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Quentin Tarantino loves movies far more than most. He doesn’t just watch them. he eats, sleeps, and breathes cinema. Accordingly the writer/director is quite knowledgeable about noteworthy cinematic efforts from years past. In fact, you might say he wrote the book on it. Because he basically did.

Tarantino’s book Cinema Speculation chronicles a variety of standout historic offerings with which the director connected. Through the tome, he dives into a lot of his influences and serves up plenty of quality recommendations within.

One film Tarantino speaks especially fondly of through the pages of Cinema Speculation is an Edmund Goulding picture he thinks deserves even more acclaim than it tends to get.

The Pulp Fiction director has this to say about the motion picture in question: “While Nightmare Alley is rightly considered a classic, I still think it’s underrated. To me, Nightmare Alley is as good as studio filmmaking ever gets.

Why Did Tom Cruise Turnn Down The Role Of Steven Spielberg’s Zorro? (Photo Credit – Koimoi)

Tom Cruise almost became Zorro, but even he knew it wasn’t the right call. Before Antonio Banderas put on the mask in The Mask of Zorro, Cruise was on Steven Spielberg’s radar for the role. And while Hollywood’s ultimate action star has taken on almost every daredevil gig, this one didn’t make the cut – for a surprisingly bold reason.

Cinematographer Mikael Salomon, who was once attached to direct The Legend of Zorro, revealed the surprising casting consideration while speaking in an interview with Slash Film for the 25th anniversary of The Mask of Zorro. According to Salomon, Spielberg, an executive producer on the film, had Cruise in mind for Don Alejandro de la Vega.

But Salomon saw trouble ahead. “He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise,” he said during...

Gene Hackman was a legend where I grew up. Granted, he was a legend practically everywhere, but in Pasadena, California, to theater kids and movie geeks, he was hope incarnate.

Pasadena is the home to the historic (and aptly titled) Pasadena Playhouse, a venerable theatrical institution and a college with a list of alumni that boggles the mind: David Niven, Tyrone Power, Martha Graham, Lee J. Cobb, Leonard Nimoy, Angela Bassett, Ernest Borgnine, Jean Arthur, William Holden, Ariana Grande, Dustin Hoffman — and of course Gene Hackman. But Hackman had something none of those other famous actors ever had: the lowest scores of any actor, by that point, in the Pasadena Playhouse’s history.

In fact, Hackman and his friend and contemporary Hoffman were voted “Least Likely to Succeed,” which is a pretty crappy category, if we’re being honest. It’s like dropping the Razzie for Worst Picture in the middle of the Oscars telecast.

With more than a nod to Charlie Kaufman this fun metafiction centred around Athens’ queer scene has plenty of sun, sea and acres of male flesh

Two men lie on the beach debating how to write a screenplay. One is conventionally hunky: muscular, naturally hirsute but neatly trimmed, with thick dark brows and the kind of lantern jaw that casting directors in the 1940s would have immediately drafted into a pirate adventure opposite Tyrone Power. The other is slender and feline with pink and blue hair, sharp, perceptive eyes, and the sort of eyebrows where it feels like one is permanently arched even when it isn’t.

They are Demos and Nikitas, and we quickly learn that they are besties who frequent the various locales of Athens’ queer scene and had dreams at one point of being actors, and in Nikitas’ case, directing too. He asserts, with an equal mixture of admiration and jealousy,...

What are the hallmarks of a best-selling Agatha Christie novel? Crisp, accessible prose and memorable characters culminate into classic murder mysteries that have stood the test of time. There's also a sprinkling of clever sleight of hand, where subtle, essential clues are peppered right up to the big reveal hiding in plain sight. Although her stories make little space for what might be termed as morally grey, this very insistence on treating morality as an easily definable standard grants us comfort in a messy, volatile world. This is also why Christie's brand of escapist fiction makes for good adaptations, with figures like Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple steering these quasi-fantastical detective stories.

Christie's oeuvre has been adapted across mediums, including film, from 1928's mystery drama "The Passing of Mr. Quinn" to the more recent Kenneth Branagh-helmed "A Haunting in Venice." In terms of television adaptations, a chunk...

John R. Countryman, who billed as the child actor Johnny Russell appeared in films with Barbara Stanwyck, Tyrone Power, Shirley Temple and Jimmy Stewart before serving as a U.S. diplomat and ambassador in the Middle East and Africa, has died. He was 91.

