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Damien Chazelle's Oscar-winning film La La Land broke one of the longest-standing records in Oscars history. La La Land is undoubtedly one of the best movies of both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's careers. The film infamously lost Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards to Moonlight after it was mistakenly announced that La La Land had taken home the coveted prize. It did end up winning six Oscars, including Stone's first Best Actress award as well as Best Director, Best Cinematographer, and Best Original Score. The film also earned a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, making it one of Chazelle's best movies.

La La Land helped to legitimize both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's acting careers and established them as two of the most sought-after talents in Hollywood. The same can be said of Chazelle, whose groundbreaking 2013 film Whiplash starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons cemented him...

Fandoms everywhere can now rejoice, for in October Our Flag Means Death finally returns to our screens for its second season. Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi will be romancing the high seas once more thanks to an enormous outpouring of love and support from the show’s fans. The safety of the cult favorite is not yet known beyond season two, but if this one is as good as the first, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying.

Talking of little shows that could, Doom Patrol is back for its last ever block of episodes, having long outlasted the many of the other ill-fated DC streaming series. Season two of The Gilded Age is also streaming this month, with Bertha challenging both Mrs. Astor and the old system in this new run.

And if none of that is up your street, there’s always Jason Statham punching sharks in the face,...

Rhys Darby in ‘Our Flag Means Death’ season 2 (Photograph by Nicola Dove/Max)

Max’s 2023 October lineup of series includes new seasons of Our Flag Means Death, The Gilded Age, and 30 Coins, as well as the second half of Doom Patrol season four (the final season). A documentary focusing on the notorious Bling Ring premieres on October 1st, along with all five Final Destination films.

In addition to a batch of horror films joining the network’s lineup, Max is celebrating Halloween with new seasons of Ghost Adventures and The Haunted Museum.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In October 2023:

October 1

3 Godfathers (1948)

The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)

All About the Benjamins (2002)

The Amazing Panda Adventure (1995)

Angels in the Outfield (1951)

The Answer Man (2009)

Anthropoid (2016)

Appaloosa (2008)

The Apparition (2012)

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Badlands (1973)

Be Cool (2005)

Bee Season (2005)

Beetlejuice (1988)

The Benchwarmers (2006)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blindspotting (2018)

Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)

Cesar Chavez (2014)

Charlie Wilson’s War...

The South Australian festival iis now an annual event.

Films from Europe, the Middle East and Australia dominate the fiction and documentary competitions at the Adelaide Film Festival (Aff), the first since an injection of government funding enabled the event to step up from being biennial to annual.

The festival will take place in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, from October 18-29.

The opening film will be the Australian premiere of Kitty Green’s Toronto premiere and awards hopeful The Royal Hotel, produced by UK-Australian outfit See-Saw Films. The world premiere of Scott Hicks’ music documentary My Name’s Ben Folds – I Play Piano,...

Last Man Standing

Martial arts veteran Sammo Hung is to be presented with a lifetime achievement honor at the upcoming Asian Film Awards. The ceremony is back as an in-person event after a two-year absence and shifts back to Hong Kong after previously being held in Hong Kong, Macau and Busan. Hung is expected to accept the award on Sunday March 12 at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

“I’m so happy and surprised that I can still win awards these days, especially an award that affirms my entire performing career,” said Hung in a forwarded statement. He has a career as actor, action choreographer, director and producer that stretches some 60 years.

His acting credits include action comedies “Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog” and “Odd Couple” paranormal horror comedies “Encounters of the Spooky Kind” and “The Dead and the Deadly,” comedy film series “Lucky Stars” and gangster action film “Shanghai, Shanghai.”

In...

It is the debut from Australian directors Luke Rynderman and Adam Kamien.

UK outfit Altitude Film Sales has boarded Speedway, a true crime docu-drama from first-time Australian filmmakers Luke Rynderman and Adam Kamien, and will present first footage to buyers at the European Film Market.

The film takes a look at the unresolved so-called Burger Chef murder case that took place in the US in the 1970s. Four young employees were kidnapped and murdered following the closing shift at a burger restaurant in the town of Speedway, Indiana in 1978.

This feature digs into the bungled evidence and many theories as...

Neil Castles, a NASCAR driver who later worked in films as a stuntman, transportation coordinator and actor, died today at 88. His death was reported by journalist Deb Williams.

Castles, nicknamed “Soapy,” was a NASCAR Cup Series driver from 1957 to 1976. He made 498 starts, but never won a race. His best-career finish was second on four occasions. He did manage 51 top fives, 178 top 10s and finished in the top five in points in 1969 and 1970.

