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Dame Agatha Christie sure knew how to spin a good yarn, and her prolific ability to write page-turning whodunnits helped her become the best-selling novelist of all time. Nowadays, she is regarded as the mother of the cozy murder mystery and she dominated the light-hearted crime genre in the mid-20th century with the help of her two most famous sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. We're all familiar with the set-up: picturesque locations, amiable amateur detectives, upper-crust suspects who all have a motive, and a satisfying final reveal. Yet while Christie's fiction was usually a non-threatening comfort read, she wasn't above dipping into more grisly real-life crime for inspiration. Indeed, she ripped elements of the "biggest story since the Resurrection" straight from the front pages for one of her most popular novels.

Published 14 years after Christie first introduced Hercule Poirot in "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" (1920), "Murder on the Orient Express...

Larry Cohen: Mystery & Misdirection will be released on August 26 via Scream Factory.

The Blu-ray set collects three films from the exploitation trailblazer behind the likes of The Stuff and It’s Alive: The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, Special Effects, and Wicked Stepmother.

1977’s The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover is a biographical drama starring Broderick Crawford, James Wainwright, Jose Ferrer, Celeste Holm, Ronee Blakely, John Marley, and Michael Sacks.

Special Features:

2k Restoration from the Original Camera Negative (new) Audio: DTS-hd Master Audio Mono “The Most Feared Man: Scoring The Private Files Of J. Edgar Hoover” – Interview With Film Music Historian Daniel Schweiger (new) Original Trailer

1984’s Special Effects is a horror-thriller starring Zoë Lund, Eric Bogosian, Brad Rijn, and Kevin O’Connor.

Special Features:

Audio: DTS-hd Master Audio Mono Trailer

1989’s Wicked Stepmother is a horror-comedy starring Bette Davis, Barbara Carrera, Colleen Camp, Lionel Stander, David Rasche,...

Barry Levinson’s The Alto Knights (2025) is a sprawling crime drama that resurrects the gritty legacy of classic mafia storytelling. Set in the volatile mid-century underworld, the film centers around the bitter fallout between Frank Costello (played by Robert De Niro) and Vito Genovese—once childhood friends, now mortal enemies. Co-starring Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, and Kathrine Narducci, the film is a slow-burning epic filled with betrayal, ego, and shifting loyalties. With Levinson’s assured direction and Nicholas Pileggi’s screenplay (based on real-life events), the movie captures the cost of power and the tragic beauty of brotherhood turned sour.

If you’re drawn to movies like The Alto Knights—stories that dive deep into the psychology of gangsters, the structure of organized crime, and the humanity behind the violence—here are six gripping films that belong in your watchlist.

1. The Irishman (2019)

The Irishman is perhaps the closest spiritual companion to The Alto Knights.

Harris Yulin, the ever-present Emmy-nominated actor who appeared in such films as Scarface, Clear and Present Danger and Training Day and on television in Frasier, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Ozark, has died. He was 87.

Yulin died Tuesday of cardiac arrest in New York City, his family and manager, Sue Leibman, announced.

Although he never found a starring role that made him a household name, Yulin was a familiar face who worked constantly during a career that spanned more than 50 years. “I’m not that high-profile,” he admitted in a 2010 interview with The Irish Times. “I just do the next thing that comes along.”

On Broadway, the character actor performed in 1980’s Watch on the Rhine, 1992’s The Visit, 1997’s The Diary of Anne Frank, 1999’s The Price and 2001’s Hedda Gabler.

He also helmed off-Broadway productions of Baba Goya in 1989, This Lime Tree Bower in 1999 and The Trip to Bountiful...

Exclusive: Jack Falahee (How to Get Away with Murder), Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), Chris Noth (Sex and the City) and newcomer Saphira Moran are set to topline The Block, a supernatural thriller directed and produced by Emmy nominee Craig Singer (6:45), which has wrapped production.

Marking Singer’s fifth collaboration with writer Robert Dean Klein, the film follows Mitch James (Falahee), who was once the golden boy of horror fiction, until an unshakable writer’s block brought his meteoric rise to a halt. Years later, with his career in ruins and only his fiercely devoted fan and partner Natalie (Moran) by his side, Mitch stumbles into a dark and inexplicable event, after which, the words begin to flow again. But inspiration proves fleeting and something shadowy and malevolent seems to be demanding more in return. As Mitch becomes entangled in a chilling cycle of creation and consequence,...

Clint Eastwood has reportedly bid his goodbye to Hollywood with last year’s directorial Juror #2. The nonagenarian filmmaker and actor has been one of the prolific creatives in Hollywood, with over forty credits as a director. He has explored a wide variety of genres, despite being known for his Westerns and war dramas.

