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Stephen King is one of the best storytellers of the 20th and 21st centuries, which makes it intriguing to see which movies resonate with him. Many of Stephen King's best books, including The Shining and It, have been adapted as movies, and some have even been adapted more than once. He is known for his horror stories, but he is also the author of the novella that was adapted into the hopeful and inspiring movie The Shawshank Redemption, along with writing the novella that is the source material for the upcoming and heartfelt Stephen King movie The Life of Chuck.

King's taste in movies is as varied as the wide range of stories that he has written over the years. As seen in the best Stephen King book endings, the prolific author knows how to tell and complete a good story, an art form that he recognizes and appreciates in the movies he watches.

Director Kathryn Bigelow has a handful of cult films to her credit including Strange Days and Point Break. Her career reached a new peak with 2008's The Hurt Locker, the film that earned her an Oscar win.

Paramount+ will be streaming The Hurt Locker this November. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the 2008 war drama was critically acclaimed for its visceral depiction of foreign conflict and the soldiers who deliberately seek out and diffuse it. The film follows a bomb disposal team's operations to neutralize improvised explosive devices across hot spots in the Middle East. Tension comes to a head when the team's leader gets killed and replaced by a maverick operative. The Hurt Locker boasts a stacked cast headlined by Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse, Brian Geraghty, and Evangeline Lilly. The film also stars Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner in their first onscreen team-up before Avengers: Age of Ultron.

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Anthony Mackie is currently a leading star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his character, Sam Wilson, is set to play a major role in the franchise’s future. However, the movie that truly changed his career trajectory was Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning war film, The Hurt Locker. Mackie had a supporting role in the film, playing Sergeant Sanborn. However, he almost lost the role due to another “awful” director’s unreleased film.

Anthony Mackie in a still from Twisted Metal | Peacock

While Mackie was held up in the other film, Bigelow approached another big star for Sanborn, only to be turned down by him. She eventually came back to Mackie and his role in the film received critical praise, bringing him to the forefront of Hollywood.

Anthony Mackie Almost Lost The Hurt Locker Role To Another ‘Awful’ Director’s Movie

Anthony Mackie in a still from The Hurt Locker...

A scheduling conflict nearly cost Anthony Mackie his career-making role in The Hurt Locker, but a last-minute offer saved the day. Mackie's performance as Sergeant Sanborn in The Hurt Locker earned praise for capturing the emotional complexities of wartime. Without his role in The Hurt Locker, Mackie might never have entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Falcon.

Anthony Mackie recalls how an "awful" director's unreleased movie nearly cost him his career-making role in The Hurt Locker. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, with a script written by Mark Boal, the 2008 war film follows a bomb squad during the Iraq War who are targeted by insurgents, focusing on their psychological reactions to the stress of combat. Other than Mackie, the cast includes Jeremy Renner, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Guy Pearce, and Evangeline Lilly.

During a recent interview with Variety, Mackie recalled how an "awful" director's unreleased movie nearly cost...

Arguably the best streaming service for the cost, Peacock welcomes a slew of new movies to the platform next month, which subscribers should be excited about. Given the wide range of options available in the coming weeks, viewers will undoubtedly want to stay on their couches and watch a movie or two.

While it isn't a big month for Peacock originals heading to the platform, there are still plenty of quality films viewers will certainly enjoy. From animated childrens films to adult comedies and everything in between, Peacocks May lineup is a one-stop shop for anyone who enjoys watching movies. Audiences can discover new favorites they might have missed when the films were first released, or they can re-watch old classics they love. Here is every movie coming to Peacock in May 2024.

The Hurt Locker Stream on May 1 Your browser does not support the video tag.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow,...

Eod technician Jay Ly criticizes a bomb defusal scene in The Hurt Locker, awarding an accuracy grade of one out of 10. Ly reveals that Renner's character makes a number of mistakes that would probably get him killed, and the entire depiction of bomb defusal is mostly wrong. Ly isn't the first veteran to take issue with The Hurt Locker, and the criticisms raise interesting questions about the obligations that movies have to accuracy when it comes to real-world events.

