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Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is now available on VOD. There’s no way around it – the film’s theatrical release was a huge disappointment, as it earned back only a fraction of its reported budget and has put the release of the second film in major jeopardy. However, now that it’s streaming, the hope is that people will be able to discover it at home, perhaps paving the way for this saga to continue. If you’ve watched Horizon and are jonesing for more modern westerns to check out, here are some we really like here at JoBlo.

Tombstone (1993):

This is perhaps an ironic one to put on a list that pays tribute to Costner’s Horizon, as the star’s own big-budget western epic, Wyatt Earp, was badly overshadowed by this competing story about the same historical events. The fact is, George Pan Cosmatos and Kurt Russell...

On Monday evening, Lily Gladstone expressed her gratitude for fans’ support following the 2024 Oscars.

“Feeling the love big time today, especially from Indian Country. Kittō”kuniikaakomimmō”po’waw – seriously, I love you all,” she posted on X (formerly known as Twitter). “(Better believe when I was leaving the Dolby Theater and walked passed the big Oscar statue I gave that golden booty a little Coup tap – Count: one).”

The Killers of the Flower Moon star, who was up for best actress, was believed to be a frontrunner for the Academy Award. However, it ended up going to Emma Stone for her role in Poor Things.

Feeling the love big time today, especially from Indian Country. Kittō”kuniikaakomimmō”po’waw – seriously, I love you all ❤️

(Better believe when I was leaving the Dolby Theater and walked passed the big Oscar statue I gave that golden booty a little Coup tap – Count:...

Lily Gladstone has already made history. When the Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce actor received an Oscar nomination for their searing performance in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” on January 23, she became the first Native American actor to receive a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars, and the second Native American performer to receive an Oscar nomination overall, after Chief Dan George’s Supporting Actor Nomination for 1970’s “Little Big Man.”

Should Gladstone win the award, it would make them the first Native American performer to ever win an acting Oscar — an incredible achievement, albeit not one that erases the Oscars’ troubled history with Indigenous people. But regardless of what happens, Gladstone’s incredible work in the film as Mollie Burkhart, a real life Osage woman in the 1920s whose husband Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) was a conspirator in a series of mass murders of her people — stands...

It’s a fact of life, people love the Oscars most when the film Academy or its members are doing something dumb. Slapping a host. Naming the wrong winner. Singing about bare breasts. That sort of thing.

So it was a good week for the March 10 Academy Awards show. The colossally un-smart snubs of Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig gave millions of Barbie fans something to buzz about. Will Gerwig, nominated as a writer, and Robbie, nominated as a producer, of Best Picture-nominated Barbie, scorch the red carpet with zingers about their exclusion as director and star? Will Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera, nominated for supporting roles, show up in pink and wave toy flags in support of their colleagues?

Gosling is already making noise about the snubs. Things are looking up.

Plus we’ve got a good, solid Diversity Challenge. Will Lily Gladstone be the first Native American to...

Killers of the Flower Moon could make Oscars history in 2024, with Lily Gladstone potentially becoming the first Indigenous person to win an acting Oscar. Gladstone's portrayal of Mollie Kyle in the film is a breakout performance worthy of an Oscar win, as she takes the audience on a transformative journey of resilience and strength. Gladstone's powerful and emotional portrayal of Mollie Kyle is vital to the impact of the true story in Killers of the Flower Moon, making her a highly deserving candidate for Best Actress at the 2024 Academy Awards.

Killers of the Flower Moon stands as a strong contender to win numerous Academy Awards, including one that would make Oscars history in 2024. Killers of the Flower Moon is the latest film by renowned director Martin Scorsese, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by David Grann. The story follows a series of murders of the Osage Nation...

You may have noticed that there’s been a lot of talk about Lily Gladstone and her Indigenous heritage and what that fact will mean for her chances in the Academy Award Best Actress race as her epic feature “Killers of the Flower Moon” from director Martin Scorsese preps for liftoff in wide theatrical release this Friday (October 20). Gladstone is running a solid second place behind Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) in the Gold Derby combined Oscar odds for her much-praised performance as Osage Nation member Mollie Burkhart in the tragic fact-based saga.

