Noticias

Frances Doel, neé Frances Margaret Doel, writer-producer-executive known for her work with indie film legend Roger Corman, died May 26 after a long illness. She was 83.

Born April 15, 1942 in London, Doel was the daughter of Iris Doel and Sgt. Francis Doel, a Royal Armoured Corps soldier killed in action in France during World War II. Doel found Corman’s job posting for an assistant on a jobs board at Oxford University as a graduating scholarship student of St. Hilda’s College.

A devoted daughter, loving sister, animal lover, and deeply caring friend, Doel died on May 26th after a long illness. She was born on April 15, 1942 in London to Iris Doel and Sgt. Francis Doel of the Royal Armoured Corps, who was killed in action in France during WW2. As a graduating scholarship student of St. Hilda’s College at Oxford University in the U.K., Doel found Corman’s job...

Quentin Tarantino, who is this year’s guest of honor at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cannes Classics section, shared his passion for George Sherman — the prolific U.S. director of low-budget Westerns and other genre films — on Wednesday with a packed screening of two of his Universal Pictures movies.

“Well, I want to thank the Cannes Film Festival for setting up a double feature of George Sherman westerns and having a sold-out audience, pretty much standing room only,” Tarantino said when he took to the Salle Bunuel stage after being introduced by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux. “This does my heart very, very good.”

The double bill comprised Sherman’s “Red Canyon,” from 1949, and “Comanche Territory” from 1950.

After “Red Canyon” screened, Tarantino delved into details of Sherman’s career and pointed out that when he was first hired by Universal, the studio had not realized just how fast he was at making films.

“The Night of the Hunter” (1955) stands as a singular achievement in the history of cinema, its haunting atmosphere, innovative visual storytelling, and unsettling themes still resonate with audiences today. Directed by the veteran actor Charles Laughton in his only feature as a filmmaker, this film remains one of the most influential works in American cinema. Though it was not widely appreciated upon its initial release, it has since become a cult classic, recognized for its daring exploration of good and evil, its unforgettable characters, and its visionary approach to filmmaking.

At the heart of “The Night of the Hunter” is a battle between innocence and malevolence, portrayed through the stark contrast of Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) and two children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce). Powell, a charismatic but deeply sinister preacher, marries a widow, Willa Harper (Shelley Winters), in an effort to discover the whereabouts of...

Did Mikey Madison win an Oscar for portraying a prostitute in Anora? (Photo Credit – AnoraFilm Instagram)

The 2025 Academy Awards came and went in a whirlwind, forging legacies for a slew of talents, though it’s the newcomers who galvanize the most intrigue with their ties to the golden statuette. Amid the night’s fervor, one victory stood out — a triumph that spotlights both a fresh face and a storied trope.

Mikey Madison, the 25-year-old dynamo from Anora, seized her first Oscar for Best Actress, outpacing The Substance’s Demi Moore in a twist few had prognosticated. The win, flanked by Anora’s haul of Best Picture, Director, and more, incentivized a floodlight on her nascent Hollywood path.

Maddison’s raw and unapologetic portrayal of the titular sex worker elucidated a character far from cliché, cementing her ascent with a cataclysmic bang. That win didn’t transpire without etching new stats...

In hindsight, the American cinema of the 1970s has two major legacies attached to it. On the one hand, there's the American New Wave aka the New Hollywood movement, in which "Five Easy Pieces," "Klute," "The French Connection," and other films like them eschewed the mainstream studio filmmaking formula in favor of telling stories that were creatively daring and heartfelt. On the other, there's the dawn of the blockbuster, a trend that continues to this day and whose beginning is most often attributed to Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" from 1975. But while "Jaws" gets the lion's share of the credit for birthing the blockbuster, a good dollop of credit must also go to the other populist trend in American cinema during the decade: the disaster movie.

The disaster film had been around before the '70s in one form or another, but it's the version that was popularized during that decade...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.News Peter Pan.Disney will no longer include content warnings before classic films that feature racial stereotypes on its streaming service Disney+ as part of a shift in Dei strategy following President Trump’s second inauguration. In 2020, the company began appending an introductory text to movies like Dumbo (1941) and Peter Pan (1953) cautioning viewers of “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures,” insisting that “these stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.” Now, a disclaimer stating that a film “may contain stereotypes or negative depictions” will be buried in its “details section.”Shiori Ito has pledged to reedit sections of her film, Black Box Diaries (2024), which chronicles her own sexual assault case, to remove unauthorized content.

