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Humphrey Bogart. The name evokes an image of a man wearing a cap and holding a cigarette, radiating an air of cool that defies the passage of time. However, Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes aims to reveal not only the polished image of Hollywood’s Golden Age but also the man behind the screen.

Bogart represents tough masculinity in film history, embodying the American landscape’s post-war cynicism. His characters frequently fought with authority, reflecting societal worries. This documentary, produced by Kathryn Ferguson, tries to create a close connection using old footage and personal stories. However, it sometimes idealizes Bogart and overlooks some of the complexities that interest him.

The film’s authenticity is questioned by its method based on Bogart’s own words. He invites viewers to face fame’s dualities by contrasting hiss with Hollywood’s glitz. While Life Comes in Flashes aims to highlight the subject, it...

The first iteration of Popeye the Sailor, literary classics by Dashiell Hammett and William Faulkner, Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film, and songs like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” are among the copyrighted works that will enter the public domain on Jan. 1.

As the calendar turns on New Year’s Day, thousands of copyrighted works across literature, film, and music from 1929 become open to fair use. This year’s slate also includes the French comic icon Tintin, Disney’s still-iconic The Skeleton Dance short (38 million views on YouTube!

Anjelica Huston has been a recognizable actress for decades now. She has appeared in some major movies over her career. Many fans know her best as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family movies. Others know her as the Grand High Witch in the 1990 classic The Witches. Now 77, Huston is still working steadily and has more movies coming out in the near future.

However, in a recent photograph of the actress, she was almost unrecognizable. Here is a look at the photo and what she has coming up.

Angelica Huston Seen In Rare Photo Outside of Movies

Angelica Huston is a third-generation star, so she knows how important it is to remain private. That is why she is rarely filmed out in public, as she has learned the importance of keeping out of the public eye as much as possible.

Angelica Huston from The Addams Family

Her grandfather is Walter Huston,...

When Humphrey Bogart appeared in the 1939 horror film “The Return of Doctor X” as a scientifically engineered vampire, he already had a couple of dozen movies behind him but was still two years away from becoming a true star with John Huston‘s “The Maltese Falcon.” As a contract player at Warner Bros., the studio that signed Bogart when he came there to reprise his stage role as Duke Mantee in “The Petrified Forest,” the actor was largely subject to the idiosyncratic whims of his bosses, and it was clear that they didn’t quite know what to do with Bogart before Huston got a hold of him.

In 1939 alone, he appeared in a Western “The Oklahoma Kid,” a tearjerking melodrama, and multiple gangster films. Several of these films are better remembered than “The Return of Doctor X,” but as Bogart’s only horror film, “X” is a fascinating curiosity,...

December 2024 won’t have a lot of Christmas movies on Max, but there are still some exciting releases to look forward to. Dcu is finally starting with Creature Commandos, coming out on December 5. DC fans will also enjoy the documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. And to top it off, the classic favorite The Goonies will also be available!

Here is the list of every movie & TV show arriving on Max this December!

Arriving on December 1

Cedar Rapids (movie)

Clash of the Titans (movie)

Cop Out (movie)

Death Race (movie)

Glee The 3D Concert Movie (movie)

Hamlet 2 (movie)

How I Live Now (movie)

Invisible Stripes (movie)

It All Came True (movie)

Jupiter Ascending (movie)

Key Largo (movie)

Kid Galahad (movie)

King of the Underworld (movie)

Lightning Strikes Twice (movie)

Lord of the Rings (movie)

Man from God’s Country (movie)

Marine Raiders (movie)

Marked Woman (movie)

Meet Me in St. Louis...

December 2024 won’t bring that many Christmas titles to Max. Still, there are some interesting titles we can look forward to. Dcu finally kicks off with the release of Creature Commandos on December 5.

Furthermore, DC fans will also be pleased with the release of the documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. To spice things up, fan-favorite The Goonies also arrives on the platform!

Here is the list of every movie & TV show arriving on Max this December!

Arriving on December 1

Cedar Rapids (movie)

Clash of the Titans (movie)

Cop Out (movie)

Death Race (movie)

Glee The 3D Concert Movie (movie)

Hamlet 2 (movie)

How I Live Now (movie)

Invisible Stripes (movie)

It All Came True (movie)

Jupiter Ascending (movie)

Key Largo (movie)

Kid Galahad (movie)

King of the Underworld (movie)

Lightning Strikes Twice (movie)

Lord of the Rings (movie)

Man from God’s Country (movie)

Marine Raiders (movie)

Marked Woman (movie)

Meet Me in St.

Lock your doors, sharpen your instincts, and prepare for a world where no one is who they seem.

These spy series aren’t just here to entertain — they’re pulling you into a thrilling underworld where trust is scarce, danger lurks in every corner, and double-crossing is a perfected art form.