The Hurt Locker gets put under the microscope by a real-life Eod technician, and the critically-acclaimed war movie gets just about everything wrong. Released in 2009, the film is directed by Kathryn Bigelow and stars Jeremy Renner as a member of the bomb squad during the Iraq War. The movie was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture.

Now, in a recent video for Insider,...

The cast of Hawkeye boasts several new and returning Marvel characters from across the wider MCU. Following the conclusion of the McU's Infinity Saga, Hawkeye takes place after Avengers: Endgame and continues Clint Barton's MCU story more than a year after his family returned from being dusted by Thanos. The series takes a street-level approach to Hawkeye's story and is heavily inspired by Matt Fraction and David Aja's beloved Hawkeye comic run. On top of showing Clint's evolution, Hawkeye also is responsible for introducing his MCU replacement, Kate Bishop — a notable archer in her own right.

Clint and Kate originally get wrapped up in a New York-set adventure after she acquires the Ronin suit, but they quickly realize that something bigger is going on. With six episodes in total, the amount of characters in Hawkeye's cast is quite large. The show primarily revolves around the McU's most notable archer and his sharpshooter apprentice,...

The Hurt Locker was praised by critics and cinema enthusiasts, yet the 2009 war drama was condemned as controversial by veterans. Katheryn Bigelow’s film about a U.S. bomb disposal team in the Iraq War received a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 2009. The exploration of soldiers’ psyches and the nerve-wracking tension of defusing bombs seemed like a brutal yet honest portrayal of war. The Hurt Locker may have seemed realistic to audiences, but it received a mixed response from war veterans, the very group it was depicting.

The Hurt Locker primarily follows Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) as he takes over command of a bomb disposal team, yet James’ actions are reckless and put the rest of his team in danger. Katheryn Bigelow became the first woman to receive an Academy Award for Best Director, and Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie...

Jeremy Renner has an acting career that spans over two decades with film credits that include Oscar-winning works like "The Hurt Locker" and the beloved Avengers movie franchise. Renner began working on screen in the mid-1990s and made his debut in 1995's "National Lampoon's Senior Trip." For the next 10 years, Renner had supporting roles in various films and TV shows, notably "S.W.A.T" and 2007's "28 Weeks Later."

He arguably became a household name following his role as Sergeant First Class William James in Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker," which earned him an Oscar nomination for best actor. Most recently, Renner is known for his portrayal of Clint Barton/Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Mike McLusky on Paramount+'s "Mayor of Kingstown."

Outside of his prolific career, though, Renner has maintained a private personal life, including his romances. In 2012, Renner told The Hollywood Reporter, "I want my personal life to be personal.

Hollywood has made a great many war movies over the decades, and while some have honestly portrayed the horrors and events of war, other films have dropped the ball completely when it comes to historical and emotional accuracy. These movies have either embellished certain events to achieve an agenda or add dramatic flair, or they have lacked the proper research to create an accurate film. All in all, these inaccurate war films have astonished viewers with their lack of grace and honesty when it comes to representing war.

While many war films include false scenes or mistaken details, the following films are some of the worst in terms of inaccuracies. In particular, they have stood out in their genre as notably poor representations of war and battle. Once again, while some of these films are guilty of fabricating scenes, others completely falsified the war experience in order to push forward a preplanned agenda.

To improve the golden moment of opportunity, and catch the good that is within our reach, is the great art of life. — William James

When Palm Tree Crew founders Kyrre Gorvell-Dahll, a.k.a., Kygo and Myles Shear, started gifting palm tree necklaces to their inner circle, they had no idea the massive musical movement they set in motion. Through that simple Iykyk gesture that served as a symbol of community, an entire festival was created—The Palm Tree Music Festival launched in 2016. Fast forward seven years, in Aspen, Colorado,...

