News

Amazon Prime Video is dropping new flicks on its platform this January, and we’re here to list the best of bunch.

It’s a new year, which means Prime Video has a fresh slate of films for folks to enjoy. From real-life, biographical tales to animated family goodies every generation can enjoy, Prime Video’s got a variety to explore. Plus, one of the streamer’s originals lands this month following its theatrical run, ready to give viewers fright-filled watch.

Check out our picks for the best new movies on Prime Video in January below.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” 20th Century Studios “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Rami Malek brought the iconic life story of Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, to life in 2018 in Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher’s biographical film “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The movie covers Queen’s early beginnings and rise to fame, Mercury’s departure from the group and their reunion at...

The list of guest stars who will voice characters in the Chris Rock animated comedy, Everybody Still Hates Chris, has been released and to say it is star-studded is an understatement! Check out the names, below.

The upcoming comedy Everybody Still Hates Chris is the most star-studded feature we’ve seen in a while! It is an animated series, so it is easier to accommodate big names compared to a live-action show, and it sure did take advantage of that fact! If you missed the report from Deadline, we’ve got all the details for you here.

The animated comedy from Chris Rock will follow stories inspired by Rock’s experiences growing up in Brooklyn, all narrated by Rock himself. It's a reboot of the animated series. Watch the trailer for it here.

Now, call us biased! But our favorite guest star from the list below is The Bear star Ayo Edebiri.

Exclusive: Chris Rock’s animated series Everybody Still Hates Chris is lining up the stars.

The series, which is set to premiere on Comedy Central on September 25, has unveiled a swathe of guest stars including Ayo Edebiri, Sally Jessy Raphael and Busta Rhymes.

The Bear star, talk show host and rapper will be joined by the likes of Tisha Campbell, Sam Richardson and Bell Biv DeVoe members Ricky Bell, Michael L. Bivins, Ronald Boyd DeVoe Jr.

It’s a pretty long list: Jaylen Barron, Todd Bridges, Nicole Byer, Monét X Change, Eugene Cordero, Andy Daly, Loretta Devine, Earthquake, Ron Funches, Jaida Essence Hall, Jackée Harry, Phil Hendrie, Dave Herman, Thirstin’ Howl III, Rob Huebel, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Phil Lamarr, Rack-Lo, Jessica Lowe, Vincent Martella, Laraine Newman, Gabrielle Nevaeh, Kevin Michael Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, Latrice Royale, Lindsey Stoddart, Cree Summer, Vanessa Vanjie and Jenny Yang.

Elsewhere, Paul Ben-Victor, Mike Estime, Antonio Fargas,...

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.

"Starsky & Hutch" actor David Soul passed away this week at the age of 80, leaving behind a legacy of memorable film and TV roles as well as a successful career as a soft rock musician. Soul's run on the stylish '70s detective series ended in 1979, but the performer continued working well into his golden years, most recently appearing in the 2013 film "Filth."

The man behind Detective Sergeant Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchison isn't the first "Starsky & Hutch" castmate to leave us — Captain Dobey actor Bernie Hamilton passed away in 2008. Two of the main leads of the action-packed cop series are still alive, and have packed their careers with interesting, varied, and popular on-screen projects. Turn on Netflix, and you'll catch actor Paul Michael Glaser in "Grace and Frankie," while you can find Antonio Fargas popping up in the DC TV world on "Black Lightning." Here's everything else these two stars...

David Soul, who starred alongside Paul Michael Glaser on the 1970s’ ABC buddy cop show Starsky and Hutch and had a No. 1 hit with the song “Don’t Give Up on Us,” has died. He was 80.

Soul died Thursday after “a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family,” his wife, Helen Snell, said in a statement.

“He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend,” she said. “His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.”

Soul also appeared for two seasons on the 1968-70 ABC show Here Come the Brides, played one of the corrupt young motorcycle cops brought down by Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan in the thriller Magnum Force (1973) and stood out as a terrified vampire hunter in the 1979 Stephen King CBS miniseries Salem’s Lot.

On two...

As Pam Grier waxes over her groundbreaking career — touching on everything from Foxy Brown and Coffy to Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 love letter to Grier and the genre she built, Jackie Brown — she takes a moment to take stock of what it all represents.

“I hope I’ve given you a slice of what it’s like to be a woman in film,” says the gilded icon of Blaxploitation films during a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter. “From age 19 to me today, I’m in such gratitude and honor of all the people who taught me so much.”

