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Who would’ve thought Frodo had a thing for blood? Turns out, Elijah Wood, the Lord of the Rings star we all adore, wasn’t just fascinated by the epic battles or the beauty of Middle-earth. Nope, he had a freaky obsession with the gallons of fake blood spilling everywhere on set. While everyone else was focused on swords, orcs, and saving the world, Wood was geeking out over the gory details.

Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings | Credits: New Line Cinema

Honestly, even vampires might’ve found his fascination a bit too much. From bloody battlefields to shredded Uruk-hai, this dude clearly had a dark side. Frodo may have saved Middle-earth, but behind the scenes, Wood was living his best blood-soaked life. Who knew?

Elijah Wood’s Freaky Blood Obsession and the Lord of the Rings Legacy: Behind the Scenes of a Cinematic Phenomenon...

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Between his big-screen acting debut in Robert Rossen's vastly underrated "Lilith" and his swan song "Welcome to Mooseport," Gene Hackman had a reputation for being a prolific and, at times, nowhere-near-choosy-enough actor given his considerable talents. But when you look over that 40-year career, you don't see an egregious number of turkeys. The Dan Aykroyd buddy-cop comedy "Loose Cannons" or his third go-round as Lex Luthor in "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" are probably the twin nadirs of his career, but mostly Hackman had a propensity to make many mediocre movies watchable. He was the reason you'd find yourself halfway through Nicholas Meyer's ho-hum spy thriller "Company Business" without any real complaints. Could it be better? Absolutely. But it had Hackman.

The movies -- great, average, or garbage -- haven't had Hackman since 2004, which never ceases to stink.

Season 1 of Colin Farrell’s The Penguin aired in what could be considered a fantastical way. From the tons of reviews to the critical acclaim that the show received, fans are in love and they cannot wait for more.

Colin Farrell in a still from The Penguin | Credits: DC Entertainment

It is obvious that the greatness of a show like this must be continued with a second season too. Well, one of the scenes in The Penguin might have given away the villain/s of the upcoming season and Gotham City might just be covered in a fearful bliss.

The Penguin Will Likely Introduce Scarecrow in Season 2

Yes, the character has been quite famous since the early 2000s and has appeared in numerous Batman adaptations and video games over the years. However, where the character of Scarecrow truly gets to shine will be the allegedly upcoming season of The Penguin.

BayView Entertainment, LLC have released the horror/sci-fi Scarecrows Of The Third Reich on Digital Platforms including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video worldwide.

Scarecrows Of The Third Reich will arrive on AVOD Digital Platforms worldwide from 26th November 2024.

“Inventive and unique.” – Extreme DVD

“Nazi Zombies ain’t got nuthin on these Nazi Scarecrows, Awesome Flick.” – Scream Queens

Scarecrows Of The Third Reich is from Writer and Director Troy Fritz and the film stars Timothy Mantis and Diamond Troy Justice.

Synopsis:

At the end of WWII, Hitler ordered Operation Scarecrow to a small SS outpost in the Seelow Heights of Germany. Nobody knew of the existence of this clandestine operation until 70 years later when FBI agent John Fox runs across a vigilante known as the Red Wolf. After killing the Red Wolf, Agent Fox learned the shocking secret of Operation Scarecrow. Fox then travels to Germany and meets Pastor...

Robert Downey Jr. would team up for the first time with Christopher Nolan for the the Oscar-winning project Oppenheimer. But years earlier, there was another film that Downey hoped to work with Nolan on. Unfortunately, Downey sensed their meeting wasn’t going how he wanted it to.

Robert Downey Jr. described one of his first meetings with Christopher Nolan Robert Downey Jr. | Joe Maher/WireImage

Before he was Iron Man, Downey was looking to get cast as a super villain instead. The actor met with Nolan to discuss playing the villain Scarecrow in 2004’s Batman Begins. The role would famously end up being played by Cillian Murphy, starting his decades-long partnership with Nolan.

Murphy’s Scarecrow was also the only villain who was featured in all three of Nolan’s Batman movies. It also appeared that Nolan clicked with Murphy much more than he did with Downey. During their conversation,...

Italian metal veterans Lacuna Coil have announced a new album titled Sleepless Empire. In advance of its February 14th release, the band has unleashed the single “Oxygen.”

Earlier this year, Lacuna Coil released the collaborative singles “Hosting the Shadow” (featuring Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe) and “In the Mean Time” (featuring New Years Day singer Ash Costello). Both of those tracks will appear on Sleepless Empire, which contains 11 songs in total.

