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Paramount+ is heading into the fall season by bringing TV watchers a whole new round of TV shows and films.

Our hearts were ringin’ in the key that our souls were singin’ for these new titles that are dropping on the streamer this September, just like Earth, Wind and Fire said. And if you love the group, you’ll have to check out the the TV special “A Grammy Salute to Earth, Wind & Fire Live: The 21st Night of September,” which drops on Sept. 21.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because they are some absolute goodies that are landing at the top of the month that you’ll...

It's fair to say no one goes to a Roland Emmerich movie expecting Shakespeare. Ever since breaking through with the sci-fi action hit "Universal Soldier" in 1992, his name has been synonymous with switch-off-your-brain blockbuster entertainment. At his best, he thrusts a colorful assortment of stars and character actors into a series of mayhem-laden set pieces with a gleeful shamelessness unseen since the heyday of Irwin Allen. He's well aware of his dialogue-writing shortcomings, and casts big personalities like Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Oliver Platt and so on to sell the heck out of his implausible exposition and shopworn banter.

When it works, it's Arby's. When it doesn't,...

Jean-Claude Van Damme. The Muscles from Brussels. If you grew up in the early nineties, this handsome Belgian was everywhere. With his unique accent, good looks, and a butt he was all but too happy to show off at least once a film, he was the rare action star that was just as popular with the ladies as the dudes. Changing tastes in the mid-nineties meant that his career as a viable lead in theatrical films started to dry up, which wasn’t helped by some off-screen issues he had with drugs (a Hollywood tale as old as time). But, while his contemporary, Steven Seagal, became something of a parody of himself, Jcvd got clean and doubled down on his craft, emerging as a surprisingly potent actor in some Dtv movies that are way better than anyone gives them credit for.

While his days as an A-list lead might be behind him,...

Why Was Jean-Claude Van Damme “Ashamed” Of His Friends Cameo?(Photo Credit –X)

Jean-Claude Van Damme is best known as one of the most iconic action stars of the ’80s and ’90s. With high-kicking roles in films like Bloodsport, Kickboxer, and Universal Soldier, he earned his place as a martial arts legend on screen. The superstar carries an impressive tough-guy impression. However, many fans are unaware that he once ventured into an entirely different genre when he made a guest appearance on Friends. Yes, Van Damme made a surprise cameo on Friends, which sadly turned out to be a rather awkward experience.

Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Memorable Cameo On Friends

The year was 1996. Friends was at the height of popularity, and every big-name celebrity wanted to make a cameo on the show. Jean-Claude Van Damme became one of the most prominent guest stars. He featured in Season 2, Episode 13, “The One...

It seems very long ago, but there was a time when Roland Emmerich wasn’t a household name. The name is synonymous with the destruction of Earth now, and always will be, but go back a few decades and he was just another working director who made mid-budget movies that most people don’t feel very passionately about. Making Contact? Moon 44? Okay, we’ll give some love to 1992’s Universal Soldier only because it still sorta rocks, but I bet when you first saw it you didn’t think much about who made it. Same for the 1994 sci-fi flick Stargate, a title most of us still probably associate with the TV spinoffs than the actual movie. So during the beginning of 1996, when the movie of the summer looked to be an epic alien invasion spectacle called Independence Day, the legion of us who were excited were thinking, “This looks awesome…...

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There are few blockbusters in history as roundly beloved as Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park." Save for perhaps George Lucas' original "Star Wars" film and some other classics helmed by Spielberg, the groundbreaking 1993 adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name remains a treasured piece of cinema history. The tone was set from the jump, with the unforgettable opening sequence in which an InGen worker is killed by a Velociraptor, who we never fully see. But that chilling scene laid the groundwork for what was to come.

Though the worker in question was never named on screen, in the script he was referred to as Joffrey by screenwriter David Koepp. As explained in "Jurassic Park: The Official Script Book," that name was inspired by the actor who played him, Jophery C. Brown. What's more, Brown was actually a...

Tubi is adding lots of free movies and shows in July. There’s something for everyone to watch. All the titles listed below will start streaming on July 1, unless stated otherwise. Take a look and see what’s new!

