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Actors love to talk about authenticity, but if that were all it took, we wouldn't need them at all -- cops, lawyers, and singles on the prowl could just play themselves. There's more to it than that, of course, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a background in the role being played. Many former Marines have done well as actors, using their discipline for our entertainment. And as it turns out, many thespians with actual criminal records do a great job of playing crooks onscreen. As 2024's Oscar-nominated film "Sing Sing" depicts, theater programs can serve as therapy, and serve to reform offenders.

Throughout the history of the movie business, real-life criminals have found the movie business to be more comfortable than their former under-the-table careers. Audiences, in turn, can often tell when a guy onscreen really looks like he could kill or beat you. In some cases, showbiz...

Oscar-winning actress Kathy Bates has made no secret that portraying shrewd defense lawyer Matlock will be the final role of her decorated 55-year Hollywood career. The iconic Misery actor stars as Madeline "Matty" Matlock in the rebooted legal drama, which premiered on CBS on September 22, 2024. Although assuming the mantle left behind by Andy Griffith in the original Matlock is no easy feat, Bates stands to make TV history for the first time since 2015 if all goes to plan.

Should Bates win a probabilistic Emmy Award for her acting swan song, she will become the first woman to win a Best Leading Actress honor for a network production in 10 years. It would be an ideal way to bid a fond farewell to one of history's most diversely talented acting careers, reminding old and new fans that Bates can handle comedy and drama with the best of them. Here's how Kathy Bates...

To mark the beginning of Saturday Night Live’s 50th season (or prematurely honor Three Amigos’ 38th anniversary), David Letterman’s YouTube account just posted an old interview with Lorne Michaels. The long-time SNL producer stopped by Late Night on February 14, 1983. Shout out to all the sad sacks who spent Valentine’s Day ‘83 watching Lorne Michaels tell stories on TV.

Following an awkward chat about the weather, an awkward conversation about Michaels’ reputation as a television “pioneer” and a discussion of the time he collaborated with Woody Allen, Michaels finally talked about Saturday Night Live.

Weirdly, this interview came during the five-year period when Michaels wasn’t working at SNL. Still, he was happy to answer questions about the show, including Letterman’s query about any sketches that were censored by NBC.

Michaels then went on to somewhat hesitantly recount how the writers responded to a news story concerning the debate over capital punishment,...

Germany’s Christoph Hochhäusler, the acclaimed director of “Till The End of The Night” which premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, returns with his latest film, “Death Will Come.” The crime piece is set to debut at the Locarno Film Festival, produced by Heimatfilm in collaboration with Amour Fou Luxembourg and Tarantula.

Sold by Italy’s True Colors, the film sees Tez, a hitwoman played by Sophie Verbeeck, tasked to avenge the death of a crime boss’s courier. The boss (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) who hired her has motives more nuanced than they seem.

Tez remains an enigma, with the story only scratching the surface of what makes her tick as she goes about her work. For Hochhäusler, the mystery is intentional. “I believe spectator and character must meet. As a spectator, I am usually willing to go to greater lengths, investing in the fiction so to speak, if the...

Known for starring in multiple movies like Star Wars to Taken, Hollywood star Liam Neeson came under fire after he defended high-profile men who have been accused of inappropriate behavior. One of the names he commented on also included the actor-filmmaker Dustin Hoffman, who infamously slapped his Kramer vs. Kramer co-star Meryl Streep and has also been accused of s*xual misconduct by many women.

Liam Neeson in Star Wars Episode I- The Phantom Menace

Neeson, who suggested that there seems to be a “bit of a witch-hunt happening,” drew criticism from many who believe he is downplaying the seriousness of the allegations and failing to acknowledge the prevalence of such misconduct in various industries.

Liam Neeson’s Controversial Remarks on Allegations Against Dustin Hoffman

During an appearance on the Irish talk show The Late Late Show, actor Liam Neeson shared his views on the s*xual misconduct allegations against several prominent figures,...

Actor M. Emmet Walsh has passed away.

Per TheWrap, it's been revealed that M. Emmet Walsh died on Tuesday, March 19, at Kerbs Memorial Hospital in St. Albans, Vermont. His passing was confirmed by his manager, Sandy Joseph, who verified that Walsh died of cardiac arrest. Walsh was 88 years old.

Walsh was born on March 22, 1935. He made his acting debut in 1969's Alice's Restaurant, starting a career that would see him take on over 200 roles over the next five decades. The actor would follow this up with roles in movies like Midnight Cowboy and Serpico before landing more recognizable roles in 1977's Slap Shot and 1978's Straight Time. Walsh would also pick up a memorable role in the classic Steve Martin comedy The Jerk in 1979.

