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Quentin Tarantino would give five years of his life to collaborate with this late legend. John Waters thinks one of her films is the among the greatest features of all time. Of course, both auteurs are speaking about the one and only Tura Satana.

Late actress Satana’s history is one for the record books: An Asian American trailblazer onscreen, Satana got her start in burlesque (she went by the stage name “Miss Japan Beautiful” as a teenager) and went on to lead the iconic 1965 classic “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” which solidified her status as a karate master in action films.

While Satana’s life had all the glitz imaginable (she infamously dated both Elvis and Rod Taylor), her traumatic childhood in part led to her acting career. At age nine, Satana was kidnapped, assaulted, and left for dead in a race-driven hate crime post-Pearl Harbor in 1948. She vowed to take revenge on her attackers,...

The end of June is almost near, but the films just keep on coming. And that’s why we’re back with another list of the best movies Netflix has to offer.

With just a few days left in the month, we still have several more in store on the mega streamer, including movies Netflix just dropped less than 30 days ago that have already created an online buzz, like Tyler Perry’s “Straw” starring Taraji P. Henson. Additionally, iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock’s legacy lives on with “The Birds,” which Netflix also has as one of its selections.

Between some family-oriented movies to some creepy Jordan Peele delights, we’re laying it all out for your viewing pleasure. Here are the best new movies streaming on Netflix right now.

“Straw” (2025) Taraji P. Henson in “Straw” (Netflix)

Tyler Perry has done it once again with his hit Netflix film “Straw,” which stars Taraji P.

General Hospital spoilers and updates reveal Kin Shriner’s (Scott Baldwin) latest social media video is for the birds—well, sort of! We’re not referring to quality problems or subject matter, we’re referring to it winding up as a tribute to the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds” starring Tippi Hedren.

“The Birds” Debuted When Kin Was A Little Boy In Elementary School

“The Birds” debuted when Kin was a little boy in elementary school, but anyone who follows him on social media knows he’s really into old movies.

As a matter of fact, that movie has another tie to soaps-Darlene Conley, The Bold and The Beautiful’s original Sally Spectra played a part in the movie.

Kin is fond of using a filter on his camera that makes the finished project look like an old, black and white, out of focus and shaky movie.

The...

General Hospital fans have been scratching their heads, wondering where Scotty Baldwin has been. They weren’t too happy when Kin Shriner hinted that the door was closed on him. But, whatever his status is on the show, the actor never stops entertaining his fans. He recently turned a gripe into comedy gold disguised as an homage to Old Hollywood on social media, and his followers couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s Like a Horror Movie

On X, formerly Twitter, Shriner wrote, “The Birds. Hitchcock was right to make [the] movie.” What he was going on about was illustrated in a video he shared. The actor used his favorite filter on the clip that made it look like old, worn-out film. He panned across his car and stated, “I’m like Rod Taylor. The Birds. It’s every day.”

The birds Hitchcock was right to make movie . pic.twitter.com/rhb...

You love thrillers and suspense films, right? Maybe sometimes they even tease into horror, but do not go all-in. If those are the movies you love, you'll adore the Alfred Hitchcock collection arriving on Netflix June 1.

There will be six films total. You won't see Psycho, but you will see Rear Window. Hitchcock made a lot of movies, and he made a lot of great films. Almost all are worth watching.

To help with the ranking below, we used Rotten Tomatoes score system of critical reviews. All were well-liked. All are worth watching.

Ranking all of the Alfred Hitchcock films arriving on Netflix on June 16. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Stars: James Stewart, Doris Day, Bernard Miles and Ralph Truman

Plot: Dr. Ben McKenna (Stewart) and his wife (Day) and son are vacationing in Morocco when a stranger is killed in front of them. Before he dies, he reveals...

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This June, Netflix is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated final chapter of the worldwide hit series Squid Game to the next season of the beloved Shane Gillis‘ comedy series Tires. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Netflix this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the five best films that are coming to Netflix in June 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Vertigo (June 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93% Credit – Paramount Pictures

Vertigo is a psychological thriller drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a screenplay co-written by Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor. Based on the 1954 French novel D’entre les morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, the 1958 film follows John, a former police detective who retired...

Alfred Hitchcock himself is already a Pop! along with Psycho‘s Norman Bates, and now two more of the Master of Suspense’s iconic characters are getting Funko treatment.

The Birds‘ Melanie Daniels and Rear Window‘s Jeff Jefferies are set to join the Pop! line in June.

