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There's nothing like a good sports movie. Even at their worst, you can expect a rousing, feel-good romp or a fascinating deep dive into the mind of an athletically gifted individual. Hollywood has no shortage of stories in which a last-second shot or touchdown determines a character's fate, and audiences turn up in droves to see heroes like Rocky Balboa or Daniel Larusso overcome their demons and vanquish their opponents to achieve eternal fame and glory.

Still, fact often triumphs over fiction. The only thing better than watching Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) hit the game-winning home run in "The Natural" is seeing Scott Hatteberg (Chris Pratt) do the same in "Moneyball" -- and knowing it actually happened. True-life tales hit harder because they don't rely on fictional elements to deliver crowd-pleasing thrills. One could argue these stories are more powerful because they prove that magic is more than Hollywood hocus-pocus.

Before composer Antonio Sanchez officially came on board to score “The Studio,” the new Hollywood satire show from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the episodes were already using his “Birdman” score as temp music.

So when Sanchez sat down with Rogen and Goldberg, it only took about 15 minutes of chatting before they were sold on working together. “The one thing that ‘Birdman’ brought is the impression that maybe I’m a little bit of a one-trick pony because it was a four-time Oscar winning movie. So people think of me and they just think drums,” Sanchez tells Variety.

Working on “The Studio,” then, became the perfect opportunity for Sanchez to show off more of his range.

Sanchez got started right away on the music for Continental Studio’s films, expanding his soundscape to horns, strings and percussion across all ten episodes. As someone who was brought up as a jazz musician,...

A movie is only as strong as its original soundtrack, so one could consider Final Destination: Bloodlines to be a bodybuilder. Composed by Tim Wynn, every second of the 32-track album features dynamic melodies and tension-building tones that — whether they realize it or not — will inform audiences how to feel from start to finish. Today, Collider is excited to share the first listen from the impending arrival of Final Destination: Bloodlines — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which is set for a digital release courtesy of Lakeshore Records on May 16. In addition to this thrilling reveal, we were also lucky enough to catch up with Wynn, who spilled the tea about all things the Bloodlines soundtrack.

Prior to his work on the sixth installment in the deviously divine horror franchise, Wynn scored features like The Starving Games and Descendant, TV shows including Supernatural, and video games such as Madden NFL 25 and Warhawk.

While I still have some fun classic sci fi stories to address coming up, I wanted to break off and take a look as well as give props to one of the more prolific yet slept-on horror authors to get adaptations. Stephen King is the all-time number 1 but there are others in the 20th century that could at least eat at the same table as him. For the younger generation, that certainly means R.L. Stine has entered the conversation and maybe we will get to an adaptation video about his recent Fear Street collection but the guy I’m thinking of is a little different. Dean Koontz is often derogatorily referred to as a poor man’s Stephen King but he has sold and made millions while having plenty of his works turned into films. While The Funhouse from Tobe Hooper will certainly be discussed at some point as I...

We’ve recently looked at the of Michael Crichton’s best works and it got me thinking about some of the other heavy hitting sci-fi writers. One of the best who also happens to have quite a few adaptations to his name is Philip K. Dick. If you aren’t a big reader, then the titles We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep may not ring a bell, but I’m sure that Total Recall and Blade Runner are right up this audience’s alley. You guys seemed to really enjoy the breakdowns on Jurassic Park, Congo, and Sphere so lets take a look at one of the biggest action movies of 1990 and its source material and unpack Total Recall. No, not the remake. Never the remake for that one. Pull that tracker out of your nostril as we find out what happened to this adaptation.

David Gordon Green’s Halloween grossed $259 million against a meager $10 million budget when it was released in October 2018. If anything in Hollywood talks, it’s money, and suddenly, there was a lot of money sitting untouched in horror’s past. Scream came back to critical and commercial success. Texas Chainsaw Massacre topped the Netflix charts (but severed critics). Hellraiser popped by for a hello, and Candyman reintroduced an entire generation to a genre classic. Legacy horror isn’t a new phenomenon, but it is a curious one, especially given the age of the properties Hollywood looks to resurrect. Olwen Fouéré is fantastic, but she’s not Sally Hardesty. The prequel route solves those problems, and The First Omen shows them how it’s done.

In this era of dredging up the past for new audiences, nothing has done so quite as successfully as Arkasha Stevenson’s The First Omen. While...

The original theme music for Gene Roddenberry's 1966 sci-fi series "Star Trek" was composed by Alexander Courage, a long-time orchestrator who had worked on the scores for the film versions of "Show Boat," "Gigi," and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." He also contributed incidental music to TV shows like "Daniel Boone," "Eight is Enough," "Lost in Space," and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." "Star Trek" is the only main theme that he composed.

In an interview with the Archive of American Television, Courage once noted that his main inspiration for "Star Trek" was a 1930 train-based pop song called "Beyond the Blue Horizon," as written by Richard Whiting and W. Frank Harling. Notably, however, his theme is more 1960s pop opera than croony jazz. The soprano that sang the "Star Trek" melody was named Loulie Jean Norman.

