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The first few Star Wars films provided a seminal filmmaking experience for people who grew up in the 70s and 80s. The original trilogy changed movies and how people saw blockbuster filmmaking. George Lucas created something original and unique that audiences had never seen before. The writer/director went on to direct the prequel trilogy in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith | Lucasfilm

The prequel trilogy majorly focused on Anakin Skywalker’s gradual evolution and acceptance of the dark side of the Force, through Palpatine’s calculative temptations. The result was a deadly event that would be forever remembered in the history of the franchise. Through the devastating event, Lucas perfectly set up the original trilogy.

George Lucas Traumatized Audiences Way Before Game of Thrones With The Order 66 Event

The execution of Order 66 in Revenge of...

Yen Press made a ton of announcements during its Anime Expo 2024 industry panel, including a complete box set for Ryoko Kui's Delicious in Dungeon manga. There are also plans to publish Ubel Blatt , Blend-s and many more, so let's take a quick look at what went down at the event. Ize Press Announcements Men of the Harem I Tamed My Ex-Husband's Mad Dog Kill the Villainess Novel Announcements Catalog of Wonders Before the Tutorial Starts: A Few Things I Can Do to Keep the Bosses Alive I’m the Strongest in This Zombie World, But I Can’t Beat This Girl! Monsterholic The Bs Situation of Tougetsu Umidori Manga Announcements Luciole Has a Dream Blend-s Be My Worst Nightmare! Revenge Agent Hizumi-san Ubel Blatt (3-in-1 Omnibus) Sword Art Online abec Artworks New World Hereditary Triangle Stomp, Kick, Love With You, Our Love Will Make It Through Delicious in Dungeon:...

The cast for HBO Original series “Welcome to Derry” continues to grows larger this week, with Deadline reporting that Rudy Mancuso (The Flash) has been set for a key recurring role.

“Welcome to Derry” is said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown, with Bill Skarsgård reprising his role.

“The series will begin in the 1960s in the time leading up to the events of It: Part One, the 2017 film based on the Stephen King horror novel. The story is also said to include the origin story of Pennywise the Clown.”

Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs are on board the Pennywise prequel project from Warner Bros. Television, with Muschietti set to direct several episodes.

The series hails from a story by Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, and Fuchs based on King’s novel It. Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti executive produce through their Double Dream production company alongside Fuchs,...

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance focuses on a woman with a familiar problem. Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is a former actress and contemporary fitness guru on the wrong side of 40 for the entertainment industry, who, as represented here by Harvey (Dennis Quaid), wants to replace her with the next hot young thing. Working in an ultra-blunt style, Fargeat boils Elizabeth’s world down to a few signifiers, among them: Elizabeth’s retro fitness show stands in for fleeting fame; Harvey, one of the broadest caricatures that cinema has offered, is the male chauvinist underbelly of Hollywood, befitting his namesake; and a billboard outside of Elizabeth’s sprawling apartment physicalizes her shifting place in the public.

One of Fargeat’s best symbols, worthy of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, is the opening close-up of Sparkle’s Hollywood star as it’s installed and becomes just another bit of set dressing. A...

Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Acolyte.

The Acolyte episode 6 release time remains consistent with prior episodes and other Star Wars live-action shows like Ahsoka. The Acolyte episode 6 will follow on from episode 5's explosive episode that saw the Jedi confront the Sith and Osha swap places with Mae. The Acolyte episode 6 will likely reveal more about the events on Brendok and provide answers to the show's main lingering questions.

The Acolyte episode 6 will continue the show's mysterious story, leading many to wonder when exactly the installment will be released on Disney+. The various reveals of The Acolyte episode 5 furthered the story in interesting ways. Not only was it revealed that the secretive Sith warrior is Manny Jacinto's Qimir, but several characters met their end in shockingly gruesome ways. The Jedi deaths of The Acolyte episode 5 leave few main characters remaining to uncover Qimir's motivations and stop his reign of darkness.

Sure, irradiated zombies and bloodthirsty apocalypse bikers can be pretty scary. Draculas and Frankensteins? Scary. Cthulhus… Mothmen… Graboids? The absolute worst. But for indie content creators, no boogeyman or cryptid is quite as hair-raising as the many great and monstrous leviathans ritualistically summoned by the occult and alchemical ritual known as filmmaking. Look: there’s Shaky Financing dragging itself out of the swamp, eyes burning blood red! And there: Collapsing Theatrical Market, unfurling its batwings in the rafters of the old abbey! And so on and so on.

But! As the Cryptkeeper, Vaultkeeper and Old Witch have reminded us many times before, misery loves company. So rather than hanging on the edge of your seat anxiously peering through ragged knuckles at the current (but only temporary!) dumpster-fire state of your latest film project, instead console yourself with the fact that many of your Halloweentime horror favorites have had their own very bumpy rides.

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” defied expectations last week when it nabbed Oscar nominations for best picture, director, adapted screenplay and international feature. The Japanese movie, released domestically by venerable art-house distributor Janus Films, surpassed titles with more robust campaigns, including Amazon’s “Being the Ricardos” and Netflix’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!”

Even Hamaguchi was surprised by the noms.

“I could have never imagined that I would be a realistic contender,” he tells Variety, speaking through Stacy Lee, a Japanese interpreter. “In terms of the campaign, it was a steady effort where people at Janus made these recommendations. They also have very strong connections with the critics and other parts of the community.”

Hamaguchi tells the story of being on a plane with no internet when the nominations were announced, and receiving about 60 text messages when it landed.

Recent changes to the Academy’s membership and voting methods have...

