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Historical epics have experienced periods of immense appeal and long stretches with little action, but many outstanding films in the genre have gone under the radar. Films like "Helen of Troy," "Julius Caesar," and "The New World" are examples of historical epics with strong narratives and exceptional performances that deserve more attention. "The Bounty," a 1984 remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty," is an entertaining classic with an impressive cast, including Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, and features fantastic performances.

Historical epics like Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia are some of the most celebrated films ever made, but there are many outstanding installments to the genre that have flown under the radar. Historical films have gone through periods of immense appeal and long stretches with little action. The 1950s and 1960s offered dozens of historical fiction films, such as Spartacus, Cleopatra, and Ben-Hur. Similarly, the 2000s saw an uptick in...

James Cromwell is set to receive the Pola Negri Award during next month’s Polish Film Festival.

The veteran actor will be feted on Oct. 21 during a gala celebration held at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre. Previous recipients of the prize include David Lynch, Ed Harris, Hugh Grant and Andy Garcia. The festival will feature a screening of the Janek Ambros-directed Mondo Hollywoodland, which Cromwell executive produced. In addition to collaborating with Ambros, fest organizers singled out Cromwell’s portrayal of Polish Cardinal Adam Sapieha in the 2005 TV miniseries Faith: Pope John Paul II from writer-director John Kent Harrison.

“...

James Cromwell is set to receive the Pola Negri Award during next month’s Polish Film Festival.

The veteran actor will be feted on Oct. 21 during a gala celebration held at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre. Previous recipients of the prize include David Lynch, Ed Harris, Hugh Grant and Andy Garcia. The festival will feature a screening of the Janek Ambros-directed Mondo Hollywoodland, which Cromwell executive produced. In addition to collaborating with Ambros, fest organizers singled out Cromwell’s portrayal of Polish Cardinal Adam Sapieha in the 2005 TV miniseries Faith: Pope John Paul II from writer-director John Kent Harrison.

“...

Films complete the Anne of Green Gables trilogy

Following the success of PBS’ Thanksgiving 2016 Us primetime premiere of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Canadian studio Breakthrough Entertainment hsa revealed a new deal with the broadcaster which will bring the second and third installments of the trilogy, The Good Stars and Fire & Dew, to audiences in the United States.

Based on Montgomery’s classic novel, Anne of Green Gables the trilogy tells the story of Anne Shirley, a precocious little girl taken from an orphanage and placed in the care of the uptight Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew. Martin Sheen, Ella Ballentine and Sara Botsford appear in all three films.

In The Good Stars, written and directed by John Kent Harrison, Anne Shirley turns thirteen and faces complex issues with her friends, learns from inspirational adults and experiences an escalating friendship with Gilbert.

In Fire & Dew, written by Susan Coyne and directed by Harrison, [link...

Anne Shirley’s fake freckles have got to go.

Of all the faults in PBS’ “Anne of Green Gables,” these are the most glaring and, well, in your face. The spots stand out in stark contrast to actress Ella Ballentine’s clear complexion, and in each scene the viewer is often caught up marveling at the freckles’ uniformity instead of paying attention to the dialogue or action.

Read More: Rachel McAdams Reading You ‘Anne of Green Gables’ Is Your Fantasy Made Real — Listen

It’s a testament to Ballentine’s talents then that she is able to overcome those distractions and present a very charming, sprightly and chatty Anne Shirley, the literary orphan made famous in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s children’s novels. This ability is in keeping with the heroine herself, who is always melodramatically lamenting her red hair and plain looks but just can’t stop herself from...

Thanks to TorontoFilm.Net here is the Toronto Film Production Update for November 2016, including "Designated Survivor", "12 Monkeys" "The Handmaid's Tale" and a whole lot more:

Register As An Extra For Toronto Film Productions Here

12 Monkeys Season 3

TV Series

Gep 12 Monkeys B Inc.

Prod.: Michael Wray

Exec. Prod.: David Grossman, Terry Matalas

Oct 17 - Feb 17/17

Alias Grace

Mini Series

Halfire Entertainment

Prod.: Sarah Polley, DJ Carson

Dir.: Mary Harron

Aug 15 - Nov 15/16

Anne

TV Series

CBC/Netflix

Prod.: Susan Murdoch

Exec. Prod.: Miranda de Pencier, Moira Walley-Beckett

Sep 22/16 - Feb 03/17

Anne Of Green Gables

TV Movie

Gables 23 Productions Inc.

