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Stars: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean | Written by J.D. Zeik, David Mamet | Directed by John Frankenheimer

Ronin, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Robert De Niro, presents a tense and exhilarating ride through the streets of Europe, blending elements of espionage, action, and betrayal into a gripping cinematic experience.

Set in the aftermath of the Cold War, the film follows a group of mercenaries, including the enigmatic Sam (played by De Niro), who are hired by a mysterious client for a covert mission to retrieve a valuable briefcase. As the team embarks on their dangerous assignment, alliances are tested, secrets are revealed, and loyalties are questioned, leading to a thrilling game of cat and mouse across the picturesque landscapes of France.

At the heart of Ronin lies Robert De Niro’s commanding performance as Sam, a seasoned operative with a haunted past and a steely resolve.

Exclusive: Academy Award and 3x Emmy winner Bill Conti (The Right Stuff) has been tapped to pen the score for Roselli’s Way, a new biopic on Italian American pop singer Jimmy Roselli.

The film scripted by J.D. Zeik (Ronin) will watch as Roselli looks back on a career, in which he was forever the underdog in comparison to contemporary Frank Sinatra, among others.

Michael Besman, James Deutch, Roger Birnbaum and Mark Kimsey will produce for Emp Productions, along with Spike Seldin and Neil Jesuele of Remarkable Media, and veteran music exec and record producer Ron Fair, who will also serve as music supervisor. James Ivory and Stephen Dembitzer will serve as exec producers. A director is not yet attached to the project, though the casting search for its title character is now under way.

“The story behind one of the greatest voices of his era needs to be told,...

Exclusive: Call Me By Your Name Oscar winner James Ivory is behind a new biopic about Italian American pop singer Jimmy Roselli, who was a competitive voice at a time when Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin were dominating.

J.D. Zeik, screenwriter of Robert De Niro pic Ronin, has penned the screenplay. Roselli grew up in Hoboken five houses down from Sinatra, some considering his vocal talents superior to Sinatra’s. Frank’s mother Dolly privately considered Jimmy her favorite singer. But due to his combative personality and refusal to yield to mob pressure to control him and his earnings, Roselli’s career suffered greatly.

This earned him powerful enemies and in his heyday of the 1950s and 60s led him to be blacklisted from the most important clubs, performance venues and his records banned at most radio stations. Self-sabotage may have hurt Roselli the most. He had a seven-show commitment on Ed Sullivan,...

Robert De Niro picks up a gun once again as a highly paid spy-mercenary-thief hired for a bit of international larceny, the robbing of a courier of some undisclosed secrets of one kind or another. Juicing up a Melville- like stoic crime fantasy with superb car stunt work puts director John Frankenheimer back in the game, with a worthy project.

Ronin

Blu-ray

Arrow Video USA

1998 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video 39.95

Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean, Stellan Skarsgard, Skipp Sudduth, Michael Lonsdale, Jan Triska, Jonathan Pryce.

Cinematography: Robert Fraisse

Film Editor: Tony Gibbs

Original Music: Elia Cmiral

Written by J.D. Zeik, David Mamet (as Richard Weisz)

Produced by Frank Mancuso Jr.

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Ronin is something of a last gasp for the Mancuso-era United Artists (MGM), a lavishly appointed all-on-location major action picture directed by a great...

Evan Handler (Californication) is set to star in a 10-episode digital series produced by Cinelan and veteran film producer Barbara DeFina, set inside the CIA’s terrorism finance tracking unit. Based on an original story by screenwriter J.D. Zeik, The Analyst stars Handler as Kevin Mercer, a CIA analyst targeted by an unknown enemy as he navigates the increasingly murky, dangerous world of financial espionage. The series is comprised of ten eight-minute real-time episodes…...

Chicago – Still trying to get over an Oscar hangover? There’s no better way to deflate the pomposity of awards season than with a wicked car chase. Of course, one of the best of all time hit Blu-Ray this week in the controversial Blu-Ray release of “The French Connection,” but the same studio also released another pair of movies dedicated to automobile aficionados and an animated sci-fi comedy when all the metal destruction gets too much to take.

Two of the best car movies of all time - 1971’s “Vanishing Point” and 1998’s “Ronin” - hit Blu-Ray for the first time this week and the final “Futurama” movie, “Into the Wild Green Yonder” also hit the format. All three of these titles were released on February 24th, 2009.

“Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder”

Photo credit: Fox I was as excited about the “Futurama” movies as much as anyone, but now...

BERLIN -- Morgan Freeman is reteaming with Driving Miss Daisy director Bruce Beresford for The Contract, a $40 million action thriller set to begin shooting in March, independent film fund VIP said Wednesday. The Millennium Film project follows a grandfather, his son and grandson who get more than they bargained for on a camping trip when they meet with a professional killer on the run. Contract will be the first joint project for Beresford and Freeman since 1990's Daisy, which won four Oscars, including best picture, and earned Freeman a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for best actor. Millennium's Avi Lerner will produce Contract from a script by J.D. Zeik (Ronin). Contract is one of a new slate of films that leading film fund VIP has agreed to back through its latest production fund, VIP 4, fund co-head Andreas Schmid said in a statement Wednesday.