News

Counting On alum Jessa Duggar Seewald is back with her barrage of stories about her kids. The 31-year-old has been on and off social media over the past few months. However, whenever she gets back online, she makes consecutive posts, making fans think that her sudden online activity has another meaning. One of Jessa’s latest updates is about their latest movie time. But many Reddit users were surprised by what type of movie Ben’s wife showed to her kids. Keep reading to see what it was.

Counting On: Jessa Duggar Makes Fans Skeptical

Last month, Jessa returned to Facebook to share multiple “sayings” of her kids. One of the stories the Counting On alum shared was about Ivy’s conversation with her dad, in which she says their bodies are half-American and half-Indian. “It’s from Indians living here, and now we are living here,” her daughter added.

In the early 2000s, Bob Dylan teamed up with writer Larry Charles to work on the screenplay for the film Masked and Anonymous. This was not the musician’s first movie. Still, this was the first time he worked on a screenplay in this way. Charles said he worked well with Dylan and that the script was the product of their equal collaboration. Charles noted that Dylan had been researching the Civil War at the time, so the historical era influenced the screenplay.

Bob Dylan took inspiration from the Civil War when he wrote a screenplay

When Charles and Dylan began working on Masked and Anonymous, Dylan pulled out a box of possible character names. He’d written them on scraps of paper with assorted words and phrases. In a similar manner to which Dylan writes songs, they began putting the scraps together to write a screenplay.

They also used...

Sound of Freedom is defying expectations at the box office in the summer of 2023, and it's not just because of its talented cast. The 2023 action movie is based on the story of anti-sex trafficking activist Tim Ballard, who quit his job with the Department of Homeland Security to found a nonprofit organization that aims to end child trafficking. The film centers around his career change and one of his first missions to save children from sex traffickers in Colombia. It's a difficult story to witness, but an important one regardless.

The real-life Tim Ballard was involved in the making of the film, and he even knew exactly which actor he wanted to play him in Sound of Freedom — Jim Caviezel. Thankfully, director Alejandro Monteverde and the producers were able to snag the dream casting. Caviezel gives a brilliant performance in Sound of Freedom, but his character wasn't the only prominent figure in the 2023 film.

Mace Neufeld, the producer whose star-driven action films were blockbusters, died overnight in his sleep at his home in Beverly Hills, his family told Deadline. He was 93.

Neufeld’s hit films included The Omen and its sequels, The Equalizer pics and several adaptations of Tom Clancy-penned Jack Ryan thrillers including Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears and The Hunt for Red October. He was Emmy-nominated for East of Eden and exec produced the Prime Video series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan starring John Kasinski.

A family friend told Deadline that Neufeld was working on a third Equalizer pic and another Tom Clancy series for Prime Video at the time of his death.

Neufeld was at his zenith in the ’90s when, with partner Bob Rehme, he formed Neufeld/Rehme and produced a string of hit films such as Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Beverly Hills Cop III.

“There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it, anything more than a whisper and it would vanish.” These were the words spoken by Richard Harris at his most regal in Gladiator, adding some blockbuster poeticism to the democratic ideals of the Roman republic—a dream lost long before Gladiator begins. But he could just as easily be speaking about the beauty and grandeur of the historical epics which inspired Gladiator .

Decades before Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott reawakened that whisper to a mighty roar, historical war epics, from swords and sandals beefcake cinema to Napoleonic and Revolutionary melodramas, were the order of the day in Hollywood. Kirk Douglas’ Spartacus and Charlton Heston’s Ben-Hur were the superheroes of the early ‘60s, before the genre’s popularity receded to camp TV miniseries ignominy. Then came Gladiator (and to a lesser extent Braveheart five years earlier), and...

Kevin Conway, a veteran actor known for his work in Gettysburg, Thirteen Days and Invincible, among others, died Wednesday of a heart attack, his publicist told Deadline. He was 77.

New York City-born Conway worked as an Ibm sales analyst before becoming an actor at age 24. He went on to a decades-long career with dozens of credits in film, television and on the stage. His first major screen role was playing Roland Weary in the 1972 film Slaughterhouse Five, based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel. He went on to play Crum Petree, the insane mailman in the 1988 film Funny Farm; Frank Papale in the 2006 Disney football drama Invincible; and General Curtis LeMay in the 2000 historical drama Thirteen Days. He also played the fictional Sgt. Buster Kilrain in Ron Maxwell’s 1993 epic Gettysburg (see photo above) and its 2003 follow-up Gods and Generals.

His television work included playing Roger Chillingworth in a 1979 TV production of The Scarlet Letter,...

Exclusive: Ten years ago this week, James Cameron big gambit payed off with the historic release of Avatar, a truly singular screen spectacle that took moviegoers to distant Pandora and in the process “changed the way we thought about movies, the way we thought about movie-making, even the way we thought about the movie screen,” says Stephen Lang, who memorably portrayed the 1999 sci-fi epic’s glowering heavy, Col. Miles Quaritch.

