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Why all the outrage over the apparent slighting of Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2”? There’s the limited theatrical release, no advertising, and initial absence from Warner Bros. Discovery’s awards page, for a film with strong reviews and audience response — but good grief, has everyone at that studio forgotten what they owe Eastwood’s legacy?

The Warners-Eastwood relationship is unparalleled in Hollywood history. It also represents a way of doing business that Warners no longer cares to apply to its creative relationships — or at least, doesn’t care if that’s the community’s takeaway, which may be the same thing.

Since 1971, Eastwood made 46 films for Warners as a director and/or actor and/or producer. IndieWire wants to make the case that Eastwood has been the most important creative component in the studio’s history — financially, and arguably, critically.

If that seems extreme, consider this. All told, his 46 Warners films have a worldwide gross,...

Hollywood’s most notable bombs are — sadly — just as well-known as its biggest hits, a factor that a new book joyously celebrates.

From British film critic Tim Robey, “Box Office Poison” digs up the dirt on some of cinema’s wildest misfires, from grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, going behind the scenes to examine how they ended careers, bankrupted studios and changed film history.

Among the features in Robey’s crosshairs are David Lynch’s “Dune,” plus “Speed 2: Cruise Control,” “Gigli,” “Catwoman,” “Pan” and — of course — “Cats.”

In this exclusive extract from the book, being released by Hanover Square Press in the U.S. on Nov. 5, it’s the turn of the swashbuckling catastrophe that was Renny Harlin and Geana Davis’ “Cutthroat Island.” Costing upwards of $115 million to make, the watery flop sank almost without a trace in 1995, earning just $18.5 million globally and...

Film critic Andrew Sarris changed his profession forever when he introduced, to English-speaking cinephiles at least, the concept of “auteur theory.” The general conceit is that some rarified directors are so gifted, or commanding, in their control over the process of film production that they alone can give a film a “personal or unique stamp.” They are the ones who become the author of the movie you’re watching. If anyone. It’s a seductive theory which encourages the critic to look for points of narrative, visual, or thematic similarity between a filmmaker’s work. The more ideas or images that rhyme, the potentially more impressive the auteur’s command over the medium becomes.

However, while it is hard to dispute the existence of auteurs, the concept at times devalues the contributions of a film’s many other collaborators—especially if they’re, say, editors, production designers, or cinematographers a...

She received five Academy Award nominations in ten years, winning for Best Actress twice. She was the spunky heroine to Errol Flynn’s dashing adventurer. She was Melanie, the sweet, compassionate counterpart to the spoiled, passionate Scarlett. And she became one of the oldest-living survivors of the Golden Age of Hollywood until her death at age 104 in 2020.

Olivia de Havilland was born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents. Her sister, actress Joan Fontaine, was born 15 months later. Her parents divorced when the girls were young, and her mother eventually settled in California with her two daughters. Growing up, de Havilland enjoyed performing in amateur stage productions. Although she originally planned to become a teacher, a role in one of those amateur productions, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, changed her fate. She was discovered, eventually cast in the Hollywood Bowl production of that play, and then in the 1935 film adaptation.

Although...

He was one of the biggest screen icons and one of the most colorful real-life characters in Hollywood history. Still considered the king of swashbucklers more than 60 years after his death, Errol Flynn’s success was a combination of happenstance, luck and his ability to charm.

Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20, 1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.

In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn’s athleticism and charm landed him the lead...

“That movie was the President’s idea, not mine, but it was a demand, not a suggestion.”

The speaker was Jack Warner in a 1947 foreshadowing of his Donald Trumpian style. I recalled his remarks this week as I drove onto the Warner Bros lot, the fabled arena where Warner long reigned.

In his heyday, Warner was a Trump pre-clone in terms of temperament and rhetoric – a man who boasted about his mental acuity yet, to Hollywood’s power players, seemed occasionally unhinged.

I was visiting Warner Bros this week to spend some time with David Zaslav, a figure who, in temperament and politics, is the mirror opposite of Warner but whose empire is nonetheless a product of Warner’s erratic vision. Some believe that Zaslav’s studio – Hollywood in general – might still glean some insight from its founder’s idiosyncrasies.

A career maverick, Warner promoted gangster movies like Public Enemy...

Tyrannical and brilliant, director Michael Curtiz created film legends out of mere stars, and turned movies into myth. Here are some of his greatest films.