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One of Walsh's best-known roles was in the original Blade Runner movie, released by director Ridley Scott in 1982; he played the role of Captain Harry Bryant.

M. Emmet Walsh, the wily character actor who became an audience favorite for his deliciously despicable performances in such films as Blood Simple, Blade Runner, Brubaker and The Jerk, has died. He was 88.

Walsh died Tuesday in St. Albans, Vermont, his longtime manager, Sandy Joseph, told The Hollywood Reporter. The cause was cardiac arrest.

With his distinctive lumbering form and droll delivery, Walsh was an ideal supporting player. A master of off-kilter comic delivery and dogged edginess, he excelled at roles that dwelled in the darker corners of humanity. No matter whom he played, he made a colorful impact.

“A consummate old pro of the second-banana business, Walsh has left his mark on 109 movies and counting, with the grin of that big bastard who stands between you and something else — and knows it,” Nicolas Rapold wrote in a 2011 profile of the actor for L.A. Weekly.

In the same piece, Walsh...

M. Emmet Walsh, a legendary character actor known for roles in iconic films, passed away at 88 from cardiac arrest in Vermont hospital. Walsh's six-decade career featured standout performances in Coen Brothers' films, Blade Runner, Knives Out, and other beloved movies. A versatile actor, Walsh brought big energy to small parts, creating a long-lasting impact on the cinematic landscape.

M. Emmet Walsh died today, March 20th, 2024. The famous actor was 88 and suffered cardiac arrest, passing away at Kerbs Memorial Hospital in St. Albans, Vermont. It's the end of a six-decade-long career that has seen Walsh work with some of the most legendary directors of all time, and in some of the most important movies, too: Blade Runner, Blood Simple, Bound for Glory, Baretta — and those are just the ones starting with "B."

Walsh began his film career with two of the most important films of the countercultural 1960s, starring in Alice's Restaurant...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here – today – we talk about movie Editors! Not the movies they edited that were legendary but the less legendary ones in between.

Today we speak with the great editor Darrin Navarro about the lauded editor Sam O’Steen, who worked on such masterpieces as The Graduate, Rosemary’s Baby, and Chinatown. The O’Steen-edited films we cover today are: The Day of the Dolphin, Straight Time, Nadine, and A Dry White Season.

Navarro talks about the editing process with William Friedkin (and how it changed a bit with The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial), how knowing when not to cut is as important as knowing when to cut when editing a film, O’Steen’s essential book Cut to the Chase: Forty-Five Years of Editing America’s Favourite Movies (written with his wife Bobbie O’Steen), and what a gem of a film Nadine is.

Highlights include...

Recently I was speaking to a friend, who's a few years younger than me, about our favorite movies. And to my dismay, it transpired that he'd never heard of "Heat." Not just hadn't seen it, but never heard of it. And honestly, I felt like I had to sit him down and have a little Al Pacino and Robert De Niro-style heart-to-heart after he dropped that bombshell.

Unfortunately, this was one of those moments when I realized that I am, in fact, incredibly old and that 1995 actually wasn't just a few years ago. To be specific, it was almost 30 years ago — more than enough time for the film to be obscured beneath several layers of cinematic sediment.

This is why it's so great to see Michael Mann's excellent crime epic (though the director doesn't consider it a crime movie) in the Netflix top 10 these days. It seems "Heat...

"Jackie Brown" remains Quentin Tarantino's only departure from writing and directing his own films and, as such, it continues to stand just outside of the explosive, hyper-real universe he's created with all of his other features. Adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel "Rum Punch," Tarantino's follow-up after the unprecedented success of "Pulp Fiction" was intentionally crafted to fly right under the radar of the mainstream. The chances of duplicating the cultural phenomenon of "Pulp" just wasn't a possibility and whatever Tarantino was going to do next would be unfairly compared to what many still consider his masterpiece. 

Until "Jackie Brown," Tarantino had essentially created his own cinematic universe (the Qtcu?) populated by characters dreamt up by his own imagination. "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction," "True Romance," and "Natural Born Killers" all have the same voice that remained intact even when other directors such as Tony Scott and Oliver Stone inserted their own established,...