The first four notes of Courage's theme -- E, G, B, C...

The Story: A British military engineer (Val Kilmer) travels to Africa circa 1900 to complete a railroad project that’s been plagued by delays. While there, he’s horrified to discover his native workers are being picked off one by one by a pair of man-eating Lions. Ill-equipped to deal with the almost supernaturally deadly lions, he enlists the aid of a famed American hunter (Michael Douglas) with a tortured past.

The History: If you’ve read William Goldman’s second volume of memoirs, “Which Lie Did I Tell?” you’ll note that the esteemed writer of Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and The Sting is not entirely pleased with the finished version of The Ghost and the Darkness. This was his passion project, basing it on the real Tsavo Man-Eaters, who are on display at the Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He wound up having a lot of grievances against the finished film,...

Fans can relive the magic of Hickory’s underdog basketball team running the picket fence play all over again in Gene Hackman's classic movie Hoosiers. Director David Anspaugh’s must-see sports film remains a favorite among audiences and critics alike, as evidenced by its Rotten Tomatoes scores, and now Hoosiers is finding new life on streaming. On Mar. 12, the Hackman, Dennis Hopper, and Barbara Hershey flick cracked Prime Video's Top 10 Movies in the United States list at No. 9.

Hoosiers was inspired by the real-life Indiana basketball team, which played for Milan High in 1954 and went on to become State Champions. Hackman made a plethora of unforgettable movies over his illustrious career, but this basketball classic will always be remembered as one of the best sports films of all time. The critics’ rave reviews led to Hoosiers registering a "Certified Fresh" 91% on the Tomatometer, while fans’ reactions resulted in it...

The news of Gene Hackman’s passing was an undeniable tragedy.

This was, after all, a man who had contributed so much to the world of cinema through performances that seemed both challenging and extremely comfortable. While he had not performed in a movie since 2004’s “Welcome to Mooseport,” an inglorious final role if there ever was one, there was always the idea that he could come back – would come back – if the character was too good to pass up.

These are 11 performances that immediately sprang to mind when we heard of Hackman’s death. We could make it twice as long – maybe three times as long – without breaking a sweat. The list of sterling performances from the master goes on and on. This is just a sample. Use it as a guide or maybe a starting point. The worlds of Hackman are infinite.

Warner Bros. “Bonnie and Clyde” (1967)

Gene...

The Academy Awards aren’t exactly an objective measure of cinematic quality, but it’s always gratifying to see hard-working artists be rewarded for their output – especially when those artists happen to work in the horror genre. And in honor of Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance being nominated for a whopping five Oscars this year, we’ve decided to look back on the small selection of horror movies that have managed to win Academy Awards.

Of course, the lines separating one genre from another can sometimes be hard to define, so don’t be surprised if we end up disagreeing on what does or doesn’t count as a proper horror picture. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own Oscar-winning favorites if you think we missed a particularly good one.

With that out of the way, onto the list…

14. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Often cited as one...

Given the sad news that Gene Hackman, the most legendary of all actors, has passed away, tributes will (appropriately) be coming in non-stop. After all, he was the greatest of the greats, and the fact that he retired relatively early (back in 2004) adds to his mystique, as he went out at the top of his game. Given his rich legacy of work, everyone will no doubt be offering tributes to his best movies, like Unforgiven, The French Connection, The Royal Tenenbaums, and many more. Here at JoBlo, we’re gonna do something a little different and pay tribute to the star by singling out some of his lesser-seen films, hoping that maybe fans of his find something on this list they haven’t seen before and can enjoy for the first time!

The French Connection II:

While everyone will (rightly) be raving about William Friedkin’s The French Connection and...

Jeremy Strong, star of the HBO hit series Succession and recent first-time Oscar nominee, is set to play a Nazi hunter in a new adaptation of the conspiracy thriller novel The Boys from Brazil, according to a report from Deadline.

The Netflix series will be executive produced by The Crown showrunner Peter Morgan. Strong will play Yakov Liebermann, the lead character loosely based on real-life Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The role was previously portrayed by Laurence Olivier in a 1978 feature adaptation of the novel.

The story chronicles Liebermann's attempts to uncover a secret project launched by notorious Nazi officer Josef Mengele, who was nicknamed "the Angel of Death" due to his sinister experiments during the Holocaust. In the novel, Mengele has successfully planted dozens of genetic clones of Adolf Hitler in an attempt to rebuild the Third Reich.

The project may be intended as a contemporary political commentary. Strong received...

Quick LinksThe Ov-165 Was a Mystery Ship In the Enterprise Opening CreditsAddressing Enterprise's Opening Credits In Picard Was Worth the WaitWhy Picard Season 2 Explained the Ov-165 In Its Story Two Decades Later

This article briefly discusses depression and self-harm. If you're struggling, help is available in the US by dialing 988 or clicking here. The world is better with you in it.