When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.

Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...

“I never set out to play the hero, but since I’m usually cast as one I want to be the best paid hero.”

That’s what Sean Connery said at a moment when he was re-negotiating his James Bond deal. As a serious actor, Connery admitted he never understood what traits audiences wanted from their movie heroes and his confusion would be shared by studio mavens today.

Related Story Peter Bart: Quentin Tarantino’s Movie About A Film Critic May Be A Parting Shot To A Fading Species Related Story Keanu Reeves "Stripped" 'John Wick: Chapter 4' Of Dialogue So That He Only Says 380 Words In Nearly Three Hours Related Story How Did 'John Wick: Chapter 4' Day & Date Theatrical Release With Russia Surface Amid Studios' Boycott?

Even long-in-the-tooth leading men can find a second wind.

Keanu Reeves is drawing record box office in John Wick: Chapter 4,...

One of the many, many, many problems with the Academy Awards is that with only five nominees in each category — and even with 10 nominees for Best Picture — there's always at least one worthy artist or movie that doesn't get recognized.

In the industry we call these "snubs," and it's a somewhat loaded term that suggests the Oscar voters are deciding, intentionally, not to honor certain filmmakers and their films. While that's certainly a possibility, and there's no denying that the Academy members are human beings full of conscious and unconscious biases, it's also true that in a year full of great artistry in a variety of cinematic fields, at least one person who did amazing work was destined to get left off the ballot, and it's always a real downer for the artist and their fans.

But what if being left off the ballot wasn't the end of their story?...

Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, creators of the new Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, talk to hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante about the movies that inspired them.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Amistad (1997)

Love Actually (2003)

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

Blazing Saddles (1974) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s Blazing Saddles Thanksgiving

Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Bad News Bears (1976) – Jessica Bendinger’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Bambi (1942)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis trailer commentary

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Boy Friend (1971) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Yellow Submarine (1968) – George Hickenlooper...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we usually talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they produced in between. Today we give you a themed episode!

As 2022 approaches, we dive deep into New Years-set movies through the years. We start with Michael Curtiz’s influential Mystery of the Wax Museum, move over to the modern cult classic 200 Cigarettes, and finish with the 2006 remake/flop Poseidon.

This is an eclectic mix! Curtiz is one of our great filmmakers and it’s fascinating his Wax Museum, which came before his stone-cold classics Captain Blood, Casablanca, and The Adventures of Robin Hood. And 200 Cigarettes features perhaps the most specific, wonderful 1999-represented cast ever. Finally, Poseidon is certainly a film that was made and then released into theaters.

We discuss the holiday itself and why exactly it is something we celebrate,...

1. “In the Heat of the Night” (1967)

Why Should I Watch? Director Norman Jewison crafts one of the tautest crime dramas of the 1960s that, on top of the suspense, should have nabbed leading man Sidney Poitier an Oscar. The film follows detective Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) as he investigates a murder in a Southern town. The movie was groundbreaking, at the time, for its depiction of Poitier as a Black cop entering the South. One of the film’s most memorable moments sees Poitier slap a white man who hurls a racial slur at him. In 1967, that was the slap heard round the world. Alongside that, you have an Oscar-winning performance by Rod Steiger as Tibbs’ reluctant partner and a searing performance from Lee Grant. “In the Heat of the Night” airs February 4.

2. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Why Should I Watch? I’m jealous of those experiencing “Dog Day Afternoon” for the...

When it released Wonder Woman 1984 to its HBO Max servers in December, WarnerMedia made it abundantly clear that it was ready for a new era of movie distribution. Now, in its list of new releases for February 2021, Warner is attempting another grand experiment for HBO Max.

Judas and the Black Messiah premieres on HBO Max this Feb. 12 and is by every indication the kind of film that awards shows go gaga over. Both Daniel Kaluuya and and Lakeith Stanfield look to be at the top of their respective games in this story about Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton and the FBI that wants to take him down. Will this have the same rhetorical oomph on the small screen? Guess we’ll find out!

Read more Movies How Wonder Woman 1984’s Practical Effects Set it Apart By Delia Harrington Movies Why It’s Important that Themyscira Is Back...

Olivia de Havilland, the last surviving star of Gone With the Wind and the oldest remaining academy award winner, died on Sunday in Paris, where she resided for more than 60 years. She was 104. The two-time Oscar winner starred in movies like Captain Blood,The Adventures of Robin Hood and Gone With the Wind, which is still considered […]

The post Olivia De Havilland, Star Of ‘Gone With the Wind,’ Dies At 104 appeared first on uInterview.