Lang returns to the military-man role in Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar 2, which Disney-owned 20th Century Fox has now scheduled for release one year from this Saturday: Dec. 21, 2021. That means Avatar 2’s opening weekend will arrive seven years later than Cameron’s originally announced target date, which makes the interplanetary saga the cinematic equivalent of a Guns N’ Roses album.

Lang’s presence in the sequel’s ensemble adds to the project’s aura of miracles-in-the-making. That’s...

The planned “American Rust” series has found new life at Showtime, with the premium cabler giving the show a straight-to-series order, Variety has learned exclusively.

In addition, Jeff Daniels has come onboard to star in and executive produce the show, which is based on the Philipp Meyer novel of the same name. Now simply titled “Rust,” the show is described as a family drama that will explore the tattered American dream through the eyes of complicated and compromised chief of police Del Harris (Daniels) in a Rust Belt town in southwest Pennsylvania. When the woman he truly loves sees her son accused of murder, Harris is forced to decide what he’s willing to do to protect him.

Dan Futterman will write multiple episodes and executive produce along with Daniels. The pair previously collaborated on the 2018 Hulu miniseries “The Looming Tower,” which received four Emmy nominations last year, including one...

Camerimage, the weeklong celebration of cinematography in Bydgoszcz, Poland, comes to a close today by handing out its prestigious Frog prizes. The big winner was South Korean drama “The Fortress,” which won the top prize, the Golden Frog, in the Main Competition. The film directed by Dong-Hyuk Hwang and lensed by Ji Yong Kim was a massive hit in its home country in late 2017 and has since been released in 28 countries, including the U.S., reaching 3.8 million viewers worldwide.

The competition jury gave the Silver Frog to cinematographer Łukasz Żal for “Cold War” and the Bronze Frog to director-cinematographer Alfonso Cuarón for “Roma.” With over 900 cinematographers from around the world in attendance, many voting members of the Asc, Camerimage is an important bellwether for the Oscar race for Best Cinematography. The silver and bronze prizes should be a big boost for the two black-and-white films angling for Oscar nominations.

Five years ago,...

The board of governors of the American Society of Cinematographers has re-elected Kees van Oostrum as president to serve his third consecutive one-year term.

The Amsterdam native was elected two years ago to a one-year term, succeeding Richard Crudo. The organization, now in its 99th year, has 370-plus active members and 200 associate members from ancillary segments of the industry. Membership is by invitation only.

The Asc made the announcement Tuesday. Its board also named its roster of officers for 2018-2019, including Bill Bennett, John Simmons and Cynthia Pusheck as vice presidents; Levie Isaacks as treasurer; David Darby as secretary; and Isidore Mankofsky as sergeant-at-arms.

“During this past year at the Asc, we have been steadfastly focused on educational events, international outreach, and efforts to promote diversity and inclusion,” said van Oostrum. “These all support our mission of loyalty, progress and artistry. As we look ahead, we plan to usher in...

To read The National Review’s “Politically Incorrect Guide Memorial Day Movies” is one of those moments where you seriously wonder if conservatism in the Trump Era isn’t just one big episode of “Punk’d.” Written by Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, the list was an attempt to highlight war movies for conservatives to watch on Memorial Day – many of which are fantastic – but are bizarrely packaged and advertised as movies that will piss off liberals.

Read More: ‘Dunkirk’ Trailer: Christopher Nolan Says It’s ‘Not a War Film,’ But It Still Looks Unbearably Intense

“These movies portray serving one’s country in uniform as something to be revered and respected, not dismissed,” boasts the Twitter promo for the piece. Its marketing is a straw-man argument, so it’s first important to establish a few matters of fact.

During the Vietnam War, there was liberal...

Dan Cooper Jul 8, 2016

From Dumb & Dumber and The Martian, through to Arachnophobia and Steve Jobs - we salute the screen work of Jeff Daniels...

They say that when you play the Game of Thrones, “you win or you die”. The Game of Jeff Daniels, however, is an undeniably different beast and for the most part is a definite “you win or you win”. After viewing dozens of Jeff Daniels movies and spending many, many hours with his on-screen personas, it’s fair to say that the maxim has been sorely tested but guess what? It still holds true. This list has been carefully curated to celebrate the veteran actor’s talent, versatility and wit and no matter which (if any) of these movies you decide to revisit or check out for the first time, Jeff is guaranteed to give you something to love in each and every one.

25. Dumb And Dumber To (2014)

Hmmm.