Countryman died Dec. 14 in Loudoun, Virginia, after a short bout with pneumonia, his daughter, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Secretary Vanessa Countryman, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In the biggest role of his brief acting career, Russell portrayed Tyltyl, the younger brother of Temple’s Mytyl, in the fantasy film The Blue Bird (1940), which was Fox’s answer to MGM’s The Wizard of Oz, released a year earlier. In a dream, the two kids set out on on a series of adventures.

Temple’s mother, Gertrude, was reportedly unhappy that her daughter was sharing so much screen time with the adorable Russell and sought to have him replaced,...

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Juror #2 is a legal thriller drama film directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Jonathan Abrams. The 2024 film follows Justin Kemp, an ordinary member who is called upon to serve as a jury member in a murder case. However, when he realizes that the suspect is not really the murderer, he tries to sway the jury without telling anyone the truth without anyone finding out the truth, because if it comes out, it will destroy his life. Juror #2 stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, and Cedric Yarbrough. So, if you loved the thrilling courtroom drama, intense twists, and compelling characters in Juror #2, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

12 Angry Men Credit – United Artists

12 Angry Men is a legal thriller drama film directed by Sidney Lumet...

In just a few short days, it will be time to take another stroll down Nightmare Alley on a new platform. Starting on December 6, Prime Video will play host to Guillermo del Toro's 2021 neo-noir psychological thriller, adding an underrated gem to its catalog ahead of the holidays. The film is based on the 1946 novel of the same name penned by William Lindsay Gresham and marks the second such adaptation following the 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell. With Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett taking the lead, it ultimately became a hit with critics with an 80% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Recently, Young and The Restless legend Eric Braeden compared Tracker star Justin Hartley to John Wayne. What does Braeden have to say about his former television son’s performance on the CBS adventure series?

Also, the long-time soap star hints at a reunion.

Daytime Soaps star Eric Braeden Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Y&r Legend Eric Braeden Compares Tracker Star Justin Hartley To John Wayne

Young and The Restless star Eric Braeden is someone who doesn’t mince words. Therefore, if he likes or recommends something, he will share that endorsement with a lot of enthusiasm. This is the case of his opinion of Justin Hartley in his new CBS series Tracker.

On Twitter, the actor that portrays Victor Newman wrote, “Watched Justin Hartley on Tracker tonight! Loved the show! No wonder the show is so damn successful! I couldn’t stop watching! Justin is a very good actor,...

In realizing the latest incarnation of “Zorro,” producer Marc Dujardin found inspiration in the classic 1950s series starring Guy Williams, the absurd premise of super hero tales, and the fond childhood dreams he shared with brother Jean, who portrays the buttoned-up mayor of early 19th-century Los Angeles, Don Diego de la Vega, and his masked and care-free alter ego.

“Zorro” stormed into Le Havre on Thursday, where it closed the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market with a highly anticipated premiere, followed by a dance floor-pumping Alta California-themed fiesta, replete with delectable Spanish and Mexican cuisine à la normande.

Produced by Marc Dujardin’s Le Collectif 64 for France Télévisions and Paramount+, “Zorro” offers a comedic yet straight take on the legendary swashbuckler of old California.

The series sees Don Diego becoming mayor of Los Angeles with the hope of improving his beloved city. Facing growing, unstoppable corruption, however, he decides to again suit...

George Sanders is one of the most underrated actors from Hollywood's Golden Age who gave unforgettable performances in several noteworthy classics, including Witness to Murder, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, and All About Eve. Known for his dastardly cad characters and suave baritone voice, Sanders was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and, while working at a British advertising agency, the company's secretary and future film star, Greer Garson, suggested that he take up acting. He started performing on the stage and, in 1936, he made his feature film debut in Lloyd's of London starring Tyrone Power, making him an instant success with American audiences.

Zorro's unique origin story and all-black costume set the stage for future superheroes, inspiring even Batman's creation. Zorro's popularity spanned across various media, from movies to comics, captivating audiences globally for decades. Actors like Antonio Banderas and Tyrone Power brought new dimensions to the iconic character, making Zorro a timeless hero.

All the actors who played Zorro, from Douglas Fairbanks to Antonio Banderas, had unique takes. The charming vigilante was introduced as the savior of the New Spanish commoners of California in pulp writer Johnston McCulleys 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano. The nobleman Don Diego de la Vega embraced this alter ego to defend the rights of his people from tyrannical officials and a corrupt law-enforcement system. A trendsetter in the swashbuckler genre, Zorros all-black costume turned him into an early blueprint for future superheroes. The consensus remains that Zorro even inspired the creation of Batman.

Following the immense popularity that Zorro accumulated,...

