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George Lucas launched the epic space opera franchise Star Wars with the 1977 original film, which gained critical acclaim and was a box office hit. The film introduced viewers to a galaxy far, far away populated by a host of unique and interesting characters who became instant icons of modern pop culture.

Darth Vader actor David Prowse (Credit: Flicks and the City | YouTube).

During an interview, actor David Prowse, best known for being the original actor to play Darth Vader, opened up about his experience with the franchise. In the process, Prowse revealed that he was initially offered a different fan-favorite original trilogy character but instead opted to play Vader. Here is the other Star Wars role offered to Prowse that he turned down.

Darth Vader actor David Prowse turned down a different iconic Star Wars role

David Prowse played the role of Darth Vader in the first Star Wars movie directed by George Lucas.

As the format continues to gain traction, here’s our regularly-updated list of upcoming 4K Ultra HD disc releases in the UK.

Sitting alongside our list of upcoming DVD and Blu-ray releases (that you can find here), we’re also keeping a calendar for those who support the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc format. As we learn of new UK releases, we’ll add them to this list.

We have started adding shopping links too. We’d be obliged if you clicked on them, as it really helps us in our quest to make the Film Stories project of magazines, website and podcast profitable. We’re a 100% independent publisher, and we quite like drinking coffee. It’d be lovely to afford some more.

Without further ado, here are the titles we know about…

Out now

10th February: Cronos

10th February: The Italian Job (original)

10th February: Weird Science

10th February:...

To the world, Malcolm McDowell will always be defined by an identity of two: the cult-classic icon who pioneered one of the greatest Stanley Kubrick movies ever made: A Clockwork Orange, or the Star Trek villain who killed the beloved Captain Kirk.

Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Tolian Soran in Star Trek: Generations (1994) [Credit: Paramount Pictures]

The actor knows there is no escaping from the identities that have been imposed upon him and McDowell has ever since worked on embracing the duality rather than letting it hinder his work. However, swarms of Trekkies still return to remind him of the atrocity that he committed as Dr. Tolian Soran from time to time.

Malcolm McDowell takes up an impossible task Malcolm McDowell (left) in Star Trek: Generations (1994) [Credit: Paramount Pictures]

As one of the founders and core members of the Star Trek universe, William Shatner has always been held in high esteem, alongside Leonard Nimoy and...

Exclusive: Malcom McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) and Alex Hassell (Rivals) will star in crime thriller Dog & Bull, with Essential Film Group launching sales on pic at the EFM.

Written and directed by James Marquand (Dead Man’s Cards), the feature from Blackwater Pictures also stars Sinead Cusack (Napoleon), Lara Peake (How to Have Sex), Francis Magee (Layer Cake), Bobby Schofield (Cherry) and Paul Barber (The Full Monty). Tiernan Handy is producing along with Kevin Harvey, Simon Marriott and Antoine Dixon-Bellot, and Essential has boarded for worldwide sales.

Per the synopsis, Dog & Bull is billed as “a dark, hard-boiled crime-thriller, with black comedy undertones, in which legendary actor McDowell stars as a fugitive criminal hiding out as a pub landlord who questions his identity when he gets discovered by a psychotic hitman (Hassell), who is also his biggest fan.”

McDowell grew up as the son of a publican, who ran a...

Netflix’s line-up of Original movies vary wildly in quality, ranging from Oscar-worthy work from some of our finest filmmakers (like Jane Campion and Martin Scorsese) to rom-coms one wouldn’t wish upon their worst enemy (strapped down in some sort of Clockwork Orange situation). But taken together, along with...

It has been a full couple of weeks for Robert Eggers. Nosferatu, his Gothic remake of the 1922 classic, is leading the box office with $156 million so far. A few days ago, cinephiles got word that he's staying in the Universal monster motif with Werwulf coming next. (No relation with the foible-ridden "Dark Universe.")

Now comes the announcement that the cerebral moviemaker is going to make a sequel to the 1986 cult classic Labyrinth. The film starred the wit and whimsy of Jim Henson, who created a compelling story and fascinating puppets for a fantasy world featuring Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie.

Eggers signed on to direct and co-write with his creative partner Sjón, with whom he collaborated on The Northman. Variety reported Chris and Eleanor Columbus are slated to produce the film with Lisa Henson. Also along for the ride is Jim's son, Brian Henson, who will be executive producing.

ComicBook.com...