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has been a critical darling, after garnering stellar reviews and winning the top prize from the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics. The last films to win those three prestigious groups were Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (2009) and David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010), with the former winning the Oscar for best picture. Interestingly, those two films’ years were among the last time the Academy nominated 10 picture nominees, which will happen again this year.

Co-distributed by Janus Films, which had Oscar success with “Revanche” (2009) and “Sideshow,” Hamaguchi’s feature is representing Japan and on the Oscars shortlist for best international feature. With this added success on the circuit, the film aims to contend outside of its traditional space, notably in best picture, director, actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and adapted screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe). But can the three-hour, non-English language...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2022 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27, 2022 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This is the first time since 2018 that the ceremony will take place in March, having moved to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly non-English dialogue...

From Pig starring Nicolas Cage, Writer/Director Michael Sarnoski and Writer/Producer Vanessa Block join Josh and Joe to discuss the movies that inspired them during the creation of their film.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nobody (2021)

Infested (2002)

The Big Chill (1983)

A History of Violence (2005)

Pig (2021)

Mandy (2018)

John Wick (2014)

The Testimony (2015)

No Country For Old Men (2007) [Both] – John Badham’s trailer commentary

The Maltese Falcon (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Blood Simple (1984) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzaliio’s review

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Raising Arizona (1987)

Moonstruck (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary

Joe (2013)

Witness For The Prosecution (1957) [Vanessa Block] – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Easter Parade (1948)

Titanic (1997)

Never Been Kissed (1999)

Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Crow (1994)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) [Michael Sarnoski] – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion...

As the weather gets hotter and the film industry continues to face an uncertain future, one thing is crystal clear: There will be plenty of new movies to watch this summer — good ones, in fact — but there isn’t going to be a Summer Movie Season. There isn’t going to be a major blockbuster that makes you feel like a kid again (unless “Tenet” surprises); there isn’t going to be a silly comedy that you’ll associate with the smell of artificial popcorn butter for the rest of your life; there isn’t going to be a small movie with mass appeal that plays in arthouse circuit until the end of August. And though it’s still only the start of May, we can already tell that we’re going to miss the cancelled 2020 Summer Movie Season more than we ever would have guessed.

So we decided to...

Welcome to The Best Movie You Never Saw, a column dedicated to examining films that have flown under the radar or gained traction throughout the years, earning them a place as a cult classic or underrated gem that was either before it’s time and/or has aged like a fine wine. This week we’ll be looking at Revenge! The Story: Michael Cochran (Kevin Costner) , a retired Naval aviator,... Read More...

True Story: Top Gun is the movie that made me really start noticing the style of different filmmakers, which in turn made me into the movie geek I am today. I used to catch Tony Scott's Revenge whenever it played on HBO and loved the distinct camerawork, editing, shots, etc. and then one day, I caught Top Gun on TV and noticed how similar they were in style. This was long before the Internet, so I went to... Read More...

Simon Brew Jun 15, 2017

1989's Field Of Dreams might just be Kevin Costner's finest hour. So why does the film still manage to hit so hard?

"We just don't recognise life's most significant moments while they're happening. Back then I thought, 'well there'll be other days'. I didn't realise that that was the only day."

See related  Deadpool: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick interview Deadpool: Ryan Reynolds on channeling the character

It's a useful piece of advice that's given to writers, that you need to put something on the line if you want a piece to really work. That you need to put some, and ideally a lot, of yourself into it.

Brace yourselves, I'm afraid. I make no promises that the quality of what you're about to read is much cop. But I can tell you that Field Of Dreams is an immensely important and rich film to me,...

1989's Field Of Dreams might just be Kevin Costner's finest hour. So why does the film still manage to hit so hard?

"We just don't recognise life's most significant moments while they're happening. Back then I thought, 'well there'll be other days'. I didn't realise that that was the only day."

It's a useful piece of advice that's given to writers, that you need to put something on the line if you want a piece to really work. That you need to put some, and ideally a lot, of yourself into it.

Brace yourselves, I'm afraid. I make no promises that the quality of what you're about to read is much cop. But I can tell you that Field Of Dreams is an immensely important and rich film to me, one that hits me, and hits me hard every time I watch it. I think that it reinforces too...

'JFK' movie with Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison 'JFK' assassination movie: Gripping political drama gives added meaning to 'Rewriting History' If it's an Oliver Stone film, it must be bombastic, sentimental, clunky, and controversial. With the exception of "clunky," JFK is all of the above. It is also riveting, earnest, dishonest, moving, irritating, paranoid, and, more frequently than one might expect, outright brilliant. In sum, Oliver Stone's 1991 political thriller about a determined district attorney's investigation of the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy is a slick piece of propaganda that mostly works both dramatically and cinematically. If only some of the facts hadn't gotten trampled on the way to film illustriousness. With the exception of John Williams' overemphatic score – Oliver Stone films need anything but overemphasis – JFK's technical and artistic details are put in place to extraordinary effect. Joe Hutshing and Pietro Scalia's editing...

Director: Kristian Levring; Screenwriter: Kristian Levring, Anders Thomas, Jensen; Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eric Cantona, Jonathan Pryce; Running time: 92 mins; Certificate: 15

Every now and then a western will come along that threatens to revive the genre, but The Salvation - although stunningly photographed with cutting-edge technology - isn't one of those. In many ways it's resolutely old-fashioned and although putting a Dane (Mads Mikkelsen) at the heart of the story is an unconventional move, it's also an act of defiance, or indifference - a refusal to pander to a modern, mainstream audience. In short, this is a western strictly for people who love westerns.

Revenge is the spark for a traditionally simple plot that uses archetypes and clichés like a sort of cinematic comfort blanket, except that shocking bursts of violence keep it from being too warmly nostalgic. The worst of it comes at the beginning...