David Jonsson and Morfydd Clark have become two of the fastest rising stars in the UK, and appear together in the new two-part British miniseries, Agatha Christie's Murder Is Easy. Jonsson impressed everyone in the HBO and BBC Two series Industry, but it was his role in the endlessly delightful Hulu rom-com Rye Lane that has won people over. Soon, he'll be starring in the hotly anticipated Alien: Romulus, as well as a biopic about the legendary Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Clark had an earlier start than Jonsson, with some great performances in the 2010s, but she stunned the world in the 2019 religious horror film, Saint Maud, delivering one of the great performances of our time. Since then, she's become even more beloved in the fantasy-horror scene, starring in His Dark Materials, 2020's Dracula miniseries, and as Galadriel in The Lord of the RIngs: The Rings of Power. She's set to...

Pulp heroes shaped modern superheroes, with Flash Gordon, Doc Savage, and The Shadow leading the way through thrilling adventures. Filmmaking over the past 100 years has seen mixed results with pulp hero adaptations, from box office flops to hidden gems waiting to be discovered. From Tarzan to Zorro to Buck Rogers, iconic pulp heroes like Conan the Barbarian and The Rocketeer brought thrilling adventures to the big screen.

While the pulp heroes of the past may not be as recognizable as the most popular superheroes of today, they still have plenty of great movie adaptations that viewers should be sure to check out. From masked vigilantes to over-the-top musclemen, pulp heroes acted as the forerunners to modern-day superheroes and originated through inexpensive fiction magazines that provided readers with disposable adventures and peaked in popularity between the 1920s and 1940s. Major heroes of the pulp era included popular characters like Flash Gordon,...

The beloved Hollywood star Pedro Pascal has once again won over the hearts of millions with his appearance at the 30th Annual SAG Awards. The 48-year-old actor, who secured his SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for The Last of Us, has also sparked considerable attention for his red carpet look, which has now fans rallying for the actor to embody the iconic masked hero, Zorro.

Pedro Pascal

Created by writer Johnston McCulley, the character has been the subject of several adaptations, including Antonio Banderas’ 1998 film The Mask of Zorro and its sequel. And fans are now re-imagining Pascal in the role as they share their reaction to his red carpet looks.

Pedro Pascal Shined at the 2024 SAG Award Red Carpet

Pedro Pascal, who has created a buzz with his performance in the post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us, made waves on the 2024 SAG Awards red carpet as well.

Micheline Presle, the French actress whose controversial Devil in the Flesh role was the start of a career that included starring opposite John Garfield, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn and Paul Newman, has died at 101.

Presle died Wednesday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law, Olivier Bomsel, told Le Figaro.

Presle portrayed a nurse having an affair with a student (Gérard Philipe) in the World War I drama Devil in the Flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.

She was soon signed by 20th Century Fox, which changed her surname to Prelle and cast her as a café owner who falls in love with a crooked jockey (Garfield) in Jean Negulesco’s Under My Skin (1950). She also starred with Power in the Technicolor war film American Guerilla in the Philippines (1950), and in The Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951).

She would appear...

Micheline Presle, the standout French actress who starred in the controversial Devil in the Flesh before making a foray into Hollywood that included roles opposite John Garfield, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn and Paul Newman, has died. She was 101.

Presle died Wedneday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law Olivier Bomsel told Le Figaro.

Presle came to international attention when she portrayed a nurse having an affair with a student (Gérard Philipe) in the World War I drama Devil in the Flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.

Because it featured a woman who took a lover while her husband was away at war, it generated a great deal of discussion.

In 1949, Presle met American actor William Marshall, who had been married to another French star, Michèle Morgan, and followed him to America. They would wed that year in Santa Barbara.

Near the end of Billy Wilder’s Witness for the Prosecution, after the central court case seems all but completely settled, senior barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) contemplates the surprising evidence that’s just been presented. “It’s a little too neat, too tidy, and altogether too symmetrical,” he remarks. It’s a comment that begs to be read through the lens of Wilder’s own wry approach to filmmaking, which often feels throughout his canon like an alchemic combination of effortless story execution, pinpoint humor, and acting masterclass.

Wilder effects an outward feeling of wily and out of control scenarios that are running like well-oiled machines within. The ending of Witness for the Prosecution exemplifies this by throwing its characters’ preceding buttoned-up decorum out of whack, as they race through a procession of sudden revelations that contain a clear logic and purpose. But per Wilder’s wont, the...

