Ask Bruce Campbell, and he’ll tell you he’s “sick of over-trained heroes. I’m really bored with that. Guys that are just ripped to shreds and, you know, full of skills. That’s boring to me. Give me the mechanic that picks up a weapon, you know? Now I’m interested. That’s my hero. That could be me.”

Ash Williams of the Evil Dead franchise is that hero. Part of the lasting appeal of the best character Bruce Campbell has ever played is that the audience can see themselves in him, like if they were pressed into fighting an army of Deadites, they could take up the mantle, the chainsaw, the boomstick, and mow down wave after wave of the undead masses.

He is a man that should have been an A-List superstar and in the eyes of his fanbase he is…. which is all that really matters in the end. Movies are supposed to be fun and you can always feel that when Bruce is on the screen because he legitimately seems to be enjoying the cards he has been dealt in life and is playing them passion.

Bruce would also tell you: “All men think they’re fascinating. In my case, it’s justified.” So what makes Bruce Campbell so fascinating? To learn that, let’s take it back to the beginning where the beginning began to begin beginning where it began to begin.

Bruce Lorne Campbell was born on June 22″, 1958, in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA. His journey into acting was sparked by watching his father act in community theater. He formed a fruitful lifelong friendship in high school when he met Sam Raimi. They’d collaborate on the short horror film Within the Woods in 1979 as part of their pitch to fund a feature film. I’m sure Campbell’s trademark charm went a long way toward getting them the funds they needed to make 1981’s The Evil Dead.

The Evil Dead stands as a triumph in tight-budget filmmaking, owed in large part to its innovative storytelling and practical effects. However, Bruce Campbell’s iconic performance contributes equally to its enduring legacy. His portrayal of the lead character Ash Williams showcased remarkable range, vulnerability, unwavering commitment, and physicality—in defiance of his relative inexperience. Bruce wore many creative hats during the production and wasn’t above getting his hands dirty to make the production work. After having seen the movie or even just a screenshot, would you believe Bruce Campbell hates fake blood? I’d say he picked the wrong line of work, if he wasn’t so good at it.

Evil Dead legitimized Bruce Campbell as a leading man, and he would go on to get top billing in the 1984 coming-of-age film Going Back. The film, shot and partially set in Michigan, showed Campbell’s pride in his roots as well as his natural, believable approach to acting.

Campbell reunited with his friend Sam Raimi for 1985’s Crimewave. Raimi reportedly expanded the role of Renaldo “The Heel” in the Coen Brothers-penned flick for his buddy Bruce. The film doesn’t necessarily live up to the brilliance of the creative forces behind it or Raimi and Campbell’s first effort, but Campbell offers a memorable and quirky performance in a movie that has gone on to cult status.

Campbell and Raimi bounced back strong in 1987 with perhaps their most beloved collaboration: Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. The sequel/partial retelling trades the camp of the original for full-on dark humor and is all the better for it. Campbell’s performance takes the audience on a rollercoaster of terror and absurdity while the character grows from victim into victorious hero. He expertly balances the humorous and the horrific and wholeheartedly immersed himself in the physical demands of the role. His delivery of his trademark “groovy” and his iconic demented laugh are forever etched in the minds of audiences.

Bruce Campbell battles not only a relentless killer but also the very system that betrayed him as Officer Jack Forrest in 1988’s Maniac Cop. He would reprise the role in Maniac Cop 2 in 1991. The movies are pretty typical of B-movie slashers of the time but are worth seeing for Campbell’s portrayal of fragility and resilience.

Campbell featured in 1989’s Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat as a descendent of the legendary Van Helsing. Let’s see: a corrupt hierarchy of vampires struggling to adapt to a modern setting by consuming manufactured blood. And a full 12 years before Dead Until Dark, the novel that inspired True Blood, released? Interesting. Campbell admits he took the role because he was desperate for money’, but it has turned into one of his bigger cult hits.

He played astronaut Ray Tanner in 1989’s Moontrap, who got… trapped on the moon if you can believe it. Campbell brings his characteristic charm to the sci-fi horror before undergoing a genuinely scary, if all-too-brief, transformation.

Not for the last time, Campbell reunited with his buddy Sam Raimi for a superhero flick in 1990’s Darkman. Think if Liam Neeson played RoboCop meets Batman with a Sam Raimi flair. Campbell makes a comedic cameo, livening the otherwise dour tone.

