Category Archive : FilmTV

Dracula

Luc Besson will helm a movie based on Dracula titled Dracula – A Love Tale, dubbed “a big-budget reimagining” of the character. It will star Christoph Waltz and Caleb Landry Jones, who starred in Besson’s Dogman, which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

While little is actually known about Luc Besson’s Dracula movie, Deadline did report that it “has an origin story element to it exploring in a little more depth the gothic romance between Prince Vladimir and his wife whose loss turns him to forsake God and become a vampire.” It, too, is expected to have “some epic and potentially spectacular set pieces.”

The news comes out of the European Film Market, the trade fair held during the Berlin Film Festival. While Besson has never won Berlin’s top honor, the Golden Bear, his Dogman did make a splash at Venice, receiving a standing ovation despite the controversy surrounding his invitation. It would also be nominated for the Golden Lion. For those unfamiliar with the plot, here is the official writeup: “Having just been arrested, Douglas opens his heart to tell the moving story of his life. As a survivor of childhood trauma, with a violent father who forces him to live in the family kennel, he develops a bond with dogs that defies understanding. Out of this hell, he grows to discover love, theatre, and cabaret, but also the injustice and disillusionment of the human world. In a life that’s been broken a thousand times, only the love of his dogs can bring salvation.”

Count Dracula – and variations of – is generally believed to be the most portrayed character in movie/TV history, going back to the silent era. Some of the most recent depictions were by Nicolas Cage in Renfield and Javier Botet in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Bram Stoker’s original novel was published in 1897; nearly 130 years later, it remains a classic of gothic literature.

The Berlin Film Festival is set to conclude on February 25th.

Are you excited for a Dracula movie directed by Luc Besson? Who has portrayed the character the best over the years? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Spider-Man Noir, series, Amazon, Marvel

In recent months, Nicolas Cage has been open about his wish to retire from movies. But he’s also said that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop acting, and he’s demonstrated a desire to try episodic TV, which he’s never done before. Now, an intriguing report from The Ankler suggests he might have found his vehicle, a live-action Spider-Man Noir show. Cage memorably voiced the characters, a 1940s film noir-style version of Spidey in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Cage is also a massive fan of the classic noir actor Humphrey Bogart, with him once doing an extended Bogey impersonation in his Paul Schrader film Dog Eat Dog. Perhaps this would give him the opportunity to go full-on into the noir genre. It’s an intriguing possibility.

Here’s what we know about the proposed Spider-Man Noir series so far:

According to Variety, the self-serious Spider-Man character is swinging onto the small screen with Oren Uziel (The Lost City) writing and executive producing, with it set for Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. The Spider-Man Noir series revolves around an older, hardened 1930s superhero in New York City. Whispers indicate Spider-Man Noir operates a universe all his own. Moreover, the character is not Peter Parker beneath the mask.

Uziel developed the series with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal, all of whom executive produce the series. For those wondering how Spider-Man Noir is webbing up episodes at Amazon instead of Disney+, the project falls under Sony Pictures Television’s umbrella.

In the comics, Spider-Man Noir patrols the New York City beat during the Great Depression. In the debut story featuring the character, Peter Parker is bitten by a spider nesting within a spider-god idol. The spider grants Parker extra-human abilities, paving the way for Parker to become a hero to people without extra-normal abilities.

In addition to writing the screenplay for The Lost City, the action comedy starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe, Uziel wrote 22 Jump StreetThe Cloverfield Paradox, and 2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot. He’s also a contributing writer on John Wick 4 and Borderlands.

While Spider-Man Noir kept to the shadows for most of his career, his role in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse made him a fan-favorite character overnight. With a knack for investigating the scene, Spider-Man Noir solves mysteries around New York City while monologuing for anyone within earshot. His background lends to Amazon’s Spider-Man Noir series becoming a must-watch crime thriller with superheroes and supervillains.

Are you excited about today’s Spider-Man Noir news? Would you rather the show be live-action or animated? Please sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.