Amazon's new Zorro series embraces the Native American connections that have been overlooked in previous adaptations. Native Americans were close allies to Zorro in the original stories, and the show explores this relationship in depth. Zorro's origin story in the show involves a Native American tribe central to his character development. The show introduces the idea that the Zorro mantle is associated with championing the rights of the tribe against oppression, creating a unique twist on the classic character. While maintaining the traditional elements of the Zorro story, Amazon's adaptation stands out by incorporating Native Americans and changing the origin story. This brings a fresh perspective to the franchise and honors the source material.

Amazon's new Zorro series gets one element of his classic stories right that all of his movies have overlooked. Released on Amazon Prime Video, the new Spanish-language Zorro adaptation brings the swashbuckling vigilante back to the...

What makes a great courtroom thriller? A mesmerizing and clever plot that draws viewers in immediately. Three-dimensional characters that keep you guessing if they are the guilty party and twists and turns that leave audiences gasping and gob smacked.

Justine Triet’s dazzling French thriller “Anatomy of a Fall” has all the qualities and then some that make it a classic of the genre. Since winning the Palme D’or last May, “Anatomy of a Fall” has continued its winning ways receiving several critics’ honors, as well as two Golden Globes, a Critics Choice honor and seven BAFTA nominations including best film, best director, screenplay and best actress for Sandra Huller’s powerhouse performance. One can’t forget that Messi, the border collie ,who plays the family pet Snoop, received the Palm Dog at Cannes.

Huller plays a bisexual woman with a troubled marriage and a young blind son. When...

Turner Classic Movies has a lot going on as it celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

On Friday, execs from the beloved cable channel unveiled a new podcast, 2024 programming initiatives, a new branded studio tour of the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank and details about the 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in April.

On Jan. 16, TCM and sister streamer Max will debut Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast. TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will join filmmakers and actors as they discuss “their earliest film memories, favorite movies, creative influences and guilty pleasures,” with guests including Mel Brooks, Nancy Meyers and Patty Jenkins.

The TCM podcast The Plot Thickens is returning this year for a fifth season, with the subject yet to be disclosed.

In April, TCM will introduce a new franchise, Two for One, with prominent filmmakers co-hosting a double feature of their choice on Saturday nights. Guests will include Jenkins,...

With The Mask of Zorro, Antonio Banderas truly marked himself as a genuine star and sex symbol across the globe. While he earned acclaim for his collaborations with Pedro Almodóvar in Spain and made his presence known in the States with Philadelphia and Interview with the Vampire, The Mask of Zorro was his first leading role to near $100 million at the domestic box office. But the iconic swordsman almost had another man behind the mask: Tom Cruise.

According to The Mask of Zorro‘s original director Mikael Salomon, executive producer Steven Spielberg wanted Tom Cruise to star. “Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise. Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done The House of the Spirits with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that,...

His predictive sci-fi action film "Minority Report" was still several years away, but in 1997, Steven Spielberg could already see the future.

At that time, Spielberg was an executive producer of "The Mask of Zorro," and during production, he sensed something in the air. In an interview earlier this year, "Zorro" star Antonio Banderas recounted what the famed filmmaker told him:

"Steven Spielberg said to me once when we were shooting, 'This is probably going to be one of the last Westerns shot in the way the Westerns were shot in the old days, with real scenes and real horses, where everything is real, real sword fighting, no CGI.' Everything was practical. And he said, 'But things are going to change. They're going to change and they're gonna change fast. And so you should be proud of this movie.' And I am, probably even more now than at the...

Marisa Pavan, the Italian actress and twin sister of Pier Angeli who received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the daughter of Anna Magnani’s seamstress in the 1955 drama The Rose Tattoo, has died. She was 91.

Pavan died Wednesday in her sleep at her home in Gassin, France, near Saint-Tropez, Margaux Soumoy, who wrote Pavan’s 2021 biography, Drop the Baby; Put a Veil on the Broad!, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Pavan also portrayed the French queen Catherine de’ Medici in Diane (1956), starring Lana Turner; an Italian girl who had an affair years ago with a corporate exec (Gregory Peck) in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956); and the love interest of a former cop (Tony Curtis) investigating the murder of a priest in the film noir The Midnight Story (1957).

In Paramount’s The Rose Tattoo (1955), an adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play that won four Tony Awards, including best play,...

Jesse James has been a prominent figure in American Westerns, providing a wealth of stories for adaptation. Various actors, such as Tyrone Power and Brad Pitt, have portrayed Jesse James in highly entertaining and memorable performances. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford offers an accurate portrayal of the legendary outlaw, with Brad Pitt delivering a standout performance.

Jesse James has appeared in many Westerns, but a few have featured a famed star in the role. Jesse James is one of the most famous outlaws in American history. It should be no surprise then that he has appeared extensively throughout a genre that is distinctly American - the Western. The genre has been a staple of American cinema, inspiring some of the greatest movies of all time, and Jesse James has provided a wealth of stories for them to adapt.