In 1992’s Mindwarp, Bruce Campbell plays Stover, a drifter suffering under a post-apocalyptic society ruled by Al. Maybe this is a more of a preview of what’s in store for us. Mindwarp is a less-refined exploration of some of the same themes that The Matrix would explore 7 years later. Instead of fighting simulations, Campbell as Stover helps protagonist Judy fight mutant cannibals. You can decide which is more fun.

Campbell and Raimi bookended the original Evil Dead trilogy with 1992’s Army of Darkness. While the first two movies set a high bar, Army of Darkness took the series in a unique direction: back in time to the medieval age. If Evil Dead is a campy horror and Evil Dead 2 is a dark comedy, then Army of Darkness is an action-comedy that ratchets up the scope and scale of the conflict with some impressive set pieces. Because it’s still an Evil Dead movie, it doesn’t lack for gore. Campbell’s Ash Williams completes his journey into full on Deadite conqueror, perhaps best represented by his triumphant decree “This is my boomstick!”? Fittingly, the boomstick hails from southern Michigan, just like Bruce himself.

Bruce Campbell made a mark on television in the mid-90s, first with The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. in 1993, wherein he played lawyer-turned-bounty-hunter Brisco County. Yeah, that’s the character’s name, not a place. The western with sci-fi elements earned a passionate fanbase that was unfortunately not consistent enough to earn the show a second season.

Campbell played another Jr. in the form of antagonist Bill Church Jr. on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the mid-90s. Think like a more charming but less resourceful Lex Luthor. He famously leverages
Red Kryptonite to give Superman a serious case of the fuck-its.

Campbell was in The Hudsucker Proxy, written and directed by the Coen Brothers, in 1994. Critics would find the movie more stylistic than substantive, but Campbell does his part as an offbeat member of a loaded ensemble cast.

His character Autolycus, the “King of Thieves” spanned across both Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys starting in 1995. Campbell brought believability to the confident flair of the skilled master thief with a penchant for wordplay. His charisma stole scenes faster than he swiped treasures.

Campbell had a recurring guest role on the sitcom Ellen in 1996 and 1997. He portrayed Ed Billik, who became the titular Ellen’s boss when she sold her bookstore. Their interactions showcased a delightful contrast: Ellen’s quirky and often uncertain demeanor juxtaposed with Ed’s self-assured and assertive personality. This dynamic added humor and depth to the series, making their scenes memorable for viewers.

In 1996’s Escape from L.A., Bruce Campbell portrayed the character Surgeon General of Beverly Hills. Under layers of makeup, he became a wrinkleless, cap-toothed, doll-haired, dimpled-chinned monster—a twisted vision of Michael Jackson with a turned-up nose. Despite the film’s poor initial critical and commercial reception, it has since gained a cult following, and Campbell’s medical office from hell remains a standout moment in the movie.

In 1997, Campbell featured in the TV movie Menno’s Mind as Mick Dourif, Rebel Leader. You don’t need to go out of your way to see it. I’m only mentioning it because it’s another Matrix-adjacent outing years before. I’m not sure there’s such thing as an original idea.

Campbell appears briefly in the unfortunate 1999 direct-to-video sequel From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, perhaps as a way to grant the film some legitimacy. It didn’t work.

2000’s Icebreaker features a bald Bruce Campbell as a terrorist leader against action star Sean Astin.

Campbell played lead in Jack of All Trades for 2 seasons starting in 2000. The Napoleon-era period action-comedy features Bruce as Jack Stiles. The character rivals Forrest Gump for the number of historical events and famous figures he is in the proximity of, and his alter-ego “the Daring Dragoon” is a blend of Zorro’s flair, Batman’s mystery, and a dash of James Bond’s wit.

Jim Carrey ventured into drama with 2001’s The Majestic, and a pivotal moment for his character comes when he watches Bruce Campbell in a movie within the movie as Roland the Intrepid Explorer. Campbell perfectly embodies the look and delivery of a golden era action star.