Prod.: Jim Corston

Exec. Prod.: Joan Lambur, Peter Williamson

Dir.: John Kent Harrison

Sep 12 - Nov 4/16

Black Mirror

TV Series (one episode)

T5 Mirror Productions Inc.

Exec. Prod.: Annabelle Jones, Charlie Brooker

Dir.: Jodie Foster

Nov 7 – Nov 30/16

Business Ethics

Feature

Business Ethic Film Inc.

Thanks to TorontoFilm.Net here is the Toronto Film Production Update for October 2016, including "12 Monkeys", "Designated Survivor", "Taken" and a whole lot more:

Click Here To Register With A Toronto Extras Agent

12 Monkeys

Season 3

TV Series

Gep 12 Monkeys B Inc.

Prod.: Michael Wray

Exec. Prod.: David Grossman, Terry Matalas

Oct 17 - Feb 17/17

Alias Grace

Mini Series

Halfire Entertainment

Prod.: Sarah Polley, DJ Carson

Dir.: Mary Harron

Aug 15 - Nov 15/16

Anne

TV Series

CBC/Netflix

Prod.: Susan Murdoch

Exec. Prod.: Miranda de Pencier, Moira Walley-Beckett

Sep 22/16 - Feb 03/17

Anne Of Green Gables

TV Movie

Gables 23 Productions Inc.

Prod.: Jim Corston

Exec. Prod.: Joan Lambur, Peter Williamson

Dir.: John Kent Harrison

Sep 12 - Nov 4/16

Baroness Von Sketch Show

Season 2

TV Series

Bvss 2 Productions Ontario Inc. / Frantic Films

Prod.: Graham Ludlow, Jeff Peeler

Exec.Prod.: Jamie Brown, Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne,...

Usually I take a lil’ time here to welcome you all to the latest collection of my putrid pontifications, but I don’t want to keep you from the majesty of the image I dug up for our first review, Shock Waves… I mean, it just has it all: a random arm playin’ a round o’ grab-ass, an amused Baywatch extra, and the titanic disembodied head of screen legend Peter Cushing surveying the everglades with a perpetual look of mild annoyance. I wish Blue Underground had used this beauty for their Blu-ray, but alas, they went the more traditional route (for the record, I spent countless seconds—at least 4 or 5—scouring the internet for an image of the box art that was larger than a postage stamp from the bottled city of Kandor). Anyway, reviews!

Shock Waves

Release Date: Available Now on Blu-ray from Blue Underground Written By: John Kent Harrison,...

Rossana Podestà dead at 79: ‘Helen of Troy’ actress later featured in sword-and-sandal spectacles, risqué sex comedies (photo: Jacques Sernas and Rossana Podestà in ‘Helen of Troy’) Rossana Podestà, the sensual star of the 1955 epic Helen of Troy and other sword-and-sandal European productions of the ’50s and ’60s — in addition to a handful of risqué sex comedies of the ’70s — died earlier today, December 10, 2013, in Rome according to several Italian news outlets. Podestà was 79. She was born Carla Dora Podestà on August 20, 1934, in, depending on the source, either Zlitan or Tripoli, in Libya, at the time an Italian colony. According to the IMDb, the renamed Rossana Podestà began her film career in 1950, when she was featured in a small role in Dezsö Ákos Hamza’s Strano appuntamento ("Strange Appointment"). However, according to online reports, she was actually discovered by director Léonide Moguy, who cast her in a small role in...

The DGA, which unveiled the small-screen nominations in eight categories last Friday, will announce the winners Jan. 30 at its 62nd annual awards ceremonies at the Century Plaza Hotel. AMC’s Mad Men received three Directors Guild of America TV nominations for drama series and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Fox’s Glee each got a pair for comedy. The nominations included a trio of season finales in Mad Men, Curb and ABC’s Lost. In the comedy category, two shows — the pilot for ABC’s Modern Family and Glee — also received nominations.

Thomas Carter scored a nomination in the TV movie-miniseries category for TNT’s Gifted Hands — The Ben Carson Story along with Bob Balaban for Liftetime’s George O’Keefe, John Kent Harrison for CBS’s The Courageous Heart of Irene Sandler, Ross Katz for HBO’s Taking Chance and Michael Sucsy for HBO’s Grey Gardens.

Here...

"Mad Men" crew prove themselves that they work with the best. The AMC drama has just received three nominations at 2010 Directors Guild Awards. Three episodic directors, Jennifer Getzinger, Lesli Linka Glatter and Matthew Weiner, will compete against each other in Dramatic Series category.