Crash, but Jesus-y. Scoffers and doubters will get their smackdown, but even believers should be skeptical at how this ridiculous roundrobin plays out. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): I most certainly do not believe

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Think Crash, but Jesus-y. (Oh dear, I mean the Oscar Best Picture Crash, not the people-who-get-turned-on-by-automobile-accidents one. A Jesus-y version of that would be quite disturbing.) The crisscrossing interactions of a whole bunch of different people are meant to inspire us, apparently, to accept the power of God to arrange outrageous coincidences so that they can all do good deeds for one another and, much more importantly, so that their good deeds pay off for them in a positive way. Whether you are so inspired is directly correlated to how much of a believer you already are, though even they should...

Joy Todd, a casting director whose career in Hollywood spanned more than three decades, has died. Her granddaughter, Heather Daimion, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Todd passed away on Feb. 18 in San Diego.  Todd has been credited with presiding over casting for more than thirty feature films, including Ghostbusters, Playing for Keeps, Rambo III, Gettysberg, Of Gods and Generals and The Next Karate Kid.  Todd cast Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America and Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me. She also worked on Sidney Lumet's Network, A Stranger Among Us, Prince of the City, Q&A and other titles. 

read more...

Title: Copperhead Director: Ron Maxwell Starring: Billy Campbell, Angus Macfadyen, Augustus Prew, Lucy Boynton, Peter Fonda, Casey Thomas Brown Its title a slur for Northerners who opposed the American Civil War, “Copperhead” marks the third film from director Ron Maxwell (“Gettysburg,” “Gods and Generals”) about the United States’ bloodiest armed conflict. In theory, movies like this produced outside of the Hollywood system have the potential of some measure of additional freedom, being unburdened by casting dictates and endless studio notes that often polish down history’s rough edges. Unfortunately, in reality, Maxwell’s film is a drawn-out, schematic melodrama rife with somnambulistic speechifying, and a work every bit as turgid and baldly [ Read More ]

The post Copperhead Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Once again revisiting the Civil War with Copperhead, director Ron Maxwell (Gettysburg, Gods and Generals) shows a flair for mythologizing via beautiful panoramas of upstate New York landscapes but less so, unfortunately, through his film's inert story and flat performances. Based on Harold Frederic's novel, Maxwell's tale concerns farmer Abner Beech (Billy Campbell), whose opposition to Lincoln's "unconstitutional war" inspires rebellion from son Jeff (Casey Thomas Brown) and local abolitionist Jee Hagadorn (Angus Macfadyen)—whose daughter, Esther (Lucy Boynton), is fancied by Jeff. The result is an unsuccessful balancing act: presenting man of principle Abner (nether pro-South nor pro-slavery) as a virtuous victim of discrimination despite resisting a war vi...

What are some of the greatest financial perks of filming in your state? 25% refundable tax credit, sales tax exemption What tax credits are available for productions in your state? 25% refundable tax credit What are some of the locations in your state that filmmakers should know about? Maryland has been called "America in Minature". A variety of looks in close proximity include the roliing country side of "Runaway Bride", the inner city of "The Wire", the waterfront estates of "Wedding Crashers", the urban hipness of "Step Up" and "Step Up 2", the historical sites of "Gods and Generals", and the doubling of Washington DC in "House of Cards", "Veep", "Live Free or Die Hard", "Enemy of the State" and "Head of State" Are there studios and soundstages that the state hosts that filmmakers should know about? Most productions rent warehouse space to buld sets and use as a soundstage What can you...

It’s been a decade since Civil War drama “Gods and Generals” was in the theaters. And that sequel followed the 1993 Civil War epic “Gettysburg.”

Will “The Last Full Measure” finally make it to the big screen after a long wait?

According to “Gettysburg” and “Gods & Generals” director Ronald F. Maxwell, Civil War fans may have to wait a little longer.

In an exclusive phone interview with Latino-Review, Maxwell carefully updated the status of adapting Jeffrey Shaara’s book about the Civil War after Gettysburg. He was promoting an indie Civil War film “Copperhead,” which is in select theaters later this week.

“I would love to do the third part of the trilogy. It’s a big movie like the other two, which is an epic genre,” he told Latino-Review. “The epic part is the time to tell the story. And it’s because it has to cover the [battles of] the...

Today we have the trailer and poster for the upcoming Ron Maxwell‘s (Gettysburg, Gods and Generals) Civil War-era movie Copperhead. Inspired by true events, it’s the story of Abner Beech, a dairy farmer in the North who opposes the war and is alienated because of his beliefs. Copperhead is unlike any Civil War movie to date. It is a film of the war at home – of a family ripped apart by war, of fathers set against sons and daughters, of a community driven to an appalling act of vengeance against a man who insists on exercising his right to free speech during wartime. A story...

Stephen King teamed up with his son, Joe Hill, for In the Tall Grass. The short story originally appeared in Esquire this summer and is now making it’s way to eBook and audiobook formats.

“Mile 81 meets “N.” in this collaboration between Stephen King and his son Joe Hill.