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After taking a look back at House II: The Second Story (a favorite of mine since childhood), House of 1000 Corpses (which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year), the awesomeness of Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, the leg smashing in the Stephen King adaptation Misery, three separate moments from John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China, the “Jason vs. Tina” battle in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, and the “all hell breaks loose” sequence from the start of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake,

Directed by David Twohy, who also crafted the screenplay with Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat, Pitch Black has the following synopsis: A deep space transporter crash-lands on a desolate planet circled by three suns. Among the survivors are pilot Carolyn Fry, mystic Abu `Imam’ al-Walid, cop William J Johns and convicted criminal Richard B Riddick, and their first thoughts are of survival and escape. Then Fry finds out that the planet suffers a total eclipse every 22 years, which is when the hibernating, flesh-eating inhabitants awake and hunt.

Diesel is joined in the cast by Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Rhiana Griffith, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, John Moore, Simon Burke, Les Chantery, Sam Sari, Firass Dirani, Ric Anderson, and Vic Wilson.

Are you a fan of Pitch Black? What did you think of this best scene video? Let us know by leaving a comment below… and if this isn’t what you would have picked as the best scene, let us know which scene you think is the best one in the movie.

Two of the previous episodes of The Best Scene can be seen below. To see more of our shows, click over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!

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Fantastic Four 1960s

Speculation around just about every aspect of the upcoming MCU entry The Fantastic Four has kept fans digging through rumors and clues: Who will be the core cast? Who will play main villain Galactus? With confirmation on the former revealed by Marvel just this week, fans have latched onto the post, discovering right away that it may tell us when the movie is set. So, is The Fantastic Four going to take place in the 1960s?

There are a number of giveaways in Marvel’s cast reveal. For starters, the title font is of a retro style that fits with the 1960s aesthetic. But looking above that gives us even more details that could help zero in. Take, for example, the overall design of the room, whose carpeting and furniture immediately call to mind that decade. One of the biggest giveaways may be the magazine that The Thing aka Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is reading. While it lacks clear details, it is awfully similar to a December 1963 issue of Life, which depicted then-president Lyndon B. Johnson at his White House desk.

While most clues on The Fantastic Four post do point to the 1960s, we should note that it does also appear to feature robot H.E.R.B.I.E., who wasn’t introduced until the late ‘70s. Does this suggest a little timeline-jumping? Or is it just a way to pay homage to a forgotten minor character? Either way, H.E.R.B.I.E.’s inclusion on the poster is a bit strange, as the character was intended to be a replacement for The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn)…who is right there in the living room with everybody…

But that might be a nitpick. Really, everything else points to The Fantastic Four taking place in the 1960s. Even Pedro Pascal, who is playing Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, posted the image, adding #AllYouNeedIsLove, a nod to the 1967 song by the Beatles. And considering the comic debuted in 1961, it all just makes sense. We should also consider director Matt Shakman’s tease from last year in which he said, “It’s different in so many ways…I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material.”

The core cast is rounded out by Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm aka Invisible Woman. The Fantastic Four arrives as part of the MCU’s Phase Six on July 25th, 2025.

Are you excited for The Fantastic Four to be set in the 1960s? What will it add to the MCU?

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Some cliche somewhere said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This has proven to be the case for me and especially when it comes to fan art. I have always sought out great fan art and have wanted to share it with as many people as possible. “Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net” is the outlet for that passion. In this column, I will showcase the kick-ass artwork of some great artists, with the hopes that these artists get the attention they deserve. That’s the aim. If you have any questions or comments, or even suggestions of art or other great artists, feel free to contact me at any time at theodorebond@joblo.com.

Austin Powers by Loopy Dave

Cobra Commander by Terry Huddleston

Deadpool and Wolverine by craigastewart

Dune Part Two by SaifulCreation

God Of War: Ragnarok by Agus Setiawan W

The Goonies by Mark Levy

Jurassic Park by Ludo D. Rodriguez-Pascal

Lawrence of Arabia by Angora

Lisa Frankenstein by Nasty Pieces of Work

Thor by Daniel Murray

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Star Trek Paramount

Just when we thought physical media had devolved into the final frontier, it seems it is well worth exploring once again. In further proof that streaming services are no guarantee that you’ll always have access to your favorite movies, Paramount+ has removed one of its most prolific franchises – Star Trek – from its service. This, rightfully, has prompted outcry from fans, who have threatened to leave Paramount+ or just pirate the movies.