When Star Trekfans need answers to a question, they sometimes just have to be patient. In the opening credits for the 2001 series Star Trek: Enterprise, fans noticed a new fictional spacecraft with the designation Ov-165. Yet no ship of that number existed in real life or in Star Trek history.Over two decades later, Star Trek: Picard revealed some history about the Ov-165 in a touching scene where Jean-Luc meets his ancestor.

In the six decades since Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, there have been many mysteries that have puzzled viewers.

Exclusive: Preston Oliver (Secrets of Sulphur Springs), West Mulholland (Steven Soderbergh’s Presence), Ruby Rose Turner (Descendants: The Rise of Red), and Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight) have wrapped production on Someone Saved My Life, a period drama based on the Bloomington, Indiana childhood of Angelo Pizzo, the multi-hyphenate behind titles like Rudy and Hoosiers.

Set in the 1960s, the film follows junior high schooler Dean (Oliver), who strikes up a friendship with the vibrant yet reckless Roy (Mulholland), in an effort to escape his mother’s (Lefevre) controlling grasp. But when the boys’ friendship threatens Dean’s budding romance with Beth (Turner) and his own well-being, Dean must find his own voice, or risk following Roy down an increasingly dangerous path.

Pizzo directed from his own script. Bradley Gallo and Michael A. Helfant produced for Amasia Entertainment, with Jo Throckmorton and Joseph Stern (Judging Amy) also producing. Pizzo exec produced alongside Michael Leahy, Josh Sathre for Amasia, and Sugar Studios CEO Jijo Reed.

Pizzo is a writer, director and producer who broke out with a pair of classic films penned for director David Anspaugh: 1986’s inspirational high school basketball Hoosiers, which landed Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor Dennis Hopper and Original Score (Jerry Goldsmith), and the Sean Astin-led college football drama Rudy, which brought Goldsmith another nomination and is considered to be among the best sports films ever made. Most recently, Pizzo co-wrote The Hill, another sports drama starring Dennis Quaid, which tells the story of a pastor’s son who pursues his dream of becoming a pro baseball player.

Oliver has appeared in Disney Channel’s Secrets of Sulpher Springs, as well as the series Roswell, New Mexico, This Is Us, and Chicago Fire.

Soon to be seen in Steven Soderbergh’s Presence, Mulholland’s also appeared on shows like Animal Kingdom, Little Fires Everywhere, and Legion.

Turner is best known for turns in Disney+’s Descendants: The Rise of Red and Disney Channel’s Coop and Cami Ask the World.

Meanwhile, Lefevre has been seen in The Twilight Saga, shows like Proven Innocent, and more.

Oliver is repped by Lbi Entertainment, Coast to Coast Talent Group, and Schreck Rose Dapello; Mulholland by Seven Summits Pictures & Management and Osbrink Talent Agency; Turner by Definition Entertainment, CAA, and Skrzyniarz & Mallean; and Lefevre by Gersh, Alternative Agency, Pearl Hanan Management, and Meyer & Downs.

Sir Ridley Scott claims his Bee Gees biopic has been set aside after Paramount Pictures "charged the goalposts".The 87-year-old filmmaker has been attached to the film exploring the life and career of the 'Stayin' Alive' hitmakers, but despite being "scheduled to begin shooting in early 2025", the project has now stalled.Scott told GQ magazine: "The deal — the studio changed the goalposts. I said, ‘You can’t do that.’ They insisted."I said, ‘Well, I’m going to warn you, I will walk, because I will go on to the next movie.’ They didn’t believe me, and I did.”Scott - known for his work on the likes of 'Gladiator', 'Blade Runner', the 'Alien' franchise and more - insisted while he knows he's "expensive", he's worth the money.He added: "I was being asked to go too far. And I said, ‘No. Next!

Sir Ridley Scott thinks ‘Blade Runner’ flopped because of “industrial espionage”.The Harrison Ford-starring sci-fi flick bombed at the box office when it hit cinemas in 1982, and the 87-year-old director has now pointed to bad reviews of the film from the likes of The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael as the main reason why ‘Blade Runner’ never got the chance to commercially succeed.In a roundtable interview for The Hollywood Reporter, Scott said: “It enters the realm of industrial espionage. You’re destroying the subject before it’s out and [Kael] wrote this for the very posh …The New Yorker.“I was actually kind of distressed, I mean enraged, so I wrote to the editor, saying, ‘If you hate me that much, just ignore me, don’t write anything.’ I never got a reply.”While its release didn’t impress financially, ‘Blade Runner’ got a second chance after it...

Ridley Scott is a director that has known what it is like to see his movies fail to impress critics, bomb at the box office and then discover an incredible cult following decades later. One such movie to go through this process was Blade Runner, arguably one of the greatest masterpieces of Scott’s long career, and an extraordinary example of how sometimes the fate of a movie is not in the hands of those who made it.

