News

“Oppenheimer” is the most nominated film at this year’s Oscars with 13 nominations. That’s one shy of the all-time record of 14 nominations so it missed out on Oscars history in the nomination phase.

However, Universal’s movie could match Academy Awards history in the awards phase by equalling the record of 11 Oscar wins overall. So far, three films have won 11 Academy Awards. They were “Ben-Hur” in 1960, “Titanic” in 1998, and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in 2004. Here’s the breakdown of what awards they won.

“Ben-Hur”

Best Picture — Sam Zimbalist Best Director — William Wyler Best Actor — Charlton Heston Best Supporting Actor — Hugh Griffith Best Film Editing Best Cinematography (Color) Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Best Costume Design (Color) Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Color) Best Sound Recording Best Visual Effects

*”Ben-Hur” was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Karl Tunberg...

The 2024 Oscar race is on, and one film has the potential to accomplish a feat that hasn’t happened in 64 years. “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations with 13, and it’s on track to win several of those categories. If Christopher Nolan‘s epic claims Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), it will be the first time since 1960 that the same film (“Ben-Hur”) has won those three exact categories. And it would be only the fourth time it’s ever happened.

See Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’

Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize,...

Just 30 minutes after final voting for the Screen Actors Guild Awards wrapped up, I made a last-minute switch in my best actress prediction — from Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” to Emma Stone in “Poor Things.” Let this be a lesson: Second-guessing yourself is seldom a good idea.

Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American and Indigenous person to clinch an individual SAG Award for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, in Martin Scorsese’s gripping crime saga. With a lead actress (drama) Golden Globe and a SAG Award now under her belt, Gladstone’s award-season momentum continues to be formidable. Historically, only seven performers have failed to win the Oscar after winning the unique combination of Globe and SAG:

1995: Lauren Bacall (“The Mirror Has Two Faces”) lost to Juliette Binoche 2001: Russell Crowe (“A Beautiful Mind”) lost to Denzel Washington (“Training Day...

Josephine Chaplin, the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neill, who was an accomplished actress in her own right, has died at 74, according to a report in Le Figaro, which cites her children Charly, Julien and Arthur. She died on July 13 in Paris.

Chaplin got her start as an actress in one of her father’s final films, Limelight (1952), as a child who appears in the opening scene. She was one of five of the director’s children featured in the somewhat-autobiographical project. She also appeared briefly in her father’s final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), with sisters Geraldine and Victoria.

Charlie Chaplin, Josephine (right) and Oona (left) at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival in 1971 (Getty Images)

Her first substantial role was for another iconic director, Pier Paolo Pasolini, in his 1972 take on The Canterbury Tales. Chaplin plays May, the adulterous wife of the elderly Sir January in “The Merchant’s Tale.

Josephine Chaplin, whose father was screen legend Charlie Chaplin, died July 13 in Paris, her family announced on Thursday. She was 74. A cause of death was not immediately given.

As a child, she appeared with her father in his 1952 film “Limelight” and 1967’s “A Countess From Hong Kong.” She went on to star in the 1972 films “L’odeur des fauves” with future partner Maurice Ronet, Menahem Golan’s “Escape to the Sun” opposite Laurence Harvey; and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s X-rated “The Canterbury Tales” as May, the adulterous wife of the elderly Sir January (Hugh Griffith).

Her later films include 1984’s “The Bay Boy” with Kiefer Sutherland and Liv Ullman. In 1998, she played Hadley Richardson to Stacy Keach’s Ernest Hemingway in the miniseries “Hemingway.”

For years she managed the Chaplin office in Paris and sponsored a statue of her father by sculptor Alan Ryan Hall as his Little Tramp character in Waterville,...

Gabrielle Upton, who wrote the screenplay for the classic California surfing movie Gidget, starring Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson and James Darren, has died. She was 101.

Upton died Sept. 13 in Santa Rosa, California, her daughter, Greer Upton, told The Hollywood Reporter. News of her death had not been reported until now.

A three-time WGA Award nominee, Upton wrote for such network shows as The Alfred Hitchcock Hour/Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, Convoy, One Step Beyond, The Bold Ones: The New Doctors, The Virginian, The Big Valley and The High Chaparral.

She also worked on several daytime soap operas during her career, including Guiding Light, As the World Turns, Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow, The Secret Storm and Love of Life.

After Frederick Kohner took a crack at adapting his best-selling 1957 novel Gidget, the Little Girl With Big Ideas for Columbia Pictures’ Gidget (1959), Upton came on and received sole screenplay credit.

