News

While director Matt Reeves was developing “The Batman,” his epic superhero movie starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, he ran into a problem — he had too much story.

At the time, the filmmaker asked Warner Bros. if perhaps they would instead want a miniseries. “What could be really cool is an HBO series – ‘Batman: Year Two,’ solving this crime,” Reeves remembered telling his executives. What he was told in response was, “We have nothing to do with HBO.”

But as Reeves was finishing the script for “The Batman” and gearing up for production, he met with Wbd and said, “Look, I know these things are connected, but it’d be really exciting to do an HBO show where you can investigate these characters in a way that HBO would,” Reeves recalled to TheWrap. “And they were like, ‘We want to do exactly that.’ And suddenly there was this moment...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

To this day, Rod Serling's sci-fi anthology series "The Twilight Zone" regularly tops lists of the best TV shows of all time. Serling, and a team of some of the best sci-fi authors of the 1950s and 1960s, conceived of 156 miniature morality stories, usually with a supernatural bent, and in so doing changed the very face of television. Sci-fi and horror were considered more commercially viable, inspiring a new slew of imitators and a shift in the public's attention. Serling also introduced a unique form of storytelling efficiency with "The Twilight Zone," proving that an entire, closed morality fable could be wrapped up in a mere 25 minutes (or 51 minutes in the show's fourth season). Serling was also careful to explicitly state a moral in every episode, making "The Twilight Zone" a fantastic social commentary. 

"The Twilight Zone" ran from...

‘Tis the season to draw viewing inspiration from all things Halloween, and haunted houses are one of the key staples of the holiday. And for good reason, too, as few things are as inherently terrifying as an invasion of the very place where you’re meant to feel safest: your home.

Dealing with a paranormal presence isn’t quite as easy to deal with as masked maniacs or a more tangible threat. It’s often a fear of the unknown that induces the most nerve-fraying anxiety, and a haunted house is full of unknowns. This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to one of horror’s most foundational subgenres: the haunted house movie.

These five titles range from classic haunted house fare to modern frights that reinterpret what a haunted house can be. All aim to induce maximum frights, perfect for this Halloween season.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

Hulu’s boxing series La Máquina begins not with glimpses of in-ring action, but with the drama taking place immediately around it. The camera whips through the crowds of entertainers, security guards, and personnel found backstage, all desperately trying to get things in order before the lights go down and the entrance music for the fight plays.

Eventually, we’re brought to the main man himself, Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna (Gael García Bernal), a veteran boxer known for his grit and determination. La Máquina carries itself with the same relentless energy: From the movements of the camera to the colors and the outsized personalities of the characters themselves, everything about it is vibrant and alive.

Esteban looks the part of the perfect prizefighter, though his hair is graying around the temples. He has the slightly gawky, boyish charm you find in many top athletes, perhaps the result of a life...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Apartment 7A is a psychological horror thriller film directed by Natalie Erika James who also co-wrote the film with Christian White and Skylar James. Based on the 1967 novel titled Rosemary’s Baby by author Ira Levin, the Paramount+ film serves as a prequel to the iconic 1968 film by Roman Polanski. Apartment 7A is set in 1965 in New York City and it follows the story of a young dancer who rents a room from an elderly couple after suffering from a serious injury that ends her career. Apartment 7A stars Julia Garner, Dianne West, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu, Rosy McEwen, Amy Leeson, Scott Hume, and Andrew Buchan. So, if you loved the psychological horror, edge-of-the-seat thrills, and compelling characters in Apartment 7A here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Rosemary’s Baby Credit – Paramount Pictures

Rosemary’s Baby...

Colin Farrell is far from the first person to make his mark playing famous Batman rogue The Penguin in HBO’s aptly named new series “The Penguin.”

Of all the superheroes, Batman’s villains are the most recognizable. Among them The Penguin stands as possibly the most recognizable behind only the Joker. That’s led to quite a number of actors getting a crack at the character over the years beginning way back in the mid-60s.

There have been a few one-off performances in TV or animated movies where people lent their voice, but these 10 performers made their mark on the character especially felt. Before you get too deep into “The Penguin,” go back and appreciate the long history of the Batman villain on the big and small screen.

Burgess Meredith

“Batman” (1966-1968)

Burgess Meredith was the first actor to put his mark on the Batman villain. He hammed...