From classic espionage tales that defined the genre to bold new twists that keep you on your toes, this list has it all.

(Peacock)

You’ll follow undercover operatives risking it all, unlikely heroes navigating webs of deception, and even some jaw-dropping twists that’ll leave you questioning everything.

And with new shows like The Day of the Jackal and Black Doves on the horizon, the world of espionage just keeps expanding.

So if you’re ready to unleash your inner secret agent, these 21 spy series will take you on a mission you won’t soon forget — just remember to keep your cover.

Purists will argue that film noir was born in 1941 with the release of John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon and died in 1958 with Marlene Dietrich traipsing down a long, dark, lonely road at the end of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil. And while this period contains the quintessence of what Italian-born French film critic Nino Frank originally characterized as film noir, the genre has always been in a constant state of flux, adapting to the different times and cultures out of which these films emerged.

Noir came into its own alongside the ravages of World War II, with the gangster and detective films of the era drastically transforming into something altogether new as the aesthetics of German Expressionism took hold in America, and in large part due to the influx of German expatriates like Fritz Lang. These already dark, hardboiled films suddenly gained a newfound viciousness and sense of ambiguity,...

It’s been almost 60 years since Ron Howard last played that lovable scamp Opie on “The Andy Griffith Show,” but the Oscar-winning filmmaker still carries the hit television show in his heart to this day. In announcing his TCM Picks for November, Howard began by honoring his TV father, the late Andy Griffith, with the selection of Elia Kazan’s 1957 satire, “A Face in the Crowd.”

“It’s significance has grown tremendously over the decades, both as a distinct piece of cinema and an increasingly relevant social commentary,” Howard said in the video below. “Most personal to me is Andy Griffith’s performance as the central figure, Lonesome Rhodes, an easygoing folk singer who’s transformed by a media producer into a populist figure who’s changing the face of politics.”

Howard goes on to explain how Griffith was the second choice behind Kazan’s regular leading man Marlon Brando,...

Luca Guadagnino and Lionsgate announced that the “Call Me by Your Name” and “Queer” director is in final discussions to film a new version of Bret Eason Ellis’ dark horror novel “American Psycho,” nearly 25 years after the same company released Mary Harron’s satirical adaptation. In a key role that elevated his career, the 2000 film starred Christian Bale as yuppie investment banker-turned-serial killer Patrick Bateman.

It’s the kind of announcement destined to raise eyebrows. Guadagnino is in a career sweet spot after “Challengers” and “Queer” this year (and “After the Hunt” in post); he already has many projects in the works, including “Separate Rooms” with Josh O’Connor and a Thomas Mann adaptation in early development. So why is he choosing a remake — and for a film that doesn’t seem that long ago?

New versions of older films are not unusual. Even the word “remake” is tricky here — does that apply with adaptations?...

November 2024, Criterion Channel is set to deliver an exceptional lineup of films that will excite cinephiles and casual viewers alike. The month promises a rich exploration of genres, featuring a strong selection of Coen Brothers classics such as Blood Simple (1984) and The Big Lebowski (1998), along with their more recent works like A Serious Man (2009) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Noir and crime enthusiasts will revel in an array of titles, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Gilda (1946), and The Big Heat (1953), showcasing the genre’s iconic narratives and stylistic depth. International cinema also shines through with compelling French dramas like Fat Girl (2001) and Dheepan (2015), highlighting diverse storytelling from around the globe.

The lineup doesn’t shy away from classic drama, featuring timeless films like On the Waterfront (1954) and Seven Samurai (1954), which continue to resonate with contemporary audiences. Additionally, viewers can look forward to a variety of documentary and experimental films, including Wild Wheels...

With Janus possessing the much-needed restorations, Catherine Breillat is getting her biggest-ever spotlight in November’s Criterion Channel series spanning 1976’s A Real Young Girl to 2004’s Anatomy of Hell––just one of numerous retrospectives arriving next month. They’re also spotlighting Ida Lupino, directorial efforts of John Turturro (who also gets an “Adventures In Moviegoing”), the Coen brothers, and Jacques Audiard.

In a slightly more macroscopic view, Columbia Noir and a new edition of “Queersighting” ring in Noirvember. Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy and Miller’s Crossing get Criterion Editions, while restorations of David Bowie-starrer The Linguini Incident, Med Hondo’s West Indies, and Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue make streaming debuts; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s Tonsler Park arrives just in time for another grim election day.

See the full list of titles arriving in November below:

36 fillette, Catherine Breillat, 1988

Anatomy of Hell, Catherine Breillat,...

The details of Humphrey Bogart’s epic marriage to Lauren Bacall will now be on the big screen.