Jesse James and his brother Frank were...

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better performance in a movie than Piper Laurie’s in the intensely frightening horror flick “Carrie” in 1976. She was so good as Sissy Spacek’s tyrannical and demented religious fanatic mother Margaret White that the character haunted me for years afterward. It earned Laurie a 1977 Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and the only question seemed to be if the trophy would go to her or to Jodie Foster for “Taxi Driver.” Instead, it went home with Beatrice Straight for “Network” despite the fact Straight spent just five minutes total onscreen. It was one of the great robberies in Oscar history.

The story is emblematic of how Laurie, who died of natural causes on Saturday at 91, would go through her career never being fully appreciated for her immense performing talent, a character actress of the highest caliber. She was a...

The American Film Institute defines courtroom drama as a genre of film in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film's narrative. Courtroom dramas have captivated audiences for decades. Battles between lawyers, innocent victims fighting for justice, and the procedures of the legal system are capable of providing endless hours of entertainment.

Courtroom dramas also situate among cinema's most astute genres for examining social and political issues. Racial injustice, moral dilemmas, miscarriages of justice, and abuse of power are all hot-button topics explored by the greatest courtroom dramas.

Related: 10 Best Crime Comedy Movies

Breaker Morant (1980)

Bruce Beresford's Breaker Morant is a landmark work of Australian New Wave cinema that tells the story of the 1902 court-martial of Breaker Morant. During the Second Boer War, Harry "Breaker" Morant and five other officers (two others in the film) stood trial for the murders of prisoners of war and unarmed civilians.

Steven Spielberg knew The Mask of Zorro was special. The Academy Award-winning director (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan) spent time on the set of The Mask of Zorro in 1997, which celebrated its 25th anniversary on July 17, 2023. And Spielberg told the film’s star Antonio Banderas that the use of special effects in cinema was shifting from practical to CGI.

Banderas said in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment:

Steven Spielberg said to me once when we were shooting, ‘This is probably going to be one of the last Westerns shot in the way the Westerns were shot in the old days, with real scenes with real horses, where everything is real, [real] sword fighting, no CGI.' Everything was [practical].

Author Johnston McCulley created the character of the masked vigilante Zorro back in 1919. And since that time the hero, whose true identity is Don Diego de la Vega, has been played...

Rouben Mamoulian is one of the best directors of Golden Age Hollywood, but his efforts often go underseen and underappreciated. One only has to watch his films to admire, and love, his skill as a director. Love Me Tonight (1932) sweeps and swoons with romantic energy; Queen Christina (1933) is a moody biopic that plays with shadows and sexuality; Becky Sharp (1935) is one of the first Technicolor features and is an array of delectable pastels to backdrop to colourful cohorts. And, of course, Mamoulian’s finest work – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) an imaginative horror that looks deep into the monster lurking in man’s soul.

Mamoulian’s Blood and Sand (1941) is also undeniably exquisite art. Played on the gorgeous, yet volatile nitrate as part of BFI’s Film on Film Festival, there has never been a Mamoulian presentation quite like it in recent years.

Starring Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth, Blood and Sand revolves around Juan,...

For anyone who wants to make a movie, there’s an undeniable appeal to the studio system from the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s a handy thing, to have actors, directors, writers, designers, and technicians all under contract and ready for assignments. Working relationships can be maintained over a long span of time, shooting under such a system is (usually) efficient, and production values can reliably meet a baseline quality. With this working model, the major studios of the '30s and '40s developed their own recognizable “house styles” of filmmaking, whether it was the slick elegance of MGM or the staccato grit of Warner Brothers. And actors embedded in the studio system built up iconic screen personas that could make them international stars. But navigating this system wasn't always easy. One actor so vexed by the studio system of Old Hollywood was Tyrone Power, and the favorite of his own films,...

The launch of innovative thrillers like “Glass Onion” and “Bullet Train” has re-ignited the love for this classic genre. These films are a potent concoction of action, suspense, crime, and sci-fi – prepared to keep viewers in an endless loop of anticipation (or fear).

IMDb makes it a breeze for thriller fanatics to find the cream of the crop. From award-winning classics like “Witness for the Prosecution” that form this genre’s identity to worldwide successes such as “Parasite.” It even includes two dark superhero movies from “The Dark Knight” franchise among its top-rated gems.