In a recent roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, Scott recalled how a bad review of Blade Runner by The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael was something he considered to be “industrial espionage,” and how only a chance intervention a decade after the film’s release saw it finally get the recognition it deserved through what Scott dubs “the craziness of Hollywood.” He explained:

“[I said] it enters the realm of industrial espionage. You’re...

Chinatown, the legendary 1974 mystery film, will receive a special 4K Ultra HD release set for January 14th, 2025. Pre-order your copy now.

Directed by Roman Polanski, starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, and written by the late Robert Towne, Chinatown follows a homicide mystery tied within a series of corruption attempts in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in 1937. It was lauded instantly upon its release in 1974, with critics hailing Nicholson’s performance as private investigator J.J. “Jake” Gittes, Dunaway’s performance as the mysterious Evelyn Mulwray, Polanski’s neo-noir direction, Towne’s multi-layered screenplay, and Jerry Goldsmith’s musical score.

Chinatown received 11 Oscar nominations at the 47th Academy Awards in 1975, with Towne winning for Best Original Screenplay. It inspired a bevy of mystery films that followed, like L.A. Confidential, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Inherent Vice.

The release includes a 4K Uhd physical disc as well as a digital code,...

The Oscar shortlists were released on December 17, the results of which are analyzed in Anne Thompson’s overview. Here, we’re covering the crafts of makeup and hairstyling, original score, sound, and visual effects.

“Wicked” was the big winner — appearing on all four lists. This was followed by three-listers “Emilia Pérez”, “Dune: Part Two”, “Gladiator II”, and “Alien: Romulus”.

Scoring two noms were “Nosferatu”, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, “Blitz”, “Deadpool & Wolverine”, and “The Wild Robot”.

The rest of the nominees were broken down by the following:

Muahs: “The Apprentice,” “A Different Man,” “Maria,” “The Substance,” and “Waltzing with Brando.”

Score: “Babygirl,” “Blink Twice,” “The Brutalist,” “Challengers,” “Conclave,” “The Fire Inside,” “Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1,” “Inside Out 2,” “The Room Next Door,” “Sing Sing,” “The Six Triple Eight,” and “Young Woman and the Sea.”

Sound: “A Complete Unknown” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.”

Visual Effects: “Better Man,” “Civil War,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,...

Trying to define what Star Trek is may be one of the most contentious topics in the fandom. After all, Star Trek is many things and has had many fans and contributors, all of whom have their own perspectives on what is essential to Star Trek. In honor of its 45th anniversary, though, I will argue that Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the most quintessentially "Star Trek" of all 13 films.

Themes

There is a lot of Star Trek, and it touches on many different themes and topics. At its core, however, Star Trek is about curiosity and exploration, and the hope that Humanity will one day find ways to face adversity through peaceful compassion, with violence as an absolute last resort.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture not only expresses these themes but makes them central to its plot. The Klingons at the beginning of the film almost immediately resort...

It’s time to cozy up and immerse yourself in the beloved melodies from classic holiday films – including from “Home Alone,” “Elf, “and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” – with “Cinemagic’s Holiday Movie Soundtracks” special. Listen to a festive mix of music and cherished film moments on the Xtra channel Cinemagic on the SiriusXM app.

Cinemagic SpecialClassic Holiday Movie SoundtracksListen on the App

Listen on the App

Related: Check Out 25 Christmas Specials on SiriusXM

Plus, check out 25 Christmas movie soundtracks below. Note: the Cinemagic special and the list below include some different music).

25 Christmas Movie Soundtracks 25. The Polar Express (2004)

Composer: Alan Silvestri

This visually stunning film is accompanied by a soundtrack full of soaring orchestral music and seasonal classics. Alan Silvestri’s score, paired with the unforgettable vocals of Tom Hanks (who voices several characters in the film), creates an atmosphere of wonder and awe, making it a holiday favorite.

24. Love Actually...

With Gladiator II now in theaters (read our review), many folks have been asking themselves that inevitable question – will Ridley Scott be doing a Director’s Cut, and how much footage will he be adding? Suffice it to say, Scott is truly a pioneer in this regard, as before he started adding footage back into his films and releasing director’s cuts, it was pretty rare. Indeed, his director’s cut of Blade Runner began the trend, especially when the radically different cut became a significant hit on home video and helped the film get rediscovered as a classic.

While not all of Ridley Scott’s Director’s Cuts have been necessary (the one for Alien messes with the mythology established by the sequels), some of the new cuts have been revelatory. Here are five great ones:

Kingdom of Heaven

When Kingdom of Heaven hit theatres in 2004, many thought it was paled next to Gladiator,...