Von Babasin had a memorable summer job in 1976.

The then 21-year old worked on craft services for “Airport ’77,” a disaster movie with a cast that included Oscar-winners and legends such as Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, George Kennedy, and James Stewart. But the Grande Dame on set was Olivia de Havilland, who despite her stature, spent most of the production soldiering through one grueling scene after another.

“She spent long days, soaking wet, crashing around the plane as we emptied the dump tanks through the fuselage, got the shot, and set it all back to first position to do it all over again,” Babasin remembers. “And, she was a trooper through it all.”

“Airport ’77” was a big box office hit in its day, but it has largely faded from memory, as have many of de Havilland’s films, a consequence of being a centenarian in a business that is...

In 1964, Jack Warner published his autobiography, “My First Hundred Years in Hollywood,” and amusing as the title may have been (much of the book is equally sardonic), he fell far short of the century mark. Ironically, the actor who ought to have earned that title was Olivia de Havilland, having reached the age of 104 before her death this weekend — ironic not only because de Havilland scored a legal victory over Warner Bros. that changed how the studio system operated, but also because the character for which she is best remembered, as Melanie in “Gone With the Wind,” expires before the end credits.

“I am sure we have both forgotten what happened twenty years ago,” Warner wrote in his memoir, referring to the 1943 court battle that “established once and for all — and this was probably good for everyone concerned — that no studio could tie up a player longer than seven calendar years,...

Olivia de Havilland, one of the last remaining actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age and the last surviving star of Gone With the Wind, died July 26 of natural causes at her residence in Paris, where she lived for more than six decades, according to Variety. De Havilland was 104.

De Havilland turned 104 on July 1. She was the older sister of Joan Fontaine, who died in 2013 at 96. The two Academy Award-winning actresses were estranged for most of their lives. Olivia Mary de Havilland was born in Tokyo on July 1, 1916. Her parents, Walter de Havilland, an English professor, and actress Lilian Fontaine, were British. De Havilland and her sister grew up in Saratoga, California, with their mother. Her father married the family’s housekeeper and remained in Tokyo. Havilland’s first performance was in a school production of Alice in Wonderland.

She made her stage debut in Max Reinhardt’s production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Olivia de Havilland in the 1946 film “To Each His Own,” for which she won her first Oscar©.

(Reuters) – “Gone With the Wind” star Olivia de Havilland, considered the last surviving actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood, died on Sunday at the age of 104, the Hollywood Reporter said.

She died of natural causes at her home in Paris, where she had lived for more than 60 years, it said, citing her publicist.

De Havilland’s acting career included two Academy Awards, a victory over Hollywood’s studio system and a long-running feud with sister Joan Fontaine that was worthy of a screenplay.

She first drew attention by playing opposite swashbuckling Errol Flynn in a series of films starting in the 1930s and made an enduring impression as the demure Southern belle Melanie in “Gone With the Wind” in 1939.

Later she would have to fight to get more challenging roles – a battle...

Talent, awards, tempestuous relationship with sister Joan Fontaine, and legal wrangles with Warner Bros.

Olivia de Havilland, the double Oscar winner and one of the last icons of Hollywood’s Golden Age who starred in Gone With The Wind, has died from natural causes at her home in Paris. She was 104.

de Havilland lived in France for more than 60 years and enjoyed a peaceful life away from the screen in the last 30 years.

In demand throughout the early stages of her career ever since she came to the attention of Hollywood in the 1935 version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, de...

Olivia de Havilland in Gone With The Wind

Olivia Havilland, who starred in Gone With The Wind and played Maid Marian opposite Errol Flynn in The Adventures Of Robin Hood, has passed away at the age of 104, it emerged today.

Five times Oscar nominated and a two time Best Actress winner, de Havilland was made a dame in 2017 for her services to acting. She appeared in 49 films over the course of her career, including The Heiress, To Each His Own and Captain Blood. A product of the studio system, she became frustrated with way that it limited her career and took on the might of Warner Bros in a lawsuit which, when she won, changed the system forever. Later, bored with acting, she worked as a journalist.

De Havilland died in her sleep from natural causes at her home in Paris, a city she adored and returned to at every...