Just months after late icon Bacall would have been 100 years old, the new documentary “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes” puts her romance with longtime collaborator and co-star Bogart front and center. The duo’s son Stephen Humphrey Bogart worked closely with Humphrey Bogart Estate CEO Robbert de Klerk and director Kathryn Ferguson, who previously helmed the Sinéad O’Connor doc “Nothing Compares.”

“Life Comes in Flashes” is billed as an “inside look at one of Hollywood’s greatest cinematic icons, telling Humphrey Bogart’s story through his relationships with the five formidable women in his life – his mother and his four wives. Each relationship offers a deep and intimate understanding of a man for whom stardom was hard-won and richly deserved.”

BIFA-winning, IDA-nominated, and BAFTA Breakthrough-selected filmmaker Ferguson opted for the narration...

Director Roland West is largely forgotten today by all but the most devoted classic film buffs, but in his time, he was popular enough to be prominently featured in advertising for movies like “The Bat Whispers,” which showcased West’s name above the title on the poster.

That 1930 talkie was a remake of a movie West had directed only four years earlier called “The Bat,” and both films had a profound impact on comic book artist Bob Kane; he saw them as a child, and their imagery — especially a bat shadow cast on walls like a signal — informed his most beloved and enduring creation, Batman.

West would be worthy of serious study regardless of his influence on Kane’s iconic superhero; he was a gifted director of crime films and thrillers whose expressive visual style looked forward less to DC comics than to the golden age of film noir. He...

A Japanese heist, a Bollywood musical, London’s East End – noir has adapted and travelled the world from its 1940s Hollywood beginnings and thanks to a series of festivals and rereleases there are classics to see this autumn

Film noir was first identified at a distance. In 1946, Italian-born French critic Nino Frank coined the term to describe a cycle of coolly cynical crime thrillers produced by Hollywood earlier in that decade, but only recently available in Paris. “These ‘dark’ films, these films noirs, no longer have anything in common with the ordinary run of detective movies,” wrote Frank of films including Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon and The Woman in the Window. But the term still has legs, with films as recent, and as far removed from Hollywood, as the Chinese crime procedural Only the River Flows, which was released this summer, inspiring critics to reach for the word noir.

Monsieur Spade is one of a collection of AMC shows now available to stream on Netflix as part of a one-year licensing deal between the network and the streamer — a deal that’s become somewhat of a tradition ever since Breaking Bad surged in popularity once it became available on Netflix. The Clive Owen-led noir drama offers a new story in the infamous onscreen life of Sam Spade, the detective made famous in Dashiell Hammett’s books and in Humphrey Bogart‘s performance in The Maltese Falcon. It’s a gorgeously rendered gumshoe mystery that shows a new side of the character. Set in the south of France in the 1963, Spade is a man in relatively peaceful retirement who’s living quietly after the death of his wife, whom he met in France while tasked with seeing to the safe passage of a young girl named Teresa (the elder...

What would happen if Raymond Chandler and H.P. Lovecraft wrote a novel together? Comic series "Fatale" by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips offers an answer. Published from 2012 to 2014 across 24 issues at Image Comics, "Fatale" is named for the archetype every film noir needs: the femme fatale, the sultry knockout who wraps men around her fingers without a care for what happens to their twisted forms (phallic cigarette optional).

The center of "Fatale" is one such woman, named Josephine or simply Jo. Colorists David Stewart and Elizabeth Breitweiser give her blood red lips and hair as black as Ava Gardner. Is her raven hair the same shade as her heart? Not quite. You see, Jo simply can't help making men desire and chase after her — especially men who want her for an occult sacrifice. Brubaker and Phillips mostly cook their comics hardboiled, such as "Criminal" (soon to be a Prime Video...

Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn) is your dad’s ideal protagonist. His happy place is his front yard, with his butt wearing a groove in an Adirondack chair and a local beer keeping his hand from overheating. That his lawn faces the ocean is a nice bonus, and that his endless blue view is being impeded by a monstrous yellow mansion next door, well, that’s his primary complaint. You see, Yancy doesn’t need much. A view, a drink, and a comfy spot to appreciate them both — that’s bliss. But, aside from the hideous remodel going on next door, Yancy’s stress stems from a love/hate relationship with his job. On the one hand, being a detective feeds his ingrained need for justice — he just wants things to be fair, for everyone to get along, and for those who get in the way of the world’s good...

Jeff Bridges made his unofficial screen debut in John Cromwell's 1951 drama "The Company She Keeps" just over a year after he was born. The son of actors Dorothy and Lloyd Bridges, he steadily proved himself a nepo baby of the finest order upon reaching young adulthood. In the 50 years and change since then, he's done it all, be it squaring off with King Kong, riding a light cycle on The Grid, or seeking compensation for the damage to his prized rug. (It really tied his living room together.) He even snagged a long-expected Oscar for playing an alcoholic country singer in Scott Cooper's "Crazy Heart," a film that arrived on the heels of Bridges portraying the first-ever Marvel Cinematic Universe villain in "Iron Man."