Heath Ledger's performance in 2008's "The Dark Knight" was quite possibly the best Joker performance ever put to screen. It was a performance that both inspired millions of people's Halloween costumes in the years since, and it even inspired Timothee Chalamet to get into acting. PLus, it's also the #1 pick on /Film's list of best Heath Ledger performances, a feat made more impressive by how stacked Ledger's filmography already was. Even people who hated the movie can agree that Ledger nailed it here, and in the 17 years since, Hollywood has been trying in vain to capture what made Ledger's version so special. 

One element among many that contributed to Ledger's take on the character was the book "A Clockwork Orange," by Anthony Burgess. Much like the 1972 Kubrick movie of the same name, this book is about an evil, chaotic young man who simply seems to want to watch the world burn.

Cartoon Network fans are starting 2025 on a sour note as several beloved animated series have been removed from Max.

Just last month, it was announced that four popular DC animated series—Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, Static Shock, and Green Lantern: The Animated Series—would leave the platform by the end of 2024. True to the announcement, these shows disappeared from Max’s library after December 31. But it didn’t stop there.

As of January 1, more fan-favorites have also been removed, including Ed, Edd n’ Eddy, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The Looney Tunes Show, and the first seven seasons of Teen Titans Go! While the show’s eighth season remains on Max, fans hoping to revisit earlier episodes will have to look elsewhere, like Hulu, where some seasons are still available.

This isn’t the first time Max has upset fans by pulling Cartoon Network content. Over the past year,...

Cartoon Network fans are starting 2025 with disappointment as several beloved animated series have been removed from Max.

Let’s remember that last month, we learned that Max, the streaming home of countless DC shows and movies, is facing some unexpected changes as four fan-favorite DC animated series were set to leave its library by the start of 2025.

Namely, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, Static Shock, and Green Lantern: The Animated Series are no longer available after December 31. However, it seems that those were not the only projects removed from Max’s library starting January 1.

Among the notable titles now missing are the first seven seasons of Teen Titans Go!, the original Teen Titans, Ed, Edd n’ Eddy, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The Looney Tunes Show, Static Shock, and Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

While the eighth season of Teen Titans Go! remains available, fans hoping to...

Image Source: Sony Pictures Ah, the glorious ’80s—a time of big hair, neon dreams, and action movies so thrilling they practically leapt off the screen. Sure, everyone raves about Die Hard, Terminator, and Aliens, but there’s another gem soaring just under the radar. Meet Blue Thunder, the 1983 action-packed movie that brought helicopters to the forefront of cinematic coolness! This underrated classic stars none other than the late legendary Roy Scheider (Jaws), the magnetic Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange), and the hilariously lovable Daniel Stern (Home Alone). Directed by John Badham (Saturday Night Fever and WarGames), Blue Thunder is a high-octane combination of razor-sharp storytelling and breathtaking aerial stunts. Picture this: 1980s Los Angeles shimmering under golden sunsets, with a police chopper like no other cutting through the skies. Vietnam vet police officer Frank Murphy (Scheider) gets assigned to test a cutting-edge helicopter equipped with high-tech surveillance tools to aid law enforcement.

Warning: This article discusses topics of violence and sexual assault.

Mark Lawrence’s books are endearing and gripping reads, but some titles stand out more than others. The author is best known for writing several lengthy fantasy book series, including The Red Queen's War and The Broken Empire collections. Even though there are plenty of great fantasy book series with happy endings to enjoy, Lawrence’s works typically delve into the hardships and flaws of his characters.

Over the years, Lawrence has continued to introduce all manner of interesting personalities to the world of fantasy literature. While some of his protagonists are selfish and hard to find redeeming qualities in, the author always finds a way to get readers invested in his characters. Mark Lawrence is already a well-celebrated author, and he’s likely to keep gaining prominence in the upcoming years, so it’s well worth checking out his best books.

A clunky fusion of sci-fi fiction and political documentary, Asif Kapadia’s 2073 shakes us into submission via a series of cursory rundowns of crumbling democracies, the weaponization of social media, rising xenophobia, and more. In summarily covering so many global crises, Kapadia’s film plays less like a galvanizing call to action than a shapeless and hollow piece of agitprop that inspires only the same paralyzing sense of fear and hopelessness that it accuses demagogues around the world of provoking in people.

Kapadia and editor Chris King have detailed the biographies of famous figures in compelling, well-structured documentaries—Dominic Senna in 2010’s Senna and Amy Winehouse in 2015’s Amy. By contrast, 2073, whose only coherent thesis is the belief that the world is going to shit, is dubious and throws structure to the wind. It tries to cover so much material that even the most abhorrent of tragedies are somewhat...