Director Robert Fuest’s grisly black comedy is a sumptuously produced bit of pulp hokum as well as a gruesomely satiric salute to the career of its star, Vincent Price. Our genial anti-hero plays Anton Phibes, a crazed physician seeking revenge on the doctors who (he believes) allowed his wife to die in the aftermath of a car accident. This 1974 film is a riff on 1949’s like-minded Kind Hearts and Coronets in which a number of eccentric characters are gleefully extinguished in the most garish manner possible. The picturesque supporting cast of victims includes Joseph Cotten, Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith.

The post The Abominable Dr. Phibes appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

William Wyler was a three-time Oscar winner who crafted several classics during Hollywood’s Golden Age, adapting his style to a wide variety of genres. Let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1902 in Germany, Wyler immigrated to the U.S. when his cousin, Universal Studios chief Carl Laemmle, hired him as an errand boy. He quickly moved up the ranks, directing shorts during the silent era before transitioning into features. It was with the advent of sound that he hit his stride, displaying an ear for dialogue that would serve him well in lofty literary adaptations produced by his longtime partner, independent mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

Wyler quickly became an Oscar mainstay, earning a record-breaking 12 nominations for Best Director: “Dodsworth” (1936), “Wuthering Heights” (1939), “The Letter” (1940), “The Little Foxes” (1941), “Mrs. Miniver” (1942), “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946), “The Heiress” (1949), “Detective Story” (1951), “Roman Holiday...

George Seaton connected an ideal cast to this true-life WW2 story so good that a lazy script and slack direction can’t sink it. William Holden is the American-Swede who spies for the Allies, ruining his own reputation and schmoozing with Nazis that will kill him if he slips up. Wonderful Lilli Palmer is the patriot-agent who steals his heart. The locations are impressive but one inspired scene captures with perfection the utter depravity of fascist power. If ever a WW2 movie needed a remake, this one qualifies.

The Counterfeit Traitor

Region-free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 118

1962 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 141 min. / Street Date April 27, 2022 / Available from /

Starring: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Carl Raddatz, Ernst Schröder, Charles Régnier, Ingrid van Bergen, Helo Gutschwager, Wolfgang Preiss, Werner Peters, Erica Beer, Stefan Schnabel, Klaus Kinski, Eva Dahlbeck.

Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin

Production Designer: Ellen Schmidt

Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen, Mathias Matthies

Film Editors: Hans Ebel,...

Hello, everyone! We’re back with another rundown of this week’s horror and sci-fi home media releases. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Don Mancini’s Chucky TV series, you can finally catch up with it as of this Tuesday. Arrow Video is giving Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the 4K treatment, and Kino Lorber is keeping busy with an assortment of releases on the 12th as well, including New Year’s Evil, Tentacles, and a Dr. Phibes Double Feature. IFC Films is also set to release their psychological thriller The Novice on Tuesday, too (and it’s great).

Chucky: Season One

The notorious Chucky slashes his way to television in a killer new series written and executive produced by creator Don Mancini, who penned the iconic film franchise. After teenage loner Jake Wheeler (Zackary Arthur) discovers a vintage 'Good Guy' doll at a suburban yard sale,...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's timeless 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is said to be the most often-filmed adaptation of a book. I don't know if that's true but it's quite clear that over the decades, the tale has indeed inspired many adaptations for the cinema and television. The 1939 classic introduced audiences to the teaming of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. The 1959 Hammer Films version was the first Holmes movie made in color and starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in another highly impressive adaptation. By the1970s, revisionist versions of Holmes stories were all the rage in cinema and on television, as evidenced by films such as "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter ", "They Might Be Giants", "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes". Thus, the famed comic duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore opted...

After nine decades of Academy Awards ceremonies, the most Oscars won by a film is still 11. That long-held record is shared by three iconic movies: “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003), “Titanic” (1997) and “Ben-Hur” (1959). Scroll through our photo gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see the 15 films that won the most competitive Oscars throughout history.

The third “The Lord of the Rings” movie went undefeated at the Oscars, going 11-for-11. It took home prizes for picture, director (Peter Jackson), adapted screenplay, art direction, costume design, film editing, makeup, score, song (“Into the West”), sound mixing and visual effects. The plot centers around Gandalf and Aragorn leading the World of Men against Sauron’s army in order to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Just six years prior, “Titanic” won 11 of its 14 nominations, claiming victories for picture,...

You can count on one hand the number of times the same film won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, the most recent being “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013) for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. (See the rest below). Might Amazon’s “Sound of Metal” be the next movie to join this elite list? Lead actor Riz Ahmed and supporting player Paul Raci are both predicted to earn Oscar noms, according to our odds. In fact, Gold Derby founder Tom O’Neil predicts Ahmed will win and he has Raci in second place, behind only Leslie Odom, Jr. (“One Night in Miami”).

