14-year break. This gap was partly due to Jurassic Park III's reception because, while it made money, it was critiqued for its paper-thin narrative and focus on action over character.

It would be unthinkable for a studio to let such a valuable property sit and gather dust for that long now, but the gap only heightened anticipation for Jurassic World when it finally arrived. Despite the horrid reviews the most recent entry Dominion received, the series is stronger than ever, and the upcoming Jurassic World: Rebirth will take the saga in a new direction. Audiences will likely never have another decade-plus gap between installments, with Jurassic World's slow...

Every state has its own histories, landscapes, and stories worth telling, but some lend themselves to more visually stimulating tales than others. There are bland-looking states that shall remain unnamed, and then there are ones that feel intriguing and inviting no matter which way the camera's pointed. Hawaii is an obvious pick on that count, but Alaska gives it a real run for the top spot. It is an endlessly stunning place to be with natural beauty staring you down from every direction. That beauty can come at a cost, though, as nature can be both unrelenting and unforgiving.

That reality, when coupled with the vast size of the state and a sparse population, leaves it ripe for drama, danger, and stories about isolation both intentional and otherwise. It's a place where a detective can be driven mad by the lack of night ("Insomnia"), a humorously inappropriate romance can take...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

There's something sort of mythical about the state of Texas. It's one of the biggest states in the United States, both in terms of its geographical size and population, but it has an equally big reputation. Movies set in the state tend to be just as big, whether they're the laid-back ensemble comedies of Richard Linklater or one of the many gritty Westerns to which Texas has played host. But which among them is the best film set in Texas? Figuring that out is a pretty gargantuan task given the sheer number of truly great movies set in Texas, but I gave it my honest best. 

That being said, David Byrne's wacky musical comedy "True Stories," Ivan Reitman's farcical "Twins," Brian Robbins's soapy football drama "Varsity Blues," James L. Brooks's family tragicomedy "Terms of Endearment," and David Mackenzie's hard-boiled neo-western "Hell or High Water" all make the honorable mentions list.

Stars: Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey, Elizabeth Peña, Joe Morton, Stephen Mendillo, Oni Faida Lampley | Written and Directed by John Sayles

A major figure in independent filmmaking, writer/director John Sayles began his career working with the legendary Roger Corman and is now considered one of the greatest screenwriters in film history. One of his best-regarded works is his tenth feature, Lone Star, a masterpiece which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. Despite such glowing reviews, lacking availability made this film a struggle to watch for the longest time, although that has thankfully been rectified due to a Criterion release. As part of Cinema Rediscovered on Tour, this film was available to see on the big screen across the UK and Ireland, and it is thanks to FilmBath that I received the opportunity to see this for myself.

Opening in the desert, two off-duty sergeants find their...

Dick Pope, a British cinematographer best known for his collaborations with Mike Leigh, has passed away at the age of 77. The British Society of Cinematographers announced the news, but no cause of death was given.

In addition to his work with Leigh, which included “Naked,” “Secrets & Lies,” “Topsy-Turvy” and this year’s “Hard Truths,” Pope had collaborated with Christopher McQuarrie (on “The Way of the Gun”), Barry Levinson (“Man of the Year”), John Sayles (“Honeydripper”) and Richard Linklater.

“Dick had a reputation for being a wonderful collaborator and someone who was passionate about the artform of cinematography,” the Bsc wrote in remembrance. ”He was keen to embrace new technologies and ideas while also ensuring the skills and crafts of those that came before him weren’t lost. To this end Dick would guest tutor at schools such as the National Film and Television School.”

Pope was nominated for two Oscars in his career,...

British cinematographer Dick Pope, long-time collaborator of Mike Leigh, had died, it’s been announced. A very sad loss.

Some really awful news to wake up to this morning. Cinematographer Dick Pope has died at the age of 77. Ahead of the filming of what turned out to be his final movie, Hard Truths, Pope said he’d recently he’d undergone heart surgery.

Hard Truths – and it’s a superb film – has thus proven to be his final collaboration with writer/director Mike Leigh, and the pair have been at the heart of some of British cinema’s most notable films. They came together on 1990’s Life Is Sweet, and were regular collaborators from that point onwards.

Pope also, across a career that stretched nearly 50 years, worked with filmmakers such as Mike Newell, John Sayles, Gurinder Chadha, Christopher McQuarrie, Richard Linklater and Barry Levinson.

The news of his passing came...

Dick Pope, the legendary two-time Oscar nominated British cinematographer and longtime collaborator of auteur Mike Leigh, has died at the age of 77. News of Pope's passing was confirmed by the British Society of Cinematographers in a statement shared on their website earlier today.