Tippi Hedren played Melanie in The Birds, making her film debut opposite Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, and Suzanne Pleshette.

In the 1963 film, a couple strikes up a relationship after a chance meeting at a pet store, but paranoia and hysteria ensue when all the birds they encounter afterward become violent.

Jimmy Stewart starred as Jeff in Rear Window, appearing alongside Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr.

In the 1964 film, a bored photographer recovering from a broken leg passes the time by watching his neighbors and begins to suspect one of them of murder.

Both classics are among the Hitchcock...

No Disney watch party is complete without 101 Dalmatians. The 1961 classic is one of the most beloved entries in Disney’s iconic lineup. Alongside Mary Poppins, it also marked one of the last films made under Walt Disney’s leadership, as the studio’s namesake founder died in 1966.

It’s the quintessential Disney film. Its bright animation, comedy, and action appeal to younger audiences. Its romantic subplot and dramatic interludes draw in older viewers. 101 Dalmatians easily cemented itself as the all-ages fun expected of a Disney film. It earned a massive profit and drew near-universal acclaim. So, why did Walt Disney hate it?

Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmatians Is One of the Most Beloved Animated Films Ever

101 Dalmatians is based on a novel by Dodie Smith. During its debut in 1961, 101 Dalmatians earned the title of eighth most profitable film. The canine adventure film has been one of Disney’s most successful series,...

Hollywood has long been fascinated with the concept of time travel. Whether it is killer cyborgs from the future or extra-terrestrials capable of simultaneously communicating with the past and future, we've had no shortage of captivating time-travel films. Often, these movies eschew logic for thrills, hoping viewers are more enamored with the spectacle to worry about plot contrivances. Then again, sometimes writers and directors make too much sense and threaten to put viewers into a coma with their scientific reasoning. Either way, most time-travel adventures produced in Tinseltown tend to leave some sort of mark on audiences, for better or worse.

Don't worry; we've sifted through the legion of titles to determine the 15 best time-travel films to ensure you don't waste your precious time with mere trifles. Grab your sunglasses, hop in your nearest DeLorean or phone booth, and prepare to go on a wicked journey into the past.    

Read...

Disney has created hundreds of cinematic masterpieces with over a century of classics. However, even the best of these incredible stories have some glaring plot holes. And once fans find out about these story mistakes, it's difficult to forget.

While most are understandable as its in service of a more fun and lighthearted story, these plot holes are still big enough for fans to never look at their favorite films the same way again.

Cruella Should Have Been an Original Character

Disney's Cruella was a fun, wild ride, but not everything added up enough to connect to the original to make it a great film.

How Do Anita And Roger Take Care Of 101 Dalmations? One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

One Hundred and One Dalmatians probably has one of the most adorably ridiculous movie premises of all time. In the film, married couple, Roger and Anita, start with their two dogs,...

When most actors win an Academy Award, it's because they've crafted a fully-realized, nuanced portrayal of a character. They've created a person out of whole cloth, bringing them to life on screen in a way that no one else could've done in quite the same way. Understandably, a lot of Oscar-winning performances take the whole movie to do that. However, things get trickier when we move into the Best Supporting categories. Actors at this level are often working with a limited amount of scenes, trying to get a portrayal across in very small chunks that may not add up to anything close to the amount of time that audiences see their co-stars.

In "Conclave," for example, Isabella Rossellini plays Sister Agnes. She's one of the most senior nuns in Vatican City, and as such, she's given a position of power that winds up influencing the course of the Church's history.

Well folks, current event news is ... not great. I won't go into further detail on that, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. On top of that, the cold, dead winter is closing in, which means the sun sets around 4:30 P.M. and smothers us in darkness. Things are feeling absolutely apocalyptic right now, which brings us to the subject of this month's horror streaming column: end of the world horror movies! Yes, let's just jump head-first into the bleak uncertainty of the future by watching scary movies about end times. To compile this month's list, I stuck to some loose rules. For one thing, I tried to limit the inclusion of zombie movies — apocalyptic zombie movies are a genre unto themselves, and I'm sure I could fill up an entire list of them, but that's not what I wanted to do here. Also, since this is a horror movie list,...

Like any other Quentin Tarantino movie, Inglourious Basterds has generous amounts of blood and violence, but surprisingly, one of its main characters, with a long history of violence, only kills one person on screen. After exploring the genres of crime, martial arts, and slasher, Quentin Tarantino tried something completely different and told an alternate version of historical events in Inglourious Basterds. Released in 2009, Inglourious Basterds took viewers back to World War II but in an alternate timeline, in which the Nazis fate was completely different from what history books tell.