Trying to decide which of Bridges' movies stands out above the rest is a formidable challenge. It's also one that we, thankfully, need not...

Very few filmmakers have the distinction of creating a classic on their first effort. But John Huston, one of the greatest screenwriters and directors of the 20th century, did just that in 1941 with “The Maltese Falcon” and went on to create many classics by inventing, reinventing and reinvigorating genres.

Huston was born on August 5, 1906, in Nevada, Missouri. His father was the great actor Walter Huston, and young John developed an interest in the stage at a young age watching his father perform in vaudeville. He was a sickly child with an enlarged heart and kidney ailments but eventually overcame that to drop out of school at the age of 14 to become a professional boxer.

As a young adult, Huston wrote and sold several short stories, and made his way to Hollywood when “talking pictures” created a demand for writers. He took a short hiatus from Hollywood after the car he...

There’s been a lot of talk lately about how the studios have lost interest in physical media, with Disney outsourcing its discs to Sony and questions over where the business is going in the wake of Redbox’s demise and Best Buy’s decision to stop selling Blu-rays and DVDs. Yet not only have the rumors of physical media’s death been greatly exaggerated as boutique labels step in to pick up the slack, but even at the studio level, praiseworthy efforts to showcase archival treasures are alive and well. Take, for example, the new Warner Archive Blu-ray of Raoul Walsh’s 1946 classic “The Man I Love.”

“The Man I Love” is a film beloved by cinephiles but hardly famous — among Warners’ 1940s releases, it’s a long way down from “Casablanca” and “The Maltese Falcon” when it comes to widespread popularity. It’s the kind of movie that...

“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Just one of the unforgettable lines from a nearly perfect script delivered by a stellar cast of actors. “Chinatown” premiered on June 20, 1974 to great acclaim, and unsurprisingly snared its fair share of award nominations. However, it had formidable competition from another classic, and although it failed to capture many awards, it has gone on to be cited as one of the greatest films ever made. Let’s go back five decades to see how this great film came to be. Read on for more about the “Chinatown” 50th anniversary.

Loosely based around the California water wars during the early 1900s, “Chinatown” is a neo-noir mystery with a multi-layered plot that exposes some of the most repulsive human behaviors. The water wars centered around politicians in Los Angeles deceitfully diverting water from the Owens River, and away from the farmers in the Owens Valley, to supply the growing city.

John Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" opens with an unsolved mystery. The introductory text talks about a prized statuette of a falcon encrusted in rare jewels — a gift from the Knights Templar to Spain's Charles V — which was stolen by pirates and lost to history for years. After a string of murders and attempts to swipe a black bird statuette occur, private investigator Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) is compelled to crack a mind-boggling case involving rogues with their eyes on the prized artifact. This bird statue, dubbed the Maltese Falcon, has since evolved into an unforgettable MacGuffin, where the value of the actual prop skyrocketed over the years, changing several hands while being sold at auctions at exorbitant prices.

According to Vanity Fair's 2016 Hollywood issue, the last-known auction for the falcon was held in 2013, where the official bidding kept soaring until it hit the $3 million mark and was sold for $3.5 million.

Danny Huston has quite a slate of movies coming up, including this summer’s The Crow and next year’s The Naked Gun. Notice anything about those titles? As we know, they’re remakes/reboots, with both facing immediate skepticism from fans of the originals who were all too aware that it’s impossible to live up to these classics. So, too, is Danny Huston, who has thoughts on how remakes should be done.

On the topic, Danny Huston told ComicBook.com that filmmakers should be responsible in their purpose for tackling a remake or reboot. “What I find challenging is, in a way, the idea of remaking something that’s already good. It’s like you kind of don’t want to touch it. You want to leave it alone. I remember my father saying, ‘Why are we remaking good movies? We should be remaking the bad ones and make them good.

Steven Spielberg's filmmaking techniques took a large bound forward in 2001 with the release of "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." The sci-fi film, set in a near future populated by conscious androids, was a project Spielberg took over from an ailing Stanley Kubrick, who passed on it when he felt Spielberg could do it better. In "A.I.," Spielberg's photography and editing were very different from the slick, adventure films and glossy prestige pictures he had become popular making. Now everything was hazy, staid, more deliberate. 

Although he had already won three Oscars (two for "Schindler's List" and one for "Saving Private Ryan") and was widely considered to be a reigning master of Hollywood's blockbuster class, Spielberg evolved. After 2001, Spielberg's career bifurcated into dispassionate effects-based thrillers wherein the filmmaker was merely experimenting, and deeply passionate political thrillers that used the politics of the past to reflect on issues of the day.