The domination by "Mad Men" is almost being toppled by Fox's new series, "Glee", which nabs two under the category of Comedy Series. Similarly, HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" also has two candidates under Comedy, Jeff Schaffer and Larry Charles, who are both known as executive producers as well.

"Television directors play a crucial role in eliciting performance, advancing the story and establishing the look and feel in all genres of television," said DGA President Taylor Hackford. "The DGA Awards highlight the most outstanding examples of excellence in television each year, and our 41 nominees in eight categories have distinguished themselves with creative, compelling projects that entertained and informed a diverse worldwide audience.

The Directors Guild of America has revealed its nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television, Drama Series, Comedy Series, Musical Variety, Reality Programs, Daytime Serials, Children’s Programs and Commercials. Despite the shit TV directors get, TV is progressing toward a greater cinematic atmosphere and TV directors are having greater relevance in the medium. DGA President, Taylor Hackford said, “television directors play a crucial role in eliciting performance, advancing the story and establishing the look and feel in all genres of television”. There’s no better example than Lost, which feels more like an hour-long, big-budget film than a TV show. The two-part season 5 finale received a nod, and Curb Your Enthusiasim director’s Jeff Schaffer and Larry Charles were nominated for their work on the last two episodes of the fictional Seinfeld-reunion that took place on the show. Mad Men picked up three nominations for Drama and Glee,...

The Directors Guild of America has released its list of TV nominees.

While usual favorites "The Office" and "30 Rock" are conspicuously absent from the Comedy category, AMC drama "Mad Men" dominates the Drama category with three nominations. "Lost" and "In Treatment" nab the other two slots.

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Movies for Television

Bob Balaban, "Georgia O'Keeffe"

Thomas Carter, "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story"

John Kent Harrison, "The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler"

Ross Katz, "Taking Chance"

Michael Sucsy, "Grey Gardens"

Dramatic Series

Paris Barclay, "In Treatment"

Jack Bender, "Lost"

Jennifer Getzinger, "Mad Men"

Lesli Linka Glatter, "Mad Men"

Matthew Weiner, "Mad Men"

Comedy Series

Paris Barclay, "Glee"

Larry Charles, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

Ryan Murphy, "Glee"

Jeff Schaffer, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

Jason Winer, "Modern Family"

Musical Variety

Joel Gallen, "The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert"

Roger Goodman, "81st Annual Academy Awards"

Louis Horvitz,...

The Directors Guild of America on Friday announced its annual TV noms, which featured multiple mentions for "Mad Men," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Glee."

For the second time in three years, Paris Barclay landed two DGA nominations.

Barclay, a winner in 1998 for "NYPD Blue," was nominated in the drama series category for the "Gina: Week 4" episode of HBO's "In Treatment" and the comedy field for the "Wheels" episode of Fox's "Glee."

In 2008, he was nominated for "In Treatment" and Showtime comedy "Weeds."

AMC's awards powerhouse "Mad Men" was the most nominated program with three noms in the drama series category: to creator Matthew Weiner for the third-season finale, "Shut the door. Have a seat," to Jennifer Getzinger for "The Gypsy and the Hobo" episode and to Lesli Linka Glatter for the "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency."

Resident "Lost" director Jack Bender, nominated for the show's fifth-season finale, "The Incident,...

Anna Paquin has been tapped to star in "The Irena Sendler Story," a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for CBS.

Paquin will play Sendler, a Polish woman credited with saving the lives of thousands of Jewish children during World War II. Sendler, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, died in May at age 98.

The telefilm goes into production next month in Riga, Latvia, for an April premiere. John Kent Harrison is directing from his own script, based on the book "Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story," by Anna Mieszkowska. Brent Shields and Jeff Most are executive producing.

Paquin co-stars on HBO's vampire drama "True Blood," which recently was picked up for a second season. She is repped by Wma and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

Sex and the City co-star Kristin Davis has been tapped as the female lead opposite Matthew Modine in the TNT telefilm The Winning Season, a Johnson & Johnson presentation. The film, based on Dan Gutman's book Honus and Me, centers on a 12-year-old baseball fan who finds a magic Honus Wagner baseball card. Through it, the boy goes back in time to the 1909 World Series, where he befriends baseball great Wagner (Modine) and his fiancee, Mandy Henton (Davis). John Kent Harrison is set to direct the movie from a script by Steven L. Bloom. The project, from Rosemont Prods., Magna Global Entertainment and Viacom Prods., is scheduled to premiere in the spring. Davis is best known for her role as wide-eyed, idealistic Charlotte York on HBO's Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning comedy series Sex and the City. Her TV credits also include the Fox series Melrose Place and the telefilms Three Days, Atomic Train and Take Me Home: The John Denver Story. Last year, Davis starred opposite Paul Rudd in the play Land of the Dead as part of the star-studded cast of Brave New World, a three-day marathon of short plays commemorating 9/11 that ran Sept. 9-11 in New York. Davis is repped by Endeavor, Mosaic Media Group's Dave Fleming and attorney Jason Sloane.