"It is with deepest sadness that we learn of the passing of our friend and colleague Dick Pope Bsc," wrote the organisation in their post, which highlighted Pope's record three Camerimage Golden Frog wins as well as his achievement of the society's prestigious 'Cinematography in a Feature Film' award for his work on Mr. Turner. Continuing, the society also paid homage to their alumni's commitment to his craft and its furtherance, writing, "Dick had a reputation for being a wonderful collaborator and someone who was passionate about the artform of Cinematography. He was keen to embrace new technologies and ideas while also ensuring the skills and crafts...

Dick Pope is dead. The Oscar-nominated cinematographer best known for his 34-year collaboration with Mike Leigh was 77.

Pope's death was announced in a British Society of Cinematographers statement. "Dick had a reputation for being a wonderful collaborator and someone who was passionate about the artform of Cinematography," the Bsc wrote.

Dick Pope, the esteemed British cinematographer who received Academy Award nominations for his exquisite work on “The Illusionist” and Mike Leigh‘s “Mr. Turner,” has died at the age of 77. His death was confirmed by a publicist on his final film, Leigh’s “Hard Truths.”

“Hard Truths” producer Georgina Lowe shared the following statement: “On behalf of Mike, the team at Thin Man Films, and the cast and crew who worked regularly with Dick on our films for over 30 years, I wanted to say what a privilege it has been to have collaborated with him. His work, both with us, and on the eclectic collection of films he shot over his impressive career, was extraordinary. We have lost a friend and will miss him so much.”

Born in Bromley, Kent, in 1947, Pope became obsessed with still photography as a child and published some of his pictures in local papers as a teenager.

Our ongoing Member Lens feature spotlights current Film Independent Members to see how they got started, where they are now and what being part of Film Independent means to them. This month: NYU professor John Tintori.

***

As we settle into fall, and the beginning of a new school year, we thought it was a good time to focus our Member Lens at a Film Independent Member that dedicated their life to education.

John Tintori didn’t always plan on being a professor. In fact, he didn’t even think he’d go into film until college, where he caught the bug going to the Ann Arbor Film Festival. The former Chair of the NYU Graduate Film Program then made a career working in New York as an editor with filmmakers like John Sayles.

He fell into teaching through a favor to a friend, and ended up drawn more to teaching.

Bubble, boil, steam, and burn, it’s time to watch those film reels turn. That’s right, it’s October, which means it’s almost Halloween, but the minute the clock struck midnight on the 1st, we here at IndieWire were already decked in black and frightening our office mates at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. While carving pumpkins, eating candy, and donning elaborate costumes may be how most ring in this special time of year, we believe there’s no better celebration of spooky season than entering a dark theater and sharing a few collective screams with strangers.

This month, repertory theaters in New York and Los Angeles have plenty of offerings to get those lungs expanding and heart beating. From black-and-white classics like Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) to modern monster favorites such as “The Mummy” (1999) starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, don’t miss...

Golden Age, Glory Days and Renaissance are terms that are thrown around on a whim nowadays. These buzzwords and phrases are weaponized by critics and audiences alike with the intention of tearing down the current fixtures. Everyone seems to think the era that they grew up with or were introduced to first is the greatest, but it isnt true. Its impossible to appreciate the best that film has to offer without giving each and every era a fair shake.

Fans will look back at years like 1994 or 1999 with rose-colored glasses, and rightfully so. Its no fault of the average viewer. With the hit parade that has been independent cinema in the past few decades, there were bound to be some classics of old that got forgotten.

Night on Earth Is an Anthology Movie That Has Something for Everyone

Sometimes, its hard to sell an anthology piece, and for good reason.

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.NEWSNo Other Land.Politically engaged documentaries—including some of the most lauded films of the festival season, like No Other Land (2024)—are struggling to find buyers, with many filmmakers resorting to self-distribution or service deals (in which a distributor is paid to release the film while filmmakers retain the rights).After the ignominious resignation of Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, many in the nation’s film industry are calling upon his replacement, Alessandro Giuli, to abandon plans for new legislation that would curtail government subsidies for film production.With drastically expanded tax incentives and brand-new soundstages, New Jersey hopes to again become a major hub for motion pictures. First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy emphasizes the importance of every community,...

