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In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s unlawful transfer of hundreds of migrants to a torture prison in El Salvador, the administration claimed that it had no legal authority to bring them back to the United States. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele claimed, in turn, that he did not “have the power” to return wrongfully deported migrants, and wouldn’t even if he did.

On Monday, lawyers for the Venezuelan men filed documents before District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., showing that the Salvadoran government told the United Nations that the U.

It’s not an easy task to stay away from cliches, and I thought that The Old Guard was able to do a pretty good job of it. I say that, because making a film about characters who are immortal, who have been on the planet since times immemorial, and who fight for what they think is right could prove to be tricky. Hundreds of films have been made recycling the same tropes, and so it becomes difficult to weave a narrative that may seem unique in its own way. That said, let’s find out what happened in The Old Guard 1 and go through everything you need to know before the release of part 2.

Spoiler Alert

Why did Copley set a trap for Andy and her team?

At the beginning of The Old Guard, Booker gave a call to one of his teammates, Andy, as there was a man...

Chicago – It’s last minute gift time! Let’s start with something perfect for a Star Wars fan. A long time ago (1978) in an America far far away, the one and only showing of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” took place on CBS-tv. The infamous show is chronicled in a new book “A Disturbance in the Force,” written by Steve Kozak.

The full title is “A Disturbance in the Force: How And Why the Stars Wars Holiday Special Happened” and Kozak takes a deep dive into the history and audacity of how this special came to be … which is of this date still not acknowledged as part of the canon by the Lucas/Disney confluence, even though it had most of the original cast participating and was the first story beyond “A New Hope.”

‘A Disturbance in the Force’ by Steve Kozak

Photo credit: Applause Books

On November 17th, 1978, CBS...

Nothing like a little decapitation to ring in the spooky season! Expanding on one of its most beloved showcases, “Mind F*ck Night” the Lower East Side Film Festival is unveiling a new, three-day pop-up festival called “Off/Season.” The series will focus on terrifying, mind-altering, genre-defying cinema and feature a curated selection of advanced screenings, retrospectives, short films, as well as filmmaker Q&As and receptions, all held at the Alamo Drafthouse, Lower Manhattan location from October 2-4.

In honor of the film’s 60th anniversary, “Off/Season” is proud to present “Strait-Jacket” from B-Movie horror master William Castle. Featuring screen legend Joan Crawford, this “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” follow-up continued the star’s decent into hagsploitation, but has become a cult classic in its own right, with her madly swinging an axe becoming one of cinema’s most iconic images. Castle’s daughter, Terry Castle, will be...

"The House of Quark" intertwines Ferengi comedy with Klingon lore, making Quark the head of a Klingon household as a puppet. "The House of Quark" is the only DS9 episode to feature Chancellor Gowron without Worf, and also the last episode to visit Qo'noS in seven years. Reasons why DS9 avoided showing Qo'noS include Worf's issues with Klingons during the Second Klingon War.

I recently rewatched Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 3, "The House of Quark" and was surprised to discover it contains a big Klingon milestone. Ronald D. Moore's surprisingly effective mash-up of Ferengi comedy and Klingon lore sees Quark (Armin Shimerman) inadvertently become the head of a Klingon household after an unwise boast gets out of hand. To drum up business in his flagging bar, Quark claims to have slain a Klingon warrior called Kozak (John Lendale Bennett), which scuppers the plans of the dead man's...

The greatest love of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Quark (Armin Shimerman) may have been gold pressed latinum, but the Ferengi bartender did have a handful of genuine romantic connections across DS9's seven seasons. Quark was instrumental in changing how the Ferengi were presented following their fumbled introduction as Star Trek: The Next Generation villains. Through Quark, his brother Rom (Max Grodenchik) and his nephew Nog (Aron Eisenberg), the Ferengi characters in Deep Space Nine were multi-layered members of an alien species and not two-dimensional stock bad guys.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's Ferengi were sleazy misogynists who saw women as objects, but that wasn't the case for characters like Rom in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Quark's brother Rom fell in love with Leeta (Chase Masterson), and the two went on to have a hugely positive impact on Ferengi culture. While Quark certainly wasn't above objectifying women like his Tng counterparts,...

Tamara Lawrance & Sharon D. Clarke Board BBC’s ‘Mr Loverman’

The BBC has revealed first look images of Lennie James in its Mr Loverman adaptation, with the likes of Tamara Lawrance and Sharon D. Clarke boarding. Deadline revealed the series several months back and it is a TV adaptation of Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo’s seventh novel. Alongside the previously announced James (Save Me, Line of Duty) as the exuberant protagonist Barrington Jedidiah Walker will be three-time Olivier Award winner Clarke, Time star Lawrance, Ariyon Bakare, Morris De La Roux and Sharlene Whyte (Small Axe, Stephen). The series follows Barrington, Barry to his mates, a 74 year old, Antiguan born, exuberant Hackney personality, renowned for his dapper taste and fondness for retro suits. Carmel, his wife of 50 years, senses that Barry has been cheating on her with other women. Little does she know what’s really going on: a secret, passionate...