There have been many Penguins over the years—the quacking, clownish rogue played by Burgess Meredith in the 1960s TV series I watched as a kid, Danny DeVito’s mutant schemer from Batman Returns, Robin Lord Taylor’s twisted mobster from Fox’s Gotham—but never has this iconic villain been portrayed with the icy, blustery ferocity of Colin Farrell’s Oz Cobb in HBO’s The Penguin. First seen in Matt Reeves’ 2022 film The Batman, Oz is the Rodney Dangerfield of gangsters: swollen and deformed, belittled by his supposed betters, labeled “Penguin” by those who refuse to take him seriously or show him respect. Their mistake. (Oz would hardly be surprised to learn that while the Joker commands the big screen and even earned his portrayer an Oscar—the second time that character has been so honored—his own waddling act has been consigned to a much smaller screen.

Amidst the deluge of superhero media, Matt Reeves’ The Batman stood out as a pioneering entry that perfectly imbued comic-book authenticity into more realism-oriented gritty crime drama. The wait for the much-awaited upcoming sequel has been extended to 2025, and to keep fans satiated till then, Matt Reeves and the creative minds at the helm of the Batman Epic Crime Saga universe have brought the spin-off series, The Penguin. With Oswald ‘Oz’ Cobb, aka Penguin, the Gentleman of Crime, making strides to take over the criminal underworld of Gotham, the series is going to be one of this year’s most exciting small-screen releases, which we cannot wait to dive into. Before the series premieres, we would like to discuss the character’s role and significance as shown in The Batman, briefly go through the background of the character by using references from various media appearances and comics, and let the...

Before Colin Farrell took on the role of Gotham’s birdman in The Batman (2022) and The Penguin, several other actors had taken up the mantle of one of the most famous of the caped crusaders’ nemeses.

Burgess Meredith, Danny DeVito and Robin Lord Taylor all played live action versions of Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, as The Penguin is also known, and many animated iterations of him exist as well. Several voice actors like Tom Kenny, Dana Snyder, William Salyers and more brought the various cartoon Penguins to life in many series from Warner Bros. Animation as well as others. There was not a Penguin in the latest The Lego Batman Movie (2017), but one can be seen in the 2013 Lego film.

For many of the famous faces and voices who have portrayed The Penguin, read on.

Related: ‘The Penguin’ Pursues Own Twisted Version Of American Dream In New Trailer Unveiled At Comic-Con...

Colin Farrell made his debut as "Oz Cobb" in Matt Reeves' The Batman, but only appeared in a handful of scenes. The Irish actor is set to return as the iconic DC Comics villain for HBO's The Penguin spin-off series, and it sounds like the greatly extended period of time spent under the heavy prosthetics used to transform him into the titular character took its toll.

During an interview with Total Film, Farrell was asked about potentially reprising the role for a second season.

“I don’t know, man,” he responded. “Don’t get me wrong – I loved it – but it got in on me a little bit. By the end of it, I was bitching and moaning to anyone who would listen to me that I f*cking wanted it to be finished. I tried to remind them that I had ‘grumpy gratitude.’ I was still grateful, and still...

Actor Colin Farrell opened up about the difficulties of portraying iconic Batman villain “The Penguin” in an upcoming HBO series and potential future films. Farrell first took on the role of Oz Cobb in director Matt Reeves’ blockbuster movie “The Batman” last year. He has since signed on to star in an HBO series exploring the character in greater depth.

In a recent interview, Farrell described the physically demanding process of transforming into The Penguin through prosthetics and makeup. The application could take several hours and left him feeling drained by the end of long shooting days. “I don’t know, man. Don’t get me wrong – I loved it – but it got in on me a little bit,” Farrell said. Despite finding the role rewarding, he admitted to friends that he looked forward to the project ending.

Farrell said taking on such an iconic Batman villain came with pressure...

Following in the footsteps of Oscar-nominated boxing coaches like Paul Giamatti in “Cinderella Man” and Burgess Meredith in “Rocky,” Brian Tyree Henry could make another trip to the Oscars for his standout role as Jason Crutchfield in the uplifting and inspirational drama “The Fire Inside.” Henry portrays the coach who trains Claressa Shields, the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.

The film, produced by Amazon MGM, made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday afternoon before a sold-out crowd. Debut director Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography with “Mudbound” (2017), introduced the film. She later joined a post-screening Q&a alongside producer Elishia Holmes, writer and producer Barry Jenkins, and stars Ryan Destiny and Henry. Also present were the actual Claressa Shields and her coach, Jason Crutchfield.

Read: You can see all...

The X-Files is one of the biggest series of the 1990s, also regarded as one of the most influential series the Fox series follows Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigating the most mind-bending paranormal activities. The series’ original run was for 9 seasons with the series being revived in 2016 for two more seasons making the total season number 11 seasons. So, if you miss the amazingly mind-bending stories, compelling characters, and thrilling mysteries in The X-Files here are some similar shows you should check out next.

