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Alfred Hitchcock is, as the kids would say, the G.O.A.T. when it comes to crime thrillers. And I love how so many of his protagonists unknowingly find themselves in the middle of a mystery, but, over the course of the film, prove that they were probably the right person to end up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jeff solved a murder in Rear Window, Ben and Jo unearthed a political crime in The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Roger Thornhill shed light on a deadly game of spies in North by Northwest. Later on, filmmakers like Brian De Palma (Blow Out), the Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men), Steven Soderbergh (Kimi), David Robert Mitchell (Under the Silver Lake), and Sriram Raghavan (Andhadhun) furthered this particular subgenre of crime thrillers while making some kind of relevant commentary on the state of modern society.

Leviathans, Vampires, Archangels, and Lucifer, oh my! The hit horror series Supernatural ran for 15 seasons, first on the WB and then on the CW. One of the show’s leads had soap opera roots. Jensen Ackles was the Og Eric Brady on Days of Our Lives. One of Supernatural’s most valuable assets was its guest stars. It turns out that the show often relied on current and former General Hospital actors to help support the scary drama. We break it down for you.

A Spooky Phenomenon

Supernatural premiered in 2005 and starred Ackles and Jared Padalecki as monster-hunting brothers Dean and Sam Winchester. Over the years, the show had great guest stars, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Sterling K. Brown, Aldis Hodge, Gary Cole, Sarah Shahi, Lauren Cohan, and Linda Blair.

Soap stars have also appeared on the show, which ended in 2020. Some familiar faces were Days’s Ashley Benson and Roark Critchlow,...

Luca Guadagnino and Lionsgate announced that the “Call Me by Your Name” and “Queer” director is in final discussions to film a new version of Bret Eason Ellis’ dark horror novel “American Psycho,” nearly 25 years after the same company released Mary Harron’s satirical adaptation. In a key role that elevated his career, the 2000 film starred Christian Bale as yuppie investment banker-turned-serial killer Patrick Bateman.

It’s the kind of announcement destined to raise eyebrows. Guadagnino is in a career sweet spot after “Challengers” and “Queer” this year (and “After the Hunt” in post); he already has many projects in the works, including “Separate Rooms” with Josh O’Connor and a Thomas Mann adaptation in early development. So why is he choosing a remake — and for a film that doesn’t seem that long ago?

New versions of older films are not unusual. Even the word “remake” is tricky here — does that apply with adaptations?...

Bubble, boil, steam, and burn, it’s time to watch those film reels turn. That’s right, it’s October, which means it’s almost Halloween, but the minute the clock struck midnight on the 1st, we here at IndieWire were already decked in black and frightening our office mates at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. While carving pumpkins, eating candy, and donning elaborate costumes may be how most ring in this special time of year, we believe there’s no better celebration of spooky season than entering a dark theater and sharing a few collective screams with strangers.

This month, repertory theaters in New York and Los Angeles have plenty of offerings to get those lungs expanding and heart beating. From black-and-white classics like Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) to modern monster favorites such as “The Mummy” (1999) starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, don’t miss...

“The first version is the work of a talented amateur,” said Alfred Hitchcock to François Truffaut of his 1934 thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” remade by Hitch himself in 1956. “The second was made by a professional.” Few are the filmmakers who gather sufficient career mileage and goodwill to take a second pass at their own work; fewer are those who make something worthwhile in the process. But Kiyoshi Kurosawa, not unlike Hitchcock, is the kind of tireless genre craftsman who seems to approach every feature as a test of his own proficiency: “Serpent’s Path,” a brisk, harsh and, yes, clinically professional update of his own 1998 thriller of the same title, passes said test without a moment’s strain.

There’s no urgent reason to remake “Serpent’s Path” except, one presumes, the primarily self-serving pleasures of doing so. The original, a cold-blooded little revenge tale that twists itself into ever more perverse psychological contortions,...

The second episode of The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood, titled “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” continues to examine the twisted story of the massacre that took place on Wonderland Avenue on July 1, 1981. Best-selling crime novelist Michael Connelly looks into one of Hollywood’s most notorious and fascinating murder cases. […]

The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood: The Man Who Knew Too Much...