Before he made us believe a man could fly and before he made arguably the quintessential '80s buddy cop movie, Richard Donner directed a terrific supernatural horror film that feels like a predecessor of the "Final Destination" franchise: "The Omen." One of the best '70s horror movies, "The Omen" is a movie about an adopted child, Damien, who may be the prophesied antichrist, whose very existence means the coming of the end of the world and utter ruin for humanity. 

Starring Gregory Peck, the original 1976 film was a huge hit despite mixed reviews and even got nominated for two Oscars: Best Original Score and Best Original Song (it won Best Original Score for composer Jerry Goldsmith). 

Interestingly enough, Richard Donner initially didn't want to treat this as a horror movie. Instead, he wanted to leave the supernatural aspects of the story open to interpretation, with the audience unsure...

John Williams is obviously and without question one of the greatest film composers who’s ever lived, but that still feels like something of an understatement. The case could be made that no one in his field — from Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann to Ennio Morricone and Toru Takemitsu — has come remotely close to matching the sheer breadth, diversity, and cultural impact of Williams’ contributions to the cinema. Indeed, Williams’ greatness is so obvious and self-evident that Laurent Bouzereau’s lovingly basic documentary about him only needs to sit back, shut up, and let the music do the talking. After all, what else is there to say about a 92-year-old workaholic who claims that his inspiration comes to him from the sky? How do you interrogate what Steven Spielberg refers to as “the purest form of artistic expression I’ve ever experienced from a human being?”

A richer and more...

There were great cinema composers before John Williams and there will be great composers after him. And yet, through his seven-decade career, he towers over everyone else. His music is not only iconic, but the movies we revere as classics wouldn’t have acquired such legendary status if not for his scores.

“Jaws” without John Williams isn’t “Jaws.” “Star Wars” without John Williams isn’t “Star Wars.” Although he only handles the music, the composer has left such a mark on cinema history that he makes a case as co-author of some of Hollywood’s biggest triumphs.

Director Laurent Bouzerau gives the full spotlight to the composer in the new documentary, “Music by John Williams.” Bouzerau is fully comfortable in his mode as celebrating Williams and his legacy, which is fine. I’m not sure I was looking for someone to “rip the lid off” the subject, and while...

Damien Thorn is the Antichrist, and the trilogy that tells his unholy tale remains popular almost fifty years later. Indeed, while putting together this movie ranked list and revisiting the original Omen franchise, we were surprised at how well the old movies held up. Omen fans will be happy that the series has been restarted in a pretty interesting way earlier this year, with The First Omen a surprisingly excellent prequel to the original trilogy (check out our interviews with the director and cast here), even if it takes one large liberty involving Damien’s birth that some fans may have an issue with. So, how do the Omen films rank against each other? Let’s take a look, but remember that the TV series Damien (which lasted for one season in 2016) is not included, as we’re sticking with feature films.

The Omen (2006)

There’s honestly no reason for this movie to exist.

I remember how hearing Star Trek: Enterprise's theme for the first time was shocking back in 2001. Created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, Enterprise was Star Trek's first prequel series. Set in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Star Trek: The Original Series, Enterprise (its original title minus 'Star Trek') was about the pioneering voyages of Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) of the Nx-01 Enterprise, the first starship to bear that name.

Airing from 2001-2005, Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled after 4 seasons on United Paramount Network (Upn). I was an early adopter of Enterprise, and I watched all 4 seasons on Upn. Enterprise's ratings were low for a variety of reasons, and many Star Trek fans decided to skip the prequel series. In the last decade, thanks to streaming on Netflix and Paramount+, audiences have begun to rediscover and reassess Star Trek: Enterprise. Yet a general...

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek #500!Star Treks lost theme song has now officially joined the canon. It may come as a surprise to fans of the franchise, but the classic Star Treks theme has lyricssort of, thanks to its creator, Gene Roddenberry. These lyrics have been largely forgotten, and for good reason. Yet, in the story I Knew You Were Tribble When You Walked In, appearing in Star Trek #500, they make a darkly hilarious return.

I Knew You Were Tribble When You Walked In, appearing in Star Trek #500, was written by Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum with Leonard Kirk on art duties. Set at the same time as the classic Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles, the story ends right after Scotty transports the creatures aboard the Klingon flagship. Throughout the story, the Tribbble narrator voices lusty thoughts about Kirk, and upon being beamed aboard the Klingon ship,...

If you’re looking for a new movie to watch this holiday weekend, you’re not going to find a blockbuster avalanche in theaters right now. Fortunately, streaming always keeps the hits coming, old and new, and we’ve put together a curated guide of the best movies streaming new on Netflix this month.

Whether you’re in the mood for an underrated 90s action-thriller or a brand-new take on exorcism horror from “Precious” filmmaker Lee Daniels, here are the best new movies on Netflix in August.

“The River Wild” (Universal) “The River Wild”

An undersung 90s adventure-thriller — an era when Hollywood valued and respected that genre, and sure as heck knew how to make them pulse-pounding. Oh, and it stars the great Meryl Streep, who spends much of the film fighting for her life while strapped into a boat, navigating also life-or-death white water rafting. A couple (Streep and...