Is Scandal back to its classic self?

Whereas the previous episode took a significant step in that direction, this week’s hour seemed to complete the long-awaited round-trip, putting Olivia in full, nearly unfettered fixer mode. We had a provocative Case of the Week (an X-rated tell-all by “Kinky Sue,” played by Girls‘ Lena Dunham), and Quinn and Huck (mostly) acting like old-school, not-overly-angsty Gladiators.

RelatedScandal Casts True Blood Alum as Mellie’s Sister

Also, Olivia washed those men right out of her hair and got her groove back, and there was just the right dash of political machinations.

When you watch "McFarland, USA," the wonderful new Disney sports movie about a coach who, in 1987, took a group of untested kids in California (mostly sons of migrant field workers) and turned them into track champions, it's hard to imagine that Kevin Costner, who plays the coach, hasn't been in one of these films before. The actor, who has seen his career rebound in recent years thanks to brief roles in big movies like "Man of Steel" and "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," is perfect as the grizzled coach who crafted this nearly legendary team.

We got to sit down and chat with Costner recently, which is pretty amazing given his legacy not only as an actor (in things like "Revenge" and "JFK") but as a filmmaker (including the Oscar-winning "Dances with Wolves" and underrated Western "Open Range"). We chatted about a whole range of topics -- everything from how many...

Kevin Costner has a new film opening this week, and I’ve already forgotten about it. That’s probably a bit too harsh as I’ll watch anything starring Costner, and he’s also someone who’s starred in more movies I find it impossible to turn off once started than anyone else — No Way Out, The Untouchables, Tin Cup, Silverado, Field of Dreams, Open Range, The Bodyguard (yeah I said it) — but the man’s made some unfortunate choices in recent years. (Although I will fight you over the underseen The New Daughter and its kick-ass ending.) Back in 1990, near the height of his career, Costner joined forces with Tony Scott — a director at the equivalent peak of his own career — to deliver a dark thriller about lust and consequences in rural Mexico. Revenge tanked at the box-office, but Costner and Scott quickly got back into Hollywood’s good graces with Dances with Wolves and Days of Thunder...

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The Kevin Costner-headlined Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is a darker blockbuster than people seem to remember...

This article contains spoilers for Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. It is entirely illustrated with pictures of the late, great Alan Rickman. It was written and originally published before his death earlier this year.

It tends to be a forgotten fact that, in the late 1980s, there were actually three competing Robin Hood projects fighting for a greenlight. A trio of separate scripts were being developed by Tristar Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Morgan Creek Productions, and the only one that would go forward to become a movie would, ultimately, be the Robin Hood screenplay that Kevin Costner chose he wanted to make.

Of the three, the Tristar project was apparently barely in the running. But for a long time, it looked as if 20th Century Fox would win this particular race. It had a director on board, with John McTiernan – hot off the back of Die Hard and in the midst of The Hunt For Red October – set to make its Robin Hood film. And at that stage, it was the most advanced of the projects.

Costner, while this was going on, was making his directorial debut, Dances With Wolves, and was determined not to get boxed in on screenplay changes as he had done on the film before that, Tony Scott’s Revenge. He took a meeting or two with McTiernan with that in mind, and things looked like they might happen.

"Wait a minute. Robin Hood steals money from my pocket, forcing me to hurt the public, and they love him for it?"

The problem was that Fox’s script wasn’t ready enough, and also that McTiernan was also interested in a different, new project with Sean Connery (that ultimately didn’t get made). Upcoming independent Morgan Creek thus moved quickly (having originally sought and failed to get Mel Gibson for the role of its Robin), and pulled a masterstroke by hiring one of Costner’s best friends, Kevin Reynolds, to direct.

Reynolds had directed Costner before on the really very good Fandango, and his involvement – along with a screenplay from Pen Densham and John Watson that was willing to go broader than the traditional Robin Hood legend – led Costner committing to Prince Of Thieves. The Fox and Tristar projects shut down shortly after (although a competing Robin Hood movie, starring Patrick Bergin, would get a UK cinema release in 1991, heading straight to telly in the States).

Yet even with Costner and Reynolds on board, the difficult days were still ahead. It didn’t help that, when Reynolds signed on, he had just a month and a half to prepare a movie that was mainly shooting in the UK. Reynolds, a Texan, would also have to factor in that the movie was not only filming thousands of miles from home, but also that he was shooting in a British winter ("I think the weather in particular was a problem on that shoot because we were shooting in the fall, and especially up north, we had a lot of weather problems, all very rainy and all", he told us). The locations – not one of them the actual Sherwood Forest – would afford Reynolds and his crew comparably few hours of decent daylight a day. It would not be long before Robin Hood would run over schedule. And time was already tight.

Perhaps the first sign of problems came just ahead of shooting. Robin Wright had been cast in the role of Maid Marian, but discovered she was pregnant. Four days before cameras were set to roll, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was drafted in (the film would then overrun, causing - and don't say we never give you killer bits of trivia - her wedding licence to lapse), more than holding her own in the part. That said, she would pinpoint many people’s feelings about Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves when she said in a 2009 Sunday Herald interview that “It felt like different films, different attitudes, and I’d have much rather been in Alan Rickman’s film. I wanted to do what he was doing”. So let’s start there.

"You, my room, 10.30 tonight. You, 10.45... and bring a friend"

You don’t need us to tell you that the most fun moments in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves centre around the last outright villain Alan Rickman has played on screen, the Sheriff of Nottingham. He turned the role down a couple of times before eventually agreeing (Sam Neill and Richard E Grant were considered, too), on the condition that he could have relatively free reign with the part.