As USA Today said of Stephen King’s Mile 81: “Park and scream. Could there be any better place to set a horror story than an abandoned rest stop?” In the Tall Grass begins with a sister and brother who pull off to the side of the road after hearing a young boy crying for help from beyond the tall grass. Within minutes they are disoriented, in deeper than seems possible, and they’ve lost one another. The boy’s cries are more and more desperate. What follows is a terrifying, entertaining, and masterfully told tale, as only Stephen King and Joe Hill can deliver.

Edgy thriller Dark Hearts, starring X-Men: First Class actor Lucas Till, has been nominated for the Best International Feature award at the Raindance Film Festival 2012.

The new movie, from first-time feature director Rudolf Buitendach, will have its world premiere at the festival this Saturday, September 29, at 8.30pm.

Till's other credits include Battle Los Angeles and Walk The Line. In X-Men: First Class, the rising star (pictured above and below) played energy-blasting mutant Alex Summers (aka Havok), the brother of Scott Summers (Cyclops).

Dark Hearts also stars Kyle Schmid (The Covenant, Being Human, Copper, A History of Violence) and Goran Visnjic (Elektra, ER, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Beginners), and introduces Sonja Kinski (daughter of actress Nastassja Kinski and granddaughter of Nosferatu star Klaus Kinski) in her first leading role.

Rounding out the cast are Rachel Blanchard (Snakes on a Plane, Clueless) and Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel,...

With Game of Thrones‘ second season having just concluded, Kit “Jon Snow” Harington will do a little feature work before it’s back to sword-swinging across Westeros for him. There’s already a role in WB’s fantasy epic, The Seventh Son, getting underway, and ScreenDaily now reports that Harington will join Vera Farmiga for Greenland Time, an endeavor from writers and first-time directors David Newman & Catherine Linstrum; Sigma and Lars von Trier‘s Zentropa are producing.

A psychological thriller set in the titular country, Greenland Time follows a woman (Farmiga) trying to find the man (probably Harington) that ran over and killed her daughter in an accident. How does a standard set-up along those lines become psychological? We’ll have to tune in and find out for ourselves — right now, let’s just some credit to Harington on landing what, from the sound of it, might be a plum...

With it being inevitable that The Killing gets axed right around the end of its second season, this is the kind of news Billy Campbell could use — and it happens because Jason Patric sounds like an idiot! You never know how these things will fall into place. Right: Deadline reports that the former is stepping in for the latter on Copperhead, a new Civil War drama from director Ronald F. Maxwell (Gettysburg, Gods and Generals).

Although things were already underway for about three weeks, the actor was fired over the weekend because, being the one-and-only Jason Patric, he “[refused] to take instructions from [the] director.” (You might feel differently, but I just find this to be very, very funny.) Campbell will now be seen as Abner Beech, patriarch of a Civil War-era family who’s shunned and attacked by members of his New York town for being a Copperhead, the then-common term...

Here.s a casting-change story with a twist: Weeks after shooting had commenced on the Civil War-era drama Copperhead, it seems lead actor Jason Patric has been replaced for failure to take direction from his director. In his place, we.ll get one-time Rocketeer and recent The Killing star Billy Campbell. Ronald F. Maxwell . the man behind such Civil War efforts as Gettysburg and Gods and Generals -- is helming Copperhead in New Brunswick, Canada. The screenplay tells the all-too-familiar tale of a close-knit family torn apart by the war between States. Patric was set to play family head Abner Beech, only Deadline says the actor .was dismissed . for refusing to take instructions. from Maxwell, and Campbell has been plugged in. Strange. We.re not saying that Maxwell.s an infallible filmmaker who demands to be listened to. But his past credits suggest he.s at least informed enough on...

The next entry in Syfy's Saturday Original Movie lineup, Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, airs on February 11th, and to help get you ready for the directorial debut of fan favorite Mark Sheppard ("Battlestar Galactica", "Supernatural"), we have a pair of never-before-seen stills to share.

Synopsis:

In Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, as famine and death ravage Richmond, Virginia, five northern Civil War POWs, including Emmy Award-winner Pruitt Taylor Vince (AMC’s "The Walking Dead", JFK, Drive Angry, Constantine) and Lochlyn Munro (Dead Man on Campus, White Chicks), plan a daring escape by hijacking a hot air balloon. Drifting through the night, they wake to find themselves marooned on a desert island... but they’re not alone.

Littered with wreckage, the island is home to a cast of survivors who have been lost in space and time, including sisters Abby Fogg (Susie Abromeit, Battle Los Angeles) and Jules Fogg (Gina Holden,...

Aside from the Winchester brothers themselves, our favorite character on "Supernatural" is probably Crowley, as portrayed by Mark Sheppard. Now he's stepping behind the camera for Syfy's Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, and we have all the details you need right here along with the trailer and a few never-before-seen photos.