The Story: On Io, Jupiter’s moon, miners have begun randomly committing suicide in gruesome ways. This is chalked out to their grueling working conditions, but the outpost’s new marshal, William O’Niel (Sean Connery) becomes convinced something else is afoot. Soon, he discovers the deadly truth, that the miners are being given stimulants with the nasty side effect that they cause psychosis. His pursuit of the truth lands him on the hit list of the outpost’s general director, Sheppard (Peter Boyle), who hires professional hit men to deal with the pesky marshal. Knowing that skilled gunmen are on the way, and without anyone to turn to, O’Niel waits to face the men alone.

The Players: Starring: Sean Connery, Peter Boyle, and Frances Sternhagen. Music by Jerry Goldsmith. Directed by Peter Hyams.

I wanted to do a Western. Everybody said, ‘You can’t do a Western; Westerns are...

Xenomorph in 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Alien: Romulus is the number one movie this weekend and estimates have it at $41.5M, the second highest opening ever in the 45-year old franchise, and a global take of $108.2 million (Deadline).

Audiences have been frightened, compelled, and thoroughly scared out of their wits.

“My ambition is for the generation who saw the original movie to love this film and for those who have never seen an ‘Alien’ movie to be introduced to this incredible universe through our film,” says director/co-screenwriter/executive producer Fede Alvarez. “With any horror movie, you want the people to be terrified and have an experience that leaves them breathless.”

With Alvarez’s attention to detail, along with the iconic eggs and facehuggers, the chestburster glistening in slime and goo and the terrifying Xenomorphs, is...

The 1995 medieval epic First Knight, often considered one of the most underrated adaptations of the King Arthur legend, will be leaving Netflix on August 31. Despite its star-studded cast and grandiose production, the movie has frequently been overshadowed by other more fantastical or historically gritty retellings of the Arthurian legend.

Directed by Jerry Zucker, the film offers a romantic and action-packed take on the classic Arthurian tale, focusing on the love triangle between King Arthur, Lady Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. First Knight features a powerhouse cast with Sean Connery as the noble and aging King Arthur, Richard Gere as the charismatic Lancelot, and Julia Ormond as the conflicted Lady Guinevere.

Related Charlie Hunnam Blames Miscasting For King Arthur's Failure, Wants a Do-Over

Actor Charlie Hunnam has expressed his desire to redo King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, believing the movie was negatively impacted by 'miscasting.'

The film deviates from the...

Horror enthusiasts have just a few weeks left to catch the 2006 remake of The Omen on Hulu before it exits the streaming platform on August 31. While the remake aimed to modernize the originals unsettling narrative, it ultimately garnered a mixed reception, leaving fans divided over its merits.

This supernatural horror film, directed by John Moore and written by David Seltzer, revisits the chilling story first brought to the screen in the 1976 classic of the same name. The Omen (2006) is the fifth installment in the Omen series, but rather than continuing the story, it reimagines the plot of the original film.

Related How The First Omen Connects to the Original Trilogy

Although The First Omen pushes the franchise in a new direction, it shares several connections with the original Omen trilogy.

The remake stars Liev Schreiber as Robert Thorn, an American diplomat who unknowingly adopts the Antichrist, Damien, after his wife Katherine,...

This article contains spoilers aplenty for Alien: Romulus and the whole franchise.

“I admire its purity,” a robot says during an infamous scene in Alien. Ian Holm’s synthetic science officer is of course referring to the “organism” (or “xenomorph” as Aliens later defines it). However, this line of dialogue has gone on to be cherished by science fiction fans all over the world as a metaphor for the original, sleek, and mysterious 1979 movie that started it all.

It would seem director Fede Alvarez and his Alien: Romulus co-writer Rodo Sayagues would agree. Their new seventh entry in the mainline Alien franchise is a love letter to nearly everything that came before. That is definitely seems to be the case with the many callbacks, homages, and easter eggs to the original Ridley Scott film. However, Alien: Romulus also includes nods, winks, and allusions to every other proper film in the series…...

“Alien: Romulus” is here.

The latest installment in the franchise that began with Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece and has now encompassed spin-offs, prequels and sequels, stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Isabela Merced, as a group of young people who are looking to get off their backwater planet by any means necessary. Of course, their scheme to find a better life results in them discovering something much, much worse.

But when does the film take place in the franchise’s increasingly knotty timeline? Read on to find out everything you need to know about the “Alien: Romulus” timeline but, beware of spoilers and, you know, terrifying space beasts with acid for blood.

When is “Alien: Romulus” set?

“Alien: Romulus” is set between the first “Alien” (which took place in 2122) and “Aliens (which took place in 2183). A lot happened in between those two movies, including the company’s rebranding to Weyland-Yutani...

To celebrate the hugely anticipated release of Alien: Romulus, the new entry into the horror/sci-fi franchise, we had the pleasure of sitting down with some of its cast and co-writer/director to find out why in space no one can hear you scream. Again.