Of all the filmmakers of the modern era, few have such a recognizable style as Quentin Tarantino. Of course, Qt is known to switch things up from time to time, based on the period he wants to emulate in his films. But whether he's paying homage to the martial arts films of the Shaw Brothers, or delivering his own spin on the spaghetti Westerns of the '60s, Tarantino rarely strays from his heightened, highly-stylized look. That's not to say that Tarantino can't apply restraint, or even nuance if he feels so inclined. Compared to the pulpy energy of "Django Unchained" or the "Kill Bill" duology, "Jackie Brown" is uncharacteristically chill. It was only his third feature — directly following "Pulp Fiction" — but even then it was considered pretty understated for ol' Tarantino.

"Jackie Brown" follows the exploits of the titular flight attendant (the legendary Pam Grier) as she attempts to...

"Emily the Criminal" isn't about a glamorous life of crime. It's not about the rocking highs, the one last job, or the score to end all scores. It's a crime story about survival, with its characters just trying to make it through another crummy week. As Chris Evangelista wrote in his review, "Coupled with the prevailing sense of economic hopelessness, 'Emily the Criminal' often feels like a crime saga for the gig economy; a 'Scarface' for people who work at DoorDash, with capitalism as the film's Big Bad."

John Patton Ford is the writer and director behind the throwback crime film, which focuses more on the mundane than the highly stylized. There's no artifice -- just Emily (Aubrey Plaza) working and hustling. It's a character-driven film with Plaza making every moment feel believable and vital. It's a great performance When we caught up with Ford recently to discuss the movie,...

Small thief and parolee Max Dembo is pinned in a parole system that all but guarantees he’ll go back to robbing banks and jewelry stores. Dustin Hoffman has one of his best and most unusual roles, taken from the story of a real bank robber. Directed by Ulu Grosbard, the docu-drama look at the seedy side of Los Angeles is graced with a perfect cast: Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kathy Bates. Sure, the rotten parole officer drives Dembo back to crime, but pulling jobs is in his blood. It’s one of the best portraits of a criminal ever.

Straight Time

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 114 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date September 29, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, Rita Taggart, Kathy Bates, Sandy Baron, Jake Busey.

Cinematography: Owen Roizman

Art Director: Dick Lawrence

Film Editors: Sam O’Steen,...

The shortened in-person Berlin Film Festival (Feb. 10-16) has revealed a raft of high profile shows that will participate in keenly anticipated annual fixture Berlinale Series.

The strand opens with Amazon Prime Video Argentinian spy series “Yosi, the Regretful Spy” and also includes HBO Max Swedish friendship comedy series “Lust”; Lone Scherfig’s TV2 Danish maternity ward-set “The Shift”; Czech Television, Arte drama “Suspicion” from Czech Republic and France; British Sky supernatural thriller “The Rising”; Channel 2 Iceland police drama “Black Sand”; and from France’s Club illico, comedy-drama “Last Summers of the Raspberries.”

Films selected for the youth-focused Generation Kplus strand include “The Hill of Secrets” (South Korea); “Waters of Pastaza” (Portugal); “Moja Vesna” (Slovenia/Australia); “My Small Land” (Japan); “The Realm of God” (Mexico); “The Apple Day” (Iran); “Shabu” (Netherlands) and “Boney Piles” (Ukraine).

Films selected for the Generation 14plus strand include “Alis” (Colombia/Chile/Romania); “Bubble” (Japan...

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By Todd Garbarini

Dustin Hoffman has played a tremendous variety of roles throughout his 50-plus year career: an underconfident graduate in love with his fiancé’s mother; a terminally ill hustler; a mathematician forced to defend his home; real-lifers Lenny Bruce and Carl Bernstein; a marathon runner out to avenge his father’s and brother’s deaths; and most notably as a divorced father and a mentally challenged genius (for which he scored two Academy Awards for Best Actor), among many other memorable performances. However, there is one film that he made during all his great work in the 1970s that, despite receiving a sizeable theatrical release and decent reviews, is virtually unknown to anyone outside of his most ardent admirers. His young fans today who know him primarily from the “Fockers” films are probably oblivious to his interpretation of ex-convict Max Dembo...

With the Emmy-decorated, too-many-people’s-favorite-show-to-count triumph of his role on “Ted Lasso,” Jason Sudeikis has joined the rarefied club of all-stops-out comedians who make the transition to becoming full-on dramatic actors. That said, “Ted Lasso” is a drama streaked with comedy. So you could say that Sudeikis, for all the adoration and acclaim he’s earned, still hasn’t quite entered the fabled upper echelon of the “All comedians want to play Hamlet ­— but only a few get to do it” stratosphere.

That may explain why he signed on to play the lead role in “South of Heaven,” a seedy indie romantic crackpot noir, set in Texas, that casts him as a convict doing all he can to stay out of trouble. At first, the movie seems like a variation on “Straight Time,” the 1978 Dustin Hoffman drama that’s still one of the most authentic films of its era about...