Eastwood’s penultimate acting role came in The Mule, the 2018 crime drama based on the real-life World War II veteran, Leo Sharp. The film was a huge hit upon release, and Eastwood also served as the director for the film. Now, The Mule is reportedly on the top 10 list of popular movies on Netflix.

Clint Eastwood’s penultimate acting role tops Netflix charts seven years after release A still from The Mule | Credits: Warner Bros.

Some filmmakers are just timeless. Clint Eastwood rode into the scene with the Western TV drama Rawhide and became a global star...

Many questions were raised when Warner Bros. initially announced “HBO Max” (and then “Max”) as the name of its big streaming platform.

The first and most obvious question was, “Why take a brand name as established and curated as HBO and dilute it with proximity to this much corporate flotsam and jetsam?”

Somewhere among the top five questions, though, was “Wait, can you use ‘Max’ when HBO already has ‘Cinemax’ as a corporate sibling?”

HBO’s disreputable younger brother, Cinemax attempted to shed or expand on its “Skinemax” reputation with a fairly successful run of originals between 2011 and 2019, a small group that included Strike Back, Banshee, The Knick, Warrior, Quarry and Jett. Cinemax originals were gussied-up B-movies in the best way possible — pulpy genre exercises with one or two-word titles perfect for splashing across posters or battered, well-read paperbacks.

Cinemax specialized in grindhouse TV and when HBO Max launched, Cinemax...

Following his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Captain America: Brave New World, award-winning actor Giancarlo Esposito returns to the action world for his newest project. The Hollywood legend joins the star-studded crime thriller, By Any Means, in a significant role.

According to Deadline, Esposito will portray NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer, who was murdered by the KKK for his voter recruitment work, in By Any Means. The Star Wars: The Mandalorian star is among several new cast inclusions, with Emmy nominee and The Morning Show star Nicole Beharie, Scream 7's Ethan Embry, Palm Royale's Josh Lucas, Tony Award-winning star Lachanze and Oscar-nominated actor David Straithairn. Details on whom the other actors will portray are being kept under wraps.

By Any Means

is directed by The Inspection helmer Elegance Bratton, based on the Black List script, CI34, by Sascha Penn. Set in 1966, the film chronicles the true story of a...

As of this writing, there are 26 James Bond films, and now that Amazon fully controls the 007 franchise, we're probably going to get a heck of a lot more. In fact, the Amazon deal will likely result in a cavalcade of Bond spin-offs, which, depending on how you feel about the company's ability to do Bond justice, is either a good thing or the beginning of the end for the now 63-year-old franchise.

Still, there's no escaping the fact that if we do get an expanded Bond universe, fans likely won't be too pleased. Former Bond producers and longtime custodians of the IP, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, were famously protective of the 007 saga being a movie franchise. As such, fans will almost certainly be dismayed should Amazon start churning out Moneypenny origin stories and the solo adventures of Felix Leiter. But the truth is, those fans have...

In 1995, Michael Mann's "Heat" gave cinephiles a face-off for the ages: at long last, legendary actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino would share the screen in an epic crime thriller. Now, in 2025, we have a new crime thriller that has Robert De Niro coming face-to-face with ... Robert De Niro. This isn't such a bad idea: despite a string of questionable roles in the latter half of his long, acclaimed career, De Niro remains one of our finest actors, and he's turned in some recent performances — specifically his work in two Martin Scorsese movies, "The Irishman" and "Killers of the Flower Moon" — that prove he's still got it.

With Barry Levinson's "The Alto Knights," De Niro pulls double duty, playing two real-life gangsters who grew up as friends before becoming bitter enemies. There's a lot of room for potential mob movie fun here, and yet, Levinson's film...

Leonardo DiCaprio has played many famous individuals over the years. Be it iconic figures in literature like Romeo and Jay Gatsby, or playing real-life people like The Wolf of Wall Street and J. Edgar Hoover, he knows how to capture the essence of a beloved personality.

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby | Credit: Warner Bros.

With this in mind, it is not surprising that he has done adaptations and movies based on real-life countless times in his career. Most recently, DiCaprio could be going down another path with his career, off the Snake River Canyon on a motorcycle. Only there is one other person who would be perfectly suited for the role.

Leonardo DiCaprio could be moving towards his next Oscar

A good actor and a good director can accomplish the world together. Regardless of other elements out of their control, when a director has a vision and an actor can bring it to life,...