Ranked Best Thriller Movies [Sortable Table] Rank Title Year IMDb Metascore 18 Witness for the Prosecution 1957 8.4 76 17 The Lives of Others 2006 8.4 89 16 Rear Window 1954 8.5 100 15 Oldboy 2003 8.4 77 14 Psycho 1960 8.5 97 13 Aliens 1986 8.4 84 12 Parasite 2019 8.5 96 11 The Usual Suspects 1995 8.5 77 10 Léon: The Professional 1994 8.5 64 9 Memento 2000 8.4 81 8 Joker 2019 8.4 59 7 The Departed 2006 8.5 85 6 The Prestige 2006 8.5 66 5 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 8.6 85 4 Se7en 1995 8.6 65 3 The Dark Knight Rises 2012 8.4 78 2 Inception 2010 8.8 74 1 The Dark Knight 2008 9 84 More About the Best Thriller Movies List...

The United States had been at war a little over a year when the 15th Academy Awards were presented on March 4, 1943. It was the last year that the awards were celebrated at a lavish banquet; they would be moved to a theater setting in the ensuing years. The impact of World War II can be seen in the films honored, as well as the ceremony itself.

Popular musical star Jeannette MacDonald sang the National Anthem, and newly enlisted military privates Tyrone Power and Alan Ladd unfurled a flag that listed over 25,000 film industry members who had joined the armed forces. Bob Hope hosted the event, which saw one big winner, numerous patriotic choices and the first win for one of the industry’s biggest record-makers. Let’s flashback 80 years to the Oscars ceremony of 1943.

SEEOscar hosts: Performers who have hosted the Academy Awards

Ten movies made the cut for a Best Picture nomination.

George Cukor's "The Philadelphia Story" is a terrific film. It is as great a mainstream comedy as Hollywood has ever produced, and the three leads — James Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, and Cary Grant — are humming on every available cylinder. It was worthy of many accolades, but I'll never understand how Academy voters walked out of John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath," and cast a vote for anyone other than Henry Fonda.

Ford's film was rushed into production by Twentieth Century Fox's Darryl Zanuck, who worried tremendously about the populist, anti-capitalist politics of John Steinbeck's novel. The book is explicitly critical of the banks' cruel treatment of tenant farmers and pulls no punches in its portrayal of Oklahomans desperate to find prosperity in the Western United States. At the center of the book is Tom Joad, an ex-con who joins his evicted family on their arduous trek to California.

Gina Lollobrigida, the Italian film sensation whose exotic charms made her an international sex symbol of postwar cinema, has died, Italian news agency Ansa reported Monday. She was 95.

The dark-haired, independent beauty, of whom Humphrey Bogart once quipped, “She makes Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple,” died in a clinic in Rome, her former lawyer Giulia Citani told Reuters.

For her first well-known English-speaking role, Lollobrigida appeared as Bogart’s wife in John Huston’s Beat the Devil (1953), shot on location in Italy. She starred as the glamorous queen in Solomon and Sheba (1959) and was there when Tyrone Power collapsed and died during production (Power was replaced by Yul Brynner).

Perhaps most famously, Lollobrigida stood out in Carol Reed’s Trapeze (1956) as Lola, a high-wire artist caught in a love triangle with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. The movie achieved a high degree of realism by having the actors perform most of their own stunts.

The Academy Awards are a lot of things. A celebration of cinema? Check. A surprisingly effective way to bust unions? Double check, sadly.

But one thing they also are, and it's hard to dispute this, is an opportunity for the people in the motion picture industry to pat themselves on the back. For nearly 100 years, the Academy Awards have given out little statues, usually gold (in World War II they were plaster), to artists working in a variety of fields. Actors, sound designers, writers, visual effects artists, editors, cinematographers, directors, and many more get to declare who in their industry didn't just do a good job this year, but who also deserves a little trophy for their efforts.

Making movies is a hard job, and nobody's saying the members of the Academy shouldn't get to honor the work of their peers. But there's only one time in history when the...

There comes a time when many legendary characters have to pass the torch–or sword, as it were–to the next generation. Who will carry on that legacy is always the big question, but for Zorro, Antonio Banderas thinks there’s only one guy fit to handle the role: Tom Holland.

Banderas, who portrayed the titular hero in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro 2005’s The Legend of Zorro, recently sat down with ComicBook.com to discuss if he had any interest in another entry. “I would consider that possibility, why not?…I think today, I said something like that to somebody. They asked me about Zorro. If they called me to do Zorro, I would do what Anthony Hopkins did for me, which is to pass the torch.”

When prompted on who exactly could wield the sword, Banderas said Tom Holland. “I did Uncharted with him and he’s so energetic and fun and [he’s got] this spark,...