Inglourious Basterds follows two plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler, which end up converging at the premiere of a German propaganda film. First is that of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mlanie Laurent), whose family was murdered by the men of Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), so now she plans to kill him, Hitler, and everyone else at her cinema. Then there are the Basterds,...

When Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, released The Birds in 1963, film fans constructed theories about the movie's meaning. Although he alluded to the film being revenge for humans' treatment of birds, Hitchcock remained ambiguous about why flocks of aggressive avians swooped down to attack a population, adding fuel to the fire.

As time went on, more theories arose, linking the film to Sigmund Freud's psychology, female sexuality, humans' overall lack of respect for the environment, and more. There's also an undercurrent throughout the plot that represents the love between two people and a mother's jealousy. In the mysterious ending, there is no clear answer.

Some film buffs class Hitchcock's body of work as horror. Some disagree and file it under the thriller genre. Like many of his classic films, The Birds sits between the two. However, many agree on one thing: it's a twisted, chilling, and disturbing piece...

As the nights grow longer and the air turns crisp, it’s the perfect time to settle in with some of the best spooky films ever made. From eerie silent classics to modern horror hits, spooky cinema has evolved across decades, yet each era has its own spine-tingling gems. Whether you love atmospheric terror or heart-pounding scares, here’s a journey through the best films from the 1920s to today that will give you chills. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. 1920s - 1980s ‘The Haunting’ (1963) Cast: Julie Harris,...

Horror movies have notoriously been snubbed by the Academy Awards, even though so many scary movies clearly deserved to win Oscars. This has become especially apparent with the power of hindsight, as years later, many of the actual Oscar winners have mostly been forgotten by viewers while these horror releases have endured through the ages. The sheer terror and emotion on display in horror movies were also ripe territory for fantastic performances that never got the accolades they deserved.

Many of the best horror movies of all time came out of awards season Oscar-less, and even though most viewers would agree they deserved the award, it seemed the Academy thought differently. Even the technical achievements of horror movies rarely got their due, as categories related to makeup, visual effects, and cinematography have been continually passed over in favor of more Oscar-friendly films. While its impossible to go back and change the past,...

Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection will collect six of the Master of Suspense’s classics on 4K Ultra HD + Digital: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds.

Releasing on November 26 via Universal, the six-disc set is limited to 5,150. It’s housed in premium book-style packaging featuring artwork by Tristan Eaton along with photos, bios, and trivia.

In 1954’s Rear Window, “A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.”

It’s written by John Michael Hayes (To Catch a Thief), based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to Be Murder.” James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr star.

Rear Window special features:

Audio commentary by Hitchcock’s Rear Window: The Well-Made Film author John Fawell Rear Window Ethics – 2000 documentary Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael...

There's a reason the horror genre has rarely waned throughout filmmaking history: it's incredibly versatile. Whether audiences are in the mood for supernatural stories, slasher films, psychological thrillers, or gore fests, there's a sub-genre of horror for everyone. That also includes fans of high-concept horror premises, whose stories are simple but incredibly compelling.

Anyone who's ever written a high-concept horror film (or attempted to) will readily admit that just because a story's foundation might be built upon a brilliant and unique idea doesn't mean it's necessarily going to work. Sometimes, it can make the story that much harder to break. But when high-concept horror films turn out right, they generally become fan favorites with a shelf life that far outlasts their contemporaries.

The Birds Embraces the Unknown Viewers Never Learn Why the Birds Are Behaving the Way They Do

Alfred Hitchcock is a legendary American filmmaker who made a career...

The new Todd Phillips film is about a pair of Jokers and this week’s film quiz focuses on other movie duos.

They say it takes two to tango, but no one ever says it takes two to Tango And Cash. Why would they? Stupid thing to say. Anyway, October’s first big release Joker: Folie à Deux sees Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker joined by Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn for an all-singing, all-dancing sequel – just don’t call it a musical! And as Warner Bros also announced the animated Robin movie Dynamic Duo earlier this week, we’re quizzing for two.

As always, there are three rounds and 30 questions in total. Once you’ve completed today’s film quiz, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. This is just for fun, but please let us know how...