As noted by HD Report, Paramount+ has dropped the Star Trek properties over streaming rights, which they apparently didn’t even bother to think much of. “We apologize for the inconvenience. At this time, some Star Trek films aren’t available due to streaming rights,” before pasting a blanket statement about all of the amazing content Paramount has to offer. “However, Paramount+ has over 45,000 episodes and movies on demand, plus live sports and exclusive originals. Stay tuned for more!” For those looking to find Star Trek, they are now available on Max. They are also currently available on Paramount Plus in Canada, although they’ve been pulled many times over the years.

Paramount continued to be absolutely useless in helping out Star Trek fans in the following exchange:

Paramount also seems to be deleting some posts that are criticizing this move over Star Trek, which, unfortunately, is just the latest instance of movies being taken off of streaming seemingly out of nowhere. Now, we all know that licensing rights expire, but for a studio to ditch its own property is absurd and absolutely something movie and TV fans should be pissed off about. This underlines just how harsh streaming services can be when it comes to content, something we truly started seeing developing at a more rapid pace last year. And if you think purchasing your favorite movie online makes that copy yours, forget it – you don’t even own it, as so many found out when their purchased Warner Bros./Discovery titles on Playstation were deleted from their libraries. As illegal as this seems – imagine David Zaslav raiding your Blu-ray shelf in the middle of the night – there’s really only one true thing we movie lovers can do: buy physical media.

Still, there is plenty to be excited about in the world of physical media, as boutique labels like Arrow, Shout Factory, Kino Lorber, Criterion, Severin, Vinegar Syndrome, and more are keeping the scene alive. There are a wealth out there – a number of which are getting rights to major movies that one would think studio labels could easily make money off of – but it’s going to take time and money for them to continue to succeed. Unfortunately – and, admittedly, idiotically – I ditched the bulk of my DVD/Blu-ray collection when streaming really picked up. To recoup would be one hell of an undertaking, especially when so many have gone out of print…

What are your thoughts on Paramount+ ditching Star Trek? Do cases like this make you want to leave some streaming services and redirect to physical media? Do you still purchase Blu-rays and 4K discs?

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Gore Verbinski, new movie, Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson

Believe it or not, but it’s been nearly eight years since the release of Gore Verbinski’s last movie — the underrated A Cure for Wellness — but the director finally has a new project in the works. Deadline reports that Verbinski has assembled a fantastic ensemble of actors for his action-adventure movie titled Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.

Sam Rockwell, one of my all-time favourite actors, will be leading the cast, which includes Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus), Juno Temple (Fargo), Michael Peña (Ant-Man and the Wasp), and Zazie Beetz (Joker). Rockwell will star as a “man from the future” who arrives at a Los Angeles diner to recruit a “precise combination of disgruntled patrons to join him on a one-night-six-block quest to save the world from the terminal threat of a rogue artificial intelligence.

Matthew Robinson (Love & Monsters) has penned the script for Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, with production set to kick off later this year in Cape Town, South Africa.

Gore Verbinski is best known for helming the first three installments of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as the American remake of The Ring, the excellent animated movie Rango, and notorious box-office bomb The Lone Ranger. It’s not like the director has been kicking up his heels all this time, as he’s had numerous projects in the works that have fallen apart. He was attached to a live-action adaptation of Bioshock for many years before the project was shelved and was also in talks to direct the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum. One of the last projects Verbinski was said to be working on was an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s The Sandkings for Netflix, but we haven’t heard any updates on the project for a while.

Sam Rockwell can currently be seen starring in Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. The film follows Bryce Dallas Howard as Elly Conway, a reclusive author of a series of best-selling espionage novels whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie. But when the plots of Elly’s fictional books — which center on secret agent Argylle (Cavill) and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate — begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past. Rockwell plays Aiden, a cat-allergic spy who races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Elly’s fictional world and her real one begins to blur. You can check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray right here.