The official...

As wonderful as X-Men ’97 has been, even the most devoted Marvel Zombie has to admit that the gold standard of superhero animation remains Batman: The Animated Series. Created by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski, the show told some of the all-time greatest stories about the Dark Knight, and even launched an ongoing universe with Justice League, Batman Beyond, and Static Shock.

So when Warner Bros. announced Batman: Caped Crusader from Timm, fans took notice, especially with J.J. Abrams and The Batman director Matt Reeves on board as producers. Despite a near disaster when Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav declined to distribute the completed series, as is his wont, the show found a home on Amazon Prime Video.

Even better, we now know when the series is premiering on the streamer: Aug. 1. We also have our first look at the characters and setting of Batman: The Caped Crusader, which blends...

[Editor’s note: The following includes spoilers for “Sugar.”]

“Sugar” is a neo-noir television series set in modern-day Los Angeles, featuring private investigator John Sugar (Colin Farrell), who, in addition to being very good at his job, is also a huge movie buff. Sugar’s latest case, to find the missing granddaughter of legendary movie producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell), only sends him even further down the path of Hollywood lore.

Throughout the eight episodes of Season 1, Sugar’s journey to find Olivia reminds him of scenes from some of his favorite classic films, which are intercut into the series as if we are seeing little flashes of what is racing through Sugar’s mind.

“It was all done after the fact, so I had no idea until I saw it how many [and] which clips [they used],” Farrell told IndieWire, adding he was pleasantly surprised to see himself juxtaposed with some of his all-time favorite films, like “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Maltese Falcon.

He pitched slave-ship dramas to Ingmar Bergman, cast Marlon Brando as a bisexual man and wrote a Malcolm X screenplay that horrified the FBI. Why was this cinephile spurned by Hollywood?

It’s fair to say James Baldwin wasn’t a fan of The Exorcist. “It has absolutely nothing going for it,” he wrote in his 1976 memoir-meets-criticism collection The Devil Finds Work. “Except Satan, who is certainly the star.” William Friedkin’s 1973 horror hit about a possessed schoolgirl might have caused havoc in theatres, but for the African American literary giant it was a garish dud that missed the real target. “For, I have seen the devil, by day and by night, and have seen him in you and in me,” he went on. “He does not levitate beds, or fool around with little girls: we do.”

Baldwin wasn’t an opportunist critic bashing a big commercial hit – he was...

Clive Owen hopes to divide and conquer with his dual Emmy submissions this year.

With two competing limited series in the Emmys race, the star will be submitting his two acclaimed performances in AMC’s “Monsieur Spade” and Hulu’s “A Murder at the End of the World” in separate acting categories, Variety has learned exclusively.

For his work as detective Sam Spade in AMC’s neo-noir miniseries “Monsieur Spade,” he’ll remain as expected in the highly competitive lead actor in a limited series or TV movie race, where he’ll face potential contenders such as Jon Hamm (“Fargo”) and Tom Hollander (“Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”). However, regarding his turn in Hulu’s psychological thriller “A Murder at the End of the World,” he’ll seek Emmy consideration as a supporting actor, eyeing competition in actors like Jonathan Bailey (“Fellow Travelers”) and Lewis Pullman (“Lessons in Chemistry”), and...

Attention mystery fans! Prepare for a captivating journey into the world of detective noir with “Monsieur Spade” as it premieres “A First Look at Parish.” Set to air on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at 5:17 Am on AMC, this intriguing episode promises to transport viewers to a new chapter in the life of the legendary detective, Sam Spade.

In this exciting installment, viewers are transported twenty years after the events of the iconic novel “The Maltese Falcon.” Retired and seeking solace in the quaint town of Bozouls in southern France, Sam Spade finds himself drawn back into the world of intrigue and danger.

As the year is 1963 and the war has ended, Spade’s tranquility is about to be shattered by a new mystery. With tension building and secrets lurking around every corner, viewers can expect twists, turns, and unexpected revelations as Spade navigates the shadowy underbelly of Bozouls.

Don’t miss...

Daniel Sackheim’s intriguing landscapes of Los Angeles evoke a time of classic film of the Film Noir period. His landscapes of Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood Blvd, the distant pier of Santa Monica create a moody scene iridescent of classics like Double Indemnity; Mildred Pierce, The Third Man, and Shadow of a Doubt. The seductive tones of a bygone era are visually stimulating creating a mood of mystery that captured the eyes of audiences when The Maltese Falcon was first released.

Sackheim’s directing credits include Lovecraft Country, Game of Thrones, True Detective, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and Ozark to name a few. Having been a director for many years before delving into photography, he says his eye tends to land on a cinematic sensibility naturally. This perspective then informs his approach to photographic storytelling.