Olivia de Havilland, the two-time Oscar-winning actress who starred in films like Gone With the Wind and The Snake Pit, has died at the age of 104.

The actress’ publicist confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that de Havilland died Sunday of natural causes in Paris, France, where she lived for the past 60 years.

The last surviving star of Hollywood’s Golden Age, de Havilland won Best Actress Academy Awards for her roles in 1946’s To Each His Own and 1949’s The Heiress. de Havilland was nominated for three other Oscars, including...

The link to Old Hollywood gets smaller with the announcement today that Olivia de Havilland, two-time Oscar winner and the last living star of “Gone With the Wind,” passed away at 104. De Havilland, who just celebrated her birthday three weeks ago, died of natural causes, her reps confirmed.

De Havilland was a trailblazer, and became a beloved bridge between the entertainment of today and the world of yesteryear. The star of over 60 film and television roles, the British actress became immortal after playing the goodhearted Melanie Wilkes in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind” and became swashbuckler Errol Flynn’s primary leading lady, working with him seven times, most notably in “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

Outside of her film work, she created a shakeup in Hollywood that ended up having long-standing repercussions. In 1943 she filed suit against her home studio of Warner Bros. for extending her contract for longer than the standard seven years.

Olivia de Havilland, an Oscar-winning actress best known for her role as the timid but strong Melanie in the 1939 classic “Gone With the Wind,” died Sunday of natural causes. She was 104.

The news of De Havilland’s passing in her Paris home was announced by her publicist, Lisa Goldberg.

In addition to her breakout role in “Gone With the Wind,” de Havilland earned Oscar nominations for 1941’s “Hold Back the Dawn,” 1946’s “To Each His Own” and 1948’s “The Snake Pit” and the 1949 William Wyler drama “The Heiress.” She won gold for “To Each His Own” and “The Heiress.”

Throughout her career, De Havilland had a reputation for standing up for herself. In 1943, she famously went to court when Warner Bros. tried to add time to her completed contract. Her legal victory led to what’s still known as the “De Havilland Law,” a section of the California Labor Code...

Olivia de Havilland, one of the last remaining actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age, two-time Academy Award winner and star of “Gone With the Wind,” has died. She was 104.

Her publicist Lisa Goldberg confirmed the news to Variety, saying de Havilland died from natural causes on Sunday at her residence in Paris.

De Havilland’s former lawyer Suzelle M. Smith said, “Last night, the world lost an international treasure, and I lost a dear friend and beloved client. She died peacefully in Paris.”

Numerous Hollywood figures paid tribute to de Havilland upon the news of her death. SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris extended her sympathies, saying, “Olivia de Havilland was not only beautiful and talented, she was a courageous visionary and an inspiration to generations. She was a marvel and a legend. Rest in peace.”

The striking brunette won best actress Oscars for “The Heiress” and “To Each His Own” in the late 1940s,...

Olivia de Havilland, a two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, has died. She was at home in Paris, France on Saturday when she died in her sleep at age 104.

De Havilland rose to prominence in the 1930s in a series of swashbuckling adventure films with Errol Flynn, including Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood.

She had her own battles in real life. De Havilland waged a legal action against Warner Bros. over her seven-year contract, which the studio tried to extend as a penalty for her refusing roles. She won the case in a landmark ruling that is still known today as the “de Havilland law.”

She had an Oscar nomination for her role as Melanie in Gone with the Wind, and was the final major cast member from that classic film still living. She followed that performance by earning her first Academy Award for 1946’s To Each His Own,...

(This is an update to a piece that first ran in 2016 to mark Olivia de Havilland’s 100th birthday. Happy 104th!)

In October 1932, seven years before her role in the highest-grossing film of all time, Olivia de Havilland was cast in the junior play at Los Gatos High School.

Her new stepfather, a man she and her sister called the Iron Duke, delivered an ultimatum: Give up the play or leave this house forever.

“I went off to school with my decision made,” de Havilland said in a 2001 speech for the Academy of Achievement. “I spent that night and several more with friends of my mother’s, went on with the play, and never again slept in the house.”