1. Originals

Great White Waters (7/4),

Get Off My Lawn (7/11),

Tko (7/18)

2. Series Spotlight

“Brickleberry”

“Girlfriends”

“Hap & Leonard”

“Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell”

“Kold & Windy (S1)”

“Major Dad”

“Millennials”

“Sanford and Son”

“The Jeffersons (S11 & S1)”

“Wow: Women of Wrestling (S2-S3)”

3. Action

“12 Rounds”

“2 Guns”

“Baywatch”

“Escape Plan”

“Escape Plan 2: Hades”

“Escape Plan: The Extractors”

“First Blood”

“Hitman”

“Hitman: Agent 47”

“Jurassic World”

“Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life”

“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”

“Non-Stop”

“Redemption”

“The A-Team (2010)”

“The Fate of the Furious”

“Universal Soldier”

4. Art House

“A Most Violent Year”

“American Honey”

“Bones and All”

“Clemency”

“Hot Summer Nights”

“Rye Lane”

“The Captive”

“Under the Silver Lake”

“When You Finish Saving the World...

Tubi, Fox’s free streaming service, has announced its list of July titles. The Tubi July 2025 slate features new Tubi Originals, TV series, and numerous action, art house, Black cinema, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, kids and family, sci-fi and fantasy, thriller, and Western titles.

As a leading ad-supported video-on-demand service, the company engages diverse audiences through a personalized experience and the world’s largest content library of over 250,000 movies and TV episodes, a growing collection of exclusive Originals, and nearly 250 live channels.

You can watch the Tubi July 2025 lineup for free on Android and iOS mobile devices, Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub Max, Comcast Xfinity X1, and Cox Contour.

You can also watch the service on connected television devices, including Amazon Fire TV, Vizio TVs, Sony TVs, Samsung TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on the Tubi website.

Tubi Originals

Action

Great...

It’s time for a new episode of our series Revisited, and with this one we’re looking back at the 2009 sci-action movie Universal Soldier: Regeneration, the attempt to rescue the Universal Soldier franchise after the disappointment of Universal Soldier: The Return in 1999. To hear how it all turned out, check out the video embedded above!

Directed by John Hyams from a screenplay written by Victor Ostrovsky, Universal Soldier: Regeneration has the following synopsis: When a terrorist sect uses destructive android Ngu, a new model from the “Universal Soldier” line of humanlike machines, to seize the atomic reactor at Chernobyl, Luc Deveraux, an older cyborg, is reactivated to save the planet from nuclear Armageddon. Unfortunately, Deveraux will also have to contend with his nemesis, Andrew Scott, a fellow Universal Soldier who’s been recharged by the terrorists. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei ‘The Pitbull’ Arlovski, Mike Pyle,...

Dolph Lundgren has spoken about the shock he felt after being catapulted to fame following the success of Rocky IV in 1985. As a Swedish actor who got his big break playing the villainous Soviet fighter Ivan Drago, Lundgren was one of the most iconic antagonists in the entire Rocky franchise and remains among the fiercest foes Sylvester Stallone's underdog hero has ever faced off against. Rocky’s fight against Drago was about far more than just professional boxing and acted as a microcosm for the entire Cold War, with Rocky representing the United States and Drago as the Soviet Union.

Even four decades after Rocky IV first premiered, Lundgren can still remember the stresses and responsibilities of his newfound fame, as he revealed at Fan Expo Philadelphia, attended by Screen Rant, that it took him “about five years to recover.” Lundgren’s role was immediately one of the most...

In 1992, the now acclaimed director Roland Emmerich, alongside action superstars Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, created Universal Soldier. A movie that was maybe under-appreciated in the golden age of action films but nonetheless a highlight in all of their careers. Regardless, financial issues loomed for the studio that created it. This resulted in rights being sold and two mostly horrendous television movies being released on Showtime starring Gary Busey and Burt Reynolds. Seven years later, in 1999, the franchise would attempt its big screen comeback with the legendary Jean Claude Van Damme desperate for a career win on a project no director seemed willing to touch. Would the result be a resurrection of not only the franchise but its leading man’s once unstoppable career? Or one of the final nails in the coffin of both of their big screen futures? This is What Happened to Universal Soldier: The Return.

Throughout humanity's long, sad, and seemingly endless history of making war, there has existed a naggingly evergreen question about making the perfect soldier. In a pre-technological age, this question was largely psychological, yet the advent of advanced tech started to open up more possibilities, as well as lead to more dead-ends. To wit: while fully replacing human soldiers with robots would initially seem ingenious, it could also lead to things like malfunctions and the absence of human reasoning and ingenuity. Yet a robot, loaded with a pre-made algorithm, doesn't need to be retrained, and isn't susceptible to the many vulnerabilities a human being is. Surely, there must be a way to combine the two.

Roland Emmerich's 1992 sci-fi action film "Universal Soldier" took this recurring military frustration and turned it into thoughtful genre entertainment. Although Emmerich and his writers (with his old filmmaking partner Dean Devlin chief among them) knew...