While a library could be built around what’s been written about the Blaxploitation era and her role in it — the recent Netflix documentary Is that Black Enough for You?!? in part chronicles how the genre made her one of the highest-grossing film stars in the 1970s — these days, Grier is focused on...

What would Hollywood be without a good ole Blaxploitation film? And now that “They Cloned Tyrone” has hit Netflix screens, conversations about the Blaxploitation movies that crawled so that “They Cloned Tyrone” could pimp walk have come to the forefront.

Juel Taylor’s film welcomes watchers to The Glen, a normal, everyday neighborhood where its predominately Black residents live out their lives shopping, going to church and enjoying the fruits of their labor. However, beneath the surface, but right in front of their eyes, the government is executing a plot to keep the community in an endless cycle of unhealthy behavior that ultimately blocks them from mental and financial wellness.

Like many Blaxploitation films, “They Cloned Tyrone” creatively calls out and highlights the systemic issues Black community faces while also celebrating Black culture and Black people’s perseverance.

When “They Cloned Tyrone” hit Netflix, people online began discussing the films that influenced it,...

“Cinnamon” and “A Song From the Dark” were two of the big winners at the Best of the ABFF Awards presented Saturday during the American Black Film Festival.

Following its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, “Cinnamon” continued its festival run at ABFF in Miami Beach, Fla., where it was awarded the prize for best narrative feature and best director for writer-director Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr.

The Tubi original film stars Hailey Kilgore, Damon Wayans, Pam Grier, David Iacono and Jeremie Harris. Kilgore plays Jodi, a struggling small-town gas station attendant with “killer pipes and big dreams,” who falls hopelessly in love with a hustler (Iacono) and falls foul of a local crime lord (Grier) and her murderous family. The noir thriller serves as the inaugural project filmed under Village Roadshow Pictures’ Black Noir Cinema banner, with Fox Entertainment Studios, co-founded by NBA all-star Kevin Garnett. Veteran producer Oz Scott oversees the content slate,...

Starsky and Hutch will be headed back to the streets as THR has reported that Fox Entertainment is developing a reboot of the iconic 1970s cop show.

The modern “reimagining” of Starsky and Hutch will follow two female detectives this time around, Sasha Starsky and Nicole Hutchinson. “They solve crimes in the offbeat town of Desert City while staying true to their friendship, their awesomeness, and somehow also trying to unravel the mystery behind who sent their fathers to prison 15 years ago for a crime they didn’t commit,” reads THR’s description. Sam Sklaver (Prodigal Son) and Elizabeth Peterson (The Resident) are behind the potential series, but Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn told THR that he expects to see at least two scripts before he makes his choice.

Related James Gunn to write and possibly direct Starsky and Hutch reboot!

The original series starred David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser...

Fire up the Gran Torino: An update of the 1970s cop show Starsky & Hutch is in the offing.

Fox is developing the project, which will be feature two female characters in the title roles, via its script-to-series model. Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn told The Hollywood Reporter he expects to have at least two scripts from writers/showrunners Sam Sklaver (Prodigal Son) and Elizabeth Peterson (The Resident) before making a decision on it.

Sony Pictures Television, which as Columbia Pictures TV produced the original series, and Fox Entertainment are producing.

The show is one of a handful of projects in Fox’s development pipeline. The network is also working on a medical drama titled Doc (also with Sony) from writer and showrunner Barbie Kligman (Magnum P.I.), based on an Italian series about a doctor who loses eight years of her memory after a traumatic accident. Marc Cherry’s...

Brooke Shields became a star and attracted mild controversy in this show, director Louis Malle’s first American production. Co-writer & producer Polly Platt and cinematographer Sven Nykvist collaborated on Malle’s fascinating look at life in a New Orleans brothel early in the 20th century. Prostitute Susan Sarandon raises two children in the upscale bawdy house, and art photographer Keith Carradine becomes an artist in residence. It’s a non-moralizing portrait of a bygone lifestyle. The handsome remastered release co-stars Diana Scarwid and Barbara Steele — and comes with a new interview with Brooke Shields.

Pretty Baby

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 174

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date November 4, 2022 / Available from / £

Starring: Susan Sarandon, Keith Carradine, Brooke Shields, Frances Faye, Antonio Fargas, Gerrit Graham, Matthew Anton, Mae Mercer, Diana Scarwid, Barbara Steele.

Cinematography: Sven Nykvist

Production Designer: Trevor Williams

Costume Supervisor: Mina Mittelman

Film Editor: Suzanne Fenn, supervisor Suzanne Baron

Music adapted by Jerry Wexler,...