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day to reflect on the legacy of one of the most important leaders the world has ever seen, and for those who want a deeper dive into the life and impact of MLK Jr., there are a number of films worth checking out. On this national holiday, we’ve rounded up a list of some of the best MLK Jr. movies to watch and where to stream them. They range from narrative films that take some liberties to dramatize the civil rights leader’s life, to deep-dive documentaries.

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures “Selma”

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film “Selma” offers a wonderfully complex portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. that chronicles the man’s inspiring impact, but also doesn’t neglect his personal challenges. The film covers the events surrounding the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, with David Oyelowo playing the role of Martin Luther King Jr.

President Joe Biden posthumously pardoned civil rights leader and Pan-African activist Marcus Garvey, who was convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s. Garvey served four years in prison until President Calvin Coolidge commuted his sentence in 1927, after which Garvey was deported to Jamaica.

Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (Unia), which “aimed to achieve Black nationalism through the celebration of African history and culture,” according to the National Archives. He created the Black Star Line, a Black-owned shipping company and passenger line created to bring goods and later people...

The thrilling true story Judas & The Black Messiah recounts the activism and violent suppression of the Black Panther Party's Illinois chapter in the late 1960s, leading to the death of leader Fred Hampton. Judas & The Black Messiah tells the real-life story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant working for the Bureau to avoid jail time who infiltrated Hampton's inner circle.

Judas & The Black Messiah brings into focus a chapter of civil rights history. Along with Kaluuya and Stanfield, the cast of Judas and the Black Messiah brings several of the real-life figures surrounding the true story, from Hampton's allies to his powerful enemies. As with any movie based on a true story, there are elements that are created as Hollywood fiction while also a lot of details that stay true to the real events.

Here’s why Leonardo DiCaprio cannot work with Clint Eastwood ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

In 2011, DiCaprio signed on to star in J. Edgar, Eastwood’s biopic about the Og FBI boss, J. Edgar Hoover. Leo was so hyped about the role that he cut his fee from a jaw-dropping $20 million to just $2 million. But this dream team? It didn’t last long.

Why? Eastwood’s infamous “one-take-wonder” style clashed hard with DiCaprio’s perfectionist approach. Clint’s vibe on set is all about keeping it raw and real. He skips the dramatic “Action!” for a laid-back “in your own time” and moves on after one take. Conversely, Leo lives for the grind—he’s all about redoing scenes until they’re flawless. So, when Leo asked for a retake during J. Edgar, Clint said, “Nope, we’re done for the day.”

And it didn’t stop there. DiCaprio insisted on using...

Quick Links Chaplin Is One of The Most Underrated Biopics Ever Made Charlie Chaplin Was One of Robert Downey Jr.'s Most Demanding Performances Who Won The Best Actor Oscar Against Robert Downey Jr. in 1993?

This year, Robert Downey Jr. received his first-ever Oscar win for his supporting role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. With the remarkable performance that he gave, it was certainly well-earned, but having been nominated twice previously, it was an achievement that was long overdue. Even though he's now perhaps most well-known for his decade-spanning turn as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he's had quite a remarkable career outside that one character that has proven him to have a wider range than some may give him credit for. One of these films that displayed said range and his ability to completely vanish into a role was the first film...

When Leonardo DiCaprio Sacrificed $18 Million of His Salary for Clint Eastwood’s Film—Here’s Inspiring Story Behind His Generosity! ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Leonardo DiCaprio has built an illustrious career by collaborating with some of Hollywood’s most respected and talented directors. His long-standing partnership with director Martin Scorsese has resulted in iconic films like The Departed and The Wolf of the Wall Street. While DiCaprio has also worked with Quentin Tarantino in films like Once Upon a Time In Hollywood and Christopher Nolan’s Inception, he has solidified his position as one of his generation’s most celebrated and bankable actors. But there were more.

The Titanic actor also collaborated with another giant director in the industry, Clint Eastwood, for the 2011 biopic J. Edgar. The movie featured the life of the first FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. DiCaprio portrayed the character physically and emotionally, capturing Hoover’s personal and professional life.

Mark Wahlberg and another star have been cast in the upcoming crime movie By Any Means. Wahlberg is an A-list actor known for parts in films such as The Fighter and Boogie Nights. He has previously been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for The Departed. This year, Wahlberg has been a part of several films, including the drama Arthur the King, the Netflix action movie The Union, and the Mel Gibson movie Flight Risk.