Directors remaking their own movies isn’t a common practice, but it does happen every now and then. The reason behind doing so usually boils down to the Fomo over technological advancements and equipment that weren’t available during the making of the original. In addition to that, some directors want to include plot elements and themes that were absent in the original for some reason or another. And sometimes it can be a result of a studio, which owns the rights to the original, deciding to greenlight a remake, thereby leaving the director with the option of either helming the film or watching someone else do it. Some of the most popular examples of this phenomenon are Michael Mann’s L.A. Takedown and Heat, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, Sam Raimi’s requel (it’s a remake and sequel) The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II,...

When IndieWire recently ranked the 25 best films of Alfred Hitchcock, it was probably no surprise to anyone that “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” the director’s sole attempt at a light romantic comedy, didn’t make the cut. Even Hitchcock himself tended to underrate the film, as when he told interviewer François Truffaut that “since I didn’t really understand the type of people who were portrayed in the film, all I did was photograph the scenes as written.” From a filmmaker who regularly dismissed movies he considered uncinematic as mere “photographs of people talking,” this was the ultimate self-directed insult.

Yet even a casual reappraisal of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” newly available in an exquisite Blu-ray special edition from Warner Archive, undermines Hitchcock’s claims about his own movie. While it would be a bridge too far to declare the film a masterpiece on a par with “Psycho” or “Rear Window,...

Douglass Fake, founder of leading movie soundtrack label Intrada and producer of more than 700 albums of movie and TV music, died Saturday at a Richmond, Calif., hospital after a long illness. He was 72.

Fake’s many credits include the first complete restoration of Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Waterfront,” a lavish 5-cd release of Elmer Bernstein’s “The Ten Commandments” and the debut of several Henry Mancini scores including “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” previously only available in abridged pop recordings.

Among the label’s best sellers were expansions of previously incomplete recordings of such classics as John Williams’ “Jaws,” Alan Silvestri’s “Back to the Future” and Jerry Goldsmith’s “Alien.” Fake also supervised the re-recording of a dozen albums of classic film music including Bernard Herrmann’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and Miklos Rozsa’s “Ivanhoe,” “Spellbound” and “Julius Caesar.”

A longtime film-music fan, Fake launched Intrada Records...

Director Michael Mann's magnum opus is 1995's "Heat." The movie's sprawling shoot-out scene (the best of its kind) is what many most remember about "Heat," but the picture doesn't only rely on action. "Heat" is just as compelling when Detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and robber Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) are sitting down for a cup of coffee. Mann's next film, 1999's "The Insider," relies only on dialogue scenes to keep up the tension and easily succeeds.

"The Insider" is nearly as long as "Heat" and is just as compelling despite there being no action scenes to break up the talky bits. Mann is one of our best action filmmakers, but his talents extend past action movies. (Read our full ranking of Mann's films here.)

A journalism thriller, "The Insider" recounts the story of a 1996 "60 Minutes" expose on the tobacco industry. (The story had previously been detailed...

Consult a young priest and an old priest before playing this week’s film quiz, which features 30 new movie-related questions.

In cinemas now, Russell Crowe stars in his second exorcism movie in as many years, straightforwardly titled The Exorcism. (Read James’ review here!) With a certain TV season finale also involving demonic possession (see Q21!), this week’s film quiz includes some general knowledge movie questions, ramps up the crazy with a second round on demons, devils, and exorcists on screen, then settles back into another round of cinematic teasers.

Once you’ve completed all three rounds, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is all just for fun, but please let us know how you did in the comments (scores out of 30 this week!) and give us any other lovely feedback. And if you don’t like it,...

There’s a story Alfred Hitchcock always liked to tell about how, when he was five years old, his father dropped him off at the local police station near his home in East London. William Hitchcock left a note for the coppers explaining that his son had been misbehaving. A policeman locked young Alfred in a cell for a few minutes and explained, “This is what we do to naughty boys.”

When Hitchcock recounted that story to Dick Cavett he was in his 70s, but the incident continued to leave a profound mark on the director. He said he was still “terrified of the police” because of that and drew a connection from that to the feelings of guilt and wrong-men-on-the-run paranoia that seeps into so many of his films.

The funny thing is, though, father characters are almost entirely absent from Hitchcock’s work. There are a few: Cedric Hardwicke...

With its list of May 2024 releases, Amazon Prime Video is giving us the kindest gift of all: cougar Anne Hathaway.

May 2 sees the premiere of The Idea of You, a romantic-comedy that features Hathaway as a 40-year-old mom finding romance with a 24-year-old boy band singer (Nicholas Galitzine). Having saved the medium of film forever, Prime Video is celebrating with some big time library titles this month as well. American Fiction and BlacKkKlansman arrive on May 14 and will be followed by Creed and Pearl: An X-traordinary Origin Story on May 16.

