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World Rat Day, which falls on the Fourth of April, hopes to dispel the myths surrounding these common and misunderstood rodents. Meanwhile, John Lafia’s The Rats does the exact opposite — it’s designed to exploit our fear and discomfort. And that it does in every inch of its tawdry yet satisfying story of extreme infestation. This 2002 straight-to-television movie doesn’t go beyond the call of your basic creature feature, namely ones of the rat variety, but it does a better job of delivering that sense of crawly familiarity than most.

Originally slated for a mid-September premiere in 2001, The Rats (formerly known as The Colony) was pushed back a year, on account of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Shots of the World Trade Center were subsequently removed from this Fox-aired TV-movie; that opening scene of rats festering inside the head of the Statue of Liberty remained intact, only now a bit emptier...

The Showtime drama Yellowjackets tells the story of a high-school women's soccer team stranded in the Canadian wilderness by a plane crash. The show splits its attention between two timelines, one following the teenage girls' efforts to survive directly after the crash and another set twenty-five years later which finds a handful of the survivors haunted by an unspoken trauma from their time in Canada.

A mix between a psychological thriller and a survivalist drama, the series expertly plays with the audiences' emotions. The show establishes a sharp contrast between the characters' personalities in the modern day and the 90s, creating an immediate sense of intrigue. Likewise, by using the present as a lens to reveal hints about the past, the show crafts a sense of dread and suspense that hangs around both storylines.

Alive Explores The Tragedy That Inspired Yellowjackets The Andes Airplane Crash Stranded a Rugby Team In...

With future seasons of Sylvester Stallone's popular crime drama Tulsa King confirmed, a show in which he plays the head of a mafia family, we can't help but be reminded of one of the actor's earlier portrayals of a gangster. By 1991, Sylvester Stallone had already starred in five Rocky movies and three Rambo flicks, cementing himself as a bona fide action star who seemed most at home on screen when he was hitting something — or rather, someone. This is part of the reason why it was so shocking when his next project was as the lead role in Oscar, a comedy from one of the great filmmakers of the genre, director John Landis.

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Oscar is a 1991 comedy film directed by John Landis, starring Sylvester Stallone as Angelo "Snaps" Provolone,...

Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey continues his comeback with the first trailer for the upcoming thriller The Contract...in which the American Beauty and House of Cards star plays The Devil. Which is perhaps a little on the nose? Anyway, The Contract is all set to debut at the Cairo Film Festival later this week, with Variety revealing the first look at this surprisingly low-budget-looking psychological thriller about a journalist who, in looking for a scoop, crosses paths with the Devil himself Kevin Spacey.

Directed by Italian filmmaker Massimo Paolucci, the thriller is based on an idea by Caroletti, which has been scripted by his wife, Eva Henger, and is produced by Tm Entertainment and Sandro Lazzerini. The movie is led by The Dark Knight star Eric Roberts alongside Spacey, with the rest of the cast including Vincent Spano and Jennifer Caroletti.

According to the synopsis, Roberts stars as a down-and-out...

Italian indie thriller “The Contract,” starring Kevin Spacey as a character named “The Devil,” is set to world premiere at the Cairo Film Festival this week, without Spacey on the red carpet in the Egyptian capital’s Opera House.

In the film, Spacey plays a role that has been described in promotional materials as somewhat akin to Al Pacino’s role in “Devil’s Advocate”– or as Satan who takes the guise of a human lawyer. The tagline of the rather rudimentary poster for “The Contract” is “When Hell Surrounds You The Devil Is Your Last Hope.”

In the trailer, for what looks like a low-budget TV movie, Spacey’s character, is seen screaming lines such as: “I can feel it when they lie to me on purpose, and I go crazy!” and “I don’t care about the past, it’s all long gone!”

The psychological thriller is directed by...

Francis Ford Coppola has revealed the movie he is most proud of. The answer may surprise some.

In a Q&a session on X (formerly Twitter) today, the legendary filmmaker was asked by one fan: “Out of all the films that you’ve made, which one would you say you are the most proud of having made, or which one do you feel best captures your ideas of film as an art form?”

Few living filmmakers have a catalogue to rival Coppola: The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now and The Conversation, to name a few of his most acclaimed.

But those weren’t his choice today. The filmmaker was torn, but replied: “That’s like asking someone with 7 kids, who’s the best? I love them all, but if scratched deeper I might say Rumblefish”.

Interesting choice for sure. 1983 drama Rumble Fish is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by S.E. Hinton,...

Despite not having made a film of his own since 2013 (the under-appreciated “Go for Sisters”), John Sayles is having quite the year. In January, his 1996 neo-Western mystery film “Lone Star” entered the Criterion Collection with a 4K Uhd edition that features interviews with director of photography Stuart Dryburgh, as well as an interview with Sayles himself conducted by “El Norte” director Gregory Nava.