From the Press Release:

K2 Pictures and Leverage Entertainment are thrilled to announce Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island, a re-imagining of one of the world’s most beloved literary adventures, will debut as a Syfy Saturday Original Movie on February 11, 2012, at 9 p.m. Est in the United States. Filmed on location in Louisiana, this cinematic adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1874 novel The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse), adapted for the screen by Cameron Larson (Xtinction: Predator X), is the directorial debut of Syfy on-screen favorite Mark Sheppard ("Battlestar Galactica", "Supernatural", "Firefly", "Warehouse 13").

“We were faced with a tremendous challenge.

The renowned Hollywood dialect coach who helped Forest Whitaker hone his accent as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland has died.

Character actor and language expert Robert Easton passed away from natural causes at his home in Toluca Lake, Los Angeles last Friday at the age of 81.

Easton began his career as an actor and landed roles on TV shows such as The Munsters, Get Smart and The Adventures of Superman and in films like 1961's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991.

But he became famed for his skills as a phoneticist and was regularly referred to as the Henry Higgins of Hollywood, in reference to the strict speech tutor in My Fair Lady.

As a dialect coach, Easton taught actors including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, Sir Ben Kingsley and Anne Hathaway, while his work on 2006's The Last King of Scotland landed Whitaker the Oscar for Best Actor.

Easton continued to work right up until his death, even recording a speech tape for John Travolta to use for an upcoming project.

His daughter Heather Woodruff Perry tells the Los Angeles Times, "A month ago, he did an entire script on tape for John Travolta."

Paying tribute to the veteran, Robert Duvall, who worked with Easton on Gods and Generals in 2003, says, "They (film producers) said, 'We want Virginia accents'. Bob said, 'Which one? There are 12 distinct accents, from the Piedmont to the ocean.' He knew them all.

"He was a wonderful man, a very unique personality, and a master at his craft."...

Release Date: Dec. 27, 2011

Price: DVD $22.97, Blu-ray $29.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $35.99

Studio: Warner Home Video

Death tries to get the upperhand again in Final Destination 5. Despite being released in 3D in theaters, the horror movie’s home release includes DVD and Blu-ray but not Blu-ray 3D.

This time, it’s Nicholas D’Agosto (From Prada to Nada) who has the premonition and thus saves himself and numerous others, including Miles Fisher (Gods and Generals) and Emma Bell (Elektra Luxx), from death in a horrific bridge collapse. When death comes after them, the group must race against time to keep a step ahead. Courtney B. Vance (TV’s FlashForward) and David Koechner (A Good Old Fashioned Orgy) also star.

The R-rated movie is the first feature film directed by Steven Quale, whose last movie was documentary Aliens of the Deep.

Final Destination 5 grossed a tidy $42 million in wide release in theaters,...

Thanks to Kelly from TV.com for this special Guest Article for SpoilerTV

Terra Nova: Where Do I Know Them From?

by Kelly Kelemen for TV.com

Terra Nova just roared onto Fox's Monday lineup, backed by a hefty 9 figure budget from one Steven Spielberg, as the show hopes to garner a loyal fan base of thrill seekers and dino-enthusiasts and become the next Lost. But what the show doesn't have is that big name star that you know from countless other outlets such as Zooey Deschanel, Jane Lynch, Simon Cowell, Omar Epps, etc. So if you're busy putting your finger on actor's faces during the broadcast, desperately trying to place where they're from, here's a cheat sheet that might jog your memory.

Jason O’Mara (as Jim Shannon)

The show’s main character and Irish lad is no stranger to the little screen, if we can call it that anymore.

Stephen Lang, Aka Commander Nathaniel Taylor to those of us who are following Terra Nova, recently conducted an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Lang is a very interesting figure. He is a highly educated man, and one with a lot of qualities and features that those of us who first really realized his existence in “Avatar” a few years ago.

I’d actually seen Mr. Lang in movies before, most notably, one of my all-time favorites, “Tombstone.” Who knew that yellow-bellied Ike Clanton was played by Lang? Seriously, I pointed him out to my husband for the first time last weekend while we watched that movie for the first time in a couple of years, and my husband challenged me. Luckily, I won the IMDb battle! His role as Charles Winstead in “Public Enemies” was memorable, too, and thankfully he was much more noticeable! I fully intend to get...

Gods and Generals, the second of Ronald F. Maxwell's maximalist civil war films produced by Ted Turner, is releasing its new extended director's cut.  Clocking in at very close to five hours, this event timed to coincide with the sesquicentennial of the advent of the civil war, is not going unnoticed by history buffs - or by Warner Home Video.

In addition to a special limited edition collectors edition of both Gettysburg and Gods and Generals (featuring maps, bonus features and commentaries enough to keep you busy for month) a special screening was held at the Manassas Battlefied (aka Bull Run.)

In addition to the first public screening of the new cut (featuring a special appearances by most members of the cast) there was a special reenactment ceremony.  Who says cosplay was invented at Comic-Con?