Gladstone herself is of Blackfeet and Nimiipuu heritage and raised on a Blackfeet Nation reservation in Montana. One would presume this fact won’t work against the actress in 2024 as it might have in, say, 1954 or even ’74. And in fact it was only earlier this year that Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to win Best Actress...

Outlaw Johnny Black is a western action-comedy film co-written and directed by Michael Jai White. The Western film follows the story of Johnny Black, a man who has sworn to gun down Brett Clayton in order to get revenge for his father’s death. In the process of getting his revenge, he becomes a wanted man while posing as a preacher in a small mining town that’s been taken over by a notorious Land Baron. So, if you love the western comedy film here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Black Dynamite (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Ars Nova

Synopsis: An all-star cast led by Michael Jai White is featured in this 1970’s-style blaxploitation action film about the legendary super crime fighter “Black Dynamite.” The Man killed his brother, pumped heroin into local orphanages, and flooded the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor. Black Dynamite was the one...

A beautiful, if flawed, counterculture epic, Arthur Penn’s 1970 film has the sweep of a Dickens novel and the sardonic humor of an Altman movie (Mash was released that same year). Dustin Hoffman is Jack Crabb—a white man raised by the Cheyenne and nearly killed by Custer. Hoffman’s Everyman performance is superb but the movie’s heart and soul belongs to Chief Dan George, a down-to-earth mystic and natural born comedian.

The post Little Big Man appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

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This year’s Emmy nominees for best documentary or nonfiction special include four examinations of celebrity in its various forms — from the tabloid target Britney Spears, the comic philosophies of George Carlin, the romantic and working partnership between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to the altruistic efforts of chef José Andrés. Rounding out the category is The Tinder Swindler, a true crime doc about a man who used the dating app to scheme unsuspecting women out of cash. Here is a rundown of the contenders from The Hollywood Reporter’s writers and critics.

Controlling Britney Spears: The New York Times Presents (FX/Hulu)

In the follow-up to Framing Britney Spears, Controlling Britney Spears is directed by Samantha Stark with Liz Day as a supervising producer and reporter, and features interviews with insiders who had knowledge of Spears’ life while in the conservatorship. In their interviews,...

Sterlin Harjo, co-creator of FX’s Reservation Dogs, discusses a few of his favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Mekko (2015)

Boy (2010)

Cool Hand Luke (1967) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Husbands (1970) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Stand By Me (1986)

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Princess Bride (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Friday (1995)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary

Dead Man (1995)

Powwow Highway (1989)

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai (1999)

Stalker (1979) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Come And See (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

A Clockwork Orange...

The always delightful Doctor Z hangs with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante while discussing a few of his favorite monkey movies.

Dr. Z – Tmtmm Pod Mentions

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Planet of the Apes (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Escape From The Planet of the Apes (1971)

Battle For The Planet of the Apes (1973) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

The Godfather Part II (1974) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary

Schindler’s List (1993)

Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021)

King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

King Kong (1933)

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Godzilla (1954) – Don Coscarelli’s trailer commentary

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Stalag 17 (1953)

In The Heat Of The Night (1967) – Michael Schlesinger’s trailer commentary

King Kong Escapes (1967)

Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932)

The Sorrow And The Pity (1972)

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

It Came From Beneath The Sea...

In another show of increasing diversity for all things Oscar, actors Wes Studi and Geena Davis and directors David Lynch and Lina Wertmuller are the winners of the 11th Annual Governors Awards. The honors, as voted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Board of Governors in a special Saturday session, were announced today.

Native American actor Studi, four time Oscar nominee Lynch, and two time Oscar nominee Wertmuller will receive Honorary Oscars for career achievements, while Davis, a past Oscar winner for Supporting Actress in 1988’s The Accidental Tourist as well as a 1991 Best Actress nominee for Thelma And Louise, will receive The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The board met three months earlier than usual to choose the Governors Awards recipients, as I exclusively reported on Friday, and the ceremony itself will be three weeks earlier than its usual mid-November date at the Roy Dolby Ballroom.

Arthur Penn’s under-appreciated epic has everything a big-scale western could want — spectacle, interesting characters, good history and a sense of humor. Dustin Hoffman gets to play at least five characters in one as an ancient pioneer relating his career exploits — which are either outrageous tall tales or a concise history of the taking of The West.