Bruce Campbell released his autobiography: If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor in 2002. The New York Times Bestseller is essential reading for fans of his, and anyone interested in the movie-making process can get something from it. He followed it up in 2017 with Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor, another Bestseller that picks up where the first book left off and covers the cool stuff he’d been up to, since, cool stuff like…

Reuniting with his friend Sam Raimi for his Spider-Man movie series. In the 2002 original, Campbell plays the ring announcer for Peter Parker’s wrestling bout against “Macho Man” Randy Savage as Bonesaw McGraw and is responsible for coining the “Spider-Man” name. In 2004’s Spider-Man 2, he portrays a snooty usher who, after helping Peter Parker fix his appearance, still won’t let him late into Mary Jane’s performance.

For Spider-Man 3 in 2007, Campbell returned to the service industry as The Maitre d’ of the restaurant where Peter Parker attempts to propose to Mary Jane. Rumor has it that these cameos were set to be paid off in a big way in the cancelled Spider-Man 4, with Campbell returning as the villain Mysterio and being revealed to have been disguising himself as the other characters as part of his surveillance of Spider-Man. Bruce Campbell denies these rumors.

Bruce Campbell returned to his absurdist B-movie comfort zone with 2002’s beloved cult hit Bubba Ho-Tep. In it, he played a man who probably was Elvis Presley and teamed with a man who probably wasn’t JFK to fight a murderous mummy. Oh, and he may have had dick cancer. For all its oddity, Bubba Ho-Tep is a poignant and endearing film about growing old in a society where the old are mistreated and facing death both literally and metaphorically.

Campbell directed and starred in 2005’s Man With the Screaming Brain. The concept is interesting, but the movie doesn’t really do much with it. While a lot of the B-movies Campbell features in compensate for a small budget with passionate execution, this one has little redeeming value apart from being a part of Campbell’s storied career.

Campbell played Coach Boomer in 2005’s much more family-friendly Sky High. His superpower is a powerful voice, which is fitting. He also serves as the movie’s sorting hat for prospective superheroes and sidekicks.

The cast and crew list for The Ant Bully from 2006 is chock-full of Hollywood royalty. Tom Hanks was on as a producer, and the animation featured the voice talents of Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Ricardo Montalban, and, of course, Bruce Campbell. Campbell as Fugax acts as a confident and kind guiding force to the main character.

Campbell will always be known first as Ash Williams, but his second most beloved character just might be Sam Axe of the show Burn Notice, whom he played starting in 2007. The character is the skillful, loyal, and grounded companion of the main character. Campbell’s portrayal was so beloved by fans as to inspire the spinoff prequel movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe in 2011.

He directed and starred in My Name is Bruce in 2007. Obviously, the movie is a bit self-indulgent, but it’s a marked improvement over Man With the Screaming Brain, and there’s a lot of meta humor to appreciate, especially for the target audience of Bruce Campbell’s fanbase. If you love Bruce, you probably like this movie, and if you don’t, I’m surprised you made it this far into this video.

Campbell voiced Mayor Shelbourne in 2009’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. He’s a master of subtlety to begin the movie, masking his harmful ambition behind kindness and charisma before leveraging that same charisma to manipulate the other characters, with catastrophic results.

Sam Raimi directed Oz the Great and Powerful for a 2013 release, so of course he brought his friend Bruce in for a cameo, this time as The Winkie Gate Keeper. He’s hard to recognize under the makeup and prosthetics, but | think that chin is mostly his.

Bruce Campbell produced the 2013 Evil Dead reboot and appeared in a brief teaser post-credits. It was initially thought to tease his involvement in another Evil Dead feature film, but his next Evil Dead involvement would be Ash vs Evil Dead, a television series that ran from 2015-2018. In the show, Bruce as Ash, after spending 30 years in relative obscurity, haplessly unleashes another Deadite threat upon the world and is obviously best-suited for the job of stemming the tide. The show and Campbell’s performance are loved by critics and audiences for respectfully modernizing what made the original series so special. It unfortunately released on a premium channel in a tough television environment and was cancelled after 3 seasons. An animated continuation of the show has been hinted at as recently as 2023.

Campbell had a recurring voice role in Disney’s Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure series starting in 2018 as King Edmund and as Chef in The Last Kids on Earth starting in 2020.

He served as executive producer and host for Travel Channel’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Reboot in 2019. Reviews are mixed on whether the show lives up to the legacy of Ripley’s or its host.