When moviegoers think of Tom Cruise, certain iconic images come to mind – and none of those images likely come from Eyes Wide Shut. In 1999, Cruise made one of the boldest film choices of his career, a choice that took him far outside the comfort zone of his mainstream Hollywood superstardom and into a world of psychological intricacy, surrealism, and sensuality.

Directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut remains a fascinating outlier in Tom Cruise’s illustrious and often blockbuster-heavy filmography. It's a thriller full of subtle performances, mysterious ambiance, and twisted morality, both controversial and underrated in equal measure.

Tom Cruise Made One Of His Boldest Ever Movie Choices With Eyes Wide Shut A Departure from the Usual Tom Cruise Formula

What makes Eyes Wide Shut so unique within Cruise's body of work is just how different it feels from a "typical Tom Cruise movie." The film is,...

This piece contains some spoilers for "Gladiator II."

In this month's "Gladiator II," Rome does not fall — but it comes damn close. It's also not for lack of trying, as both the manipulative ex-slave Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and our ostensible hero, Lucius (Paul Mescal), have no love for the Empire, with both men actively seeking to usurp, disrupt or combat its rule. Even though Lucius eventually changes his mind and finds himself believing in a "dream of Rome" begun by his grandfather Marcus Aurelius, and his father, Maximus (Russell Crowe in the first "Gladiator"), it may be too late, as the Empire has been nearly irrevocably tarnished by decades of decadence and misrule. The two men most responsible for this are the Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), a couple of Enfant Terribles who director Ridley Scott told Vanity Fair he saw as "almost a replay of Romulus and Remus,...

Denzel Washington is one of the most respected names in Hollywood. Having ten Oscar nominations and two wins that span a decades-long career, there is no denying that the actor deserves all the success that he possesses today. His success doesn’t simply come from working in successful films, as he is known as one of the most talented and respected actors of all time.

Denzel Washington in a still from Gladiator II | Credits: Paramount Pictures

With this, it is not surprising that he possesses a layer of mystery surrounding his person, being more used to playing characters in the eyes of the world than being himself. When the world knows so little about an actor, they are bound to be easily impressed. However, it would seem that Washington has more than a few bombs to drop on his fans.

During an interview, the actor revealed an interesting fact about...

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A movie doesn't have to be successful to be a classic. Take "Heathers" — written by Daniel Waters, directed by Michael Lehmann, starring Winona Ryder.

Ryder, fresh off "Beetlejuice," played another death-obsessed teenager. Unlike gothic outsider Lydia Deetz, though, Veronica Sawyer from "Heathers" is in the in-crowd. She hangs out with Westerburg High School's trio of mean girls, all named Heather, but feels disillusioned. So her new bad boy lover J.D. (Christian Slater) convinces her to pull a lethal prank on queen bee Heather Chandler (Kim Walker).

"Heathers" is the template for other biting black comedy teen movies, from "Mean Girls" to "Jennifer's Body." It even inspired a "Heathers" musical! But it only made $1.1 million on a $3 million budget.

Entertainment Weekly's oral history of "Heathers" (published in 2014 for its 25th anniversary) has some explanations for why it flopped. Distributor New World Pictures...

Roger Ebert was never afraid to go against the grain. While most critics loved films like A Clockwork Orange, Gladiator, The Usual Suspects and The Elephant Man, Ebert gave them a big thumbs down. It went the other way as well, though. Far Out Magazine recently noted a number of terrible movies that Ebert inexplicably loved, including three comedies that would be more at home at the Razzies than the Oscars.

Here are three terrible comedies that got kudos from arguably the greatest film critic of all time…

1 Home Alone 3

No Macaulay Culkin? No Chris Columbus? No problem for Ebert. “To my astonishment, I liked the third Home Alone movie better than the first two,” he wrote. “I’m even going so far as to recommend it.”

What was so great about it? “This movie follows the exact formula of the first two, but is funnier and gentler, has a real charmer for a hero,...

Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece A Clockwork Orange has polarized audiences since its 1971 release, as viewers wrestle with its unapologetic portrayal of violence, mind control, and moral decay. Today, it’s seen as a daring piece of cinema and a powerful social commentary. However, at the time, legendary film critic Roger Ebert saw something deeply troubling in it. Unlike Kubrick’s other works, which Ebert often praised, A Clockwork Orange struck him as little more than a “paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning.” He gave it two stars, baffling fans of Kubrick and shocking readers accustomed to his thoughtful critiques.

Ebert’s issues with the film began with its central character, Alex DeLarge. Alex, a teen delinquent who revels in “ultraviolence,” is violent to a point few characters on film had ever been, committing brutal acts of assault and sadism, only to later become a victim of government reprogramming.