On a recent ranking of the seven main characters on "Gilligan's Island," /Film ranked Mary Ann at only #5. This is not to say that she was an insignificant character, though. Indeed, all seven of the characters on "Gilligan's Island" were invaluable members of the ensemble, and removing any one of them would irreparably damage the established comedic dynamic. Mary Ann ranked low merely because she was given so few stories of her own. Her function, however, was key. Mary Ann was something of an innocent character, and her happiness was a sign that all was well on the island. You knew things were bad when Mary Ann became upset. 

Also, actress Dawn Wells embodied the character perfectly. Indeed, the characters on "Gilligan's Island" have become comedic archetypes for the ages, so deeply ingrained in the American subconscious that they are practically Jungian. It would be hard to imagine "Gilligan's Island...

Back in 1977, Shelley Winters, Max von Sydow, Renato Pozzetto, and Alberto Lionello starred in a dark comedy called Black Journal (or Gran Bollito), which was directed by Mauro Bolognini and was loosely based on the true crime case of serial killer Leonarda Cianciulli. Now, Variety reports that Trouble Every Day director Claire Denis is in talks to direct a remake of that film, titled The Soap Maker.

The approach being taken this time around is to make this a cannibalistic elevated real crime drama in the vein of The Silence of the Lambs, Seven, and Get Out, “with a decidedly dark tone and a psychological thriller feel.” So we’re not getting a dark comedy from Denis. Variety notes that the producers hold the rights not only to the Black Journal screenplay but also to “a diary that Leonarda Cianciulli allegedly wrote in the psychiatric prison were she spent the...

French filmmaker Claire Denis (High Life) made waves in 2001 with the erotic cannibal thriller Trouble Every Day. Now, the auteur is in talks to venture back into cannibal territory to helm crime drama The Soap Maker, Variety reports today.

The English-language film is a remake of the 1977 dark comedy Gran Bollito (Black Journal) by director Mauro Bolognini. The cult film starred Shelley Winters as “a serial killer who cooked the bodies of her victims into soap, cake and cookies.”

What’s even more intriguing is that both The Soap Maker and Gran Bollito are based on the infamous true account of Italy’s Leonarda Cianciulli, a serial killer who emerged in the late ’30s and disposed of her victims’ bodies by incorporating them into baked treats, soaps, and candles. Producers of The Soap Maker have access to Cianciulli’s diary, which was allegedly written in the psychiatric prison where she...

Revered French auteur Claire Denis is in advanced talks to direct cannibalistic crime drama “The Soap Maker.”

The project, being shopped around at Berlin’s EFM, is an updated remake of Italian director Mauro Bolognini’s 1977 cult movie “Gran Bollito,” which starred Shelley Winters as a serial killer who cooked the bodies of her victims into soap, cake and cookies.

The English-language film is inspired by the true story of Italy’s Leonarda Cianciulli, who in the late 1930s and early ’40s murdered three local women in the central Italian town of Correggio and disposed of their bodies with chemicals — using what was left to make soaps, candles, cookies and cakes that she shared with people in her community.

“The Soap Maker,” which is lead-produced by the Los Angeles- and New York-based Gerry Pass via his Chrome Entertainment shingle, is being packaged by CAA and has been pitched to prospective buyers at the EFM.

A cause of death has been revealed for Leslie Charleson, who played cardiologist Monica Quartermaine on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital for nearly 50 years. Charleson died of sequelae of blunt head trauma, a consequence of a previous head injury she had suffered, according to documents obtained by TMZ.

Charleson died January 12 at a hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 79.

The four-time Daytime Emmy nominee joined Gh in 1977 to replace Patsy Rahn as Monica and played the beloved character for the next 46 years. She exited the show because of health issues and was last seen on the ABC soap in December 2023.

Charleson began her television career appearing in soaps A Flame in the Wind and As the World Turns. She guest-starred in numerous television series including most recently Friends; Dharma and Greg; as well as 1970s series Adam-12; Emergency!; Ironside; Mannix; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Happy Days; Cannon; The Streets of San Francisco...