Quick Links Lone Star Weaves Multiple Perspectives and Time Periods, and Yet It's Never Confusing John Sayles Is from New York, But He Absolutely Nails South Texas Down to the Tiny Details As Modern Westerns Go, There Are Few Better than Lone Star

There's no more talked-about topic in American politics of late than immigration. While there's plenty that the people of the United States have on their minds, immigration has been a major part of American life for over two centuries now. In fact, watching independent filmmaking superstar John Sayles' 1996 masterpiece of small-town Texas border life Lone Star, one would be hard-pressed to feel that the situation has changed much in the 28 years since its release.

A thoroughly authentic and multi-layered depiction of what it's like for people of various races, backgrounds and interests to live in the complex and often close-to-overboiling mixing pot that is a town on...

Exclusive: The musical stars are coming out for Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman’s The Gray House.

Leslie Greif opened the series’ playlist exclusively for Deadline and there is serious star wattage in there, including an original song performed by country music legend Willie Nelson, which closes the series. Elsewhere, Shania Twain, Killer Mike and Yolanda Adams are among those to feature, and Jon Bon Jovi co-writes one of the show’s songs.

“My idea was, instead of having one [end] title song, I’m going to have eight different songs by Grammy-winning artists and in different genres of music, which are written for our show and are going to tell a story of that episode,” said Greif, who exec produces and wrote the script with Darrell Fetty, and John Sayles.

Nelson’s “Heart of America” was penned by Erin Enderlin, Jim ‘Moose’ Brown and Jeff Fahey. It closes the limited series,...

Earlier this year, we got word that a new live-action take on the tale of Beowulf is in development with an all-star cast on board. We've seen a number of animated and live-action adaptations of the ancient Danish legend over the years, but this one will be a little different.

Based on John Gardner’s acclaimed novel, Grendel will tell the story from the perspective of the monster, with Jeff Bridges set to provide the voice of the title character, and Dave Bautista on board as the mighty warrior who comes to Danish King Hrothgar's hall to put an end to the creature's rampage, Beowulf.

Now, Collider has unveiled our first look at the design for Grendel courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

“That is really exciting because it also balances this very cerebral world that Grendel lives in, where he's trying to understand humans, and he's trying to find his place among them,...

The resonant baritone of James Earl Jones – the Emmy Award-, Grammy Award-, and Tony Award-winning actor who also received an honorary Oscar, making him a non-competitive Egot designee – has gone silent. At age 93, the actor, best known for voicing the evil Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy and later the regal Mufasa in “The Lion King,” began his career on stage, in productions of “Othello” and the boxing biography “The Great White Hope.” The latter won him his first of three Tonys, as well as an Academy Award nomination for the film version in 1970.

His other notable work over the years included “Dr. Strangelove,” “The Hunt for Red October” (and its sequels), “Conan the Barbarian,” John Sayles’s labor struggle drama “Matewan,” the Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Fences,” the uneasy racial comedy “Soul Man,” and the South Africa-set “Cry, the Beloved Country.” He was also a...

For comedy fans of a certain age, watching VHS copies of the 1982 concert film “Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip” until the tape fell off of the spools was a rite of passage. Until Eddie Murphy‘s “Raw” dethroned it later in the 1980s, it was the most successful stand-up special of all time, and understandably so; marking Pryor‘s return to the stage after the freebasing accident that almost killed him, it was not only hilarious but revealing and poignant — the passage toward the end of the film in which Pryor personifies his crack pipe and acts out his own struggles with it is one of the most potent depictions of addiction ever put on screen.

The problem is that those VHS copies, as well as the blurry transfers on cable television where “Sunset Strip” was a staple for years, captured the greatness of Pryor’s performance but...

The official Jurassic World Rebirth plot synopsis teased a shocking twist that could redefine the franchise, which means it's time to theorize and predict the possible twist. The main story of the fourth Jurassic World movie revolves around Scarlett Johansson's Zora and her team as they collect DNA samples from the biggest species of dinosaurs on land, air, and sea. This is meant to help humanity create a game-changing drug, but their mission is interrupted as they get stranded on an island with a shipwrecked family. And it is only together that the Jurassic World Rebirth cast makes new discoveries.

The key line in a lot of ways from the Jurassic World Rebirth synopsis is the one that reads, "they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery thats been hidden from the world for decades." That immediately sets up a major twist for the franchise's seventh movie. There are no clear connections made already,...