The Twilight Zone Credit – CBS

The Twilight Zone is a sci-fi horror fantasy anthology series created by Rod Serling. The CBS series is a collection of mystical stories with sci-fi, horror, and fantasy elements, and in each episode, we get a new standalone story with a new set of characters. The Twilight Zone stars Rod Sterling, William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Elizabeth Montgomery, Robert Redford, George Takei,...

My favorite version of the Penguin remains the one that scared me when I was seven years old. He had webbed hands, spewed black bile from between his teeth, and had a penchant for biting off the noses of insufficiently servile yes men. He was, of course, Danny DeVito’s Penguin in Tim Burton’s still bafflingly original Batman Returns, and he had absolutely nothing to do with his comic book counterpart other than a name, a monocle, and a penchant for fancy cigarette filters.

I’m reminded of my initial revulsion—and disappointment that he had nothing to do with the character I saw first on Batman: The Animated Series and as played by Burgess Meredith in the 1960s’ Batman camp classic before that—while predictably seeing the initial online criticism of the news that Minnie Driver has been cast as Oswalda Cobbeplot in a revisionist interpretation of the...

Penguins can’t fly but Hall H was soaring with news and behind-the-scenes stories related to DC’s upcoming series centered around Oz Cobb aka Gotham’s Penguin. Spin-offs can be hit and miss, but as it turns out, Matt Reeves found the perfect way to ensure that “Oz” could breathe outside of a traditional sequel. And if you don’t believe him, maybe the official trailer for The Penguin will convince you.

In the trailer for The Penguin, we see Colin Farrell’s Oz (note the name change) comforting his mother (Deirdre O’Connell), assuring her he will find a better life. Of course, this “American Dream” is a “hustle”. But The Penguin is up to the task, positioning himself as the face of Gotham. We also get a better idea of just what sort of role Cristin Milioti’s Sofia Falcone – daughter of the late Carmine, he did Skype...

This July, Prime Video is bringing you a lot of entertainment with a sequel of a beloved film like My Spy titled The Eternal City and an animated sequel series to the comedy gold, which was the Sausage Party film titled Foodtopia. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Prime Video this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 7 best films that are coming to Prime Video in July 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Animal House (July 1)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

National Lampoon’s Animal House is a classic comedy-drama film directed by John Landis from a screenplay co-written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, and Chris Miller. Inspired by National Lampoon stories written by Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman, the 1978 film follows the story of freshmen Larry and Kent as they join a troublemaking...

Donald Sutherland, the beloved actor who starred in scores of films from The Dirty Dozen, Mash and Klute to Animal House and Ordinary People to Pride & Prejudice and The Hunger Games franchise and won an Emmy for Citizen X, died Thursday in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.

The 2017 Honorary Oscar recipient also is the father of Emmy-winning 24 and Designated Survivor actor Kiefer Sutherland and veteran CAA Media Finance exec Roeg Sutherland. CAA confirmed the news to Deadline.

Related: Remembering Donald Sutherland: A Career In Photos

In some of his most well-known roles, he perfected a laconic, wry and dead-serious delivery. Such was the case for characters including the cool-headed amateur murder investigator John Klute, opposite Jane Fonda’s terrified and erratic call girl Bree Daniels in Klute; as Hawkeye Pierce in the film Mash, where he played opposite Elliott Gould’s cut-up Trapper John; and in Nicolas Roeg...

The 1945 war feature “The Story of G.I. Joe”, directed by William A. Wellman, starring Oscar-nominated Robert Mitchum, has been restored and re-mastered for a new Blu-ray/DVD available July 25, 2024 from Ignite Films:

“Through the lens of ‘Pulitzer’-winning ‘Ernie Pyle’, portrayed by Burgess Meredith, witness the everyday grit and bravery of the foot soldier as they navigate the perils of combat in the Italian campaign.

“Joining him is Robert Mitchum in his breakthrough role as ‘Lieutenant Walker’, whose leadership and unwavering dedication to his men inspire hope amidst the chaos of war.

“‘The Story of G.I. Joe’ authentically portrays the camaraderie and bond between soldiers, a timeless tribute to unsung heroes who fought and bled for freedom. Experience the raw emotion and gritty realism of this war drama, beautifully restored in high definition. It’s more than a movie; it’s a testament to the triumph of the human spirit.