“There is not so much one specific film, though there are iconic images from...

Jack Warner had been shouldering in on credit from one of his studio’s top producers. At least that’s what Hal Wallis may have told you after the 1944 Academy Awards when Jack Warner accepted the Casablanca Oscar that some felt should have been palmed by Wallis, the Warner Bros. film’s producer. But who should accept the best picture award? Today it’s the producers, but during Hollywood’s Golden Age it was sometimes the producer, sometimes the studio chief.

Wallis had been with the company for many years, first joining the studio in 1923, their first year of incorporation. Soon, Wallis was managing essential Warner films such as Little Caesar (1931), The Petrified Forest (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1937), Dark Victory (1939), Sergeant York (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and, of course, Casablanca (1942). Despite being released in late 1942, Casablanca didn’t go into wide release until early 1943 and wasn’t...

Reader, you have been lied to! Film history is littered with unfairly maligned classics, whether critics were too eager to review the making of rather than the finished product, or they suffered from underwhelming ad campaigns or general disinterest. Let’s revise our takes on some of these films from the wrongheaded to the correct opinion.

The list of sequels to masterpieces that can be considered masterpieces themselves isn’t a very long one; “The Godfather Part II” is an obvious candidate, and arguments can be made for James Cameron‘s “Aliens” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” “Blade Runner 2049,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “The Color of Money” all have their partisans, and Ingmar Bergman scored a late-career triumph with his “Scenes From a Marriage” sequel “Saraband.” One movie that almost never gets mentioned in this company is “The Two Jakes,” the 1990 sequel to “Chinatown” directed by its star,...

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Photo: Best Picture Snubs

Oscars 2024 is in a few days. With Cillian Murphy, Bradley Cooper, Margot Robbie, 'Barbie', Christopher Nolan, 'Oppenheimer', 'Maestro', all vying for the gold Academy Award, let us take a look at the past winners who were snubbed.

The Oscar for Best Picture may be the highest honor that a film could earn, but the Academy members who vote on the matter are anything but infallible--in fact, some of them don’t even watch the nominated movies at all. Audiences are often disappointed by the pick for Best Picture, but subjectivity mandates that there will always be some reasonable dissent--that said, this article will look back at some of the most widely agreed upon upsets that warrant a closer inspection.

Related...

Monsieur Spade star Clive Owen teased the potential for a Season 2 of his hit AMC detective series. 

The new crime series follows an older Sam Spade, the detective made famous in author Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon. 

Monsieur Spade was an original story starring the character, pulling the iconic literary detective out of retirement in the south of France, as Spade pursues a twisting web of criminal conspiracy revolving around a mysterious young boy. 

Read full article on The Direct.

Film and TV studio Fifth Season has secured international distribution rights to “Monsieur Spade,” the crime drama series starring and executive produced by Clive Owen.

Fifth Season will represent the title at the upcoming Berlin European Film Market.

The six-episode series is based on Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled private detective Sam Spade, the protagonist of 1930 novel “The Maltese Falcon,” adapted several times for the screen, most notably in 1941 by John Huston with Humphrey Bogart as the sleuth.

In the series, the year is 1963, and legendary detective Spade (Owen) is enjoying retirement in the South of France. Spade’s life in Bozouls is peaceful and quiet, but the rumoured return of his old adversary will change everything. Six beloved nuns have been brutally murdered, and as the town grieves, secrets emerge and new leads are established. Spade learns the murders are connected to a mysterious child, who is believed to possess great powers.

AMC Networks — the company behind such cable channel brands as AMC, IFC and Sundance TV, as well as such streaming services as AMC+, Acorn TV and Shudder — reported a 23 percent drop in fourth-quarter U.S. advertising revenue Friday, following an 18 percent decline in the third quarter, a second-quarter drop of 17 percent and a first-quarter decrease of 20 percent.

After returning to streaming subscriber growth in the third quarter after two quarters of declines, the company added 300,000 subs in the fourth quarter to end 2023 with a total of 11.4 million.

The latest quarterly U.S. ad revenue update came for the final quarter of 2023, in which AMC Networks aired such original series as The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Ad revenue dropped to $158 million for the period due to linear ratings declines and a challenging ad market, the company said.

On the advertising front, AMC Networks is leaning into data-led audience targeting for ad...

"Monsieur Spade” is a new live-action crime drama TV miniseries, created by Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel "The Maltese Falcon", starring Clive Owen as detective 'Sam Spade', forced to come out of retirement after learning about the return of a long-time enemy, now airing on AMC and AMC+:

"...the year is 1963, and 'Detective Sam Spade' (Owen) is enjoying his retirement in the South of France. By contrast to his days as a private eye in San Francisco, Spade’s life in Bozouls is peaceful and quiet.

