Movies From The Past

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1951 novel Prince Caspian, Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, the second published and fourth chronological novel in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), it is the second installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Liam Neeson, and Tilda Swinton reprise their roles from the previous film, while new cast includes Ben Barnes, Sergio Castellitto, Peter Dinklage, Eddie Izzard, Warwick Davis, Ken Stott, and Vincent Grass. In the film, the four Pevensie siblings return to Narnia to aid Prince Caspian in his struggle for the throne against his corrupt uncle, King Miraz. Work on the script for the film began before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was released, so filming could begin before the actors grew too old for their parts. Director Andrew Adamson wanted to make the film more spectacular than the first, and created an action sequence not in the novel. The Narnians were designed to look wilder as they have been hiding from persecution, stressing the darker tone of the sequel. The filmmakers also took a Spanish influence for the antagonistic race of the Telmarines. Filming began in February 2007 in New Zealand, but unlike the previous film, the majority of shooting took place in Central Europe, because of the larger sets available in those countries. To keep costs down, Adamson chose to base post-production in the United Kingdom, because of recent tax credits there. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian premiered on May 7, 2008, at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, before it was theatrically released on May 16 in the United States and on June 26 in the United Kingdom, by Walt Disney Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Many praised the performances and visual effects; however, the film's darker tone and mature themes drew polarizing opinions. It was a moderate success at the box office, grossing $55 million during its opening weekend. By the end of its theatrical run, it had grossed $419.6 million worldwide, becoming the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2008. Prince Caspian was the last The Chronicles of Narnia film to be co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures as 20th Century Fox became the distributor for the next film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010), due to budgetary disputes between Disney and Walden Media, but as a result of Disney eventually purchasing 21st Century Fox in 2019, Disney now owns the rights to all the films in the series.[3]

Funny Lady is a 1975 American biographical musical comedy-drama film and the sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl. The film stars Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen. Herbert Ross, who helmed the musical sequences for Funny Girl, replaces William Wyler and the screenplay written by Jay Presson Allen and Arnold Schulman, based on a story by Schulman, is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and impresario Billy Rose. The primary score was by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The film was nominated for numerous awards including Golden Globe nominations for Streisand as Best Actress and Best Actor for Caan. Streisand revisited the soundtrack to the film in her 2016 concert.

Moscow on the Hudson is a 1984 American romantic comedy-drama film, written and directed by Paul Mazursky, starring Robin Williams as a Soviet circus musician who defects while on a visit to the United States. It co-stars María Conchita Alonso (in her American film debut), Elya Baskin as the circus clown, Savely Kramarov as one of two KGB apparatchiks, Alejandro Rey as the musician's immigration attorney, and Cleavant Derricks as his first American host and friend. The film was released on April 6, 1984.

War Babies is a 1932 American comedy short film directed by Charles Lamont. It is the second in a series of eight one-reelers that satirized adult films and themes called Baby Burlesks. The casts in the series are pre-schoolers dressed in adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with large safety pins on the bottom. War Babies takes place in a cafe, where children pose as adults, specifically musicians, soldiers, a bar keep, and a dancer. The short film stars Shirley Temple, who was three at the time of filming. War Babies was Temple's first speaking role and she has her first onscreen kiss with Eugene Butler.[1] Others in the cast are Georgie Billings, Philip Hurlic, Ted Frye, Georgie Smith, and Ashley Shepherd. In 2009, the film was available on DVD.

Predators is a 2010 American science fiction action film[5] directed by Nimród Antal, written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox, and the third film in the series but counting crossovers fifth film in the overall Predator franchise. The film follows an ensemble cast starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, and Laurence Fishburne, and follows a group of proficient killers who have been abducted and placed on a planet that acts as a game reserve for two warring tribes of extraterrestrial killers, leading them to try and survive and look for a way back to Earth. Producer Robert Rodriguez had developed a script for a third installment as early as 1994, although it was not until 2009 that 20th Century Fox greenlit the project. According to Rodriguez, the title Predators is an allusion to the second film in the Alien franchise, Aliens (1986).[6] The title also has a double meaning, referring both to the extraterrestrial Predator creatures and to the group of human characters who are pitted against them.[7] Principal photography for Predators began on September 28, 2009, and concluded after 53 days; filming took place in Hawaii and then in Austin, Texas. Predators was released in the United States on July 9, 2010. It grossed $127 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the action but criticism aimed at the thinly written characters. A fourth film as a midquel, titled The Predator, was released in 2018, and a prequel, Prey, in 2022.

