All Star: ALFRED HITCHCOCK by SMC_Media1

September 24, 2015

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7 Fall 2015 TV Shows to Watch Posted: 09/21/2015 2:23 pm EDT

Updated: 09/21/2015 2:59 pm EDT

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So, there are shows debuting on different platforms every day and they're some of the best things you can watch/stream/download. But I still get excited by fall TV and the premieres of broadcast network productions. I'm keeping it tight this year, only seven shows that I think you should add to your TV diet. Whether you've unplugged or not, find a way to incorporate these nutritiously entertaining, unapologetic, laughter or even -gasp, yes, network can still do this -- thought-inducing programs into your world. And let me know what you think!

Monday Blindspot, NBC, 10 p.m., premieres 9/21 I pretty much always like a Greg Berlanti show, but this one, of two I'm recommending this season, is the less predictable one. It's big high concept: a beautiful girl is found in a duffle bag in the center of Times Square, covered in tattoos with no idea how she got there. (For those of us that worked for Condé Nast during the Times Square era, this does just seem, like, any Tuesday.) But hey, turns out she's a badass with mad combat skills and one of the tattoos, hidden on her body, indicates she's a Navy Seal, although her memory has been completely wiped. Another tat mentions Kurt Weller, an FBI agent played by hottie Sullivan Stapleton, who takes a special interest in Jaime (Thor! Lady Sith!) Alexander's beguiling and surprisingly-helpful-for-a-Jane-Doe-in-a-duffle walking enigma. While so much plot would crowd out character in a lesser show, this one takes care to present characters that, for all their outlandish situations, seem like actual people, that you might want to spend a season or two getting to know. Supergirl, CBS, 8:30 p.m., premieres 10/26

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Of course, my favorite new program this season a Greg Berlanti show about beautiful people coming to terms with their troubling past, romantic possibilities, extraordinary powers and stupid freakin' beauty. And, shocker, that show takes place in the DC converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

comics 'verse and is about a girl from Krypton. I KNOW. But Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El, (I cannot figure out why she's Kara Zor-El, rather than Kara El, a la Kal El. If you are geekier than me and can explain this, a, whoa... props, and b, please get in touch.) aka Supergirl, is sweet, warm and affecting. In the model of Buffy (my highest praise) and Smallville (also really high praise), Benoist, who was previously underutilized on the final seasons of Glee, exudes the wonder and thrill of discovering your unique gifts and finding your place in a great metropolis. Whether a yellow sun gave you the power to soar or coming into your own in the profession and city of your dreams-even if, like me and Kara, that's print journalism -- all but the deadest of you should thrill to her coming of age. The cherries on top are Calista Flockhart as Metropolis staple badass Kat Grant and Mehcad Brooks as James -- not Jimmy -- Olsen. The cameos from Helen Slater and Dean Cain? I can't even.

Bette Midler's Daughter Looks Just Like Her Now

Tuesday Limitless, CBS, 10 p.m., premieres 9/22 Jake McDorman plays the everyguy who takes an NZT pill and explodes the possibilities of his world, much like Bradley Cooper (he's got a cameo in the pilot!) did in the movie of the same name. Jennifer Carpenter is the cool cop with a personal mission who gives him a chance and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio plays her super serious boss. I didn't expect to like Limitless so much, I found the movie rather paint-by-numbers, but the show is fun, potentially because McDorman is so sweetly likable, both when he's an f-up and when he's soaring high. And Ron Rifkin and Blair Brown are in it! Try it, it's goofy, but thrilling and enjoyable. The Grinder, FOX, 8:30 p.m., premieres 9/29

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Sitcoms are a tough sell for me these days. So many of them stick to tried and true laugh-track tropes like, oh my god these diapers! But The Grinder surpasses its unfortunate name with a fun premise (he played a lawyer on TV, that means he can do the alwyering in real life, right?) and, duh, Rob Lowe. Fred Savage, as the regular dude doubting lawyer brother to Lowe's played-a-lawyer-on-TV scape is as lovable as ever. The chemistry on this show just works and it's a concept we haven't seen a million times, so give this a watch.

Thursday

Kylie Jenner's Cut-Out Bikini Is Fit For A Queen

Angel From Hell, CBS, 9:30 p.m., premieres 11/5 Jane Lynch as a cranky drank-ass angel doing everything she can to make sure Maggie Lawson's every blonde girl sees the potential and amazingness in herself that her deceased mother tried to instill? Yeah, this got me. Even if the details of the concept don't speak as directly to you as they did to me, this laugh-before-the-track-tells-you-to comedy is well-timed, well-acted and lovely. Check it.

Sunday Blood & Oil, ABC, 9:00 p.m., premieres 9/27

Selena Gomez’s High-Cut Swimsuit Reveals Some New Ink

I've read the stories about the black gold oil rush that is North Dakota these days and have been fascinated by the possibilities of the stories that must be blossoming in the rich soil of that unexplored frontier. In my dreams, Chase Crawford would play the sexy young upstart with a big dream and Don Johnson would play the sexy older, crooked yet charming oil tycoon who gives him a chance. Guess what!? That's what ABC imagined too! It's soapy and sultry and smooth and so much fun. Quantico, ABC, 10 p.m., premieres 9/27 Here's the thing: Priyanka Chopra, the mega Bollywood star I never heard of before who stars in Quantico, is so pretty, the show would be entertaining if it did nothing else than show her glowering, asskicking and smoldering. But Quantico does all that and also has twisty fun seductions, lots of hot people working out and plot twists I didn't see coming. The fact that it makes a terrorist event in NYC the big bad is a frightening why you always gotta do that bummer, but you end up rooting for Chopra and for co-star Dougray Scott, who plays her twisted-but-brilliant FBI boss, to nail that American accent sometime soon.