Regarding the new song and its accompanying music video, co-vocalist Cristina Scabbia stated, “‘Oxygen’ is a powerful exploration of emotional struggle and inner conflict. The lyrics convey a sense of drowning in a toxic environment, both literally (in the video) and metaphorically, where attempts at salvation, represented by ‘oxygen’ are somehow futile. This song encapsulates the feeling of struggling to break free from what holds us down, when the journey is filled with difficulty.”

She added, “It’s a raw anthem of vulnerability,...

The majority of Junji Itō adaptations are underseen or simply unknown. The sheer amount may also come as a surprise. The peak of movies based on the horror mangaka’s works was during the “J-Horror” wave; The Ring (1998) signaled a sea change in Japanese horror, and studios were looking everywhere for inspiration. Unfortunately, Itō is not the easiest of source materials. His stories and illustrations are surreal and visceral, and translating all of that into moving images is, to say the least, challenging.

Two years after living-dead girl Tomie made the leap to the big screen in 1998, Uzumaki was brought to life. The movie, which was put on a double-bill with Tomie: Replay, served as Akihiro “Higuchinsky” Higuchi’s feature debut. And so far in the cinematic collective derived from Itō’s oeuvre, Uzumaki is one of the most competent. Other adaptations have been partly inspired by their basis; they...

"Batman & Robin" was so panned for its campiness that Warner Bros. had no choice but to pivot to a dark and gritty reboot, resulting in Christopher Nolan's acclaimed "Dark Knight" trilogy. This is filmmaking mythology almost as well-known as Batman's own origin of alleyway orphaning. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige even calls "Batman & Robin" one of the most important superhero movies, for it taught studios that fans wouldn't settle for schlock. In hindsight, it's almost unbelievable that "Batman & Robin" and "Batman Begins" premiered only eight years apart; the Dark Knight's fall didn't last long!

There were abandoned plans for director Joel Schumacher to make a third Batman film, though. "Batman Unchained," to be penned by Mark Protosevich (rather than previous screenwriter Akiva Goldsman) was supposedly going to be "darker." The villains would've been Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow and Harley Quinn, which makes sense. At the time,...

Frank Griffin, who nosed out another makeup artist to work with Steve Martin on Roxanne, just one of the 20 movies they did together, has died. He was 95.

Griffin died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Studio City, his daughter Roxane Griffin, a veteran Hollywood hairstylist (Avatar, Transparent, 80 for Brady), told The Hollywood Reporter.

Frank Griffin started out in Hollywood as an actor and studio laborer before turning to makeup in the mid-1960s, and he went on to work on Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Scarecrow (1973), Westworld (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Urban Cowboy (1980), Midnight Run (1988), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Vacation (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985).

Survivors also include his sister Debra Paget, who starred in such films as Broken Arrow (1950), Love Me Tender (1956) — Elvis Presley’s first movie — and The Ten Commandments (1956).

His other two sisters were actresses as well: Lisa Gaye,...

Matt Reeves’ The Batman was able to craft a take on The Dark Knight that was unique and well-made. Reeves in particular had really thought about how he would present Batman, a role essayed by Robert Pattinson, in a unique way. Speaking on The Treatment podcast, Reeves revealed his unique take on Batman, and how one of the aspects of that was explored in one scene.

Robert Pattinson in The Batman || Credit: WB

The scene in question here appears early in the film, where Batman rescues a subway user from a gang of goons with face paint. This has Batman declaring that he is ‘vengeance’ before he proceeds to beat them up. However, this scene, while looking like a rescue, actually has Batman indulging in his coping mechanism.

The Batman Subway Scene revealed how Bruce Wayne was coping with his trauma The Batman | Credit: Warner Bros.

Matt Reeves, speaking on The Treatment podcast,...

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

Bam

The controversial, remarkable The Spook Who Sat By the Door plays in a new restoration.

Roxy Cinema

Fidelio, our four-film program with Chapo Trap House’s Movie Mindset, has an encore with Eyes Wide Shut on a spectacular 35mm print this Saturday; Amalia Ulman has programmed prints of The Piano Teacher and The Holy Girl.

Film at Lincoln Center

An essential restoration of Shinji Somai’s Moving continues.

Museum of the Moving Image

Erich von Stroheim’s Greed plays on 35mm with live accompaniment this Sunday; Alice in the Cities, Insiang, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and The Muppet Movie have screenings.

Paris Theater

“Big & Loud!” returns with 70mm prints of Vertigo and Boogie Nights, along with The Abyss, Close Encounters, and Days of Heaven.