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As far as conspiracy theories go, very few have had as much of a life as the notion that NASA faked the Apollo moon landing. In some ways, one can understand why people felt this way, as it was one of the most critical events in human history, and the only witness was a TV camera. Back then, people distrusted anything they couldn’t see with their own eyes. In the seventies, conspiracy theories started to get famous, especially as far as the government went, with this the era of Watergate. People no longer trusted authority, and into this fraught environment came Capricorn One, a sci-fi-tinged conspiracy thriller that was one of the most popular films of 1977 but has since been largely forgotten – save for a small cult of devoted fans.

The film is directed by Best Movie You Never Saw favorite Peter Hyams, who also made Outland, 2010, Running Scared, and other legit gems. The movie centres around a crew of astronauts who, on the eve of the first manned mission to Mars, are taken to a television studio by NASA and told that due to a faulty life support system, the mission would have failed. Due to a potential cut in funding, they proceed to fake the mission, with the astronauts told that if they don’t cooperate, their families will be killed. Sounds like a pretty good premise, right?

Capricorn One is a real gem as far as movies of this kind go. In the late seventies and early eighties, there was a whole slew of movies produced by financier Lew Grade. These were technically independent films, but they were made on a lavish scale, with movie stars, and were the precursors to companies like Carolco. Only one problem, most of the Lew Grade movies sucked. People used to refer to him as Low Grade. He made some giant flops, including a Lone Ranger movie featuring an actor memorably named Klinton Spilsbury in the lead, whose voice ended up being dubbed. An even bigger flop was Raise the Titanic, which was an early attempt to film Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt. The movie was one of the most expensive films of the era and was such a flop that Grade snapped – “Raise the Titanic? It would have been cheaper to lower the ocean.”

capricorn one movie

One exception was Capricorn One, which was a significant financial success. It was an unlikely hit, as the two leading men, Elliott Gould and James Brolin, were in the middle of career slumps. Gould had been one of the biggest stars of the early 70s following MASH, but he made a movie called A Glimpse of the Tiger that was shut down mid-production and damaged his credibility. The fact that a series of financial flops followed it didn’t help, but around this time, he was mainly working in Canada on movies financed by tax shelters, like the excellent thriller The Silent Partner, and on movies in Europe. As for Brolin, he was ending his run on Marcus Welby, MD and was seen as a TV actor. This movie would be good for him, leading to his biggest hit, The Amityville Horror, shortly afterward. Interestingly, both men have marriages with Barbara Streisand in common, with Gould married to her from 1963 to 1971, while Brolin has been married to her since 1998.

The rest of the cast was an unusual jumble of seventies stars. Sam Waterston, who would become a beloved character actor, and the somewhat less beloved O.J. Simpson play Brolin’s crewmates, while Hal Holbrook plays the NASA bad guy. Brenda Vaccaro plays Brolin’s wife, Karen Black is Gould’s love interest, and best of all is a cameo by Telly Savalas, who was riding high at the time as the beloved bald detective Kojack. Savalas apparently only worked a day, but he gets to play a crop duster pilot who participates in the movie’s best action scene, a hair-raising chase between a bi-plane and two helicopters and also gets to save the day.

Capricorn one astronauts

So, as for the elephant in the room, what the heck is O.J Simpson doing in this movie? Let’s not forget that O.J, at the time, was better known as a beloved football star rather than a murderer, but I digress. He was a popular pitchman in this era and shown up in The Towering Inferno as a heroic security guard who rescues a kitten. He was trying to become an actor, and while Hyams said, at first, that he didn’t want to cast him, the two became friends, and this jumpstarted a solid career as an actor for OJ until – you know – he killed his wife.

One interesting thing about the movie is that despite them being portrayed as the movie’s villains, NASA was allaboard for Capricorn One. They provided technical assistance, mock-up vehicles and more, which is amazing as they portrayed as both dangerously incompetent and evil.