::Oscar Isaac voice:: Somehow, fall returned. Yes, believe it or not, summer is over, and we're officially in the midst of autumn. While it's sad to see summer go, fall is a pretty swell time of year. Fall means it's time to embrace spooky season, and sure enough, the folks at Netflix are unleashing some scary movies as the calendar rolls over into October. Below, I've highlighted five horror-centric films that will debut on Netflix in October. You'll also get a complete list of every movie and TV show hitting Netflix in October, as well as every TV show and movie that will be leaving the streaming service before the month is out. So let's get to it!

Read more: The 50 Scariest Horror Movie Monsters Ranked

It's What's Inside

"It's What's Inside" premiered earlier this year at Sundance, and garnered rave reviews (you can read ours here). However, the...

It’s understandable that most movie and TV fans remember Maggie Smith for her dynamic work in the “Harry Potter” films and “Downton Abbey.” More recent and far more widely seen in their time, they are worthy examples of her outstanding work.

But unknown to even some of the most knowledgeable cinephiles is most of her screen work before the 1980s beyond her two Oscar wins (Best Actress for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and Supporting Actress for “California Suite”). Her passing at 89 represents a chance to look back at not only roles that conveyed her later brilliance but also, in some cases, present a broader range than what became the standard — though always with nuance and distinctiveness — Maggie Smith role of later years.

When reviewing her film career until at least 2008, it’s critical to remember that she was first and foremost a stage actor. She joined Laurence Olivier...

British stage and screen actress Maggie Smith, the “Downton Abbey” and “Harry Potter” star who numbers two Oscars, three Emmys and countless stage awards to her credit, died Friday in London. She was 89.

“It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith,” her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement. “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.”

In her late 70s, Smith drew an entirely new legion of fans thanks to her starring role in...

Horror films set in broad daylight subvert expectations, building suspense in unexpected contexts. Daylit terror scenes reveal our fear of what could be hiding in plain sight, not just the dark. The starkness of daylight horror scenes, from beaches to playgrounds, leaves viewers on edge.

While the horror genre is almost universally associated with things that go bump in the night, many directors have flipped this particular script on its head, subverting expectations with the starkness of the horrors they offer and in these cases, more is usually more. These scenes of day lit terror provide directors with room to play, building suspense through a particular context rather than a lack thereof.

This way, through gory or shocking scenes on beautiful beaches, lush meadows, or childrens playgrounds, the best horror films set during business hours remind us that what we really fear in the genre isnt the dark, but what could be hiding in it.

Some of the best movies feature the most unforgettable characters. These utterly endearing individuals immediately capture the interests of viewers, whisking them away on a fantastic journey to another world or time. This makes a character's introduction in a cinematic screenplay one of the most important scenes in a movie, as an audience's first impressions can greatly influence whether they enjoy observing the person's story.

These incredible opening sequences for their respective heroes and villains do an excellent job of establishing why they should be admired or feared. These movie personalities established a large presence from the very start, assuring audiences that they would wish to stick around for their respective features. They are a major contributor to their movies' eventual success stories, hooking viewers from the very start.

Cruella De Vil (101 Dalmatians) Is A Repugnant Presence

101 Dalmatians (1961) AnimationAdventure Where to Watch

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Midsommar (A24), Nope (Universal Pictures), Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Hewitt house (Shutterstock), Pearl (A24)Graphic: The A.V. Club

There’s an old adage in horror: The less you show a monster, the scarier it is. Horror filmmakers are, by necessity, skilled at using darkness and shadows to creep out audiences.

Stars: Aston McAuley, Sophie Simnett, Jason Flemyng, Johanna Harlin, Raza Jaffrey, Shervin Alenabi | Written by Ben Sztajnkrycer | Directed by Renny Harlin

Renny Harlin’s career has come full circle, from low-budget horror and action films like Born American and Prison through blockbusters such as Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger before reverting back to budget-minded films like The Bricklayer and this film, Refuge. This time around, he’s bringing the horrors of war back home as a soldier’s encounter with the unexplained threatens the lives of everyone around him.

Sergeant Rick Pedroni is serving somewhere in Afghanistan when his unit takes a group of Taliban prisoner. Questioned about a nearby cave, they say there’s no more of them in there, in fact, none of them would go in there. Rick volunteers to check it out.

This sets off a long flashback to he and Kate’s wedding day. By...

Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic "The Birds" is a staple of Hollywood cinema, and it had to age a bit to earn its spot in the canon. The film only earned one Oscar nomination for special effects, but it is easily one of the most well-remembered works in the accomplished director's oeuvre. Almost half a century has passed since the film's release and many of its main actors are no longer with us. Most of them went on to have storied careers, some of them were already established figures of the entertainment industry, but unfortunately only two of them are still alive today.

Her character Melanie barely survives "The Birds," but Tippi Hedren is one of two stars in the film that has lived to see the 2020s. Hedren worked with Hitchcock again on his thriller "Marnie," but did not have much of a career afterwards. She did go on to...

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds has become such an acknowledged classic and even cultural touchstone that it is easy to forget how revolutionary it was upon its 1963 release. For the Master of Suspense himself, it was a departure in many ways from his previous work while still a testament to his craft and devotion to “pure cinema.” It all but single-handedly created, or at least redefined, an enduring horror subgenre—the animal attack film. Finally, in creating this subgenre, The Birds explores themes of humankind’s place in the world and the unpredictable power of nature. It is also a particularly meaningful film for me as it was my first Hitchcock film and was introduced to me by my grandmother, who was a great fan of classic cinema in general and Alfred Hitchcock in particular. I saw the film during a memorable stay at her home when I was around...

Elizabeth Taylor's iconic career spanned over four decades, with some of her standout films including "National Velvet" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Taylor's performances in "Cleopatra" and "A Place in the Sun" showcased her versatility and talent, earning her critical acclaim and recognition. Her portrayal of Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is considered her best performance, displaying her ability to convey raw emotion and complexity on-screen.

When thinking about iconic actresses of the Hollywood's Golden Age, countless names might come to mind, however, Elizabeth Taylor will inevitably be one of them. The British-American actress dominated screens for over forty years in roles that have become ingrained in popular culture forever. Additionally, Taylor awed the world with her scandalous personal life, including her eight marriages to seven different men. Though Taylor starred in an abundance of important projects, and in a way, made them important just by starring in them,...

The cinema of science fiction began to mature in the 1950s, concurrent with the arrival of the Cold War and the Atomic Age, as well as the growing sophistication of the literature. But it was during the 1960s that the genre really began to expand in different directions, still heavily influenced by the ideological paranoia and existential dread of the previous decade, but finding even more distinctive expressions of it.

At the same time, the 1960s was also the decade in which sci-fi movies truly started to become event films, not just B-movies and drive-in fodder, as evidenced by the likes of landmarks like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes, both released in 1968. There were other successes as well, some of them on our list below, but a lot of remarkable sci-fi films of the era did not initially score with critics, audiences, or either. Yet nuclear terror,...

Fathom Events unearths a creepy lineup of tricks and treats this Halloween season, as Fathom Fright Fest rises again—terrorizing theaters nationwide beginning on Sunday, September 3.

Featured in this year’s event are two upcoming Screambox Original horror movies, the horror-comedy Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls and creature feature Shaky Shivers, which are joined by a pair of classics from horror mastermind John Carpenter plus The Exorcist, House of 1000 Corpses, and Hitchcock’s The Birds!

Tickets for the Fathom Fright Fest films will be available for purchase via the Fathom Events website. Make sure to sign up with your email so you’re alerted when they go up for grabs!

The complete 2023 Fright Fest Lineup is as follows (all times local)…

“They Live” 35th Anniversary

Fathom celebrates 35 years of this poignant classic from renowned director John Carpenter. “They Live” stars wrestling icon Roddy Piper as a...

To those who don’t obsessively watch TCM, or generally eschew movies made before 1980, Rock Hudson is little more than a factoid, best remembered for his sexuality than for the movies he made. And yet, while Hudson today is known as a gay man, it was something that he did his best to keep hidden and, as Stephen Kijak lays out towards the end of his HBO documentary, would have taken to the grave if he could have.

“Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” is in the vein of other prominent documentaries aimed at telling the real story behind the Old Hollywood façade, including HBO’s most recent “The Last Movie Stars.” The revelations within the documentary’s 104-minute runtime aren’t revolutionary, but seek to give viewers an authentic look at a man whose life so often was swathed in artifice.

It’s impossible to underscore Hudson’s appeal...

Jim Brown, the NFL titan who appeared in “The Dirty Dozen,” many Blaxploitation films plus Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday,” “The Running Man,” Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks” and Spike Lee’s “He Got Game,” to name a few, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 87.

His wife Monique posted the news of his death on Instagram, saying, “He passed peacefully last night at our L.A. home.”

In nine extraordinary seasons as a fullback with the Cleveland Browns, Brown set an array of NFL records. In 2002, The Sporting News named him the greatest professional football player ever. That phenomenal athleticism and a charismatic personality made him bankable as the first African American action star.