Then in April, his largely unavailable 1991 inner-city saga “City of Hope” received the Blu-ray release many fans had been pining for since a restoration was screened at Sundance in 2016 for the 25th anniversary. Adding to this newfound availability of quality copies of his work, a large number of Sayles’ films are currently streaming for free on apps like Tubi, Kanopy, and Pluto TV, as well as cost-based apps like AMC+, Starz, and Prime Video.

At no other point in his career has his library of work been...

After the March 28 friends, family, and industry screening for Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” at Universal’s CityWalk AMC in IMAX, reactions were wild. Some said it was his most ambitious film since “Apocalypse Now;” another described it to Puck as “batshit crazy.” Made for $120 million and bankrolled entirely by Coppola through the sale of one of his vineyards, it incorporates new VFX techniques — ones, the filmmakers hope, will be seen on the biggest screens possible.

For that to happen, it will need a major theatrical deal and the filmmakers are now in talks with distributors and major studios. However, those entities have been particularly risk averse these days — and while Coppola is a legend, he hasn’t made a commercial success in three decades.

The film’s stars include Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, and Giancarlo Esposito; maybe, say, Paramount or Universal want to be back in the Coppola business.

Seven years after his career imploded amid dozens of sexual misconduct accusations, Kevin Spacey’s ongoing efforts to resurrect his career have taken him to Italy. The two-time Oscar winner will star as The Devil in The Contract, one of three projects that will soon involve Italian filmmaker Massimiliano Caroletti and his wife, the former porn star Eva Henger.

Cinecittà News, the official news outlet of Rome’s famed Cinecittà Studios, revealed on Tuesday that the project, which recently wrapped shooting in Rome, is being directed by Massimo Paolucci (All in One Day) and will be produced by Tm Entertainment and Sandro Lazzerini. The thriller is based on an idea by Caroletti and scripted by Henger.

Spacey had largely avoided the public eye since his career collapsed in the early days of the #MeToo era, but has recently begun to reemerge, with a role in the upcoming indie thriller Peter...

Acclaimed and controversial actor Kevin Spacey lands his latest film role following his slew of legal troubles as he's set to star as The Devil in the upcoming Italian thriller, The Contract.

Per Variety, Spacey filmed his scenes as The Devil last December in The Contract, which recently wrapped principal photography in Rome. Massimo Paolucci, who served as a line producer in Dracula 3D, directs the English-language psychological thriller, with the flick being described as having a similar vibe to films such as Taylor Hackford's The Devil's Advocate and Alan Parker's Angel Heart. The Contract will also star Eric Roberts and Vincent Spano, with Italian-based company, Tm Entertainment, producing the feature-length project.

Related Kevin Spacey Revives House of Cards Character to Slam Netflix in Christmas Eve Video Kevin Spacey has teamed up with Tucker Carlson to slam Netflix and address the 2024 election.

In The Contract, Spacey's character is...

Kevin Spacey may have been found not guilty in his sex offenses trial last year, but he still might as well be The Devil as far as a lot of people are concerned – so it’s fitting that he does indeed play a version of The Devil in his latest project, the psychological thriller The Contract, which just wrapped production in Italy. Spacey’s character in the film directed by Massimo Paolucci is called The Devil, and the filmmakers told Variety that his role is along the lines of “Al Pacino’s in The Devil’s Advocate as Satan who takes the guise of a human lawyer, and that of Robert De Niro in Angel Heart, a Satanic businessman who hires a seedy gumshoe detective to descend into Hell.”

Details on the plot of the English-language film have not been revealed. Spacey is joined in the cast by Eric Roberts and Vincent Spano.

Kevin Spacey will appear as a character named “The Devil” in Italian director Massimo Paolucci’s psychological thriller “The Contract,” which just wrapped principal photography in Rome.

The English-language film, described in a statement as having a similar storyline as Alan Parker’s “Angel Heart” and Taylor Hackford’s “The Devil’s Advocate,” also stars Eric Roberts and Vincent Spano, Italian production company Tm Entertainment said.

Spacey arrived in Rome last December to shoot “The Contract.”

Reps for Spacey, Roberts and Spano did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The “House of Cards” star’s career imploded amid allegations of sexual misconduct in 2017, but he has since been found not liable in an October 2022 lawsuit brought by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp and was declared not guilty in a U.K. sexual assault trial in July 2023. He will soon be back on U.S. movie screens with indie thriller “Peter Five Eight,...

More than three decades before Netflix’s Society of the Snow, which revisits the true story of the 1972 Andes flight disaster, Alive made an indelible impact. Frank Marshall directed the 1993 movie that was produced by his wife, Kathleen Kennedy, and focuses on the Uruguay rugby team’s chartered flight that crashed en route to a game in Chile.

Based on the 1974 nonfiction book by Piers Paul Read, the film starred Ethan Hawke as Nando Parrado, one of 16 survivors (out of 45 on board) rescued two months after the accident. Parrado served as technical adviser for Alive and talked with castmembers about the ordeal, which involved passengers resorting to cannibalism to survive. The film depicted the harrowing crash using VFX tricks from Industrial Light & Magic.