20th Century Fox wasn’t sure what it had in Star Wars, and apparently, neither did George Lucas. The director was building up his company, Lucasfilm, and unleashed his secret weapon: Charley Lippincott. He whipped people into a previously unknown frenzy by working the fans at science fiction and comics conventions. He saw to it DelRey had the novelization out months before the film, as well as three of the six-issue comics adaptation from Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin at Marvel. These people were lined up for day one, and the word of the month spread so fast that it endured throughout the summer of 1977.

Before the Special came the finale from The Donny and Marie Show, which Donny discusses on the documentary.

As we learn in the wonderfully entertaining A Disturbance in the Force, a 90-minute documentary from directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak, despite all his statements saying he had everything planned out,...

Chicago – A long time ago (1978) in an America far far away, the one and only showing of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” took place on CBS-tv. Infamously miscast and difficult to watch, the history of the show is chronicled in a new doc “A Disturbance in the Force,” co-directed by Jeremy Coon and Steven Kozak.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

In 1977, “Star Wars” became a cultural phenomenon that single-handedly revitalized a stagnant film industry, and forever changed how films were sold, made, and marketed. On November 17th, 1978, CBS aired the two-hour “Star Wars Holiday Special” and was watched by 13 million people. It never re-aired and is considered one of the worst shows to ever be broadcast on national TV. “A Disturbance in the Force” co-directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak combine celebrity insight – including Seth Green, Donny Osmond and Kevin Smith – archival/participant interviews and broadcast history perspective to understand why this show was created.

Why did George Lucas allow the Star Wars Holiday Special to take place? A Disturbance in the Force does a deep dive into the 1978 special watched by millions and then locked away in a vault, never to be screened again.

“After almost 45 years of being the butt of jokes, we had to unlock all the secrets behind the Holiday Special. Its influence on pop culture has only increased over the last two decades and, also, add the fact that it is a part of the Star Wars filmography – and a hidden one at that – only adds to its mystique. Now is finally the time after all these years to get answers about how the Holiday Special happened,” explained co-directors and producers Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak.

A Disturbance in the Force features interviews with Seth Green, Weird Al Yankovic, Paul Scheer, Taran Killam, Patton Oswalt, and Donny Osmond. Plus, Gilbert Gottfried,...

The feature-length documentary A Disturbance In The Force delves into the bizarre history of 1978’s ill-advised Star Wars Holiday Special. It’s out next month.

Bea Arthur out of The Golden Girls tending the Cantina bar in Mos Eisley. Stormtroopers disco dancing. Kris Kristofferson dressed up as Han Solo for some reason. Yes, 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special offers up such an array of bizarre, fever dream imagery that it has long since passed into legend.

Initially conceived as a stop-gap to tide fans over during the long wait between 1977’s Star Wars and 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, a mixture of somewhat relaxed quality control and 1970s US television conventions saw the special emerge as a glittery variety show rather than fantastical space opera. The results were so jarring that George Lucas has since attempted to scrub its existence from history (though you’ll still find rough bootleg videos...

A brand new Star Wars book is out today, but it might not be the book Lucasfilm wants you to read. A Disturbance in the Force: How and Why the Star Wars Holiday Special Happened by Steve Kozak is a deep dive into the infamous and, at times, life-threatening creation of George Lucas’ folly, The Star Wars Holiday Special. The book shares the same name as the documentary Kozak and Jeremy Coon debuted at SXSW on March 11. The book is now available for purchase on November 15 on Amazon and major retailers.

The question asked back in the ’80s and ’90s was never, “Have you seen The Star Wars Holiday Special?” It was always, “Have you heard of The Star Wars Holiday Special?”

We’re talking about a 1978 air date, after all. Someone must have owned a Vcr, since bootleg copies of the maligned variety show do exist on the Internet (George Lucas has vehemently denounced the project and even Disney has refused to release a “clean” copy beyond putting the animated segment “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee” on Disney+.) But its existence was akin to legend back then. Just knowing was enough to be cool with details being learned rather than experienced.

So it’s shocking that it’s taken until 2023 to finally receive a “definitive” look at its creation and eventual lambasting. Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak’s A Disturbance in the Force thus seems almost like a miracle...

It’s July, so you know what that means… Fantasia International Film Festival time! Kicking off our Summer of film festival coverage, Fantasia is Always packed with a vast variety of films, from action to horror, drama to comedy, the festival covers the gamut of genres and offers films that [I think] no other festival does. With that in mind, here are five of my “must-see” picks from this year’s line-up.

Blackout – Genre veteran Larry Fessenden goes back behind the camera for another genre film following the likes of Wendigo, The Last Winter and Beneath. This time around Fessenden brings us the tale of a painter (Alex Hurt) who, convinced he is a werewolf, creates chaos in a small town at each full moon. Suitable Flesh – Director Joe Lynch returns with his first feature after a 4-year absence to helm Suitable Flesh, which not only stars Scream Queen Barbara Crampton but comes from writer Dennis Paoli,...