Campbell voiced Richard Nixon in the audiotapes featured throughout 2021’s 18 1/2. This was actually the second time be portrayed a former president, having been Ronald Reagan in the television show Fargo in 2015.

Bruce Campbell’s latest cameo in a Sam Raimi Marvel movie is as Pizza Poppa in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022. He’s morally absolute, if a bit misguided and overmatched, and is responsible for the funniest moments in the largely depressing film.

In 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, Campbell has a voiceover cameo as a recorded priest that warns against the dangers of the Necronomicon. A fun fan theory posits that the priest is actually Ash Williams on another time traveling adventure.

In late 2023, Bruce Campbell hosted Discontinued, a show that take a nostalgic look at trends and products that have become obsolete. Campbell keeps the tone tight but humorous.

Bruce Campbell’s not just a B-list actor; he’s a B-movie legend. He’s also a producer, a director, a bestselling author, and an ordained minister. He frequently and passionately performs for members of the United States military both stateside and abroad. Despite his bravado, he’s universally described by those who know him as humble, kind, loyal, and dedicated. These days, when he’s not still acting, you can find him on the Comicon circuit, hosting his own digital film festival “BruceFest”, or, if you pull up to your favorite streaming service, embodying one of the most iconic horror heroes of all time. And he’s said he’d be happy to return to the role of Ash Williams, which I’m sure fans would love to see. The story of Bruce is a simple one: one day he and his friends made a cool movie and that allowed him to go on a make a bunch of other cool movies for the rest of his life. Never really rising to the top of the industry – never really having any major ups and downs when it came to respect for his skills just consistently maintaining his perfect level of coolness. Maybe he never reached the heights of A-list superstardom, but he made millions of people happy with his talents. And isn’t that what it’s all about? Bruce Campbell is not just great, he’s groovy. Hail to the King, Baby!

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This week has seen a lot of news content from Michael J. Fox since People Magazine celebrates their 50th anniversary with a profile on the star after they covered the heartbreaking revelation of his condition back in 1998. Fox is a big face of 80s pop culture thanks to his work in Family Ties, Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success, and, of course, Back to the Future. According to Variety, Fox recalls when someone coined to him the phrase “80s famous” as he explained to People, “There’s an expression I referred to when they gave me an honorary Academy Award — somebody said to me the day before, they were talking about getting this award and being famous and they said ‘You’re ‘80s famous.’”

Fox expanded on this point of view, “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ ‘80s famous. Right, we were different. We were tougher. We didn’t have social media, we didn’t have any of that crap. We were just famous. Left to our own resources. And it was an amazing time.” People followed up by asking if it’s harder being famous then than it is now and Fox replied, “Well, you had to be talented. That helped.” He continued, “We used to bust our ass, our acting muscles and watch other actors and sit around with other actors and talk about acting and talk about it. And now you’ve got people who just go like, ‘Who’s your sweater? What’s your sweater you’re wearing? And what’s that dance step?’ And you’re the most famous person in the world.”

For those who have not seen the documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, the Spin City star would recall traveling to Hollywood on his own from his home in Canada. He didn’t have a work permit, so acting was not only his ambition; it was the only way to put food on the table. In the film, Fox talked bout his first apartment, which was a tiny studio where his bathroom sink also served as his kitchen sink and was constantly chock full of unwashed dishes. He also spoke about having a sectional couch that he would occasionally sell section-by-section if he was in need of money, all while he was auditioning non-stop and worked bit roles until he got Family Ties. Then, the rest became history.

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The television franchise that began with Pretty Little Liars on Freeform (starting back when the channel was known as ABC Family) and continued with two short-lived spin-offs on Freeform – Ravenswood and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists – moved over to the Max streaming service in 2022 with a new series called Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, which leaned further into horror territory. The second season of the new series is titled Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, and it has been announced that it’s set to make its Max premiere on May 9th!

This take on the Pretty Little Liars concept was created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lindsay Calhoon Bring. It focuses on “new characters in the new fictional town of Millwood, PA and with multiple references to iconic horror movies (think Carrie and the original Halloween).” Season 1 had the following synopsis: Twenty years ago, a series of tragic events almost ripped the blue-collar town of Millwood apart. Now, in present day, a disparate group of teen girls — a brand-new set of Little Liars — find themselves tormented by an unknown Assailant and made to pay for the secret sin committed by their parents two decades ago… as well as their own.