“We are trying to create a realistic plane crash and not throw you out of the movie by having something that looks like it doesn’t have...

Disney’s reputation is notoriously squeaky clean.

The beloved company has provided family-friendly fun for decades, with live-action favorites and animated classics spanning back to the 1930s.

As a powerful force in the industry and one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, the company expanded its reach over the years with film distribution companies, like Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, Searchlight Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution.

The movies often featured more adult themes than one would expect from the company. Because they are published by subsidiaries, the titles are all only indirectly Disney-related – but they still fall under the major studio’s umbrella anyway.

Find out which R-rated movies reside within the Disney brand…

The Woman in the Window (2021)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Starring: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie

Plot summary: An agoraphobic woman begins to spy on her new neighbors, and is witness to a crime in their apartment.

Down and Out in Beverly Hills...

Disney’s reputation is notoriously squeaky clean.

The beloved company has provided family-friendly fun for decades, with live-action favorites and animated classics spanning back to the 1930s.

As a powerful force in the industry and one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, the company expanded its reach over the years with film distribution companies, like Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, Searchlight Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution.

The movies often featured more adult themes than one would expect from the company. Because they are published by subsidiaries, the titles are all only indirectly Disney-related – but they still fall under the major studio’s umbrella anyway.

Find out which R-rated movies reside within the Disney brand…

The Woman in the Window (2021)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Starring: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie

Plot summary: An agoraphobic woman begins to spy on her new neighbors, and is witness to a crime in their apartment.

Down and Out in Beverly Hills...

Since his breakout role as Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone has risen to be one of the most successful and powerful men in Hollywood. Arguably the king of 1980s macho action movies, along with Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stallone has headlined a slew of incredibly iconic films. Even today, the seasoned actor has been involved in some fantastic films from across genres.

Sylvester Stallone has played everything from troubled soldiers and hard-boiled assassins to straight-laced detectives and athletes. The actor best fits into physical roles that show off his physique and action prowess, but he's proven himself as versatile an actor as any of his peers. The action hero has one of the best streaks of movies in the business, and his range extended far beyond Rocky.

Over The Top

Release Date

February 12, 1987

Director

Menahem Golan

Cast

Sylvester Stallone, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely & David Mendenhall

Genre

Sports Drama...

There are times, as a young actor, that you might start to question your career decisions.

Like, for example, when you find yourself buried up to your chin in snow, your head pressed up against the fuselage of a plane and your director starts covering your mouth and nose in even more snow, so much so you can barely breath. That could be the moment when you wonder: “Maybe I should have gone to law school?”

But not Enzo Vogrincic. It was midway through shooting J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow when the 30-year-old Uruguayan actor found himself in exactly that position. The Netflix drama, which will close Venice this year, tells a true, phenomenal story of survival. Of the 45 people, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby team who boarded Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 on Oct. 13, 1972, from Montevideo to Chile. While crossing the Andes mountains, the plane crashed,...

In 1993, Frank Marshall released the film, Alive, which was based on the extraordinary true story of a Uruguayan rugby team battling for survival after their plane had crashed in the Andes. The movie starred Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, and Josh Hamilton. Now, J.A. Bayona, the director of The Impossible and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, brings us a new film based on the book Society of the Snow: The Definitive Account of the World’s Greatest Survival Story about the same events.

The official synopsis from Netflix reads,

“In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to fly a rugby team to Chile, crashed in the heart of the Andes. Only 29 of its 45 passengers survived the accident. Trapped in one of the most hostile and inaccessible environments on the planet, they have to resort to extreme measures to stay alive.

Society of the Snow will have its World Premiere at...

Rita Ora is opening up about working with Carrie Fisher on her final movie before she died in 2016 after suffering from a heart attack.

Fisher’s final project, Wonderwell, was released in June. The magical coming-of-age story set in Italy follows a young girl named Violet (newcomer Kiera Milward) after she becomes the face of a world-renowned designer’s (Ora) fashion label. When Violet wanders into a forest near the village she and her family are staying in, she meets the “fabled” witch of the forest, Hazel, portrayed by the Star Wars actress.

Ora recalled working with Fisher as “an amazing experience,” adding, “I’m really actually surprised and happy that this film’s finally getting the light that it deserves,” the singer told People. “To say I’ve been in scenes with Carrie Fisher, it’s insane. She’s an icon — a legend.”

Wonderwell wrapped production shortly before Fisher...

"Where am I?" "On the other side..." "Of what?" Vertical released this already, but we're only now catching up with the trailer. Wonderwell is a coming-of-age film made in Italy (shot at Cinecittà Studios in Rome + in Tuscany) as an Italian-us co-production. A coming-of-age fairy tale set between modern-day Italy and an imaginary realm just beyond, Wonderwell follows Violet, a naive & inquisitive 12 year-old-girl, on a thrilling journey that transforms her world forever. It was shot back at the end of 2016, just before the great Carrie Fisher passed away, and she's featured in the film in a small role. The magic of childhood on the threshold of adolescence sweeps a young girl into a timeless adventure in director Vlad Marsavin' film. Carrie Fisher and Rita Ora join talented newcomer Kiera Milward in a coming of age fable that combines VFX tech with live-action to tell the story of a girl discovering the thrilling,...