"Tales of the Empire's" six shorts arrive on May 4, just in time for the yearly Star Wars celebration and exactly one month before we learn more about the dark side's rise to power in "The Acolyte," which is set in the High Republic era, well before the prequels.

Caveman is a 1981 slapstick comedy film written and directed by Carl Gottlieb and starring Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long and Barbara Bach. The film is set in prehistoric times and revolves around the rivalries between cavemen.

Hellraiser: Hellworld (also known as Hellraiser VIII: Hellworld) is a 2005 supernatural horror film directed by Rick Bota. It is the eighth installment in Hellraiser series. The Hellworld script is based on a short story called "Dark Can't Breathe" by Joel Soisson[2] and was originally not planned as a Hellraiser film - it was reworked into that format. Hellraiser: Hellworld was released straight to DVD in the United States on September 6, 2005, after a handful of minor film festival and private screenings. The film stars Lance Henriksen in the role of the Host. Henriksen had originally been approached to play the role of Frank Cotton in the first film in the series, Hellraiser. Henriksen turned the offer down in favor of a starring role in the vampire thriller Near Dark (1987).[3] His role as the Host in Hellworld remains his only appearance in the series to date. It is also the final film to feature actor Doug Bradley as Pinhead.

Death Wish 3 is a 1985 American vigilante action-thriller film directed and edited by Michael Winner. It is the third film and the last to be directed by Winner in the Death Wish film series. It stars Charles Bronson as the vigilante killer Paul Kersey and sees him battling with New York street punk gangs while receiving tactical support from a local NYPD lieutenant (Ed Lauter). Despite being set in New York City, some of the filming was shot in London to reduce production costs. It was succeeded by Death Wish 4: The Crackdown.

Hondo is a 1953 Warnercolor 3D Western film directed by John Farrow and starring John Wayne and Geraldine Page. The screenplay is based on the 1952 Collier's short story "The Gift of Cochise" by Louis L'Amour. The book Hondo was a novelization of the film also written by L'Amour, and published by Gold Medal Books in 1953.[3] The supporting cast features Ward Bond, James Arness and Leo Gordon. The shoot went over schedule, and Farrow had to leave the production as he was contractually obligated to direct another movie. The final scenes featuring the Apache attack on the circled wagons of the Army and settlers were shot by John Ford, whom Wayne had asked to finish the film; Ford was uncredited for this work.[4]

Ishtar is a 1987 American adventure-comedy film written and directed by Elaine May, and produced by Warren Beatty, who co-stars opposite Dustin Hoffman. The story revolves around a duo of talentless American songwriters who travel to a booking in Morocco and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff. Shot on location in Morocco and New York City by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, the production drew media attention before its release for substantial cost overruns on top of a lavish budget, and reports of clashes between May, Beatty, and Storaro. A change in studio management at Columbia Pictures during post-production also led to professional and personal difficulties that undermined the film's release. Ishtar polarized critics and became a notorious failure at the box office. Many initially considered it to be one of the worst films ever made, although critical support has increased significantly since release,[a] to the point where it received two votes for the Greatest Movie of All Time in the 2022 iteration of the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound decennial polls. Its 2004 DVD release excluded North America, where a director's cut, running two minutes shorter, was released on Blu-ray in August 2013.[10]

Steel Dawn is a 1987 American post-apocalyptic science fiction action film directed by Lance Hool and starring Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi. The working title of the film, which mixes the genres of science fiction and western, was Desert Warrior.[1]

Society is a 1989 American body horror comedy film directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards, and Ben Meyerson. Its plot follows a Beverly Hills teenager who begins to suspect that his wealthy parents are part of a gruesome cult for the social elite. Though the film was completed in 1989, it was not released until 1992 in the United States. It was Yuzna's directorial debut and was written by Rick Fry, conceived and written by Woody Keith. Screaming Mad George was responsible for the special effects. A sequel, Society 2: Body Modification, was in development as of 2013, with a script written by Stephan Biro.[1]