Film Forum

A new restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy begins playing; Army of Shadows continues.

Nicolas Cage has always had a soft spot for devils and tragedies. The actor’s work has always veered far from the mainstream Hollywood recipe, often encroaching into territories that, for the lack of a better word, can only be labeled as weird. Ironically, Cage built a reputation out of his eccentricities, making his roles work out spectacularly in his favor.

Nicolas Cage as Ghost Rider in Spirit of Vengeance (2011) [Credit: Columbia Pictures]

Through the years, Cage has established himself as an unimpeachable figure on the fringes of Hollywood, an A-lister by the power of his dramatic work and yet ridiculous enough to be remembered more for his role in the 27% rated Ghost Rider than the 97% rated Pig. It is his work in the expansion of the comic book fantasy that makes him a living legend to this day.

Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider Sets a Record Straight for Marvel

Growing...

There were bigger movie stars than Al Pacino in the 1970s, but between 1971 and 1975, he gave six utterly electric performances that placed him in the American film acting stratosphere alongside the likes of Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Robert De Niro. And as brilliant as those guys were, the virtuosity on display in "Panic in Needle Park," "The Godfather," "Scarecrow," "Serpico," "The Godfather Part II" and "Dog Day Afternoon" made a solid case for Pacino as the best of the bunch. He could be seductive, sympathetic, vulnerable, pathetic and terrifying –- sometimes all in the same movie. And his peers were dazzled enough to nominate him for four straight Oscars.

The full range of Pacino's genius can be found in Michael Corleone's journey from principled World War II returnee to brother-killing monster, but for sheer thespian fireworks, you can't top his live-wire portrayal of bank robber Sonny Wortzik...

There's an entire generation of actors, and movie lovers in general, who think Al Pacino is the best actor ever based almost solely on the basis of his 1970s work. Obviously, he was overwhelmingly dynamic. The live-wire energy of characters like Frank Serpico, Sonny Wortzik and Arthur Kirkland spit and popped off the screen with a sizzling intensity that could only be matched by his Method contemporaries (namely Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman). But he might've been more impressive when playing strangely ingratiating outsiders, as he did to unforgettable effect under Jerry Schatzberg's direction in "Panic in Needle Park" and "Scarecrow."

And then there was Michael Corelone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II." As the youngest and, much to the consternation of his older brothers, favorite son of mafia capo Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), Pacino, over two movies running a combined six-plus hours,...

Though gone are the days of Blockbusters in every town, replaced by a box that sits near your TV or maybe more conveniently an app that’s built within, there still exists such a thing as the video rental store. There are not many of them, most confined to major cities and existing on a non-profit basis, but they continue to serve a vital purpose to film lovers who want to share their passion with others and those who want to receive that education in return. One such institution, Seattle’s Scarecrow Video, located in the city’s University District, has fallen on hard times and is looking for help from cinephiles everywhere.

Scarecrow Video began in the late ‘80s under the stewardship of George and Rebecca Latsios, but opened its current location in 1993 and has remained there ever since. In terms of legacy, Kate Barr, the store’s current executive director,...

Eulogizing the 1960s in a haze of marijuana smoke, psychotropic apparitions, ether vapors, and coke sweats, Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s brilliant, notorious 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has aged startlingly well. Picked up by Gilliam when fellow cinematic madman Alex Cox dropped out, the project was long thought to be the most preposterous screen adaptation ever mounted—an impossibly addled switchback ride through the death rattles of the 1960s, compacted and then stretched out like silly putty over a three-day fever dream in the heart of Sin City.

For Gilliam, the sheer outrageousness of the dystopian Freedomland that Thompson had found or hallucinated about out in the desert while covering the Mint 400 motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated presented a perfect outlet for his giddy, often disturbing brand of inventiveness, and, indeed, Fear and Loathing stands as the Monty Python alum’s last completely successful work.

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday, May 25 following two weeks packed with screenings, stars, press and parties. With the prizes having been handed out for the festival’s 77th anniversary, we can now start looking at what contenders might be in the best spot to get into the upcoming Oscar race. Let’s examine the winners from this year’s festival and see the history that each category has when it comes to the Oscars.

In recent years, we’ve seen the festival serve as a huge springboard for major players in the Oscar derby. Three of the last four winners of the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, have nabbed Best Picture nominations: “Parasite” (2019), “Triangle of Sadness” (2022) and “Anatomy of a Fall” (2023). Other big winners at recent festivals that became big Oscar players include “Drive My Car,” “The Zone of Interest” and “BlacKkKlansman.” This year’s...

