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Few films have received as much incoherently contradictory reception as Ken Hughes’ Cromwell. The British historical drama made its silver-screen debut in July 1970. It was promptly criticized by professionals, yet it became the year’s highest-grossing British film. At the same time, Cromwell earned Vittorio Nino Novarese a shiny Academy Award for Best Costume Design. At Spain’s annual Fotogramas de Plata, leading actor Richard Harris earned the fifth spot for Best Foreign Movie Performer. Cromwell is as dramatic as its release history. That shouldn’t be too surprising, either; its highly romanticized story covers the English Civil War. In some ways, it’s comparable to America’s Oscar-winning historical drama, Lincoln, and its historical roots are no less ideologically divisive.

Notably, the film has everything it needs to succeed. Its gorgeous visuals handily bring some of Britain’s most controversial moments to life. Its cast is outstanding and studded with countless top-tier stars.

A pilot shot down over Afghanistan. Insurgents determined to kill her. A ragtag unit of soldiers desperately holding out against the odds. An underground bunker full of humanoid monsters with slimy skin and nasty sharp pointy teeth. You might well feel that you’ve seen this film – or two films, here spliced together – many times before. There is however a reason why Neil Marshall’s latest offering has been such a hit with genre fans, and that’s that it brings a freshness to the whole enterprise which makes it much more fun than, by any reasonable standard, it ought to be.

The pilot is Kate Sinclair, played by Charlotte Kirk, who previously appeared in Marshall’s silly but enjoyable Cromwell-era revenge tale The Reckoning. Then, as now, Kirk sports immaculate make-up, even when dirt and bruises have been applied over the top of it. She does a lot of her own.

Babe star James Cromwell recently rescued a baby pig and gave it a perfect name. Based on Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, Babe centers on a special pig who wishes to perform the duties of a sheepdog. When farmer Arthur Hoggett (Cromwell) returns home from a county fair with a small orphaned piglet, he quickly learns there is more than meets the eye with the adorable animal. The 1995 film proved popular with critics and audiences alike, earning over $250 million against its $30 million budget.

Following an incident that saw a piglet on its way to be fattened for slaughter fall off a truck, Cromwell decided to save the animal.

Per Variety, the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star and animal rights activist is working with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to ensure the animal lives out its days in comfort at the Indraloka Animal Sanctuary. Cromwell decided...

Though it sets out on a ghost hunt, Adrian Sibley’s fitfully fascinating documentary works better as an exploration of its subject’s public and private personas, charting Richard Harris’ rise from local sports star to screen legend via an unexpected heyday as a chart-topping pop star in 1968.

Rather than start with a séance, however, The Ghost of Richard Harris, screening in the Classics section of the Venice Film Festival, opens with the more prosaic sight of the actor’s three sons — Damien, Jared and Jamie — going through their late mother’s lock-up, where they find journals full of poetry, King Arthur’s crown (a prop from 1967’s Camelot) and trinkets from the Harry Potter franchise, in which their father played Dumbledore until his death in 2002, aged 72.

This set-up proves to be somewhat self-defeating, as the three middle-aged men, while reminiscing, then admit that they were packed away to boarding...

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Apple TV+ is rounding out the cast of its forthcoming series Sugar.

The show, produced in house at Apple Studios, has added Dennis Boutsikaris, Alex Hernandez, Lindsay Pulsipher, James Cromwell and Anna Gunn to the cast. The five actors join the previously cast Colin Farrell, who will play the lead role, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Amy Ryan.

Apple is keeping a lid on details about the series so far, describing Sugar only as a “genre-bending” series; it’s reportedly a present-day take on a private eye story. As such, there are no descriptors for the roles the five newly cast actors will play. Boutsikaris (Better Call Saul), Hernandez (Apple’s Invasion, UnReal) and Pulsipher (True Blood, Justified) will all be series regulars, and Emmy winners Cromwell (Succession, Babe) and Gunn (Breaking Bad) will recur.

Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, The Cell) created Sugar and...

Apple TV+’s Colin Farrell-led drama series Sugar has rounded out its cast.

Dennis Boutsikaris (Better Call Saul), Alex Hernandez (Invasion) and Lindsay Pulsipher (The Beast) are joining the series as regulars.

Separately, Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn and Succession’s James Cromwell are set to recur.

The LA-set contemporary take on a private detective story stars Farrell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Amy Ryan. It was created by Mark Protosevich (Thor) with Fernando Meirelles directing.

Protosevich and Meirelles exec produce alongside Farrell, Simon Kinberg, Audrey Chon, Scott Greenberg and Chip Vucelich and the project comes from Apple Studios.

As Deadline revealed in December, the streamer won a heated auction for the project, beating out Netflix.

Boutsikaris is repped by Aka Talent Agency and Main Title Entertainment, Hernandez is repped by A3 Artists Agency, Hckr Agency and Brookside Artists Management and Pulsipher is repped by Elevate Entertainment, Buchwald, and Kopeikin Law.

“Time to pay up,” James Cromwell’s Ewan Roy ominously warns his younger brother Logan (Brian Cox) in the final moments of “Dundee,” the second season episode of “Succession” that Cromwell submitted for Emmy Awards consideration. Last month, he earned his career-fifth Emmy nomination for his recurring role on the celebrated HBO drama series, his first bid since his 2013 victory for “American Horror Story: Asylum.” His nomination is for Best Drama Guest Actor.