Per Collider, Wahlberg has now joined the crime-thriller movie By Any Means. In addition to Wahlberg, the film has cast Sterling K. Brown. The based-on-a-true story film will tell the tale of a real mafia hitman who was recruited in secret by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover during the 1960s. This mafia man works alongside a young Black FBI agent to track down those who murdered civil rights leaders in 1966. By Any Means...

Clint Eastwood's late-period filmography primarily features biopics and dramatized portraits of heroic efforts. These are films about landmark figures in American history, like J. Edgar Hoover or Chris Kyle, or ordinary people who receive a parade of media attention and scrutiny, like Chesley Sullenberger or Richard Jewell. In one bold directorial effort, Eastwood hired the real people who thwarted a terrorist attack aboard an Amsterdam train to dramatize their story in The 15:17 to Paris. However, arguably Eastwood's best film in this period and one of his most overlooked films across his seven-decade career, Hereafter, explores everyday people who are determined to communicate with an abstract world, the afterlife, to make sense of tragedy in the real world. The film was uncharted territory for Eastwood, and the result was something peculiar but genuinely heartfelt.

Quick Links Who *Was* "Whitey" Bulger? James "Whitey" Bulger Was a Dangerous Man to Offend The Departed and Other Film Portrayals

Spoiler alert: This article contains plot spoilers for Black Mass (2015). When Johnny Depp tackled the role of gangster James Bulger in 2015's Black Mass, he couldn't have imagined that he'd have to worry about angry mobsters in addition to the usual slate of nitpicky movie reviewers. Turns out everyone is a critic. Director Scott Cooper was more aware of the pitfalls of angering powerful lunatics like Bulger on eggshells lest he agitate the guy who appeared on the FBI's Most Wanted List and once called Alcatraz home. We aren't sure if Depp ever got any nasty letters from the clink, but James Bulger wasn't the type of fella you'd want for an enemy nor a confidant.

As comfortable mingling with G-men as he was with low-life loan sharks and hitmen,...

As a cat-and-mouse thriller about a cop chasing a notorious bank robber, Michael Manns period action epic Public Enemies shouldve been the next Heat, but it was nowhere near as successful. Heat emerged as one of the most renowned action movies of the 1990s. From meticulously researched criminal operations to the echoes of real gunshots on the streets of downtown L.A., Heat had an intense, gritty realism that had never been seen in the genre before. In the years since, Heats influence has been seen in everything from The Dark Knight to Grand Theft Auto V.

The success of Heat, still widely considered to be Manns best movie, turned Mann from a critically lauded filmmaker to a household name. After Heat, Mann branched out into true-crime dramas, sports biopics, and big-budget action blockbusters. But in 2009, he returned to the action subgenre that made him an A-list director. He made...

Leonardo DiCaprio isnt only one of the best actors working today, but certainly one of the most committed. Between eating raw animal meat for The Revenant, learning a South African accent in Blood Diamond, and making a massive physical transformation to play Howard Hughes in The Aviator, Dicaprios ability to invest fully in his roles has become one of the most exciting facets of his stardom. DiCaprio has made it a habit to work with almost all of the best directors working today, so it is not surprising in the slightest that he took the opportunity to work with Clint Eastwood. While the film itself ended up receiving mixed reviews, DiCaprio cited playing J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar as the single most challenging role of his career.

Clint Eastwood’s always been known for his unapologetic attitude, both on and off the screen. And when it comes to his Dirty Harry movies, he’s not about to change that. Critics may have taken issue with the ethical implications of the films, but Eastwood seems to have shrugged it all off with his signature coolness. Instead of getting bogged down in debates about morality, Eastwood focuses on what he does best: delivering gritty, pulse-pounding entertainment.

Clint Eastwood’s Harry throws away his police badge | Credits: Warner Bros.

So, while some may question the ethics behind Dirty Harry, Eastwood’s response is pretty clear—he’s here to make movies, not moral lessons. In the end, it’s this unflinching approach that keeps audiences coming back for more, decade after decade.

Clint Eastwood’s Rebel Spirit: How Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz Defied Critics and Defined His Legacy...

Clint Eastwood’s rise to global stardom wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Before becoming the icon he is renowned as today, the actor’s initial days in showbiz saw him working as a contract actor for Universal, which didn’t last long, as he was eventually fired for his Adam’s apple, which Universal claimed stuck out too far.

Clint Eastwood in a still from A Fistful of Dollars | Credit: United Artists

But the setback didn’t hold his career back for too long as he’d soon land his breakout role and later headlined the iconic Dollars trilogy. However, his success outside Hollywood did little to garner him roles when he returned.