Also Read: Olivia de Havilland Sues Ryan Murphy, FX Over 'Feud' Portrayal on Eve of Her 101st Birthday

De Havilland, who turned 104 on Wednesday, is the last surviving female star of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Born: July 1, 1916

Best known for: “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “Gone With the Wind,” and two Oscar-winning performances, “To Each His Own” and “The Heiress”

First claim to fame: Gossip magazines offered endless coverage of her feud with sister Joan Fontaine, which lasted for decades

Second (and more important) claim to fame: She helped end the old studio system. While under a 7-year contract with Warner Bros., she refused several roles and was suspended multiple times. When her contract ended, WB said she still owed them six months, for the time off during suspension. She made the unprecedented move of suing the studio and the judge agreed with her, saying the system was one of “peonage.” On March 15, 1944, Variety ran the headline “De Havilland Free Agent.” Her career flourished after that, and actors were no longer beholden to studios, which empowered them and their agents in all future negotiations.

Third...

She received five Academy Award nominations in ten years, winning for Best Actress twice. She was the spunky heroine to Errol Flynn’s dashing adventurer. She was Melanie, the sweet, compassionate counterpart to the spoiled, passionate Scarlett. And she is now is the oldest-living survivor of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents. Her sister, actress Joan Fontaine, was born 15 months later. Her parents divorced when the girls were young, and her mother eventually settled in California with her two daughters. Growing up, de Havilland enjoyed performing in amateur stage productions. Although she originally planned to become a teacher, a role in one of those amateur productions, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, changed her fate. She was discovered, eventually cast in the Hollywood Bowl production of that play, and then in the 1935 film adaptation.

SEEErrol Flynn movies: 20 greatest films...

He was one of the biggest screen icons and one of the most colorful real-life characters in Hollywood history. Still considered the king of swashbucklers 60 years after his death, Errol Flynn’s success was a combination of happenstance, luck and his ability to charm.

Errol Leslie Flynn was born on June 20,1909, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to an affluent family. A natural born rascal, he was thrown out of several private schools, and eventually wandered, working odd jobs. He fell into acting quite by chance when he won the role of Fletcher Christian in the Australian film “In the Wake of the Bounty” (1933). There are conflicting stories of how he landed this part, but it is the film that piqued his interest in acting, and eventually caught the attention of Warner Bros. executives.

SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

In Hollywood, a combination of luck and Flynn...

A jauntily old-fashioned adventure that plays like the nautical equivalent of a picaresque road movie, “In Like Flynn” offers a fanciful glimpse at the pre-fame formative experiences of Old Hollywood luminary Errol Flynn, indicating that the future star of “Captain Blood” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” engaged in a fair share of death-defying derring-do long before he swashed a single buckle on screen.

It’s based on Flynn’s 1937 book “Beam Ends,” which was inspired (or so he claimed) by the Tasmanian-born actor’s real-life exploits. But even though this handsomely mounted Australian-produced movie is labeled in the opening credits as “A Mostly True Account of the Hollywood Star’s Early Adventures,” it’s quite obvious that the credited scriptwriters — a quartet that includes Luke Flynn, the protagonist’s grandson — liberally laced their scenario with material borrowed from, ahem, works of fiction. To put it another way: There are dollops of “Jaws” here,...

In the perennial cataloguing of the best single-screen movie theaters in Los Angeles — the Chinese, the Dome, the Egyptian, et al. — a nearly century-old venue has been showing up as a new kid on the block. That would be the Hollywood Bowl, which only this decade began screening entire films with full-length orchestra accompaniment. This summer, the schedule is so packed that classic film buffs might not even mind that the New Beverly is closed, when they’ve got the Bowl as the city’s most value-added revival house.

This Friday and Saturday, there’ll be chowing down not just among the perennially snack-happy Bowl audiences but on stage, or above it, as “Jaws” screens for two nights accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performing John Williams’ game-changing score. Then, in August, the first two “Star Wars” movies have their live-score Bowl premieres with the L.A. Phil, also as...

In 2009 — when the Academy Awards went to 10 Best Picture nominees for the first time since 1943 — the preferential system of voting, which had been used from 1934 to 1945, was reintroduced. The academy did so as it believed this “best allows the collective judgment of all voting members to be most accurately represented.”

We have detailed how the preferential voting system works at the Oscars in the modern era. So, let’s take a look back at those dozen years early in the history of the academy when it first used this complicated counting to determine the Best Picture winner rather than a simple popular vote. (At the bottom of this post, be sure to vote for the film that you think will take the top Oscar this year.)

See Best Picture Gallery: Every winner of the top Academy Award

1934

This seventh ceremony marked the first time that the Oscars eligibility period was the calendar year.