Dustin Hoffman, Teresa Russell, Harry Dean Stanton and Gary Busey in Straight Time (1978) will be available on Blu-ray September 28th from Warner Archive

After many juvenile detentions and six years in prison, the small time thief and burglar Max Dembo is released on parole. Max has an initial friction with his nasty parole officer Earl Frank, but the officer agrees to let him live in a hotel room if he gets a job within a week. Max goes to an employment agency and the attendant Jenny Mercer helps him to get a job in a can industry. Max decides to go straight and visits his old friend Willy Darin and his family. When Willy brings Max home, he injects heroin and leaves his spoon under Max’s bed. Max dates Jenny, and on the next day after hours, he finds Frank waiting for him snooping around his room. Frank finds...

Much loved actress Kathy Bates celebrated her 73rd birthday yesterday and many of her fans came out on Twitter to mark the occasion. Having been in the business for almost 50 of those years, Bates has become an icon of both stage and screen, with her break-through and still most memorable role being Annie Wilkes in the film version of Stephen King's Misery. She also appeared in The Waterboy, Titanic and About Schmidt. She has recently made an impact on TV appearing regularly in American Horror Story.

Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and was one of three children. After studying theater at school, she moved to New York in 1970 to pursue her career in acting. She struggled to find work after moving to the Big Apple, taking on regular jobs such as being a cashier at the Museum of Modern Art to get by. She made her screen debut...

Actor David Morse joins Josh and Joe to talk about his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Slaughter Rule (2002)

Dancer In The Dark (2000)

A History Of Violence (2005)

The Indian Runner (1991)

Inside Moves (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Death Wish (1974) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

The Virtuoso (2021)

The Crossing Guard (1995)

Prototype (1983)

Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann (1991)

Seven Beauties (1975)

Swept Away (1974)

Mimic (1997)

Hannibal (2001)

Mean Streets (1973)

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

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

Being There (1979) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary

The Ghost of Peter Sellers (2018)

A Shot In The Dark (1964) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Papillon (1973)

Straight Time (1978) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Straw Dogs (1971) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Wait Until Dark (1967) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Catch 22 (1970) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Desperate Hours (1990)

The Bounty...

The newest release from Bruce Springsteen’s official live album series is a show he played in Nice, France on May 18th, 1997. This was the tail end of the Ghost of Tom Joad tour and features a mixture of new songs like “Straight Time” and “Highway 29” with classics like “The Promised Land and “Atlantic City” and deep cuts like “Red Headed Woman’ and “Highway Patrolman.” To mark the release, the Springsteen archives shared a preview from the concert, “Murder Incorporated.”

“In the States we got a part of our population...

For all the praise of how great ’70s cinema was, when you come to think about it, many of the great crime classics like Straight Time, The Godfather and Thief were all testosterone-driven, with female characters resigned to second- or third-class status. Unfortunate, considering an era known for its sense of revolution.

Such was the jumping off point for Julia Hart’s Amazon Studios movie I’m Your Woman. which she co-wrote with her Oscar-nominated La La Land producer husband Jordan Horowitz. The movie stars Rachel Brosnahan as the wife of a gangster who, after his disappearance, is forced to go on the lam with their baby, who is stolen, and the Black bodyguard (Arinzé Kene) who is protecting her.

“We were watching a bunch of ’70s and early ’80s crime drama around the time we also became parents,'” Hart says during the movie’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film awards-season event,...

Athens-born Fokion Bogris is among the generation of Greeks who have spent most of their adult lives in the shadow of austerity measures and a seemingly never-ending economic crisis. Like many of his country’s filmmakers, the self-taught director, who turned 40 last year, continues to persevere, even as the coronavirus pandemic has compounded the challenges for an already cash-strapped film industry. “In these extreme conditions there is a great drive for cinema, but there is also great pessimism,” he told Variety.

Bogris nevertheless returns with his first feature film in over a decade, “Amercement,” which he directed off a script he co-wrote with Panos Tragos. The film world premieres in the Meet the Neighbors competition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, where it will be available on the fest’s VOD platform on Nov. 8. “Amercement” is produced by Chase the Cut, in collaboration with Authorwave. Chase the Cut is handling world sales.