Halfway through the 2020s, the verdict is still out about whether or not this has been a good decade for movies. Every one of the past five years, beginning with the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, has been marked with concerning debates about the state of Hollywood, the viability of continued large-scale filmmaking and the entertainment industry’s future. That said, there is one silver lining that cinephiles can find from the past five years of movies: the slasher genre is back.

The 2020s has turned out to be a surprisingly great decade for the horror subgenre. Here are the five best slasher films that it has given us so far.

“Freaky” (Universal Pictures) “Freaky” (2020)

It may have been rolled out in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but “Freaky” still ranks as one of the first great slasher movies released in a decade that has turned out to be a strong period for the genre.

Sylvester Stallone has come a long way since his Rocky and Rambo days, establishing a fairly bright career and reputation for himself in Hollywood as one of the greatest action stars of all time. However, despite being regarded among the GOATs, since, like, forever, he has had quite a few rivalries with his peers that he initially couldn’t get past – like with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Of course, his bad blood with Schwarzenegger, out of all the feuds he has had over the years, is widely known, since both of them often butted heads while trying to be better than the other. But besides him, there was another actor that Stallone absolutely despised, with the sole reason behind the same being pure jealousy: Dolph Lundgren, since he simply felt too perfect to be true!

Besides Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone despised Dolph Lundgren Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. | Credits: Lionsgate Films.

Arnold...

A pair of martial arts icons collide in this action crime thriller that’s sure to quickly climb your “must watch” list after you see the gritty and gripping fight scenes on display. Led by Blade of Fury and Ip Man: The Awakening star Miu Tse alongside 100 Yards and New Police Story’sAndy On, Hunt the Wicked follows a brilliant detective as he battles a criminal mastermind in a city steeped in mystery. Let the punches and bullets fly!

It has now been announced that the action thriller Hunt the Wicked will land on Digital on May 20, 2025, courtesy of Well Go USA, and is now available to stream on the platform Hi-yah!, which is available in the United States and Canada.

Directed by Huo Suiqiang and starring Andrew Lien, Shuang Hong (Jue mi zhuiji), and Jing Gu (Fight Against Evil) alongside Miu Tse and Andy On, you can check...

The idea blended Egyptian culture and ancient alien concepts with interplanetary adventure. Studios didn’t get it. The producer didn’t like the pacing. The first test screening didn’t go well. But when the film reached theatres, it was a hit, spawning a franchise that would go on for years and consist of multiple novels and TV shows. Now, we’re going back to the beginning to find out What Happened to Stargate.

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich was fascinated with Egyptian culture and architecture. While in film school, he had an idea for a story about the discovery of a space ship, buried under the Great Pyramid. The revelation that ancient Egyptians were influenced by alien visitors. The story was too big and expensive to bring to the screen at that time, so Emmerich set it aside. When he was working on his fourth feature film, the sci-fi thriller Moon 44,...

The Rock is going through a bit of a weird time in his career. Ever since 2022's "Black Adam" underperformed and he pretended it didn't, the good will he'd accrued throughout several decades has been dissipating. The former WWE star, who recently returned to his wrestling roots, has seemed to flounder, and reports of disgusting on-set habits haven't helped in that regard. But "Red One," his Christmas movie for Amazon, seemed to do well and his aforementioned pro-wrestling return might go some way to restoring the public's faith in a man who at one time seemed to be one of the most-liked figures in Hollywood.

Long before any of this played out, however, and even before he became the massive movie star he eventually did, The Rock was starring in some middling action thrillers in his quest to conquer Hollywood. In recent years, we've seen some of these neglected entries in his filmography resurface,...

Robert Trebor, a character actor who recurred as Salmoneus on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess and played “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz during his long screen career, has died. He was 71.

His obit at Legacy.com did not list a cause, date or place of death, but he had been struggling wqith side effects from a stem-cell transplant for leukemia several years ago..

Born on June 7, 1953, in Philadelphia, Trebor had a few bit roles before his career got going in the 1980s with small roles in such movies as Gorp, Turk 182 and Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo. His breakout role was as notorious “Son of Sam” serial killer Berkowitz in the 1985 CBS telepic Out of the Darkness, which starred Martin Sheen as the NYC detective who track him down.

The following year, Trebor had a key role opposite Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret...