Take a look at the video below.

Comic actor P.J. Byrne has been bringing the funny to a lot of films lately, including Evan Almighty, Dinner for Schmucks, and this summer's Horrible Bosses. Handsome man Miles Fisher (pictured above on the far left) has appeared in movies like Gods and Generals and Superhero Movie, and shows like Mad Men and Gossip Girl. The two actors' next film is Final Destination 5. While visiting the sequel's set last winter in Vancouver, I joined a group of journalists and spoke with the pair about just how much humor and drama will be found amidst the scares on this trip. Check out our chat after the jump. Can you talk about who you play in the movie and are you guys involved in this [collapsing] bridge...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Horrible Bosses – Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis

Zookeeper – Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Leslie Bibb

Movie of the Week

Horrible Bosses

The Stars: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis

The Plot: Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.

The Buzz: I can’t say that I’m terribly excited about this film — I’d rather go see Super 8 (again) or Transformers 3 (again). Still, anything’s better than Zookeeper. Bateman is great, and the actors populating these horrible bosses are all battle-tested in the realm of good comedy (Jennifer Aniston = Office Space, Colin Farrell = In Bruges, Kevin Spacey = Hurlyburly). When he’s on, Seth Gordon is a phenomenal director (see The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters), so this should be at least good. The trailer was pretty unimpressive though...

DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed

13 Assassins If I had to pick among this week's new releases this would easily be the film to buy. Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins is one hell of a crazy samurai film that not only includes samurai swordplay but one example of a waterfall of blood and an instance of flaming bulls. Yes, an absolute must see. Of Gods and Men This was the last film I saw at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival as I had to decide between this and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives as both were receiving buzz as potential Palme d'Or candidates. While Uncle Boonmee went on to win I think I ended up seeing the film that was more my speed as Of Gods and Men is a great film, and one Kevin will have a review of later today, but I'm...

Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases on Blu-Ray

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

13 Assassins (2010)

Synopsis: Cult director Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Audition) delivers a bravado period action film set at the end of Japan’s feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a wartorn future. (Courtesy of MagPictures.com)

Special Features: Deleted Scenes; Interview with Director Takashi Miike; Theatrical Trailer; Trailers for Hobo With A Shotgun, Rubber, Troll Hunter, and The Perfect Host.

Bloodrayne: The Third Reich – Unrated Director’s Cut (2010)

Synopsis: Rayne fights against the Nazis in Europe during World War II, encountering Ekart Brand, a Nazi leader whose target is to inject Adolf Hitler with Rayne’s blood in an attempt to transform him into a dhampir and attain immortality. (Courtesy of Blu-Ray.com)

Special...

Disc 2 episodes are bonus / supplement episodes of The Criterion Cast. Moises Chiullan, James McCormick & Travis George chat about the weeks new releases on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as what they’ve been watching. “Off the Shelf” runs through the week’s new releases on DVD and Blu-ray, while “On The Screen” is where they discuss what they’ve been watching over the past week. This is what they recommend to you, the listeners.

What do you think of the show? Send your feedback to CriterionCast@gmail.com or call their voicemail line @ 209-877-7335 or follow them on twitter @CriterionCast or comment on their blog, http://CriterionCast.com.

Thank you for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave your reviews in iTunes.

Our next episode they will highlight and discuss Criterion # 565 Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 film, The Great Dictator.

Save It To Your Netflix Queue. Watch On Hulu Plus.

It’s the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, so obsessives should be prepping themselves for a deluge of tributes, History Channel retrospectives and Budweiser-fueled reenactments.

Although lauded documentarian Ken Burns made the definitive movie about the conflict, it took a media mogul like Ted Turner to create the ultimate dramatization of the whole North vs. South thing. Between 1993’s "Gettysburg" and 2003’s "Gods and Generals," the CNN honcho and former Mr. Jane Fonda sunk over $100 million into two massive productions that attempted to humanize both sides and offer some perspective on the nature of a country turned against itself.

"Generals" was a fiasco, but "Gettysburg" (now available on Blu-ray) is a surprisingly potent epic detailing the bloodiest, most significant battle in the Civil War.

Originally intended as a TNT miniseries, the film , which New Line released in theaters, definitely has that made-for-tv vibe; but counters it...

Chicago – “Gettysburg” and “Gods and Generals” have legions of hardcore fans who adored them when they first played in theaters and will love the new Blu-ray editions that feel like hardcover books more than your standard disc release. One has to admire the marketing machine at Warner Bros. who can tie these titles in to the 150th Commemoration of the Civil War and make them perfect Father’s Day gifts at the same time.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Gettysburg” and its prequel “Gods and Generals” barely made a dent at the box office (as epic period pieces rarely do) but I’ve always gotten the impression that they have very loyal audiences, the kind of old-fashioned men who would sit down and watch these two Blu-rays back-to-back and lose a whole day in their Civil War recreation.