The Delta Force and Delta Force 2, starring Chuck Norris, are getting fresh UK Blu-ray releases. You can read more on them here.

The era of straight to video action films hasn’t been entirely replicated by the streaming world, and the era of modestly-costed action films going to cinema? Well, most of them don’t see the inside of a multiplex.

In the case of The Delta Force, the first film made it to cinemas, but the second went straight to video in the UK. Still, it’s a pair of Chuck Norris headlined action pictures that weren’t short of fans.

The first one, from director Menahem Golan and his once-prominent Cannon empire, also had Lee Marvin, Robert Forster, Robert Vaughn and Shelley Winters in its ensemble. The first sequel, Delta Force 2: The Columbian Connection only carried across Chuck Norris from that cast list, with Aaron Norris stepping behind the camera.

The great state of Georgia has been home to an impressive number of film productions, including a number of Marvel Studios movies, but only a very small percentage of those are actually set in Georgia. Instead, the Atlanta streets frequently play the role of New York or Washington D.C., and its wild spaces can be used to represent just about anywhere. 

But what about those movies that actually take place in the beautiful, complicated Peach State? Films as diverse and wonderful as "Magic Mike Xxl" and "Days of Thunder" all have great stretches set in Georgia, but some films go even further and really represent a little slice of the state with most of their runtime. Whether it's Clint Eastwood's genteel Savannah true crime murder mystery "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," having an aca-awesome time with college acapella performers in Atlanta in "Pitch Perfect," or...

Turner Classic Movies honors civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy all day on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday January 20) with 24 hours’ worth of films dealing with racism and the fight for racial justice. Here’s a breakdown of TCM’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day schedule and what to expect in these powerful stories. Turner Classic Movies Martin Luther King Jr. Day Marathon 2025 Schedule Kicking things off is 1965’s A Patch of Blue, starring Sidney Poitier and Shelley Winters (who won an Oscar for her role as Rose-Ann D’Arcey), about a Black man who befriends a blind white girl. The Learning Tree centers on a poor Black 14-year-old in Kansas learning about love and racial injustice and stars Kyle Johnson. At 10am/9c, the Oscar-nominated Sounder (1972), starring Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson, chronicles the life of the eldest son of a hardworking family of sharecroppers in the Depression-era South.

Mark your calendars, Oscars fans, because the 97th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 2, 2025 on ABC. The annual star-studded ceremony will honor movies released in theaters within the 2024 calendar year of eligibility. AMPAS members will vote on the Oscar winners in 23 categories, including Best Supporting Actress. But who will win? Here at Gold Derby, thousands of users have been making and updating their 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Supporting Actress, so let’s take a look at all of the top contenders in our photo gallery below.

These 25 Best Supporting Actress hopefuls are listed in order of their racetrack odds, which are derived from the combined forecasts of four unique groups: experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, editors who cover awards year-round for this website, top 24 users who had the best accuracy scores last year, and the mass of users who make up our biggest predictions bloc.

The...

A French filmmaker best known to horror fans for directing the first sequel to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws back in 1978, Jeannot Szwarc has passed away at the age of 85 this week.

Jane Seymour, who starred alongside the late Christopher Reeve in Szwarc’s 1980 film Somewhere in Time, writes on Facebook: “Today, we say goodbye to a true visionary. Jeannot Szwarc was not just a brilliant director but a kind and generous soul. He gifted us many timeless stories, including Somewhere in Time, a film that changed my life forever.

“May his memory be a blessing, and may his artistry live on in our hearts.”

Jeannot Szwarc got his start in Hollywood directing for multiple television shows throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s including “Ironside,” “It Takes a Thief,” “Paris 7000,” “The Virginian,” “Longstreet” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.” He made his feature debut with the 1972 TV movie Night of Terror,...

Gh Leslie Charleson Dead At 79

General Hospital spoilers and updates report Leslie Charleson, who played the iconic Monica Quartermaine since 1977 passed away after a long illness at 79. Gh Executive Producer Frank Valentini made the announcement Sunday, January 12.