"But the rumored return of his old adversary will change everything. Six beloved nuns have been killed at the local convent. As the town grieves, secrets emerge, and new leads are established.

"Spade learns that the murders are somehow connected to a mysterious child who is believed to possess great powers..."

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Once and future basic cable golden duo Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira toplined AMC Networks’ meeting with the Television Critics Association on Tuesday, as The Walking Dead actors capped off a presentation of new and returning series that, in many respects, would have made as much sense in 2014 as it does in 2024.

Lincoln and Gurira were on hand to hype the zombie franchise’s sixth spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. But the growing tally of Walking Dead off-shoots isn’t the only indication of how valuable past properties and players remain to the AMC brands. The media company, a consortium of cable networks (AMC, We TV, Sundance, IFC) and specialty streamers (AMC+, Acorn TV, Allblk, Shudder) banked big on familiar faces and titles over the course of the afternoon — trotting out a new vehicle for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star Giancarlo Esposito (Parish), announcing a...

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in ‘The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’ (Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC)

AMC+’s February 2024 lineup includes the much-anticipated and long-awaited Rick and Michonne spinoff The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. The zombie apocalyptic drama premieres on AMC and AMC+ on February 25th and picks up the story of the two fan-favorite survivors who found love amid the walking dead.

AMC+’s schedule also includes new episodes of the mystery series Monsieur Spade starring Clive Owen as Detective Sam Spade. Plus, season one of Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale wraps up with new episodes, including the season finale on February 8th. The crime caper Far North starring The Book of Boba Fett‘s Temuera Morrison makes its series debut on February 15th.

AMC+ February 2024 Lineup:

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (AMC Original Series)

New Series Premieres Sunday, February 25 on AMC and AMC...

The iconic detective Sam Spade returns to the screen in AMC‘s gripping limited drama Monsieur Spade. The character, created by Dashiell Hammett and famously played by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, is revived by Clive Owen, who’s more than up for the task of bringing out the gumshoe’s emotional side as we see a new side of the character. Owen’s Spade is unabashedly influenced by Bogart, Owen tells TV Insider. Diving into Bogart’s work to prepare for the drama was a thrill — and as a longtime fan of the Hollywood icon, something Owen has done many times before. Studying Bogart was easy. Learning French for this series was hard. The year is 1963, and the legendary Detective Sam Spade is enjoying his retirement in the South of France. By contrast to his days as a private eye in San Francisco, Spade’s life in Bozouls is peaceful and quiet.

"Monsieur Spade” is a new live-action crime drama TV miniseries, created by Emmy winners Scott Frank and Tom Fontana, based on author Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel "The Maltese Falcon", starring Clive Owen as world-famous detective 'Sam Spade', forced to come out of his retirement, after learning about the rumored return of a long-time enemy, now airing on AMC and AMC+:

"...the year is 1963, and 'Detective Sam Spade' (Owen) is enjoying his retirement in the South of France. By contrast to his days as a private eye in San Francisco, Spade’s life in Bozouls is peaceful and quiet.

"But the rumored return of his old adversary will change everything. Six beloved nuns have been killed at the local convent. As the town grieves, secrets emerge, and new leads are established.

"Spade learns that the murders are somehow connected to a mysterious child who is believed to possess great powers.

How does falling in love change a person?

If you’re venerable detective Samuel Spade, it changes the course of your life.

Monsieur Spade Season 1 Episode 1 introduces us to a brusque man quicker with wit than giving his heart, but the real story begins eight years after he finds and loses the great love of his life.

While this is the Sam Spade Humphrey Bogart played to perfection in The Maltese Falcon, he's obviously older and certainly more jaded, which is a hell of a feat.

We meet the older Spade in the mid-fifties on an assignment to reunite a young girl with her father. Spade plays the tough all the way, but when he finds Teresa snuggled up against him on a stormy night alone in a car, the truth is revealed. Spade’s heart doesn’t match his exterior.

Timing is everything, and on the back of that tender moment,...

Adapted from Samuel Dashiell Hammett’s famous detective novel, The Maltese Falcon, which was also the source for the famous neo-noir film of the same name in 1941, Scott Frank has come up with a new AMC series, Monsieur Spade. This detective series has just released its first episode, introducing us to the world of detective Sam Spade, who lost his ex-partner, Brigid O’Shaughnessy, in Istanbul. Spade had been given the responsibility to take O’Shaughnessy’s young daughter, Teresa, and hand her over to Philippe, who was Teresa’s biological father. However, things didn’t go as planned, and eventually, Spade fell in love with the quaint French village of Bozouls, until one day he had to look into a horrific murder scene that was connected with Philippe and Spade’s past.