Clint Eastwood’s Success Overseas Didn’t Get the Ball Rolling in Hollywood

After rising to prominence following his stint in the CBS hour-long western series Rawhide, which he wasn’t particularly fond of, the actor then...

Leonardo DiCaprio’s tendency to play iconic roles has become more of a trademark than a neat trick. Over the years, he has starred in some of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, showing his range as an actor through roles like Jack in Titanic and The Wolf of Wall Street in Martin Scorsese’s classic.

A still from J. Edgar | Credits: Warner Bros

Although most of his works receive attention in the highest regard, in the flashing lights of science-fiction and character acting, some works get lost. In 2011, he starred in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of J. Edgar Hoover. The film covered several controversial subjects surrounding the life of the former director of the FBI.

During an interview, the cast and crew of the project talked about one specific aspect that left a lot of elements unconfirmed; Hoover’s love life.

Clint Eastwood’s Brave Choice in Leonardo DiCaprio’s J.

J. Edgar Hoover, the infamous FBI director, had a history of clashes with various political figures, but his rivalry with a former U.S. president was particularly intense. Hoover’s secretive and powerful hold over the Bureau spanned several decades, allowing him to accumulate vast amounts of sensitive information about America’s most influential people. This contentious dynamic even caught the attention of Clint Eastwood, who portrayed Hoover in his 2011 film J. Edgar.

Clint Eastwood was last seen in 2021’s Cry Macho | Warner Bros Pictures

Eastwood was so intrigued by Hoover’s complex relationship with the president that he conducted extensive research to capture the depth of their conflict in his $84M movie. The film dives deep into Hoover’s controversial career, revealing the intense personal and political battles he faced.

Eastwood’s J. Edgar reveals Hoover-Kennedy tension in stunning detail Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino | Credits:...

Leonardo DiCaprio may have had high hopes working with director Clint Eastwood as the latter is one of the most renowned filmmakers in the industry. The actor wanted to pick up 2011’s J. Edgar as he saw it as a way to vary his career and try out something new that he was even willing to cut his fees just to star in it.

Credits: Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar / Warner Bros.

Things did not go as DiCaprio planned after learning his acting style didn’t match Eastwood’s directing method. After that, the actor refused to work with him on future projects.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Perfectionism Reportedly Clashed With Clint Eastwood’s Unique Directing Approach

J. Edgar isn’t a popular work of Leonardo DiCaprio but his performance in the movie earned him critical praise and a Golden Globe Award nomination. He portrayed the famed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover,...

Clint Eastwood has made some of the most revolutionary films in his career both as an actor and a director. He has been making films since the 60s and still continues to be inspired and fascinated by the art of filmmaking. While mostly known for his spaghetti westerns with Sergio Leone, he has made some brilliant westerns of his own along with some Oscar-winning dramas.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Naomi Watts in J. Edgar | Credits: Warner Bros

Eastwood directed the biographical film J. Edgar in 2011, based on the famed first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To ensure the film was as historically accurate as possible, the director went deep into his research and even went the extra mile, meeting the then-director of the FBI in person. Eastwood and the FBI disagreed on the inclusion of one disputed aspect of Hoover’s life in the film.

The FBI Was Apprehensive...

There is no shortage of variety in Leonardo DiCaprio’s filmography but when he signed up to play the role of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, he left fans and critics in awe. The film faced a few setbacks before it was finally set in motion. Luckily, Leonardo DiCaprio was ready to slash his fee down by a whopping ninety percent.

Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar (2011) | Credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

The film’s producer, Dustin Graze, had to rope in the help of renowned director Clint Eastwood to get a green light for his film. Clint Eastwood always gives his hundred percent to his films, no matter what the project might be. J. Edgar was no exception to the rule either as it saw the filmmaker get his hands dirty in order to give Leonardo DiCaprio and co-star Armie Hammer a lesson in violence.

Clint Eastwood Becomes a Mentor for...

Alan Scott's queer identity ties into his willpower, unlocking immense Green Lantern power. His emotional breakthrough leads to an uncontrollable surge of energy unlike seen before by a Green Lantern. The issue suggests that if Scott embraced his true self sooner, he could have been the most powerful Green Lantern.

The hinted power level of Alan Scott completely changes Green Lantern lore forever. As a series, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern exists largely to update the original Green Lantern's origin story to include the more recent revelation that he was always a closeted gay man. The series attempts to bridge a gap between Alan Scott's superhero identity and his queer identity.

Alan Scott ties his queer identity into the willpower he has over his ring, and it makes him stronger than ever (in more ways than one) in Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6 by Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey.