Ōgon Bat (Japanese: 黄金 バット, Hepburn: Ōgon Batto, literally Golden Bat), known as Phantaman or Fantomas in various countries outside Japan, is a Japanese superhero created by Suzuki Ichiro and Takeo Nagamatsu in autumn of 1930 who originally debuted in a kamishibai (paper theater).[1] Ōgon Bat is considered by some to be the world's first superhero,[2][3] and is a precursor to later superhero characters such as the Japanese kamishibai character Prince of Gamma (debut early 1930s), and the American comic book characters Superman (debut 1938) and Batman (debut 1939).[1] Ōgon Bat later appeared in numerous Japanese pop culture media, including manga, anime, and Japanese films, as well as toys and postage stamps dating back to 1932.[4] It was adapted into a popular anime television series in 1967, which was released in various European and Latin American countries.

Niagara is a 1953 American film-noir[3][4] thriller film[5] directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Charles Brackett, and written by Brackett, Richard L. Breen and Walter Reisch. The film stars Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, and Max Showalter (credited as Casey Adams). It was one of 20th Century Fox's biggest box-office hits that year. Unlike other films noir of the time, which were typically black-and-white,[3] Niagara was filmed in "three-strip" Technicolor (one of the last films to be made at Fox in that format, as a few months later Fox began converting to CinemaScope, which had compatibility problems with three-strip but not with Eastmancolor). Monroe was given top billing in Niagara, which elevated her to star status. Her next two films, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), were even bigger successes.

Countess Dracula is a 1971 British Hammer horror film directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Ingrid Pitt, Nigel Green and Lesley-Anne Down.[1] It was produced by Alexander Paal. Countess Dracula was inspired by the infamous Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory (1560–1614), a landowner and noblewoman who was accused of murdering dozens of women and girls.[citation needed] Her husband was Ferenc Nádasdy, Nádasdy being the surname given to the Countess in the film. sex woman teen nude busty

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a 1994 science fiction horror film directed by Kenneth Branagh who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro portraying Frankenstein's monster (called The Creation in the film), and co-stars Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Richard Briers and Aidan Quinn. Considered the most faithful film adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, despite several differences and additions in plot from the novel, the film follows a medical student named Victor Frankenstein who creates new life in the form of a monster composed of various corpses' body parts.[6] Mary Shelley's Frankenstein premiered at the London Film Festival, and was released theatrically on November 4, 1994, by TriStar Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, grossing $112 million worldwide on a budget of $45 million, making it less successful than the previous Francis Ford Coppola-produced horror adaptation, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Of Human Bondage is a 1934 American drama film directed by John Cromwell and regarded by critics as the film that made Bette Davis a star.[1] The screenplay by Lester Cohen is based on the 1915 novel Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. sexy woman, teen nude

Mac and Me is a 1988 American science fiction film co-written (with Steve Feke) and directed by Stewart Raffill. Starring Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Ward, and Tina Caspary alongside Lauren Stanley and Jade Calegory, it centers on a "Mysterious Alien Creature" (MAC) that escapes from nefarious NASA agents and befriends a boy named Eric Cruise. Together, they try to find MAC's family, from whom he has been separated. The film performed poorly at the box office and was panned by critics, partly due to plot lines similar to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), as well as its elaborate product placement of McDonald's and Coca-Cola. It was nominated for four Golden Raspberry Awards and won Worst Director and Worst New Star (for Ronald McDonald). However, it received four Youth in Film Awards (now Young Artist Awards) nominations. While regarded as one of the worst films ever made, it has become a cult film. Due to its poor reception, Orion Pictures cancelled the planned sequel.

The Last Sunset is a 1961 American Western film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, and Dorothy Malone. The film was released by Universal Pictures and shot in Eastmancolor in Mexico. The screenplay by Dalton Trumbo was adapted from Howard Rigsby's 1957 novel Sundown at Crazy Horse. The supporting cast features Joseph Cotten, Carol Lynley, Neville Brand and Jack Elam.