As for the rest of you, the films are good but not great. They both...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

The Hangover Part II – Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms

Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan

Movie of the Week

The Hangover Part II

The Stars: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms

The Plot: Right after their infamous Las Vegas bachelor party, Phil, Stu, Alan, and Doug jet to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Stu’s plan for a subdued pre-wedding brunch, however, goes seriously awry.

The Buzz: Like many wines and cheeses before him, Hangover II writer/director Todd Phillips has aged well. With Road Trip, his directorial debut, he made a film just funny enough to facilitate the production of his 2nd film, the far superior, Old School. From there Phillips helmed Starsky and Hutch, which was respected well enough, for what it was, before taking a major misstep with School for Scoundrels. Phillips bounced back big-time from his first flop,...

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The Great Dictator (Criterion Collection) Great film, though since getting back from Cannes I haven't had a chance to watch the Criterion disc, but I plan on giving it a watch tomorrow along with the Marx brothers' Duck Soup, sort of a farcical political comedy double feature for the ages. Papillon This is a very good movie. I first watched it as part of the Essential Steve McQueen Collection back in 2005 and I have to say, if it were up to me I would spend $40.99 on that collection instead of spending $25 on this one Blu-ray, but that's just me. Solaris (Criterion Collection) I have never seen this film, but really cannot wait. Truth be told, I have a ton of Criterion titles sitting here I need to watch. I watched Something Wild a couple nights ago and enjoyed it,...

Set to commemorate the 150th anniversary of America’s first and only Civil War, Warner Home Video is set to re-release the Award-winning war films “Gods and Generals” and “Gettysburg” on Blu-ray Book format for the first time on May 24, 2011. “Gods and Generals” has been previously released in Blu-ray, while the 1993 “Gettysburg” will be getting the Blu-ray treatment for the very first time. Both films were directed by Robert Maxwell, who directed “Gettysburg” in 1993, before returning to the same hallowed grounds of America’s bloodiest “feud” 10 years later for the much more ambitious “Gods and Generals”. “Gettysburg” Gettysburg: Directors Cut is Maxwell’s acclaimed film about the legendary 3-day battle and will be available for the first time on Blu-ray, featuring 17 minutes of compelling additional footage. Filmed at actual battle locations and full of authentic details, this rousing and soulful movie plunges the viewer into the bloodiest battle fought on American soil.

Gods and Generals

Warner Home Video is still releasing director Ronald Maxwell’s historical war movies Gettysburg and Gods and Generals on Blu-ray on May 24, in time for Memorial Day on May 30. But if you want both films, you might want to wait until July 5 to purchase them, because that’s when Warner will release the pair in a double-feature Limited Collector’s Edition set.

1993’s Gettysburg stars Tom Berenger (Inception) and Martin Sheen (Love Happens) and follows the battle between the Confederacy and the Union in summer 1863. The film is based on Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels and filmed at the actual battle locations. Released in theaters in 2003, Gods and Generals, about the rise and fall of legendary war hero Stonewall Jackson, stars Robert Duvall (Get Low) as General Robert E. Lee.

Warner will release its Gettysburg/Gods and Generals Limited Collector’s Edition on DVD and Blu-ray.

Sure, we have Hamlet (242 mins.), Gods and Generals (231 mins.), Once Upon a Time in America (229 mins.), Lawrence of Arabia (227 mins.), Gone With the Wind (226 mins.), Heaven’s Gate (220 mins.), Ben-Hur (212 mins.), War and Peace (208 mins.), Apocalypse Now Redux (202 mins.), The Alamo (202 mins.), Malcolm X (202 mins.), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (201 mins.), but don’t you want to see a 240-hour/10-day film? No? Me neither.

Superflex, a group of Danish artists, have created a 240-hour film titled Modern Times Forever (Stora Enso Building, Helsinki) and will screen it in Helsinki for the festival Ihme Project 2011. The film shows “ravages of time marking a box-like office block, Helsinki’s Stora Enso building,” and they are in fact projecting the film on that same building. In the film, “centuries of decay are apparently compressed into the span” of the 10-day runtime. Check out an extended “synopsis” below.

The first photo of James Franco in Caesar: Rise of the Apes and the first photo from Terrence Malick's untitled romance drama starring Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams.

Scans of the first photos from the upcoming "Toy Story" short Hawaiian Vacation, and the first photos from Nick Cassavetes' ensemble drama Yellow.

There's also four new posters for Pedro Almodovar's The Skin That I Inhabit, several new international one-sheets for Sucker Punch, a new poster for Ken Loach's Route Irish, and a new poster for Winnie the Pooh.

A brief video clip indicates we might see James Franco and Anne Hathaway do a recreation of the "Grease" finale at this Sunday's Oscars.

A rather spectacular list (with videos) of the fifty greatest opening title sequences of all time at IFC.com.