"What if we just start fresh here. This place is special." Lionsgate has revealed a trailer for a cheesy comedy called One Year Off, landing in February early next year on VOD. This film seems to be skipping theaters because eeesh it does not look good. Heartbroken Claire's wine-fueled post-breakup pity-party in London is crashed by her old friend Ben calling from New York City. He has inherited his unknown father's gorgeous beachfront house and club in the Caribbean island of Nevis, West Indies, and he wants her and the old crew to join him for a week while he absorbs this news. In love with the island, and thrilled to be back together again like the good old days, they unanimously decide to stay for year-one year off to reset their lives. This was filmed as a pandemic project on the island of Nevis (see Google Maps) as a...

The New York Underground invaded the mainstream with Robert Downey Sr.’s completely irreverent Madison Avenue satire, in which a token black executive takes over an Ad agency, renames it ‘Truth and Soul’ and goes on a mad reign of creative terror. Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, and Antonio Fargas star in a farce that some critics found intolerably crude — but an independent distributor gave it a national release. 1969 was the year that the Production Code took a tumble — and Downey’s picture proved that freedom of expression was alive and well in the U.S. of A..

Putney Swope

Region Free Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1969 / B&w + Color / 1:37 Academy / 85 min. / Street Date July 25, 2022 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Arnold Johnson, Stan Gottlieb, Allen Garfield, Archie Russell, Ching Yeh, Norman Schreiber, Wendy Appel, Antonio Fargas, Laura Greene, Allan Arbus, Pepi Hermine, Larry Wolf, Ronnie Dyson, Shelley Plimpton, Marlene Clark,...

Antonio Fargas (“Starsky and Hutch”) and Stephanie Sigman (“Miss Bala”) have joined star Mike Colter in Tubi’s ‘Murder City,’ the second movie filmed under Village Roadshow Pictures’ Black Noir Cinema franchise, co-founded by NBA great Kevin Garnett.

Last December, Variety exclusively announced “Murder City” as one of the first films slated for Black Noir Cinema, a lineup of genre movies developed and produced by Village Roadshow and Tubi, which will exclusively debut on the Fox-owned free streaming platform.

Described as a “thrilling contemporary crime story,” the film follows Neil (Colter), a disgraced former cop, who after losing his job on the police force is forced to work with the city’s most notorious — and ruthless — kingpin, Ash (Sigman), to settle the debts of his estranged, deadbeat father, Graham (Fargas), and protect his wife and son.

Rounding out the film’s cast are Medina Senghore, Rhys Coiro, James Udom, Steven Prescod,...

Richard Roundtree’s two-fisted detective tale burst on the scene announcing that a craze called Blaxploitation was on the way. No matter that the movie is somewhat slow and drab — John Shaft was the identification figure denied black audiences for 60 years, a hero who takes no guff from nobody and consistently tells The Man where to head in. Even bigger was the music theme by Isaac Hayes, which transforms Shaft’s casual stroll through Times Square into an iconic image of the 1970s. Criterion’s presentation of Gordon Parks’ smash hit has the original feature in 4K Uhd and in Blu-ray with the first sequel Shaft’s Big Score! in Blu-ray only.

Shaft

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1130

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 21, 2022 / 39.95

Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell, Lawrence Pressman, Victor Arnold, Sherri Brewer,...

Paul Cauthen boasts about having Benjamins to burn in “Fuck You Money,” an outrageous, tongue-in-cheek song on his latest album, the wildly entertaining Country Coming Down. And when he called from New York earlier this spring, it was obvious he’d taken the title to heart.

The Tyler, Texas, country singer flew to New York on a whim just to see, in person, a Spotify billboard featuring his likeness in Times Square. “My wife styled me and made all my clothes and she said, ‘I’ve got to see it with my own eyes.

Gritty inner city crime pix don’t get any rougher than this — I witnessed the walk-outs personally. Barry Shear and a crack crew filmed in Harlem for this downbeat crime pic that could be called ‘Every Thief For Himself.’ Paul Benjamin just wants to score some mob money and leave the mean streets behind — but a single slipup brings the worst of the Mafia and the black mob down on his neck. It’s neither a ‘stick it to whitey’ saga nor a plea for justice: it’s story 8 million and 1 in The Naked City. Stars Anthony Quinn, Anthony Franciosa and Yaphet Kotto provide more acting fireworks, with solid assistance from Gloria Henry, Antonio Fargas and Marlene Warfield.