There’s not a line in the film he doesn’t deliver deliciously, and the story goes that the film was re-edited to take bits of Rickman out, and put more of Costner in, such was the Sheriff’s dominance of the movie.

As it turned out, a longer cut would emerge later on DVD and Blu-ray, and it’s the 148 minute version that’s now available on the UK disc release. Oddly enough though, adding more Rickman makes the film a little weaker. The longer cut explores in more detail his relationship with the bizarre Mortianna, revealing more backstory - specifically that she's his mother - and adds in his worshipping at the altar of dual Gods. But it slows down an already bloated film, weakens the character a little and the leaner cut – which even then, isn’t too lean – is arguably the best.

Not that that either appears to be the director’s cut. Most stories about Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves tend to centre on the sizeable disagreement and falling out between Costner and Reynolds, that led to the latter having his cut of the film taken away from him. Costner (who reportedly did some second unit directing) and his producers instead assembled the final version – as they would do with Waterworld, Costner and Reynolds’ next collaboration – and the director was not impressed with it. However, he didn’t hold the cards here, and whilst the final cut was approved by a director called Kevin, it wasn’t the Kevin who actually helmed the film.

Again, we spoke to Kevin Reynolds back in 2008, and he admitted he was pleased that the longer version had seen the light of day in the end. "What you really wish is that the original version had been that, the original release had been your version. But yeah, to some extent I am happy that people saw more of what I intended", he told us. "But... you'd make yourself crazy if you constantly dwelt on it. I sort of don't understand filmmakers that can go back ten, fifteen years later and want to re-work their film or restore it, because you have to let it go".

"I had a very sad childhood, I'll tell you about it sometime. I never knew my parents; it's amazing I'm sane"

Rewatching Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, time hasn’t altered at all the rights and wrongs of it. Its introduction of Azeem, the Moor companion that Robin befriends in a savage scene in Jerusalem at the start of the movie (Costner had been keen that we saw backstory of Robin outside of Sherwood Forest) gave Morgan Freeman a decent, if unexpected role. It’s one of the biggest deviations from the Robin Hood legend, but in fairness, it lends the film its best non-Rickman comedy moments (co-writer Pen Densham went on to say in an interview abut including Azeem that "I was told it was a stupid idea by studios, so overcoming those objections made it worth the effort").

And at times, it needs that early comedy. It takes 40 minutes or so for Robin to finally set foot in pretend Sherwood Forest and meet those who will become his merry men, and the journey there is surprisingly dour. A cast iron example of its seriousness: the film has Brian Blessed appear in its opening ten minutes or so, and promptly kills him. What's going on there?

In fairness, we have met the two villains of the piece in that time. And we get our introduction to Alan Rickman's Sheriff. Take his gleeful promise to "cut out your heart with a spoon" as just one example of what he does right here. It's delivered with delicious, pitch-perfect villainy, one step short of winking at the audience (in fact the film does break the fourth wall, right at the end, with such a wink). But let's not forget Michael Wincott's hardly cheery and really quite intimidating Guy Of Gisborne. He rarely gets mentioned when people talk about the film and his work here is actually really good.

It's useful, because - and I say this as a huge fan of the man - Costner's isn't so much. He pitches his Robin as an anti-Errol Flynn, but the first time I saw the film, the cinema erupted in a guffaw when he said in his California tone "this is English courage". As the film went on, Costner wisely abandoned any attempt at an English accent, and his performance thus improved. Furthermore, his comedy moments are strong. Comedy has always been a Costner strength, and is again here.

That said, the accent criticisms would stick, and Mel Brooks would have fun with it in his spoof inspired by Prince Of Thieves, Robin Hood: Men In Tights. When his Robin Hood, Cary Elwes, says "this Robin speaks with an English accent", Men In Tights gets one of its few laughs right there.

"Cut out his heart with a spoon"

It'd be remiss too not to mention a few other standouts.

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is the only film to date that brings Kevin Costner and Elmo from Brush Strokes together on the big screen (to date, anyway, depending on Howard Lew Lewis' schedule). And the merry men feature no shortage of fun characters: step forward Nick Brimble's grand Little John, Soo Drouet as his wife, Fanny (behave), and the marvellous Michael McShane as Friar Tuck. It's a grand ensemble.

There's also another American accent in the mix, this time belonging to Christian Slater's Will Scarlett (a role once earmarked for Johnny Depp). It's credit to the writers here that they tried to deepen the story with the twist about Will being Robin's brother, even if Slater's stroppy looks probably gave the game away a bit earlier. Slater also improvised the "fuck me, he cleared it" line, that had to be cut from the UK release to earn a PG rating (14 seconds were chopped in all).

That said, BBFC chief James Ferman would express that his only regret on his retirement was allowing Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves through with such a soft certificate. He had a point. This is a brutal, violent film, with a surprisingly nasty edge for a family movie. And there's also the ending of the film, which leaves a really sour taste.

Up until the final act, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is generally enormous fun (appreciating the downbeat early scenes, and the remarkably adept blind man, Duncan). Reynolds - shooting his arrows at 300 frames a second - has a busy camera, that he's willing to point wherever he needs to keep the film moving. His action moments - clearly practical - are strong, and the arrows of fire being launched into the Sherwood camp make for an excellent sequence. He breathlessly mixes up action and comedy, and then takes time to set up a potentially brilliant final sequence, as Robin and chums must halt the Sheriff's wedding, and save ten of their men - one of whom is John and Fanny's son - from being hanged.

What leaves the sour taste is that it's underpinned by a prolonged scene of attempted rape. Even more sourly, it's shot from an audience point of view. And at the time of the film's release, nobody (including me) seemed to notice.