The director of Over The Edge and The Accused takes us on a journey through some of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Student Teachers (1973)

Night Call Nurses (1972)

White Line Fever (1975)

Truck Turner (1974)

Heart Like A Wheel (1983)

The Accused (1988)

Over The Edge (1979)

Modern Times (1936)

City Lights (1931)

Manhattan (1979)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

The Apartment (1960)

North By Northwest (1959)

Moon Pilot (1962)

Mr. Billion (1977)

White Heat (1949)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Three Musketeers (1973)

The Four Musketeers (1974)

Superman (1978)

Superman II (1980)

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Shane (1953)

The 400 Blows (1959)

8 ½ (1963)

Fellini Satyricon (1969)

Richard (1972)

Millhouse (1971)

The Projectionist (1970)

El Dorado (1966)

The Shootist (1976)

Woodstock (1970)

Payback (1999)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

Billy Liar (1963)

Ford Vs Ferrari (2019)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Bad Girls (1994)

Masters of the Universe (1987)

Giant (1956)

The More The Merrier (1943)

The Graduate (1967)

The Victors (1963)

…And Justice For All (1979)

Citizen Kane (1941)

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn...

A contemporary British movie version is to be made of Little Boy Blue, one of the novels by cult American writer and convicted criminal Edward Bunker, who died in 2005.

A contemporary British movie version is to be made of Little Boy Blue, one of the novels by cult American writer and convicted criminal Edward Bunker, who died in 2005.

Bunker was the co-star of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (as Mr Blue). His books have sold over 3 million copies and have spawned such films as Straight Time (1978), Animal Factory (2000) and Dog Eat Dog (2016).

Bridge Way Films and Ipso Facto Productions are...

The current Marvel Cinematic Universe of superhero blockbusters, sequels and spin-offs might not exist if not for screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who is dead from natural causes at age 92 on May 9.

The two-time Oscar winner for his scripts for 1977’s “Julia” and 1980’s “Ordinary People” was involved in the screenplays for the original “Spider-Man” trilogy that began in 2002 starring Tobey Maguire as Spidey the web-slinger that would redefine and elevate the modern superhero genre and set the standard for all the spandex-wearing crusaders who followed. I recall Oscar talk for the possibility that Sargent’s much-praised script for 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” could be nominated — an unheard-of notion back then for a film based on a comic-book.

See Celebrity Deaths 2019: In Memoriam Gallery

Sargent would also contribute to 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man,” the reboot of the series starring Andrew Garfield. It would be his final script, which the scribe completed when...

Alvin Sargent, who won Oscars for writing Ordinary People and Julia and was nominated for Paper Moon, has died of natural causes in Seattle. He was 92. Sargent also won WGA Awards for all three of those films and received the guild’s career honor, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, in 1991.

Sargent penned more than two dozen feature screenplays from the 1960s into the 2010s, most recently The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). His feature credits also include What About Bob? (1991), Other People’s Money (1991) and Unfaithful (2002).

He began his screenwriting career in television, penning episodes of such 1960s drama series Ben Casey, Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Run for Your Life. He also wrote episodes of ABC’s short-lived Paper Moon spinoff series in which Jodie Foster played the role that won Tatum O’Neal a Supporting Actress Oscar.

Born on April 12, 1927, in Philadelphia, Sargent had...

Academy Award winner Alvin Sargent, who penned an extraordinary number of popular and critically successful films, from “Paper Moon” and “Ordinary People” to the “Spider-Man” sequels of the 2000s, died Thursday, his talent agency Gersh confirmed to Variety. He was 92.

Sargent won adapted screenplay Oscars for “Julia” in 1978 and “Ordinary People” in 1981 and was also nominated in the category in 1974 for “Paper Moon.” (He also received Writers Guild awards for all three films.) The writer worked with many of Hollywood’s top directors over the course of his career, including Alan J. Pakula, John Frankenheimer. Paul Newman, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Pollack, Fred Zinnemann, Robert Redford, Martin Ritt, Norman Jewison, Stephen Frears and Wayne Wang, though not always when those helmers were doing their best work.

Sargent started as a writer for television but broke into features with his screenplay for 1966’s “Gambit,” a Ronald Neame-directed comedy thriller starring Michael Caine,...

Cannes — Showtime’s limited series “Escape at Dannemora” marks a departure for Ben Stiller as a director, by design as he tackled eight hours of the stranger-than-fiction story of the 2015 prison break in upstate New York that led to a three-week manhunt.

During a Q&A after Monday’s world premiere screening of “Dannemora” at Mipcom, Stiller said he sought to evoke the gritty tension of some of his favorite 1970s crime dramas a la “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” and “Straight Time.” The drama starring Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Arquette and Paul Dano, revolves around two inmates who hacked their way of a prison in Dannemora, N.Y., with help from a female prison official who had a sexual relationship with both men.