Across 110th Street

Region-Free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 120

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date April 27, 2022 / Available from / Aud 34.95

Starring: Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Paul Benjamin, Ed Bernard, Antonio Fargas, Richard Ward,...

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Look past the early "Chris" Walken appearance, Bernstein (Antonio Fargas - center) is the subject of this week's Gay Best Friend column.

Flying the nest can be simultaneously liberating and horrifying. On one hand, you have all this freedom to do what you want, when you want. Unfortunately, you have to learn how to take care of yourself and be self-sufficient. For those with tight knit families or over-involved parents, the horrifying can outweigh the liberating.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village laser focuses on the growing pains in this transition. The year is 1953. Larry Lapinski (Lenny Baker) leaves his parents’ home in Brooklyn to chase his dreams of stardom. His Mother, Fay (Shelley Winters), is utterly distraught and inconsolable. The umbilical cord is only hurt, not severed though. Larry's mother bursts in to his new life at the most inopportune times.

The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Castle (1997)

The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary

Pressure (1976)

Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Boss (1975)

Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

Black Samurai (1977)

Truck Turner (1974)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)

Friday Foster (1975)

That Man Bolt (1973)

Blacula (1972)

Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Billy Jack (1971)

John Wick (2014)

The Matrix (1999)

Cleopatra Jones...

Exclusive: UK producer-seller Msr Media has renewed its production deal with Caribbean island Nevis, and set the next film to shoot on the island.

First out of the gate as part of the new three-year multi-picture deal will be rom-com Two Weeks In Paradise, written by Kate Wood (Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop) and based on a story by Msr boss Philip Martinez (Father Christmas is Back) who will also direct. Shoot is due to begin in June on Nevis. Casting is still under wraps.

The film will tell the story of Maggie, a film star whose world collapses when her film director husband is outed by the paparazzi when its discovered he has had a baby with his new leading lady. Seeking solace and healing Maggie escapes to her ex-pat cousin’s beautiful hotel in Nevis. After two weeks in paradise she finds herself and a new love...

Douglas Turner Ward, the director, actor and playwright who co-founded the landmark, influential Off Broadway Black theater group the Negro Ensemble Company, died Saturday, Feb. 20, at his home in New York City. He was 90.

His death was announced by his wife Diana Ward.

Ward had already begun a solid New York stage acting career in the 1950s and ’60s – including Off Broadway roles in The Iceman Cometh and on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun – when, according to The New York Times, he wrote a 1966 editorial for that newspaper headlined “American Theater: For Whites Only?” The article called for the establishment of a Black repertory theater company. Turner wrote, “Not in the future…but now!”

A year later the Ford Foundation awarded a $434,000 grant to create the Negro Ensemble Company with Ward as artistic director, along with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone in other leadership roles.

The Company...

Easy Rider terrifies twenty confused studio executives because they don’t understand it. Hoping to keep their jobs, they rush to hire more longhairs to make movies ‘the kids’ will see. Ex- UCLA film student B.L. Norton parlayed his way into writing and directing on the streets of Los Angeles, with new stars Gene Hackman and Karen Black, and singer-songwriter of the year Kris Kristofferson in his first starring role as a musician forced to deal marijuana by a corrupt cop. A time travel trip back to the City of the Angels circa 1971, it’s realistic and honest, and Kristofferson turns out to have terrific camera presence.

Cisco Pike

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date May 25, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £ 15.99

Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black, Gene Hackman, Harry Dean Stanton, Viva, Joy Bang, Roscoe Lee Browne, Severn Darden, Antonio Fargas, Doug Sahm, Allan Arbus,...

Director Michael Schultz’s 1976 comedy about a typical day in an L.A. car wash is energized by a loose-limbed band of comedians and eccentrics including Bill Duke, George Carlin, Irwin Corey and Antonio Fargas. Richard Pryor makes a memorable cameo as the mercenary bible thumper “Daddy Rich” and The Pointer Sisters are on hand as his back-up singers. Even its most pointed satire is good-natured – with its sprawling cast it feels like a Robert Altman movie with nothing on its mind but fun.

The post Car Wash appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Cleopatra Jones

Blu ray

Warner Archive

1973 / 2:35:1 / 89 Min. / Street Date – March 19, 2019

Starring Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey

Written by Max Julien, Sheldon Keller

Cinematography by David M. Walsh

Directed by Jack Starrett

A good-natured if rickety assemblage of action movie cliches, Cleopatra Jones is dominated by two bigger than life actresses, Tamara Dobson and Shelley Winters. The movie’s trailer promoted Dobson as the “soul sister’s answer” to James Bond but you can count Bruce Lee, Emma Peel, Shaft and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. among Cleo’s many relevant role models.