Sayles’s 1996 film tackles racial division in Texas as a sheriff uncovers dark secrets about his home town and his father’s past

This rerelease of John Sayles’s western crime drama from 1996 is a reminder that he offered a vital but now maybe overlooked strand of indie movie-making and myth-making in 90s Hollywood, distinct from the brilliant ironies and shocks of Tarantino or the literary noir of the Coen brothers. Lone Star is a richly and densely achieved movie that gets a lot of storytelling done in two and a quarter hours; it is thoughtful and complex and grownup, a movie about the old west and the new west and about the culture wars of Texas and Mexico, about the melancholy spectacle of old white guys in Stetsons having coffee together, about who owns the narrative and who prints the legend. And it’s a film about the Freudian...

Get ready for an adventurous family adventure film starring the guy from Shazam and Chuck, Zachary Levi. Based on a 1955 children’s picture book of the same name by Crockett Johnson, Harold, and the Purple Crayon is directed by Carlos Saldanha from a screenplay co-written by David Guion and Michael Handelman and it follows the story of a grown-up Harold, who can make anything come true by drawing it with his crayon in his book. When he draws himself into real life he goes on numerous comedic adventures but his power soon falls into the wrong hands. If you loved the comedic hijinks, fantastical adventures, and imagination in Harold and the Purple Crayon here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Christopher Robin (Disney+ & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Walt Disney Studios

Christopher Robin is a live-action and animated hybrid fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Marc Forster from a...

In December 2023, the first part of Zack Snyder's sci-fi epic "Rebel Moon" was released on Netflix to cold reviews and audience indifference. The story of "Rebel Moon" followed a rebel named Kora who knew that an evil Empire was traveling to her home world -- the titular rebel moon -- to steal all their grain and force the natives to starvation. Kora trekked out into the galaxy to collect whatever ragtag warriors she could find, hoping to hire them as her homeworld's scant defenders. 

The story, of course, was adapted directly from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 classic "Seven Samurai," and no review of Snyder's film was complete without direct comparison's to the master's work. Even the plot point of stolen grain is common between the two films. 

More cinematically well-versed critics likely also made a comparison to "Battle Beyond the Stars," a 1980 sci-fi "Seven Samurai" riff directed by Jimmy T. Murakami...

From the 1930s into the ‘50s, Universal brought the horror genre some of its greatest icons. Dracula. Frankenstein’s Monster. The Wolf Man. The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Invisible Man. The Mummy. The studio has returned to these characters multiple times over the decades. But the one that has had the most successful revival was the Mummy, who was brought back to the screen in a family friendly adventure film in 1999. A film that mixed monsters with Indiana Jones style action… and became a blockbuster that’s now seen as a beloved classic. So let’s take a look back at the making of The Mummy ‘99 and find out What the F*ck Happened to This Horror Movie.

To properly cover The Mummy, we first have to flash back to 1922. That’s when the discovery – and the opening – of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb captured the world’s imagination.

The life of an actor is one that has its peaks and valleys and is not without its share of heartbreak. All actors have their "one that got away," instances where they miss out on a great role and/or project, yet most of those situations involve coming close to landing a role before finding out that someone else has been cast. It's far more rare to land a plum role only to have the character itself change so drastically that the director actually talks you out of accepting the gig.

That's exactly what happened to a young Corey Feldman upon auditioning for "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" for director Steven Spielberg. After the unfortunate news had been broken to Feldman, Spielberg did what so many Hollywood figures have done since cinema began: made a promise to involve him in the filmmaker's next project. While such a promise typically holds...

Gina Gershon’s body of work boasts a murderer’s row of formidable directors. Following her debut in John Hughes’s Pretty in Pink, she went on to appear in films by John Sayles, Robert Altman, John Woo, Michael Mann, Olivier Assayas, William Friedkin, and Woody Allen. Yet it’s two fateful collaborations in consecutive years—Paul Verhoeven on 1995’s Showgirls and the Wachowskis on 1996’s Bound—that loom largest over her filmography.

As Corky in Bound, Gershon displays a fierce commitment to the physical and emotional realism of a lesbian ex-con trying to restart her life, seamlessly transmuting the brooding of a classic noir protagonist into the body of a contemporary butch plumber. This makes it all the easier to understand how she’d fall for a traditional femme fatale like Jennifer Tilly’s Violet.

The erotic and ecstatic chemistry between the two escalates into an elaborate heist plot...

Most film fans in the ‘80s got their first glimpse of John Cusack on the big screen as one of Anthony Michael Hall’s buddies who placed a bet that requires that their pal to secure a pair of Molly Ringwald’s panties in the John Hughes teen comedy “Sixteen Candles.” Hey, everyone has to start somewhere. Consider that his sister Joan was reduced to playing “Geek Girl” with an awkward brace around neck.