“I was taken by the combination of elements in it,” Stiller said of the series that bows Nov. 18. “It wasn’t just a genre piece.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the series finale of The Mindy Project.

So The Mindy Project‘s titular heroine got her man, her business and her happy ending, after all.

RelatedPerformer of the Week: Mindy Project‘s Chris Messina and More

In the series finale, released Tuesday on Hulu, Mindy Kaling’s Dr. Lahiri reunited with former fiancé/baby daddy Danny, who also fronted the money that allowed her to keep her fertility clinic open. The financial backing was a surprise, but it was nowhere near as shocking as Dr. Castellano’s earnest admission that he’d been wrong seasons before,...

Tributes have been pouring in for Harry Dean Stanton, who died yesterday at 91 after a six-decade career that saw him steal scenes in movies as varied as “Pretty in Pink,” “Repo Man,” and “The Godfather Part II.” Stanton left behind a huge number of friends and colleagues, many of whom have taken to social media to honor the late performer.

Read More:Harry Dean Stanton’s Best Performances: An IndieWire Tribute to ‘Paris, Texas,’ ‘Pretty in Pink,’ ‘Twin Peaks,’ and More

Harry Dean Stanton had the best line in Christine: "I'm selling' this shithole and buyin' a condo." Rest in peace, HD. You were great.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 15, 2017

But also 'Wild At Heart', 'Straight Time', 'Escape From New York', 'Two Lane Blacktop', 'Wise Blood', 'Christine' and many others still. pic.twitter.com/4eEVgOR2e8

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) September 15, 2017

Harry Dean Stanton...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Adaptation (Spike Jonze)

It’s almost depressing to rewatch Adaptation in 2016, because it’s a reminder of how strong an actor Nicolas Cage is when he actually invests himself in good projects. It was soon after this that his career went off the rails, but he’s remarkably impressive here, playing the dual roles of Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother, Donald. As much a mind-fuck as any other Kaufman screenplay,...

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This August will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Tuesday, August 1

Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train

Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.

We recommend titles that influenced Ben Wheatley and more.

With his sixth feature, Ben Wheatley finally has a wide release in America. Free Fire might be his most accessible movie yet, consisting a single location and pretty much just one long action sequence. It’s basically a 90-minute third act without the first two acts getting in the way. Also it features Oscar winner Brie Larson, and who doesn’t like watching her act?

If you like what you see, then you’ll want to discover Wheatley’s other work, starting with the small crime film Down Terrace, which kicked off his career. I also recommend the following dozen movies, some of which are direct influences on Wheatley, others being similar kinds of films, and then just whatever else I had determined worthy.

The Truce Hurts (1948)

Ben Wheatley loves Tom and Jerry cartoons and has cited them as an influence on his latest movie. I...

Cannon Films knocks one out of the park: Jon Voight and Eric Roberts escape from prison only to end up on a huge, speeding, out of control juggernaut of a freight train plowing through the Alaskan wilderness. It's both an action bruise-fest and an existential statement, and it's still a wild thrill ride. Runaway Train Blu-ray Twilight Time 1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date October 11, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95 Starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner, John P. Ryan T.K. Carter, Kenneth McMillan, Edward Bunker, Hank Worden, Danny Trejo, Tommy Lister, Don MacLaughlin, Loren James, Dick Durock, Dennis Franz. Cinematography Alan Hume Original Music Trevor Jones Written by Djordje Milecevic, Paul Zindel, Edward Bunker based on a screenplay by Akira Kurosawa. Produced by Yoram Globus, Menachem Golan Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

When I stumbled into The Cannon Group on...

Cinemax's '70s action drama Quarry was among the best-looking TV shows to air in 2016, and tonight's first season finale was its most visually impressive, highlighted by a nine-plus minute Vietnam battle that looked like a "oner," showbiz parlance for a long scene filmed in a single take. There were actually a few hidden edits in there, but the great bulk of it really was shot in one take, which required an absurd amount of preparation on behalf of director Greg Yaitanes and the rest of the cast and crew. Yaitanes, a TV veteran who most recently was the producing director on Cinemax's Banshee, joined some elite company when he directed all 8 hours of this season — a feat that's placed him in impressive company with Steven Soderbergh (The Knick), Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective season 1), Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot season 2), and David Lynch (the upcoming Twin Peaks revival), who have...