When director Ted Kotcheff introduced moviegoers to the character of John Rambo in the 1982 action classic "First Blood," Rambo was recognizably human, a tragic figure who was trained to be an elite killing machine in a pointless war that could not be won in a conventional manner. Home from Vietnam for less than a decade, he's found it difficult to reintegrate himself into a society that wants to forget everything for which he risked his life. This is fine by Rambo. He just wants to reconnect with old war buddies and find a safe harbor where he can hopefully get his bearings back. He's not looking for a fight. That part of his life is over -- until a sadistic, power-tripping small-town sheriff decides to mess with Rambo because he can.

Though Rambo is portrayed as an exceptionally lethal man who can outwit a law enforcement hunting party while surviving a series of perilous spills,...

Two action titans throwing down both on screen and seemingly off in front of thousands of reporters; a director now known for tentpole disaster flicks working with a big budget for the first time; Replacing another director who couldn’t make it work; a script that dips its toes into at least four different genres; multiple required shots of Jean Claude Van Damme’s naked body; bullets, bombs, and a whole lotta killin’. This is what happened to Universal Soldier.

If you were a fan of action movies with a darker, sci-fi edge to their storylines in the 80s and 90s, Carolco Pictures was likely behind some of your favorites. By the time Universal Soldier darkened their desks around February of 1990, the company had already been involved with films like First Blood and They Live. This even before Terminator 2 and Total Recall. If you had a dark action flick,...

John Wick star and underrated action icon Scott Adkins goes head-to-head with Titanic and The Phantom star Billy Zane and The Vampire Diaries’ Zach Roerig in the upcoming action western, Day of Reckoning. Adkins, best-recognized for his role as Killa in John Wick: Chapter 4, as well as Accident Man and the Undisputed franchise, breaks bad as the leader of a biker gang, with Zane starring as “bullish” U.S. Marshall Butch Hayden and Roerig as “put-upon lawman” John Dorsey. You can check out the action-packed trailer for Day of Reckoning, which crushes together western aesthetics with action movie flair to create the perfect genre-spliced fist, below.

Directed by Shaun Silva and written by Travis J. Opgenorth, Day of Reckoning stars Cara Jade Myers, country singer and actor Trace Adkins, and Travis Hammer alongside Adkins, Zane, and Roerig. Set for a limited release in theaters in the United States on March...

Jean-Claude Van Damme does not always star in his own franchise sequels, but the legendary action star appears in Kill ‘Em All 2, which is currently trending on Netflix. Jean-Claude Van Damme is one of the world’s most iconic 1980s action stars, but while many of his movies began franchises, he does not always star in their sequels. Van Damme’s movies have often been described as “the most remade” of all time, based on the success of their franchises. However, until Kill ‘Em All 2, Jean-Claude Van Damme had only played three recurring characters.

In Kill 'Em All 2, Van Damme reprises his role as Philip, a former spy on a revenge mission. The movie takes place seven years after Kill 'Em All, with Philip discovering that the brother of one of the men he killed in the original film is also out for revenge. The cast of...

Stargate is a truly unique franchise in pop culture history. Though the original film by Roland Emmerich received a mixed reception — and didn't receive an intended trilogy — it led to the highly popular Stargate: Sg-1 TV show. Sg-1 led to a fleet of Stargate spinoffs, and gained its own legion of fans. But while the original Stargate is now considered a sci-fi classic 30 years after its release, it's still baffling that it didn't make a bigger impact when it was first released, especially with Kurt Russell and James Spader as part of the cast. Part of that is probably timing; Emmerich had released Universal Soldier prior to Stargate, with the former film spawning its own franchise, and then followed up Stargate with Independence Day. But it also turns out that Spader wasn't a big fan of the material, and Russell had to drag him out of his trailer one day.

80s action legend Dolph Lundgren reveals what he learned from working with Sylvester Stallone on Rocky IV, and how this later evolved with The Expendables franchise. Lundgren became a European karate champion in 1980-81, before moving to New York City to study acting in the mid-1980s, eventually securing his movie debut with a supporting role in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill. Following this, Lundgren went on to have a strong career as an action hero in movies throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Red Scorpion, Masters of the Universe, Showdown in Little Tokyo, and Universal Soldier.

In a panel with Screen Rant at Fan Expo San Francisco, The Punisher star discusses what he learned working with Stallone on Rocky IV, and how their relationship evolved in their reunion 25 years later. Lundgren's breakout role came in 1985 when he portrayed Soviet boxer Ivan Drago in Rocky IV....

Universal Soldier: The Return, starring the iconic Jean-Claude Van Damme, was released in 1999 to heavy criticism. Twenty-five years later, the film is available to stream for free.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's critically panned film Universal Soldier: The Return is now available to stream on PlutoTV. The film is a sequel to the 1992 sci-fi film Universal Soldier, and it sees Van Damme return to reprise his role as the series protagonist, Private Luc Deveraux. The film was poorly received, with just a 5% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the first film's moderate success, Universal Soldier: The Return only grossed $10 million at the box office, failing to make back its $40 million budget.