For its TV offerings, Prime is leading off with Outer Range season 2 on May 16. This James Brolin sci-fi Western will continue the mysteries of the strange happenings on Thanos’ ranch. Reality TV fans will be able to enjoy the Daniel Tosh-hosted competition series The Goat on May 9.

Here’s everything coming to Prime Video and Freevee in April – Amazon...

Alfred Hitchcock was so prolific a director that very few years go by without a handful of his 53 feature films celebrating a significant anniversary. 2024 is no exception: his first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much turns 90 this year, Lifeboat drifts into its 80s, Dial M For Murder rings up 70 years, and Marnie – the baby of the bunch – is now a sprightly 60 years old.

Released just months after Dial M, Hitchcock’s sweatiest masterpiece Rear Window also celebrates 70 years of voyeuristic thrills this year. To celebrate, here’s an exclusive extract from regular Empire contributor Neil Alcock’s new book, Hitchology: A Film-by-Film Guide to the Style and Themes of Alfred Hitchcock. An accessible introduction for newcomers to Hitchcock and an insightful companion for devoted fans, Hitchology has been described by Empire’s editor Nick De Semlyen as “incisive, fresh and thunderingly entertaining.”

Have a read below, and look...

Doris Day was the Oscar-nominated actress who passed away in 2019 at the age of 97. She excelled in musicals and romantic comedies, bringing a sense of edge and humor to her squeaky-clean demeanor. Although she made only a handful of movies between 1948 and 1968, several of her titles remain classics. Let’s take a look back at 20 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1922, Day got her start as a band singer, making her film debut with the musical comedy “Romance on the High Seas” (1948). He vocal talents benefited her in such films as “Calamity Jane” (1953), “Love Me or Leave Me” (1955), and “The Pajama Game” (1957), and she often sang the title tunes to her films.

She is perhaps best remembered for three frothy romantic comedies she made with sly, square-jawed leading man Rock Hudson and sardonic sidekick Tony Randall: “Pillow Talk” (1959), “Lover Come Back” (1961), and “Send Me No Flowers...

“The One Note Man” director George Siougas has crafted perhaps the most visually impressive live-action short of this year. The silent, musical masterpiece depicts “The Crown” actor Jason Watkins as a bassoonist who lives a routine, monotonous existence. each day passes in the exact same as his life passes him by before said routine is broken by a fellow musician in the orchestra he plays in and his world is changed forever.

Speaking to Siougas, who has directed plenty of episodes of British soaps “Hollyoaks” and “Casualty,” gives you the immediate impression that this is a filmmaker who loves cinema. And he truly, truly is. He was inspired to make “The One Note Man” after re-watching Alfred Hitchcock films, with the opening of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” a particular inspiration.

In the writing process, he soon found that dialogue wasn’t necessary to tell this story and the decision was a smart one.

You probably know the premise of "Bones." Set in Washington DC, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) solve murders by studying the mortal remains of the victims. Or do they?

For the show's 200th episode, "The 200th in the 10th", the team decided to do something totally different (and non-canon). In this episode, the show moves to 1950s Los Angeles, where Brennan is an LAPD detective pursuing Booth, a jewel thief. At his latest robbery, Booth finds a burnt skeleton while safecracking and is immediately labeled as suspect No. 1 of the murder. Brennan, knowing it's not Booth's Mo, recruits her quarry to solve this new case together. Hey, after 10 seasons, a show has earned the right to swing for the fences!

"The 200th in the 10th" is made in the style of Old Hollywood thrillers, especially Alfred Hitchcock's 1950s technicolor noir films.

The holiday season is here and that means there are lots of new releases coming out just in time to make the season bright. Below are some of the picks coming out sure to make the movie fan in your life smile. Whether it is an upgrade to a 4K edition, a reliable Blu-ray, or a special edition Box Set, this list has something for everyone!

One disclaimer: Deals as good as these can be fickle, so there’s no telling if and when a money-saving opportunity might end or if the price may change. So if you want something – snap that shit up quick! Don’t wait, only to have Festivus roll around and discover you’ve nothing to give or the price suddenly changed and you no longer have the bread. And remember that if you want to support JoBlo.com, please make all your purchases by initially clicking through our links,...