Spoilers Ahead

Why Did Samuel Spade Stay At Bozouls?

After an accident in Istanbul claimed Brigid O’Shaughnessy’s life,...

What happens when you take a San Francisco detective and retire him to the South of France? When the rights to the Dashiell Hammett character made famous by Humphrey Bogart in “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) became available, writer-director Scott Frank, perhaps emboldened by his Emmy-winning successes with his western series “Godless” and chess sensation “The Queen’s Gambit,” convinced his friend Tom Fontana (“Oz”) to co-create a limited series, “Monsieur Spade” about an older Sam Spade in France.

These two writers had a blast making Spade (Clive Owen) middle-aged and grumpy — his doctor wants him to give up smoking. He’s grieving his lost wife, a Frenchwoman (Chiara Mastroianni) who left him a lovely estate. He reluctantly acts as a father figure for a teenage girl (Cara Bossom) whose mother Brigid O’Shaughnessy sent him eight years ago to Bozouls to deliver her child to her father (Jonathan Zaccaï). The plot is complicated,...

All works of IP exploitation are, on some level, legitimized fanfiction. Once divorced from the original author, the line that separates a franchise’s sequel, prequel or reboot from the average post on Wattpad is a great deal of money and the blessing of an estate and/or corporation. But even with this baseline, the AMC limited series “Monsieur Spade” is an especially unabashed act of wish fulfillment through and for a beloved protagonist. The namesake of “Monsieur Spade” is none other than Sam Spade (Clive Owen), the private investigator who headlined the Dashiell Hammett novel turned John Huston film noir “The Maltese Falcon,” plus a handful of Hammett short stories published in the 1930s. For their spin on Spade, series creators Tom Fontana (“Oz”) and Scott Frank (“The Queen’s Gambit”) send the sleuth to the south of France, where he spends a few weeks of his not-so-peaceful retirement looking...

In 1963 — years after the events of “The Maltese Falcon” — iconic detective Sam Spade is enjoying retirement in the South of Frace, living a life unreminiscent of his time as a hard-boiled private eye in San Francisco. However, in AMC’s new series “Monsieur Spade,” rumors surrounding the death of an old foe and the brutal murders of six nuns bring Spade, played by Clive Owen, back into the game. The series premieres on Sunday, Jan. 14 on AMC+ and Acorn TV and episodes will air on AMC at 9 p.m. Et. You can watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of AMC+.

How to Watch ‘Monsieur Spade’ Premiere When: Sunday, January 14, 2024 Where: AMC+ Stream: Watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of AMC+. 7-Day Free Trial$4.99+ / month amc+ via amazon.com About ‘Monsieur Spade’ Premiere

What does a child who allegedly possesses mysterious powers have to do with the deaths of six beloved nuns...

Travel back in time to the post-war era with “Monsieur Spade” Season 1 Episode 2, aptly titled “Episode 2,” airing at 9:00 Pm on Sunday, January 21, 2024, on AMC. Set two decades after the events of “The Maltese Falcon” novel, the retired detective Sam Spade has sought tranquility in the quaint town of Bozouls in southern France.

As the episode unfolds in 1963, viewers are invited into Spade’s idyllic retirement, a period of peace that is destined to be short-lived. The echoes of the war have faded, but Spade’s serenity is about to face new challenges, unraveling a narrative that promises mystery, intrigue, and a glimpse into the world of a detective who thought he had left it all behind.

Tune in for an evening of vintage allure and compelling storytelling as “Monsieur Spade” continues to unfold its narrative, blending the classic noir elements with a touch of French elegance on AMC.

Release...

For a character who is at the center of one full-length story, The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade is as iconic as it gets in the world of detective fiction. Dashiell Hammett’s book, and John Huston’s 1941 movie adaptation with Humphrey Bogart, loom impossibly large over the gumshoe genre, to the point where Spade is just as famous as Philip Marlowe and Mike Hammer, who have appeared in far more novels and films over the years.

But the Sam Spade who appears in the new miniseries Monsieur Spade is not...

If you’re on any form of social media, you probably know that on January 1, an early incarnation of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain. This prompted the usual memes putting the beloved character in decidedly adult situations and, in just a few months, we’ll be treated to a Mickey Mouse slasher film.

For a different, more pastoral, approach to elevated fan fic — this one conducted with the approval of the Dashiell Hammett Estate, rather than public domain — look to six-episode limited series Monsieur Spade, which will roll out on AMC, AMC+ and Acorn TV.

Hailing from the powerhouse creative duo of Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) and Tom Fontana (Oz) and boasting a likably droll central turn by Clive Owen, Monsieur Spade takes Hammett’s Sam Spade and drops him into a bucolic retirement in the South of France. There, rather than reconfiguring the protagonist for an ironic excursion to the dark side,...