General Hospital Spoilers: Valentini’s Announcement

Frank Valentini announced: “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson”. “Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on ‘General Hospital’ alone”. “And, just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew.”

“I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set. On behalf of everyone at ‘General Hospital,’ my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”

Gh Spoilers: Leslie Had Been Ill For Some Time

The cherished actress, who became part of the soap in...

Leslie Charleson, who played Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital for nearly 50 years, has died. She was 79.

Charleson’s death was announced Sunday on the Instagram account of the ABC daytime drama series. The announcement was attributed to General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” Valentini’s statement read. “Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on General Hospital alone and, just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew. I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set. On behalf of everyone at General Hospital, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”

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A post shared by General Hospital (@generalhospitalabc)

A cause of death was not given,...

Soap Opera icon Leslie Charleson, who for decades played Monica Quartermaine on “General Hospital,” died Sunday morning after a long illness. She was 79.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” “General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini announced. “Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on ‘General Hospital’ alone and, just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew. I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set. On behalf of everyone at ‘General Hospital,’ my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”

The beloved actress, who joined the soap in 1977, has had some health ups and downs over the past few years, which has limited her time on the ABC soap, on which she hadn’t appeared since December 2023. In recent years,...

Anthony Mann came to prominence in the 1940s as a maker of some of the bleakest, most socially acidic noirs from the genre’s heyday. In films like Raw Deal and T-Men, he forged a style that balanced ornate compositions with docudrama immediacy, making his work feel at once raw and epic. But the filmmaker would go on surpass himself when he began to make westerns. Fortuitously paired with James Stewart, who was entering into middle age and willing to push beyond his squeaky-clean image, Mann opened a new chapter of his career with Winchester ’73, the first of a number of golden-age westerns that presented a vision of frontier morality so caustic that only a handful of the so-called revisionist westerns to emerge in the ’60s and beyond could match their frank social critique.

As the opening text explains, the film’s title is a dedication to the Winchester Model...

In Cult Of Criterion, The A.V. Club highlights a new release from The Criterion Collection each month, examining the films entering an increasingly accessible film canon.

Winchester '73, the 1950 Western that helped hone Jimmy Stewart’s post-war edge, can be summed up by a quote from its female lead, Shelley Winters.

Throughout the 1970s, audiences couldn’t get enough of disaster movies. The decade began with the all-star blockbuster bomb-on-a-plane thrill ride Airport, based on Arthur Hailey’s best-seller. Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Maureen Stapleton, Van Heflin, Jean Seberg, and Jacqueline Bisset headlined Airport, which became the second-biggest box-office hit of the year and earned nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and winning Best Supporting Actress for Hayes. Airport also established the template for subsequent movies: trapping all-star casts on a plane, a ship, or a high-rise.

SEEFred Astaire movies: 20 greatest films ranked worst to best

Producer-director-writer Irwin Allen took disaster movies to the next level — so much so he was dubbed “The Master of Disaster.” Allen, who enjoyed great success on the small screen in the 1960s with the series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, and Lost in Space, brought his disaster savvy to the...

Every holiday season, we give thanks for Rankin/Bass, the team behind Christmas TV specials “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.” The production company formed by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass gave us both iconic stop-motion and traditional animated tales, becoming a pop culture touchstone for generations of kids.

Not all the specials, especially some of the lesser-known entries, are streaming this Christmas. But several are available to rent alone, and many more are being shown as part of Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas.” Here’s where you can revisit these childhood favorites:

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Credit: Rankin/Bass)

The first and most beloved Rankin/Bass special is chock full of terrific songs, including “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “We’re a Couple of Misfits,” and the cutest misfits of all time, including red-nosed Rudolph, and Hermey the elf,...

Quick Links What is The Night of the Hunter About? The Night of the Hunter's Strange Reception The Night of the Hunter Is the Only Film Charles Laughton Ever Directed

Thriller movies are a wide and varied genre that can range from single-location chamber pieces all the way to sprawling decade-long epics, but there is one aspect present in every single one. The goal of the thriller is to get the audience on the edge of their seat, uneasy and anxious. While cinematic standards have changed drastically over the past century, that one fact has remained true. Whether it's through classic film noir stylings or a more distinctly modern flair, the thriller genre pumps out gems every single decade.