The holidays are upon us, so whether you looking for film-related gifts or simply want to pick up some of the finest the year had to offer in the category for yourself, we have a gift guide for you. Including must-have books on filmmaking, the best from the Criterion Collection and more home-video picks, subscriptions, magazines, music, and more, dive in below.

Giveaways

In celebration of our holiday gift guide, we’ll be doing a number of giveaways! First up, we’re giving away My First Movie Vol. 2, a three-part ‘lil cinephile series by Cory Everett and illustrator Julie Olivi, featuring My First Spaghetti Western, My First Yakuza Movie, and My First Hollywood Musical.

Enter on Instagram (for My First Yakuza Movie), Twitter (for My First Hollywood Musical), and/or Facebook (for My First Spaghetti Western) by Sunday, November 26 at 11:59pm Et. Those that enter on all three platforms...

The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.

Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988

An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection: Volume 3 4K Uhd Box Set from Universal

Five more Alfred Hitchcock movies are coming to 4K Ultra HD: Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Torn Curtain, Topaz, and Frenzy. They’ll be available both individually ($19.99) and together in the third volume of The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection box set ($69.98) on October 31 via Universal.

1948’s Rope stars James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. 1956’s The Man Who Knew Too Much stars James Stewart and Doris Day. 1966’s Torn Curtain stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. 1969’s Topaz stars Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, and John Forsythe. 1972’s Frenzy stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, and Barry Foster.

All five thrillers have...

With Martin Scorsese on the mind following the triumphant Cannes premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon, I’ve been looking to catch up on the last few unseen films from the master, which led to the uncovering of a delightful, expertly crafted homage to the Master of Suspense. Shortly after the Oscar-winning success of The Departed in 2007, the story goes like this: Scorsese came across remnants of The Key to Reserva, an unproduced script written by Alfred Hitchcock. He set out to direct his version of it in the precise style of the late director. However, there is a twist.

The script wasn’t real. The whole endeavor, which feels like an elaborate film school exercise, was actually a campaign paid for by the champagne company Freixenet. Shot by Harris Savides, with assistance from Ellen Kuras, and edited by Thelma Schoonmaker, the film stars Simon Baker along with a...

To the mission tower once more!

Paramount Pictures has acquired rights to remake “Vertigo,” the James Stewart and Kim Novak-led Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller that is considered by many critics to be the greatest film of all time.

The project is being developed by Team Downey, Robert Downey Jr.’s production company, and Steven Knight, the British writer-director-producer behind “Peaky Blinders” is attached to write. Knight also just landed a deal to bring “Star Wars” back to theaters after Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson exited the franchise. Trade reports suggest that this is likely being packaged as a vehicle for Downey to star in.

“Vertigo,” based on a 1954 French novel by the team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, was released in 1958 by Paramount and was nominated for two Oscars—sound and production design. On the one hand, it’s a simple crime mystery, but on the other it...

Here's some news that just might make your head spin a little. For all those movie lovers who hold up the 1958 "Vertigo" as a stone-cold classic, you might not want to look down. Apparently, Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the original film, has started greasing the wheels for a remake. The Alfred Hitchcock movie, of course, starred the great James Stewart as a former cop forced into early retirement after a harrowing and deadly encounter on the job leaves him with a debilitating case of acrophobia -- a fear of heights, for all the laypeople out there.

The report comes courtesy of Deadline, but that's really only the tip of the iceberg. Incredibly enough, this project will apparently bring on Steven Knight to write the script. Oh, and the cherry on top? None other than Robert Downey Jr. is being looked at to fill the role originally played by Stewart.

If you’re going to remake a movie, why not remake one of the most acclaimed movies ever made?

Paramount Pictures has preemptively acquired a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic psychological thriller “Vertigo,” as a possible starring vehicle for Robert Downey Jr. The actor is producing the project with his wife Susan Downey through their Team Downey production company, along with John Davis and John Fox via Davis Entertainment.

“Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is set to write the script, hot on the heels of his commitment to write an untitled “Star Wars” movie for Lucasfilm, as Variety reported on Wednesday.

Downey has kept a low profile as an actor since the release of 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which is one of the highest grossing movies ever made, and 2020’s “Dolittle,” which is not. He produced and appears in the documentary “Sr.,” about his father, and he’s next set...

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most important and influential directors in cinema history, and anyone aspiring to become a filmmaker should do themselves a favor and study his body of work. This one man pioneered numerous filmmaking techniques still used today, shot some of the industry's most famous scenes, elevated the thriller genre to new heights, and achieved so much more than can be crammed into this paragraph. In fact, there's an argument to be made that Hitchcock's genius is so great that simply watching his movies is a fine substitute for enrolling in an expensive film school.