Winters plays “Mommy”, a foulmouthed mob boss who depends on the thriving Poppy fields of Turkey for her cash flow and Dobson is Cleopatra, an Amazonian fashion plate whose special agent skills range from karate to high speed car chases – her plan to wipe out Mommy’s syndicate leads to a high octane race through ‘70’s era L.

Re-released alongside three other John Carpenter 4K restorations, the horror master’s dystopian action sci-fi from 1981 seethes on the big screen while seeming paradoxically low-fi next to the great swathe of action trash that followed in its wake. Escape From New York melts urban/punk Noir aesthetics into 80s action with a dash of inadvertent political/ social commentary that’s less at the subtext’s foreground than the consumerism/ conformity nods in They Live, but “evident” in retrospect.

The concept is high: it’s 1997 (the future/ “Now”), Liberty island has been transformed into a maximum security prison. Air Force One crashes there, leaving Us president (Donald Pleasence) stranded. The government dispatches scowling one-eyed convict Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) to rescue him, armed with a gun, tracker, the chance of freedom and a deadly serum pumping through his veins that will only be neutralized upon the president’s safe return.

The set-up imparts,...

McM Comic Con London, the largest UK pop culture event is gearing up for its return to the capital later this month, on 26th-28th October. This year’s McM Comic Con London is packed with bigger guests, exclusive products and more explosive and interactive content, as thousands of cosplayers, movie buffs, comic fans, families, gamers, collectors and anime enthusiasts are set to descend on ExCeL London.

Among McM’s special guest line up this October, we have WWE superstar-turned-Hollywood actor Dave Bautista, best known for playing Dax the Destroyer from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and James Bond villain Mr Hinx. Paul Bettany, aka Jarvis and Vision from the hugely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe films will be also meeting fans, alongside the cast from Us supernatural TV series Shadowhunters.

Joining the party, stars of popular Geek & Sundry web series Critical Role, Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Liam O’Brien,...

Paul Mazursky’s affectionate memoir of the New York bohemian life circa 1953 has a feel for the milieu and an honest appraisal of the kooky culture therein: artists, actors, users, takers, sweethearts, neurotics and phonies. Lenny Baker’s main character may have an amorous relationship with his girlfriend Ellen Greene, but his strongest connection is with his overbearing mother, played to perfection by Shelley Winters. She was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for The Poseidon Adventure but not for this? Honestly.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date May 22, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Lois Smith, Christopher Walken, Dori Brenner, Antonio Fargas, Lou Jacobi.

Cinematography: Arthur Ornitz

Film Editor: Richard Halsey

Original music: Bill Conti

Production Designer: Phil Rosenberg

Produced by Paul Mazursky and Tony Ray

Written and Directed by Paul Mazursky

Fans of Paul...

Stars: Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Jonny Weston, Iko Uwais, Callan Mulvey, Betty Gabriel, Antonio Fargas, Lindsey Morgan | Written and Directed by Liam O’Donnell

Los Angeles Detective Mark Corley (Frank Grillo) thought bailing out his eighteen-year-old son, Trent (Jonny Weston), was the worst part of his day. But on the ride home, the skies above fill with a strange blue light. Within moments, the entire city’s population is vacuumed up into a massive alien ship.

In the aftermath, father and son lead a band of survivors to the marina. But when Trent is abducted, Mark relentlessly storms after his son onto the nightmarish warship. As the aliens move across the planet, feeding off the remnants of humanity, the resilient Mark battles through the bizarre environment, uncovering their horrific secrets. Before long, he forges an alliance with an unlikely ally. Together they are able to crash the ship and rescue several abductees.

Chicago – The coolest cat on 1970s TV was Huggy Bear, informant to the cop team of “Starsky and Hutch.” The man who portrayed that fly guy was Antonio Fargas, who also could lay claim as the Godfather of Blaxploitation Films (the run of African American cinema in the late 1960s through the ‘70s). Fargas was honored for his contributions with the Career Achievement Award at the Cinepocalypse Film Festival, Music Box Theatre in Chicago.