Adored by millions across the world, Carrie Fisher (Star Wars) was one of the true titans in the world of Hollywood. With a total Box Office gross of nearly $3 billion, Fisher was the sort of name that could instantly sell a project to the masses, with a devoted fan following. Best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise, her name was held in such high esteem she even made it, alongside an enormous array of talent, on the list for the 2022 Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sadly, that honor came posthumously as Fisher passed away in 2016 at the age of 60, with her legacy surely built to last forever. Alongside Fisher as Hazel, Wonderwell also stars Rita Ora as Yana, Kiera Milward as Violet, Nell Tiger Free (Game of Thrones) as Savannah, Sebastian Croft (Heartstopper) as Daniele, Vincent Spano (Alive) as Franco, and Megan Dodds (Bait) as Chloe. A fantastic cast for,...

Spanish director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, The Orphanage) is re-teaming with his Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom composer Michael Giacchino for his new project, La sociedad de la nieve (Society of the Snow). Netflix, which is producing the Spanish-language survival thriller, confirmed the news on Tuesday.

Society of the Snow aims to retell the story of the Uruguayan rugby team which, en route to Chile in 1972, crash-landed on a glacier in the heart of the Andes. The survivors were forced to resort to extreme measures in order to stay alive. Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego co-wrote the screenplay to Society of the Snow, adapting the non-fiction book La sociedad de la nieve by Pablo Vierci. Filming took place in 2022 in Spain, Uruguay and Chile including on location in the El Valle de las Lágrimas, where the real crash occurred.

Commenting on his collaboration with Giacchino, Bayona called the...

Francis Ford Coppola is known for big swings throughout his career, but one of his biggest was filming the adaptations of S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish” back-to-back and releasing them both in 1983 only months apart. The two movies’ filmmaking styles could not possibly be more different, with the lush Technicolor palette of “The Outsiders” giving way to the shadowy, moody black-and-white of “Rumble Fish,” a film so stylish in its look that it became a prototype for indies in years to come.

This is thanks to cinematographer Stephen H. Burum, the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the international cinematography festival EnergaCamerimage in Poland. Burum was on hand after a retrospective screening of “Rumble Fish,” one of many of his films screened throughout festival. (Others range from “St. Elmo’s Fire” to “The Untouchables” to “Hoffa;” he received an Oscar nomination for the latter.) The 82 year-old lenser,...

Spain’s J.A. Bayona, director of “The Impossible” and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” is close to wrapping production on the Spanish leg of Netflix’s “Society of the Snow,” (“La sociedad de la nieve”), one of the Spanish-speaking world’s most ambitious upcoming features for 2023.

Turning on a 1972 air crash in the Andes that forced its survivors to highly extreme measures, the film, marks Bayona’s return to Spanish-language filmmaking for the first time in 16 years since his 2006 feature debut, “The Orphanage.”

What looks set to be a celebration of extraordinary human fortitude in a harrowing intensely physical disaster movie harks back, however, to Bayona’s “The Impossible,” for many still the director’s finest achievement.

“Society of the Snow,” which hosted a set visit for select media a few weeks back, was shot in Andalusia’s Sierra Nevada, mainland Spain’s highest mountain range, using the 15,000-pound fuselage wreckages...

Universal's DreamWorks Animation's The Croods: A New Age is number one at this weekend's box office. It marks the third consecutive weekend that the animated family movie has been number one. Croods: A New Age was able to bring in just north of $3 million and has earned $76.4 million globally since premiering 3 weeks ago. December has been quiet for movie theaters, especially since 40% of all North American theaters are closed at the moment. Wonder Woman 1984 could give the box office a shot in the arm on Christmas Day, but it's unclear what could happen after that.

Croods: A New Age will begin streaming on VOD starting December 18th for $20. However, the home entertainment competition will really begin the week after that with Wonder Woman 1984 arriving on HBO Max for no additional fee, along with the Soul release on Disney+, which is also free for current subscribers. With that being said,...

So many movies intended for the big screen are having to forgo it these days, it seems odd when something as apt for home viewing as “Half Brothers” makes the Covid-defying move of opening on 1,200-plus American screens. Those looking for undemanding entertainment may give it a passing grade, but or the collective viewing experience. Nor does writer-producer Eduardo Cisernos’ concept add much to culture-clash politics beyond contrivance and reinforced stereotypes. It’s a slick film that’s forgettable at best, annoyingly broad and unfunny at worst.

A 1994 prologue has engineer Flavio (Juan Pablo Espinosa) enjoying a close, playful relationship with only child Renato (Ian Inigo) in their native San Miguel de Allende. But a steep economic downturn forces dad to leave his wife (Bianca Marroquin) and son behind in order to seek work up north, along with many others. While he promises he’ll soon return, that promise is broken.