The cast includes Bailee Madison as Imogen Adams, Chandler Kinney as Tabby Haworthe, Zaria as Faran Bryant, Maia Reficco as Noa Olivar, Bechtel as Karen/Kelly Beasley, Sharon Leal as Sidney Haworthe, Elena Goode as Marjorie Olivar, Eric Johnson as Sheriff Tom Beasley, Alex Aiono as Shawn Noble, Lea Salonga as Elodie Honrada, and Annabeth Gish as Dr. Sullivan. Jordan Gonzalez plays Ash Romero, who has been promoted from a recurring character to a series regular.

Aguirre-Sacasa and Bring have said that sources of inspiration for Pretty Little Liars: Summer School, which features a masked slasher called Bloody Rose, include Friday the 13th Part 2, Halloween II, Scream 2, and When a Stranger Calls.

Aguirre-Sacasa and Bring serve as executive producers with I. Marlene King, Michael Grassi, Leslie Morgenstein, and Gina Girolamo. Aguirre-Sacasa’s company Muckle Man Productions is producing Pretty Little Liars: Summer School with Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television. Muckle Man’s Jimmy Gibbons also receives a producing credit.

Will you be watching Pretty Little Liars: Summer School when it premieres in May? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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The battle against Nintendo Switch emulation isn’t over yet. The Mario maker got the prominent emulation software Yuzu to cave in, shut down, and pay out on March 4, and now the popular chat platform Discord is reportedly nuking the accounts and servers belonging to other Nintendo Switch emulator devs.

Read more…

The battle against Nintendo Switch emulation isn’t over yet. The Mario maker got the prominent emulation software Yuzu to cave in, shut down, and pay out on March 4, and now the popular chat platform Discord is reportedly nuking the accounts and servers belonging to other Nintendo Switch emulator devs.

Read more…

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike has over 115 directing credits to his name, and it has only taken him 33 years to reach that impressive number. One of his latest credits came on a blood-soaked horror thriller called Lumberjack the Monster, and the folks at Rue Morgue have confirmed that Lumberjack the Monster is going to be available to watch on the Netflix streaming service as of June 1st.

Before the film reaches Netflix, New York City’s Japan Society (located at 333 East 47th Street) will be hosting its the North American premiere screening on Monday, May 6 at 8pm. Rue Morgue notes, “There will also be a pre-screening reception at 7pm with beverages donated by Sapporo-Stone Brewing and Brooklyn Kura. The screening is being presented in conjunction with the Tribeca Film Festival, as part of its Escape from Tribeca program.”

Lumberjack the Monster is based on a novel by Mayusuke Kurai and stars Kazuya Kamenashi, Nanao, Riho Yoshioka, Shota Sometani, and Shido Nakamura. The film has the following description: This cat-and-mouse chase between a serial killer and a lawyer hot on his trail is filled with gruesome murders, missing brains, and disturbing secrets. The most disturbing? The lawyer is a psychopath. Yes, Takashi Miike’s newest nightmare is the brutal showdown between a serial killer and a psychopath lawyer. It’s a bloody good time.

The 1999 release Audition may be the most popular film Takashi Miike has ever made. Among his many other credits are Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozu, One Missed Call, The Great Yokai War, Sukiyaki Western Django, 13 Assassins, Yakuza Apocalypse, and Blade of the Immortal. He made a cameo in Eli Roth’s Hostel, and contributed to the Masters of Horror TV series with an episode called Imprint. Showtime found Imprint to be so graphic and disturbing that they refused to air it – which is why the DVD release proudly stated that the movie was “Banned from Cable Broadcast.”

Are you a fan of Takashi Miike’s work, and are you looking forward to watching Lumberjack the Monster on Netflix? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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Plot: In December 1776, Benjamin Franklin is world famous for his electrical experiments. But his passion and power are put to the test when he embarks on a secret mission to France—with the fate of American independence hanging in the balance.