After defying all odds and remarks, Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential elections and is all set to take over the official duties earlier next year. However, in the midst of this several celebrities have not shied away to express their not-so-subtle comments about the president-elect. While Robert De Niro’s rant against him was legendary, actor Jim Carrey was also not far behind with his unique form of artwork.

Donald Trump in a still from an interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live | Credits: YouTube

He brought his art to the forefront to mock Trump all the way back in 2017 when he assumed office for the first time.

Jim Carrey Found an Artful Way to Express His Frustration on Donald Trump

Jim Carrey had humble beginnings in the Hollywood industry as a stand comedian mostly participating in supportive roles. But In Living Color changed everything for him and gave him the much-deserved recognition in the industry.

Nicolas Cage is one of our most impressive living actors, and a big part of that is because of his intense love of cinema. He's a true student of the craft, with an obsession for older films that has led him to an extensive knowledge of all the medium has to offer. Cage's passion for his projects has led to him becoming the subject of many memes, mostly using his most over-the-top performances, but the man really knows his stuff. So, when Rotten Tomatoes asked Cage for his five favorite films of all time, he came a little over-prepared, offering his top 13 favorite films instead. He said that he simply couldn't narrow it down to five because "there's different movies for different reasons in different lifetimes," which is the most Nicolas Cage thing he could have said.

The actor often looks back to older cinema for inspiration and compares...

Why The Exorcist Was Banned in Several Countries—The Controversial Details Explained! (Photo Credit – Facebook)

Horror movies are no strangers to scandal, but The Exorcist? It practically invented it. William Friedkin’s 1973 shocker set new standards for controversy, sending waves through theaters worldwide. With the story of a young girl possessed by a demonic force, the film’s shocking content stirred enough outrage to get it banned in parts of the U.K. That move only fueled its forbidden appeal, helping it rocket to box-office superstardom.

Unlike any horror film, The Exorcist played up the drama, diving into themes that religious groups considered beyond offensive. The producers knew the storm they were wading into and leaned into it. Playing off its reputation, it excited the marketing by encouraging stories of people fainting and even suffering heart attacks in the theater. Audiences were both captivated and horrified, and the film quickly amassed a cult following,...

Jared Harris is going full circle and returning to the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time in 34 years to play Claudius, the treacherous uncle in Hamlet. It is a play much-loved by his father Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies and Marcus Aurelius in Ridley Scott’s original 2000 Gladiator.

Harris said that when he and his brothers, thespian Jamie and director Damien, were kids, their stage-struck parents — dad Richard and mum Elizabeth Rees-Williams — would sit around the dinner table and discuss the productions they’d seen and “Dad would actually get up from the table and act them out for us boys.”

His father “adored” Hamlet and many of Shakespeare’s other plays. “I saw his version of [Laurence] Olivier’s death scene in Coriolanus quite a few times,” he chuckles from his hotel room in Iceland, where he’s shooting...

If you’re looking for some dark synthwave to add to your Halloween playlist this year, video game composer and producer Megan McDuffee has released second album Crimson Legacy.

After working in the film and gaming industries for over 15 years on titles such as the River City Girls games, Apex Legends Mobile, RetroRealms’ Ash Vs. Evil Dead & Halloween, all 9 Atari Recharged games, and winning multiple awards for her scores, McDuffee’s new album draws inspiration from a wide range of artists including Puscifer, Massive Attack, Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, The Cure, Iamx, Infected Mushroom, and Zeromancer.

The press release previews, “With that diverse list of influences alone, audiences will know that Crimson Legacy will have a lot of component parts, but, in McDuffee’s own tradition, they will be expertly blended into something entirely different and wholly her own. With her trademark heavy retro synths, McDuffee incorporates a number of...

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?...

Tipped to be one of the major awards contenders this year, you can now catch your first look at The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody.

It’s no grand claim to say that the awards race for Best Picture at the Oscars (not to mention other awards shows) is wide open right now. No clear favourite has emerged yet although the next couple of months sees the release of a clutch of contenders, one of which is The Brutalist, an architectural drama that weighs in at three and a a half hours long and arrives in the US courtesy of A24.

Adrien Brody headlines the film, and as the official synopsis describes, he ‘stars as a Hungarian Holocaust survivor struggling to revive his career as an architect in the United States. It traces his life over nearly four decades as he immigrates to the U.S. and begins working for a...

All October long, Cracked is catching up with some of the greatest writers in Simpsons history to discuss the most beloved segments from the “Treehouse of Horror” series. From the cursed monkey’s paw to Krusto the Clown, we’re digging into the making of some real fan-favorites.