Our countdown of the 100 best films of the 21st century continues. This is Part 3 #50 through 26.

Click here for Part 1 (#100 - 76)!

Click here for Part 2 (#75-51)!

The first decade and a half of the 21st century has brought a lot of changes to the landscape of film. The advancement and sophistication of computers has made realistic computer generated effects a mainstay in both big-budget and small-budget films. The internet and streaming technologies have given big Hollywood new competition in films produced independently and by non-traditional means. We went from purchasing films on yards of tape to plastic disks, and now we can simply upload them to the cloud. Advertisements for films have reached a higher, more ruthless level where generating hype through trailers and teasers is crucial for a film’s commercial success. Movie attendance has fluctuated along with the economy, but that hasn’t stopped films from breaking box office records,...

Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt': Alfred Hitchcock heroine (image: Joseph Cotten about to strangle Teresa Wright in 'Shadow of a Doubt') (See preceding article: "Teresa Wright Movies: Actress Made Oscar History.") After scoring with The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, and The Pride of the Yankees, Teresa Wright was loaned to Universal – once initial choices Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland became unavailable – to play the small-town heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. (Check out video below: Teresa Wright reminiscing about the making of Shadow of a Doubt.) Co-written by Thornton Wilder, whose Our Town had provided Wright with her first chance on Broadway and who had suggested her to Hitchcock; Meet Me in St. Louis and Junior Miss author Sally Benson; and Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville, Shadow of a Doubt was based on "Uncle Charlie," a story outline by Gordon McDonell – itself based on actual events.

With both Marvel and DC planning to base their 2015 comic book events around the idea of the Multiverse, it’s worth looking back at quite how we got to a place where fans don’t just have to keep track of one fictional world filled with superheroes, but multiple such worlds in each universe. How in the worlds did we end up with two multiversal epics running at the same time? Let’s start with the basics. The term “multiverse” was actually coined by philosopher William James for his 1895 essay “Is Life Worth Living,” but he didn’t have parallel worlds

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At the end of The Hurt Locker, the loose cannon sergeant William James, played by Jeremy Renner, returns home from the high-stakes tension of diffusing bombs in Iraq. He spends some time with his family but is unengaged in his responsibilities as a husband and father. There, he is a stranger in a strange land, yearning to return to a place more like home to him – the unit in the Middle East where he just spent a year risking his life.

The new photojournalist drama 1,000 Times Good Night is kind of a feature-length version of the last five minutes of The Hurt Locker, exploring the tug of a renowned war photographer to return to war, after an injury subsides her from her job and she has to spend time with her family. That shutterbug’s name is Rebecca (Juliette Binoche) and she has a purpose: to get right into the...

Born on August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, New Jersey, William James Basie was taught piano by his mother. At age 20 he moved to Harlem, center of the jazz piano world at that time, and soon began touring with various groups. He first gained fame in Bennie Moten's band, based in Kansas City; when Moten died in 1935, Basie formed his own group incorporating many Moten men.

Columbia Records producer/A&R man John Hammond heard Basie's band on the radio and made the first recordings of the band in 1936, but it was when Basie started recording for Decca in 1937 that he made his most classic records. The three-cd set The Complete Decca Recordings is the crucial documentation of what may have been the hardest-swinging big band, and additionally shows why Lester Young became an icon of the tenor saxophone. Each of the three discs in this set is devoted to one year...

Top twenty. Now we start to see the more widely recognizable films that people have some emotional attachment to. World War II gets a few mentions in this portion of the list, but this is one of the more diverse sections, overall. We get a mention of the Boer War, the Algerian War, and the Korean War, as well as the only movie about the American Civil War on this list.

20. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

Directed by: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Conflict: Boer War, World War I, World War II

The only film on the list that spans multiple wars is also probably the least battle-focused film on the list. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is told through an extended flashback, following Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey) as he rises through the ranks of the British military from war to war. The flashback is...