Netflix’s German series Kleo has a funny disclaimer at the very beginning, which informs us that the show is based on a true story, but none of these things took place in real life. In simple words, the show is loosely inspired by real-life world events, such as the division of Germany and the creation of West Germany under the leadership of the Federal Republic (Frg) and East Germany governed by the Democratic Republic (Gdr). Along with these historical events, the show also introduced some real-life characters and organizations, about which I am going to talk further in this article. However, before moving forward, a full disclosure: the character of Kleo Straub is entirely fictional, and therefore, whatever happens with her in the series is created for dramatic purposes only.

In the series, Kleo was trained as a Stasi agent, which was a real-life secret police organization, also known...

Prince Philip has been named in a secret FBI document involving the Profumo sex scandal. J Edgar Hoover, who was the principal of the FBI at the time, suggested that Prince Philip was entangled with two women named Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davis.

John Profumo Lied About Having An Affair With 19-Year-Old Christine Keeler.

Keeler and Rice-Davis were at the heart of the scandal that brought down the government. The Profumo affair, which took place in July 1961, was a major scandal in British legislation.

John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan’s traditional government, had an affair with 19-year-old model and dancer Christine Keeler while married to British actress Valerie Hobson.

In March 1963, he lied about the affair to Parliament, but it was later confirmed that he did, in fact, have extramarital relations with Keeler.

He later resigned, claiming he “deeply regretted” deceiving the House of Commons.

The Emmys just paid tribute to the great Treat Williams: the 71-year-old actor who died in a motorcycle crash received a posthumous nomination for playing former CBS head and media tycoon Bill Paley in Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. It was his final role before he died June 12, 2023 in Vermont.

The Ryan Murphy miniseries, which is an adaptation of Laurence Leamer’s bestselling book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, chronicles the tale of the famous wunderkind author as he stabs several of his female friends — whom he called his “swans” — in the back by publishing a roman à clef short story called “La Côte Basque 1965” in Esquire in 1975.

Last June, FX and 20th TV released this statement: “Treat Williams leaves behind a legacy of remarkable performances in film and television, and an indelible mark on the entire industry.

Next time someone from the Federal Bureau of Investigation wants Henry Winkler to shake their hand, they should sit on it instead.

For all the Winkler fans who know him best as the nebbish-y character actor on critically acclaimed shows like Arrested Development and Barry, it may be hard to believe that Gene Cousineau was once the coolest cat in sitcoms. Winkler’s performance as the slick, motorcycle-riding, leather-jacket-wearing Arthur “Fonzi” Fonzarelli on the ABC sitcom Happy Days was, and still is, one of the most iconic roles in all of TV comedy as Winkler encapsulated everything cool to mid-1970s America. And at a time when J. Edgar Hoover’s body was barely cold and his soul burningly warm, the G-men of the FBI didn’t have quite the affection and admiration of America’s youth that a pre-shark-jump Fonzi enjoyed.

As such, when a handful of die-hard Happy Days...

In response to a lawsuit by Rolling Stone and National Security Counselors, the Department of Justice has turned over two tranches of FBI documents related to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Rolling Stone’s Freedom of Information Act request, filed hours after the announcement of his death in November 2023, seeks expedited processing of FBI files related to the former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to President Nixon. Kissinger is widely considered to be a war criminal for his role in the bombing of Cambodia, a coup in Chile,...

My name is Fredrika Newton. I am the widow of Dr. Huey P. Newton, who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966 with Bobby Seale while they were both college students at Merritt College in Oakland, California.

Huey and the Black Panther Party are featured in a new series now streaming on Apple TV+ titled The Big Cigar, of which the final episode released on Friday. (André Holland portrays Huey P. Newton.) I was not involved in the creation of this series, but I do have a few things to say.

If you’ve been watching along, you’ll know that The Big Cigar is an adaptation of an extremely harrowing and dangerous time in Huey’s life, as he along with his first wife Gwen, escaped the United States for Cuba in 1974 after he was falsely accused of murder.

I was also a former rank and file member of The Black Panther Party.

The upcoming John Wick spinoff movie, Ballerina, promises no tip-toeing around the intense action. Star Norman Reedus teases the "high-octane" nature of the film and shares insight into the physicality involved during production.

In an interview with Collider, Reedus expressed excitement about Ballerina, which stars Ana de Armas in the titular role and sees Keanu Reeves reprise his role as Wick. According to Reedus, shooting Ballerina took its toll on him. However, he assures fans the final product will exceed expectations. "It was painful. [Laughs] I just got back from Budapest where we added more fight scenes to it. So, I went from Japan to Budapest, back to Japan basically. It's high-octane. It's a cool story, it's well-acted, visually stunning, but it's just like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang," he said.