Burbank, Calif., May 28, 2024 – Relive every punch from one of the most iconic and beloved sports drama franchises with the Rocky I-vi 4K Collection, newly remastered in stunning 4K Ultra HD. Sylvester Stallone stars in the greatest boxing saga of all time and triumphs as one of the most inspirational characters in cinematic history. Witness every epic, action-packed fight and unforgettable moment as Rocky punches his way to the top against impossible odds when the Rocky I-vi 4K Collection is released on July 16, 2024.

The Rocky I-vi 4K Collection includes the MGM feature films Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V and Rocky Balboa, along with the Rocky IV Ultimate Director’s Cut, Rocky Vs. Drago and the Rocky Balboa Director’s Cut. The collection contains a Blu-ray disc featuring the hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the extended director’s cut of Rocky IV, Sylvester Stallone’s commentary...

The Rocky movies are pretty synonymous with cinema. You’ve got every kind of movie you could want, the intimate Academy Award-winning underdog original and its closely knit sequel, the fun and cheesy spectacles of Rocky III and Rocky IV, the misguided attempt to recapture its roots with Rocky V, and the old war horse, broken down, one-last-fight inspiration of Rocky Balboa. The story behind the first movie is as engaging as the movie itself, which is why it will be the subject of a new movie from Peter Farrelly called I Play Rocky.

Blu-ray.com has unveiled that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will now be releasing the Rocky series, sans Creed spin-offs, with the new 4K Ultra HD Rocky: Ultimate Knockout Collection. The set will encompass all versions of the commercially released films in Uhd, which includes both the theatrical version of Rocky IV and the recut Rocky Vs.

From left: Dev Patel, Vipin Sharma in Monkey Man Photo: Universal Studios Overlook the training montage sequence in Monkey Man at your own pop culture and movie peril. Kid (Dev Patel) aims to avenge his mother’s death by vanquishing the police chief (Sikander Kher as Rana Singh) who raped...

From left: Dev Patel, Vipin Sharma in Monkey ManPhoto: Universal Studios

Overlook the training montage sequence in Monkey Man at your own pop culture and movie peril. Kid (Dev Patel) aims to avenge his mother’s death by vanquishing the police chief (Sikander Kher as Rana Singh) who raped and...

Colin Farrell returns to Gotham City as Oz Cobb, aka Oswald Cobblepot, in the trailer for “The Penguin,” a spinoff series of “The Batman” coming this fall to Max.

“The Penguin” takes place immediately following the events of DC’s 2022 blockbuster, tracing Cobblepot’s rise to power in the Gotham underworld as he becomes one of the most prominent villains in the “Batman” universe. Farrell gives a classic gangster monologue throughout the trailer, which slowly ramps up the violence and gunfights in Gotham City’s seedy underground.

“When I was a kid, there was a gangster, real old-school type. Rex Calabrese. He was a big deal. He helped people. He saw you on the street, he’d call out to you,” Cobblepot narrates in the trailer. “When I was 14 or something, he has a heart attack and dies, still holding a cigar. In my neighborhood, they throw a parade in his honor.

Fan Siu-wong, Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Mike Star, Fred Stoller, Johnny Barnes, Keanu Reeves’ fist, and Hugo WeavingScreenshot: YouTube

With the release of Amazon’s Mma-inspired remake of Road House, The A.V. Club is looking at the most brutal, compelling, and consequential punches to the face in cinema. Now,...

Burgess Meredith had a damn good run. He became a Broadway and film star almost simultaneously in the 1930s via his starring role in the Sacco and Vanzetti-based drama "Winterset," and turned in an unforgettable portrayal of George opposite Lon Chaney Jr.'s Lennie in Lewis Milestone's 1939 adaptation of "Of Mice and Men." He worked steadily, tirelessly until his death at the age of 89 in 1997. He was the Penguin on ABC's "Batman," the Italian Stallion's gruff-but-lovable trainer Mickey Goldmill in five "Rocky" movies, and Jack Lemon's surly Pops in the "Grumpy Old Men" movies.

And he was fortunate enough to appear in four particularly memorable "Twilight Zone" episodes.

Meredith's finest half-hour in the land of both shadow and substance, or things and ideas was obviously "Time Enough at Last," where he stars as a bibliophile who survives a nuclear apocalypse (and winds up wishing he didn't). The...

Periodically throughout the animated sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," the couch potato characters will sit in front of their 31st-century TV and take in an episode of "The Scary Door." "The Scary Door" is the future's take on "The Twilight Zone," complete with a Rod Serling-like announcer (played by Maurice Lamarche) explaining the weird ironies about to be witnessed. Naturally, the twist endings in "The Scary Door" go beyond irony and dive headfirst into absurdity. 