When it comes to The Simpsons, longtime showrunner Al Jean has seen just about everything. Which means that when he’s picking show favorites, the competition is fierce. Maybe never more so than among “Treehouse of Horror” episodes, as he was half of the creative team behind the second one (with his stalwart writing partner Mike Reiss), and he’s played a role in pretty much every installment since.

When I ask him and Reiss for a favorite, though, the answer comes pretty easy: Season 26’s “Treehouse of Horror Xxv.”

Per usual, it contained three segments, all written by Stephanie Gillis. The first was “School Is Hell,...

Where to begin on this infamous film? Shot in 1976 and released in 1980, Caligula was directed by arthouse provocateur Tinto Brass. Written by Gore Vidal and funded by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, Caligula became one of those unfortunate films that was messed with by someone who should not have had editing or final cut privileges. But throughout film history, huge egos with money have done exactly that. In the case of Caligula, Guccione went beyond most interfering suits, if you could call him that, and secretly shot pornographic footage on the sets at night. He then had this footage cut into the film, resulting in a wild ride, to say the least. The film stars Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) as the young man...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Clint Eastwood's dislike of The Shining outshined even author Stephen King, with the screen icon labeling the 1980 horror movie "A giant failure." It felt like there was a time when every major genre director had to adapt at least one Stephen King book for the big screen. John Carpenter helmed Christine, David Cronenberg took a visit to The Dead Zone while George A. Romero helmed every chapter of Creepshow. That makes it all the more unusual that the second King adaptation was directed by Stanley Kubrick of 2001 and A Clockwork Orange fame/infamy.

After being disappointed by the response to his period drama Barry Lyndon, Kubrick set out to make something more commercial. He turned to the horror genre and took a liking to King's The Shining. The resulting film is now considered a masterpiece; a peerless, haunting work filled with unforgettable imagery. Still, The Shining received divisive reviews upon release,...

A Forbidden Orange is a companion piece to Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of A Clockwork Orange and the crisis the movie causes, as depicted in the documentary, is an interesting tale itself. In a filmography like Stanley Kubrick's, ranking movies can be a bit of a futile endeavor. One person's worst film could be another's favorite, so lauded and effective is Kubrick. A Clockwork Orange, for instance, is an incredibly nuanced dystopian crime film that has inspired decades of media afterward but has also attracted a considerable amount of negative attention.

Based on Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel of the same name, A Clockwork Orange takes place in a criminal-infested, near-future Britain. There, Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is a monstrous delinquent who leads a group of henchmen, The Droogs, who spend their time committing all sorts of horrific crimes. After he's arrested, Alex is subjected to an experimental psychological conditioning technique that keeps him docile.

Much has been made of the hosts that have been banned from Saturday Night Live. We even made a list on the dubious performers who annoyed the cast or SNL boss Lorne Michaels so much that they were never allowed back onto the show.

Something that gets less talked about, though, is the inverse. The instances in which a host is so put off by the design of the show, and the experience they have, that they vow to never return. In the case of Malcolm McDowell, he hated his SNL experience so much that he successfully talked a famous pal of his to turn a hosting offer down.

Malcolm McDowell hosted during an SNL low point

McDowell hosted Saturday Night Live in 1980, which was a historically troubled time in the show's history. Lorne Michaels decided to step down as showrunner for a brief time, and NBC decided to gut...

After DC’s hard-earned road back to normalcy, the superhero franchise has been prospering better than what the fans had imagined. From Dwayne Johnson and Henry Cavill’s final pitstop, a new era was born defined by Robert Pattinson’s Batman and James Gunn’s Superman. Now, Colin Farrell’s The Penguin takes over the latest chapter of the Dark Knight chronology.

Colin Farrell in and as The Penguin [Credit: HBO]

With freshly baked shows and characters also come a new set of problems. No longer is Zack Snyder the wrongdoer, bringing incomprehensible visions of ruin and tragedy to the world of DC, and leaving the fans high and dry without an end to the story. The new set of problems in this comic book franchise is much more pithily constructed, one of them being: Who is Julian Rush?

Theo Rossi Makes His Mark in The Penguin

The Batman universe has always been here to entertain.