Career Achievement Honoree Antonio Fargas, Cinepocalypse Film Festival

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Starting with his participation in the breakthrough film “Putney Swope” (1969), Antonio Fargas was in some of the best Blaxploitation films, including “Across 110th Street” (1972), “Cleopatra Jones” (1973), “Foxy Brown” (1974), “Car Wash” (1976) and even the spoof “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” (1988) as “Flyguy.” He portrayed Huggy Bear on “Starsky and Hutch” from 1975 to ’79.

Photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com...

Sneak Peek footage and images from director Liam O'Donnell's science fiction thriller "Beyond Skyline", the sequel to "Skyline" (2010), starring Frank Grillo ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Callan Mulvey, Yayan Ruhian, Betty Gabriel and Antonio Fargas:

"...set concurrently with the previous 'Skyline' film...

"...but in a different undisclosed location during a worldwide alien invasion, 'Mark' (Grillo)...

"...a tough-as-nails detective, embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son 'Trent', from a nightmarish alien warship..."

In the first "Skyline" film, directed by Colin Strause and Greg Strause, starring Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Scottie Thompson and Brittany Daniel :

"...it was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source...

...a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and...

Living in Chicago, I spend much of my year being jealous of all the people I see online going to the various genre film festivals held around the parts of the country that aren’t here… until now.

For the first time ever, Chicago is getting its very own full-blown genre festival with Cinepocalypse, a week-long event running November 2nd–9th at the Music Box Theatre, the best place to see a movie in the entire city. Formerly the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival (which I have attended since it began and always completely loved), Cinepocalypse now has a new venue, a larger and more ambitious slate of programming, and dozens of special guests. It’s going to be bigger and better than any festival of its kind the city has ever seen, and I can’t wait to be there as much as possible to see as many cool movies as possible.

Debut year of genre festival to award director Larry Cohen and actor Antonio Fargas, opens with Sweet Virginia, closes with Beyond Skyline! The Music Box Theatre is proud to announce their full wave of programming and guests for the debut year of Cinepocalypse (an evolution to the program design of Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Festival), …

The post Cinepocalypse Announces Full Programming, Guests, Juries! first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net 2017 - Official Horror News Site...

Sneak Peek footage and images from director Liam O'Donnell's science fiction thriller "Beyond Skyline", the sequel to "Skyline" (2010), starring Frank Grillo ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Callan Mulvey, Yayan Ruhian, Betty Gabriel and Antonio Fargas:

"...set concurrently with the previous 'Skyline' film...

"...but in a different undisclosed location during a worldwide alien invasion, 'Mark' (Grillo)...

"...a tough-as-nails detective, embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son 'Trent', from a nightmarish alien warship..."

In the first "Skyline" film, directed by Colin Strause and Greg Strause, starring Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Scottie Thompson and Brittany Daniel :

"...it was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source...

...a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and...

The line-up for this years Horror Channel FrightFest Halloween 2017 event has just been announced and features seven choice shockers for the 7th annual West End Halloween event. This year, the all-day shocktoberfest is at the Empire Haymarket on Saturday October 28th and embraces one world, one European and five UK premieres, spanning three continents… And what a selection! The latest film from Lawrie Brewster (Lord of Tears); the UK premiere of Beyond Skyline And the UK premiere of It Came From the Desert!, the giant ant movie based on the classic Cinemaware video game!

From the emotional making of a low-budget slasher to zombie nightmares, Gothic horrors, an outrageously strange mind cult, a sci-fi alien action extravaganza, a comic strip creature feature and the last word in Killer Clowns, this year’s line-up is an eclectic mix of the quirky, unusual and extreme. Alan Jones, FrightFest co-director said today:

After...

Kirsten Howard Tony Sokol Sep 1, 2017

Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn will produce a rebooted Starsky & Hutch series for Amazon, it's been confirmed...

Amazon have snatched up the recently-unveiled Starsky & Hutch reboot show from James Gunn's production company.

This is the first time the popular director has wanted to pursue a project on the small screen.

“When I was a kid, Starsky & Hutch was the first ‘adult’ show I ever saw, and I fell in love,” he explained in a statement. “It instilled in me a lifelong love of gritty street shows, of killer 70’s threads, and muscle cars. So when Neal Mortiz asked me if I wanted to be a part of an all new Starsky & Hutch on TV, I was instantly intrigued. I teamed up with the two writers I trusted most in the world to work with us, my brother Brian Gunn and my cousin...