Little Big Man

Region B Blu-ray

Koch Media

1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 139 147 min. / Available from Amazon.de / Street Date September 14, 2017 / Eur 17.99

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan, Jeff Corey, Aimée Eccles, Kelly Jean Peters, Carole Androsky, Ruben Moreno, William Hickey, Jesse Vint, Alan Oppenheimer, Thayer David.

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Jr.

Production Designer: Dean Tavoularis

Art Direction: Angelo P. Graham

Special Makeup: Dick Smith

Special Effects: Logan Frazee

Film Editors: Dede Allen, Richard Marks

Original Music: John Hammond

Written by Calder Willingham from the novel by Thomas Berger

Produced...

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, and Tom Stockman

Happy Birthday to one of We Are Movie Geeks favorite stars. Clint Eastwood was born on this day in 1930, making him 86 years old. The actor and two-time Oscar winning director hasn’t let his age slow him down a bit. Sully, his new movie as a director, opens in September.

We posted a list in 2011 of his ten best directorial efforts Here

Clint Eastwood has appeared in 68 films in his six (!) decades as an actor, and here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are his ten best:

Honorable Mention: Honkytonk Man

By the 1980s, Clint Eastwood was one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. With his own production company, directorial skills, and economic clout, Eastwood was able to make smaller, more personal films. A perfect example is the underrated Honkytonk Man, which also happens to be one of Eastwood’s finest performances.

WikiCommons

Belfast, Northern Ireland. We’ve got a Russell Group university, a museum dedicated to the Titanic and a four-hundred thousand pound sculpture we’ve unanimously dubbed The Westicle (or the Balls of the Falls, which is equally as charming).

Apparently we were pretty good at making linen, too – Belfast was the centre of the Irish linen industry and played a massive role in the Industrial Revolution. Not bad for a place that can’t make its mind up about a flag.

But that’s not all. One time Jon Snow from Game Of Thrones insulted us on an American talk show and everyone got annoyed and badmouthed him on Facebook.

Though the city is great, it’s not without its share of problems. But these problems are far from serious. If anything they’re comforting, little individualities that make Belfast different from every other capital city in the world.

In the world of horror cinema, the best way to fight a monster–be it supernatural, human, or natural one–is with a character that possesses special knowledge and skills. These experts, recruited into battle by other characters or colliding with the conflict intentionally, are the savants of the horror world.

Examples of savant characters include David Warner’s bat expert Phillip Payne in Nightwing, Zelda Rubinstein’s spiritual medium Tangina in Poltergeist, Matthew McConaughey’s dragon slayer Denton Van Zan in Reign of Fire, Lin Shaye’s paranormal investigator Elise Rainier in Insidious, and Otto Jespersen’s monster killer Hans in Trollhunter.

This article, divided into three sections based on what type of monstrous force is being fought, focuses on the greatest savant characters the horror genre has to offer.

****

Vs. The Supernatural

Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula and The Brides of Dracula: In these two Hammer films,...

Martin Balsam: Oscar winner has ‘Summer Under the Stars’ Day on Turner Classic Movies Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winner Martin Balsam (A Thousand Clowns) is Turner Classic Movies’ unusual (and welcome) "Summer Under the Stars" featured player today, August 27, 2013. Right now, TCM is showing Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes (1971), a box-office flop starring Sean Connery in his (just about) post-James Bond, pre-movie legend days. (Photo: Martin Balsam ca. early ’60s.) Next, is Joseph Sargent’s thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Written by Peter Stone (Father Goose, Arabesque) from John Godey’s novel, the film revolves around the hijacking of a subway car in New York City. Passengers are held for ransom while police lieutenant Walter Matthau tries to handle the situation. Now considered a classic (just about every pre-1999 movie is considered a "classic" these days), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was...

Disney's latest blockbuster, "The Lone Ranger," treads on some circumspect ground when it comes to the treatment of Native Americans on film. The movie does much to address many of the rampantly stereotypical representations that the Western genre provided on-screen regarding Aboriginal culture, yet for some, this work is further evidence of how much further we have to go. While I felt that the film was quite interesting in the way it toyed with the saddlebags of the genre, others were far less generous.