As this year thankfully nears an end we’re between those two big holidays that are all about family. So after we’ve eaten the big feast with them we’re gearing up for the big gift-giving season, full of brightly wrapped presents that often hide big surprises. But what if the biggest surprise isn’t in the package festooned with shiny paper and ribbons? How might you react upon finding out about a parent’s other family, complete with a sibling? That, along with riddles and a long road trip, is at the heart of the new comedy Half Brothers.

The story begins 26 years ago down in Mexico as pre-teen Renato Murguia is enjoying an idyllic childhood, flying his remote-control model airplane with his best pal, his adoring papa Flavio (Juan Pablo Espinosa). All is bliss until the economic crash and the peso is devalued. With tears in his eyes,...

The 1986 movie Short Circuit is getting rebooted at Spyglass Media Group, imagining a new take on the classic sci-fi comedy. Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman have been hired by the company to "put a Latinx twist" on the screenplay for the family movie, although additional story details haven't yet been revealed. It seems likely that the Short Circuit reboot will follow a similar story as the original, but with original characters.

Directed by John Badham and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, the original Short Circuit stars Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg, Fisher Stevens, Austin Pendleton, Tim Blaney, and G. W. Bailey. It focuses on an experimental military robot named Number 5 who gains human-like intelligence after it's struck by lightning. Debuting in the No. 1 spot at the box office when it was released in 1986, the film is one of the most memorable sci-fi movies of its decade and is...

The appealingly atmospheric crime thriller Alphabet City (1984) debuts on Blu-ray this fall courtesy of Fun City Editions. Directed by Amos Poe, with a script by Poe, Gregory K. Heller (additional dialogue is credited to Robert Seidman), Alphabet City belongs in the company of After Hours and Into The Night (both 1985) as one of the ultimate ’80s nightmare nocturnes, and it is downright, well, criminal that Alphabet City is not better remembered today. Hopefully this Blu-ray will work towards amending that.

Alphabet City

Blu-ray

Fun City Editions

1984 / Color / 1.85:1 widescreen / 85 min. / Street Date September 29, 2020 / available through Vinegar Syndrome / 24.99

Starring: Vincent Spano, Michael Winslow, Kate Vernon, Jami Gertz, Zohra Lampert, Raymond Serra.

Cinematography: Oliver Wood

Film Editor: Grahame Weinbren

Composer: Nile Rodgers

Written by Amos Poe, Gregory K. Heller, Robert Siedman (additional dialogue).

Produced by Andrew Braunsberg

Directed by Amos Poe

As things kick off, our temperamental hero Johnny, a street hustler for the mob,...

"My father's last wish is for me to go on a scavenger hunt with a brother I never knew I had!" Road trip time! Focus Features has released an official trailer for an adventure comedy titled Half Brothers, from American filmmaker Luke Greenfield. Follow the clues. Uncover the mystery. Find your family. The story follows a successful Mexican aviation executive who is shocked to discover he has an American half-brother he never knew about. The two very different half-brothers are go on a road journey together masterminded by their ailing father, tracing the path their father took as an immigrant from Mexico to the US. Meant to be a metaphor of the relationship between neighboring countries America and Mexico. Starring Luis Gerardo Méndez and Connor Del Rio as the brothers, along with José Zúñiga, Vincent Spano, Pia Watson, Juan Pablo Espinosa, and Jwaundace Candece. Looks like wholesome, cheesy road trippin' goofiness.

Actor Will Ferrell has had a long career in comedy. Having starred in countless movies over the years, a few stand out as prime examples of his comedic talents and remain firm favorites. Alongside the likes of Step Brothers and Blades of Glory, 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy stands tallest, with many fans considering it to be peak Ferrell. Judd Apatow, the filmmaker behind such beloved movies as The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up helped director Adam McKay bring Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy to life, and has recently revealed the original, wildly different plot.

"Will Ferrell and Adam Mckay wrote the script Anchorman and they showed it to me. The first drafts were really hilarious and crazy. It was about the anchor team flying to an anchorman convention. The plane crashes and they wind up on the side of a mountain where they are all...

On Saturday, October 6, event chair Barbara Davis hosted her iconic Carousel of Hope Ball at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

Robert De Niro and Jay Leno at Carousel of Hope Gala

The gala, a Hollywood institution since 1978, honored longtime supporter Robert De Niro with the “Brass Ring Award” for his philanthropic efforts and continued dedication to the cause. Patrons of the evening were treated to show-stopping performances by legends Gladys Knight, Kenny Babyface Edmonds, and David Foster. The Carousel of Hope Ball has raised more than $100 million to date, with proceeds benefitting the Children’s Diabetes Foundation and the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. This year’s gala alone raised over $1.9 Million.

Award-winning director David O. Russell took the stage to present his friend and frequent collaborator Robert De Niro with this year’s “Brass Ring Award.” De Niro delivered a heartfelt speech, recognizing the awe-inspiring work being...