Dog Eat DogI collapsed on my bed in the Hotel Cristal in Cannes, the curtains blowing in the breeze, just like in Roy Scheider’s room before he gets the piano wire in Marathon Man, and somehow managed to dimly fall asleep until the text function on my phone started quacking. It was the girl I love, in Los Angeles, texting to say, I missed my flight. I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. What? Sorry? How can you even be sorry for missing a flight to Cannes—especially after I had added on a leg from Istanbul to Nice so she wouldn’t miss the opening-night parties? I was crushed. Heartbroken. We talked, but I knew it portended something bad. And I was especially pissed because this came a mere three and a half hours before my movie, Dog Eat Dog, was going to have its...

You can’t really do crime without landing somewhere near Eddie Bunker. The former convict turned author and movie consultant has his finger prints all over some of the best crime films. He wrote the screenplays for the underrated Dustin Hoffman-starring “Straight Time” (1978), “Runaway Train” (1985) and “Animal Factory” (2000). He consulted with Michael Mann […]

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ABC has just announced it's cast line-up for Dancing with the Stars, and it's a celebrity hootenanny you're not going to believe. Maybe you want to be sitting down before you hear who'll be introduced when Dancing with the Stars Season 21 kicks off with a 2-night live premiere on Monday, September 14 and Tuesday, September 15. There are truly some big surprises. And you'll wonder, 'Can they really dance at all?' It may end up being one of this fall TV season's biggest mysteries.

The celebrity cast of Dancing with the Stars is lacing up their ballroom shoes and getting ready for their first dance in just under two weeks on the ABC Television Network. This 21st season's lineup of celebrity dancers includes three platinum-certified music super stars, an Academy Award nominee, a Triple Crown winner, an American Hero, and our first ever married couple, to name a few. As announced...

Failure is the name of the game here. This is an in-depth look at some of the most common reasons that heists in films go wrong.

Heists in films rarely go right. In fact, the heist gone bad is a plot device that has been used over and over for decades. It adds drama. It adds tension. It adds excitement as the crooks run from the law. Often times, that’s what makes a heist movie so fun to watch, seeing how the characters get themselves out of a tight situation. A perfect heist can be interesting to watch, but doesn’t really enhance or create much conflict between characters by itself. That’s why heists gone wrong are much more frequent in film than heists which go off without a flaw.

There are many ways a heist can go wrong. This is an overview of some of the most common reasons,...

It's one thing to be a part of a huge franchise, spanning several films and carrying the weight of untold box office expectations, but it's an entirely separate thing to be involved in two huge franchises. And that's the position that Miles Teller has found himself in, with the second chapter in the "Divergent" series, "Insurgent," opening this week, and a brand new reboot of Marvel's "Fantastic Four" hitting theaters later this summer. But if he's feeling the pressure, he's certainly not showing it.

I sat down with Teller in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest Film Festival, a weeklong celebration of mostly independent films, to talk about "Insurgent," a towering behemoth of a movie whose production budget is probably equal to most of the independents screening at South by Southwest combined. (We also talked about Teller's "Whiplash," the indie movie that seduced Sundance last year and went on...

The From Dusk Till Dawn TV series continues to bolster its cast and we’ve learned that Adrianne Palicki, Jake Busey, and Lane Garrison are the latest additions:

“New York and Austin, TX – December 16, 2013 – Additional cast members have joined the Austin-based production of the highly-anticipated, “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,”premiering in Q1 2014 on El Rey Network, the new 24-hour English-language cable network. Produced in association with FactoryMade Ventures and created and executive produced by network founder and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, the supernatural crime saga (based on the cult classic film of the same name) will feature Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) in the newly-created role of Vanessa Styles; Jake Busey (Starship Troopers, Enemy of the State, Identity) as Professor Aiden Tanner; and Lane Garrison (Bonnie & Clyde, Prison Break) as Pete, a character portrayed by John Hawkes in the original film. The 10-episode series will serve...

As all lovers of crime, suspense thriller, war, western, horror and science fiction films know, creating a truly great cinematic villain is no easy task. When it happens, it’s virtually impossible to forget that character.

We’ll now take a look at the greatest film villains of the 1980’s.

The criteria for this article is the same as my previous article Cinema’s Greatest Villains: The 1970’s: the villains must be from live-action films-no animated features-and must pose some type of direct or indirect lethal threat. The villains can be either individuals or small groups that act as one unit.

The villains must be human or human in appearance, so no shape-shifting alien from John Carpenter’s amazing 1982 The Thing, no Aliens from James Cameron’s classic 1986 sequel and no Predator from John McTiernan’s beloved 1987 film of the same name.

Also, individuals that are the central protagonists/antiheroes...