Matthew Modine has been tapped to play baseball legend Honus Wagner in the TNT telefilm "The Winning Season", a Johnson & Johnson presentation. The film, based on Dan Gutman's book "Honus and Me", centers on a 12-year-old baseball fan who finds a magic, mint-condition Honus Wagner baseball card. Through it, Wagner visits the boy in the present, and the two go back in time to the 1909 World Series. John Kent Harrison (TNT's "You Know My Name") is set to direct the movie from a script by Steven L. Bloom. The project, from Rosemont Prods., Magna Global Entertainment and Viacom Prods., is scheduled to premiere in the spring. "Winning Season", executive produced by David A. Rosemont, will be the fourth TNT telefilm under the Johnson & Johnson Spotlight Presentation banner. Modine is repped by ICM and Untitled Entertainment.

TORONTO -- John Kent Harrison's "A Wrinkle in Time", an American-British-Canadian co-production about three kids on a perilous quest to distant worlds to find a missing physicist, took the best feature film prize at the sixth annual Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children. The second audience award for best animation film went to Sarah Ball's "Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember," a British film based on the popular handyman character. This year's lineup comprised 17 features and 54 shorts representing 21 countries and 15 languages.

8-10 p.m.

Sunday-Monday, April 20-21

USA Network

The miniseries is officially an endangered species. No more than a handful were produced during the past television year, only a couple of those more than the standard two-night, four-hour jobs.

The reason for this near-extinction? The economy, stupid! But you already knew that. Short of multipronged international co-productions, the cost has simply become prohibitive when factored with the return on investment. So with USA Network's "Helen of Troy" (as with last week's "Napoleon" on A&E), we have the last of a breed: the multipart historical epic that's too big to be contained in a single night. And like "Napoleon", "Helen" scores more or less captivatingly.

Not that the two minis have all that much in common other than that they are larger-than-life tales of love and war. (Perhaps that's enough.) This one features evocative details and great costumes from designer Van Broughton Ramsey (think "Flashdance" with armor and sandals). And while this "Helen" breaks the cardinal contemporary rule by forgetting to have a sense of humor about itself, there is nonetheless plenty to admire about it. First and foremost, scribe/co-producer Ronni Kern paints a sweeping portrait with her words that's sufficient to make you want to come back for Night 2, even if many of the performances are on the rigid side.

It doesn't hurt that relative newcomer Sienna Guillory (she was in "The Time Machine" with Guy Pearce) makes an especially alluring Helen. She's all pouty, come-hither attitude and mischievous eyes, the kind of perpetually troubled lass who would be popping Prozac like they were Tums if this were the 21st century. Of course, it isn't. It's the era of togas and breastplates and a lone woman who had a Face That Launched a Thousand Ships. Just what that line means isn't entirely clear. I mean, is a face that launches something always a good thing?

Digression aside, director John Kent Harrison brings the tale of classic literature its requisite grandeur and scope, which isn't always easy when you've got people running around looking vaguely constipated. The tale is that of the war that's fought over the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, who was born the illegitimate daughter of Zeus (who raped her mother). When your daddy is a Greek god, well, you just know things will never be completely normal. It makes you both flesh and blood but immortal, for one thing.

Helen grows up with this veil of shame surrounding her. She winds up marrying Menelaus (James Callis) against her will and then disgraces him when she has an affair with a hunky young prince, Paris (Matthew Marsden), whose reflection she once saw in a pond. The prince of Troy is Helen's destiny. And while the details always sound silly when described in a review, it flows together well enough and is even plausible in this literative context.

The length doesn't feel excessive here, and the actors all do their jobs with the proper veneer of consequence. There are no nudges and winks underneath the characterizations in this "Helen" that let us know we're watching this through the irony and cynicism of modern eyes. And in properly honoring the material, that's as it should be.