Children of the Damned is a 1964 British black-and-white science fiction horror film, a thematic sequel to 1960s Village of the Damned,[2] which concerns a group of children with similar psi-powers to those in the earlier film.[3] The film enables an interpretation of the children as being a good and more pure form of human being, rather than evil and alien.[4]

Howards End is a 1992 period romantic drama film directed by James Ivory, from a screenplay written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on the 1910 novel of the same name by E. M. Forster. Marking Merchant Ivory Productions' third adaptation of a Forster novel (following 1985's A Room with a View, and 1987's Maurice), it was the first film to be released by Sony Pictures Classics. The film's narrative explores class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century Britain, through events in the lives of the Schlegel sisters. The film starred Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter and Vanessa Redgrave, with James Wilby, Samuel West, Jemma Redgrave and Prunella Scales in supporting roles. The film was theatrically released on 13 March 1992 to critical acclaim and commercial success, grossing over $32 million on an $8 million budget. It was in competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and won the 45th Anniversary Award. At the 65th Academy Awards, the film received a leading nine nominations including for the Best Picture, and won three: Best Actress (for Thompson), Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published and Best Art Direction. At the 46th British Academy Film Awards, it garnered a leading eleven nominations, winning two awards; Best Film and Best Actress (for Thompson).

Antwone Fisher is a 2002 American biographical drama film directed by and starring Denzel Washington in his film directing debut.[3] Washington stars in the film as the psychiatrist Jerome Davenport, alongside Hollywood newcomer Derek Luke, who plays the title role (and personally knew the real Antwone Fisher), and former model Joy Bryant, as Fisher's girlfriend. The film marked Luke's film debut. The film is inspired by a true story, with the real Antwone Fisher credited as the screenwriter and is based on his autobiographical book Finding Fish. The film was produced by Todd Black, Randa Haines, and Washington and features a soundtrack by Mychael Danna. Black was first inspired to make the film upon hearing the story from Fisher, who was then working as a security guard at Sony Pictures Studios.[4]

The Door with Seven Locks is a 1940 British horror film, created and released shortly after the British Board of Film Censors lifted its mid-1930s ban on supernatural-themed and horror genre films. It was based on the 1926 novel The Door with Seven Locks by Edgar Wallace. Released in the United States by Monogram Pictures under the title Chamber of Horrors, it was the second Wallace film adaptation to arrive in the United States, the first being The Dark Eyes of London (called The Human Monster in the US),[1] starring Béla Lugosi, which had been released the year before.

The Rocketeer (released internationally as The Adventures of the Rocketeer) is a 1991 American period superhero science fiction film from Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone Pictures. It was produced by Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, and Lloyd Levin, directed by Joe Johnston, and stars Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino, and Tiny Ron Taylor. It is based on the character of the same name created by comic book artist and writer Dave Stevens. Set in 1938 Los Angeles, California, The Rocketeer tells the story of stunt pilot Cliff Secord, who discovers a hidden rocket pack that he thereafter uses to fly without the need of an aircraft. His heroic deeds soon attract the attention of Howard Hughes and the FBI, who are hunting for the missing rocket pack, as well as the Nazi operatives who stole it from Hughes. Development for The Rocketeer started as far back as 1983, when Stevens sold the film rights to the character. Steve Miner and William Dear considered directing The Rocketeer before Johnston signed on. Screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo had creative differences with Disney, causing the film to languish in development hell.[5] The studio also intended to change the trademark helmet design; Disney CEO Michael Eisner wanted a straight NASA-type helmet, but Johnston convinced the studio otherwise. Johnston also had to convince Disney to let him cast actor Billy Campbell in the lead role. Filming for The Rocketeer lasted from September 19, 1990, to January 22, 1991. The visual effects sequences were created and designed by Industrial Light & Magic and supervised by animation director Wes Takahashi. The film was released on June 21, 1991, and received positive reviews from critics.[6] Plans for Rocketeer sequels were abandoned after the film underperformed at the box office, grossing only $46 million on a $35 million budget. However, a television series based on the film, with Campbell reprising his role, premiered on Disney Junior in November 2019. In early 1991, Toy Biz had the rights to a massive Rocketeer toy line, including different versions of Cliff; this was akin to the Kenner Products Batman toy lines. Several prototypes were made, but the toy line was promptly shut down; Disney pulled the license from Toy Biz leaving only Just Toys having the rights.