One person who with strong feelings about the film is Jesse Wente, an integral part of Canada's film elite. Jesse serves as Head of Film Programmes at Toronto's Tiff Bell Lightbox and is (obviously) a big part of the Toronto Film Festival. He's been a longstanding critic on CBC, and has done numerous scholarly presentations on film subjects. He also happens to be of Ojibway descent,...

"When I get around to liking someone, they ain't around long."

It's hard to think of anyone that's contributed more to the Western genre than Clint Eastwood, who started his career on the TV show Rawhide before transitioning to movies with director Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy. Still one of Eastwood's favorite contributions to the genre is 1976's the Outlaw Josey Wales, only the second Western that Eastwood had directed, following 1973's High Plains Drifter.

Based on author Forrest Carter's 1973 novel The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales, the movie starred Eastwood in the title role as the tobacco-chewing Wales, a Missouri farmer who seeks revenge after losing his wife and son to a band of murderous pro-Union men from Kansas. The Outlaw Josey Wales continued Eastwood's Western tradition of playing the ultimate anti-hero, an archetype he would put his final stamp on in 1992's The Unforgiven. Chief Dan George (Little Big Man...

By Lee Pfeiffer

While at the pinnacle of his success as a leading man, coming off of major starring roles in M*A*S*H, Kelly's Heroes and Don't Look Now, Donald Sutherland returned to his native Canada to film Alien Thunder (aka Dan Candy's Law). The story, loosely based on a true historical incident, finds Sutherland as Dan Candy, a stalwart Canadian Mountie, who patrols the wild Saskatchewan wilderness areas in the 1880s. There is a famine plaguing the area and the hardest hit are the local Indian tribes. One brave, Almighty Voice (Gordon Tootoosis) is frustrated at having to wait for meager rations from Canadian authorities while his family starves before his eyes. He slaughters a government-owned cow, an action that sets off a major legal problem. Candy and his partner are assigned to arrest Almighty Voice, who fears he will be hanged. Almighty Voice flees into the...

When J. Edgar was released last Fall, We Are Movie Geeks published our Top Ten Tuesday article on Clint Eastwood’s best films as director. With word that Eastwood has come out of acting retirement, it’s time for another Top Ten list, this time of movies that Clint has starred in. Trouble With The Curve is currently filming and stars Clint as an ailing baseball scout in his twilight years who takes his daughter (played by Amy Adams) on the road for one last recruiting trip. This will be Clint’s first acting role since Gran Torino in 2008.

Super-8 Clint Eastwood Movie Madness will be a great way to celebrate the life and films of this legendary American actor. It takes place February 7th at the Way Out Club in St. Louis (2525 Jefferson in South City). Condensed versions of these memorable Clint Eastwood films will be shown on a...

Clint Eastwood’s career as a director has gone through many stages, from “hey, he’s an actor, that’s not bad” to underground favorite, to Oscar winner, to the foremost prestige picture-maker of the modern era. But while the prestige films seem to float from memory, it’s fair to say that Eastwood’s legacy will reflect heavily on his westerns. And the first film he made that can be called a masterpiece is The Outlaw Josey Wales. Warner Brothers new Blu-ray of the film cements its place as one of the great westerns. Our review of The Outlaw Josey Wales on Blu-ray follows after the jump. Eastwood plays the titular Wales, who joins up with the South after Northerners burn his house and kill his wife and child. He was a bushwhacker, fighting with Quantrill, and when the war comes to an end his squad is rounded up...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer – Jordana Beatty, Heather Graham, Parris Mosteller

Super 8 - Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, Kyle Chandler

Movie of the Week

Super 8

The Stars: Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, Kyle Chandler

The Plot: After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon.

The Buzz: The trailer for Super 8 sent shivers down my spine — good shivers. This film looks to be a beautifully crafted Spielbergian throwback. I’m pleased with the lack of A-list actors too. There’s been an air of mystery around this whole production, as J.J.Abrams and company did their best at keeping everything about this film on the hush-hush. I’ll be checking it out as soon as humanly possible...

As Father's Day approaches, you know certain releases are timed to hopefully inspire a no-brainer attitude. While such marketing of reissues and bonus pack releases often leaves me rolling my eyes, it's hard to argue with The Outlaw Josey Wales Blu-Ray.