See Rashida Jones (‘On the Rocks’) could get rare acting recognition after industry plaudits for writing, directing and producing

Ahmed is an Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee for “The Night Of,” but his role as Ruben, a musician who loses his hearing in “Sound of Metal,” would...

There are many who champion the idea of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar category honoring traditionally secondary roles and lament the fact that it has fallen out of fashion. Still, plenty of performances short on screen time have prevailed in the category’s 84-year history. Here is a look at the 10 shortest of all time, including the record holder:

10. James Coburn (“Affliction”)

17 minutes, 10 seconds (15.03% of the film)

After a prolific acting career, James Coburn was finally rewarded in 1999 with his first Oscar nomination and win. At 70 years old, he was the oldest acting nominee of the year, as well as the only first time nominee in his lineup. His overdue narrative certainly helped him win, but so did the skillful quality of his performance. After four decades of portraying characters with limited screen time, Coburn made abusive father Glen Whitehouse the role of a lifetime.

9. Hugh Griffith (“Ben-Hur”)

16 minutes, 51 seconds...

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“The Archers Vs. Selznick = 2 Movies In 1”

By Raymond Benson

Here’s an interesting lesson in filmmaking. Students of the art might learn something by watching the two different cuts of this motion picture to see what happens when a movie is edited down—especially when the original was made by bona fide artists as opposed to a slick Hollywood producer who, albeit successful, might not know everything.

David O. Selznick was a powerhouse producer and head of his own personal studio. “The Archers” were a unique British directing/writing/producing team and production company that consisted of the brilliant Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who, for a solid decade, delivered some of the most engaging and beautifully-rendered works of cinematic art in the 20th Century. It is true that Powell and Pressburger were perhaps not as appreciated during their time as they should have been,...

Toot Toot! The Little Engine that Could becomes a tale of the little town that could, when their tiny rail service is discontinued. A crackerjack cast of Ealing regulars — Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson — band together to take over the little spur line and keep it running. We get to see a vintage locomotive from the early 1800s in action, but the appeal isn’t limited to lovers of trains — Ealing’s knack for inspired, understated comedy is all over this show. Plus, it’s the company’s first feature in Technicolor, and is beautifully remastered.

The Titfield Thunderbolt

Blu-ray

Film Movement Classics

1953 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 84 min. / Street Date , 2020 /

Starring: Stanley Holloway, George Relph, Naunton Wayne, John Gregson, Godfrey Tearle, Hugh Griffith, Gabrielle Brune, Sidney James, Reginald Beckwith, Edie Martin, Michael Trubshawe, Jack MacGowran, Ewan Roberts.

Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe

Film Editor: Seth Holt

Original Music: Georges Auric

Written by...

Classic cinematics from first-rank filmmakers. No ballet or heroism, so not a crowd pleaser, but Michael Powell’s original version of Gone to Earth is another unique Archers creation. Jennifer Jones finally gets to chew on a character role with grit, as a natural virgin/vixen misunderstood by contrasting suitors. David O. Selznick’s revision The Wild Heart is a classic too — of unnecessary meddling.

Gone to Earth / The Wild Heart

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1950 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 110, 86 min. / Street Date June 25, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack, Sybil Thorndike, Edward Chapman, Esmond Knight, Hugh Griffith.

Cinematography: Christopher Challis

Film Editor: Reginald Mills

From the novel by: Mary Webb

Music by Brian Easdale

Written, Produced and Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

This is one beautiful production, one that will thrill Powell & Pressburger fans eager to see all of his films. With his typical cinematic simplicity,...

William Wyler would’ve celebrated his 117th birthday on July 1, 2019. The three-time Oscar winner crafted several classics during Hollywood’s Golden Age, adapting his style to a wide variety of genres. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1902 in Germany, Wyler immigrated to the U.S. when his cousin, Universal Studios chief Carl Laemmle, hired him as an errand boy. He quickly moved up the ranks, directing shorts during the silent era before transitioning into features. It was with the advent of sound that he hit his stride, displaying an ear for dialogue that would serve him well in lofty literary adaptations produced by his longtime partner, independent mogul Samuel Goldwyn.

SEEBette Davis movies: 15 greatest films ranked from worst to best

Wyler quickly became an Oscar mainstay, earning a record-breaking 12 nominations for Best Director: “Dodsworth...

Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Warner Bros. are bringing one of the most visually spectacular motion-picture epics of all time back to the big screen: Ben-hur, which celebrates its 60th anniversary with this two-day-only presentation. This is a must-see if you’ve never seen it in the theaters – especially for the heart-pounding chariot race.

Sunday, April 14, 2019 – 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (local time)

Wednesday, April 17, 2019 – 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (local time)

Director William Wyler’s classic received 11 Academy Awards, more than any other film to that point (and still tied with Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King).