While still involved in NASCAR, Castles became a film industry stunt driver, mostly for movies about racing produced in the 1960s and ’70s. His film credits include Speedway starring Elvis Presley (1968), Greased Lightning starring Richard Pryor (1977), and Six Pack starring Kenny Rogers (1982).

Castles also had acting credits in The Night of the Cat (1973) and Challenge (1974), and also had multiple transportation department credits as either a picture car coordinator or driver. His most recent came in Homeland (2011) and The Hunger Games...

The phrases “avant-garde improvisational noise rock” and “hot new buzz band” don’t often show up next to each other in the same sentence. But they’re hard to avoid when discussing London’s Black Midi, an adventurous group that’s somehow broken through over the last couple years to become one of the most hyped acts in the U.K. — despite (or perhaps because of) a sound tailor-made to challenge and bewilder listeners in its prog-punk weirdness.

Since forming in 2017, Black Midi has been slathered in the kind of...

Of the four new albums here, two feature a modern-rock journeyman in exuberant form and back to work, against extraordinary odds. Another affirms the full-strength return of a great American band, 30 years after they broke up. And they are all rich in the exhilarating — and healing — chime of electric guitars.

There are comebacks in rock & roll, even resurrections. Then there is Scott McCaughey. In November 2017, the singer-guitarist-songwriter of the Minus 5 suffered a near-fatal stroke on the road, erasing a life of songs with his many bands including the Young Fresh Fellows,...

While the NFL led protests against President Donald Trump’s recent railing against NFL player Colin Kaepernick and other players kneeling during the “Star Spangled Banner,” Nascar remained standing.

The national anthem played without protests at the Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series pre-race festivities at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, USA Today reports. Athletes and crew, including numerous African-Americans, stood as normal.

Many Nascar owners spoke out against the protests from other sports.

When asked what he would do if one of his employees protested during the anthem, team owner Richard Childress replied that he would “get you a...

Records, as they say, are made to be broken. Just ask Babe Ruth, Wilt Chamberlain or Gordie Howe.

Their career marks for home runs, points and goals, respectively, were so revered in their sports that they became major media events when they fell.

Another major sports record could be tied this year, the one for Sprint Cup championships in a career: seven, currently held by Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt, and being pursued by Jimmie Johnson.

The 2014 season of Nascar's top series gets into gear Sunday, Feb. 23, at Daytona International Speedway, as Fox airs the 56th running of the Daytona 500. Johnson will begin his quest to tie the record -- as well as defend his 2013 race title -- on the 2.5-mile Florida tri-oval in a 43-car field that includes Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon. Johnson won his second...

The release of Ron Howard’s Rush, one of the most anticipated (not to say mega-hyped) films of the year, inevitably begs comparisons to some of the great car-themed movies of the past.

“Rush.” Photo by Jaap Buitendijk

© 2013 – Universal Pictures.

It seems that automobiles have played key roles in films of every genre, from drama to horror to comedy to documentary. In some, like American Graffiti, Rebel without a Cause, and Bonnie and Clyde, the vehicles primarily help set the tone of the era in which the stories are set. In other films the cars themselves are the story. The animated Cars comes to mind, along with the Love Bug series, Christine, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And then there are films in which the cars have taken their place alongside the human stars as film icons in their own right. James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, for instance, as...

Douglas Laurence, a onetime director of entertainment at the famed Flamingo Hotel hotspot in Las Vegas who produced Speedway and two other Elvis Presley films, has died. He was 93. Laurence, who also produced Judy Garland’s first album for Capitol Records in 1955, lived in San Rafael, Calif., and died Oct. 2 from complications following surgery, his daughter Valentina Pfeil said Friday. Laurence also produced the Delbert Mann film Mister Buddwing (1966), a black-and-white drama that earned two Oscar nominations and starred James Garner as a well-dressed man who wakes up in Central Park and has no

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Think of Steve McQueen and you most likely think of him astride a Triumph motorcycle in The Great Escape or racing through the streets of San Francisco in a green Ford Mustang in hot pursuit of a black Dodge Charger in the film Bullitt or dressed head to toe in white racing overalls with his Porsche racing car in Le Mans. McQueen has always been synonymous with motor vehicles and it is common knowledge that his main interest outside of movies was motor sport, in particular a passion for off road motorcycle racing.

When Bruce Brown, director of the seminal 1966 surf documentary Endless Summer, decided to turn his hand to documenting the lives of motorcycle racers and racing enthusiasts with his 1971 film On Any Sunday, it is no surprise that he turned to Steve McQueen to not only appear in the film but to produce it as well through his own Solar Productions company.

Actor Ross Hagen has died at the age of 72.

Hagen, a regular on the 1960s TV adventure show Daktari, passed away on 7 May in Brentwood, California after a battle with prostate cancer.