It was uphill from there as Cusack, with his ironically humorous takes on leading manhood, became one of the more in-demand male stars for the next two decades, working with such top-notch directors as John Sayles, Rob Reiner, Cameron Crowe, Stephen Frears, Spike Jonze, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick and Mike Newell. Somehow, Cusack has been under the radar when it comes to be nominated for major awards as a performer. But he has made considerable contributions...

Joe Dante's 1981 werewolf flick "The Howling" boasts one of the most impressive werewolf transformation scenes in the genre's history. A vicious serial killer named Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo) confront's the film's protagonist, Karen (Dee Wallace), an investigative reporter recovering from a previous attack at a woods-bound therapy camp. Lit through the slits in Venetian blinds, Quist's face extends and mutates, his mouth ripping into a terrifying wolf grin, his eyes bulging. Karen witnesses the entire transformation and is, naturally, terrified. Quist was already known for his penchant for murder, but learning that he is a werewolf makes him that much more monstrous. The effects were provided by the amazing Rob Bottin.

"The Howling," while a corker of a monster movie, is also a clever satire of then-modern therapy. A certain kind of "touchy-feely" language had come into vogue in the late '70s and early '80s, and...

On January 22, 2000, writer/director Karyn Kusama‘s feature debut “Girlfight” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and, like “sex, lies, and videotape” and “Reservoir Dogs” before it, announced the arrival of a born filmmaker. Kusama has gone on to direct a wide array of great films and television episodes, including the once underrated but now properly exalted horror movie “Jennifer’s Body” and her searing masterpiece “Destroyer,” but “Girlfight” holds its own against Kusama’s later, more well-resourced work — her tale of a troubled teenager (a then-unknown Michelle Rodriguez) who channels her aggression into boxing has held up beautifully thanks to Kusama’s intensely personal investment in the story and her instinctive awareness of where to place the camera to tell that story with maximum impact.

If the movie, which Criterion has recently released on Blu-ray with a gorgeous new transfer supervised by Kusama, looks even better now than when it was released,...

In a career that has spanned seven decades, Roger Corman is nothing short of a legend. His influence and impact are almost immeasurable, having mentored or introduced so many prominent filmmakers working today. That doesn’t even touch on how he changed independent cinema or wore multiple hats doing so: director, producer, writer, and actor, to name a few.

With the legend’s passing this weekend, it feels only appropriate to highlight just a handful of the essential Roger Corman horror movies on streaming. This week’s streaming picks celebrate some of the essential works of Roger Corman horror movies, whether he produced, directed, or appeared on screen.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

A Bucket of Blood – AMC+, Crackle, Fandor, Kanopy, MGM+, Midnight Pulp, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Screambox, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu

Roger Corman had a recurring interest in counterculture,...

Vanishingly few individuals have influenced the history of cinema like Roger Corman, who died last Thursday at the age of 98. Without his influence as a producer and mentor, we might never have had the work of directors like Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, John Sayles, Joe Dante, James Cameron, Ron Howard and Francis Ford Coppola; or of actors like Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Diane Ladd, William Shatner, Sandra Bullock, Bruce Dern, Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones. In between all this, he managed to direct a few films – 55, to be precise. Today we’re taking a look at a selection of those that our UK viewers can easily find and watch online.

The Masque Of The Red Death

The Masque Of The Red Death - StudioCanal, Apple TV

Roger Corman, Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe – was there ever a trio of artists so well suited to each other? Yes,...

A quick question: Do you like The Godfather? How about Goodfellas? Or Gremlins? Or Stop Making Sense, Avatar, Apollo 13, Chinatown, Easy Rider, Paper Moon, Lone Star, or roughly 90 percent of any movies featuring monsters terrorizing pretty ladies from the last 50 years?

You have, in so many ways, Roger Corman to thank for all of them. A producer, director and writer who became a patron saint to an entire generation of filmmakers, the “King of the Bs” either gave the artists behind those movies their start or helped give them...

The story of Beowulf and Grendel is one of the most famous stories in English literature. The epic Beowulf is one of the most important works of English literature in general and it has been an inspiration for many authors over the centuries. We have also had numerous adaptations of the work, including the animated film from 2007, but all of them focused on the heroic tale of Beowulf, the hero of the story. But, the story also has another important character – Grendel – the monster and Beowulf’s rival in the story.

Grendel is finally going to get the chance to tell you his side of the story, as the movie Grendel will be released soon, with Palisades Park Pictures is launching international sales ahead of Cannes.

But that is actually not the main piece of news we have for you today. Namely, the cast of the upcoming movie has been...