One specific, highly controversial hidden gem comes from 1955. From the studio that eventually brought iconic thrillers like Carrie, The Long Goodbye, and Thief came The Night of the Hunter. While the...

Alvin Rakoff, the veteran Canadian filmmaker best known for pics like the 1982 feature A Voyage Round My Father starring Laurence Olivier, died in Chiswick, London, October 12 surrounded by his family. He was 97.

Rakoff’s former personal agent confirmed the news with Deadline this morning.

Born on on February 6, 1927, in Toronto Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.

As Rakoff once recalled: “I trained at the BBC as a director-producer.

Alvin Rakoff, the Canadian director who made films including Say Hello To Yesterday and who helped launch the careers of Sean Connery and Alan Rickman, has died at the age of 97.

Rakoff died on October 12, “peacefully…surrounded by his loving family in the same, beautiful old house in Chiswick he had bought back in 1971”, according to Nick Pourgourides, a long-time representative of the filmmaker.

Rakoff directed 11 feature films across a near 70-year career, including 1969 crime film Crossplot starring Roger Moore and Claudie Lange; 1970 drama Hoffman led by Peter Sellers; and 1971 romantic comedy Say Hello To Yesterday starring Jean Simmons.

He...

It’s the summer of “Blaxploitation, Baby!,” the latest festival hosted by Film Forum.

The indie theater announced the upcoming festival which will take place August 16 through August 22. The program celebrates the early ‘70s genre of Black cinema, and features films wth iconic movie stars Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Ron O’Neal, Tamara Dobson, Jim Brown, Vonetta McGee, Fred Williamson, Isaac Hayes, and more.

“Blaxploitation, Baby!” is dedicated to author and pioneering film historian Donald Bogle, who collaborated on Film Forum’s first Blaxploitation festival in 1995. Bogle credited Melvin Van Peebles’ filmography for helping to establish the genre. “Blaxploitation, Baby!” additionally ranges from works from directors such as Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and Gordon Parks Jr.

As well as the screenings, the festival will include the sales of critic and historian Odie Henderson’s “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation” and Donald Bogle’s acclaimed TCM book “Hollywood Black” at concessions.

The past several years haven’t been too great for Martin Short’s celebrity-interviewing alter-ego Jiminy Glick. After popping up in the canceled variety series Maya & Marty, Jiminy arguably hit an all-time low when he interviewed “Donald Trump,” as played by Jimmy Fallon, on The Tonight Show.

Play

But the Glick character rebounded in a big way this week, first with a lukewarm roast of Bill Maher, followed by an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where the portly character hilariously questioned Bill Hader about the death of Willie Mays and life at Diddy’s pool house.

According to Short, he didn’t originally create Glick to parody bad journalists, but rather, to satirize “morons with power.” And to further immerse himself in the character, he donned an understandably controversial fat suit, inspired by a scene in the 1991 comedy Pure Luck, in which his character gets stung by a bee and swells up.

The physical media distributor Shout Factory has been announcing quite a bit of cool new 4K releases lately. Most recently, we reported on the all-new 4K Uhd Blu-ray box set on the Bill & Ted Trilogy that includes Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey and Bill & Ted Face the Music. Blu-ray.com also revealed additional titles coming from the label. This August will see the 4K special releases of the Cannon Film classic The Delta Force, starring Chuck Norris, and a steelbook edition of the 1996 film from director Rob Cohen that features Sean Connery as a talking dragon, Dragonheart. .

The synopsis on the Delta Force 4K Blu-ray reads,

“Political extremists have taken innocent people hostage…and only super-soldiers Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin can rescue them in this “astounding mix of fact, fantasy and heavy-duty adventure” (Variety). Co-starring Martin Balsam and Shelley Winters, The Delta...

The world recently said farewell to Roger Corman, the legendary B-movie producer, writer, director, and performer who passed away at the well-lived age of 98. Corman completely revolutionized the film industry, not only with his independent spirit and penchant for low-budget fare, but also serving as a launchpad for some of cinema's greatest creatives, including Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Jack Nicholson, and Penelope Spheeris, and that's just scratching the surface.