Related David Leitch Reveals the Most Important Shot Ever in the John Wick Franchise

John Wick co-director David Leitch shares...

On June 7, 1996, Buena Vista unveiled Michael Bay’s actioner The Rock, which paired Sean Connery with Nicolas Cage. The R-rated film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, went on to gross $134 million domestically that summer. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

An above-average big-bucks action film with enough macho behavior and explosive thrills to please fans of the genre, Hollywood Pictures’ The Rock has the usual problems with credibility, but the ride is so fast and ferociously executed that one has fun with its excesses while admiring the solid performances from its trio of stars.

On target for a big breakout on its opening weekend, the final Simpson/Bruckheimer production is dedicated to the late Don of high-testosterone blockbusters. Furiously paced and ruggedly directed by sophomore helmer Michael Bay (Bad Boys), The Rock has firepower to spare and plenty of dramatic sparring, but no time for romance or genuine bonding...

Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon shined a light on one of the lesser-known dark chapters of American history – the wholesale slaughter of dozens of members of the Osage Indian Nation by their supposed guardians, neighbors and friends. A dramatic gut-punch of a film, it was adapted by Scorsese and Eric Roth from the 2017 David Grann book of the same name. The book took about five years to research, and the film took just as long to arrive on the big screen, with both taking great pains to authentically communicate the tragic nature of the Osage murders. While the film obviously takes a handful of liberties necessary to dramatize Grann’s book, by all accounts it’s an incredibly faithful telling of the story, accurately recreating the book’s major events as realistically as possible. Let’s take a look at What Really Happened to Killers of the Flower Moon.

Modern action films like John Wick revamped the action genre by emphasizing realistic gun use and choreography. The earliest change in Hollywood's mindset when it came to guncraft was director/producer Michael Mann, an early advocate for actors training with weapons for film authenticity. The rise of firearm trainers in Hollywood today established a new standard for actors in action films, performers are now obligated to display a high level of competence.

The action genre was in a bleak place before John Wick premiered in 2014. With the intense yet grounded gun-and-fist choreography, a decade of shaky cam cinema was finally discarded, and none too soon. However, this movie has gone down in cinema history for another feature, its attention to how firearms operate in reality and their many, many limitations. John Wick wasn't the first, though. Despite the over-saturation of action films for over a century, it took years for...

Exclusive: Theo Rossi (Emily the Criminal), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), David Costabile (Lincoln) and Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) have wrapped production in Arkansas on In Fortune’s Shadow, a new thriller from writer-director David L. Hunt (Greater) and his 2521 Entertainment.

Others set to star include Alexander Kane (A Day to Die), Leonard Wu (American Born Chinese), Lawrence Kao (Walker: Independence), and Billy Choi (The Affair). Check out a first-look still above.

The first film in a planned series titled The Underneath, In Fortune’s Shadow is billed as John Woo meets The Matrix or It’s a Wonderful Life with guns. The film centers on a legendary Keyser Soze-type figure known as The Man with the Answers, an ex-Knight of the Round Table now wandering in today’s underworld. The legend says that if you can find The Man and eat with him in a Chinese restaurant,...

Forty years later, it’s safe to say Sony and one of its most beloved film titles still ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost. They also apparently need not fear curmudgeonly film reviews either based on the solid performance of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire over last weekend’s box office.

Despite receiving a tepid Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score of 44 percent, the fourth or fifth film in the franchise—depending how you count Paul Feig’s 2016 remake of the same name—opened above expectations with an estimated $45 million in three days. That is nearly identical to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which opened at $44 million, and the aforementioned 2016 remake, which grossed $46 million in its debut. Given such similarities, it’s probably worth noting that one reason the 2016 reboot was perceived as a financial disappointment and Afterlife was not is because the former cost a reported $145 million while Afterlife’s price tag was about half that.

"This is an epic story of cosmic proportions!" Universal has revealed another full 3-minute trailer for The Fall Guy, opening at the start of May to kick off this year's summer movie season. Ryan Gosling stars as "The Fall Guy" – he's a stuntman, and like everyone else working in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. A hilarious, hard-driving, all-star apex-action thriller film + love letter to action movies and the hard-working, under-appreciated crew of people who make them. The Fall Guy also stars Emily Blunt as "The Director", with Winston Duke, Hannah Waddingham, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Teresa Palmer,...