I certainly notice it now, and what makes it doubly unpleasant and disturbing is that it's played for comedy. As the Sheriff tries to have his way with Marian, he's firing out one liners. There's not a blockbuster film now that could or should get away with that as Robin Hood does here. Arguably, Robin Hood shouldn't have done either.

In an era where films such as Die Hard have been downgraded to 15 from 18, it's interesting that Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves is one of the few to have gone the other way. The disc release, with the original 142 minute cinema cut we saw in the UK is now a 12, and even then, there's a sense the BBFC is being a bit generous.

"God bless you, Fanny! And God bless Robin Hood!"

Before I wrap up, It'd be remiss not to touch on the music. Bryan Adams' infamous song would spend longer at the top of the British singles chart that any before it or since.

But more interestingly, Michael Kamen's energetic score to Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, is brilliant. Kamen died of a heart attack at the age of just 55, and it's one of several excellent scores he penned in his lifetime. It's a tragedy we never got to hear more.

Still, revisiting Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves has been interesting for me. I've always liked the film an awful lot, but my reservations about the ending grow with each viewing. It just doesn't feel right. It did not stop the film from being a massive hit, though.

For Costner, he wouldn't just come through the criticism of his performance unscathed, he'd emerge with a huge success. What's particularly notable about Kevin Costner at the height of his movie star days is that he didn't get there by being symbolised with a gun in his hand. Granted, he had a gun in scenes in a few of his films, yet that wasn't the image of him. At a point when Arnold Schwarzenegger was the world's other biggest movie star, the difference between the two was firmly pronounced.

Costner and Reynolds would patch up their differences, only to fall out in even more spectacular style on Waterworld (only to patch up their differences again and reunite for Hatfield & McCoys). But with Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, against considerable odds, they fashioned an often hugely entertaining - and hugely uncomfortable - blockbuster, with an immense villain.

And yep, even Sean turning up at the end still raises a smile. Even though his surprise cameo was widely leaked even before the world wide web routinely did that sort of thing for you...

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See related The top 10 movie performances of Alan Rickman The top 25 Kevin Costner films Looking back at Kevin Costner films: The Bodyguard Kevin Reynolds: The Den Of Geek interview Field Of Dreams revisited: why it still hits me every time Movies Feature Simon Brew Kevin Costner 14 Jun 2016 - 06:49 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Sean Connery Alan Rickman...

John Wick is a film about an ex-hitman who has recently been done wrong by some folks who are going to really regret doing so. Call it luck or karma but this is one hitman cannot get away from who he ultimately is. The film was directed by David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, both of whom have decades of experience in the film business as stuntmen. While it is not uncommon in major films to have the lead stunt-man run the second unit like an assistant director, this is the duo’s first attempt to reach the big leagues.

The film is set up primarily as a flashback. We open with a bloody John Wick (Keanu Reeves) stumbling out of a vehicle. He is clearly in dire straits, but he does not call out for help. Instead, he watches an old video clip on his smartphone of his wife – a day at the beach.

Who the Hell is John Wick?: Leitch & Stahelski’s Revenge Flick Energetically Entertaining

Against the general mediocre trend of stuntmen turned directors, Chad Stahelski’s unassumingly titled John Wick is a surprisingly adept action thriller, resurrecting Keanu Reeves for his most enjoyable screen persona in years. Though its premise is pure pulpy amalgamation of basic revenge tropes forcing a criminal mastermind’s return to his lethal expertise (something we’ve seen a variety of grizzled visages return to this year alone, including Pierce Brosnan and Kevin Costner), the Stahelski strikes the kind of entertaining tone that many of these mind numbingly violent films are often unable to capture. Fast, fun, and with care taken on elements outside of the requisite action sequences, it’s a film that succeeds in generally conquering the fatigue of its own familiarity.

A retired and happily married hit man, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) loses...

In the cinematic world there is nothing more satisfying than a great revenge film. With John Wick preparing to premiere and the new T3ken trailer looking surprisingly awesome we decided there was no better time than now to unveil the definitive Cof Top 10 Revenge Films. Below we will count down the movies that satisfied our need for vengeance. Did we miss anything? Leave us a comment and let us know!

#10 Death Sentence

Ryan – While I find Death Sentence to be fairly underrated critically speaking, I vaguely recall Graham and I heading to our local cinema to check it out and feeling fairly excited. The drama escalates with each minute as Kevin Bacon transforms from mild mannered father to bad ass renegade seeking the degenerates that took out his family.

Graham – One of the great things about a revenge flick like Death Sentence is easily putting yourself in the shoes of our victim.

Summit Entertainment has released the first John Wick trailer for the upcoming revenge actioner, and it’s actually kind of great. The film marks the directorial debut of veteran stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski and stars Keanu Reeves as a former hit man who comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters who took everything from him. This trailer is incredibly promising, as the film looks to have the right balance of absurdity and action. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s not overly campy either. And Reeves looks to be having a blast as he’s surrounded by a diverse, impressive supporting cast. Add in the fact that John Wick has been chosen to screen at Fantastic Fest next month, and this could prove to be one of the fall’s bigger pleasant surprises. Watch the John Wick trailer after the jump. The film also stars Adrianne Palicki,...

Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures is in talks to board the revenge tale as co-financier while it is understood New Regency is sticking to its intended September start date.

The development comes in the wake of the decision by the Worldview hierarchy to withdraw from the project after Christopher Woodrow’s red-faced departure in light of alleged personal misconduct. Sources confirmed to Screendaily that Ellison was circling following a report inThe Hollywood Reporter.

Less than two weeks ago Tom Hardy joined Leonardo DiCaprio on the project, which Alejandro González Iñárritu will direct from the screenplay he co-adapted with Mark L Smith from Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant: A Novel Of Revenge.