The Dcu, a ‘broad but not blanket’ reset of the Dceu, headed by James Gunn, has a lot riding on it when it comes to the future of Warner Bros. in general. While the highly anticipated Superman movie is set to become the first major offering under the new regime, a number of other highly-anticipated movies are also in the pipeline.

This includes the upcoming Batman II movie, which is set to further the journey of Robert Pattinson’s Batman and is rumored to have a place for Barry Keoghan’s Joker. While there have been rumors of several other antagonists who might as well end up being a part of Batman II, a fan on Twitter recently came up with his own iteration of how the movie should look like.

Robert Pattinson was widely praised for his depiction of The Batman. | Warner Bros.

Instead of sticking with The Joker,...

As the Cannes Film Festival celebrates its parties and standing ovations, audiences in Hollywood and New York prepare to wallow in despair. And they’ll enjoy it (almost).

The festival called Bleak Week this week will deliver 43 films to an expected audience of 10,000 at theaters including the restored Egyptian in Hollywood, the Aero in Santa Monica and the Paris in New York.

Created by the American Cinematheque, Bleak Week will feature celebrities and Q&a sessions explaining why their projects deal with existential dread, nihilism and “uncomfortable truths,” as Bleak Week creative director Grant Moninger puts it.

Not surprisingly, there surely also will be post-screening alcoholic consumption for filmgoers seeking to ease the pain.

As the Cinematheque details it, Bleak Week was not prompted by Gaza, student protests, geomagnetic storms or the possible loss of yet another studio (Paramount).

Rather, its announced purpose is to honor an important if long-ignored...

“Is Tamara here?” In May of 2008, those three words hung in the air with foreboding menace (along with “because you were home”) as Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers played in theaters and shocked moviegoers like myself with its straightforward approach to home invasion horror and random violence. Now, 16 years later, the masked murderers now known as Pin-Up Girl, Dollface, and Scarecrow are back on the big screen in The Strangers – Chapter 1, the first film in a new trilogy and the third movie overall in the franchise (the most recent being 2018’s The Strangers: Prey at Night). More of a relaunched expansion of the franchise rather than a full-on remake of the original movie, The Strangers – Chapter 1 still retreads a lot of the first film’s frights, but it does so effectively while weaving in its own intriguing story threads, delivering a promising start to a new trilogy of terror...

When we think of the greatest actors who opted to retire, there are really so few that ended on a high note. Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread is the first one that comes to mind, but who else would even be close? Unfortunately, it isn’t Gene Hackman, who left Hollywood after a 40+ year on the screen following 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport…which is just about the most embarrassing way to cap off such a legendary career. Then again, maybe it’s just the sort of movie that would make you want to retire.

By the time filming began on what would be his last movie, Gene Hackman was in his mid-70s and had seen enough in the business to know who was competent and, well, who would be directing Welcome to Mooseport. As co-star Maura Tierney remembered, Hackman and Donald Petrie did not get along at all when making the movie.

Before Dorothy’s mother passed away, she had a favorite saying, as Aunt Em reminds her grieving niece in the opening scene of The Wiz: “The hard stuff is there to let you know just how good you got it.” And while that’s a curious mantra to undergird a production of a Broadway musical, there’s something to it in the latest revival.

The first musical by a Black composer to win Tony Awards for best musical and best score, this well-loved show turns 50 next year. If Schele Williams’s simplistic and sometimes bewildering staging doesn’t itself demonstrate how the show has held up across those decades, she wisely steers all attention toward the main event: the stunning vocal performances from her cast. And since the show’s underwhelming visuals feel like less of a distraction than an afterthought, it’s easy enough to put the “hard...

Scarecrow is one of Batman’s most iconic foes, a master of fear who uses toxins and illusions to torment his victims. He first appeared in World’s Finest #3 (1941) and has since become a mainstay in the Batman Rogues Gallery. While not one of the most physically imposing figures, Scarecrow’s psychological tactics make him a truly formidable foe.

Cillian Murphy || Batman

Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy played the character in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. However, before a live-action role, the villain had terrorized Gotham City in animation, thanks to his chilling voice.

Suggested“I rented this film by mistake”: Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow Role Was a Déjà Vu Considering the Al Pacino Starrer That Made Him Pursue Acting at First Place Jeffrey Combs Was The Voice Of The Revamped Scarecrow In The New Batman Adventures Jeffrey Combs || Re-Animator

Dr. Jonathan Crane first appeared in DC Animated Universe in...