Watch our exclusive interview with James Cromwell

In each of Cromwell’s guest appearances on “Succession,” his virtuous, erudite character Ewan spars with his estranged brother Logan, the Machiavellian head of media conglomerate Waystar Royco. Cromwell’s submission “Dundee” is no exception, as Ewan and Logan trade vicious barbs during a visit to their hometown in Scotland, where Logan will be feted for his 50 years in business. Though Ewan still holds a board seat, he seizes on...

The 1995 movie Babe is the definition of the 'little movie that could' trope. Based on a children's novel about the adventures of a talking piglet that becomes a talented sheep-herder, Babe was made on a small budget with a little-known cast, but went on to become an enduring classic with a global fan-following, $254 million box -office gross and seven Oscar nominations. On the film's 25th anniversary, actor James Cromwell, who played the role of Babe's owner Arthur Hoggett, spoke about the unique way in which the story's talking animals were brought to life.

"It was this film about a pig and the animals talked and I thought, you know, they're gonna put peanut butter in their mouths. I knew nothing about CGI and nothing about what [director] Chris Noonan and [co-writer and producer] George Miller wanted to achieve, which was to make the animals relate to each other as if they were human beings.

Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies' July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the finest performers of the studio era. On Thursday night, TCM presented five Colman star vehicles that should be popping up again in the not-too-distant future: A Tale of Two Cities, The Prisoner of Zenda, Kismet, Lucky Partners, and My Life with Caroline. The first two movies are among not only Colman's best, but also among Hollywood's best during its so-called Golden Age. Based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, Jack Conway's Academy Award-nominated A Tale of Two Cities (1936) is a rare Hollywood production indeed: it manages to effectively condense its sprawling source, it boasts first-rate production values, and it features a phenomenal central performance. Ah, it also shows its star without his trademark mustache – about as famous at the time as Clark Gable's. Perhaps...

By Tim Greaves

As British noir crime dramas of the Fifties go, The House Across the Lake (1954) is probably as good an example as you could hope to dip into. The tale unfolds in flashback, related by our main protagonist to another character (precisely who is not revealed until the final reel), is embroidered with expositional narration and, though clichéd and not in the least unpredictable, delivers atmosphere by the barrel.

The film is an early entry on the CV of writer-director Ken Hughes (the arguable highpoints of whose career, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Cromwell, remain perennial favourites, whilst his latter-day offerings, Night School and Sextette, are best brushed under the proverbial carpet). Hughes scripted The House Across the Lake from his own source novel, “High Wray”, and also commandeered the director’s chair. Nowadays understandably marketed as a Hammer film, it’s actually the fruit of the company’s earlier incarnation Exclusive Films.

Timothy Dalton joins the cast of ChuckTimothy Dalton (License to Kill) will guest-star in a multi-episode arc on NBC's action-comedy Chuck (Mondays, 8-9 p.m. Et).

Timothy Dalton will be playing a mysterious stranger who has a history with Chuck's (series star Zachary Levi) mom, played by Linda Hamilton (Terminator Salvation). This marks Timothy Dalton's first series appearance on American television since he guest-starred on Charlie's Angels in 1979.

Timothy Dalton is perhaps best known for his portrayal of James Bond in The Living Daylights and License to Kill. He can next be seen in the feature film The Tourist opposite Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. His other film credits include Hot FuzzThe Beautician and the Beast, The Rocketeer, Flash Gordon, "Wuthering Heights, Cromwell, and The Lion in Winter. Timothy Dalton recently added his voice to the animated hit film Toy Story 3.

In addition, Timothy Dalton starred as...

Timothy Dalton will guest-star in a multi-episode arc on the NBC's action-comedy "Chuck." Dalton will be playing a mysterious stranger who has a history with Chuck's (series star Zachary Levi) mom, played by Linda Hamilton ( Terminator , Terminator 2: Judgment Day ). This marks Dalton's first series appearance on American television since he guest-starred on "Charlie's Angels" in 1979. Dalton is perhaps best known for his portrayal of James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill . He can next be seen in The Tourist opposite Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. His other film credits include Hot Fuzz , The Beautician and the Beast , The Rocketeer , Flash Gordon , Wuthering Heights , Cromwell and The Lion in Winter . Dalton recently added his...

Interests varied today in the Twitter Report feed, but everyone found something to like or dislike. Brian Michael Bendis, for instance, became a fan of his daughter liking Jackie Chan, even if it meant leaving "iCarly" behind. A couple of dislikes, meanwhile, were handed out to "Twilight" and "Arkham Asylum," but C.B. Cebulski dished out what I believe was a like for some hot sauce in New Jersey.

All of these cheers and jeers are retweeted after the jump. There, you will also find out who's sad that he hasn't received an email from an alleged Russian spy and how awesome the results are when you ask Jill Thompson to do a commission of Death and Supergirl.

I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is your Twitter Report for July 6, 2010.

@thejillthompson Supergirl and Death commission. Got a buncha commissions to mail finally! http://twitpic.com/22v7rc

-Jill Thompson, Artist ("Beasts of Burden,...