Sneak Peek footage and images from director Liam O'Donnell's science fiction thriller "Beyond Skyline", the sequel to "Skyline" (2010), starring Frank Grillo ("Captain America: The Winter Soldier"), Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Callan Mulvey, Yayan Ruhian, Betty Gabriel and Antonio Fargas:

"...set concurrently with the previous 'Skyline' film but in a different undisclosed location during a worldwide alien invasion, 'Mark' (Grillo)...

"...a tough-as-nails detective, embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son 'Trent', from a nightmarish alien warship..."

In the first "Skyline" film, directed by Colin Strause and Greg Strause, starring Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Scottie Thompson and Brittany Daniel :

"...it was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source...

...a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and...

Xyz Films has released the first trailer and poster for Beyond Skyline, which is a follow-up to the 2010 sci-fi thriller Skyline, with a whole new cast. Leading the way this time is action star Frank Grillo, who teams up with The Raid star Iko Uwais. The studio has also debuted the first poster for Beyond Skyline, which will have its world premiere at the Stiges Film Festival, which runs from October 5 through October 15. No release date has been given yet, but that may be announced soon.

Ain't It Cool News debuted the first trailer and poster, which opens with Frank Grillo's character Mark, a Los Angeles detective who is called in to get his son Trent (Jonny Weston) out of some trouble. The trailer also shows that their family has been fractured after the passing of Mark's wife Rose (Valentine Payen), but that's the least of their problems. On the subway ride home,...

Liam O'Donnell's follow-up to the Brothers Strause' original alien invasion film, Skyline, may not have a release date yet, but that's not stopping the publicity train from trying to drum up some buzz. The latest poster for the flick has landed. Featuring a cool space opera vibe, it features stars Frank Grillo and Bojana Novakovic and a good look at the aliens. Taking place at the same time as the events of the first film, Frank Grillo plays a tough-as-nails detective who embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son from a nightmarish alien warship. Beyond Skyline stars Frank Grillo (The Purge: Anarchy), Bojana Novakovic (Drag Me to Hell), Jonny Weston (Project Almanac), Iko Uwais (The Raid), Callan Mulvey, Antonio Fargas, Pamelyn Chee, Yayan...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Remember the Nineties? Specifically, that decade's subgenre of films that proliferated during the A.T. (After Tarantino) era, the ones featuring retro-hip musical deep cuts and gallows-humor dialogue dotting horrific gunfights? Usually the antiheroes were criminals; in the case of writer-director John Michael McDonagh's tart-tongued throwback, they're police officers. And from the moment that Terry (Alexander Skarsgård) and Bob (Michael Peña) show up, chasing down a street performer – "Always wondered if you hit a mime, does he make a sound?" – you realize you've entered some sort of Lethal Weapon through the looking glass.

Beyond Skyline is the forthcoming sequel to the 2010 film Skyline, directed by Liam O’Donnell and starring Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Callan Mulvey, Yayan Ruhian, Betty Gabriel and Antonio Fargas.

Set concurrently with the previous Skyline film but in a different undisclosed location during the worldwide alien invasion, Beyond Skyline sees Mark, a tough-as-nails detective, embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son, Trent, from a nightmarish alien warship.

In this first slice of footage from the movie we see The Raid‘s Iko Uwais in action, kicking arse in the midst of a spaceship crashlanding…...

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1040 King Duncan is killed in battle and King Macbeth succeeds him. Shakespeare fictionalizes everything later for Macbeth. So many theatrical productions and movies follow. Out damn spot!

1932 The 1932 Summer Olympics end. This is the Olympic year when gorgeous Buster Crabbe became a gold medalist (pictured left). Hollywood then snatched him right up for movie serials and action adventure franchises including Tarzan The Fearless

1945 Japan surrenders during Ww II (the six year war will last only two more weeks.) but movie makers all over the world have never stopped telling the war's infinite stories. On that same day Steve Martin is born in Waco Texas. It only takes him another 68 years to get the Oscar he totally deserved

1946 Two actor birthdays: Blacksploitation actor Antonio Fargas who became "Huggybear" on TV's popular Starksy & Hutch and Susan Saint James TV of McMillan & Wife...

Strangely enough, Pam Grier’s last Blaxploitation feature, 1975’s Sheba, Baby, would be the title to introduce her to a much wider audience thanks to its PG rating. Though undoubtedly adult in theme, it’s a kittenish exercise compared to the violence, gratuitous sex, and shameless taken-for-granted racist and misogynistic antics of earlier efforts. Its classification as the final chapter of Grier’s Blaxploitation days is also sort of a misnomer, since this refers to the last time she’d don her famous persona as an action star in pursuit of a more serious career, heading into Drum (a sequel to the infamous Mandingo), starring opposite Richard Pryor in Greased Lightning, and even a Ray Bradbury adaptation in Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983). But 1975 was one of several sterling years for Grier, headlining three films, though none of them would eventually reach the same iconicity as the prior year’s...