Broadway will honor the late actor, dancer and singer Hinton Battle with the traditional dimming of marquee lights on March 12.

The lights will dim at Broadway’s Shubert, Marquis, St. James, New Amsterdam, Samuel J. Friedman, Circle in the Square, Hayes, Vivian Beaumont and Todd Haimes theaters for the traditional one minute at exactly 6:45 p.m./Et.

“The passing of Hinton Battle has had a profound impact within the Broadway community as we mourn the loss of a true theatrical legend,” said Jason Laks, Interim President of The Broadway League, adding that Battle’s family had been consulted about the tribute venues. “Hinton Battle will be remembered for his incredible array of roles on Broadway. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and fans.”

Battle died January 30,at the age of 67. A trained ballet dancer who studied at the renowned Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. and...

Tony Ganios, best known for playing Anthony ‘Meat’ Tuperello in Porky’s, is dead at the age of 64. According to the actor’s fiancée Amanda, Tony was admitted to a hospital in New York on Saturday with a severe spinal cord infection but passed away of heart failure following surgery on Sunday.

“The last words we said to each other were, ‘I love you,’” Amanda wrote on X. “Love is an understatement. You are everything to me. My heart, my soul and my best friend.“

He made his feature-film debut in Philip Kaufman’s coming-of-age comedy-drama The Wanderers, which followed a group of Italian-American teenagers and their power struggles against rival gangs in the Bronx in 1963. The film was a success upon release, but its popularity grew over the decades as it developed a passionate following, even leading Warner Bros. to re-release the movie in 1996.

Ganios made a name for himself with Porky’s,...

Renowned director Christopher Nolan recently revealed he has aspirations to make a horror film at some point in the future. Though Nolan has never directed a fully-fledged fright fest, his acclaimed films like Inception and Tenet contain mind-bending elements adjacent to psychological thrillers. And entries such as Batman Begins harness horror imagery and jump scares on occasion.

Christopher Nolan Sets Sights on Horror, Fans Worry About Practical Effects Christopher Nolan via IMAX

According to The Hollywood Reporter, during a recent conversation with the British Film Institute, acclaimed director Christopher Nolan revealed he “would love” to make a horror film at some point. While Nolan’s passionate fanbase welcomed the news, some also expressed concerns that the filmmaker known for practical effects and in-camera tricks would have to embrace CGI to pull off a convincing fright fest.

“I think horror films are very interesting because they depend on very cinematic devices,...

Move over, James Bond fans. Your endless campaigning to see Christopher Nolan take his talents to the super-spy franchise has officially been made irrelevant. That's old news. Real ones know that the blockbuster filmmaker would be much better suited flexing his muscles a bit and expanding to the horror genre. None other than Nolan himself apparently agrees ... though with a caveat or two.

If it feels like the "Oppenheimer" director has been on a never-ending press tour for much of the last year, well, that's because he has. Pop culture hype and serious awards contention surrounding one of the best movies of 2023 will do that to you, though at least this marketing cycle has uncovered much more interesting gems than simply whether, I don't know, Nolan likes Marvel movies or not. While talking to the British Film Institute at an event billed as "Christopher Nolan in Conversation" (via The Hollywood Reporter...

Batman Begins could have had a very different take on its villain. Following a screening of Oppenheimer at the Aero Theater in Los Angeles last weekend, Robert Downey Jr. revealed that he lobbied director Christopher Nolan to play the part that eventually went to Cillian Murphy.

“I’m pretty sure that I heard, like, ‘There’s this role, Scarecrow,’ and I was like, ‘psh, I’m Scarecrow!” the actor told the audience during the post-screening Q&a. He eventually met with Nolan, but it didn’t go super well.

“I remember meeting for tea,...

Robert Downey Jr. revealed during a career retrospective interview at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque theater that he originally met Christopher Nolan ahead of “Batman Begins” to discuss the potential of playing the villainous Scarecrow in the director’s “Dark Knight” origin story. He didn’t get the part, although he’d make his impact on the comic book genre three years later with the 2008 release of Marvel’s “Iron Man.”

“I’m pretty sure I heard about [this role] and I was like, ‘I’m Scarecrow,'” Downey Jr. remembered (via The Playlist podcast host Griffin Schiller). “And then I remember meeting [Nolan] for tea and I was like, ‘He doesn’t seem like he’s really in on this interview.’ And he was polite and all that. But you can tell when someone is kind of like, ‘It’s not going to go anywhere.'”

Instead of Downey Jr., Nolan decided to...