The production encompassed 300 sets, nine sound stages and consumed 1.1 million feet of film, yet never loses sight of its compelling story of Jewish prince (Charlton Heston) who vows revenge when he is enslaved by his Roman childhood friend (Stephen Boyd). Jack Hawkins,...

Three films in contention at this year’s Oscars earned nominations for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor: “Green Book,” “A Star is Born” and “Vice.” How likely is it that both these men will win Academy Awards on Feb. 24? In the 82 years since the supporting awards were introduced at the 9th Oscars, only five films could boast victories in both these races.

For such a male-dominated industry, it is surprising that these two acting categories are the least successful pairing at the Oscars while the two female ones are the most. Then again, the film industry has no shortage of roles for men (lead or supporting) so they have been able to spread the love across different male performers in different films. There has always been (and still is) a shortage of female roles, so there have been and are fewer films with such notable performances, be they lead or supporting.

One of the biggest shocks of this year’s Golden Globe nominations was that Sam Elliott didn’t receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in “A Star is Born.” Elliott isn’t out of contention, though, for the Oscar. There is actually quite an impressive list of actors who got left out at the Globes but went on to take the Academy Award anyway. In fact, as recently as 2006, Alan Arkin won the Oscar for “Little Miss Sunshine” while being left out by Globe nominators.

Elliott has been a huge topic of discussion in Gold Derby’s forums (as have most things related to “A Star is Born.”) While some people have complained that the performance is too short for an actual victory, other forum posters have celebrated the fact that a performance with limited screen time is in Oscar contention as opposed to the lead performances...

Our predicted Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee lineups cover 10 people (obviously), but only across seven films. Three films — “A Star Is Born,” “Green Book” and “Vice” — are expected to nab nominations in both categories, and wins for any of the pairs of co-stars would put their picture in elite company.

Only five films have won both male acting categories:

1. “Going My Way” (1944): Best Actor for Bing Crosby, Best Supporting Actor for Barry Fitzgerald

2. “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946): Best Actor for Fredric March, Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell

3. “Ben-Hur” (1959): Best Actor for Charlton Heston, Best Supporting Actor for Hugh Griffith

4. “Mystic River” (2003): Best Actor for Sean Penn, Best Supporting Actor for Tim Robbins

5. “Dallas Buyers Club” (2013): Best Actor for Matthew McConaughey, Best Supporting Actor for Jared Leto

See Can Bradley Cooper (‘A Star Is Born’) become the latest actor to...

On August 2, the legendary Peter O’Toole would have turned 86. One of the most esteemed actors of his generation, he also holds the dubious record of earning the most Best Actor Oscar nominations (eight) without a win. O’Toole’s trophy case isn’t exactly bare — he won three Golden Globe Awards from eight nominations and received an honorary Academy Award for his lengthy career.

And as younger generations begin to discover his work, his reputation has only grown over the years, particularly for his big splash on the world’s film stage for his performance in “Lawrence of Arabia,” work that is astonishing in its complexity.

In honor of this great actor’s birthday, let’s take a photo gallery tour of his career and rank his 12 greatest film performances from worst to best.

SEEHonorary Oscars: Full gallery of acting recipients includes Charlie Chaplin, Peter O’Toole, Angela Lansbury...

By Todd Garbarini

Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts theater will be presenting a 50th anniversary screening of Carol Reed’s Academy Award-winning 1968 film Oliver! The 153-minute film, which stars Ron Moody, the late-great Oliver Reed, a very young Mark Lester, and Shani Wallis, will be screened on Sunday, July 15, 2018 at 3:00 pm.

Please Note: At press time, actress Shani Wallis is scheduled to appear in person for a discussion about the film prior to the screening.

She will be on hand at 2:30 pm in the lobby selling posters for $50.00 and photos for $20.00, and will also autograph them. All proceeds will go to charity.

From the press release:

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

Oliver! (1968)

50th Anniversary Screening

Sunday, July 15, at 3 Pm

Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre

Q&A with Actress Shani Wallis

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening...

By Todd Garbarini

Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts theater will be presenting a 50th anniversary screening of Carol Reed’s Academy Award-winning 1968 film Oliver! The 153-minute film, which stars Ron Moody, the late-great Oliver Reed, a very young Mark Lester, and Shani Wallis, will be screened on Sunday, July 15, 2018 at 3:00 pm.

Please Note: At press time, actress Shani Wallis is scheduled to appear in person for a discussion about the film following the screening, as well as taking time to autograph memorabilia available for sale. The price is $50.00 to sign posters, which will go to charity.

From the press release:

Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.

Oliver! (1968)

50th Anniversary Screening

Sunday, July 15, at 3 Pm

Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre

Q&A with Actress Shani Wallis

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of the Oscar-winning Best Picture of 1968, Oliver!