In one episode, a gambler dies and awakens in an afterlife casino. He wins once and figures it must be Heaven. He wins twice and figures that it must be Hell; what gambler wants to win every time? But then he realizes that his afterlife casino is actually on a plane ... and there's a monster on the wing of the plane. When he calls someone for help, he realizes that he is also Adolf Hitler. He...

It's been almost 50 years since "Rocky" first arrived in 1976, and in that time the franchise has changed dramatically. The "Rocky" saga has now grown beyond original star Sylvester Stallone, with Michael B. Jordan's "Creed III" barely mentioning the man who birthed the now legendary film series. Whatever you think about that, everyone can surely recognize the staying power of the "Rocky" movies, which have formed part of our pop cultural history for the better part of a half century.

None of this could have happened without the first entry in the saga, of course. "Rocky" introduced the world to the scrappy Southpaw from South Philly, who led a film that was remarkable for its realism and affecting performances. Much of that was down to Stallone who, having written the script during a particularly challenging time in his personal life, insisted on starring in the film, only to wow audiences...

Over 60 years after its cancellation, "The Twilight Zone" still commands an intense fascination. Rod Serling's iconic anthology series dabbled in science fiction, horror, and fantasy, crossing the genre streams and delivering a kind of imagination and filmmaking that was uncommon in the late '50s and early '60s. That's why we're still talking about it right now -- few shows from that era have aged so well, and so powerfully. Serling and his team rarely just told a spooky or exciting story (although they were so good at doing just that). Instead, they wrapped the genre storytelling around bigger ideas: political commentary, social justice, and what it means to be human. It's easy to say that "The Twilight Zone" was decades ahead of its time, but it really does feel like it exists in its own pocket universe (one that allows it to feel as timeless and as...

At the end of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s 1988 one-shot Batman: The Killing Joke, the Joker lays out his worldview in plain terms. After testing his theory that “one bad day” could make even the most decent person into a madman like himself, the Joker tells his nemesis, “It’s all a joke! Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for… it’s all a monstrous, demented gag!”

Even more than the grisly sights of The Killing Joke—in which the Clown Prince of Crime sets out to prove his theory by brutalizing Batgirl Barbara Gordon and tormenting her father Commissioner Gordon—that line has set the course of Joker stories of the past several decades. Fans and creators alike try to push the Joker to edgier extremes, forgetting how Batman answers when his nemesis asks why he isn’t laughing. “Because I’ve heard it before,” he responds. “And...

Alice Walker published her acclaimed novel “The Color Purple” in 1982. It sold five million copies; Walker became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and she also received the National Book Club Award. Three years later, Steven Spielberg directed the lauded film version which made stars out of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. It earned 11 Oscar nominations. The story revolves around a young woman who suffers abuse from her father and husband for four decades until she finds her own identity. Not exactly the stuff of a Broadway musical.

But the 2005 tuner version received strong reviews, ran 910 performances and earned ten Tony nominations, winning best actress for Lachanze. The 2015 production picked up two Tonys for best revival and actress for Cynthia Erivo. The movie musical version opened strong Christmas Day with $18 million and is a strong contender in several Oscar categories especially for Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks.

The term "auteur theory" was first coined by American critic Andrew Sarris, a phrase he extrapolated from the essays published in Cahiers du Cinéma in the early 1950s by the founding members of the French New Wave. Auteur theory posited that a director stands as the final authorial voice behind a feature film, and not the writer, the editor, or any of the other filmmakers. While many critics over the years have objected to auteur theory (Pauline Kael famously hated it), the language of referring to a film's director as its "one author" has become the default used by pundits and journalists to this day.

Throughout the 2010s, there was a visible push-and-pull when it came to auteur theory. While plenty of striking, important directors put out unique, idiosyncratic works, massive studio franchise pictures stayed at the commercial fore, and individual directors were subservient to all-powerful Higher Ups. For the...

Most episodes of Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" are of the tense, mysterious variety. Entries such as "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet" zoom in on the intrinsically human fear of flying, while stories such as "The Masks" linger on the psychological complexities of human nature. To take a break from the overarchingly grim nature of the episodes, Serling occasionally injected moments of levity here and there, including the comedic twist at the end of "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?" In 1961, the season 2 episode "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" delighted audiences with its playful, tongue-in-cheek tone, where it embraced comedic moments with sincerity while telling an unusual story about a man who is gifted with superhuman strength by a group of visiting aliens.

How, exactly, did the foundational idea for "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" come about? According to Marc Scott Zicree's "The Twilight Zone Companion," a newspaper reporter who...