The movie runs a shade too long at just over two hours, but overall, it’s a pretty neat conspiracy thriller. The cast is perfect, as Brolin, Simpson and Waterston all look like they could have walked off a Wheaties box with their all-American looks. Gould is an interesting contrast, being more of a New York Jewish type, and the film really belongs to him as he uncovers the mystery. If you only know Gould from Friends or as daffy older types, you should check out his seventies output, with MASH, The Long Goodbye, California Split, The Silent Partner and this one all worth a look. There’s no one like him. Imagine Adam Sandler if he didn’t do comedies but did thrillers and dramas instead. That’s what you get with Gould.

Capricorn one chase

The movie has some nifty action scenes, including that tremendous bi-plane helicopter chase. It’s all tied together by a fantastic score by Jerry Goldsmith, with this being one of his finest works. The movie is very good, but the score is a masterpiece. Hyams, as usual, makes the film impeccably crafted, with Bill Butler, who shot Jaws, being his DP. Hyams had a reputation for usurping his DPs, but this one doesn’t have his usual look, making me think Butler got to shoot a lot of it.

One thing about Capricorn One is that it’s easy to find. Lew Grade’s ITC went out of business in the mid-eighties, and the rights to his movies have bounced around a lot and the package for them is pretty cheap, given how awful most of them are. You can find this movie streaming on TubiTV, Peacock, Roku, and even Plex.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender, first reactions, Netflix series

The long-awaited premiere of Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender is less than a week away, and the first reactions to the series have been trickling out. After original creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino exited the project in 2020 due to creative differences, fans were a little apprehensive, but it sounds like the streaming service has largely gotten it right, or, at the very least, it’s better than M. Night Shyamalan’s movie.

Our own Steve Seigh was a big fan, saying, “I had the pleasure of previewing the first seven episodes of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender for JoBlo.com and I’m thrilled to say that it’s fantastic! It’s full of outstanding performances, one-to-one shots from the original, and new elements to get excited about! I say this as a die-hard fan of the original animated series. I wholeheartedly love this version of the show. If you’re nervous about it, don’t be! Get excited, show up, and enjoy the ride!” Use those… screen-bending powers and scroll on down for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender first reactions.

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world,” reads the official description. “With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang, a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka and Katara, siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai. But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.

Avatar: The Last Airbender stars Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as General Iroh, Ken Leung as Commander Zhao, and Elizabeth Yu as Princess Azula. The live-action series will debut on Netflix on February 22nd.

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, original cast, Billy Murray, Ernie Hudson

After making small, but vital, appearances in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the original cast of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson will return for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but this time, they’ll thankfully have bigger roles.

While speaking with SFX Magazine, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire director Gil Kenan promised that the original Ghostbusters cast will feel “more fully fleshed out” in the Frozen Empire. “That’s the moment that’s really thrilling for me as a Ghostbusters fan: watching their involvement in the story redefine itself, grow and become more fully fleshed out in a way that speaks to the promise of the original Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2, and what was glimpsed in the fields outside of Summerville in Afterlife,” Kenan explained. “There’s a direct line from there into who they are now and how they act here in our new story.

The director said that the OG team would be treated as “actual characters” this time around, adding, “We had a duty to make those legendary characters integral to this story.

Gil Kenan also said that audiences should prepare themselves for some pretty big scares to go along with those laughs. “This is a scary Ghostbusters movie, I set out to go for the thrills,” Kenan said. “As a big-screen experience, I think it’s going to play like a scary, funny movie. The secret is that the scarier a scene is, the funnier the next joke is going to play. That’s the way that the pendulum swings with tone. Twisting that lever to make sure that the scares land is a way of making sure that the jokes are funnier.

Per the official Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire synopsis: “The Spengler family returns to where it all started – the iconic New York City firehouse – to team up with the original Ghostbusters, who’ve developed a top-secret research lab to take busting ghosts to the next level. But when the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.” In addition to the original Ghostbusters, the film also stars Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, and Annie Potts.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will hit theaters on March 22nd.

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