Somehow, both quintessentially western and almost western by technicality alone, few films have ever managed (or attempted) such a seemingly odd balance of genre norms and curiosities. Filled with gunfights, treachery, and revenge, mixed with equal parts humor and heart, the film finds itself often wondering how it ended up here as much as Josey does when confronted with things like old men staring at him through bits of candy.

The classic Eastwood title remains one of film's best, and best loved, westerns (and is my personal favorite), and this release not only offers up the Blu-Ray experience, but includes a new commentary track by Richard Schickel, and a...

Chicago – With the release of “The American,” it’s time to rally ‘round the flagpole and see if it waves. And that mix of metaphors conjures the great American film, the movies with American or America in their titles that have flown like an eagle soaring through red, white and blue skies on a starry night, punctuated by fireworks on the 4th of July.

American Beauty (1999)

American Beauty

Photo credit: Dreamworks

As unblinking and truthful story about the American Dream as any pre-9/11 film, Ab rides on the performance of Kevin Spacey as a burnt-out corporate nebbish named Lester who is unloved by his ambitious real estate agent wife (Annette Bening) and is quietly desperate about the life that has passed him by.

When Lester is unexpectedly freed from his 9 to 5 hell, he embarks on a journey which includes workouts, weed and lust – for an unattainable teenage friend of his daughter.

Meryl Streep, Clint Eastwood, The Bridges of Madison County Clint Eastwood is the last star to be featured in Turner Classic Movies‘ "Summer Under the Stars" series, 2010 edition. [Clint Eastwood schedule.] Right now, TCM is showing the Western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), one of Eastwood’s early directorial efforts. Chief Dan George and Sondra Locke, with whom Eastwood had a highly publicized and highly acrimonious split off-screen, co-star. Next, is Sergio Leone‘s A Fistful of Dollars (1964), one of the Italian Westerns that helped to turn Eastwood into an international star. Gian Maria Volontè, who’d become one of the greatest film actors of the late 20th century, has a featured role. A Fistful of Dollars will be followed by Eastwood’s The Bridges of Madison County (1995), a romantic tearjerker based on Robert James Waller‘s bestseller, and starring Eastwood and Best Actress Oscar nominee Meryl Streep (playing an Italian woman named Francesca...

VANCOUVER -- "Kamchatka", an Argentina-Spain drama about a family in flight during the early days after the 1976 Argentinian military coup, earned the People's Choice Award for most popular film Friday at the Vancouver International Film Festival. And the homegrown movie favorite was "The Corporation", a documentary by Mark Achbar and Jennifer abbot, which grabbed the trophy for the most popular Canadian film. Documentaries fared well Vancouver festival audiences this year. U.S. filmmaker John Cadigan won the Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award for "People Say I'm Crazy", an HBO documentary about an artist's struggle with schizophrenia. And the National Film Board award for best documentary feature went to "Los Angeles Plays Itself", from U.S. filmmaker Tom Andersen. Trophies were also handed out to local British Columbia directors. Gina Chiarelli's "See Grace Fly" grabbed the Women in Film and Video Vancouver Artistic Merit Award, Nathaniel Geary's "On the Corner" earned the CityTV Western Canada Feature Film Award, and Jessie McKeown's "The Big Charade" won the Keystone Award for best young western-Canadian director of a short film.

VANCOUVER -- Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine took the Air Canada People's Choice Award at the 21st Vancouver International Film Festival, which closed Friday night. An estimated 150,000 people attended the 16-day festival, a new record. This year, the festival added new screening rooms and featured a more playful "Hollywood/Bollywood" theme than the political themes of recent years. Other winners included Andrew Cheng's Shanghai Panic (Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema), Lee Chang-Dong's Oasis Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award) and Peter Mettler's Gambling, Gods and L.S.D. (National Film Board Best Documentary). Director Jane McGregor won the Women in Film and Video Artistic Merit Award for her films Flowers & Garnet and Bitten. The Federal Express Award for Most Popular Canadian Film was shared by two films, Deborah Day's Expecting and Fix: The Story of an Addicted City, by Nettie Wild. The Telefilm Canada awards for Best Emerging Western Canadian Director were won by Keith Behrman (feature-length) and Michelle Porter (short). The new Citytv Western Canadian Screenwriter Award went to Nicholas Racz for The Burial Society. The awards were presented before a gala screening of Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven, which closed the festival.