On Feb. 20, 1939, more than 20,000 yelling, cheering people packed New York City’s Madison Square Garden. They weren’t there for a basketball game or a concert. They were supporters of the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization that was ready for an alternative to democracy. They waved Swastika flags and raised quite a ruckus. And they were hardly alone in their mission, as the new PBS American Experience documentary Nazi Town, USA makes abundantly clear.

While most Americans identified fascism and the Third Reich as existential threats to civilization, many...

Ahead of Martin Luther King Day, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his family’s role in authorizing government surveillance of the civil rights leader. The presidential hopeful told Politico on Sunday that his father, Robert F. Kennedy, who authorized the wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr. while attorney general, and President John F. Kennedy had a “good reason” for doing so.

In the interview, Kennedy Jr. claimed the administration permitted the wiretapping because they were “making big bets on King, particularly in organizing the March on Washington.” He added that...

This article contains Killers of the Flower Moon spoilers.

Few filmmakers in the annals of cinema have earned the right to take a bow like Martin Scorsese. For nearly 60 years, the maverick storyteller has pushed the limits of his art form and found new ways to leave an indelible mark on the audiences who still show up. So for more than a handful of critics who clapped at my screening when the maestro materialized at the end of Killers of the Flower Moon, it must have seemed like a well-earned mic drop; a chance for Scorsese to take visible ownership of a passion project he’s been shepherding to the screen for the better part of a decade.

Yet my personal reaction to the moment was initial bafflement and a curious melancholy. Staring directly into the camera, the director of Raging Bull and Goodfellas, Taxi Driver and Gangs of New York,...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

Another year of films. Another year of depressingly hopeful favorites.

That’s not to say I didn’t love any comedies. The ones I did just had a tendency to punch you in the gut somewhere along the line. It’s a truth that probably says more about me than I could ever articulate on my own. Grief simply resonates—especially when it can hit hard while still allowing the affected character on-screen to smile in the face of it.

We need a little of that hope in the real world. An authentic, complex hope to mirror the dark, politicized era in which we currently reside. One where anyone who isn’t depressed twenty-four-seven is more than likely not paying attention to anything that’s happening beyond their own personal gain.

The 2024 Oscars is set for March 10, 2024 in its traditional home, the Dolby Theater. Films released theatrically from January 1 to December 31 of 2023 are eligible for consideration for the 96th annual Academy Awards. Scroll down for our updated 2024 Oscar predictions for Best Picture. (Only movies confirmed for release in 2023 are included; keep checking back as new contenders enter the race.)

Some of the early Oscar hopefuls were launched at Sundance in January and Cannes in May. Four more film festivals — Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York — will showcase more movies. However, the ongoing writers and actors strikes could reduce the visibility of those contenders. Likewise for those films that forego the festival circuit entirely.

Voting for the 10 shortlisted categories runs from Dec. 14 to 18, with the semi-finalists revealed on Dec. 21. Nominations voting kicks off on Jan. 11, 2024 for six days with the slate of final contenders announced on Jan. 23. Final voting starts on Feb.

Francis Ford Coppola's bleak Vietnam War picture "Apocalypse Now" is not only one of the best films of 1979, but is handily one of the finest, most important films of its decade. Using Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella "Heart of Darkness" as a template, Copolla transposed the book's action from the late 1800s Congo to the jungles of Cambodia, and, in so doing, exposed the madness and horror of the Vietnam War in harrowing, soul-hollowing terms. As Captain Willars (Martin Sheen) treks deeper and deeper into the chaos of the natural world -- drifting ever closer to the insane, cult-founding rogue Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) -- reality begins to dissipate. Eventually, madness and violence are all that remain, and war is reduced to its base function: brazen, meaningless destruction and cruelty. "Apocalypse Now" is a great, great film.

Curiously, a lot of war enthusiasts love "Apocalypse Now," seemingly ignoring the film's...

Before Martin Scorsese decided to end "Killers of the Flower Moon" with a profound coda set amidst the melodrama of a classic true crime radio show, the filmmaker considered taking inspiration from a controversial, FBI-influenced 1959 movie. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scorsese opened up about the making of the film's somber surprise ending, and explained that the Jimmy Stewart-led film "The FBI Story," directed by Mervyn LeRoy, was almost the basis for the final sequence.

"It's a series of the greatest hits of the FBI," Scorsese told the outlet, but he didn't exactly offer a glowing review for the movie. He's not alone: it's often been labeled as overt copaganda in retrospect. "It's in beautiful Technicolor and actually has some very well-done scenes, but there is a section on the Osage murders that is reviled by the Native American community," the filmmaker explained, concluding simply, "It's a travesty.