Another great year at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival! Hey guys… long time no chat! Melissa here, and boy have I missed you! I was lucky enough to attend this years festival and as per usual, the programming exceeded expectations. Be sure to check out my reviews this week as I talk about some of the amazing films! Below, you can find a list of all of the winners. These are all films that you do not want to miss!

Winners Include “My Name is Myeisha,” “Tower. A Bright Day” and “White Tide”

The 4th Annual Mammoth Lakes Film Festival (Mlff) announced this year’s juried and audience award winners at the Closing Night Award Ceremony at the Sierra Event Center in Mammoth Lakes on Sunday, May 27, 2018. The festival, held from May 23-27, screened over 70 films, including 63 in Mlff’s competition categories. Each of the festival winners received an Orson the Bear Award,...

"You want to make them pay for what they did to you?" Lionsgate has debuted the first official trailer for a new crime thriller titled Bent, from NYC-raised director Bobby Moresco, based on the novel titled "Deadly Codes". Bent stars Karl Urban as a shamed former cop now working as a private investigator. He ends up in over his head following a government conspiracy involving rogue agents from a top spy agency. The full cast includes Sofía Vergara, Andy Garcia, Vincent Spano, John Finn, Grace Byers, Tonya Cornelisse, and Patrick Brennan. As cool as this sounds, it looks like pretty much every other gritty ex-cop crime thriller, which is a shame, because Urban deserves better roles than this. Not sure it's going to be any good. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Bobby Moresco's Bent, originally from Collider: When a drug bust goes wrong, ex-cop Danny Gallagher's (Karl...

Rumble Fish

Blu-ray

Criterion

1940 / B&W / 1:85 / Street Date April 25, 2017

Starring: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane.

Cinematography: Stephen Burum

Film Editor: Barry Malkin

Written by S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola

Produced by Francis Ford Coppola

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Rumble Fish, Francis Ford Coppola’s Young Adult tone poem, unspools in a black and white never-never land of sullen teens, pool tables and pompadours. It may take a moment for the audience to suss out that we’re not in the Eisenhower era with Chuck Berry, Marilyn Monroe and the Cold War but squarely in Reagan’s domain of MTV, Madonna and the Cold War.

Set in a destitute Oklahoma town with the ghost of The Last Picture Show whistling through its empty streets, Matt Dillon plays Rusty, an inveterate gang-banger growing up in the shadow of his older brother played by Mickey Rourke, a reformed juvenile...

“Money talks nobody walks.” As part of this year’s Greater St. Louis Humanities Festival – which runs from Sept. 23-Oct. 2, and whose theme is “E Pluribus Unum?” – Cinema St. Louis presents a free screening Monday, September 26 at 7 Pm of writer/director John Sayles’ masterful City Of Hope (1991), which compellingly explores the racial attitudes and socioeconomic forces that divide the citizens of the fictional (but all too realistic) Hudson City, N.J.

An ambitious, richly detailed panorama of a city in decline – and rapidly approaching crisis – City Of Hope addresses urban decay in the United States by poking around in Hudson City’s political garbage, turning over and exposing the contaminated dirt of patronage, bribery, and special interests, demonstrating how the toxins trickle down to the middle class and poor, seep into our attitudes, and poison our thoughts. The sprawling cast includes actors from the director’s informal stock company – Joe Morton,...

Organisers at the Park City jamboree have added a documentary from New Zealand, a profile of Mike Nichols and a presentation of Dazed And Confused with live commentary by Richard Linklater and Jason Reitman.

New additions include three archive films from The Sundance Collection at UCLA, a film preservation programme established in 1997.

The late arrivals mean the 2016 festival will present 123 features representing 37 countries and 49 first-time filmmakers, including 30 in competition.

These films were selected from 12,793 submissions, including 4,081 features and 8,712 shorts. Of the feature submissions, 1,972 were from the Us and 2,109 were international. A total of 103 features at the festival will be world premieres.

The 2016 Sundance Film Festival is scheduled to run from January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The synopses below were provided by the festival.

World Cinema Documentary Competition

Tickled (New Zealand)

Dirs: David Farrier, Dylan Reeve

A journalist stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition. As he delves...

Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson on the Oscars' Red Carpet Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson at the Academy Awards Eli Wallach and wife Anne Jackson are seen above arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The 95-year-old Wallach had received an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2010. See also: "Doris Day Inexplicably Snubbed by Academy," "Maureen O'Hara Honorary Oscar," "Honorary Oscars: Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo Among Rare Women Recipients," and "Hayao Miyazaki Getting Honorary Oscar." Delayed film debut The Actors Studio-trained Eli Wallach was to have made his film debut in Fred Zinnemann's Academy Award-winning 1953 blockbuster From Here to Eternity. Ultimately, however, Frank Sinatra – then a has-been following a string of box office duds – was cast for a pittance, getting beaten to a pulp by a pre-stardom Ernest Borgnine. For his bloodied efforts, Sinatra went on...