Michael Butler, the Tony-winning producer who brought Hair to Broadway in 1968 and later produced the film adaptation and many other productions of the show, died Monday in Santa Barbara. He was 95.

His attorney confirmed the news on behalf of Butler’s family but give not provide details.

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As a producer, social figure and international bon vivant, Michael Butler was an international celebrity in the 1960s and ’70s. As his 1968 production of Hair became an international hit, with 12 productions around the world, his friendships grew among exotic global figures such as the Shah of Iran and the Mahajarah of Jaipur. As a host at his lavish polo grounds in the UK,...

Bloody Disgusting has learned that the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is returning for its 23rd installment of their Day of the Dead Celebration on Saturday, October 29th with two events – “Día de los Muertos” & “Noche de los Muertos” – that will feature cultural performances, live DJ sets from DJ Que Madre and DJ Hamvre, an exhibition from Artist of the Year, Sabino Guisu’s “Zapotec Death Poems”, delicious food & drinks, and more.

This year’s theme is focused on Mayahuel, the Aztec Goddess of Fertility, the Maguey (Agave), and the ruler of the 8th day and the 8th year. She brings us Love, Magic, and Transformation.

Here’s everything you need to know about the two special events…

Día de los Muertos (9:00am – 3:00pm Pst) – a daytime event featuring a children’s plaza and cultural performances, as well as altars, art exhibitions, Aztecs, folkorico dance, traditional dance, children’s plaza,...

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Jack Ging, the familiar character actor who recurred on such series as Tales of Wells Fargo, Mannix, Riptide and The A-Team and appeared in three films opposite Clint Eastwood, has died. He was 90.

Ging died Friday of natural causes at his home in La Quinta, California, his wife, Apache Ging, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In rare starring turns, Ging played the love interest of Diane Baker’s character in a remake of Tess of the Storm Country (1960), a soldier and reluctant hero in the waning days of the Korean War in the drama Sniper’s Ridge (1961) and a clinical psychiatrist on the 1962-64 NBC medical series The Eleventh Hour.

Alongside Eastwood, Ging portrayed a marshal in Hang ‘Em High (1968), a doctor in Play Misty for Me (1971) and Morgan Allen, the mine owner (and lover of Marianna Hill’s character), in High Plains Drifter...

Though it received a Best Picture nomination at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022, Guillermo del Toro's re-adaptation of the William Lindsay Gresham novel "Nightmare Alley" hit theaters the same day as "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and was overshadowed by that movie's juggernaut success amid the pandemic. It makes the most of those shadows, though, filling them with smoke and "the poetry of disillusionment and existentialism," as del Toro has called it. This is a movie that lives at the carnival, where you're less likely to see any spider-men and more likely to see a woman with a spider's body warning children about the sins of lust and pride.

Co-written by Kim Morgan, the del Toro version of "Nightmare Alley" takes its cues from Gresham's book and was not intended as a remake of the black-and-white 1947 adaptation starring Tyrone Power. However, that movie is a classic and it's worth...

Budd Boetticher’s excellent semi-autobiographical film may be Hollywood’s most uncondescending depiction of high-end Mexican culture. Robert Stack is the pushy Gringo who only slowly understands Latin society’s definitions of loyalty and machismo; his rocky relationship with Joy Page’s cultured señorita is as important as the bullfighting story with Gilbert Roland. It’s Boetticher’s best film, presented for the first time in two encodings, the 87-minute release version and the UCLA Film and TV Archive’s restoration of the full 124-minute seen South of the Border. The extra commentary and featurettes are welcome too.

Bullfighter and the Lady

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 124 + 87 min. / Torero, Muerte en la arena, Tarde de toros, L’amante del torero, El torero y la dama, Death in the Sands / Street Date , 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Robert Stack, Joy Page, Gilbert Roland, Virginia Grey,...

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at director Guillermo del Toro’s remake of "Nightmare Alley", based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice...

Guillermo del Toro’s freaky noir brings back a neglected genre, and Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett offer masterclass performances

At the time of writing, Nightmare Alley is the longest of long shots for the Academy Award: it’s the complete outsider at the bookies, and absolutely no one is tipping it. But just because it won’t win the best picture Oscar doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. It’s a big, brash picture in the old style, stuffed with heavyweight performers oozing class, and put together with seemingly effortless aplomb by director Guillermo del Toro – who of course has pedigree at this level, having won this very award in 2018 with The Shape of Water.

Now, The Shape of Water was admittedly a bit lucky to win ahead of Dunkirk, Phantom Thread and Get Out, but perhaps its eccentricity and Creature from the Black Lagoon references made it distinctive.