With a career dating all the way back to 1925's "The Pleasure Garden", it's no wonder why Hitchcock has so many classic films to his credit. "Psycho," "Vertigo," "North by Northwest," "The Birds," "Rear Window" –- it's hard to believe that all of these iconic, diverse films and others came from the same mind.

It may not have Doris Day singing "Que Sera, Sera" like its 1956 remake, but Alfred Hitchcock's original 1934 film "The Man Who Knew Too Much" represents some of the master's best work before he came to Hollywood. It's got the Hitchcock magic, that strange movie logic that doesn't need to make complete sense to be wildly entertaining. Like so many of the movies he made later, it embraces some classic beats: a man on the run, complex international intrigue, and as much suspense as he could wring out of every moment.

It also opens with a moment of surprising levity, following British couple Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) on their holiday in the Swiss Alps. When their French friend Louis (Pierre Fresnay) is mysteriously shot while dancing, he divulges a crucial secret to Jill -- where to find a note with dangerous information about the planned...

Nestled between the heartsick duplicities of "Vertigo" and the urgent duality of "Psycho" sits one of Alfred Hitchcock's most celebrated action thrillers, a story swirling in vanishing identities and betrayal. "North by Northwest" is the English director's 1959 spy film with an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by "Hello Dolly!" scribe Ernest Lehman, and it concerns an innocent man (Cary Grant) hounded by international saboteurs in a case of mistaken identity. Filled with common Hitchcock situations while staying unpredictable, the movie has found incredible lasting power beyond the Cold War years it's set in.

Above all, the "Psycho" director wanted to disrupt the common approach of action pictures, which often positioned the hapless hero in predictable moments. In the 2014 collection of writings and interviews, "Hitchcock on Hitchcock," the filmmaker describes the "rain-washed cobbles shining in the night" where these spectacles are usually set; a figure peeks from the shadows, a black limo...

The premise of FX on Hulu’s new limited series, Under the Banner of Heaven, based on the non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer of the same name, has all the makings of a great true crime binge. When a detective is assigned to investigate the grisly murders of a young Mormon mother and her baby girl, the case begins to point inward at the Church of Latter-day Saints (Lds), causing the detective to question his own Mormon faith. Adding to that excellent hook is some star power: Andrew Garfield, fresh off three successful 2021 movies, in the role of Detective Jeb Pyre. Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) joins him as the murder victim Brenda Lafferty. The execution of such a fascinating topic, however, leaves something to be desired. It can’t be overstated how much some good exposition would help matters. For people unfamiliar ...

FX released the first trailer for its limited drama series “Under the Banner of Heaven,” on Wednesday. The series from “When We Rise” creator Dustin Lance Black stars Andrew Garfield as a detective who’s also a Latter-Day Saints Elder trying to get to the bottom of a brutal murder that he suspects is tied to the Mormon church. It will premiere later this year exclusively on Hulu.

The trailer takes his character, Detective Pyre, from the bloody crime scene to the dark corners and fields of Utah as he asks himself, “I wonder how something so horrific could have come to pass.” The series is based on the bestselling nonfiction book by “Into Thin Air” author Jon Krakauer about a real-life double murder in 1984.

The logline: “A devout detective’s faith is tested as he investigates a brutal murder that seems to be connected to an esteemed Utah family...

Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant each starred in four Alfred Hitchcock films. They worked with the director an equal number of times, with Stewart appearing in "Rope," "Rear Window," "The Man Who Knew Too Much," and "Vertigo," and Grant appearing in "They Are Suspicion," "Notorious," "To Catch a Thief," and "North by Northwest." Stewart's collaborations were spread out from 1948 to 1958, while Grant's encompassed almost all of two decades, from 1941 to 1959.

Unlike, for instance, Martin Scorsese, who has had one main go-to leading man at any given time, the prolific Hitchcock traded off between the two...

The post The Classic Cary Grant Role Jimmy Stewart Was Begging To Play appeared first on /Film.

Meagre turnout for West Side Story shows that these days, the way to cash in on intellectual property is via sequels and reboots

So far, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story hasn’t had audiences pirouetting and finger-clicking their way to cinemas. There are plenty of reasons why; the main one relating to a certain global pandemic. But one explanation that keeps being proffered is that viewers are simply sick of remakes – and it’s not entirely wrong. Hollywood still has no qualms about bringing back its vintage franchises, of course. But as the imminent returns of The Matrix, Scream, Top Gun, Indiana Jones, Hocus Pocus and Legally Blonde demonstrate, the fashionable way to cash in on a venerable intellectual property is to hire as many of the original cast members as you can and to pick up where you left off. Sequels are in; remakes are out.