When film directors stage a scene from the mid-1970s, we all know how it’s done: They’ll clear everything out of a shot — commercial signage, etc. — that violates the period, and then they’ll plunk down a bunch of 1970s parked cars. Yet what they end up with still doesn’t usually look like the period — it looks prefab — and watching Blood Ties, a rivetingly scuzzy and authentic New York cops-and-crime drama (it’s set in 1974), starring Clive Owen as a hard case who has just gotten out of prison and Billy Crudup as his straight-arrow policeman brother,...

Toronto -- At least Dustin Hoffman is honest when asked why it took him so long to make his directing debut.

"I don't know," Hoffman said.

The 75-year-old Hoffman went behind the camera for "Quartet," starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins as aging British opera divas at a retirement home for musicians who put aside past differences for a reunion concert.

"Quartet," which premiered at last September's Toronto International Film Festival, opened in a handful of theaters Jan. 11 and expands to wider release Friday.

Hoffman always wanted to direct, optioning stories, working on scripts, developing projects. He even started out to direct the 1978 ex-convict drama "Straight Time," in which he also was starring. Hoffman cast the film, worked on the script with several writers and said he "even got myself secreted into San Quentin – which is another story – in a convict's outfit for about five hours before I got found out.

New Year's Potpourri week concludes at Trailers from Hell with screenwriter Josh Olson introducing "Straight Time," which star Dustin Hoffman directed for the first few days of production, and features a screenplay with uncredited contributions by Michael Mann. Quartet, Dustin Hoffman's well-received 2012 directing debut, wasn't his first time behind the camera. In 1978 he began helming this gritty street drama but handed over the reins after a few days because, lacking video assist, he felt he couldn't fairly judge his performance as an incorrigible ex-con on parole. Screen debuts of Gary Busey, Theresa Russell and Kathy Bates.

Dustin Hoffman has taken 45 years as both one of our most acclaimed actors, and as a major box office draw, to step behind the camera. In fact, that's not strictly true; Hoffman was the original director of his terminally underrated 1978 crime picture "Straight Time," but struck by indecisiveness early in production, made way for Ulu Grosbard instead. But now, nearly 35 years on, the legendary star has finally completed his debut directorial effort, "Quartet," an adaptation of the play by Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist"). A modest little comedy about retired British opera singers, it's not immediately an intuitive choice for Hoffman, the man who starred in "The Graduate," "Midnight Cowboy" and "Straw Dogs," among others. But it's easy enough to see how it happened; the film's a love letter to retired performers of any kind, and particularly the British near-legends he's assembled for his cast, and the...

We have a bunch of posters for Quartet, an opera company filled with retired performers reunite once a year to stage a fundraiser for their theater in Dustin Hoffman’s directorial sophomore project.

Contrary to what we said before, this is not Hoffman’s directorial debut as he directed the little seen Straight Time back in 1978.

An all star cast of British luminaries including Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay and Billy Connolly star with a screenplay by celebrated British playwright Ronald Harwood, based on his play.

Quartet, which also stars Sheridan Smith (Hysteria), Luke Newbury (Anna Karenina), Trevor Peacock and Welsh soprano Dame Gwyneth Jones will be released in the Us on December 28th, 2012 before going in the UK on January 1st and wider on January 4th. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Quartet is about Cecily (Pauline Collins), Reggie (Tom Courtenay...

Dustin Hoffman on being difficult, the movies he didn't make and why he's finally directing

Dustin Hoffman is on the phone to his wife. I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but I can't help it. It's the voice. "Where's your meeting? Good luck. Bye-bye." So slow and deep and rich, like whipped cream mixed with gravel. Even when he started out 45 years ago in The Graduate, as virginal Benjamin Braddock about to be educated in the ways of love and lust, he had the voice. Hoffman is an extraordinarily convincing actor – when he sweats crazily in Straw Dogs, the sweat's for real; you can almost smell him as crippled hobo Ratso in Midnight Cowboy; and when he steps into a frock and heels for Tootsie, you know he's really learned to walk a lady's walk – but in the end it's down to the voice.

And to the choices he has made.

"This isn't a retirement home. It's a madhouse."

Academy Award–winner Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer, Rain Man) is clearly an actor who has always had a desire to direct. He almost made his debut behind the camera with 1978's Straight Time, but opted instead to just act in the movie. Since then he has directed theater and produced television, and it shouldn't be too surprising that Hoffman is finally making his debut as a movie director with Quartet.

Based on the play of the same name Ronald Harwood (The Dresser, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Quartet stars Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter) and Billy Connolly (Brave) as denizens of a retirement home for musicians, which puts on an annual which is put in question when Jean (Smith) arrives at the home. The movie's first trailer has just arrived online, and reveals a light, comedic tone...