Related Did Jean-Claude Van Damme Quit the Role of the Original Predator?

In the latest Movie Legends Revealed, we try to get into the bottom of Jean-Claude Van Damme's disastrous stint as the original Predator actor

The Return was directed by...

A brutal and bloody action legacy sequel is now streaming, and finds action movie icon Jean-Claude Van Damme returning to one of his cult classic 80s sci-fi franchises. After leading the first Universal Soldier, which combines science fiction and action into a gloriously no-nonsense B-grade treat, and returning for a few much lesser follow-ups, the franchise was resurrected in 2012 with a legacy sequel led by John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Expendables 2 star Scott Adkins.

Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning sees Van Dammes super soldier Luc Deveraux return to the fray, but with a twist. This time, instead of leading the action as the main protagonist, the legacy sequel brings the character back as the main antagonist, with the final movie following Adkins amnesiac super soldier as he fights to discover who he really is. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning is now available to stream on Prime Video, and you can...

In the late 80s and early 90s, martial arts action star Jean-Claude Van Damme dazzled audiences with his big kicks and eye-popping splits. Though his audience expanded in the time between 1988s Bloodsport and 1992s Universal Soldier, critics largely dismissed Van Dammes movies for their simple plots as well as the one-dimensional characters. In 1994, however, Van Damme delivered one of his most well-rounded chacters ever: Peter Hyams Timecop.

Back in 2017, legendary action star Jean-Claude Van Damme had the lead role in a film titled Kill ‘Em All, which saw him taking on the role of a mysterious stranger who arrives at a hospital on the brink of death – and yet still has to fight for his life when a gang raids the hospital with the intention of finishing him off. Seven years later, Kill ‘Em All is getting a sequel, appropriately titled Kill ‘Em All 2, which is set to receive a digital release next Tuesday, September 24th. In anticipation of that release, a trailer for Kill ‘Em All 2 has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

The feature directorial debut of fight coordinator Peter Malota, who had previously worked with Van Damme on Double Impact, Universal Soldier, Nowhere to Run, The Quest, and The Order, Kill ‘Em All was scripted by Craig Stewart, Brian Smolensky,...

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Action movie fight scenes used to range from laughably bad to cringe-worthy in the United States until the 1970s. By then, martial arts movies (which were already popular in Asia) infiltrated American cinema, bringing some much-needed butt-kicking to the stale genre. Once audiences got a glimpse of Japanese and Hong Kong-style flying fists and feet, the weird oily wrestling of Spartacus and the telegraphed punches of predictable Westerns seemed lame in comparison.

Martial arts movies have grown in popularity ever since and created some seriously awesome heroes, such as Keanu Reeves' John Wick. Being a martial arts movie star doesn't necessarily involve being a classically trained fighter though it helps but rather having a screen presence and choreographed skills, such as is the case for Chow Yun-fat. The greatest movie martial artists are admired as much for their charisma as for their combat.

Belgian martial artist-turned-actor Jean-Claude Van Damme has many incredible characters under his black belt, but one of my favorites comes from a silly source: The Expendables 2. At 10 years old, Van Damme enrolled in karate school, though I highly doubt he knew the level of success the decision would garner. After earning the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978, he moved to Hollywood to become an actor. Ultimately, Van Damme landed his big break as ninjutsu practitioner Frank Dux in the 1988 martial arts flick Bloodsport one of my favorite Van Damme cult classics.

Van Damme's career-launching role in Bloodsport made him a hugely popular action star during the late '80s and well into the '90s. In my opinion, some of his biggest and best career highlights include Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990), Double Impact (1991), and Universal Soldier (1992), though flicks like Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), and Street Fighter (1994) also come to mind. Eventually, Van Damme's...

If you were a film fan growing up in the ‘90s/early-‘00s, you’re very familiar with the work of Roland Emmerich. We’re talking movies like “Universal Soldier,” “Stargate,” “The Patriot,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and, of course, “Independence Day.” And at one point, he was signed on to do a remake of “Fantastic Voyage.” Unfortunately, he was to work with James Cameron on that project, and let’s just say, their personalities didn’t mesh well.

Continue reading Roland Emmerich Left ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Remake Because James Cameron “Is Very Overbearing” at The Playlist.