“The Shape of Water” is one of two Best Picture Oscar nominees with three acting nominations — the other being “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — but star Sally Hawkins and supporting players Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins are not predicted to win any of them. If they indeed go 0-3 on Sunday and “The Shape of Water” takes the top prize, the fantasy drama will join eight other Best Picture champs that did not convert any of its three-plus acting nominations into wins.

“Birdman” (2014) was the most recent Best Picture winner not to carry an acting award from at least three nominations, as Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton fell to Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”) and J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”), respectively. Arquette and Simmons were the supporting frontrunners all season, but Keaton was locked in a tight Best Actor race with Redmayne until the SAG Awards...

Tom Jones

Blu ray

Criterion

1963 / 1:66 / 128 Min. / Street Date February 27, 2018

Starring Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith

Cinematography by Walter Lassally

Screenplay by Tony Richardson, John Osborne

Music by John Addison

Edited by Antony Gibbs

Produced by Tony Richardson

Directed by Tony Richardson

Yorkshire native Tony Richardson, lauded for a string of melodramas set in grayer than gray factory towns, took an abrupt left turn with Tom Jones, an 18th century period piece steeped in the vibrant New Wave sensibilities of the 60’s. Starring Albert Finney as the randy hero, Richardson’s sunny holiday is as far from the mills of Derbyshire as Buckingham Palace.

Based on Henry Fielding’s mock epic, Richardson and co-writer John Osborne took a Cliff’s Notes approach to Fielding’s picaresque narrative, whittling Tom’s journey down to a two hour jaunt set in motion by Irish actor Micheál Mac Liammóir’s wry narration.

William Wyler’s 1960s screwball heist comedy is a squeaky-clean high fashion vehicle for stars Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole — who of course aren’t really crooks despite pulling off a major art theft. It’s lush, beautiful to look at and directed with verve by Wyler; with some funny jabs at the art world from screenwriter Harry Kurnitz.

How to Steal a Million

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1966 / Color / 1:35 widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date April 11, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Charles Boyer, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Fernand Gravey, Marcel Dalio, Jacques Marin. .

Cinematography: Charles Lang

Film Editor: Robert Swink

Original Music: John Williams

Production design: Alexander Trauner

Written by Harry Kurnitz story by George Bradshaw

Produced by Fred Kohlmar

Directed by William Wyler

There’s no denying that Audrey Hepburn had a fairly incredible run of hits in the 1960s: The Nun’s Story,...

Ben-Hur is an epic historical action drama film directed by Tim Bekmambetov. Not be confused as a remake, the film has been termed as a re-imagining based on the same source material, and follows what happens when a nobleman, Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), is falsely accused of treason by his childhood friend and adoptive brother Messala (Toby Kebbell). He survives years of slavery under the Romans and attempts to get revenge by challenging Messala to a grand chariot race while being forever changed after a series of encounters with Jesus. The film produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey also stars Morgan Freeman.

Lrm: Your role has kind of expanded from the ’59 version. Would you say that gave you a little more freedom as to how to interpret it, versus how the other actors had something to compare to?

Morgan Freeman: You could say that, but I won’t say that.

Ben-hur is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves (Nazanin Boniadi), Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption. Based on Lew Wallace’s timeless novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Also starring Morgan Freeman and Rodrigo Santoro.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, Ben-hur opens nationwide on August 19.

Wamg invites you to enter for the chance to win Two (2) seats to the advance screening of Ben-hur on Tuesday, August 16 at 7:30Pm in the St. Louis area.

Answer the following from the 1959 version of Ben-hur:

There is a scene between Hugh Griffith (Sheikh Ilderim) and Charlton Heston where the two discuss the infamous chariot...

Photo credit: Philippe Antonello

© 2016 Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Paramount Pictures has released a brand new featurette for director Timur Bekmambetov’s upcoming film Ben-hur – in theaters August 19, 2016.

Ben-hur is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves (Nazanin Boniadi), Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption. Based on Lew Wallace’s timeless novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. Also starring Morgan Freeman and Rodrigo Santoro. (Trailer)

See how the team brought the chariot race to life in this new featurette.

One of the highlights of the 1959 film, which ran 212 minutes, is its now-legendary chariot race, staged largely by stunt expert Yakima Canutt. Ben-hur’s Oscar haul included Best Picture, Best Director for the legendary William Wyler, Best Actor for Heston, and Best Supporting Actor for Welsh actor Hugh Griffith as an Arab sheik.

Visit the official site: www.benhurmovie.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BenHurFilm/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/benhurmovie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benhurmovie/

The post Watch The New Chariot Race Featurette For Ben-hur appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

Giving the Brothers Grimm tale Hansel and Gretel a facelift is Curtis Harrington’s Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971), which will be released on Blu-ray / DVD on August 16th courtesy of Kino Lorber.