It took forever — well, 122 years — but Hollywood Forever Cemetery was designated a historic-cultural monument by the Los Angeles City Council today following a unanimous recommendation from the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission.

The cemetery, which was founded in 1899, was included in the National Register of Historic Places on its 100th anniversary, but equivalent local recognition took another quarter century or so.

On June 25, 2021, Councilman Mitch O’Farrell began the city’s effort to include the cemetery on its own list of historic-cultural monuments. Following O’Farrell’s actions, the Cultural Heritage Commission considered the property on Oct. 21 and recommended the City Council add it to the list.

“I was surprised that this wasn’t already on our list,” Commissioner Richard Barron said during the meeting. “It’s always interesting when something comes before us that you think, ‘That’s not a monument yet?’ ”

Among the boldfaced names buried at Hollywood Forever are Judy Garland,...

From TorontoFilm.Net, take a look at director Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-nominated remake of "Nightmare Alley", based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and David Strathairn, releasing in theaters December 17, 2021:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek,...

Guillermo del Toro joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event this weekend to discuss his latest movie Nightmare Alley, nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. The film is based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel, which had been previously adapted for the screen in 1947 in a noir classic starring Tyrone Power. Del Toro had read the book before he’d seen that movie, and he told Deadline he had always seen his vision for an adaptation “vividly” in his head. “I thought there were so many possibilities open in the book to talk about truth, lies, and the rise of a liar. An almost unstoppable rise,” del Toro said. “It felt very very ripe for the moment we’re in as a society.”

The Searchlight Pictures film follows the story of Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), a drifter with a dark past who will stop at nothing in his quest for riches and power,...

This article contains spoilers for both versions of Nightmare Alley.

“Fear is the key to human nature,” the Great Stanton learns in William Lindsay Gresham’s Nightmare Alley. That 1946 novel was a hit when it came out, even though it was banned and censored. And its spell lingered so long it was adapted by Academy Award-winning horror maestro, Guillermo del Toro, in 2021 with Bradley Cooper starring as the carny medium. This most recent adaptation, however, is just the second screen version, following in the footsteps of a 1947 cult noir classic starring Tyrone Power. Both versions struggled at the box office, and yet both seem to find their audiences, which might speak to the original text’s strange thrall throughout the decades.

Occultists couldn’t resist the novel or first film’s allure. It was like cotton candy at a carnival, right outside the house of mirrors where their deepest sins would be revealed.

The Oscar-nominated feature “Nightmare Alley", directed by Guillermo Del Toro, based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham, stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara and Mary Steenburgen:

"...an ambitious 'carny' (Cooper)...

"...with a talent for manipulating people...

"...with a few well-chosen words...

"...hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is..."

"...'in the 1947 feature, 'Nightmare Alley' starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray, 'Stanton Carlisle' watches the geek show at a carnival asking worker 'Clem Hoately' where 'geeks' come from. Clem explains that geeks are 'made', when a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic bum and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor.

"Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and then faking the drinking of the blood.

Like many 2021 releases with awards aspirations, Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” had a tough time drawing audiences to theaters after its release in December. The noir drama starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett has earned just over $15 million at the worldwide box office as of February 1 – this despite being del Toro’s awaited follow-up to “The Shape of Water,” which won the filmmaker Oscars in 2019 for Best Director and Best Picture. But for those who missed “Nightmare Alley” in theaters, now is the time to catch up with the 2022 Oscars Best Picture nominee at home. Here’s how to watch “Nightmare Alley” right now.

Where can I stream ‘Nightmare Alley’?

“Nightmare Alley” is available to stream online for HBO Max and Hulu subscribers (as well as Hulu account holders who subscribe to HBO Max through Hulu itself).

Is ‘Nightmare Alley’ on Netflix?

No, “Nightmare Alley” is not available on Netflix.

This article contains spoilers for both versions of Nightmare Alley.

“Mister, I was made for it,” versus “Mister, I was born for it,” sums up the major psychological distinction between the 1947 Nightmare Alley and Guillermo del Toro’s 2021 remake. Neither line from the end of their respective movies is in the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham. That book concludes just short of the revelation or confession (depending on the actor who says it). Bradley Cooper’s Stan Carlisle finds it downright hilarious that he is about to become a geek. Tyrone Power’s The Great Stanton only grants himself temporary clemency. The geek is their destiny. Chicken necks are their shared fate.

The first major difference between the two movies is the most obvious. One employs all the tricks of black and white filmmaking, the other shades its colors in a muted noir. The next immediately recognizable difference comes at feeding time.