Elliot Silverstein, who helmed episodes of such acclaimed TV shows as Naked City, The Twilight Zone and Route 66 before guiding Lee Marvin to a best actor Oscar in Cat Ballou, his feature directorial debut, died Friday in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 96.

The Boston native also helmed A Man Called Horse (1970), which starred Richard Harris in the title role as an English aristocrat who eventually becomes the leader of the Native tribe that had captured and tortured him. The action movie spawned a couple of sequels.

Most importantly, Silverman was instrumental in the formation of the milestone Bill of Creative Rights for directors.

“Every director today owes a debt of gratitude to Elliot Silverstein,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “No one ever worked harder or was more passionate about protecting artists from having their work and vision altered than Elliot.”

It was Silverstein...

Playing an early iteration of the fish-out-of-water elf in the corporate world of New York, Moore has just enough perky charm to redeem an otherwise forgettable seasonal offering

Frankly, I would whisper a tiny humbug to a good deal of this gloopy Christmas movie from 1985, directed by Jeannot Szwarc and now rereleased; and only a sentimental loyalty to the seasonal spirit prevents me from demanding to know if there are no workhouses for the people who made it. The whole thing only comes to something resembling life halfway through, when Dudley Moore’s perky elf takes centre-stage.

There are many other and more deserving yuletide films which should be ahead of this one in the queue for a revival, but my own sweet tooth for Christmassy schmaltz won’t allow me completely to reject this admittedly eventful and bizarre origin myth for Santa Claus, starring David Huddleston as the chortling,...

“The Penguin” is heading back into production.

The Max-dc series, which stars Colin Farrell in a spinoff of the film “The Batman,” is set to return to shooting now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has been settled. Production on the series will resume the week after Thanksgiving, Variety has learned. It originally began in March 2023 but was suspended in June during the writers’ strike and subsequent actors’ strike in Hollywood.

Farrell will reprise the role of Oswald “The Penguin” Cobblepot in the series after delivering a critically-acclaimed turn as the iconic character in the hit film.

The show will pick up in the immediate aftermath of the conclusion of “The Batman” and will chart Cobblepot’s rise to power in the Gotham underworld to become one of Batman’s most feared villains. On the live-action side, The Penguin has previously been played by actors like Burgess Meredith, Danny DeVito, and Robin Lord Taylor.

Robert Butler, the Emmy-winning, go-to pilot director who helmed the first episodes of such acclaimed shows as Batman, Star Trek, Hill Street Blues and Moonlighting, died Nov. 3 in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 95.

Butler also co-created the Pierce Brosnan-starring Remington Steele (and helmed its pilot, of course), directed the first episode of Hogan’s Heroes in 1965, and called the first shots and set the tone for, Glenn Gordon Caron’s Moonlighting, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Sisters and The Division.

In 1973, he directed the William Holden-starring The Blue Knight — the first four-hour television miniseries — at NBC and then got the CBS series adaptation of the Joseph Wambaugh novel that starred George Kennedy off on the right foot.

Butler also helmed two episodes of The Twilight Zone (the fifth-season installments “Caesar and Me,” starring his old friend, Jackie Cooper, and “The Encounter”) and worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show,...

Like the Italian Stallion, the "Rocky" films have seen some real highs and lows. Now spanning almost 50 years, it's a franchise that offers boundless entertainment, even at its most baffling. These movies are also formulaic to a "T." Even if you've yet to watch a single one, you probably already know what to expect: Rocky Balboa -- or Adonis Creed -- will be down on his luck when he's presented with a new opportunity to prove himself in the boxing ring. Or he'll be riding high only to get knocked flat on his ass and have to pick himself back up. Cue the training montage. It's predictable, but damn if it doesn't work like gangbusters, time and time over.

For the most part, the titles of the "Rocky" films are numerically ordered, which makes it pretty easy to figure out which one to watch after which. The only outlier is "Rocky Balboa,...

Sylvester Stallone‘s Rocky is a classic film about a small-time Philadelphia boxer who gets to fight a heavyweight champion—the redemption tale centered on hard-luck Rocky’s quest for self-respect. The story hit a nerve with moviegoers and subsequently spawned a multitude of sequels. Today, is Sylvester Stallone the oldest living member of the Rocky cast?

Who is still alive from the ‘Rocky’ series of films?

The Rocky films created iconic characters beloved by film fans. These include Rocky and Adrian Balboa, Paulie Penning, Apollo Creed, Micky Goldmill, Duke Evers, Clubber Lang, Ivan and Ludmilla Drago, and Tommy Gunn. But is Sylvester Stallone currently the oldest living member of the Rocky cast?