“On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Monique and their family,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Jim Brown was a gifted athlete — one of the most dominant players to...

Lisa Montell, a starlet in the 1950s and ’60s who appeared in such films as World Without End opposite Rod Taylor and Ten Thousand Bedrooms alongside Dean Martin, has died. She was 89.

Montell died March 7 in Southern California Hospital at Van Nuys of heart problems and sepsis, her daughter, Shireen Janti, told The Hollywood Reporter.

A native of Poland, Montell portrayed characters of various ethnicities during her career. In Naked Paradise (1957) and She Gods of Shark Reef (1958), directed back-to-back in Kauai by Roger Corman, she played Hawaiians.

She also showed up on several TV Westerns, including The Gene Autry Show, Broken Arrow, Tales of Wells Fargo, Colt .45, Have Gun — Will Travel, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, Bat Masterson and Maverick.

In the sci-fi feature World Without End (1956), written and directed by Edward Bernds, Montell portrayed a woman on Earth in the 26th century, hundreds of years after a devastating atomic war, who...

After the release of his 1960 masterpiece “Psycho,” Alfred Hitchcock received an irate letter from someone saying his daughter refused to take a bath after seeing Henri Clouzot’s 1955 thriller “Les Diaboliques,” which features a horrifying murder in a bathtub. And now she wouldn’t take a shower because of “Psycho.” What was he to do? Hitchcock wrote back the fuming father in his typical succinct and macabre style telling him to “send her to the dry cleaners.”

Undoubtedly, he received a lot of angry missives who saw his next film, “The Birds,” which celebrates the 60th anniversary of its release on March 28. In what is considered the Master of Suspense’s only horror film, “The Birds” finds feathered friends on the attack for no apparent reason. Let’s face it, six decades later if you see a large flock of birds gathering on a school’s jungle gym or malevolently peering down from trees,...

Ed Fury, a 1951 Mr. Muscle Beach winner who became one of the most successful male physique models of the era before launching a swords & sandal film career that rivaled the genre’s leading man Steve Reeves, has died at his California home. He was 94.

His death on February 24 was announced this week by his wife and family friends. A cause of death has not been specified.

Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story David Lindley Dies: Session Star And Multi-Instrumentalist With Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan Was 78 Related Story Jay Weston Dies: 'Lady Sings The Blues' Producer Who Gave Al Pacino Broadway Break Was 93

Born Edmund Holovchik in New York on June 6, 1928, Fury began lifting weights as a high school wrestler before moving to Southern California in the late 1940s, where he soon found his place among the Santa Monica Muscle Beach bodybuilding set. He began...

Ed Fury, the Muscle Beach bodybuilder who starred as the mighty warrior Ursus in three Italian “sword and sandal” epics, has died. He was 94.

Fury died Feb. 24 at his home in Woodland Hills, his wife, Shelly, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In 1953 alone, Fury appeared uncredited in seven films, including Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Dangerous When Wet, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Island in the Sky and The Eddie Cantor Story.

Later, he showed up in The Country Girl (1954), Athena (1954), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), Hell and High Water (1954), Female on the Beach (1955), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), Raw Edge (1956), Bus Stop (1956), South Pacific (1958) and The Wild Women of Wongo (1958).

After he auditioned for Joshua Logan and landed a role on Broadway in the 1954-56 musical Fanny, Italian film producers in the audience visited him backstage and signed him to a contract.

Fury appeared opposite Rod Taylor in the Italian comedy Colossus...

It’s a wonder that Gerard Butler is able to purchase any insurance. After all, bad things seem to happen to him, or at least his screen persona, all the time. Whether he’s playing a Secret Service agent or an Everyman, Butler can’t seem to avoid getting in more tight spots than anyone since Bruce Willis’ John McClane. In his newest film, Plane, Butler plays an airline pilot, so you can rest assured that his flight is not going to go smoothly.

Fortunately for moviegoers, the veteran Scottish actor is an engaging, charismatic presence, and Plane is the sort of breathlessly paced suspenser that barely leaves a moment for audiences to stop suspending their disbelief.

The film dispenses with backstory, save for a brief introductory phone conversation between pilot Brodie Torrance (Butler) and his teenage daughter (Haleigh Hekking) as he’s rushing through airport security. It’s New Year’s Eve,...