From Kino Lorber: “Coming August 16th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Brand New 2016 HD Master!

Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)

• Audio Commentary with Film Historian David Del Valle and Film Scholar Nathaniel Bell

• Trailers”

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): “This is a retelling of the old tale of Hansel and Gretel, but set in England in the 1920’s. To the children and staff at the orphanage, Auntie Roo is a kindly American widow who gives them a lavish Christmas party each year in her mansion, Forrest Grange. In reality, she is a severely disturbed woman, who keeps the mummified remains of her little daughter in a nursery in the attic. One Christmas, her eye falls upon a little girl...

What is this -- a naughty sex odyssey as absurdist art? Or a non-pc slice of sleazy art film exploitation? Either way it's a (minor) Polanski masterpiece of direction, influenced by the Italian setting. Is what turns Polanski on? The entire excercise is a Kafka comedy of erotic discomfort. What? Blu-ray Severin 1972 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Che? / Street Date April 26, 2016 / 29.95 Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Sydne Rome, Hugh Griffith, Guido Alberti, Gianfranco Piacentini, Romollo Valli. Cinematography Marcello Gatti, Giuseppe Ruzzolini Production Design Aurelio Crugnola Film Editor Alastair McIntyre Original Music Claudio Gizzi Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski Produced by Carlo Ponti Directed by Roman Polanski

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

It's a slippery slope, I tell you: art films are the gateway to surrealism, and surrealism connects straight to bondage and kinky costume play, which is a direct conduit either to Comic-Con or being forced to resign from the P.T.A.

"This land is mine, God made this land for me." Those are just song lyrics, while Otto Preminger's politically daring 70mm mega-production is a lot more subtle in its presentation of the 'Palestinian problem' that led to the formation of the State of Israel. It's a bit ponderous, but Dalton Trumbo's screenplay avoids the pitfalls -- 56 years later, the story is still relevant. Exodus Blu-ray Twilight Time Limited Edition 1960 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 208 min. / Ship Date March 15, 2016 / available through Twilight Time Movies / 29.95 Starring Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, John Derek, David Opatoshu, Jill Haworth, Hugh Griffith, Gregory Ratoff, Felix Aylmer, Marius Goring, Alexandra Stewart, Martin Benson, Paul Stevens, George Maharis, John Crawford, Victor Maddern, Paul Stassino, John Van Eyssen Cinematography Sam Leavitt Art Direction Richard Day Film Editor Louis R. Loeffler Original Music Ernest Gold Written by Dalton Trumbo from...

'Ben-Hur' 2016 with Jack Huston: Chariot race to the death. 'Ben-Hur' 2016 trailer: 'Gladiator' meets 'Fast Seven' meets 'Star Wars' meets… Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have released the trailer for their 2016 Ben-Hur remake (or reboot or readaptation) – a.k.a. Fast and Furious A.D., as one wag called it in an online comment. Instead of grandiose spectacle featuring at its core a “human” story with Christian overtones, this chariot-and-sandals epic is being sold as Gladiator meets Fast Seven meets Spartacus: Blood and Sand meets Star Wars – with Morgan Freeman's Sheik Ilderim as the Roman Empire's dreadlocked version of Alec Guinness' Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi. Say what you will, the trailer-makers sure know their target audience. And that's not the same crowd that would go check out what's usually referred to in the U.S. media as “faith” (i.e., Christian) movies. One assumes that particular audience segment will be getting...

Jack Huston plays Judah Ben-Hur and Morgan Freeman plays Ilderim in Ben-Hur from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Paramount Pictures.

Check out the trailer, along with the first poster, for the timeless epic, Ben Hur, based on the best-selling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ.

Paramount Pictures’ newest version of the timeless classic is one of the most-anticipated movies of 2016.

Will be interesting to see how this film compares to the 1959 classic, directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith and Haya Harareet. The nine-minute chariot race has become one of cinema’s most famous sequences, and the film score, composed and conducted by Miklós Rózsa, is the longest ever composed for a film and was highly influential on cinema for more than 15 years.

The 2016 version’s score is from composer Marco Beltrami.

Ben-hur is the epic story of...

Shout Factory opens the crypt once more, for the last remaining UA and Aip fright movies starring our favorite gentleman of horror. The label lays on the extras, with Steve Haberman commentaries and episodes of Science Fiction Theater. Now where are the Vincent Price cooking shows? The Vincent Price Collection III Master of the World, The Tower of London, Diary of a Madman, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, Cry of the Banshee Blu-ray Scream (Shout!) Factory 1961-72 / B&W Color / 1:85 & 1:66 widescreen / 420 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / 69.97 Starring Vincent Price Directed by William Witney, Roger Corman, Reginald Le Borg, Kenneth Johnson, Gordon Hessler.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Scream Factory now brings us Part Three of its Vincent Price collection, pretty much emptying the closet over at MGM. Not counting his twilight feature The Whales of August every Vincent Price film under the MGM banner will soon be out on Blu-ray.