RatPac is co-financing The Revenant with New Regency, while Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce the film alongside Iñárritu, Arnon Milchan and James Skotchdopole.

Paul Green, Brett Ratner and James Packer are the executive producers and the film-makers...

New Regency confirmed the casting on Monday (30) as the mouth-watering cast takes shape around Leonardo DiCaprio.

Alejandro González Iñárritu will direct the story from the screenplay he co-adapted with Mark L Smith from Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant: A Novel Of Revenge.

The in-demand Hardy has been linked to the project for some time as mentioned in a profile in mid-June in Screendaily on one of the project’s producers Anonymous Content.

RatPac is co-financing The Revenant with New Regency, while Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce the film alongside Iñárritu, Arnon Milchan and James Skotchdopole.

Paul Green, Brett Ratner and James Packer are the executive producers and the film is scheduled to start production on September 22 for an autumn 2015 release.

The Revenant is a 19th century-set story about a fur trapper who hatches a revenge plot after he is robbed in the aftermath of a bear attack.

Tom Hardy is set to join Leonardo DiCaprio in New Regency's “The Revenant.” Alejandro González Iñárritu is directing the film, which will be shot by Emmanuel Lubezki (“Gravity”). Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith wrote the script, which is based on Michael Punke's novel “The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.” Will Poulter is in negotiations to co-star in the movie, which RatPac is co-financing with New Regency. Also read: James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy Pack Powerful Punch in Trailer for Late Actor's Final Film (Video) Anonymous Content's Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce the film along with Iñárritu,...

Kevin Costner is back on the big screen this week in action-thriller 3 Days to Kill. It's not a classic Costner film by any stretch (he's essentially playing Liam Neeson in Taken), but the film is arriving right in the middle of a career revival for the actor who headlined big hits two decades ago. With Man of Steel, Draft Day, Jack Ryan and 3 Days all under his belt over the last 12 months, we're experiencing something of a Costnaissance (to swipe a term coined for Matthew McConaughey).

As a screen star Costner was never blessed with dynamic range or the ability to transform himself like a Daniel Day-Lewis can, but what he can deliver is a performance of earnestness and honesty that connects with an audience. He is frequently the glue that holds a film together, a movie star with the everyman appeal of someone like James Stewart. If anything, Costner...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Game of Thrones, Beauty and the Beast, So You Think You Can Dance and Rookie Blue!

1 | Should Orphan Black‘s Mrs. S and Felix have suspected that Sarah was really Rachel? The voice and hair were off….

Related Eye on Emmy: Orphan Black Star Tatiana Maslany Gender Bends, Gets Kinky and Improvises Rage in Season 2

2 | Was anyone else thinking of this while watching Gwendoline Christie’s impressive swordplay in the Game of Thrones finale?...

Detroit - When you’re about to watch an explosion, in person, on a set the size of a city block, it’s easy to be excited about the prospect of "Transformers: Age of Extinction." No matter what you think of him, Michael Bay blows stuff up better than just about anyone, and he never fails to deliver a payoff that meets the greatest expectations of your inner 13-year-old. And even without actual Transformers creating the destruction, the scene in question promises to be quite a spectacle, as extras are trained to scatter while rows of cars prepare to go up in flames as they’re flipped. Quite frankly, it sounds nothing short of totally awesome. But in the many, many hours that it took to set up that shot, waiting numbly as stunt coordinators and pyro experts make sure that everything is ready, everything is set up for maximum safety and (eventually) excitement,...

April showers bring May finales! Ok, so that’s not exactly how the saying goes, but it is true. May is a month full of memorable goodbyes, and for this week, that includes The Tomorrow People, The Mindy Project, and Revenge. However, with Neighbors and Chef in theaters, there will be very little time for mourning.

Here’s how your week is looking:

Sunday 5/4

Resurrection, 9 p.m., ABC

The season 1 finale is about what happens when too many of the deceased return to Arcadia — and more importantly, what happens to Bellamy when he asks for outside help.

Monday 5/5

The Tomorrow People,...

In a busy week for Alejandro González Iñárritu, the Mexican director is set to shoot in September for New Regency, RatPac and Worldview after he wraps production on Birdman.

Iñárritu co-wrote the screenplay with Mark L Smith based on Michael Punke’s novel, The Revenant: A Novel Of Revenge.

DiCaprio, coming off an Oscar nomination for The Wolf Of Wall Street, will play a 19th century trapper who sets out to right wrongs after he is discovered in the wake of a near fatal bear attack and robbed.

Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce with Iñárritu, Arnon Milchan and James Skotchdopole. Paul Green is the executive producer. RatPac and Worldview Entertainment will co-finance the film.

The Revenant is scheduled for an awards season autumn 2015 release through 20th Century Fox.

New Regency co-financed Birdman with Fox Searchlight and Worldview.

Leonardo DiCaprio will star in Alejandro Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu's film The Revenant for New Regency it was announced today by Brad Weston, president and chief executive officer. The film, written by Mark L. Smith and Inarritu, is scheduled to start production this September with a fall 2015 release planned through New Regency's distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. Anonymous Content's Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce the film along with Inarritu, Arnon Milchan and James W. Skotchdopole. Executive producer is Paul Green. RatPac and Worldview Entertainment will co-finance the film.

DiCaprio, recently nominated for his fifth Academy Award, will follow up his heralded performance in the enormously successful The Wolf of Wall Street with the role of Hugh Glass in The Revenant. Glass is a 19th century fur trapper who is mauled by a grizzly bear, left for dead and then robbed. When he survives against all odds,...

Leonardo DiCaprio will star in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s film The Revenant for New Regency.

DiCaprio, recently nominated for his fifth Academy Award, will follow up his performance in The Wolf Of Wall Street with the role of Hugh Glass in The Revenant.