Remakes, lest we forget,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

See our comprehensive guide to where to stream the best films of 2021.

Adrienne (Andy Ostroy)

I hadn’t seen any of Adrienne Shelly’s work at the time of her death, but you couldn’t follow the film world in 2006 without hearing about what happened. News sites first latched onto the assumption of suicide only to discover what happened was murder—the culprit found, arrested, and confessed shortly afterwards. And amidst that tragic whirlwind during the final two months of that year, Shelly’s latest film as writer-director-star, Waitress, was in submission at Sundance. It would eventually bow at the festival, find distribution, become an overnight indie darling, and spawn a Broadway musical adaptation with songs by Sara Bareilles. She unfortunately never...

If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.

Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...

With it being seven years since his last live-action film, 2014’s The Grand Budapast Hotel, Wes Anderson is hard at work. Following a Cannes premiere, The French Dispatch finally arrives in limited theaters on October 22 followed by a wide release the following week, and he’s already shooting his next film (recently revealed to have the title Asteroid City) outside of Madrid with Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Rupert Friend, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Hope Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Liev Schreiber, Tony Revolori, and Matt Dillon.

As is the case with all of his work, Wes Anderson synthesizes cinema history in his own specific language and for The French Dispatch he has provided a list of influences. As revealed in a promotional book sent to The Flim Stage and styled after the film’s magazine, 32 films are listed that “provided inspiration to the filmmakers,...

“French Dispatch” director Wes Anderson is so stranger to sharing his favorite movies. Now, he’s paired with the French Institute Alliance Francaise (Fiaf) for a seven movie series devoted to Anderson’s favorite French features. The screening series will coincide with the release of Anderson’s next feature, the aforementioned “French Dispatch” starring Timothee Chalamet.

The series will kick off with a free screening of Diane Kurys’ 1977 feature “Peppermint Soda” on September 14. The other features in the series, dubbed “Wes Anderson’s French Connection” includes Max Ophuls’ 1940 film “From Mayerling to Sarajevo,” Francois Truffaut’s “The Man Who Loved Women” from 1977, “Kings and Queen” (2004), Bertrand Blier’s “Get Out Your Handkerchiefs” (1977), “Max and the Junkmen” from 1971, and Jacque Becker’s 1947 film “Antoine and Antoinette.”

These are just a few of the inspirations associated with Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” which follows a group of journalists at a fictional French magazine.

This Beckett article contains spoilers.

You could be forgiven, going into the new Netflix thriller, Beckett, for expecting a vibe not dissimilar to John David Washington’s last big movie, Tenet. Like Tenet, Beckett is a conspiracy thriller about someone who finds themselves out of their depth, with chase scenes and gunplay aplenty, and Netflix probably doesn’t mind you making those associations when you’re choosing what to watch. But while Tenet was a film that very much harked back to classic Bond movies, Beckett’s inspirations are quite a bit older.

Watching Beckett feels a lot like watching an old Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller. The plot, a tourist has a car accident and stumbles into a deadly conspiracy, is pure Hitchock, reminiscent of films such as The 39 Steps or The Man Who Knew Too Much. Even the soundtrack is full of jarring strings that don’t sound too...

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Having helped shape modern cinema, Alfred Hitchcock is revered as one of the most prolific directors in history and this year, his birthday falls on Friday the 13th.

That date couldn’t be more fitting for the Master of Suspense. Hitchcock released over 50 films in his 60-year career amassing a catalog of classics such as “Rear Window,” “Psycho,” “The Birds,” “Marnie,” “North by Northwest,” “Vertigo,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” and “Rebecca.”

Although he never won a Best Director Oscar, Hitchcock cemented his place as a cinematic genius. Beyond the virtuosic camera techniques that gave audiences unique points of view and ways of identifying with his characters (even when they’re doing...

John David Washington shot “Beckett” before last summer’s “Tenet” put the actor on a short list of potential action figures. But when it comes to this considerably more modest, Greece-set manhunt movie — which kicks off the Locarno Film Festival before releasing via Netflix on Aug. 13 — it helps to look at Washington (son of Oscar winner Denzel) as a different kind of character: not your conventional Hollywood hero so much as an average guy caught up in a deadly conspiracy.