"One of the most anticipated video games of the year, "Gears of War 3", has scored...

There is an ambition among the best of films – and the best of filmmakers – for the work to carry the same dramatic heft and dignity, be treated with the same respect and appreciation as a fine work of literature. Think of the best works of Welles and Lean, of Kubrick and Coppola. Citizen Kane has all the density and texture and period flavor of Booth Tarkington’s The Magnificent Ambersons (which, probably not coincidentally, served as the basis for Welles’ second feature). Coppola’s Godfather saga achieved a majesty and resonance Mario Puzo’s popular but lurid novel never did.

So, who better, during this award season, to talk about that ever-more-rare literary quality in filmmaking than someone who makes his living by his literary qualities?

A debuting TV series may compete in a given season against possibly 100 other shows; a newly-released movie will be scored against several hundred other...

Here are the new MPAA ratings from Bulletin No: 2155.

Arthur 2: The Revenge Of Maltazard Rated PG For some mild peril. Arthur 3: The War Of Two Worlds Rated PG For fantasy action and peril, brief language and smoking. Champions Rated PG For martial arts violence, language and brief smoking. Elle: A Modern Cinderella Tale Rated G Gods And Generals: Extended Director's Cut Rated PG-13 For sustained battle sequences and some disturbing images. Incendies Rated R For some strong violence and language. Release Date: April 1, 2011 Mask Maker Rated R For bloody horror violence, sexual content, nudity and language. Mob Rules Rated R For violence, pervasive language, drug content and some sexuality/nudity. Rammbock: Berlin Undead Rated R For some horror violence. Rango Rated PG For rude humor, language, action and smoking. Release Date: March 4, 2011 The Resident Rated R For violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity. Release Date: March 29, 2011 (Direct-to-Video...

Editor's Note: Unfortunately this promotion has expired and the service has reverted to trade-ins only for Warner Brother titles. DVDs from other studios are no longer accepted - hopefully they'll do this again soon though.

Warner Brothers' push to have consumers fully embrace the Blu-ray format started in April of last year when they announced their Red2Blu program, which allowed anyone who'd purchased a WB title on HD-DVD to exchange it with about $5 per disc and they'd receive the exact same title on Blu-ray. For anyone who'd sunk some cash in the defunct HD-DVD format it was a pretty nice deal; unfortunately other studios never jumped on board with quite the same gusto.

Then, at about this time last year, Warner Brothers announced an addition to the Blu-ray exchange concept: they put out a selection of 55 titles which, if you owned the DVD version, could be exchanged for the...

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

You didn’t have to be the world’s biggest Star Trek fan to enjoy the cast reunionat the recent Hollywood Xpo at the Burbank-adjacent Universal City Hilton. Agroup of cast members gathered there on Friday in support of the three-part webseries Star Trek: Of Gods and Generals.

Among the franchise stars, who were present at theconvention on Friday were J.G. Hertzler, HerbJefferson, William Wellman, Daamen Krall, Grace Lee Whitney, Nichelle Nichols, andWalter Koenig. Also on hand was Tim Russ, who starred in Of Gods and Generals as Tuvok and also directed the video.

Walter Koenig, who has portrayed Pavel Chekovfor decades, was leery of signing on to the StarTrek project. He explained, “Initially I wasn’t thatenthusiastic about doing Chekov yet again in a situation where there wasn’tgoing to be any remunerative side to it. And I thought, ‘I’ve already doneit.

By Todd Gilchrist

hollywoodnews.com: Although he’s just shy of 80, Robert Duvall seems as active as he did when he started his acting career some 50 years ago: from Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird to Felix Bush in Get Low, Duvall has played every variety of cultured, ignorant, aggressive, deferential, poetic, blustery character you can imagine, and shows no signs of slowing down. In Get Low, his latest, he’s commanding the screen as a bearded, eccentric recluse who emerges from self-imposed exile to enlist a funeral director and his assistant for a living funeral – as in one for himself that he wants to attend while he’s still around.

Hollywood News joined a small group of press Wednesday to talk to Duvall and his co-star, Sissy Spacek, about this idiosyncratic little film. In addition to talking about the appeal of Felix Bush, both actors examined their approach to playing various roles,...

Bantam Press' cover for 'Gardens of the Moon.'

A friend of mine once told me about a movie series backed by Ted Turner which was set up to be an epic, three-part, 12-hour opus about the American Civil War. It was called Gods and Generals, starring Jeff Daniels and Robert Duvall, and it was canceled after the first 4-hour entry of the trilogy. This bothered my friend to no end — if someone’s going to put in the effort to create an epic piece of art, then it needs to be given a chance. Yes, it was slow, but this made total sense in its entirety as a story as it was a beginning. The payoff comes by the end when the people who believed in it and stayed true start raving about the quality of an inspired work that began and ended with epic vision. That the conclusion was worth the journey.