Glass is a 19th century fur trapper who is mauled by a grizzly bear, left for dead and then robbed. When he survives against all odds, he sets out on a treacherous journey to exact revenge on his betrayers in this captivating and inspiring story based on the Michael Punke novel, The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.

The film, written by Mark L. Smith and Inarritu, is scheduled to start production this September with a fall 2015 release planned through New Regency’s distribution deal with 20th Century Fox.

Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce the film along with Inarritu, Arnon Milchan and James Skotchdopole.

Exclusive: Leonardo DiCaprio has committed to star this September in The Revenant, a gritty thriller that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will direct for New Regency, for fall 2015 release through Fox. Gonzalez Inarritu and Mark L. Smith co-wrote the script. DiCaprio had been attached to team with Gonzalez Inarritu, but he is attached to many projects; getting the star to commit off his Oscar-nominated The Wolf Of Wall Street performance is a big development for Arnon Milchan and Brad Weston’s game plan to make tasteful, star- and director-driven fare. Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Keith Redmon and David Kanter will produce with Gonzalez Iñárritu, Milchan and James Skotchdopole. Paul Green is exec producer. The film will be co-financed by RatPac and Worldview Entertainment, latter of which just partnered with Regency and Fox Searchlight in the Inarritu-directed Birdman, which was just set for release on October 17. An adaptation of the Michael Punke...

Cinema has no shortage of great sex scenes. Just last week we saw a prime example of steamy hate sex from 300: Rise of an Empire. Eva Green’s snarling dominance over a soldier will never be forgotten. It’s up there with some of the finest sexual encounters in history: Kevin Costner going at it while driving in Revenge; Mulholland Drive‘s much talked about piece of lovemaking; the opening shot of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead; and the orgy in Eyes Wide Shut. Someone all those scenes were seriously lacking: Kathryn Hahn. If Kubrick wanted to turn the heat up during that orgy, then he would’ve thrown Hahn into the mix. She’s proven herself as more than capable when it comes to making sex much funnier and even more awkward. Who could forget when Alice (Hahn) rode Dan (John C. Reilly) like an animal in Step Brothers? If...

Feature Den Of Geek 24 Jan 2014 - 06:00

The great Kevin Costner chats to us about his role in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and how he nearly played Superman...

In Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Kevin Costner plays high-ranking CIA operative Thomas Harper, the handler responsible for recruiting and looking after young agent-to-be Jack Ryan (Chris Pine). The role marks the start of a busy year or so for Costner, who'll soon be appearing in 3 Days To Kill, Draft Day, Black And White and McFarland.

For an actor whose pace has slowed in recent years, it marks a fresh period of work, and we're hoping it'll build to another directorial gig for Costner, who hasn't been behind the camera since 2003's acclaimed Open Range.

Costner talks a little bit about his directing plans in the round-table interview below, which took place while Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was still filming last year. The...

Last year Wamg brought you our list of the 15 Best Non-Traditional Christmas Movies to watch after the Holiday ham, pretty presents, and multiple viewings of White Christmas, Home Alone and Miracle On 34th Street were a thing of Christmas Past.

Minus the warm and fuzzy, our choices are filled snarky mistletoe carnage and crafty comedy – Geek style.

We made a list and checked it twice with our new lineup of the Top 20 Non-Traditional Christmas Movies. You better believe that Santa Claus is coming to town in these “More Naughty Than Nice”. films.

We kick off our list with our Honorable Mention -

Jingle All The Way

Christmas; It’s the most magical time of the year. High powered businessman Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is hard at work taking last-minute orders from customers to whom he just can’t say no; like his son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd), asking for the hottest...

It is that time again when the year is drawing to a close and the cinematic twelvemonth is summed up in a myriad Best Of lists and the trophy cabinets are being prepped from the Academies on both side of the Atlantic to hand out their golden trinkets.

We, too, are continuing our tradition of awarding The Truffles – the annual HeyUGuys movie awards where when we make up the categories in order than the prizes given more accurately reflect our feelings on year in film. The team have given their choices below, if you care to you can click here to see our previous years’ awards, and finally see you all next year!

Stefan Pape

Best Jason Statham One-Liner of the Year: “I’ll kill you with this spoon” – Hummingbird

Fans of Jason Statham (you’re out there somewhere…) will have been thrilled with the amount of ‘Stath’ that illuminated the big screen this year,...

In this extract from his forthcoming book, the Observer's new film critic, Mark Kermode, examines how the internet has changed the role of the professional reviewer. When everyone has an opinion, what value does the critic retain?

"Forrest Gump on a tractor." Those five words are probably my favourite film review ever. More importantly, they constitute the most damaging hatchet job I ever encountered, managing to do something I had often argued was impossible – to kill a movie stone dead. I didn't read them in a newspaper or on a blog, I didn't hear them on the radio or television; rather, they were whispered in my ear by a trusted friend and colleague, David Cox, as the house lights went down on a screening of David Lynch's The Straight Story.

I'd been really looking forward to that movie. I've been a huge Lynch fan ever since being blindsided by...

Carrie goes crazy when she finds out that Sebastian is ‘hanging out’ with Donna Ladonna! Plus, Walt and Mouse watch porn together.

The Feb. 11 episode of The Carrie Diaries, “Dangerous Territory,” was all about flirting with sexuality and new flings! Carrie (AnnaSophia Robb) is devastated to find out Sebastian (Austin Butler) moved on with her arch nemesis Donna Ladonna (Chloe Bridges), so she hooks up with an old friend, whom she runs into at work. His name is George. And while he’s certainly no Sebastian, he’s not hard on the eyes.