Known by many for his hundreds of produced films, Corman was also a well-decorated director in his own right, helming 55 films before his death. Corman dabbled in any and all genres, with comedy, drama, horror, exploitation, monster, sci-fi, sexploitation, gothic, and action all well-represented throughout his filmography. In honor of the King of B-movies and one of the most prolific filmmakers of all time, here are his 10 best films as a director, ranked.

Roger Corman, the fabled “King of the B’s” producer and director who churned out low-budget genre films with breakneck speed and provided career boosts to young, untested talents like Jack Nicholson, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, Gale Anne Hurd and James Cameron, has died. He was 98.

The filmmaker, who received an honorary Oscar in 2009 at the Governors Awards, died Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, his family told The Hollywood Reporter.

“He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him,” they said in a statement. “When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just that.’”

Corman perhaps is best known for such horror fare as The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and his series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations starring Vincent Price, but he became celebrated for drugs-and-biker sagas like The Wild Angels...

On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: After Dark but Make It for Gays of a Certain Age

When I was pressed into service for IndieWire After Dark, I hesitated all of five seconds before I screamed, “What’s the Matter With Helen?” at Ali. Partly because it’s a truly bonkers hagsploitation movie but mostly because I greedily grasp at every excuse to discuss Curtis Harrington’s examination of what the mothers of thrill killers Leopold and Loeb might have done with their lives after their sons’ convictions.

Move from the Midwest to Los Angeles to...

Clockwise left to right: Get Out (Universal Pictures), This Is Spinal Tap (MGM Home Entertainment), That Thing You Do! (20th Century Studios), Lady Bird (A24)Graphic: The A.V. Club

It’s always neat when someone you’ve admired shows off a hidden talent that makes you see them in a different light.

Spoiler Alert! This story contains plot points from Wednesday’s episode of The Conners on ABC.

The Conners celebrated a big milestone — 100 episodes! — by doing what it does best: telling stories about small-town life and reminding folks that it has one of the most experienced ensembles on broadcast TV. Here, executive producers Bruce Helford and Dave Caplan talk about their six-season odyssey and whether it’s time to start planning for a seventh year on ABC.

Deadline: I still remember the day when former ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey abruptly canceled the Roseanne reboot. And now, the spinoff, The Conners, is celebrating 100 episodes.

Dave Caplan: We have a hard time believing that ourselves.

Bruce Helford: There are a couple of milestones. This is the first time to have the whole cast of a show hit the 100-episode milestone twice.

Deadline: Because you are celebrating 100 episodes, did you purposely...

As you've no doubt heard by now, the royal family is in a state of crisis.

After removing herself from public life for several months, Kate Middleton announced last week that she has cancer.

The Princess of Wales didn't go into specifics with regard to the severity of her condition or the organs affected, but anyone who's ever experienced the ravages of cancer -- either firsthand or by witnessing a loved one's battle -- knows that it's a horrible disease that extracts a devastating toll.

In other words, it's nothing to joke about, which is why Stephen Colbert issued an apology to Kate and her family this week.

In case you missed it, Colbert -- like just about every other public figure in the Western world -- commented on Kate's disappearance and offered some lighthearted speculation about the possible causes.

The clip above is from a monologue that Colbert delivered two weeks ago,...

The Night of the Hunter is getting a modern-day remake. Originally released in 1955, The Night of the Hunter is a classic thriller about a preacher who marries a widow whose children will not tell him where their later father hid $10,000 that he stole in a robbery. The Night of the Hunter was directed by Charles Laughton and starred a leading cast of Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason, and Evelyn Varden.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, The Night of the Hunter is set to receive a remake.

More to come…

Source: THR...

Scott Derrickson is set to adapt Davis Grubb’s novel that was turned into a classic film back in 1955. More on The Night Of The Hunter adaptation below.

While we’re still waiting for The Black Phone 2 to hit cinemas next year, director Scott Derrickson is adding another project to his growing roster of films he wants to make.

Not only is he directing the star-studded The Gorge, but Derrickson will now also reunite with his frequent collaborator, writer C Robert Cargill, to re-adapt The Night Of The Hunter. The duo previously made Sinister (2012), Sinister 2 (2015), Doctor Strange (2016) and The Black Phone (2021) together. The news of their latest project comes to us via The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on a 1953 novel by Davis Grubb, The Night Of The Hunter tells the story of Harry Powell, an ex-con who poses as a preacher as he sets out to find his old cellmate’s hidden cash.

Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, the terrorific team behind horror hits Sinister and The Black Phone, are going noir.

Universal has tapped Derrickson to direct an adaptation of The Night of the Hunter, the acclaimed 1953 crime novel by Davis Grubb that was previously turned into a 1955 thriller starring Robert Mitchum.

Derrickson will write the script with Cargill, his frequent collaborator who also worked with him on Marvel Studios entry Doctor Strange.

Peter Gethers will produce through his KramMar Delicious Mystery Productions, and Amy Pascal will produce through her Pascal Pictures first-look deal with Universal Pictures. 

Hunter told the story of Harry Powell, a murderous ex-con who takes up the identity of a preacher in order to do his misdeeds. While in prison, a cellmate slated for execution tells Powell that he hid stolen cash with his kids. Upon his release, Powell finds the widow, woos her and marries her,...

At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.

At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).

Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...

Has any entertainment scripted project ever featured more Oscar winners? Tour our special Valentine’s Day photo gallery to see which 33 Academy Awards champs made appearances on the very popular Aaron Spelling show “The Love Boat.”

For one full decade of 1977 to 1987, ABC could count on its comedy/drama series “The Love Boat” to bring in millions of audience members on Saturday nights. The show would have multiple story arcs (often three for a one-hour episode) with five to 10 celebrity guest stars each time. Some arcs were playing out for laughs, others for romance and the remainder could take on tough issues. The show airs daily on the Decades network and on Sunday afternoons for Me-tv. You can also stream every episode on Paramount+.

Regular cast members would either take command of some segments or be in the backseat on others. The charming actors throughout the decade were Gavin MacLeod...

Robert Wise’s Odds Against Tomorrow came along at the tail end of film noir’s steady decline in popularity in the 1950s and just before the civil rights movement reached its peak in the ’60s. The quintessential male icons of these two distinct eras clash in the film through the extremely confrontational yet mutually beneficial collaboration between a virulently racist ex-con, Earle (Robert Ryan), and a slick, Black jazz musician, Johnny (Harry Belaafonte).

The unlikely pair are brought together by a disgraced retired cop, Burke (Ed Begley), who caught wind of a robbery that’s a sure thing. If something sounds too good to be true in a noir, it always is, but the weaselly Earle’s too macho to let his doting wife, Lorry (Shelley Winters), continue being the breadwinner. Meanwhile, Johnny’s gambling debts have caused him to be estranged from his wife, Ruth (Kim Hamilton), as...

The Obie Awards, the venerable honors for outstanding Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway productions, is doing away with its annual ceremony and will instead use the funds to provide winners with grants ranging from $1,000-$5,000.

Heather Hitchens, the president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, which presents the Obies, called the grants a new path forward for the awards, saying the move “genuinely reflects the ethos of the Awards as well as the Off & Off Off Broadway movements – which is to continuously evolve and meet the moment.”

Select winners of this year’s 67th Obie Awards will be announced Saturday on New York’s Spectrum News NY1 as a special presentation of the channel’s On Stage program hosted by Frank Dilella. The special airs at 7:30 p.m./Et.

“The grants and our relationship with Spectrum News NY1 will provide meaningful support, and more effective, nationwide promotion for these incredible artists,...

Cillian Murphy's favorite films include diverse titles like Arizona Dream and The Shining. The Night of the Hunter is considered one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. Robert Mitchum's performance as Harry Powell in The Night of the Hunter is chilling and unforgettable.

Given that Cillian Murphy is one of the most diverse and interesting actors of his generation, it’s unsurprising that Murphy’s list of his favorite films of all time contains such eclectic titles as Arizona Dream, Being There, Harold and Maude, Mean Streets, and The Shining. Murphy’s oldest and most prominent selection is the classic 1955 film noir thriller The Night of the Hunter, which is one of the best Robert Mitchum movies, where he plays Harry Powell, a misogynistic serial killer who poses as a preacher for the purpose of charming and then murdering women for their money.

Like so...