Washington plays the eponymous American tourist, who’s roughly the kind of out-of-his-league everyman that Alfred Hitchcock gravitated toward in classics such as “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “North by Northwest.” But director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino isn’t operating by that playbook as much as audiences might think, which might disappoint those who find the movie on Netflix and expect a straightforward thriller. The suspense is much subtler,...

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Even the most iconic films wouldn’t be the same without music. A good film score knows how to hit the right notes in accurately conveying everything from mood and theme, to emotions and tone. Similar to a soundtrack, which is a collection of music that wasn’t written specifically for the film but fits the overall theme, musical scores are meant to enrich the viewing experience. And if you’ve watched a movie that gave you goosebumps, the music could have something to do with it.

If you’re a cinephile or movie buff who enjoys musical scores, we rounded up a list of some of the best scores to buy on...

Kaley Cuoco, the Golden Globe-nominated star of HBO Max sleeper hit series “The Flight Attendant,” is set to play Doris Day in an upcoming limited series over at Warner Bros. Television. The show will be based on A.E. Hotchner’s 1976 biography of the Academy Award-nominated “Pillow Talk” actress’ life, which she historically kept private, from her days as a big band singer to her death at 97 in 2019. She was also one of the last classic legends of Hollywood, as well as a dedicated animal-rights activist. Her other film credits include “Calamity Jane,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Move Over, Darling,” and “The Thrill of It All.”

Cuoco’s Yes, Norman Productions and Warner Bros. Television are teaming with Berlanti Production again after the success on their “Flight Attendant” series, though no network has been confirmed for the project. Warner Bros. is the studio that Doris Day first signed to,...

The Flight Attendant actress and executive producer Kaley Cuoco is developing a limited series about Doris Day based on the A.E. Hotchner 1976 bio Doris Day: Her Own Story. Cuoco will star.

Cuoco’s Yes, Norman Productions and Warner Bros. Television are teaming with Berlanti Production again after Flight Attendant. No network is attached as of yet.

Hotchner’s biography is a series of interviews with the Oscar nominated Pillow Talk actress, who was also a singer and animals rights activist. Day lived until 97, and passed away in 2019. She cut her teeth as a singer in show biz before breaking into movie musicals in the 1940s. A big box office star of the 1950s and 1960s her feature credits, included Calamity Jane, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, and The Pajama Game among many others.

During the 1970s, a TV career, which she despised, saved her from financial...

Kaley Cuoco will play acting legend and animal rights activist Doris Day in a limited series that is in development at Warner Bros. TV.

The series will be based on A.E. Hotchner’s 1976 biography “Doris Day: Her Own Story,” which is based on numerous interviews with Day herself. There is no network currently attached to the project.

Warner Bros. TV is working with the Doris Day Estate on the project.

Executive producers for the untitled Doris Day project are Cuoco, and from Berlanti Productions, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden. Co-executive producers are Suzanne McCormack from Yes, Norman and Bob Bashara, the trustee from the Doris Day Estate. Consulting producers are Jim Pierson, who worked with Day, and Tim Hotchner, A.E. Hotchner’s son.

Doris Day made her film debut in the 1940s and became a massive box office star in the ’50s and ’60s, when she starred in films like “Calamity Jane,...

After their collective success with “The Flight Attendant,” Kaley Cuoco’s Yes, Norman Productions will again join forces with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television to develop the story of Doris Day as a limited series, having gotten the rights to A.E. Hotchner’s “Doris Day: Her Own Story.”

Hotchner wrote the 1976 biography based on a series of interviews with Day, and it’s considered to be her autobiography. Cuoco will play Day, the iconic actor, singer and animal rights activist. No network is currently attached to the project.

Day, who died at age 97 in 2019, started in show business as a singer, and made her film debut in the late 1940s in movie musicals. In the ’50s and ‘60s, she was a huge star and box office draw. Day showed her talents in such movies as “Calamity Jane” (1953); Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” in which she sang “Que Sera,...

(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Movie: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) Where You Can Stream It: The Criterion Channel, HBO Max The Pitch: On a family vacation in Switzerland, a couple (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) […]

The post The Quarantine Stream: ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ Features a God-Tier Performance From Peter Lorre appeared first on /Film.