On February 16th, Scream Factory will release their third home media celebration of a cinematic legend with The Vincent Price Collection III, and we've been provided with three copies of the four-disc Blu-ray set to give away.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Vincent Price Collection III.

How to Enter: For a chance to win, email [email protected] with the subject "The Vincent Price Collection III Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on February 19th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

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Previous Press Release: On February 16, 2016, collectors, classic film aficionados and horror enthusiasts will relish the 4-Disc Blu-ray™ release of Scream Factory’s The Vincent Price Collection III.

On February 16th, Scream Factory will release their third celebration of a cinematic legend with The Vincent Price Collection III on Blu-ray. Ahead of the collection's release, we have high-definition clips and trailers from the four-disc tribute.

Previous Press Release: On February 16, 2016, collectors, classic film aficionados and horror enthusiasts will relish the 4-Disc Blu-ray™ release of Scream Factory’s The Vincent Price Collection III. This extraordinary collector’s set is an essential collection for every movie library and brings together Five Vincent Price masterpiece classics, featuring the first-ever Blu-ray movie presentation of Master Of The World (1961), Tower Of London (1962), Diary Of A Madman (1963), An Evening Of Edgar Allan Poe (1970) and Cry Of The Banshee (1970). Packed with a bevy of chilling bonus content including new interview with producer/director Roger Corman and writer/producer/director Kenneth Johnson, new audio commentary with actor David Frankham, film historians, original theatrical trailers, archival materials,...

'Ben-Hur' 1959 with Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston: TCM's '31 Days of Oscar.' '31 Days of Oscar': 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Ben-Hur' are in, Paramount stars are out Today, Feb. 1, '16, Turner Classic Movies is kicking off the 21st edition of its “31 Days of Oscar.” While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being vociferously reviled for its “lack of diversity” – more on that appallingly myopic, self-serving, and double-standard-embracing furore in an upcoming post – TCM is celebrating nearly nine decades of the Academy Awards. That's the good news. The disappointing news is that if you're expecting to find rare Paramount, Universal, or Fox/20th Century Fox entries in the mix, you're out of luck. So, missing from the TCM schedule are, among others: Best Actress nominees Ruth Chatterton in Sarah and Son, Nancy Carroll in The Devil's Holiday, Claudette Colbert in Private Worlds. Unofficial Best Actor...

February may be the shortest month of the year, but the major streaming sites certainly haven't used that as an excuse to slack off. Perhaps motivated by the imminent Leap Day, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime are unleashing an absolute blizzard of new titles over the next four weeks — from a martial-arts sequel 16 years in the making, to a note-perfect new comedy series that's arriving just in time to cure (or inflame) those post-Valentine's Day blues. Here are our top 10 picks for what to watch in the next 29 days.

11.22.63 (Hulu,...

Vincent Price fans have seen Scream Factory distribute two collections honoring the horror legend, and now they're about to witness a third. On February 16th, Scream Factory will release The Vincent Price Collection III, a four-disc tribute to Price containing five of his films and an abundance of bonus features:

Press Release: On February 16, 2016, collectors, classic film aficionados and horror enthusiasts will relish the 4-Disc Blu-ray™ release of Scream Factory’s The Vincent Price Collection III. This extraordinary collector’s set is an essential collection for every movie library and brings together Five Vincent Price masterpiece classics, featuring the first-ever Blu-ray movie presentation of Master Of The World (1961), Tower Of London (1962), Diary Of A Madman (1963), An Evening Of Edgar Allan Poe (1970) and Cry Of The Banshee (1970). Packed with a bevy of chilling bonus content including new interview with producer/director Roger Corman and writer/producer/director Kenneth Johnson, new audio commentary with actor David Frankham,...

Ramon Novarro: 'Ben-Hur' 1925 star. 'Ben-Hur' on TCM: Ramon Novarro in most satisfying version of the semi-biblical epic Christmas 2015 is just around the corner. That's surely the reason Turner Classic Movies presented Fred Niblo's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ last night, Dec. 20, '15, featuring Carl Davis' magnificent score. Starring Ramon Novarro, the 1925 version of Ben-Hur became not only the most expensive movie production,[1] but also the biggest worldwide box office hit up to that time.[2] Equally important, that was probably the first instance when the international market came to the rescue of a Hollywood mega-production,[3] saving not only Ben-Hur from a fate worse than getting trampled by a runaway chariot, but also the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which could have been financially strangled at birth had the epic based on Gen. Lew Wallace's bestseller been a commercial bomb. The convoluted making of 'Ben-Hur,' as described...