"This never happened to the other fellow,” George Lazenby said as James Bond in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Lazenby’s Bond was a one-and-done deal, making the first and only Australian Bond the only actor to get a single crack at the job. Still, the iconic line...

Every streamer gets the “Game of Thrones” copycat it deserves. HBO, the original house of the dragons, can lay claim to an official prequel series that’s slavishly devoted to its predecessor. Prime Video, which would be the Scrooge McDuck of streaming if not for Apple TV+, can spend all of McBezos’ money rebooting “The Lord of the Rings,” yet still end up with a naggingly laborious “Rings of Power.” Netflix, always happier to buy talent than develop good ideas, hired “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to turn a “3 Body Problem” into a three-season snooze (replete with problems that plagued their last few seasons in Westeros).

There are others — some, even, quite successful — but let’s steer our dragons toward the latest attempt: Peacock’s “Those About to Die” leans on epic political machinations, brutal violence, and cold, calculating characters to sell its saturated vision of...

It's fair to say no one goes to a Roland Emmerich movie expecting Shakespeare. Ever since breaking through with the sci-fi action hit "Universal Soldier" in 1992, his name has been synonymous with switch-off-your-brain blockbuster entertainment. At his best, he thrusts a colorful assortment of stars and character actors into a series of mayhem-laden set pieces with a gleeful shamelessness unseen since the heyday of Irwin Allen. He's well aware of his dialogue-writing shortcomings, and casts big personalities like Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Oliver Platt and so on to sell the heck out of his implausible exposition and shopworn banter.

When it works, it's Arby's. When it doesn't, it's hour-old Arby's.

Take "Stargate" for example. Emmerich and co-writer Dean Devlin's follow-up to "Universal Soldier" was an ambitious, big-budget attempt at an off-brand Indiana Jones adventure starring James Spader as a bookish Egyptologist who gets recruited by a...

Stars: Juliet Mills, Richard Joseph Paul, Leon Russom, Walker Brandt, Tai Thai | Written by David Allen, Randall William Cook | Directed by David Allen

The Primevals was a film I thought I’d never get to see. Tracing its roots back to a short filmed in the 1960s, Raiders of the Stone Ring, and through the late 70s and early 80s it constantly seemed to be in some form of preproduction, either by the project’s driving force, stop-motion artist David Allen, or via one of producer Charles Band’s companies. It got frequent mentions in Famous Monsters of Filmland and even a cover story in Cinefantastique. But apart from some footage shot around 1978, nothing came of it until 1994 when the film’s live-action footage was shot in Band’s Romanian studios and the Dolomite Mountains in Italy.

Then, as he was working on the film’s extensive stop-motion effects, Allen died of cancer,...

Being a movie star is both a blessing and a curse. The blessings are fairly obvious, but, like all things that are too good to be true, they bring with them the seeds for the curse that follows, which is that movie stardom can set actors up for that much greater a fall should they start to slip off their pedestal. Some instances of actors taking a hard fall are deserved when it's to do with their offscreen behavior, yet in instances where it's mostly to do with the projects they're involved with being subpar, it's hard not to feel sorry for them.

Take Burt Reynolds, for instance. By the end of the 1970s he was among the most well-known and highest-paid actors working, and as the 1980s rolled on he continued to work with other name stars and solid filmmakers like Dolly Parton, Don Siegel, Blake Edwards, his buddy Hal Needham,...

The Cannes Film Festival has a storied history of infamous moments. We think of Brigitte Bardot in her bikini, Spike Lee threatening Wim Wenders with a baseball bat after losing the Palme d’Or, pretty much everything Lars Von Trier has said or done…But one that really caught the media’s attention was when Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren went at it on the red carpet, with people under the impression that the Universal Soldier co-stars and European macho men were really at each other’s throats. Turns out, it was all just a gag for the press.

It’s one thing that Universal Soldier was even being represented at the Cannes Film Festival but another entirely that it wasn’t even screened! As it was, despite a minor presence on the Palais des Festivals, Roland Emmerich’s sci-fi action flick wasn’t part of any screenings because it wasn’t complete.

Those who know who Roland Emmerich is will probably know that the director is known for his epic films, a lot of which are also major disaster films. Some of these major titles include Universal Soldier (1992), Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996) and its sequel Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Godzilla (1998), The Patriot (2000), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 10,000 BC (2008), 2012 (2009), White House Down (2013), Midway (2019), and Moonfall (2022). But, Emmerich is now shifting to television, as his new project is about to be released on Peacock this summer. Ahead of the premiere, a teaser trailer has been released.