Robert Downey Jr Reveals Metting Christopher Nolan For This Batman Begins Role ( Photo Credit – IMDb; Wikimedia )

Robert Downey Jr is one of the biggest stars, and Christopher Nolan is a celebrated director in Hollywood, and their collaboration has swept off several awards. Cillian Murphy is undoubtedly the show’s star who received tremendous support from the ensemble cast. Nolan and Murphy have been working together for years, and Rdj has recently revealed that he went to Nolan for a role in Batman Begins but was rejected.

It was released in 2005 with Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, a.k .a. Batman. It is the first movie in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. For the unversed, the Iron Man star once in an interview called Nolan’s Batman Begins less accessible and cursed DC comics as well. Rdj made millions from his Marvel role, but it is a surprise that he had...

Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”

Welcome back to a new year of The Amityville IP. With Amityville Scarecrow, this editorial series leaves behind the scant four “franchise” titles released in 2021 for the gargantuan ten titles released in 2022.

While Scarecrow is a similarly low budget production with some dodgy script decisions (courtesy of screenwriter Shannon Holiday), the emphasis on fractured family dynamics feels more in keeping with the early Amityville entries.

For no apparent reason, the film arbitrarily changes the mythology of the series. In Scarecrow, the Amityville murders were committed by “the Richards brothers,” not by Ronald DeFeo. After the family home was razed, a summer camp was built on the property, but the land became cursed.

When the film opens, adult sisters Tina and Mary (Amanda-Jade Tyler...

The National Society of Film Critics’ 58th annual awards has honored Celine Song’s directorial debut Past Lives for its top prize, beating out runners-up Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest for Best Picture.

Critics convened Saturday in New York and Los Angeles to vote on the year’s best movies and performances.

Andrew Scott won Best Actor for his performance in All of Us Strangers, while the Best Actress was Sandra Hüller for her roles in both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.

Charles Melton took home Best Supporting Actor for May December, with Ryan Gosling and Robert Downey Jr. named runners-up.

The complete awards list is below.

Best Picture: “Past Lives”

Runners-up:

“The Zone of Interest”

“Oppenheimer”

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”

Runners-up:

Todd Haynes, “May December”

Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”

Best Film Not in the English Language: “Fallen Leaves”

Runners-up:

“The Zone of Interest...

Stars: Jase Rivers, Chrissie Wunna, Danielle Scott, Alexandra DeCaluwe, Matthew Baunsgard | Written by Charlie Carter, Tom Carter | Directed by Ben J. Williams

With a title like Freddy’s Fridays, it’s obvious this was meant to cash in on the release of Five Nights at Freddy’s. And with the length of time that film took to actually get made both of the other knockoffs, The Banana Splits Movie and Willy’s Wonderland ended up preceding it to release, so Freddy’s Fridays has the mockbuster slot all to itself.

Todd is bringing an escort named Anastasia home. She doesn’t seem overly concerned when he brings her not to his apartment but to a basement full of candles, chains, and a book with an eye in the middle of the cover. She even reads from it, which is a big mistake. Four figures appear and hack her to pieces as Todd watches.

Detective...

Despite the decline in theatrical horror releases during the 1990s, the direct-to-video side of the genre was still thriving. So much so that something like Jeff Burr’s Night of the Scarecrow understandably slipped through the cracks after its unnoticed home-video premiere in ‘96. Even aficionados of this regularly dismissed decade of horror might not be aware of the movie’s existence. Nevertheless, longtime fans still consider this to be one of the more notable offerings of scarecrow horror.

It’s not hard to figure out why Night of the Scarecrow got so lost in the shuffle of ‘90s Dtv horror. Jeff Burr claimed only around 12,000 units were shipped back in the bygone days of video shops. Yet, if you came across this movie’s alluring box art in the horror aisle, you couldn’t be blamed for wanting to take a closer look. The alternative artwork — the titular, sickle-wielding villain...

Out of all the classic monsters that pop up in costume shops around the Halloween season, there’s one that I believe has always been criminally underused in scary movies. Unlike witches, vampires and undead ghouls, the lowly Scarecrow is usually relegated to the background of mainstream horror media despite serving as an instantly recognizable (and genuinely eerie) harbinger of Autumn.

That’s not to say that we haven’t seen memorable examples of these ever-watching fiends in scary movies before – I just wish that there were more of them! And now that we’re fast approaching the spookiest night of the year, we’ve decided to come up with a list highlighting six of the scariest scarecrows in horror films in the hopes that future filmmakers will make use of this underrated monster.

As usual, we invite you to comment below with your own favorite scarecrows if you think...

This article contains major spoilers for "Blue Beetle," so beware!