When I was a kid, I used to love a scary movie. I remember catching the original The Haunting (1963) one night on Channel 9’s Million Dollar Movie when I was home alone. Before it was over, I had every light in the house on. When my mother got home she was screaming she’d been able to see the house glowing from two blocks away. The only thing screaming louder than her was the electricity meter.

That was something of an accomplishment, scaring me like that. Oh, it’s not that I was hard to scare (I still don’t like going down into a dark cellar). But, in those days, the movies didn’t have much to scare you with. Back as far as the 50s, you might find your odd dismemberment and impaling, even an occasional decapitation, but, generally, the rule of the day was restraint. Even those rare dismemberments,...

Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...

'The Fixer' movie with Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde and Ian Holm (background) 'The Fixer' movie review: 1968 anti-Semitism drama wrecked by cast, direction, and writing In 1969, director John Frankenheimer declared that he felt "better about The Fixer than anything I've ever done in my life." Considering Frankenheimer's previous output – Seven Days in May, the much admired The Manchurian Candidate – it is hard to believe that the director was being anything but a good P.R. man for his latest release. Adapted from Bernard Malamud's National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (itself based on the real story of Jewish brick-factory worker Menahem Mendel Beilis), The Fixer is an overlong, overblown, and overwrought contrivance that, albeit well meaning, carelessly misuses most of the talent involved while sadistically abusing the patience – and at times the intelligence – of its viewers. John Frankenheimer overindulges in 1960s kitsch John Frankenheimer...

Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson on the Oscars' Red Carpet Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson at the Academy Awards Eli Wallach and wife Anne Jackson are seen above arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The 95-year-old Wallach had received an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2010. See also: "Doris Day Inexplicably Snubbed by Academy," "Maureen O'Hara Honorary Oscar," "Honorary Oscars: Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo Among Rare Women Recipients," and "Hayao Miyazaki Getting Honorary Oscar." Delayed film debut The Actors Studio-trained Eli Wallach was to have made his film debut in Fred Zinnemann's Academy Award-winning 1953 blockbuster From Here to Eternity. Ultimately, however, Frank Sinatra – then a has-been following a string of box office duds – was cast for a pittance, getting beaten to a pulp by a pre-stardom Ernest Borgnine. For his bloodied efforts, Sinatra went on...

Ben-hur is returning to the big screen!

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Paramount Pictures announced today that principal photography has begun on Ben-hur starring Jack Huston (“American Hustle”) as Judah Ben-Hur, Morgan Freeman (“The Shawshank Redemption”) as Ilderim, Toby Kebbell (“Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes”) as Messala and Nazanin Boniadi (“Homeland”) as Esther.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) and written by Keith Clarke (“The Way Back”) and John Ridley (“12 Years A Slave”), the film is based on Lew Wallace’s epic novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ.

The epic 1959 film was directed by William Wyler and starred Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Sam Jaffe and Hugh Griffith. It won 11 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The magnificent score is by composer Miklós Rózsa.

Watch the trailer Here.

The producers are Sean Daniel (“The Mummy” franchise), Mark Burnett (“Son Of God”), Joni Levin (“The Way Back...

Jack Huston cast in 'Ben-Hur' remake? 'Boardwalk Empire' actor to follow in the footsteps of Ramon Novarro and Charlton Heston Jack Huston, best known for playing World War I veteran-turned-bootlegger-cum-assassin Richard Harrow in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, may star in the latest Ben-Hur "remake," to be jointly produced by Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. I have "remake" between quotes because officially this fourth big-screen version of the semi-biblical epic (more on that below) isn't an actual remake of either the multiple Oscar-winning 1959 Ben-Hur or its 1925 predecessor, but a direct adaptation of former Civil War general Lew Wallace's 1880 bestselling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which happens to be conveniently in the public domain. Timur Bekmambetov, whose credits include the Angelina Jolie-James McAvoy thriller Wanted and the supernatural cult classic Night Watch, has been attached as director of what is in fact A Tale...

Director Robert Fuest’s grisly black comedy is a sumptuously produced bit of pulp hokum as well as a gruesomely satiric salute to the career of its star, Vincent Price. Our genial anti-hero plays Anton Phibes, a crazed physician seeking revenge on the doctors who (he believes) allowed his wife to die in the aftermath of a car accident. This 1971 film is a riff on 1949’s like-minded "Kind Hearts and Coronets" in which a number of eccentric characters are gleefully extinguished in the most garish manner possible. The picturesque supporting cast of victims includes Joseph Cotten, Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith.