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Disney's Treasure Planet movie just got an update after a live-action remake was rumored. Treasure Planet was originally a Disney animated movie released in 2002. It was a sci-fi movie about a teenager named Jim Hawkins who stumbles upon a treasure map that leads to something hidden by a space pirate, setting him off on a whimsical intergalactic quest. It is based on the book of the same name by Robert Louis Stevenson The original Treasure Planet featured a talented leading voice cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson, Martin Short, and Roscoe Lee Browne.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, a version of Treasure Island is now officially in development. Check out the quote below:

Michael Schwartz: We’re working on Treasure Island for Disney. It’s an Australian surfer version of Treasure Island, and if they ever make it, it would be so fun. It has the vibes that we do,...

The passing of John Amos has been a reminder of his historic starring role in one of the more unlikely Disney live-action hits ever!

The news that John Amos died in August at the age of 84 has led to some looks back at his long acting career. Breaking out as weatherman Gordy Howard on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Amos took the lead role in the hit comedy Good Times. After leaving the show following a beef with the producers, Amos starred in the Emmy-winning mini-series Roots. 

After that, Amos was a familiar face on TV and in movies, with notable appearances in Coming To America, Die Hard 2, The West Wing, Men in Trees, and more. Yet amid all that, it's easy to forget Amos' starring role in one the weirder Disney films of a weird period.

The World's Greatest Athlete. 

This 1973 film was notable, with Amos in his...

The Cowboys from 1972 is seen as one of Wayne's last great Westerns and has been praised for its authenticity. Wayne's death in The Cowboys shocked audiences, and was a rare occurrence for the iconic star. The film received positive reviews for its blend of adventure and drama, with a bittersweet ending that resonated with viewers.

John Wayne's The Cowboys has been praised for its authenticity and also provided its star with one of his best moviemaking experiences. Despite fronting romantic dramas, war epics or cop movies, Wayne will forever be remembered for his Western roles. John Wayne fronted 80 Westerns during his long career, ranging from evergreen greats like The Searchers to lesser outings like Rio Lobo. Even as the genre's fortunes waned moving into the 1970s, Wayne was one of the few stars still fronting Westerns, including his final film, The Shootist.

It's interesting to track how the genre...

The Cowboys is considered the most accurate Wild West film by historian Michael Grauer. John Wayne's character in The Cowboys hires young boys as trailhands, facing realistic dangers along the way. Despite some inaccuracies, The Cowboys received mixed reviews but maintains a strong 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

A historian explains why The Cowboys is the most accurate Wild West film. Directed by Mark Rydell, the 1972 Western film follows a grizzled veteran rancher who recruits a group of inexperienced schoolboys as cowhands to get his cattle herd to market on time, though the drive is fraught with dangers, including a gang of rustlers trying to steal the herd. John Wayne leads the cast alongside Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Robert Carradine, and Slim Pickens.

In a video from Insider, the cowboy and Old West historian Michael Grauer explained why The Cowboys is an accurate Wild West movie, and also his favorite.

When putting together a list of the 25 Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies, it’s like plunging into a spectacular alternate universe of wit, verve, and style. The director of “Rear Window,” “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” and “Psycho” has a body of work so deep there are endless ways you can parse it: Maybe you could focus on his obsession with mothers, his approach to time, or the way food and painting pop up throughout his films.

But on a basic level, you also run into a challenge with Hitchcock you face with few other filmmakers, full-stop: The Master of Suspense is one of the rare directors to have a filmography with both the volume and the quality to credibly field a Top 25. With what other filmmakers can you do that? John Ford, certainly (Ford had the most films in our recent list of the 100 Greatest Westerns). Godard or Fassbinder perhaps? They...

My Adventures with Superman is one of the most brilliant superhero animated series. Created by Brendan Clougher, Jake Wyatt, and Josie Campbell, the Adult Swim series tells the story of Superman aka Clark Kent as he starts his new job at The Daily Planet, with his roommate Jimmy Olson, and his senior intern at The Daily Planet who is none other than Lois Lane. They quickly become a team and try to bring in big stories so that they can become real reporters while Clark also tries to become the hero he is meant to be. My Adventures with Superman has great action but the brilliant thing about the series is that it isn’t an action series about Superman, it’s a series about a superhero and his relationships as he figures out who he really is. So, if you love the heart, optimism, great story, and fantastic animation...

Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy would’ve had a different actor playing a crucial role in the film. During a recent interview, director Stephen Sommers revealed that he tried to cast a famous Star Wars actor in the film. The character of Ardeth Bay in the film was initially written for an older actor and Sommers tried to cast Darth Vader actor James Earl Jones in the role. The director also considered Roscoe Lee Browne in the role, but both actors were busy with other projects.

Oded Fehr played the role of Ardeth Bay in The Mummy franchise

Sommers then had to rewrite the character to be played by a much younger actor and cast Israeli actor Oded Fehr in the role. The character returned once again in the sequel film, The Mummy Returns, in 2001.

The Mummy Director Initially Wanted Star Wars Actor In One Role

The Mummy director considered...

Colman Domingo is an Emmy winner, as well as Academy Award and Tony-nominated actor, playwright and director. Domingo and Gossett Jr. co-starred in 2023’s “The Color Purple,” one of the late Oscar winner’s final films.

There is a moment that our wunderkind director Blitz Bazawule set up for the great Louis Gossett Jr. and me that is one of my most memorable cinematic moments of my entire career. It is a moment created just for our offering of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.”

The moment of legacy between two characters are shared as the world of the film and its women have evolved past these two broken and harmful humans that are steeped in generational trauma. It is a silent moment. Blitz saw something in one of our rehearsals and leaned into it. He allowed for us to tap into something that only we as Black men can...

Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Emmy for his role in the groundbreaking TV miniseries Roots and an Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman, died Thursday night in Santa Monica. He was 87.

His death was first reported by his nephew to the Associated Press. No cause of death was given.

“It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement obtained by Deadline. “We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

The first Black actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar, Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn. He made his stage debut at 17 in a school production of You Can’t Take It with You and soon would successfully audition for the Broadway production Take a Giant Step, then perform in a star-making supporting...

Laurence Fishburne, known for films like The Matrix and Apocalypse Now, reveals a touching, raw and emotional side to him in his one-man stage show, Like They Do in the Movies. The show, written by Fishburne and directed by Leonard Foglia, opened on March 21 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City.

Fishburne opens up about his acting career, spearheaded by his mother when he was a child. Hattie Fishburne saw talent in her son at a young age and pushed him into the performing arts. In contrast to usual well-known tough and authoritative roles, Fishburne’s performance in Like They Do in the Movies is soft and intimate as he narrates his life to the audience. Though, that doesn’t mean it isn’t powerful.

As a solo performer, Fishburne embodies each person/character that impacted his life and career, such as a Hurricane Katrina survivor, a homeless man and more.

Ellen Holly, the first Black actor to have a leading role on a daytime soap opera, died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. She was 92.

Photo by Ashley E. Jones

Holly joined ABC’s One Life to Live in 1968, in the role of Carla Benari, an actress of seemingly Italian heritage who found romance with Jim Craig, a white doctor (played by Robert Milli and then Nat Polen). It eventually came out that Carla Benari was actually Carla Gray, an African-American passing as white –and the daughter of Llanview Hospital housekeeping boss Sadie Gray...

Ellen Holly, the first Black person to star in a soap opera with her lead role on One Life to Live, died Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. She was 92 and died in her sleep.

Her first roles on television included appearances on The Big Story (1957), The Defenders (1963), Sam Benedict (1963), Dr. Kildare (1964) and The Doctors and the Nurses (1963 and 1964).

Holly played the groundbreaking character Carla Gray on the hit ABC show One Life to Live from 1968 to 1980 and 1983 to 1985. She was personally chosen for the role by television producer Agnes Nixon after she saw a New York Times opinion piece that Holly wrote, called “How Black Do You Have To Be?” about the difficulty of finding roles as a light-skinned Black woman.

Holly was born on January 16, 1931, in Manhattan to parents William Garnet Holly, a chemical engineer, and Grayce Holly, a housewife and writer.

A graduate of Hunter College,...

Almost an entire generation can talk about their favorite primetime soap opera. The ’70s and ’80s had a fair share of these shows, offering plenty to talk about around the water cooler. One such primetime soap was Falcon Crest. It was popular in its day, with a lineup of big-name appearances. Now that Falcon Crest has been off the air for over 30 years, which cast members are still alive?

‘Falcon Crest’ was the most popular TV show in 1981 The ‘Falcon Crest’ Season 1 cast on Jan. 29, 1982 | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Falcon Crest was an American soap opera that aired for nine seasons between 1981 and 1990. It revolved around the powerful and wealthy Gioberti family. The Giobertis owned a large vineyard and winery in California’s fictional Tuscany Valle.

Angela Channing, played by Jane Wyman, is the family matriarch. She is determined to maintain control of the family business and keep her clan together.

This year, “Ted Lasso” made history by tying the record set by “30 Rock” in 2009 for the most non-sketch comedy acting Emmy nominations at 10. Four female and six male performers have been recognized across five categories for the Apple TV+ show’s second batch of episodes. Though half of these men are first-time contenders, Best Comedy Guest Actor nominee Sam Richardson is the only one who joined the cast during the sophomore season.

Richardson appeared in the final two episodes of the latest “Ted Lasso” season as African billionaire Edwin Akufo. He is nominated for the penultimate installment, “Midnight Train to Royston,” in which Akufo arrives in London to persuade Nigerian-born AFC Richmond player Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) to join him in a business venture. His plan to buy a Moroccan football club and eventually secure Africa’s first FIFA World Cup victory intrigues Obisanya, who is then faced with...

In the seven-decade history of the Primetime Emmys, the only openly gay Black man to win an acting award has been “Pose” star Billy Porter. Until this year, the only such comedic nominee was four-time supporting contender Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), but he has now been joined by Best Comedy Guest Actor hopeful Jerrod Carmichael. Carmichael earned this recognition for hosting “Saturday Night Live” just one day after the release of “Rothaniel,” the stand-up special in which he officially came out. Since he is also nominated for penning the special, he is in the momentous position of possibly becoming the first openly gay Black male Emmy winner for writing or comedic acting, or both.

Carmichael’s first “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig took place on April 2, 2022, toward the end of the sketch show’s 47th season. During his six-minute opening monologue, he focused on such topics as being a...

In the lead-up to this year’s Emmy nominations, most pundits expected the HBO anthology series “The White Lotus” to pick up multiple acting bids, but almost none were bold enough to predict its eventual haul of eight. Nearly every member of the first season’s ensemble cast has a shot at the gold, with Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy, and Steve Zahn competing in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor category and Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell, and Sydney Sweeney taking up all but two spots in the corresponding female lineup.

Although 15 other limited programs have amassed at least three featured male notices apiece, “The White Lotus” is the first to net more than three supporting actress bids. Furthermore, it stands as one of only three live action shows of any genre to receive five same-year nominations in a single primetime acting category. This is...

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

His death was announced by his wife Diana Ward.

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

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

The Company...

Eddie Murphy is finally an Emmy winner, having snagged the Best Comedy Guest Actor prize for “Saturday Night Live” at Saturday’s Creative Arts ceremony.

The odds-on favorite the entire season, the star beat out reigning champ Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Fred Willard (“Modern Family”), Dev Patel (“Modern Love”), and fellow “SNL” nominees Brad Pitt and Adam Driver.

See All the Creative Arts Emmy Awards winners

This was Murphy’s fifth Emmy bid; he earned three during his tenure at “SNL” from 1980-84, and a fourth for producing the animated series “The PJs” in 1999. His hosting stint in December marked the first time he returned to the sketch series in 35 years. The milestone episode scored “SNL’s” its highest ratings in nearly three years as Murphy busted out some of his classic characters, including Buckwheat, Gumby and Mister Robinson, for maximum nostalgia.

His triumph extends “SNL’s” win...

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

Cisco Pike

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

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

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

Wynn Handman, co-founder of American Place Theatre, the Off Broadway non-profit company that championed a young playwright named Sam Shepard and cast such actors as Dustin Hoffman, Rául Juliá, Faye Dunaway, John Leguizamo and Robert de Niro early in their careers, died of complications from the coronavirus Saturday, April 11, at his home in New York. He was 97.

His death was announced by daughter Laura Handman.

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Handman co-founded Apt in 1963 with Michael Tolan and Sidney Lanier, and the theater would quickly become a vital player on the New York theater scene. In 1964, the theater staged its first full production: the Obie-winning The Old Glory by Robert Lowell, directed by Jonathan Miller (Beyond the Fringe) and starring Frank Langella,...

Above: Candy Mountain“How much of this film is composed, and how much is improvised?” The obvious question posed by Robert Frank’s first film (coauthored by painter Alfred Leslie), Pull My Daisy (1959), is also posed, sometimes less obviously, by the authored and coauthored Frank films that follow it—an unwieldy filmography that has on occasion become even harder to access because of the unwieldy ways it was financed or put together. To wonder whether they’re Frank or just frank is arguably another way of interrogating their relative degrees of sincerity or subterfuge, non-fiction or fiction, single or collective authorship. And it’s ultimately our call whether any shot in a Frank film corresponds to a declarative statement or a question—something that might also apply to his better known, more celebrated, and noncollaborative still photography. “After seeing these pictures,” wrote Jack Kerouac of The Americans, “you end up...

As long as these live-action remakes continue to make Disney a boatload of money at the box office, they’re going to keep being produced. The public has already witnessed the reimagining of classics like Aladdin, Dumbo, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Pete’s Dragon and more over the past few years, not to mention the upcoming Mulan, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King releases all on the horizon.

One would think that might be enough when it comes to remakes, but one would be wrong. Following the news that both Pocahontas and Chip ‘n’ Dale will be made into live-action features, we’re now hearing that Disney is also planning to give Treasure Planet the same treatment. As with some of these other projects that we’ve reported on, it’s only in the very early stages of development, but it’s said to be on their list of...

Add John C. McGinley to the “yes” column should “Scrubs” ever be revisited on TV. If creator Bill Lawrence is in, so is McGinley. “I love Billy, so if Billy’s doing it, [I am],” said McGinley, who recently visited the Turn It On podcast and current star of IFC horror comedy “Stan Against Evil.” “I’d be very surprised if some variation of that doesn’t realize fruition.”

McGinley said he believed the show’s other cast members would be in — as long as it wasn’t a traditional, 22-episode order. “I don’t think it would look like a season,” he said, noting that most of the “Scrubs” alums are busy with other projects. “I think it would be something different… I don’t know what that looks like, however. A two-hour movie? That would be fun.”

Of course, in this age of reboots, reunions, and remakes, McGinley admitted he...

Michael Anderson, the British director who was nominated for an Academy Award for his direction on “Around the World in 80 Days,” died in Vancouver Wednesday. He was 98.

Anderson’s career began in the ’40s as an assistant director before he joined the Royal Signal Corps during the war. After Anderson was discharged, he signed a contract with Associated British Picture Corporation, for whom he directed five films.

The third film, 1955’s “The Dam Busters,” starring Richard Todd, which was the biggest film of the year for Britain at the box office. The film will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall in London and simulcast into 400 theatres throughout the UK on May 17 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Air Force’s most daring operation of World War II.

Anderson was asked to direct “Around the World in 80 Days” after the original director John Farrow had a falling out with producer Mike Todd.

I saw "Babe" 20 years ago when I was nine, and aside from the fact that it was a movie my grandparents tolerated, here's everything I remembered about it:  -The mice were cute. -Christine Cavanaugh, the late voice artist behind Chuckie on "Rugrats" and Dexter on "Dexter's Laboratory," voiced "Babe."  -It was nominated for Best Picture and Cavanaugh carried a pig-shaped purse to the Oscars. This was, of course, the beginning of my certifiable obsession with the Oscars.  -I was so, so embarrassed and sad at the part where the farmer's granddaughter hates the dollhouse she gets for Christmas. I wanted to reach out to Farmer Hoggett and say, "She's being a brat. I hope you know that, and I hope your feelings aren't hurt." Damn, remember when you'd evaluate kids in movies as your peers? -James Cromwell's face was a long, solemn, Easter Island-type granite block. Strangely,...

Teen-focused sci-fi dystopias are all the rage at the moment, between this month's The Maze Runner, Divergent, The Host, and of course the mighty Hunger Games. But none of them can hold a candle to Michael Anderson's classic Logan's Run, which was made the year before Star Wars came along and changed sci-fi blockbusters forever.

Based on the cult novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, the film is set in 2274, with the remnants of humanity living in a computer-controlled, sealed, domed city after a non-specific apocalypse. 23rd century society is pretty much a utopia: citizens get to shop, take drugs and have sex as much as they like, with the central computers taking care of reproduction and, it's implied, child-rearing. There's just one catch: when you turn 30, you are deemed no longer useful to society and you have to either take your chances in a bizarre...

Tommy Lee Jones makes a Western?! Will wonders never cease? That’s right, the veteran film star and all-around badass gentleman of the plains Tommy Lee Jones has decided to step behind the camera once again for a remake of John Wayne’s late-career Western The Cowboys.

Word has it that Jones plans to direct and write the remake of the 1972 film about a veteran rancher who recruits some schoolboys for a cattle drive after his original men leave him to search for gold. The original film starred The Duke in the lead role, with veteran performers like Roscoe Lee Brown, and newbies like Bruce Dern and a young Robert Carradine in secondary parts. The Cowboys was actually a sort of action-comedy, taking the whole premise with a little grain of salt, so please don’t go looking for The Searchers in this one.

Jones is no stranger to directing,...

Liam O'Flaherty's novel The Informer, in which an Ira man rats on a comrade for the reward money and endures a night of agonizing guilt, punishment and redemption, has been filmed thrice, and all three versions are of interest. Jules Dassin's proto-blaxploitation version, Uptight! (1968), is the least impressive, but does boast fine performances by screenwriters Jason Bernard and Ruby Dee, who take lead roles, and the always imposing Raymond St. Jacques and Roscoe Lee Browne. The climax, scored to Booker T. and the M.G.'s "Time is Tight" (a.k.a. The Blues Brothers' theme) is pretty exciting, once you get over the shock.

John Ford's 1935 The Informer is the most faithful and famed, though its reputation is not as high as it once was. At times the Rko production, with its Max Steiner score and hulking performance from Victor McLaglan, recalls King Kong (McLaglan...

Some acting careers are made by a single role. Think Brando’s Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Robert DeNiro’s Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (1973), Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack in the box office behemoth Titanic (1997).

A similar connection can happen on a more personal basis. You watch a movie and an actor — for whatever magical, alchemical reason – clicks with you. You suddenly remember the other times you’ve seen him or her, you want to know more about what they’ve done, what they’re going to do. From that moment, their name in the credits means something to you.

And in that great, romantic way Hollywood dream-making works, they may not even be stars; never were, never will be. But they are somebody you respond to, somebody’s who work touches you.

For me, Charles Durning was one of those actors. At the news of his passing on Christmas Eve,...

DVD Release Date: Dec. 11, 2013

Price: DVD $24.95

Studio: Vsc

The controversial 1964 racial drama Black Like Me stars the late James Whitmore as a white journalist who darkens his skin and passes for a black man in the deep South, where he encounters a great deal of racism from both white and black people.

Co-written and directed by Carl Lerner, the film is based on the landmark memoir of the same name by John Howard Griffin, who used pigment dyes and sun lamps to blend into “negro” society and gain a true perspective on what it was like to live as a black in the deep Jim Crow south.

Co-starring alongside Whitmore are Roscoe Lee Browne, Clifton James and Will Geer.

Restored from its original negative for this release (it was available previously in an inferior edition but has long been out of print), the DVD of Black Like Me wil include...

Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! Believe it or not, this is one of those truly weird pictures that, from time to time, I wished would come out on DVD. And now finally, as if miracles will never cease,  it will very soon. I'm taking about the bizzaro 1964 independently made feature Black Like Me starring Hollywood veteran supporting actor James Whitmore with  Roscoe Lee Brown and Al Freeman Jr. among others. And it's coming out for the first time, fully remastered, on DVD and VOD on Dec. 11 through Video Services Corp (Vsc). It's one of those classic "what-the-hell-were-they-thinking?" movies which are like car wrecks complete with mutilated bodies.  You...

By Allen Gardner

The Samurai Trilogy (Criterion) Director Hiroshi Inagaki’s sprawling epic filmed from 1954-56 is an early Japanese Technicolor masterpiece, rivaling the scope of filmmakers like David Lean and Luchino Visconti. Toshiro Mifune, Japan’s greatest actor, stars as real-life swordsman, artist and writer Musashi Miyamoto, following his growth from callow youth to disciplined warrior. The three films: the Oscar winning “Musashi Miyamoto,” “Duel at Ichijoji Temple,” and “Duel at Ganryu Island” are an incredible story of human growth, tender love and sublime, blood-soaked action. Not to be missed. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interviews with translator and historian William Scott Wilson; Trailers. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.

The 39 Steps (Criterion) Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 story of spies, conspiracies and sexual tension put him on the map on both sides of the Pond. Robert Donat stars as an innocent thrust into a deadly plot alongside a cool blonde (Madeleine Carroll...

This past August, David Oyelowo appeared in two movies that opened within the same week. On the surface, not a remarkable feat. Except when you consider that the two movies in question happened to be among 2011’s biggest films: The Help and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. They were supporting roles—Oyelowo played Preacher Green in the mammoth adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s bestseller and the shark-suited, moneygrubbing villain in the Apes prequel—but different enough to show his flexibility across genres and charismatic, multi-quadrant appeal.

Previously, the Oxford-born actor, 35, won admirers on stage in the Royal Shakespeare...

Michael C. here from Serious Film for this week’s episode of Unsung Heroes. When Nathaniel first contacted me about a weekly column I remember him encouraging his contributors to delve into their cinematic obsessions. Well, in that spirit, my cinematic obsessions don’t get any more obsessive than my love for this film. I give you The Royal Tenenbaums.

Alec Baldwin’s vocal performance as the Narrator in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenebaums is one of those things that makes a film lover like myself shake his head and smile, it is just so damned perfect. It is a casting decision that can appear random on paper, but which becomes instantly indelible as soon as it's heard. Of course pretty much every choice in Tenenbaums is dead on – from the Dalmatian mice to the briefly glimpsed posters for Margot’s plays - but this choice has always stood...

Following up on Cynthia’s recent post (Here) regarding what TV shows you would you like to bring back if you could, I knew my answer immediately: The Outcasts.

This was The Show! No if or buts about it. A good friend of mine and I still talk and reminisce about the show and the impact it had on us as young kids.

Even once I was speaking on a phone with someone and somehow The Outcasts came up. When I finished, a white guy sitting next to me who overheard what I was talking about said to me: “You were talking about The Outcasts?? God, I Loved that show!” When a show made over 40 years still has that kind of impact, then you know it was something really special.

The western series show was on ABC starting in the fall of 1968 and its premise was deadly simple and effective.

 

The Liberation of L.B. Jones, a 1970 film that examines the topic of racism and inter-racial sex relations in the American South, will be telecast tonight on Turner Classic Movies at 10 Pm (Est). The film, which is not available on DVD, boasts an impressive cast: Lee J. Cobb, Anthony Zerbe, Roscoe Lee Brown, Lola Falana, Lee Majors, Barbara Hershey, Chill Wills, Yahpet Kotto and Dub Taylor. William Wyler directs and Elmer Bernstein provides the score.  ...

(Mark Rydell directing John Wayne in The Cowboys, above.)

By Jon Zelazny

(Note: This interview is also appearing at Eight Million Stories.)

June 11th marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of screen legend John Wayne. Most of the directors who made his classic films are of course long gone as well, so I was very pleased to sit down with Mark Rydell, director of The Cowboys (1972), the epic cattle drive saga most Western fans regard as Wayne’s last great starring role.

Rydell began directing theater in New York City in the early sixties, and went on to television and movies, including hits like The Rose (1979) and On Golden Pond (1981). We met at The Actors Studio in West Hollywood, where he and co-director Martin Landau continue to moderate acting classes.

Jon: When did you first join The Actors Studio?

Mark Rydell: The fifties. I went through the Neighborhood...

"With all due respect to his excellence," says Douglas Turner Ward, "audiences think that black theatre is August Wilson. That irks me when people feel there is only one black view, one black style, one black spokesman. There is a breadth of black writing." Indeed, from the time Ward co-founded the Negro Ensemble Company in 1967, his mission has been to demonstrate how wide and varied that vision is. In its first 15 years, NEC produced such diverse playwrights as Lonnie Elder, Charles Fuller, and Leslie Lee; the company and its productions have won two Tony Awards and several Obies. To honor the company's contribution to American theatre, Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company is devoting its 2008-09 season to several of NEC's best-known works, including Lee's The First Breeze of Summer, Fuller's Zooman and the Sign, and Samm-Art Williams' Home. There will also be a staged reading of Ward's Day of Absence...

As the writers strike heads into its second week, production is slowing down but casting is going pretty strong. What are the stars of past TV shows up to? Read on...

Sasha Alexander (Dawson's Creek) and Danny Masterson (That 70's Show) have been added to the cast of Jim Carrey's upcoming Warner Bros. comedy Yes Man. Alexander will play "Lucy" while Masterson will play Carrey's best friend. Masterson can next be seen in Gregg Araki's Smiley Face alongside Adam Brody (The O.C.), John Krasinski (The Office), Marion Ross (Happy Days), and the late Roscoe Lee Browne (Soap).

Derek Magyar (Star Trek: Enterprise) is currently shooting an episode of Courteney Cox's Dirt series. No word on when the episode will air.

Julie Benz (Angel) is currently in Montreal shooting the comic book-based sequel The Punisher: War Zone. Aside from her ongoing role on Showtime's Dexter series, you'll be...

Every time we start up a commentary track we hope it is going to be as good as the Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh track on the new Warner Home Video Two-Disc Special Edition of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (retail $26.99) is, but 99 times out of 100, it isn't. The Nichols and Soderbergh chat is spellbinding from start to finish, as Nichols describes both his naivete and his acumen as he tackled the project, his first as a film director. They discuss his strategies, his discoveries and his adjustments as the job progressed, and they also speak extensively about the differences and similarities between the story on the stage and on the screen, talk in great detail about the talents of each of the four stars, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis, and even share tales about parties they have attended where things have gone awry. It is a consummate talk, an absolute necessity for anyone studying or appreciating the film, and highly worthwhile for casual viewers as one of the rare instances where the mysteries of filmmaking are genuinely uncovered.

"One of the things I think that animated this movie the most was that here were, let's see, one, two, three, four stage people -- Richard, George, Sandy and me -- and starting with Richard, who was the most awed by it, we were all awed by Elizabeth's knowledge of film acting, because it wasn't something you thought of. You just thought she was the world's most beautiful girl, but you didn't realize how much she knew, and they watched her very closely and actually learned from her, and talked about it. And of course, the main thing that Richard learned, and he talked about it, was to do as little as possible. I have hundreds of thousands of feet of Richard listening in scenes, and he does absolutely nothing but listen. I think that they're actually learning from Elizabeth -- of course, she wouldn't talk about it or couldn't talk about it. Over and over, I'd say, after 'Take 18, ' 'I guess that's it, there's not going to be any more.' I'd say, 'OK, that's great. Thanks, Elizabeth, ' and see it the next day, and it was like 50% better. There was all these things that you couldn't see standing six feet away, but they were there. And then, when I was editing and scoring, I realized she even left some room for the score. She counted on all that in some semiconscious way. So they were watching her, they were learning, and loving working with her, because of the great surprise of her being able to handle all this verbal material."

The first platter also features the informative commentary from cinematographer Haskell Wexler that was featured on the original release (Nov. 1997), which concludes about a half hour before the 131-minute film is over. The black-and-white picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.78:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The letterboxing on the initial DVD had no 16:9 enhancement and a crisper picture, although the smoothed out image on the new release looks slightly cleaner in places. In any case, the transfer was great before and is still great on the new release. The monophonic sound noticeably stronger and clearer. There is an alternate French language track and optional English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Korean subtitles.

The second platter contains a very good 20-minute retrospective documentary about the film and another great 11-minute piece about the 1966 film's impact on motion picture censorship and ratings in America. There is a 66-minute look at Taylor's career from 1975 that combines clips from some of her films and sit-down interviews with a few of the men who have worked with her in front of and behind the camera, a fantastic 7-minute collection of widescreen screen tests of Dennis (with Roddy MacDowall!), a 9-minute Nichols interview from 1966, and a trailer.

Woolf has also been included in the Warner boxed set, "Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Film Collection" (retail, $49.97), accompanied by three MGM productions made during the maelstrom of their tabloid romance, "The V.I.P.s" from 1963, "The Sandpiper" from 1965 and "The Comedians" from 1967.

"The Comedians" has what is probably their hottest love scenes ever, as Burton kisses Taylor's neck with confident desire and pulls her away from distraction with his attention. It is also the second best film in the group, after "Woolf". Based upon an ironically titled story and screenplay by Graham Greene, it is set in Haiti (and was deftly shot, in part, in Africa) where a dictator has begun cracking down on dissidents. Burton is the owner of an empty resort hotel, Taylor is the wife of an ambassador played by Peter Ustinov, and Alec Guinness is a would-be gun merchant. Lillian Gish and Paul Ford (delivering one of the best performances in his character actor career) are also featured, along with a litany of terrific black stars who didn't make the jacket credits, including Roscoe Lee Browne, James Earl Jones, Raymond St. Jacques and Cicely Tyson. Directed by Peter Glenville and running 152 minutes, the heroism of Greene's characters are distributed in smaller doses than is usually prescribed for the movies, so it may take a viewing or two to get used to their flaws and shortcomings, but the movie does convey a novel's sense of adventure in its hefty scope. That, combined with the dense moral explorations that are Green's hallmark and the don't-you-wish-you-were-him/her fireworks of the Burton-Taylor couplings can make very satisfying entertainment if you give it a chance.

The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer is generally in good condition, with accurate fleshtones and solid hues. The monophonic sound is OK, and there are optional English, French and Spanish subtitles. A good 11-minute production featurette from 1967 is also included.

A "Grand Hotel" tale set in the waiting lounge of a London airport and then later in a hotel when fog prevents any flights from taking off, "The V.I.P.s" feels as if it were hastily constructed to capitalize on the notoriety of Burton and Taylor's romantic involvement, even though, within the film itself, they portray a long-married pair who are on the outs, though not with the vindictive fervor on display in "Woolf". The film is mostly claptrap, with Rod Taylor as an industrialist who is in danger of losing his company, Maggie Smith as his overly devoted secretary, Margaret Rutherford as a pill-popping duchess who is in danger of losing her estate, and Orson Welles as a film director in danger of losing his tax shelters. Louis Jourdan is a gambler who has come between the Burton and Taylor characters. Rutherford somehow managed to nab an Oscar for her presence, though it was more likely to have been in appreciation for her efforts as "Miss Marple" and such during the same period of time. Nevertheless, Taylor gives a lovely, delicate performance, and really rescues the movie from being a complete waste of time. If, in "The Comedians", you can see their passion, and in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" you can see their familiarity, than in "The V.I.P.s", you can at least catch glimpses of the starry-eyed affection they have for one another.

The color transfer looks gorgeous, with vivid, crisp fleshtones and bright, solid hues. The presentation is in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The monophonic sound is clear enough to hear Welles' ADR work-it is a real shame he and Burton couldn't have a scene together. The 119-minute program has an alternate French audio track, and optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

The only film Taylor and Burton made that is exclusively about the romance between the two characters they are playing, "The Sandpiper" would be far more compelling if parts of it weren't so snickeringly giggleable. Burton plays a cleric and the head of an exclusive parochial school, and Eva Marie Saint is his wife. Taylor's character is a Bohemian artist, and atheist, living in a nice-looking house that has no apparent plumbing and no electricity, above the waves of Big Sur. When her young son commits a felony by shooting a deer, he is sent by a judge to the school-that part of the story is actually legit, since Family Court often makes use of such facilities -- and in no time at all, Burton and Taylor's characters go from arguing about the legitimacy of religion to grappling in the sand. The film's credits list five different screenwriters, including Dalton Trumbo, and each one seems to have had a different agenda. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who was, by that time, starting to lose his masterful touch. What happens is that as a scene progresses, there will be a cut to an exaggerated reaction by either Taylor or Burton that will be completely out of keeping with the tone of their performances up to that point, breaking whatever spell they had established. And then it will happen again -- a passage of dialog, a look, an expression of emotion-something always seems to pop up to distract the viewer from the atmosphere and drama the filmmakers are trying to establish. Taylor's body shape also seems to alter from scene to scene. The folds of skin on her belly are delectable, but it becomes disconcerting when in other shots she's as thin as the legs of a piper. More so than even "The V.I.P.s", however, the 117-minute film captures the thrall of their shared midlife crisis and awashes the viewer in its foam. The popularity of the films that shadowed their real romance was a phenomenon unique to its era, and quite possibly, now that the world is oversaturated with celebrities, may never happen again.

Like "The V.I.P.s", the color transfer is gorgeous, with rich fleshtones and vivid hues. The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The monophonic sound is fine. There is an alternate French audio track, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, a good 4-minute black-and-white production featurette about making a redwood statue of Taylor that is used in the film, and an 8-minute black-and-white poetic portrait of Big Sur narrated by Burton.

NEW YORK -- A capable, clear and highly accessible version of Shakespeare's most-performed play, this new version of "Hamlet" might seem extraneous considering the plethora of cinematic adaptations in recent years. Originally shown on television on the new Odyssey cable channel, the film recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's enterprising the Screening Room. Still, despite the film's qualities, the small screen would seem to be its natural home.