Tensions in Hollywood - and beyond - have been mounting since the Academy released its 2016 Oscar nominations, which included an all-white acting bracket for the second consecutive year. As a number of stars have publicly condemned the lack of diversity in the nominees, it's become increasingly clear that both members of the entertainment industry and fans are concerned about more than just who gets to take home a little gold man. Viola Davis, a two-time Oscar nominee who in September became the first black woman to win an Emmy for lead actress in a drama series, pointed out that the...

Tensions in Hollywood - and beyond - have been mounting since the Academy released its 2016 Oscar nominations, which included an all-white acting bracket for the second consecutive year. As a number of stars have publicly condemned the lack of diversity in the nominees, it's become increasingly clear that both members of the entertainment industry and fans are concerned about more than just who gets to take home a little gold man. Viola Davis, a two-time Oscar nominee who in September became the first black woman to win an Emmy for lead actress in a drama series, pointed out that the...

At the time of its production, Louis Malle’s 1978 title Pretty Baby (the title derived from the Tony Jackson song) was quite the scandal, a period piece frankly depicting child prostitution in turn of the century New Orleans. But like many provocative titles from the period (another being Richard Brooks’ Looking For Mr. Goodbar), decades of suppression has resulted in unavailability and a disappearance from modern cinematic conversations. Recently made available courtesy of the Warner Bros. Archive collection (solely on DVD) this is property begging for a more masterful restoration.

In the Red Lights district of 1917 New Orleans, legal prostitution is on the wane as a surge of conservative, religious rhetoric begins to sweep through the country. Nell (Francis Faye) owns a booming brothel in the famed Storyville district, and one of her most notable employees is Hattie (Susan Sarandon), whose twelve-year-old daughter Violet (Brooke Shields) has grown up within the house.

“You pink-ass corrupt honky judge, take your little wet noodle outta here and if you see a man anywhere send him in because I do need a Man!”

Foxy Brown screens at the Missouri History Museum Sunday, October 11th at 5:00pm as part of the St. Louis Black Film Festival ‘s A Salute To Classic Black Actresses. Admission is $5

For a complete rundown of all of the A Salute To Classic Black Actresses screenings, go Here

St. Louis Black Film Festival presents A Salute To Classic Black Actresses. The 3-day film fest takes place at Missouri History Museum (5700 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, Mo 63112) October 9th through the 11th and will feature the films of black stars Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Pam Grier, Eartha Kitt, Diahann Carroll and Juanita Moore.

Aarp members may attend each movie showing free of charge (One free entry per membership card...

Hole in the Wall: Emmerich Butchers Historical Moment with Whitewashed Overcoat

On June 28, 1969, a group of gay men and women took a stand against police brutality following a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The event sparked a series of violent demonstrations by members of the Lgbt community around the period, and it’s considered the birth of the gay liberation movement. In the decades since, lingering urban legends have haunted the events (such as a grieving community motivated specifically over the recent loss of Judy Garland) surrounding the stand taken at a mafia owned bar raided regularly by police, whose owner cared little about the safety or health of his patrons either way. A significant moment in the ensuing decades-long battle for Lgbt rights in the United States certainly marks it as deserving of its own cinematic reenactment. However, action film...

It’s been suggested my sense of humor can be silly, risky, risqué, downright ghetto and (on rare days) intelligent. Sure, I’ll buy that. It’s fair.

What exactly ghetto humor is depends on where you’re from, what you meant and who will laugh. I assure you, when I inject humor on a subject somebody somewhere is laughing. It may not be you or your circle of friends and family, but someone gets the joke.

The audience I’m aiming at gets it more times than not. I’m not interested in what those outside that audience think and that’s often the problem for some. The same goes for the matter-of-fact blunt way I speak my mind. I’m often told my profanity is something I should work on.

I get it. I say and write things not funny to some people who also feel expressing myself...

We can debate about the aesthetic and narrative quality of the shootout from last night's "True Detective," but there can be no arguing that it provided outstanding fodder for this Vulture mash-up of "Td" season 2 and the funk-tastic theme song and opening credits to "Starsky and Hutch." Though the failure to cast W. Earl Brown as the Huggy Bear of this universe was a missed opportunity.