One of the biggest challenges superhero movies have is giving their protagonist a fully formed and intimidating villain to square off with. For every Thanos and Loki, there are a lot more subpar bad guys like Malekith the Accursed in "Thor: The Dark World" and Taskmaster in "Black Widow." DC Comics movies have had a somewhat better track record when it comes to crafting memorable villains, ranging from various versions of Joker to Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman and even Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow. But when it comes to "Blue Beetle," the film's antagonist doesn't quite stick the landing, even though there's an admirable effort to deliver something consequential.

For most of "Blue Beetle," college graduate Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) is frantically dealing with being involuntarily inhabited by an ancient, cosmic scarab that has fused itself onto his person, complete with...

Paramount+ Picks Up ‘Twisted Metal’ In Canada

Sony action-comedy Twisted Metal, which is based on the classic PlayStation series, has been picked up in Canada by Paramount+. More markets are to come, according to the streamer, which will launch the Anthony Mackie-starrer on August 10. Executive produced by Will Arnett, Twisted Metal follows a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a badass axe-wielding car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown named Sweet Tooth who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck. The series comes from Sony Pictures Television and is based on an original story by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland), with Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai) penning. “Twisted Metal is unlike anything in the market today,...

Al Pacino says he doesn’t remember much of the 1970s. So, The Godfather, Serpico, Scarecrow, Dog Day Afternoon, …And Justice For All are some of the greatest movies ever, let alone of the 1970s: all a blur. But unfortunately, he remembers Gigli and 88 Minutes, Revolution, Righteous Kill, and too many more all too well. He is a guy that always goes over the top, and sometimes it results in brilliance and other times, it causes Mr. Pacino to become a parody of himself. But is his legacy strong enough, and is Al in the middle of another comeback?

It’s a diverse career of ups and downs and whatever he was thinking with Jack and Jill. And so let’s find out: Wtf Happened to… Al Pacino?

But to truly understand what happened to Al Pacino, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on April 25th,...

We took Gene Hackman for granted, and he's making us pay for it.

Between 1964 and 2004, there wasn't a more reliably excellent film actor in the industry. He'd knock out two or three (or more!) movies a year, and even when they were dire propositions — like the Kryptonite-ridden "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" or Bob Clark's laugh-free buddy-cop comedy "Loose Cannons" — you knew Hackman would be present and compelling. He also never went too long between watchable films, so the charge that he was phoning it in (which was also leveled at his prolific contemporary Michael Caine) never made sense.

Hackman was — and, oh, how I hate to refer to this still-very-alive master's career in the past tense — a true working actor. He was grateful for the gigs and took them eagerly. He knew what it was to not only struggle but to be told there is no future...

Charlie’s Angels and its cast was a phenomenon in the 1970s. The TV series ran for five seasons from 1976-1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling, who also created hits such as The Love Boat, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, and Melrose Place.

The show was immensely popular with viewers but got mixed reviews from critics. Some called it “Jiggle TV” because it emphasized the sex appeal of its female cast.

Which Charlie’s Angels cast members are still alive?

What was ‘Charlie’s Angels’?

“Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy; and they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. My name is Charlie!”

This was the opening of Charlie’s Angels.

Farrah Fawcett (Jill Munroe), Jaclyn Smith (Kelly Garrett), and Kate Jackson (Sabrina Duncan) played the Angels. They worked as...

There are two types of Al Pacino performances. The first is the kind that announced him as an acting virtuoso in the 1970s. They're fully inhabited, imbued with a coiled intensity, and forever on the verge of crescendoing to rage or, on rare occasions (most movingly in Jerry Schatzberg's "Scarecrow"), joy. This is Pacino at his very best: restless, yet modulated. When he blows his top in "Dog Day Afternoon," screaming "Attica" at the cops posted outside the bank he's attempting to rob, the moment is earned. He's given us keen insight into the mental machinery that drives Sonny, and has us cheering along with the crowd, even though we're still not sure why he's been driven to such dead-end desperation.

The second type is the grotesque self-parody that's been grist for impressionists — none better than Bill Hader — and soundboard prank callers since he stole Denzel Washington's Oscar...

Exclusive: Doctor Sleep filmmaker Mike Flanagan has pitched a feature version of Clayface over at the studio several sources tell Deadline, however, no word on greenlight yet — and the studio has not said ‘No’. There are no offers and no deals. Though typically a DC supervillain, in the Flanagan pic, should it move forward, he wouldn’t be a bad guy (so we hear).