Author: Dave Roper

So, we come to the end of this particular series. We’ve covered a number of aspects of the creative input into film-making, including actors, actresses, writers composers, and directors (in two parts). We’ve stopped short of costume, make-up, special effects, art design and others, however our final stop is Cinematography. The Dop exerts plenty of influence over the look of the film. Yes, lighting, production design and the director’s vision are key too, but the consistency and persistence with which certain directors stick with and return to a trusted Dop shows just how much they contribute.

Darius Khondji – Seven

Seven has a unique visual aesthetic. Plenty of films have gone for the “always raining, always dark” approach, but contrast Seven with something like AvP: Requiem for a shining example of how hard it is to pull off effectively. And contrast is the word. Seven...

As we embark on the trek through hot summer blockbusters, let's take a breather and see what cool indies are in the works:   Errol Flynn Gets Another Early Years Biopic Four years ago, we saw Kevin Kline play Hollywood icon Errol Flynn in his later years in The Last of Robin Hood, and we've seen him portrayed by Jude Law in The Aviator and by Guy Pearce in Flynn. Like the latter, a new biopic titled In Like Flynn will focus on his early years as a gold-seeking adventurer prior to becoming the star of such classic films as Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Russell Mulcahy, who directed the original Highlander and its sequel, will be at the...

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David Crow May 9, 2017

The director of Highlander and The Shadow has been tapped to direct a biopic on Errol Flynn's early years as a treasure hunter.

Errol Flynn is one of Hollywood’s very first action stars. Known for his dashing good looks (and his notorious after hours affairs), Flynn enjoyed a swashbuckling career in Hollywood throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, famously defining the pirate subgenre with turns in Captain Blood (1935) and The Sea Hawk (1940), and going West, young man, for the genre’s first Technicolor extravaganza Dodge City (1938), as well as the classic piece of historical revisionism that is They Died With Their Boots On (1941). Of course, to many, he simply remains the definitive Prince of Thieves from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Sorry, Kevin.

But Flynn had plenty of adventures before he fell into movie song, drink, and lechery. And it appears it will be getting...

This week’s Entertainment Weekly (a “double issue” dated April 29/May 5, 2017) is its big “Summer Movie Preview” release, one that I usually really look forward to reading over my breakfast tea. But after doing that this very morning – which was yesterday by now – I realized that, in all honesty, there’s very little coming out on the big screen that warrants my plunking down my hard-earned dollars.

There’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, in theaters in just 12 days from now as I write this. (Btw, isn’t May 5th a little early to be calling it a “summer movie?”) Maybe I’m not taking much of a leap here when I say it will be the big blockbuster hit of the season. It’s classic “superhero space fantasy” and, of course, there’s Rocky. Not to mention Baby Groot. Then again, im-not-so-ho, there’s not much competition.

Though there is Wonder Woman,...

This week’s Entertainment Weekly (a “double issue” dated April 29/May 5, 2017) is its big “Summer Movie Preview” release, one that I usually really look forward to reading over my breakfast tea. But after doing that this very morning – which was yesterday by now – I realized that, in all honesty, there’s very little coming out on the big screen that warrants my plunking down my hard-earned dollars.

There’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, in theaters in just 12 days from now as I write this. (Btw, isn’t May 5th a little early to be calling it a “summer movie?”) Maybe I’m not taking much of a leap here when I say it will be the big blockbuster hit of the season. It’s classic “superhero space fantasy” and, of course, there’s Rocky. Not to mention Baby Groot. Then again, im-not-so-ho, there’s not much competition.

Though there is Wonder Woman,...

The forgotten grandfather of the third-person cover shooter? Ryan takes a look back at the brilliant Cabal...

As far as military shooters went in the 1980s, Operation Wolf was the last word. It was loud, brash, and the cabinet had a colossal Uzi 9mm strapped to the front of it. The game was a distillation of the decade's cheerfully excessive action movies: traces of Rambo, Commando and Delta Force could all be found in its DNA.

It could even be argued that none-more-80s movie studio Cannon Films were indirectly responsible for Operation Wolf's visual style and "rescue the hostages" plotline.

The only problem with Operation Wolf is this: it isn't exactly what you'd call strategic. Take away the Uzi, the incredible sound effects and the phalanxes of hapless soldiers, and you're essentially left with Duck Hunt. You can't move around, you can't take cover and you can't avoid bullets...