Review: Of all the television and big screen depictions of the Revolutionary War and the early days of the United States, few have focused specifically on Benjamin Franklin. The scientist, inventor, scholar, and dignitary has been a key character in many projects, notably played by Tom Wilkinson in HBO’s John Adams and by Howard De Silva in the musical 1776, but always as a supporting player. Despite being one of the Founding Fathers and having his iconic visage gracing the one hundred dollar bill, the first narrative production centered on his life is just now being released. Franklin, an eight-episode limited series from AppleTV+ and ITV America, focuses on Franklin‘s decade-long mission to secure France’s support in the fight for independence from England. Boasting an impressive performance from Michael Douglas, Franklin positions itself more as a tale of espionage, negotiation, and political intrigue than a war film or even a biopic. The result is an interesting look into the life of the most famous American politician never to be President but one that lacks the momentum or energy deserving of such a tale.

Opening in December 1776, Franklin begins with the titular character completing his voyage from Philadelphia to France during a torrential downpour. Recognized for his brilliance and intelligence, Franklin (Michael Douglas) arrives with his grandson William Temple Franklin (Noah Jupe), who is his assistant and protege. Temple, the illegitimate son of Franklin’s illegitimate son, joins his grandfather to learn from him in the hopes of becoming a politician. Almost immediately, the Franklins are dismissed by the Comte de Vergennes (Thibault de Montalembert), the First Minister to the King of France, who wants nothing to do with the American war with England. Secretly, Ben Franklin and his colleague Edward Bancroft (Daniel Mays) work through alternative channels to secure weapons and money to help finance the American military which is flagging badly in the West. This means that Ben Franklin must use his wit and wisdom to persuade reluctant aristocrats while staying one step ahead of British spies and other loyalists to the Crown.

Over the next eight chapters, Ben Franklin forges alliances with playwright Beaumarchais (Assaad Bouab), entrepreneur Jacques Charmont (Olivier Claverie) and his wife Therese (Florence Darel) and the beautiful musician Anne-Louise Brillon (Ludivine Sagnier). Along the way, Temple also crossed paths with an idealistic young French solider named Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (Theodore Pellerin), who would majorly impact the Revolution. Equally, the elder Franklin’s life is forever changed as he enters romances with Brillon and Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, also known as Madame Helvetius (Jeanne Balibar). The exploits that Franklin engaged in over eight years in Europe would forever change the fate of the United States, and that sentiment rarely goes unspoken. Because of the thousands of miles between France and the ground battles in America, the tension in Franklin replaces guns and swords with secret messages, impostors and stand-ins for complex misdirections, and plain old palace intrigue as backroom conversations and deals forever change the fate of democracy.

The dynamic between Michael Douglas and Noah Jupe works best in the series. Rather than playing Franklin in his prime, Douglas (who is eight years older than the real Ben Franklin was at the time of this series), portrays the statesman as eldery but still very capable. Believing that he would not live to see the United States as an independent nation, Franklin is stoic but passionate and still very much fill of the vigor of a much younger man. The series also makes sure that he is not portrayed as a universally beloved figure, even in America, as we find out when John Adams (Eddie Marsan) arrives for secret negotiations towards the end of the series. Noah Jupe is also very good as the seventeen year old Temple. Willing to learn from his grandfather, Temple becomes enamored with the stately court of Verseilles which throws a wrench between them, something that is a focal point for much of the series. The trouble with that dynamic, though, is that it develops incredibly slowly over the course of the series.

Writers Kirk Ellis and Howard Korder adapted Franklin from Stacy Schiff’s book “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America” with an eye on trying to make the series into a political thriller. Korder, who has experienced writing for the stage, helps transform the dialogue into a central strength for Franklin but still struggles with building momentum. Individual scenes are beautifully shot as interiors within French palaces and mansions. At the same time, the exteriors show the countryside of Europe in an often overcast light. Still, even the most cinematic sequence fails to overcome the fact it is mostly just people talking and walking in period attire. Veteran director Tim Van Patten, best known for The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Perry Mason, and Masters of the Air, is more than capable of capturing the scope of the drama being articulated by the cast, but that does not change how slowly this series movies. Nevertheless, despite the pace, Franklin is a showcase for Michael Douglas.

Having watched the entirety of Franklin, I gained a deeper appreciation for this perspective on American history that I was never taught in school. The picture many of us have of Benjamin Franklin is only a superficial layer of the brilliant man. Michael Douglas inhabits him more fully than any other role in the actor’s career. Franklin may not be as exciting or quotable as Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, but it still presents a unique glimpse into how America became an independent nation. Thanks to solid supporting turns from Ludivine Sagnier and Noah Jupe, Franklin is a good series that finally gives the title figure the biopic he deserves, even if it is not quite as sprightly and energetic as the man himself.