Carrie & Sebastian Date Other People

Carrie is about to pass her test to obtain her driver’s license when she spots Sebastian kissing Donna in the rearview mirror. Instead of parallel parking, Carrie revs the accelerator and aims for the kissing duo. Obviously, she fails the test and Donna think she’s crazy. Sebastian, on the other hand,...

Home & Away: most Googled TV show

Seven’s long-running drama Home & Away was the most searched TV show in Australia on Google this year, while Nine’s song contest The Voice was the top-trending TV show.

Korean pop sensation Gangnam Style was the top-trending search item, while Hurricane Sandy was the most searched news item.

Lara Bingle beat fellow model Miranda Kerr to be Australia’s top searched celebrity.

The full list of the most Googled items in Australia this year:

TV Shows (Most Searched)

1. Home and Away

2. Big Brother

3. The Voice

4. Masterchef

5. Game of Thrones

6. X Factor

7. My Kitchen Rules

8. Neighbours

9. The Biggest Loser

10. Modern Family

TV Shows (Trending)

1. The Voice

2. Big Brother

3. The Shire

4. The Block

5. Revenge

6. Puberty Blues

7. Game of Thrones

8. Underbelly

9. Badness

10. Alcatraz

Trending Searches

1. Gangnam Style

2. The Voice

3. One Direction

4. Whitney Houston

5. Olympics

6. Oz Lotto

7. Diablo 3

8. Hurricane Sandy

9. Kony

10. Morgan Freeman

Australian News Moments (Most...

Part of the Tony Scott: A Moving Target critical project. Go here for the project's description, index and links to project's other movement.

This is one "movement" of our exquisite corpse-style critical project, Tony Scott: A Moving Target, which coincidentally begins with a look at Crimson Tide, the same movie that begins the other movement. As outlined in the introduction to the entire project, this project began in my mind, as something fairly simple: a snaking continuum of scene analysis. This is only in part what resulted.

The varied responses I got back from my group—"mine" in the sense that it is the one I participated in, since Gina's contribution closes Movement B—seem to say as much about the participating critics as they do about Tony Scott's films and the overlap between the two: the perception of Scott's films and career. Thus many entries, including my own,...

Below you will find our total coverage of the 2012 Vienna International Film festival by Daniel Kasman.

The Major and the Minor

On Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (both 1924), and Ministry of Fear (1944)

American Genres

On Fritz Lang's Man Hunt (1941), John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963), John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), and Tony Scott's Unstoppable (2010)

 The Unseen Guerrilla

On Fritz Lang's An American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)

James Benning's the war

On James Benning's the war...

Sometimes movie publicists are telepathic. Last week I was thinking about The Hamptons and how it's weird that I've never been but I'm so eager to spend every weekend there this fall shivering from the icy cold glares of Victoria Grayson and Emily Thorne (Revenge returns Sunday night ~Holla). Then a friend who had never seen Scarface (1983) sent me a text that was basically like “Steven Bauer ♥ omg!” to which I responded with a “Queue Thief of Hearts - it's pure Bauer Porn." Last but not least, I was wondering which celebs I should invite as future guest stars and my mind wandered to Sally Kirkland, star of Anna (1986), for which she won the Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit and the Heart of Me.

All of these things were jostling for attention in my crowded celluloid packed-brain for the past few days when what should arrive in my inbox but...

In this very special, sort-of-bonus episode of They Shot Pictures, I am joined by my friend Barry (aka wigwam) to pay homage to filmmaker Tony Scott. I confess to my lack of exposure to his films growing up and Barry in turn (kind of) confesses to having Top Gun posters on his wall! We discuss in-depth the films Revenge, The Fan and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

Subscribe via iTunes...

It’s a sad reason to be writing this way; it’s a sad article to write for anyone but even more so with a man who took his own life for reasons currently unknown. Tony Scott is a legend in the filmmaking business and he influenced more than just a generation and a genre but the way films were made in general.

He was the master of the blockbuster coming out with Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, True Romance and other classics. As his career developed and his name was further cemented as a safe pair of hands his work became more experimental, bolder and more daring. All you need to do is watch his latest few releases to see he was a man with a vision, one that blockbusters will now sadly miss.

When any filmmaker passes away, it’s difficult to accept but Tony Scott was...

Update: Earlier reports that claimed Tony Scott was suffering from inoperable brain cancer are currently unconfirmed, with Deadline reporting — via Scott's widow, Donna — that this was not the case at all. A full investigation is underway and an autopsy is pending.

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Tony Scott, director of such hit films as "Top Gun," "Crimson Tide" and "Man on Fire," has died after jumping off a bridge in San Pedro, Calif., on Sunday afternoon, Los Angeles police tell the Los Angeles Times. He was 68.

Earlier reports say a suicide note was found in Scott's car, which was parked on the bridge. The note actually contained contact information, with investigators later finding a suicide note at his office.

Law enforcement officials say that several witnesses saw Scott climb over a fence on the bridge and jump off without hesitation. His body was pulled out of the water by Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol and U.

The director's fondness for quick cuts and tight editing resulted in a catalogue of simple but exhilarating action movies

'I feel the need … the need for speed!" is probably the most famous line from Tony Scott's most famous film, Top Gun (what else?), the movie that made Scott's career and defined the look of commercial films for the late 20th and early 21st century. It is also a line that sums up what audiences loved about Scott's movies, and what critics did not.

Despite the diversity of his career, a common thread throughout all his films, from the gleeful highs of Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, True Romance, The Last Boy Scout and Crimson Tide, to the deadening lows of his first film The Hunger, Revenge and Domino (Keira Knightley plays a bounty hunter – let us speak no more about it), is the whizz-bang-chop-cut style. His spinning camera...