Space colonizers come face-to-face with the most terrifying life-form in the universe while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station.

Chatting to Archie Renaux (Tyler) and Spike Fern (Bjorn), we chat about the impact and importance of having a physical set to act against and the minimum amount of CGI, why people are still lured to the franchise, how the film sits amongst the plethora of other films, why the series has lasted for so long and who they’d love to see go up against an alien in the future including some acting royalty…

Next, we chat to director Fede Álvarez about...

The score for “Alien: Romulus” is coming to digital platforms, to be followed by a physical release in November.

Composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, the music for the Fede Álvarez film — which takes place between the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 “Alien” and James Cameron’s 1986 “Aliens” — arrives digitally on August 16. Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated Wallfisch drew upon the well-known scores for those two films from Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, as well as Marc Streitenfeld’s music for Scott’s 2012 prequel “Prometheus.”

The digital release includes 20 cues. The vinyl edition, to be released by Mutant on November 15, features alternate artwork and six bonus tracks. It’s available for pre-order Friday, August 16. Check out the cover art below:

After composing the scores for “Annabelle: Creation,” “Blade Runner 2049” and “Twisters” just this year, Wallfisch has established a pedigree for absorbing themes from famous films series and lovingly reimagining them for new chapters.

One of the most vibrant and snappy scores this Emmy season is for Apple TV+’s Kristen Wiig comedy series Palm Royale, a complete homage to the Henry Mancini-Latin jazz-infused 1960s swinging era soundtracks (which by the way this series is set in). The most immediate reference that comes to mind is Mancini’s toe-tapping score for the 1963 Audrey Hepburn movie Charade.

‘Palm Royale’

It just so happens that Palm Royale composer Jeff Toyne has a Mancini connection — which he talks about here on today’s Crew Call.

The Canadian composer and USC film music grad grew up being schooled by the great Oscar winner Jerry Goldsmith, which we also chat about here.

Toyne’s career has spanned 25 years as a composer on such indie pics like Life on the Line with John Travolta and Sharon Stone, and Dirty Girl with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich and William H. Macy,...

Yesterday, we featured Psycho II director Richard Franklin’s 1986 killer ape movie Link (watch it Here) as one of our picks for the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw – and when we started putting that video together, we had no idea that there was some cool Link news right around the corner: Kino Lorber has announced that they will be giving the film a 4K release on September 10th, and pre-orders are available at This Link!

Starring Elisabeth Shue (The Karate Kid) and Terence Stamp (The Limey), Link has the following synopsis: Young graduate student Jane Chase (Shue) becomes the new assistant to an eccentric zoology professor (Stamp) at the remote home he shares with two brilliant chimpanzees and an elderly orangutan butler named Link. But when one of the chimps is found dead and the professor mysteriously disappears, Link becomes dangerously aggressive towards Jane. Now, the time for “monkey...

Douglass Fake, founder of leading movie soundtrack label Intrada and producer of more than 700 albums of movie and TV music, died Saturday at a Richmond, Calif., hospital after a long illness. He was 72.

Fake’s many credits include the first complete restoration of Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Waterfront,” a lavish 5-cd release of Elmer Bernstein’s “The Ten Commandments” and the debut of several Henry Mancini scores including “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” previously only available in abridged pop recordings.

Among the label’s best sellers were expansions of previously incomplete recordings of such classics as John Williams’ “Jaws,” Alan Silvestri’s “Back to the Future” and Jerry Goldsmith’s “Alien.” Fake also supervised the re-recording of a dozen albums of classic film music including Bernard Herrmann’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and Miklos Rozsa’s “Ivanhoe,” “Spellbound” and “Julius Caesar.”

A longtime film-music fan, Fake launched Intrada Records...

Even if you have never seen “Chinatown” you are probably familiar with the celebrated final line “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.” But did you know that the line almost didn’t make it to the screen?

Set in a drought-ridden 1937 Los Angeles, “Chinatown” stars Jack Nicholson as a J.J. Gittes, a former-cop-turned private-detective with a lot of demons, who works as a successful private eye specializing in a divorce cases. One day, a woman (Diane Ladd) shows up in his office proclaiming she’s Evelyn Mulwray and wants to hire him because she suspects that her husband, the Los Angeles Water Commissioner, is having an affair. When he’s murdered, Gittes finds himself embroiled in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving control of L.A.’s water lead by John Huston’s ruthless businessman Noah Cross, who happens to be Evelyn’s father. Entering the picture is the real Evelyn...

With Chinatown, Roman Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne fashioned a multifaceted morality play that spoke both to a specific (and enduring) history of violence and corruption in the City of Angels and to the disenchanted orphans of the Summer of Love. If the final line of the film has come to be recognized as one of the greatest in cinematic history, it’s because few others so succinctly addressed the tenor of their times—in this case, the downbeat, miasma-like mood exuded by 1970s New Hollywood cinema, a world-weary shrug of resignation.