The reunion of Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray for the new A24/Apple release “On the Rocks” comes 17 years after their first collaboration on the Oscar-winning “Lost in Translation.” Such repeated pairings between directors and actors have been mainstay a in Hollywood since the earliest days of cinema. In the silent era, there were multiple films from D.W. Griffith and Lillian Gish and Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance.

One of the great partnerships during the Golden Age of Hollywood was John Ford and John Wayne. Ford had actually befriended Wayne when the young man was doing odd jobs as well as extra work-including in few of the director’s films-at Fox Studios in the late 1920s. Wayne made his official film debut starring in Raoul Walsh’s 1930 epic western “The Big Trail.”

The film wasn’t a hit and Wayne found himself spending the decade doing “B” westerns including 1938’s...

Special Bonus Episode – Author/filmmaker/Hitchcock Laurent Bouzereau expert discusses five Hitchcock movies he wishes got more love.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020)

Rear Window (1954)

Psycho (1960)

Vertigo (1958)

The Birds (1963)

Matinee (1993)

Marnie (1964)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Rope (1948)

Dial M For Murder (1954)

Dr. No (1962)

Family Plot (1976)

Explorers (1985)

Body Double (1984)

Stage Fright (1950)

Scrooge (1951)

The Wrong Man (1956)

Citizen Kane (1941)

The Trouble With Harry (1955)

Suspicion (1941)

Torn Curtain (1966)

North By Northwest (1959)

Topaz (1969)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Young And Innocent (1937)

Waltzes from Vienna (1934)

Under Capricorn (1949)

Jamaica Inn (1939)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Other Notable Items

Laurent’s book Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind The Man (2004)

The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Blu-ray collection (2020)

Thomas Narcejac

James Stewart

Laurent’s Five Came Back TV series (2014)

Kim Novak

Vera Miles

Grace Kelly

Tippi Hedren

Cary Grant

Alain Resnais

Ray Milland

Anthony Dawson

The Tower Theater in Philadelphia

Bruce Dern

Rod Taylor

Jessica Tandy

Craig Wasson

Suzanne Pleshette...

Good evening. Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock was born on August, Friday the 13th back in 1899, and while the great filmmaker’s movies and his TV shows have always been widely available for aspiring film students and classic movie lovers, Peacock has lumped many of his classics in one place. 14 of the director’s films are now available to stream through NBCUniversal’s ad-supported service.

The trick with Hitchcock is, even writing a top 10 list of the director’s best movies would be leaving off some great ones. So below is a list of his essential titles that best define his style and penchant for thrills, and check out a video teaser of his classic films

Universal Pictures

“Shadow of a Doubt” (1943)

Peacock doesn’t have any of Hitchcock’s early films before he left Britain and his movies started getting Oscar buzz, but “Shadow of a Doubt” was one...

Legendary animator Floyd Norman talks about his all time favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (2016)

Vertigo (1958)

Citizen Kane (1941)

Rope (1948)

The Trouble With Harry (1955)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Song of the South (1946)

The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)

The Third Man (1950)

The Jungle Book (1967)

The Jungle Book (2016)

The Lion King (2019)

Pinocchio (1940)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

The Old Mill (1937)

Casablanca (1942)

Cinderella (1950)

Singin’ In The Rain (1953)

Paths of Glory (1957)

1917 (2019)

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

Star Wars (1977)

American Graffiti (1973)

Sorcerer (1977)

Other Notable Items

Michael Fiore

The Watts riots

The LAPD’s cruel mistreatment of Rodney King

The George Floyd protests

Move in Philadelphia

Walt Disney Pictures

Tfh Guru Roger Corman

Erik Sharkey

The Three Stooges

I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali TV series (1977)

Muhammad Ali

Fred Calvert

Alfred Hitchcock

Bernard Herrman’s Vertigo score

Robert Burks

The latest...

Previously unseen photos of legendary performer Doris Day from the 1950s have been provided to Variety by her estate in celebration of what would have been her 98th birthday and to raise awareness of an auction of her memorabilia taking place this weekend. The photos show Day both at home, on vacation and on the sets of films like “Calamity Jane” and “It Happened to Jane” with co-star Jack Lemmon. The images were discovered last October at her home in Carmel, CA by Jim Pierson, producer of Doris Day DVD and album releases and the book “Doris Day’s Best Friends.”

Julien’s Auctions will be holding the two-day auction event “Property from the Estate of Doris day,” celebrating Day’s life and career this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 4-5. It happens to be kicking off the day after what would have been Day’s 98th birthday. All proceeds...