Castle finally delivers a satisfying, surprising Christmas and mafia-themed episode. Here's Laura's review of Bad Santa...

This review contains spoilers.

7.10 Bad Santa

What a relief!

This season of Castle has not been one of their best. From ridiculous plots (involving inter-dimensional travel) to non-existent ones (where any useful evidence is withheld until seconds before the killer is revealed) to the explanation that is nothing of the kind (Rick ran away from last season’s wedding to do what exactly?), it’s been pretty disappointing. So honesty, I wasn’t expecting much this last week. And that’s especially sad considering the episode, Bad Santa, includes two actors I generally love: Vincent Spano and Paul Ben-Victor. But their appearances did have me expecting a mafia-related episode, and I think that was probably the only thing I guessed right. I was certainly wrong about the level of quality I expected.

Because this...

[Warning: The following story contains spoilers from Monday's Castle. Read at your own risk.]

Castle's midseason finale may have been a Christmas episode, but there wasn't a lot of holiday cheer.

After an ER doctor is shot on the street by a man in a Santa suit, Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) quickly realize the victim may have been a doctor for the mob. During the twisty tale, Castle (somewhat against his will) becomes a blood brother with mob boss Dino Scarpella (Paul Ben-Victor), who urges (threatens?) Castle to help prove the innocence of the key suspect, Christopher Carlucci (Vincent Spano).

The Castle Wedding: How did Castle and Beckett say "I do"?

Fortunately for Castle, he and Beckett eventually...

Read More >...

Recently, ABC released the new,official synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "Castle" episode 10 of season 7. The episode is entitled, "Bad Santa," and it turns out that we're going to see Castle and Beckett deal with a new case that involves the Mafia when one of their doctors gets shot dead in the street, and more! In the new, 10th episode press release: When an ER physician is gunned down in the street, Castle and Beckett are going to soon discover that the victim was a mob doctor to a Mafia family run by an old friend of Castle's. Also, against the backdrop of Christmas, Esposito and Lanie will reach a defining moment in their relationship. Guest stars feature: Carole Gutierrez as Dr. Deb Lander, Larry Poindexter as Det. McBride, Vincent Spano as Christopher Carlucci, Mo Gallini as Rocco Carducci, Paul Ben-Victor as Dino Scarpella and Alex Frnka as Jane Scarpella.

Recently,CBS served up the new,official,synopsis/spoilers for their upcoming "The Mentalist" season finale episode 22 of season 6. The episode is entitled, "Blue Bird," and it sounds like things will get quite interesting as Patrick might finally express his true feelings for Teresa before she leaves for D.C., and more. In the new, 22nd episode press release: a reopened cold case could be the last time that Jane and Lisbon work together unless he's able to admit his true feelings for her. Press release number 2: A new lead in a cold case will require Lisbon to delay her plans to leave for Washington, D.C. with Agent Pike, giving Jane time to finally come to terms with his feelings for her and decide on a course of action. Guest stars will feature: Skylar Brown (Colt), Josiah Blount (Barry), Kara Royster (Kiley), James Austin Kerr (Vince), Genesis Sol...

Draft Day

Jennifer Garner is in talks to star in Ivan Reitman's football comedy "Draft Day" at Paramount Pictures. Garner would play the secretary to Kevin Costner's lead character.

Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman penned the script which centers around the NFL's draft and sees the general manager of the Buffalo Bills going to any length to secure his top pick. [Source: Variety]

Dark Places

Chloe Grace Moretz ("Kick-Ass," "Hugo") will play a character named Diondra in Gilles Paquet-Brenner's "Dark Places," an adaptation of the 2010 novel by Gillian Flynn.

Charlize Theron also stars in the story of a woman who 25 years ago testified against her brother as the killer of their family. Now a group called the Kill Club believes he is innocent and is out to prove it. [Source: Deadline]

Dr. Cabbie

Canadian actor Vinay Virmani ("David") is set to star in Jean-Francois Pouliot's oddball indie comedy "Dr. Cabbie". Shooting will take place in Toronto.

Artily shot in black and white with occasional bursts of colour, stylised to within an inch of its life and meandering dreamily through a story of brotherly love and hero worship, Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumble Fish barely made a splash at the 1983 box office, maintains Neil Alcock.

For Coppola, Rumble Fish was, and still is, a deeply personal movie. Dedicated to his brother August, the film embodies its director’s admiration and respect for his older sibling. It’s the story of Rusty-James (Matt Dillon), a feckless, reckless gang member living in the shadow of his big brother, The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), while simultaneously refusing to face up to impending adulthood. It’s also a film student’s dream: almost every scene is loaded with (occasionally heavy-handed) symbolism and each frame can be analysed for meaning, much of which is on full display in the film’s costume design.