Word is that Flanagan and his Intrepid Pictures partner Trevor Macy had a meeting with DC Bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran. Flangan, we understand, wasn’t pitching the character to be part of Matt Reeves’ DC elseworld, The Batman 2 set for an Oct. 3, 2025 release date.

That said, other sources are telling us that scripts are constantly changing, and that Clayface is a big addition to Matt Reeves’ The Batman 2. Let’s wait until the dust settles here and something moves forward. It remains to be...

The love affair between Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund and the Cannes Film Festival continues.

The 48-year-old director will return to the scene of his recent triumph, as it was just last year that his “Triangle of Sadness” came away with the coveted Palme d’Or, the top prize at the most prestigious festival in world cinema. (Don’t tell Venice I said that.)

“I am happy, proud, and humbled to be trusted with the honor of jury president for this year’s competition at the Festival de Cannes,” he wrote in an announcement released by the festival early Tuesday morning. “I am sincere when I say that cinema culture is in its most important period ever,” he continued.

Östlund’s “Triangle” is, of course, currently a long-shot Oscar candidate in three categories: Best Director (a nomination for Östlund), Best Original Screenplay (another nomination for Östlund), and Best Picture (a nomination...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Find a full list of every movie and TV series being added to Netflix this month here.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Find a full list of every movie and TV series being added to Netflix this month here.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Find a full list of every movie and TV series being added to Netflix this month here.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon...

In February 2023, Netflix will remove a bunch of movie and TV series from its library,

Netflix UK and Netflix US takes down numerous titles each month without fanfare, meaning that many things on your watchlist could suddenly disappear.

These removals are due to licencing deals coming to an end. Often, the titles make their way back to Netflix in the following year, but sometimes they leave to go to other platforms.

This month sees a selection of Netflix Originals being taken down, also.

To minimise surprise, we have put together a comprehensive list of everything being removed in both Netflix UK and US.

Nb: The Independent compiled this list with help from What’s on Netflix.

UK

Movies

1 February

Amélie

Biking Borders

Christmas Under Wraps

The Cider House Rules

Collateral (2004)

Equilibrium

Event Horizon

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Guest House

Holmes & Watson

Hostel

The King’s Speech

Letters to Juliet

Love Happens...

Ti West's "Pearl," a prequel to his subversive slasher "X," is one of the best horror movies in recent years. Mia Goth's spellbinding performance as a lonely, sadistic farmer's daughter with big dreams carries the film. Both "Pearl" and "X," as well as the upcoming third film in the trilogy, "MaXXXine," honor the film and pornography industries and study the allure of stardom through a celluloid aesthetic that captures a particular era in cinema history.

"X" was Ti West's homage to the schlocky 1970s grindhouse movies and the available snippet of "MaXXXine" seems to capture the grainy VHS artificiality of the 1980s. "Pearl," meanwhile, is like looking at classic Hollywood through a funhouse mirror. Ti West tells Filmmaker Magazine that he used the same dazzling Technicolor palette as "The Wizard of Oz." These striking colors are a visual expression of Pearl's romantic fantasies yet they feel uncanny as if something sinister lurks beneath.

[Editor’s Note: The following interview contains spoilers for “Harley Quinn” Season 3, including the ending.]

“Harley Quinn” doesn’t save the battles for the very end.

By the time the Season 3 finale of the animated series arrives, the show has already had its usual massive “Gotham under siege” moment, this time with Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) and some unlikely rivals taking on a hoard of zombified plant people unwittingly created by Batman (Diedrich Bader) and harnessed by Poison Ivy (Lake Bell). The season’s ninth episode wraps up its own large-scale conflict in a way that leaves plenty more to resolve on a personal level.

Not only is that in line with the structural rhythms of past seasons (Doctor Psycho’s attack last season and Scarecrow’s the season before that each happened in penultimate episodes), it’s by design for a show with more than citywide destruction on its mind.

“We want to be able to wrap up the plottiness of the season,...

There will be some changes when Season 8 of Fox’s The Masked Singer premieres later this month.

Under the new format announced today by the network, each episode of the celebrity singing contest will feature the usual knock-out performances by elaborately disguised celebrities, but for the first time, only one contestant will move on from each episode. The studio audience will vote for their favorite, and the singer with the least amount of votes will unmask mid-show. That celebrity will get a front row seat in the Masked Singer VIP section to watch the rest of the competition and the second unmasking, and for the first time, won’t have to to wait to find out what celebrity they were competing against.

The Top Two singers then will face off in a Battle Royale performance of the same song. The winner will be crowned the King or Queen of The...