Despite the film’s forgivably literal ending, Chinatown here is less destination than state of mind. It’s a place where the customs are alien, motivations always suspect, and the only thing you can depend on is that no good deed will go unpunished. A case in point is a key exchange between socialite Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) and private eye J.

In a Variety profile of legendary composer John Williams earlier this year, director Steven Spielberg singled out a reason why the musician's work seems to stand out among his contemporaries.

"Every score he's ever composed, and even the ones that might have the most complicated orchestrations, he always has a beautiful main theme," Spielberg said. "And I don't hear themes being written for movies as much as they used to be by Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann. Film composition isn't a lost art, but thematic scoring is becoming more and more a lost art. And the great thing about Johnny is, he's still got it."

Of course, to say Williams has "still got it" is something of an understatement. The prolific composer is synonymous with the type of sweeping, powerful, emotional music that helped to define blockbuster filmmaking. A crucial part of why those scores clicked with audiences,...

“As a huge Trekkie myself, I am always tempted to use the theme, to install all these little Easter eggs,” reveals “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” composer Nami Melumad. about the most exciting parts of the show’s score; the orchestral melodies that duck and dive between robust action drama and beloved old-school flourishes like the instantly recognizable original series theme. For our recent webchat she adds, “I think for all composers who work on ‘Trek’ you have to be very aware of when you’re choosing to use the ‘Star Trek’ theme. You want to bring it when it’s earned, otherwise, if you just continue to use it all the time, it loses its effectiveness. It’s like the icing on the cake, it’s like something we’re all always so looking forward to.” We talked with Melumad as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the...

Like many children of the 80s, I have a soft spot for the 1985 adventure epic Ladyhawke. It’s directed by the great Richard Donner, with it coming just before The Goonies and Lethal Weapon, but after his time with the Superman franchise. Lavishly produced, it wasn’t a hit in 1985 despite having a top-notch cast that included the late Rutger Hauer (in a rare heroic role), Michelle Pfeiffer, and Matthew Broderick. While some might say the latter was rather improbably cast as an Italian thief in the Middle Ages, that’s not actually the weirdest thing about the movie.

Donner has a reputation for always choosing superb composers for his films. Just think about how iconic Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton’s work is for Lethal Weapon, John Williams’s Superman theme, Jerry Goldsmith’s work on The Omen, and Dave Grusin’s score for The Goonies. Yet, one score...

William Shatner directed The Final Frontier due to contract clause and Jerry Goldsmith returned to score. Spock kills "God," which was a controversial plot point and seen as a low point for Star Trek movies. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy didn't actually meet "God" on Sha Ka Ree, per Roddenberry's vision.

There are three notable things about Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the fifth movie starring the cast from Star Trek: The Original Series. The first is that James T. Kirk actor, William Shatner, directed the feature as part of his "favored nations" clause in his contract. The second is that legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith returned to score the film for the first time since Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The third is that Spock kills "God." Yet, in The Final Frontier, does Kirk and company actually meet the real God on the planet Sha Ka Ree?

Of course, there...

Photo: Todd Williamson

An all-new action-adventure spectacle, 20th Century Studios’ “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” is directed by Wes Ball and stars Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy. The film is written by Josh Friedman, based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, and the producers are Wes Ball, Joe Hartwick, Jr., p.g.a., Rick Jaffa, p.g.a., Amanda Silver, p.g.a., Jason Reed, p.g.a., with Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping serving as executive producers.

Wes Ball breathes new life into the global epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously, and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question...

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in theaters with an impressive box-office opening which all but guarantees we haven’t seen the last of those damn dirty apes. It remains to be seen how many more sequels we’ll get, but Planet of the Apes franchise producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who also wrote Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, told THR that they originally envisioned a nine movie arc for the modern franchise.

“When you first came up with this idea, the Apes franchise way back, you saw nine movies,” Silver said. “We thought, ‘This is crazy ambitious.’ But here we are. We’re at four.“

“I saw nine. I don’t know if we’ll make it to nine. I would love it,” Jaffa replied. “We’ve spoken to not just [director Wes Ball, writer...

[Editor’s note: Spoilers for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” below.]

Wes Ball had two things going for him in directing “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”: His love of the original franchise, which he first watched on TV as a kid in the ’80s, and his admiration for “Avatar,” whose virtual production and performance capture prowess he leveraged with the help of Wētā FX.

“Something I’ve always wanted to do is go play in that ‘Avatar’ style and do it here, where there is no camera, there’s no lights, there’s no set really,” Ball told IndieWire. “And you have to create that in the computer with really talented artists. And I had a great time doing it.”

Ball got a taste of the tech working with Wētā on the shuttered “Mouse Guard” adaptation of David Petersen’s graphic novel (a casualty of the Disney/Fox merger). “That...