Courtesy of Kino Lorber

by Chad Kennerk

Considered the first film noir to feature a leading black protagonist, Odds Against Tomorrow is a vital entry in the noir canon. Directed by legend Robert Wise and produced by star Harry Belafonte’s HarBel Productions, the gritty look at racial tension is also one of cinema’s most important films about prejudice. Created amidst growing disquiet in America, the film heralds the explosive events to come at the dawn of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement.

The screenplay was based on the novel by William P. McGivern (The Big Heat) and secretly written by Abraham Polonsky, who penned the screenplays for films such as Body and Soul and Force of Evil. Polonsky had been blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, so Belafonte approached black novelist and friend John O. Killens to serve as the credited screenwriter. It would take until...

Few TV shows define the early days of the medium like "Leave it to Beaver." Over six decades after it began airing, the idyllic family sitcom isn't just synonymous with 1950s television, but 1950s America as a whole. While its white picket fence dreams have never been reflective of the real world, the show still functions as a gentle comedic escape from reality for many a classic TV fan.

As one of the oldest culturally significant TV shows still in syndication, it's impossible to watch "Leave It To Beaver" without wondering what became of the cheerful bunch of actors populating its sunny suburban world. Unfortunately, the considerable passage of time means that most of the actors involved in the series have died, but there are still three main actors — all of them former child stars — who are carving out paths for themselves in a post-"Leave it to Beaver" world.

Steven Spielberg had tackled serious subjects before, but none of his previous work had the power and artistic vision of “Schindler’s List,” which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Based on the book by Thomas Keneally, “Schindler’s List” relates the true story of Nazi party member and war profiteer Oskar Schindler, who ended up saving 1,000 Jews from the Nazi death camps during World War II. Shot in black-and-white-save for a little girl wearig red coat- ‘Schindler’s List” is often a difficult watch, but it’s message of “Never Forget” is particularly relevant today with the rise of anti-Semitism and the white power movement. The epic stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ben Kingsley as the Jewish manager of Schindler’s factor and Ralph Fiennes, terrifying as a ruthless Nazi commandant Amon Goth.

The reviews were laudatory and despite its length — 3 hours 15 minutes — “Schindler’s List” made over $322 million worldwide. Nominated for 12 Oscars...

The only thing better than a free thing is more of that free thing. This month, Amazon’s ad-supported streamer Freevee is adding dozens of new titles to its existing library of thousands, and no matter your choice (or choices), Freevee titles are available for free on the platform with no additional membership required, so you can watch without an additional hit to the bank account this holiday season!

Take a tour through both the classic and current this December, including the 1950s classic film noir “The Night of the Hunter,” the queer history classic “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” and the complete series collection of “Night Court,” “The Waltons,” and more.

Once you brush up on your history, catch up with the contemporaries, such as the beloved sci-fi series “Fringe”, the animated hit “Hotel Transylvania,” and the superhero black comedy “Kick-Ass.”

Check out The Streamable’s...

The Thing (1982)A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.Rating: 8.2/10Stars: Kurt Russell (MacReady), Wilford Brimley (Dr. Blair), Keith David (Childs), Richard Masur (Clark)Halloween (1978)Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a...

Graphic: Images: IMDBThe Thing (1982)

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Rating: 8.2/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (MacReady), Wilford Brimley (Dr. Blair), Keith David (Childs), Richard Masur (Clark)

Halloween (1978)

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes...

"Friday the 13th" wasn't originally intended to go on to manifest multiple murderous sequels featuring Jason Voorhees as a machete-wielding madman. The famed hockey mask didn't even make it into the films until "Friday the 13th Part III." No, the initial killing spree at Camp Crystal Lake was carried out by Jason's mother, Mrs. Pamela Voorhees, played by the illustrious Betsy Palmer. 

Rather famously, Palmer wasn't exactly thrilled initially to be participating in a fairly low-rent horror film surrounded by young, up-and-coming starlets whose acting experience paled in comparison to her rather impressive filmography dating back to the Golden Age of television during the early '50s. The budget for the first "Friday the 13th" didn't really allow for a big marquee name, and Palmer wasn't even the first choice to play the role. Oscar winners Shelley Winters and Estelle Parsons were approached before Palmer eventually accepted the part after...