The film is co-directed by Eric Simonson and actor Campbell Scott and stars the latter, who essayed the role in stage productions at San Diego's Old Globe in 1990 and Boston's Huntington Theatre in 1996. Running a bit under three hours, it is a faithful but abridged version of the text, unlike the full-length Kenneth Branagh film of a few years back. It is seemingly set in the latter part of the last century, on a vaguely Southern-style plantation (it was actually filmed at a mansion on Long Island).

The film was presumably made to preserve Scott's performance, and a fine one it is. The actor delivers an impassioned rendition that stresses the character's deep anger, cunning intelligence and highly developed sense of comic irony, while not playing him as overtly mad. His line readings are utterly clear and intelligible, and he wisely avoids overly declamatory renditions of the more famous speeches.

The rest of the cast matches his tastefulness. Best of the supporting players is Blair Brown, who offers a complex and fascinating performance as Gertrude. Among the other standouts are Jamey Sheridan as an impressively masculine and forceful Claudius; Lisa Gay Hamilton as a less vulnerable than usual Ophelia; Roscoe Lee Browne, who uses his deep, resonant voice to excellent effect as Polonious; and Marcus Giamatti and an unlikely Michael Imperioli as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

The film, which uses extensive close-ups of its leading actor, is capably directed, with the major set pieces staged in brisk and efficient fashion and little stylistic excess. While it offers no particularly revelatory interpretation of the classic text, its faithfulness and straightforwardness will make it particularly valuable to any number of students who will no doubt use it as a video version of Cliffs Notes.

HAMLET

Hallmark Entertainment

Directors:Campbell Scott, Eric Simonson

Producers:Mary Frances Budig, Jonathan Filley, Campbell Scott

Adaptation:Campbell Scott, Eric Simonson

Director of photography:Dan Gillham

Editor:Andy Keir

Production designer:Chris Shriver

Music:Gary DeMichele

Color/stereo

Cast:

Hamlet:Campbell Scott

Gertrude:Blair Brown

Ophelia:Lisa Gay Hamilton

Claudius:Jamey Sheridan

Polonious:Roscoe Lee Browne

Horatio:John Benjamin Hickey

Laertes:Roger Guenveur Smith

Running time -- 178 minutes

No MPAA rating...

NEW YORK -- A capable, clear and highly accessible version of Shakespeare's most-performed play, this new version of "Hamlet" might seem extraneous considering the plethora of cinematic adaptations in recent years. Originally shown on television on the new Odyssey cable channel, the film recently received its U.S. theatrical premiere at New York's enterprising the Screening Room. Still, despite the film's qualities, the small screen would seem to be its natural home.

The film is co-directed by Eric Simonson and actor Campbell Scott and stars the latter, who essayed the role in stage productions at San Diego's Old Globe in 1990 and Boston's Huntington Theatre in 1996. Running a bit under three hours, it is a faithful but abridged version of the text, unlike the full-length Kenneth Branagh film of a few years back. It is seemingly set in the latter part of the last century, on a vaguely Southern-style plantation (it was actually filmed at a mansion on Long Island).

The film was presumably made to preserve Scott's performance, and a fine one it is. The actor delivers an impassioned rendition that stresses the character's deep anger, cunning intelligence and highly developed sense of comic irony, while not playing him as overtly mad. His line readings are utterly clear and intelligible, and he wisely avoids overly declamatory renditions of the more famous speeches.

The rest of the cast matches his tastefulness. Best of the supporting players is Blair Brown, who offers a complex and fascinating performance as Gertrude. Among the other standouts are Jamey Sheridan as an impressively masculine and forceful Claudius; Lisa Gay Hamilton as a less vulnerable than usual Ophelia; Roscoe Lee Browne, who uses his deep, resonant voice to excellent effect as Polonious; and Marcus Giamatti and an unlikely Michael Imperioli as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

The film, which uses extensive close-ups of its leading actor, is capably directed, with the major set pieces staged in brisk and efficient fashion and little stylistic excess. While it offers no particularly revelatory interpretation of the classic text, its faithfulness and straightforwardness will make it particularly valuable to any number of students who will no doubt use it as a video version of Cliffs Notes.

HAMLET

Hallmark Entertainment

Directors:Campbell Scott, Eric Simonson

Producers:Mary Frances Budig, Jonathan Filley, Campbell Scott

Adaptation:Campbell Scott, Eric Simonson

Director of photography:Dan Gillham

Editor:Andy Keir

Production designer:Chris Shriver

Music:Gary DeMichele

Color/stereo

Cast:

Hamlet:Campbell Scott

Gertrude:Blair Brown

Ophelia:Lisa Gay Hamilton

Claudius:Jamey Sheridan

Polonious:Roscoe Lee Browne

Horatio:John Benjamin Hickey

Laertes:Roger Guenveur Smith

Running time -- 178 minutes

No MPAA rating...