Helen of Troy

USA Network

Fuel Entertainment in association with USA Cable Entertainment

Credits:

Executive producer: Adam Shapiro

Producer: Ted Kurdyla

Co-producer/writer: Ronni Kern

Associate producer: Judith Craig Marlin

Director: John Kent Harrison

Director of photography: Edward J. Pei

Production designer: James Allen

Costume designer: Van Broughton Ramsey

Editor: Michael Ornstein

Music: Joel Goldsmith

Casting: Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins, Dan Hubbard

Cast:

Helen: Sienna Guillory

Paris: Matthew Marsden

Agamemnon: Rufus Sewell

Theseus: Stellan Skarsgard

King Priam: John Rhys-Davies

Queen Hecubs: Maryam D'Abo

Cassandra: Emilia Fox

Menelaus: James Callis

Hector: Daniel Lapaine

Odysseus: Nigel Whitmey

Achilles: Joe Montana

Clytemnestra: Katie Blake

Pollux: Craig Kelly

Paris' Father: Manuel Caushi

Iphigenia: Kristina Paris

Atreus: Edward Mercieca...

TORONTO -- The world premiere of John Kent Harrison's A Wrinkle in Time, based on the classic book by Madeleine L'Engle, has been scheduled to open the sixth installment of the Sprockets Toronto International Festival for Children, which is organized by the Toronto International Film Festival. The event, billed as North America's largest kids festival, will hand out five awards at the end of its April 25-May 4 run. This year's lineup comprises 17 features and 54 shorts representing 21 countries and 15 languages, according to the lineup fest organizers unveiled Tuesday at a Toronto press conference. Wrinkle, a U.S./U.K./Canadian co-production about three kids on a perilous quest to distant worlds to find a missing physicist, stars David Dorfman, Kyle Secor and Sarah-Jane Redmond.

Walt Whitman, on the 100th anniversary of his death, is celebrated in Hemdale's "Beautiful Dreamers, '' a vibrant, if somewhat dewey account of the free-spirited poet's encounter with one of his era's most repressive, anti-human establishments -- the medical profession.

While certain to stimulate the countercultural juices of the aging '60s flower children who embraced Whitman's writings during that cataclysmic period, "Beautiful Dreamers'' will likely find its most hospitable venue as a PBS special or a cablecast.

This 1880s-set dramatic distillation of Walt Whitman's poetry and way of life -- the celebration of one's emotions over rational thought processes -- centers around his friendship with Dr. Maurice Bucke (Colm Feore), the superintendent of the London Asylum for the Insane in London, Ontario, whose opposition to the accepted medical practices of the day -- electroshock, corporal punishment, physical constraints -- attracted Whitman's support. Whitman himself had a brother who was a "loon'' and his playful, loving treatment of his sibling, Dr. Bucke observed, transcended the "scientific'' medical dogma of the day.

While the conflict over medical practices is the film's dramatic focus, screenwriter-director John Kent Harrison sagely uses it as a wellspring for a wider look at Whitman, the man and his works. In movie terms, "Beautiful Dreamers'' is a fish-out-of-water story as the unpretentious Whitman, with his atheistic views and free-love philosophy, is plocked down amid the stolid pillars of proper society: the clergy, the media, the medical profession, the women who tea -- there's not a lot of sympathy for the bearded free-thinker in proper London society. Except Accept in their deepest hearts.

Unfortunately, "Beautiful Dreamers'' wafts off into the soppy, hot-air reaches of traditional movie-ending uplift. Yet, until that forced ascendance, it's a plucky and true tug at the heartstrings. Credit Rip Torn with his crusty, kind countenance as Whitman for much of the film's subtle strength and credit Harrison for his supple blend of the film's outstanding technical contributors: cinematographer Francois Protat's rich, luminous photography and composer Lawrence Shragge's reedy, full score respectfully convey the work and ascendant spirit of Whitman.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS

Hemdale

A Michael Maclear Production

Produced by Stairway Films Inc. in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada

Producers Michael Maclear, Martin Walters

Screenwriter-director John Kent Harrison

Executive producer Stephen J. Roth

Executive producer for the NFB Colin Neale

Co-producer Sally Bochner

Costume designer Ruth Secord

Music Lawrence Shragge

Editor Ron Wisman

Color/Stereo

Cast:

Dr. Maurice Bucke Colm Feore

Walt Whitman Rip Torn

Jessie Bucke Wendel Meldrum

Mollie Jessop Sheila McCarthy

Rev. Haines Colin Fox

Dr. Lett David Gardner

Leonard Tom McCamus

Running time -- 107 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

(c) The Hollywood Reporter...