The mean-spirited children’s books of Roald Dahl have, rather oddly, become indelible classics. That’s probably because Dahl — a former British espionage agent, and writer of even grimmer short stories for adults — was under no illusion that childhood was a wonderful time.

Books like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and “The Witches” confirm what most children already suspected: that adults have a general disdain for kids, and that if kids were going to survive, they’d have to save themselves. At their best, adaptations of Dahl’s work capture that cynical spirit. At their worst, they fall prey to Dahl’s basest instincts, an unfortunate tendency towards bigoted portrayals and unhealthy themes.

When exploring every Roald Dahl movie, however, you can’t stop at the kids’ films. Dahl was also a screenwriter who adapted the works of other authors to the big screen, and not every filmmaker was...

Director Luca Guadagnino discusses a few of his favorite films with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Bones And All (2022)

A Bigger Splash (2015)

Suspiria (2018)

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Apocalypse Now (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

Amarcord (1973) – Bernard Rose’s trailer commentary

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Jason And The Argonauts (1963) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review

After Hours (1985) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Nashville (1975) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Dan Perri’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

Journey To Italy (1954)

Empire Of The Sun (1987)

The Flower Of My Secret (1995)

The Last Emperor (1987) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

1900 (1976)

Last Tango In Paris (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Psycho (1960) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Suspiria (1977) – Edgar Wright’s U.S. and international trailer commentaries,...

Kirstie Alley, who won an Emmy for Cheers, starred in numerous movies including the Look Who’s Talking trilogy and went on to lead Veronica’s Closet and appear in numerous unscripted shows, died today of cancer, according to a post on her official Instagram account (read it below). She was 71.

Related: Kirstie Alley’s TV & Film Career In Photos

Alley earned five consecutive Lead Actress Emmy nominations from 1988-93 for playing Rebecca Howe on Cheers, having joined the NBC comedy in its sixth season after original star Shelley Long left. She won the Emmy in 1991. Alley also won an Emmy for her starring role in the 1994 telefilm David’s Mother and was nominated in 1998 for her lead turn in NBC’s Veronica Closet. She also had an Emmy nom for a supporting role in the 1997 miniseries The Last Don.

Born on January 12, 1951, in Wichita, Kansas, Alley began her screen career...

Loosely based on Daphne du Maurier's classic horror story, "The Birds" remains one of Alfred Hitchcock's most popular films. The manic action scenes are still a visual feast for modern audiences that have mostly been raised on Michael Bay explosions and the CGI-heavy fight choreography of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When hundreds of bloodthirsty birds attack the small Northern California town of Bodega Bay, it looks and feels truly terrorizing. Hitchcock famously used real birds that actually attacked the actors in an effort to make a fairly ridiculous natural phenomenon appear a little more believable to the movie-going audiences of 1963. 

The abuse that lead actress Tippi Hedren endured has become the stuff of Hollywood legend. In the past, the starlet has had no qualms about calling out Hitchcock for his mistreatment. Nor should she. As the main performer on the call sheet, Hedren was expected to interact with actors Rod Taylor,...

A lot of episodes of "The Twilight Zone" have become stone-cold classics in the 60+ years since the show was on the air. There are some episodes that are pop-cultural touchstones, twist-ending stories that everyone remembers: the monster on the wing of the plane, the one where she's beautiful and everyone else is ugly, the one where it's a cookbook, etc. The most famous episodes have been made and re-made several times over the course of the show's life, reappearing in films, revival series, and even as radio dramas (now available in podcast form thanks to iHeartRadio!).

However, there were 153 episodes in the original run, and they can't all be re-run in primetime on SyFy every New Years' Day. Marathons tend to stick to the classics. Still, there are plenty of other episodes well worth checking out. Even when "The Twilight Zone" wasn't at its absolute best, it's still "The Twilight Zone,...

Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" -- arguably one of the best films of all time -- is so expansive and far-reaching in its story and tone that a casual viewer might miss that astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) is the protagonist. Indeed, Dave doesn't even appear until about halfway through the film, and that's after an early extended sequence set during prehistoric times among a group of proto-human hominids, and then a very long sci-fi sequence wherein characters other than Dave discover a mysterious monolith buried on the surface of the moon.

Dave, however, does get the lion's share of the film's screentime. Dave also has the more "exciting" scenes, like matching wits with the malfunctioning computer intelligence Hal 9000 (Douglas Rain). Dave will also be the recipient of an effable form of evolutionary awareness, allowed to first see space travel as the logical next step in human evolution.