Sylvester Stallone, who played Rocky Balboa, is the oldest living member of the cast at 77, but he doesn’t share that distinction alone. Talia Shire played his wife, Adrian Balboa, and is also 77.

Carl Weathers, who played...

Burt Young, the gravely-voiced actor who played Sylvester Stallone‘s brother-in-law, Paulie Pennino, in Rocky, has died at 83. Young became beloved by moviegoers for his interpretation of the down-on-his-luck character who helped champion Rocky Balboa’s rise to boxing stardom. The film franchise would total nine installments over almost 50 years, but how many Rocky movies and sequels did Young appear in?

Burt Young played Paulie Pennino alongside Sylvester Stallone in ‘Rocky’ and its sequels

As Paulie Pennino, Burt Young played the devil character sitting atop one of Rocky Balboa‘s shoulders in the original Rocky film, written and starring Sylvester Stallone. His sister Adrian, played by Talia Shire, was the angel, and both pulled him in different directions emotionally.

Paulie had a temper, drank too much, complained often, and was a pain in the neck. However, he was beloved by Rocky, who could see beyond his tough exterior.

However, the...

IGN, a popular website for video game and entertainment media, has ranked the top 10 TV shows of all time based on various criteria such as quality, influence, popularity, and legacy. Here are their picks for the best TV shows ever made:

10. Parks and Recreation Parks & Recreation Trailer

Parks and Recreation is a comedy series that follows the lives of the employees of the Parks and Recreation department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. The show features a hilarious ensemble cast led by Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope, an optimistic and ambitious bureaucrat who loves her job and her town. The show is known for its witty dialogue, absurd situations, heartfelt moments, and memorable characters such as Ron Swanson, Tom Haverford, April Ludgate, Andy Dwyer, and Ben Wyatt. Parks and Recreation ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015 and received critical acclaim and several awards.

9. Game of Thrones Game of Thrones...

The mesmerizing tale of Rocky Balboa has been a cornerstone of American cinema since the release of the first “Rocky” movie in 1976. Portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, Rocky’s journey from a struggling boxer in Philadelphia to an international icon is a story that’s both empowering and poignant. And in recent years, this story has seamlessly transformed into the tale of Adonis Creed, breathing new life into a franchise that spans nearly five decades.

The Rocky series was always more than just boxing. It vividly depicted love, friendship, rivalry, and redemption. The recent Creed movies, helmed by the character Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), son of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), have gracefully transitioned the narrative from Rocky to Adonis, offering a fresh perspective and a respectful nod to the past. With the recent release of “Creed III” in 2023, the saga has reached a new milestone, marking the first time Stallone...

1995 wasn’t a good year for Sylvester Stallone at the multiplex. His summer tentpole, Judge Dredd, flopped domestically, and it was quickly followed by Richard Donner’s Assassins, which only grossed $30 million at the domestic box office. While Sly’s career had seen a few slumps, his straightforward action movies typically performed, and the failure of those two films put his clout as one of the world’s biggest stars in jeopardy. In this episode of Sylvester Stallone Revisited, we’re going to talk about a movie that was supposed to be a big-budget, commercial change of pace for the actor but wound up being the last would-be blockbuster he’d star in for years. That’s right; we’re going to talk about Rob Cohen’s Daylight.

Flashback to the mid-nineties. Sylvester Stallone had launched a major comeback with Cliffhanger and followed it up with two more global blockbusters,...

There are very few comic-book movies that have gone through the development hell that The Flash has gone through over the past decade, but it seems as though fans will finally get to see their favorite scarlet speedster get his own standalone film. With the DC adaptation set to premiere in June, as well as two trailers being dropped with massive implications about what the movie will hold for DC’s future, it’s safe to say that fans are already counting down the minutes until they can race to the theaters to see it.

All of that being said, there is a huge question mark looming over the superhero movie that unfortunately won’t be answered for seemingly years to come. James Gunn, the new co-ceo of DC Studios and the man at the helm of the new Dcu, stated back in January that The Flash will be “resetting...

S​am Raimi is changing up the Evil Dead films. The other films were usually set in the usual places like a cabin in the middle of the woods, a medieval castle, or a retail store’s storage room. This time, the evil Necronomicon is plopped down in the middle of a city, inside an apartment building. This brings an interesting take on the new film Evil Dead Rise. How do you escape the evil when you’re confined to a single apartment? Let’s see if they took some notes from some of the best apartment horror films.

C​ritters 3 (1991)

T​his film stars an Oscar winner! The one and only Leonardo DiCaprio plays Josh. Before returning home to the big city, his family stops at a rest area. They don’t know that some newly hatched Crites have stowed away in their vehicle. Once they return to their apartment building,...