The actor made appearances on TV Westerns such as The Big Valley and The Virginian in the mid-1960s and also co-starred with Elvis Presley in Speedway.

He is best known for playing hunter Bart Jason in Daktari, about an animal study centre in Africa.

Hagen also went on to write and direct, helming Time Wars and The Media Madman.

He is survived by his partner, Lee Srednick, a son and a daughter, according to Variety.com.

Nascar, International Speedway Corporation and Cie Games Facebook Partnership Gives ‘Car Town’ Players the Green Flag at Daytona International Speedway

In-Game ‘Daytona Challenge’ Lets Fans Pick Their Favorite Car, Assemble a Pit Crew And Take the Ultimate Virtual Victory Lap on Facebook

Long Beach, Calif. (February 18, 2011) – When top drivers hit the new asphalt at Daytona International Speedway this Sunday, they’ll be joined by a whole new field of virtual drivers and pit crews, thanks to a partnership among Cie Games – publisher and developer of the popular Facebook game Car Town (www.cartown.com) – Nascar and International Speedway Corporation, parent company of Daytona International Speedway. The goal: give millions of racing enthusiasts an entirely new way to experience auto racing.

Beginning Saturday, race fans entering the Daytona International Speedway in Car Town will be transported to a virtual race track where players take part in the “Daytona Challenge” by assembling a pit crew,...

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

by Tom Lisanti / www.sixtiescinema.com

In honor of Elvis Presley's birthday, Turner Classic Movies is running an all-day marathon of his movies on Friday January 8. Below are comments from his former co-stars whom I interviewed for my various publications:

6:15am Harum Scarum

Elvis is a singer kidnapped on tour in the Middle East and goes from swingin' with dancing gypsies Brenda Benet, Gail Gerber and Wilda Taylor to falling in love with a princess, Mary Ann Mobley.

"Elvis was intelligent, quiet and very sweet. But at that time, he seemed like a young man in turmoil—sort of like a ‘Who do I have to fuck to get off this picture’ kind of thing. Elvis was a tortured guy who obviously hoped for, and deserved, something better than the movies he was getting offered to do like Harum Scarum." - Gail Gerber, Trippin' with...

Character actor Carl Ballantine ahas died at age 92. He was one of the comedy industry's favorite second bananas and was also acclaimed for his stand-up act in which he played a bumbling magician. Ballantine, who received a lifetime achievement award on behalf of the magic industry in 2007, continued to perform until last year. His film credits include The Shakiest Gun in the West, Speedway and Mr. Saturday Night. He was also known for his role as the con-man Gruber on the McHale's Navy TV series. For more click here...

Carl Ballantine, who performed feats of bumbling comic magic on Vaudeville and on television, the movies and in Las Vegas, died Tuesday of natural causes at his Hollywood home. He was 92.

Perhaps Ballantine's most famous role was as confident con artist and torpedoman Lester Gruber on 1962-66 ABC comedy "McHale's Navy."

Ballantine, born Meyer Kessler on Chicago's South Side, learned magic tricks at age 9 from his barber. By 13, he was performing and supporting his family.

One night, a trick went haywire and he threw out some funny lines to cover things. The audience loved it, the club owner told him to "keep it up" -- and the Amazing Ballantine was born.

Ballantine caught the end of Vaudeville and the early days of television. He played the Palace in New York City, the Hippodrome in Baltimore and many other huge venues of the day.

On TV, he did magic on the shows of Garry Moore,...

Quentin Tarantino's a talented guy, but he'd be nowhere if he wasn't surrounded by so much talent--and in particular, the husband-wife pair of production designer David Wasco and set decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco. Together, the two of them have created some of the most stylish productions of the last fifteen years, including Michael Mann's underrated visual feast, Collateral; both of Wes Andreson's best movies, The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore; and Pulp Fiction. It's hard to understate how pitch-perfect--and crucial--their work has been to every film. They teamed up again with Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds, and spoke to Flavorwire about how they pulled off the garish, period look of the film.

Tarantino is famous for being a walking dictionary of film violence; similarly, the Wascos are have an encyclopedic knowledge of film, architecture, and design:

The set for Jack Rabbit Slim's, the nightclub in Pulp Fiction, has been noted in numerous articles about your work.

Surprise! Thousands of Nascar fans who turned up for Saturday's Coke Zero 400 were shocked to realize that the lively country-rock band playing featured a familiar face: Kevin Costner on lead vocals. "There were double-takes," he said after the show at the Daytona International Speedway. "They get into the music without knowing." The actor – dressed in faded jeans, sunglasses and white button-down with rolled-up sleeves – and his band Modern West played a 50-minute set of mostly original songs, capped off by a lively rendition of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man."Making the night even more special? The actor's wife, Christine,...