The project in question is the epic sword-and-sandal series Those About to Die, which is set in Ancient Rome. The series will be based on the book of the same name by writer and journalist Daniel P. Mannix; interesting enough, the same book served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s epic classic, Gladiator.

The series will star acting legend...

As we've seen time and time again, Netflix is a good place for movies to be rediscovered. Sometimes, a film will come and go without much fanfare upon its initial release, only to end up becoming a hit when it ends up on the popular streaming service. Even something as terrible as the box office flop "The Snowman" can end up finding new life on Netflix. You just never know how these things will turn out. Part of it is availability — almost everyone subscribes to Netflix, and it's much easier to scroll through titles and hit play than it is to get up off the couch and go find a new movie in theaters. As a result, Netflix has become the modern equivalent of the video store — a place where movie-watchers can browse and find something fresh to watch. Only it's a video store you have in your own home,...

Jean-Claude Van Damme's science fiction films range in quality, with clear winners and losers in the lineup. The Universal Soldier series, featuring Van Damme, is the most famous and strongest of his science fiction offerings. Van Damme's best sci-fi film is Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, which explores the darker implications of the Universal Soldier program.

Primarily known for his work in martial arts films, Jean-Claude Van Damme is also no stranger to the science fiction genre, with eight distinct films in his catalog closely competing for a top slot. Keen to trade shots with firearms just as often as he is to trade punches, Van Damme is a versatile action star that can be introduced into a wide variety of settings, from the grounded and gritty to the outlandishly imaginative. Some of these films even feature Jean-Claude Van Damme's best fight scenes, finding the flexible action star plenty...

War movies often use historical conflicts as a backdrop, such as World War II in "Captain America: The First Avenger" and World War I in "Wonder Woman." Sci-fi and fantasy films set during war can explore the nature of humanity and armed conflict, like in "Overlord" and "Watchmen." Wars can provide a context for characters to escape the horrors of reality, as seen in "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

Wartime settings are usually used for harrowing, realistic portrayals of warfare in cinema, but real wars have also been used as a backdrop for sci-fi and fantasy stories. Sometimes, wars are used to add to the historical context of a genre story. War can even be used to bolster the themes of a fantasy movie. In Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, the 10-year-old heroine Ofelia goes to a hidden fantasyland to escape from the horrors of Francoist Spain.

Nearly 40 years after he made his big screen debut with a brief appearance in the James Bond picture “A View to a Kill,” Dolph Lundgren is still best known as an actor thanks to a series of iconic roles in ’80s and ’90s favorites like “Rocky IV,” “Masters of the Universe,” and “Universal Soldier.” (More recently he’s been a fixture in the “Expendables” and “Aquaman” franchises.) Yet for the past couple of decades, Lundgren has been quietly forging a side career as an accomplished writer and director of low-budget action films, movies that belie their limited resources in ambition and craftsmanship. Like the scrappy genre directors of Hollywood’s past — filmmakers like Budd Boetticher, Sam Fuller, and Don Siegel — Lundgren uses the creative freedom of lower budgets to smuggle his personal obsessions and stylistic preoccupations into accessible entertainments that are as intelligent as they are lively.

Lundgren’s latest release,...

In a world where superheroes, sequels, horror (thankfully) and anything IP related are king, it seems as though the risqué original thriller has gone by the wayside. Over the past ten years or so you’d be hard pressed to find anything other than The Invisible Man, You Should Have Left, Gerald’s Game, Gone Girl, or Knock, Knock that really fit the mold (albeit with some finagling) and each of those is either tied to popular literature or skews closer to the horror genre.

But the original thriller thrived in the 1990s. Also thriving during this beautiful time in Hollywood were action movies featuring two adversaries face to face on the poster and/or movie cover. Movies like Face/Off, Point Break, Demolition Man, Universal Soldier, and Broken Arrow. 1992’s Unlawful Entry combines both of these elements with two heaping sides of the stalker and slasher horror subgenres. Which is why...

I still remember the exact moment when I became aware of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s presence in the entertainment industry. Although he had played the villain in No Retreat, No Surrender and made his leading man debut with Bloodsport, I didn’t know about him until the VHS release of Kickboxer. That’s when a local video store put up a large poster of the film – which the store’s owner gestured to while telling my mom and I about this new guy named Van Damme, who was meant to be the next action star along the lines of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. We rented the movie… and I’ve been a fan of Van Damme ever since. So I think it’s very cool that Diamond Select Toys will be releasing a Jean-Claude Van Damme action figure next year.

An image of the action figure can be seen at the bottom of this article,...

The serial killer thriller Squealer is set to receive a theatrical and digital release on November 3rd – and with just three weeks to go until that date arrives, a trailer for the film has been unveiled. You can check it out in the embed above.