Director Cosmos Kiindarius made his feature directorial debut with the 2016 thriller Stand, which was about American brothers who head out into the Vietnam jungle and get trapped in a mine field that was left over from the war. Now he’s about to head into production on his second film, a psychological horror tale called Dirt, and he has gotten some genre icons to join the cast. Dirt will feature Malcolm McDowell of A Clockwork Orange (and the Rob Zombie Halloween movies), A Nightmare on Elm Street heroine Heather Langenkamp, and Courtney Gains from the Stephen King adaptation Children of the Corn. Also in the cast are James Paxton, who recently appeared in Twisters and happens to be the son of Bill Paxton, Emily Tosta (Mayans Mc), and Owen Vaccaro (The House with a Clock in Its Walls). Filming is set to begin in New Mexico this November.

Dirt is...

The world has ended, or so says Momma, played by Halle Berry. She lives with her two sons Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and their dog in big wooden house the middle of the woods.

The details of this apocalyptic event are hazy, however Momma repetitively tells her boys that there is an evil out there that can posses you and make you kill your loved ones. This is what had happened to their grandparents and their father and now the trio live in constant fear of the outside world.

The only thing that keeps them safe is the house itself so the only way they can leave is while tied to its foundations on long pieces of rope. If bound to the building they are safe but should that rope break or they stray beyond it, who know what terrible things will happen. That’s...

Spoiler Space offers thoughts on, and a place to discuss, the plot points we can’t disclose in our official review. Fair warning: This article features plot details of The Substance.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?

It's a question posed again and again by The Substance,...

‘1984’ by George Orwell (Photo Credit: Penguin Random House)

The American Library Association (Ala) runs the Office for Intellectual Freedom (Oif) to track attempts to ban or restrict access to books across the United States, and then to inform the public about censorship efforts in our libraries and schools. The last week of September is usually the time it sets aside for its annual Banned Books Week, which celebrates the freedom to read whatever you want. And what better way to celebrate that than by watching 10 films based on banned books that also ran into censorship issues? Celebrate the freedom to watch!

From the Ala website: “In 2023, Oif documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources, the highest number of attempted book bans since Ala began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. 4,240 unique book titles were targeted for censorship in 2023, a 65% increase compared to 2022 numbers. A...

“I can’t watch any sitcom before 2000 because it’s all so cringe. Racism, sexism, rape, and toxic behavior are not funny to me.”

You may have heard a friend or family member say something along those lines.

Or you might have made such a remark yourself.

(NBC (Youtube Screengrab))

Indeed, how did we ever watch all those old shows with so many problematic characters and politically incorrect plotlines?

Most iconic sitcom characters were bigoted or duplicitous and did not try their best to “be a better person.”

A Gen Z-er might ask, “Why did TV viewers ever sympathize with so many terrible people, like Archie Bunker, George Costanza, or Ross Geller?

A Boomer might ask, “Why can’t we just laugh at something that’s funny anymore? Back in the day, a good joke was a good joke.”

(NBC)

While a culture war seems like the right answer, I...

Early on in “A Clockwork Orange,” Alex and his fellow droogs break into a rich writer’s home and rape his wife, which would be wrong enough if he weren’t crooning “Singin’ in the Rain” in the process. Half a century later, the scene seems no less appalling, given the way Stanley Kubrick made such ultraviolence look like fun for the demented kids who were doing it. Could there be anything more nihilistic than that?

Middle-aged bad boy Harmony Korine certainly thinks so. The latest stunt from his taboo-razing Edglrd studio, “Baby Invasion” blurs the lines between real life and a gnarly video game, so much so that it’s hard to tell what we’re watching for most of the trippy project’s 79-minute running time.

First-person footage of Florida McMansions ransacked by screen-addicted sociopaths? Creepy face-replacement technology that turns armed vandals into demon-horned Gerber babies? AI-generated cameos from an elusive CG rabbit?...

“The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” When I joke about movies being very loosely based on a true story, that opening dialogue from John Larroquette and the wild popularity is what I’m referring to. While it may not be the first...

Ontario Creates’ International Financing Forum (Iff) will feature 40 projects from Canadian and international teams bringing new work from Malcolm McDowell, Clement Virgo, and Rafael Kapelinski, director of 2017 Berlin Crystal Bear winner Butterfly Kisses.

The forum, now in its 19th year, runs September 8-9 in Toronto in association with Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It brings together jury-selected producers looking to find co-producers and secure financing for upcoming projects.

Canadian projects include The Benefactor starring McDowell from A Clockwork Orange and Mozart In The Jungle in the story of a widower who believes his house is haunted.

Ontario’s Byron A. Martin of Byron A.

Stanley Kubrick is undoubtedly one of the most influential filmmakers that Hollywood has ever had. The renowned director’s works have been praised for their innovative cinematography as well as their amazing attention to detail. Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket have been groundbreaking films that have inspired various filmmakers.