Five Oscars went to William Friedkin’s dynamic NYPD saga based on the exploits of detective Eddie Egan, who envisioned himself being played by Rod Taylor. Instead, Gene Hackman leapt to stardom in the role. The Department, annoyed by scripter Ernest Tidyman’s portrayal of the force, canned Egan seven hours before he was to sign his retirement papers!

The post The French Connection appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

I started my new essay film, It’s a Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie, Zabriskie Point, with an attractive if patently absurd proposition. I was convinced that one could seamlessly edit together Antonioni’s Zabriskie Point with Stanley Kramer’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Imagine situating Daria Halprin, Mark Frechette, and their “dirty hippie” friends in California desert landscapes next to Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Jonathan Winters, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, and the rest of that legendary cast.

One narrative universe, with just a little editing room hocus-pocus!

There are lots of highlights, but to whet your appetite: University radical Mark Frechette flies his stolen aircraft right past the one piloted by Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett as they spin out of control. Daria Halprin ignores a hitchhiking Jonathan Winters. Milton Berle leaps right into a cascade of amorous sand-covered bodies. Spencer Tracy and Daria Halprin in a torrid extramarital affair.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actress Yvette Mimieux passed away on Tuesday from natural causes. She was 80 years old. Mimieux rose to fame starring opposite Rod Taylor in George Pal's 1960 screen adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine". Prominent roles in major films soon followed and she won acclaim for her abilities primarily in dramas, although the1960 film "Where the Boys Are" combined comedy with tragedy and Mimieux's star rose further when the movie became a boxoffice hit with teenagers. In 1962, she teamed again with George Pal for his Cinerama classic "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm".  Other major films in which she starred included "The Light in the Piazza", "Toys in the Attic", "Diamond Head", "The Reward" and the Disney hit "Monkeys Go Home!". In 1968, she reunited with Rod Taylor for "Dark of the Sun" (aka "The Mercenaries"), a brutal but well-made adventure film centering on social unrest and revolution in the Congo.

Actress Yvette Mimieux, who starred in movies including “Where the Boys Are,” “The Time Machine,” “Light in the Piazza,” “Toys in the Attic,” “Dark of the Sun” and “The Picasso Summer,” died Tuesday. She was 80.

The beautiful blonde Mimieux made most of her films in the 1960s, but she was also among the stars of Disney’s 1979 sci-fi film “The Black Hole.”

Among the films Mimieux made in 1960 were MGM’s glossy teen movie “Where the Boys Are,” in which four coeds including Mimieux’s Melanie head to Fort Lauderdale for spring break in search of fun and the “right” boy, and George Pal’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” starring Rod Taylor and with Mimieux third billed as Weena, Taylor’s romantic interest, who lives among the Eloi, a peaceful race living in the year 802,701.

In 1962 she appeared in four films, including the big-budget critical and...

Yvette Mimieux was found dead this morning, a rep for her family confirmed. She had just turned 80 on January 10, and she passed away in her sleep of natural causes.

Mimieux was a prolific actress who is best remembered for starring opposite Rod Taylor in the 1960 George Pal-directed film version of the H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine at MGM where she was soon put under a long term contract. Another big hit came months after in Where The Boys Are. Among her other credits around that time were Platinum High School, Mr. Lucky, Where the Boys Are, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Light in the Piazza. The latter garnered her strong reviews for playing a mentally disabled girl and the time she said, “I supposed I have a soulful quality. I was often cast as a wounded person, the ‘sensitive’ role.

She would take a detour and guest...

If you haven't subscribed for Season 17 of Cinema Retro, here's what you've been missing:

Issue #49

Lee Pfeiffer goes undercover for Robert Vaughn's spy thriller "The Venetian Affair" .

Cai Ross goes to hell for "Damien- Omen II"

Ernie Magnotta continues our "Elvis on Film" series with "Elvis: That's the Way It Is"..

Robert Leese scare up some memories of the cult classic "Carnival of Souls"

Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer look back on the 1976 Sensurround sensation "Midway"

Remembering Sir Sean Connery

James Sherlock examines Stanley Kramer's pandemic Cold War classic "On the Beach".

Dave Worrall goes in search of the Disco Volante hydrofoil from "Thunderball"

Raymond Benson's Cinema 101 column

Gareth Owen's "Pinewood Past" column

Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases

Issue #50

50th anniversary celebration of "The French Connection" : Todd Garbarini interviews director William Friedkin

"Scars of Dracula": Mark Cerulli interviews stars Jenny Hanley and...