Franklin premieres on April 12th on Apple TV+.

Franklin

GOOD

7

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Linda Hamilton will be making an appearance in the upcoming Stranger Things, which poetically takes place in the era when she catapulted to fame thanks to The Terminator. Her defining performance as Sarah Connor sealed her in pop culture as one of the best sci-fi characters of all time. However, even though she would make a return to the series with the sequel Terminator: Dark Fate, Hamilton has definitively stated that she is no longer interested in reprising her iconic character.

The Beauty and the Beast TV show star recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about her projects. It was inevitably asked if she would come back for another round with the cybernetic organism when they inquired what was more likely: an AI-written Terminator sequel or her reprising the role of Sarah Connor. Hamilton answered, “AI writing the next Terminator movie. And they kill me off before we start. That’s the best scenario.” When pressed for clear confirmation, she responded, “Shoot me. Shoot me! I’m very glad I did it, but…” Hamilton does not have regrets about doing Terminator: Dark Fate, saying, “I don’t do a lot of regret. I think in the end, it holds true that we regret what we didn’t do, not what we did.”

She continued to expand on her position with the film, noting that her experience was enjoyable despite not being to receptive to the final product. “I’m very glad I went back. I loved [director Tim Miller], I love my ladies [Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes], and while I can’t say I love the film, that’s because I was so attached to it. I only saw it once. I felt like it was too fast. But we did so much good work, and it was the greatest time of my life, and the worst time of my life, all rolled into one film,” She expounded. The stunt work would also take a toll on her while filming, “I was 63 or whatever I was, and it was the hardest shoot. Every day it was like a triathlon: ‘Now we’re going to swim for two hours and then we’re going to run for two hours.’ I read 40 books on that show. That’s all I could do, lie down and read, send my mind somewhere else and rest my body.”

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The 20th anniversary of writer/director Rob Zombie’s feature directorial debut House of 1000 Corpses (watch it HERE) came and went last year – but today, Zombie took to social media to announce that he’s celebrating the 21st anniversary of the film by working on a book about the making of it! Zombie also shared multiple behind-the-scenes images, and you can check those out at the bottom of this article.

Zombie wrote, “To celebrate the 21st anniversary of House of 1000 Corpses being released I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the House of 1000 Corpses book that I have been working on. This thing is packed with rare photos, blueprints, storyboards, makeup tests and my original script with all my handwritten notes and sketches. So much stuff for all you Corpse-Heads! Coming your way soon.”

House of 1000 Corpses has the following synopsis: Two young couples take a misguided tour onto the back roads of America in search of a local legend known as Dr. Satan. Lost and stranded, they are set upon by a bizarre family of psychotics. Murder, cannibalism and satanic rituals are just a few of the 1000+ horrors that await.

The film stars Sid Haig, Erin Daniels, Bill Moseley, Karen Black, Sheri Moon Zombie, Rainn Wilson, Dennis Fimple, Walton Goggins, Chris Hardwick, Jennifer Jostyn, Matthew McGrory, Robert Mukes, Irwin Keyes, Walter Phelan, Michael J. Pollard, Tom Towles, Harrison Young, and Jake McKinnon.

Zombie has described his first movie as a “calamitous mess“. Are you a fan of House of 1000 Corpses, and are you glad to hear that Zombie is working on a book about the making of the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Last year, author Dustin McNeill released a book called House of Rejects, which covered the making of 1000 Corpses and its follow-ups The Devil’s Rejects and 3 from Hell, the films that make up Zombie’s “Firefly trilogy.” While you’re waiting for Zombie’s book, you can pick up a copy of McNeill’s book at THIS LINK. Other books by McNeill include Reign of Chucky, the Halloween franchise books Taking Shape and Taking Shape II, Phantasm Exhumed, and Slash of the Titans (about Freddy vs. Jason‘s long journey through development hell). 

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If it seems like Baldur’s Gate 3 can’t stop winning Game of the Year awards, you aren’t wrong. Just this week, Larian’s ambitious 2023 Dungeons & Dragons RPG took home yet another prize during the video game portion of the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs). While it is impressive alone to take home a single GOTY…

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