Alan Cumming famously played Nightcrawler in X2 | 20th Century Fox

Kubrick’s last film was 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The erotic mystery film also had rising star Alan Cumming, who had made some small roles in some high-profile films. However, before starring in Eyes Wide Shut, he was getting disillusioned with the industry until Kubrick restored his love for acting.

X2‘s Alan Cumming Question His Acting Career Before Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut

Alan Cumming played a hotel desk clerk in Stanley Kubrick...

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are getting zapped into the grid — and Nine inch Nails is back.

Disney announced, during its Disney Entertainment Showcase at D23, that the influential composers behind “The Social Network” and HBO’s “Watchmen,” would be composing the original score for the forthcoming “Tron” sequel, “Tron: Ares,” which is scheduled to be released in theaters on October 10, 2025.

And the composing duo were there to make sure fans know it’s real.

Nin for Tron: Ares! #D23 pic.twitter.com/H4v4hnrPCg

— Dustin Sandoval (@DustinMSandoval) August 10, 2024

Reznor and Ross, who in addition to being Hollywood’s most in-demand composers are also members of industrial rock outfit Nine Inch Nails, have some mighty big shoes to fill. 1982’s “Tron” had a cutting-edge score composed by Wendy Carlos, who had also composed the score to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” and “A Clockwork Orange.”

For “Tron: Legacy,” eventually...

Attention, directors: If Alan Cumming has been in your movie at any time in the 21st century, you can thank Stanley Kubrick. And if at any point Cumming seemed annoyed at you, you can blame Kubrick.

At least that’s what Cumming said. In an interview with TheWrap about “The Traitors,” the Peacock reality show for which he’s been nominated for an Emmy for hosting, Cumming enthusiastically detoured into a discussion about his appearance in “Eyes Wide Shut,” Kubrick’s final film, which was released in July 1999, 25 years ago this summer.

“It was very memorable,” Cumming said of the experience, which both restored his interest in acting in films at a time when he was losing it and made him question the way other filmmakers have directed him since.

Mind you, Cumming didn’t have much of a role in the film, a dreamy and kinky reverie in which...

Few filmmakers can claim to have helped shape an entire era of cinema, but the boom in 1990s indie cinema is impossible to imagine without producer Stacey Sher.

“If you say, U.S. independent cinema of the ’90s, whatever film touched your feelings, your emotions and your memory, most probably, it has Stacey involved in it,” says Locarno film festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, on the reason Locarno is honoring Sher with its 2024 Premio Raimondo Rezzonico, or best independent producer, award.

After a six-year mentorship under legendary producers Deborah Hill and Linda Obst, making such films as Chris Columbus’ debut Adventures in Babysitting and Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King, Sher joined the Danny DeVito and Michael Shamberg’s newly-founded indie shingle Jersey Films, soon becoming a partner. At Jersey, she was instrumental in championing a new generation of directors — Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Andrew Niccol, Ben Stiller — whose films would define a decade.

McDowell's injury during filming of A Clockwork Orange could have been avoided with better care and attention. Despite the scratch to his cornea, McDowell experienced short-term problems rather than long-term implications. The doctor's distraction with scripted lines during the scene ultimately led to McDowell's eye injury.

Malcolm McDowell suffered a real injury while shooting A Clockwork Orange. Inspired by Anthony Burgess' book, the renowned Stanley Kubrick movie explores the perils of unethical psychological experimentation on prisoners. McDowell played Alex DeLarge, who leads a group of criminals and often engages in horrific actions. After his imprisonment, Alex agrees to participate in a clinical trial that sees his eyes forced open as he is forced to watch scenes of depraved violence. The imprisonment changed Alex's life, but it also seriously impacted McDowell.

In an interview with The Guardian, McDowell opened up about the consequences of the famous brainwashing scene. Despite having...

Thomas Negovan's cut of Caligula offers a new coherent narrative while retaining the original explicit elements. Caligula: The Ultimate Cut operates at a much longer runtime, offering a more grounded portrayal of each actor's performance. Malcolm McDowell expresses relief that audiences can now view his intended version of Caligula, distinct from Guccione's changes.

1979's Caligula is generally considered a complete disaster of a movie, but Caligula: The Ultimate Cut could very well change its reputation. The first cut of the movie was originally directed by Tinto Brass, but he was removed before the editing stage could begin after producer and Penthouse founder Bob Guccione ordered it to be edited to change the movie's tone and style to better match pornography. The newly-edited The Ultimate Cut is Thomas Negovan's attempt to showcase the original intentions for the movie, removing many of Guccione's changes.

In an interview with The Guardian, original...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

A retrospective of Mexican popular cinema from the 1940s to the 1960s is underway.