The Sega Mega Drive's weirdest game? Ryan takes a look back at the incredibly strange Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure...

If there's another game with as convoluted and confusing history as Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure, I've yet to hear of it.

Vic Tokai's jaunty platformer essentially had four different lives, with the same game appearing in slightly modified forms on the Nes, Sega Master System and the Sega Mega Drive. To make matters even more befuddling, there were two Nes and Mega Drive versions, each tailored for different markets due to licensing issues.

For this writer, Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure may be the best of the lot. But before we delve into exactly why, let's head back to the year 1988, where the game's curious story first began.

The Quest For The Seven Wonder Herbs

It all seemed to begin with a Japanese child star named Kenji Sagara, better...

MercurySteam, the studio behind Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow and Jericho, has teased a mysterious new game with a sci-fi theme...

For Spanish developer MercurySteam, its finest hour arguably came in 2010, when it created Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow for Konami. Produced by Hideo Kojima, it was a solid action adventure set in the franchise's gothic universe, successfully bringing it into the 3D realm and laying the foundation for what could have been a major new franchise.

Unfortunately, last year's sequel, Lords Of Shadow 2, was less warmly received, and it isn't currently clear where Konami will take the series next.

But MercurySteam, it seems, is moving onto other things. Its website, PC Gamer has spotted, is now teasing an as-yet untitled videogame with a sci-fi theme. 

"Exploring new worlds, fighting strange creatures, discovering new heroes," the site teases. "Expect news soon."

That text is accompaniesdd by a pleasingly grungy bit of concept art,...

Olivia de Havilland picture U.S. labor history-making 'Gone with the Wind' star and two-time Best Actress winner Olivia de Havilland turns 99 (This Olivia de Havilland article is currently being revised and expanded.) Two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner Olivia de Havilland, the only surviving major Gone with the Wind cast member and oldest surviving Oscar winner, is turning 99 years old today, July 1.[1] Also known for her widely publicized feud with sister Joan Fontaine and for her eight movies with Errol Flynn, de Havilland should be remembered as well for having made Hollywood labor history. This particular history has nothing to do with de Havilland's films, her two Oscars, Gone with the Wind, Joan Fontaine, or Errol Flynn. Instead, history was made as a result of a legal fight: after winning a lawsuit against Warner Bros. in the mid-'40s, Olivia de Havilland put an end to treacherous...

'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl': Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' review: Mostly an enjoyable romp (Oscar Movie Series) Pirate movies were a Hollywood staple for about three decades, from the mid-'20s (The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate) to the mid-to-late '50s (Moonfleet, The Buccaneer), when the genre, by then mostly relegated to B films, began to die down. Sporadic resurrections in the '80s and '90s turned out to be critical and commercial bombs (Pirates, Cutthroat Island), something that didn't bode well for the Walt Disney Company's $140 million-budgeted film "adaptation" of one of their theme-park rides. But Neptune's mood has apparently improved with the arrival of the new century. He smiled – grinned would be a more appropriate word – on the Gore Verbinski-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,...

The Sea Hawk

Written by Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller

Directed by Michael Curtiz

U.S.A., 1940

Under the Warner Brothers banner, Errol Flynn leaps, bounds and rouses hearts to the tune of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s winning score and the direction of taskmaster Michael Curtiz. Following on the coattails of Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), it’s easy to dismiss The Sea Hawk (1940) as just a studio swashbuckler, another outing of a tried and true formula that Bosley Crowther called, “an overdressed ‘spectacle’ film which derives much more from the sword than the pen.” Admittedly, this loose adaptation owes more to the seafaring adventures of Sir Francis Drake than the original Rafael Sabatini novel of the same name, but it owes even more to the politics surrounding its production. On closer examination, the film stands as a testament not only to Flynn in his booming...

We find the remnants of our band stalking the pits of the Sinspire, patiently and calculatingly ascending lady luck’s ladder in Lynch’s Monte Carlo, the city-state Tal Verrar, marked on any map as the destination for the apex of high society and high stakes. The absurdity of the back in-saddle starting point exhibits the author’s greatest strength, his decisions on how to pace a novel. The cuts to the recent past, giving us the anatomy of the scheme and farther back to moments transpiring in the direct aftermath of The Lies of Locke Lamora are perfectly placed, once again functioning as a new door to open just before the occupied space stagnates. You seem to never be anywhere but where you want to be, Lynch just doesn’t let you in on the fact until a chapter later, and the reader isn’t sprinting or running a...