Andrew Davis Returns To Stony Island

By Alex Simon

Director Andrew Davis made his name with hard-hitting action blockbusters like The Fugitive, Under Siege and The Guardian, but like most filmmakers, his first effort was a small film with a modest budget and a lot of heart. Davis’ directing debut Stony Island was shot in 1977, helmed by the then 30 year-old who had made a name for himself as a cinematographer, and conceived as a love letter to the South Chicago neighborhood where he grew up. Based loosely on the story of Davis’ younger brother Richie (starring as a fictionalized version of himself), who grew up as one of the few white kids in a largely African-American neighborhood, Stony Island follows a group of young musicians who try to form an R&B group in their racially-mixed neighborhood. Featuring the film debuts of now-notable names such as Dennis Franz, Susanna Hoffs,...

Sometimes, the movies slated for the 2012 year are only as good as their hype. A few of these flicks only look good as a trailer, but when audiences hit the theatre, either all the best parts have been given away or expectations fall flat. Not every title bears merit, but if any blood money is to be spilt, here’s a list of curios that should really be investigated.

Beneath the Darkness (Release Date: Jan 6)

Dir.: Martin Guigui.

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Tony Oller and Aimee Teegarden.

When a group of teens witness their best friend murdered by a so-called hero, they have to figure out how to expose him and avoid being killed too. Dennis Quaid plays Ely Vaughn, the pillar of the community, but also the antagonist in this film. Interestingly enough, Vaughn is the town’s local mortician, and there’s a secret that no body knows about him.

Rank the week of October 14th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Green Lantern

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #2480

Win Percentage: 43%

Times Ranked: 6760

Top-20 Rankings: 25

Directed By: Martin Campbell

Starring: Ryan Reynolds • Blake Lively • Peter Sarsgaard • Mark Strong • Temuera Morrison

Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Crime • Crime Thriller • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Action • Thriller

Rank This Movie

Horrible Bosses

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #750

Win Percentage: 54%

Times Ranked: 6278

Top-20 Rankings: 23

Directed By: Seth Gordon

Starring: Jason Bateman • Jason Sudeikis • Jennifer Aniston • Kevin Spacey • Jamie Foxx

Genres: Black Comedy • Comedy • Workplace Comedy

Rank This Movie

Zookeeper

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #10259

Win Percentage: 37%

Times Ranked: 470

Top-20 Rankings: 9

Directed By: Frank Coraci

Starring: Kevin James • Rosario Dawson • Leslie Bibb • Ken Jeong • Donnie Wahlberg

Genres: Animal Picture • Comedy • Family-Oriented Comedy

Rank This Movie

Judy Moody And The Not Bummer Summer

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG...

I sat down to watch Fatal Secrets and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the revengeful thriller from Mti Home Video.

Fatal Secrets has an all-star cast that includes Dina Meyer, Vincent Spano, Lela Rochon, Lea Thompson, Ernie Hudson, Ed Begley Jr. and Tess Harper. The thriller is directed by Meir Sharony and written by Kathy Cotter and has Meyer as the lead character who meet sup with Spano who pretty much uses her and every other female in this movie. 

As Fatal Secrets goes along it teams up three women who want to seek revenge on the male characterr who pretty much uses woman and leaves them when he's done, if you get what I'm saying.  The story is pretty cool but nothing we haven't seen before for a revenge thriller type film. The user gets it in the end but he leaves a haunting memory behind...

"The Resident" (2011)

Directed by Antti Jokinen

Released by Image Entertainment

This actually isn't the first time Hilary Swank has seen one of her films go direct to DVD after the films "Red Dust" and "Birds of America" suffered the same fate, but surely there was more riding on this horror film from the resurgent Hammer Films about a recently separated doctor who learns her Brooklyn loft isn't quite as wonderful as she thought it would be. "Secretary" screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson co-wrote this film, which co-stars Christopher Lee, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Lee Pace.

"The Mikado" (1939)

Directed by Victor Schertzinger

Released by Criterion Collection

"Topsy-Turvy" (1999)

Directed by Mike Leigh

Released by Criterion Collection

Sold separately, Criterion is making no secret of trying to appeal to Gilbert and Sullivan fanatics with special editions of "The Mikado," a straight-up adaptation of the musical duo's most famous opera, and Mike Leigh's "Topsy-Turvy,...

 

                                  

 Fatal Secrets  Discover what Everyone has to Hide March 29... only on DVD and VOD

 For Immediate Release:

 Miami, Fl -- Now in their 27th year (1984-2011), Mti Home Video has become the premier film  studio for independent filmmakers.   On March 29, 2011,  they  will release the thriller  Fatal Secrets on DVD and VOD.

 In the film, a charming man with a secret background pushes an attractive woman to her breaking point.  So, she enlists her two best friends to help confront  him. The women underestimate the consequences when they take matters into their own hands, as their opponent forces them into a desperate situation, where everyone has to pay a price.

 Fatal Secrets stars  Dina Meyer (Saw, Starship Troopers), Vincent Spano (Texas Rangers , Alive), Lela Rochon (Any Given Sunday, Waiting to Exhale), Lea Thompson (Back to the Future, Caroline in the City), Ernie Hudson (Oz, Ghostbusters), Ed Begley Jr. (Pineapple Express, St. Elsewhere...