Film Forum

A career-spanning Jean-Pierre Melville retrospective has begun; restorations of Ann Hui’s July Rhapsody (watch our exclusive trailer debut), Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams, Fitzcarraldo and Seven Samurai continue.

Museum of the Moving Image

A 70mm print of Playtime screens this weekend; The Color of Pomegranates and Speed Racer play.

Anthology Film Archives

Robert Bresson plays in “Essential Cinema.”

Bam

Claire Denis’ monumental No Fear, No Die continues screening in a new restoration; Mapantsula begins playing.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective continues.

IFC Center

The Time Masters, Amadeus, and In the Mood for Love play daily; Fritz the Cat, Friday the 13th, The Last House on the Left, and The Matrix play late.

Metrograph...

As his new film Thelma hits UK cinemas, the actor who is known for A Clockwork Orange, starring in South Park and killing Captain Kirk is taking your questions

In Thelma, out now, Malcolm McDowell does not play one of the dazzling antiheroes which either made his name – in If…., O Lucky Man! and A Clockwork Orange – or helped propel his turn-of-the-century career revival, with Gangster No 1 and 2003’s I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.

Instead, he plays the pitiful owner of a suburban bric-a-brac shop who, to keep the lights on, has a side hustle in swindling vulnerable pensioners out of large sums by pretending to be a lawyer who needs paying now for errant grandchildren’s counsel.

It’s the second and final day of Amazon’s annual Prime Day, with hundreds of products discounted — including prices slashed on horror movies!

Many of yesterday’s sales are still active, plus a bunch of new deals below…

4K Ultra HD Collections:

Scream / Scream 5 – $22.99 The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Vol. 3 – $36.99 Jurassic World: 6-Film Ultimate Collection – $42.99 Resident Evil Collection [Steelbook] – $109.16

Individual 4K UHDs:

The Suicide Squad – $9.99 Parasite – $10.39 Batman – $10.99 300 – $10.99 Edge of Tomorrow – $10.99 V for Vendetta – $10.99 A Clockwork Orange – $10.99 M3GAN – $11.99 Pan’s Labyrinth – $11.99 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World -$11.99 Beetlejuice – $12.99 Battlestar Galactica – $12.99 Brightburn – $13.95 The Shallows – $13.95 Monster Hunter – $13.95 Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City – $13.95 Leon The Professional – $13.95 Blade – $14.99 The Nun II – $14.99 Evil Dead Rise – $14.99 Sleepy Hollow – $15.99 The Witch – $15.99 Event Horizon – $16.49 Crimes of the Future – $17.29 Scream 2 – $18.39 Scream 3 – $17.94 Enter the Dragon [Steelbook] – $19.99 Night of the Living Dead – $24.99

Blu-ray Collections:

Dirty Harry: 4-Film Collection – $11.99 Cloverfield: 3-Movie Collection – $12.99 Hammer Horror: 8-Film Collection – $16.99 Memento / Insomnia / Batman Begins / The Dark Knight...

Plot: Tormented by the murder of his family, the young, wary Caligula eliminates his devious adoptive grandfather Tiberius and seizes control of the declining Roman Empire as it descends into a spiral of depravity, destruction and madness.

Review: One of the most infamous movies of all time, Caligula has long been one of the most intriguing projects in cinema history. Developed and produced by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, Caligula was the most expensive independently produced film upon its release. From filming to release, Caligula took four years and included the departure of screenwriter Gore Vidal and director Tinto Brass and the addition of explicit pornographic material by Guccione, which resulted in a critical drubbing and countless legal proceedings taken against the film. While restorations have been attempted before, producer Thomas Negovan’s ultimate cut of the film pored over almost one hundred hours of footage to compile a vision of Caligula,...

In the history of cinema, there have been actors who have taken extreme measures to completely immerse themselves in their roles. As evidenced by Christian Bale’s 62-pound weight loss to play an emaciated insomniac in The Machinist and Shia Labeouf extracting his own tooth for Fury. However, Jeremy Strong may have elevated his method of acting to a whole new level.

Jeremy Strong in Succession (2018) || HBO

Strong portrays the role of Kendall Roy in Succession, a well-acclaimed comedy-drama series. Although the actor’s performance on the show has received positive reviews, Bowen Yang on the other hand believes that Strong may have taken his method acting a bit too seriously.

Jeremy Strong takes method acting to an absurd degree

The tale of Jeremy Strong‘s extreme commitment to his roles is known to many. Given that during the filming of a protest scene in The Trial of the Chicago 7,...