Image Source: Everett Collection

We finally have our first look at Colin Farrell's long-awaited "The Batman" spinoff series. On April 12, Max (formerly known as HBO Max), officially kicked off its new streaming rebrand after it dropped the first suspenseful teaser of "The Penguin," the next chapter of "The Batman" saga, which sees Farrell's titular gangster character return to Gotham City to wreak havoc. The clip also unveiled that the Matt Reeves-executive produced show is currently in production in New York City and expected to debut on our TV screens in 2024.

"The Batman," which was directed by Reeves, premiered in March 2022 with Robert Pattinson as the titular Caped Crusader and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman. It was a box-office smash, making over $770 million. Shortly after the movie was released, Max confirmed that its spinoff series was happening. "The Penguin" apparently takes place soon after the events of "The Batman,...

When Danny DeVito took the role of The Penguin in Batman Returns, he knew that most Batman fans had preconceived notions of what the character would be like, thanks to the comic books and Burgess Meredith’s unforgettably iconic portrayal on the ’60s Batman TV series. So, when it came to reinventing the character for the big screen, DeVito told us that he worked extensively with director Tim Burton to create DeVito’s well-received performance. (Click on the media bar below to hear Danny DeVito) https://www.hollywoodoutbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Danny_Devito_Penguin_Batman_Returns_Tim_Burtson_.mp3

Batman Returns is currently streaming on HBO Max and available on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K, and most digital platforms.

The post Tim Burton Helped Danny DeVito Find His Inner Penguin appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

"Rocky IV" was my favorite movie in the franchise as an '80s kid, although the death of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) was tough to take. We knew something bad was going to happen when the showboating former champ stepped into the ring against Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), but the brutal manner in which he got destroyed was shocking. The way Apollo was left twitching on the canvas as his life ebbed away was deeply upsetting, made even worse by Drago's stone-cold delivery verdict: "If he dies, he dies."

Nowadays, the film only comes fourth in my overall assessment of the series. When you take a step back from the nostalgia and the irresistibly cheesy bombast, only two things happen in the movie. Apollo dies, then Rocky gets payback by beating the Russian fighter in his own yard. Big events, admittedly, but the rest is just filler, a mixture of...

Matt Reeves may be planning his Batman film saga as a trilogy, but that doesn't mean we'll only be seeing his take on Gotham City inside those films. Spin-off films and TV series are in the works, which will highlight all the villains who make up Batman's rogues gallery; the Scarecrow, Clayface, and Professor Pyg have been mentioned as potential stars.

The spin-off furthest along in production stars Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin. Farrell had a supporting role in "The Batman," with Penguin (or "Oz" as he prefers) being the right-hand of crime lord Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). With his boss out of the picture, Oz is looking to become Gotham's new kingpin. The Penguin's club, the Iceberg Lounge, was also featured as a recurring setting in "The Batman," albeit reimagined from a high-class crib into an underground rave spot.

Farrell himself, hidden behind unflattering make-up,...

John G. Avildsen's "Rocky" was only one of three films to star actor Burgess Meredith in 1976. That year he also appeared in the horror film "Burnt Offerings" and the Irish short film "Circasia" which also starred Sean Connery, Eric Clapton, John Huston, and Shirley MacLaine. Meredith was one of those lucky character actors who seemingly never stopped working. His career began in 1935, when he played the uncredited "Flop House Bum" in the Noël Coward film "The Scoundrel." Meredith gained mainstream attention when he appeared in Lewis Milestone's 1939 adaptation of "Of Mice and Men," and had been a showbiz darling ever after. A quick look through his filmography reveals that he had at least one film or television project every year from 1935 through 1995. Meredith passed away in 1997 at the age of 89 with hundreds of acting credits to his name.

Meredith was the largest known star when "Rocky" debuted in...

While Elvis Presley is best remembered for his music, the Memphis singer had an impressive career in Hollywood movies. Elvis starred in 31 feature films and two concert documentaries. Still, he has a lengthier filmography than many might realize, and his 26th movie, Stay Away, Joe, premiered in New York City 55 years ago today.

Elvis Presley starred in many movies in a short period of time Elvis Presley as Joe | FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images

Elvis’ career in movies began in 1956 with Love Me Tender. The final film he starred in, Change of Habit, debuted in 1969, but he still featured in 29 other movies within that 13-year time frame. A few of his most famous movies include Jailhouse Rock, Viva Las Vegas, Blue Hawaii, and It Happened at the World’s Fair.

For a while, Elvis Presley was one of the world’s biggest movie stars and the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.