Squealer marks the feature directorial debut of Andy Armstrong, who got his start in the entertainment industry by working as a stuntman. He earned stunt credits on more than fifty projects, including Nightbreed, Total Recall, Air America, Leprechaun, Universal Soldier, The Firm, Flesh and Bone, Stargate, Galaxy Quest, Charlie’s Angels, Planet of the Apes, Green Hornet, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He also worked as assistant director or second unit director on many films, including The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman II, Krull, Highlander, Rambo II, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and Double Impact. He has even...

Welcome to Cardboard Cinema, an ongoing series where we look at board games inspired by or connected to our favorite media.

It's spooky season, so what better way to celebrate Halloween than with a handful of spooky board game adaptations for your 2024 wishlist? This month's standouts include a competitive "Saw" game and the much-anticipated adaptation of DC Comics's "DCeased" series. We also look at a few pieces of big news in the tabletop community. Did you know that Zack Snyder was sort-of secretly working on a tabletop adaptation of "Rebel Moon"? You'll have to read on to find out how that went sideways!

Read more: Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)

Dimension 20 Leans Into Our Saddest Cartoons

After recently celebrating its five-year anniversary, internet streaming service Dropout has proven itself a mover and shaker in the tabletop space.

There’s a lot to watch on Prime Video in October and, as you may have guessed, there’s spooky stuff galore in amongst Prime’s usual rotation of extensive library content.

In the movie Totally Killer, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina star Kiernan Shipka travels back in time to the 1980s to stop a serial killer. Then there’s Make Me Scream, a Halloween special that challenges celebrities to “a gruesome game of terror.” Renfield will also be streaming on the service for anyone who’s been dying (muahahaha!) to catch the Nic Cage Dracula film.

Outside of Prime Video’s more creepy fare, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods will debut, Upload will be back for a third season, and new film Awareness should scratch your sci-fi itch. Meanwhile, for Frasier heads – those who consider themselves utterly Frasier-pilled – all eleven seasons of the Cheers spinoff show will be streaming at the touch of a button.

If you’re looking for a complete list of every new movie and TV show coming to Amazon Prime Video in October, you’ve come to the right place. This month kicks off with a slew of great library additions, from James Bond films to relatively new releases (“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and the Nicolas Cage Dracula movie “Renfield”) and beyond.

There are also some high-profile originals landing in October. The third season of the sci-fi comedy series “Upload” arrives on Oct. 20, while Oct. 6 marks the release of the Prime Video original film “Totally Killer,” a fun slasher set in the 1980s that stars Kiernan Shipka.

Check out the full list of what’s new on Amazon Prime Video in October 2023 below, followed by a complete list of new arrivals for Freevee in October as well.

Arriving October 1

Frasier, Seasons 1-11 (1994)

Hit, Season 3 (2020)

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

A Guy Thing...

Netflix has been hit with a lawsuit for axing a game development contract based on Zack Snyder’s widely anticipated Rebel Moon franchise

In a filing today in federal court, Evil Genius Games claims it was working hand-in-hand with the streamer to put together a tabletop role-playing game that was intended to be released in conjunction with the first Rebel Moon film, set for a Christmas release.

Then, after months of nothing but positive collaboration, it all came crashing down.

“Nevertheless, just weeks after the work was finalized and turned over to Netflix, Netflix did a complete about face, and accused Plaintiff of breaching the Agreement’s confidentiality provisions—’and Netflix’s trust’—by allegedly releasing confidential Rebel Moon content at a trade show and then disclosing unapproved artwork for the Rebel Moon game to retailers,” the filing says of the suddenly terminated a licensing deal in May this year...

The science fiction films of 1992 showcased a diverse range of genres, including cyberpunk noir, dystopian thrillers, and technology-gone-wrong stories. While lacking in tentpole franchises, the underrated '90s sci-fi B-movies kept the struggling genre together, incorporating elements of action and horror to create a unique and difficult-to-pin-down tone. Despite not being a banner year for science fiction, 1992 had its unforgettable highlights, including films like "The Lawnmower Man," "Freejack," and "Universal Soldier" that captivated audiences with their cutting-edge CGI and pulse-pounding excitement.

To assemble a list of 1992 science fiction films is to plumb the depths of cinema in the early '90s and discover a few hidden gems released in a truly weird year for movies. Coming off the science fiction high of the 1980s, the first handful of years of the burgeoning '90s struggled to find their cinematic identity despite more than a few bona fide blockbusters. Science fiction...