We find the remnants of our band stalking the pits of the Sinspire, patiently and calculatingly ascending lady luck’s ladder in Lynch’s Monte Carlo, the city-state Tal Verrar, marked on any map as the destination for the apex of high society and high stakes. The absurdity of the back in-saddle starting point exhibits the author’s greatest strength, his decisions on how to pace a novel. The cuts to the recent past, giving us the anatomy of the scheme and farther back to moments transpiring in the direct aftermath of The Lies of Locke Lamora are perfectly placed, once again functioning as a new door to open just before the occupied space stagnates. You seem to never be anywhere but where you want to be, Lynch just doesn’t let you in on the fact until a chapter later, and the reader isn’t sprinting or running a...

Rod Taylor dead at 84: Actor best known for 'The Time Machine' and 'The Birds' Rod Taylor, best remembered for the early 1960s movies The Time Machine and The Birds, and for his supporting role as Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's international hit Inglourious Basterds, has died. Taylor suffered a heart attack at his Los Angeles home earlier this morning (January 8, 2015). Born on January 11, 1930, in Sydney, he would have turned 85 on Sunday. Based on H.G. Wells' classic 1895 sci-fi novel, The Time Machine stars Rod Taylor as a H. George Wells, an inventor who comes up with an intricate chair that allows him to travel across time. (In the novel, the Victorian protagonist is referred to simply as the "Time Traveller.") After experiencing World War I and World War II, Wells decides to fast forward to the distant future, ultimately arriving at a place where humankind has been split...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has released the new trailer and poster for their upcoming film The Last Of Robin Hood starring Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon & Dakota Fanning.

Errol Flynn, the swashbuckling Hollywood star and notorious ladies man, flouted convention all his life, but never more brazenly than in his last years when, swimming in vodka and unwilling to face his mortality, he undertook a liaison with an aspiring actress, Beverly Aadland.

The two had a high-flying affair that spanned the globe and was enabled by the girl’s fame-obsessed mother, Florence. It all came crashing to an end in October 1959, when events forced the relationship into the open, sparking an avalanche of publicity castigating Beverly and her mother – which only fed Florence’s need to stay in the spotlight. The Last Of Robin Hood is a story about the desire for fame and the price it exacts.

Written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland,...

With the recent premiere of Maleficient, we’ve all spent a good deal of time talking about Elle Fanning and her career turn as a real life Disney princess. But the focus is about to shift again to the older sister, with Dakota Fanning stepping into the shoes of a young and impressionable 1940s starlet in The Last of Robin Hood. After all, who would know more about struggling through Hollywood and rising to fame as a teenager than someone who has done it herself? The silver screen gal she’s portraying, Beverly Aadland, was in a bit of a different situation than Fanning, however. Aadland was a chorus girl just at the beginnings of her blossoming film career, with only a twinkle of Hollywood in her future and an overbearing stage mom (Susan Sarandon) at her side. It’s the beauty and talents of the — very, very — young beauty that catches the eye of Robin Hood...

Kevin Kline stars as the legendary lothario Errol Flynn in the upcoming biopic The Last of Robin Hood.

The Hollywood star is best remembered for his on-screen swashbuckling roles in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood as he is for his notorious off-screen penchant for boozing, gambling, fighting, sex, and women, including standing trail for three statutory rape charges. His trouble with the law and underage girls lead to the coining of the phrase “In like Flynn” after he was cleared of all charges.

As his star began to dim in his later years, one particularly young – and I do I mean young – lady caught his eye. 15-year-old wannabe actress Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning) embarked on a clandestine relationship with the much older Flynn, endorsed by Aadland’s fame-obsessed mother Florence (Susan Sarandon) fuelling her own desire for the spotlight. When Hollywood gossip over their underage relationship spread like wildfire,...

A movie about pirates. Based on a theme park ride. Starring the eighth lead from Lord of the Rings and the second fiddle from Bend It Like Beckham. From the director of The Ring remake (which was good) and The Mexican (which was, well, The Mexican.) Yes, expectations were let’s-say-mild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, a film which looked on paper like a high-concept travesty-in-waiting. (The full title was ten words long.)

But there was a wild card in Disney’s deck. When Pirates arrived in July 2003, Johnny Depp was a well-respected actor...