Follow Laura Brounstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/laurabrounstein MORE: Fall TV 2014, Cbs Supergirl, Limitless, TV Reviews, Quantico, Priyanka Chopra, Tv Previews, Fall

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Film Friday (9/18): This Week's New Movie Trailers by Keith Kimbell, Metacritic Film Editor September 18, 2015 ↓ 1 user comment

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w ekn dsh itn O gp en i View a guide to this weekend's new theatrical releases including Black Mass, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Pawn Sacrifice, and more.

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Best Movies for 2015

Director Jon Favreau’s live-action, CGI-heavy update of Disney's 1967 animated classic stars newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli, an orphan raised by a family of wolves who is threatened by tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) and forced to leave his jungle home. Guided by the panther Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) and the free-spirited bear Baloo (the voice of Bill Murray), Mowgli’s journey includes encounters with the python Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) and the smooth-talking King Louie (Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to fire. This action-heavy take on Rudyard Kipling’s classic book will still include some of the songs from the original film. Find The Jungle Book in theaters beginning April 15, 2016, before Warner Bros.'s Jungle Book: Origins hits the big screen in 2017.

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With the release of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials this week comes three new trailers for other young adult properties.

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Wrapping up its run at the top of the heap is the November 20 release The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. Critically and financially, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 was the least successful film in the franchise, but this final chapter should be an improvement. The latest trailer focuses on the bond between Katniss and her sister Prim (with a lot of help from M83’s “My Tears Are Becoming A Sea”).

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What Our Users Are Talking About Film Friday (9/18): This Week's New Movie Trailers September 18, 2015 - 1 comment

LamontRaymond : There will be TWO MORE Divergent movies?? Ugh. The second one was one of the most ponderous things I've had the... Read »

2015 Emmy Award Predictions from Experts & Users September 17, 2015 - 5 comments

Following in the footsteps of The Hunger Games franchise, The Divergent Series: Allegiant (March 18, 2016) is the first of a two-part finale. Picking up after the events of Insurgent, part one finds Tris (Shailene Woodley) escaping with Four (Theo James) beyond the wall enclosing Chicago, where new revelations await them (including Jeff Daniels).

pescetarian : I really hope Mad Men is overtaken by Game of Thrones Read » myeverything : supporting actress* Read » myeverything : Sarah Paulson can finally win an emmy in the cathegory outstanding supporting actrees in a miniseries/movie for ahs:... Read » rx915 : Each show chooses 1 episode to submit, depending on the category. The GoT showrunners/HBO submiited "Mother's Mercy"... Read » sjay : I cant believe Hardhome isn't one of the GoT episodes chosen for best direction!! Read »

2015 Summer Movie Recap: Best Films, Prediction Results, and Box Office Stats September 8, 2015 - 5 comments

DanBurrito : Kinda sucks that we have to wait for who knows how long to see how accurate Masterminds score is. Read »

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DanBurrito : It's despicable that "The Lego Movie" didn't get nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. It's also... Read »

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In The 5th Wave, an adaptation of the first book in Rick Yancey’s trilogy, four waves of alien attacks have left most of Earth's civilization destroyed. Cassie (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her family are on the run, but when her younger brother is taken, she sets out to get him back. J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) directs from a script by Susannah Grant (The Soloist), and the strong cast includes Liev Schreiber, Maika Monroe, Nick Robinson, Maggie Siff, Maria Bello, Ron Livingston, Alex Roe, and Tony Revolori. Look for it in theaters on January 15, 2016.

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Th eolA lo o p fo ns Michael B. Jordan reunites with his Fruitvale Station director, Ryan Coogler, to play Adonis Johnson—Apollo Creed’s son—opposite Sylvester Stallone as an ailing Rocky Balboa in Creed. The November 25 release also stars Tessa Thompson (Dear White People) as Bianca, a singer-songwriter who becomes involved with Adonis, and Phylicia Rashad as Mary Anne Creed, Apollo’s widow.

. . .evS rtel iartm eO rn o e:o sJ b After a long development process that saw the film move from Sony to Universal; from David Fincher to Danny Boyle; and from Christian Bale to Michael Fassbender; the Aaron Sorkinpenned Steve Jobs biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s biography finally premiered at Telluride a few weeks back, and reviews were very good. With a supporting cast that includes Seth Rogen as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Kate Winslet as marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, and Jeff Daniels as Apple CEO John Sculley, Steve Jobs comes to theaters October 9th.

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The fourth collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks (following Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal) is Spielberg’s first directorial effort since 2012’s Lincoln. Written by Matt Charman and Ethan and Joel Coen, Bridge of Spies follows James Donovan (Tom Hanks), a Brooklyn lawyer who finds himself thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him to negotiate the release of a captured American U-2 pilot. With a supporting cast that includes Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Scott Shepherd, Sebastian Koch and Alan Alda, the film opens on October 16th.

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Originally set for release in March of this year, the second collaboration between director Ron Howard and star Chris Hemsworth tells a very different true story than their first, Rush. Set in the winter of 1820, it’s a chronicle of the New England whaling ship Essex and the whale attack that would serve as the real-life inspiration for Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Hemsworth stars as Owen Chase, the veteran first mate of the Essex, and Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, Tom Holland, Brendan Gleeson and Jordi Molla make up the rest of the cast. In the Heart of the Sea, based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s book of the same name, finally docks at theaters on December 11th.

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ayV o sD io nc One of the reasons 1991‘s Point Break attained cult status was its cast: Keanu Reeves as ex-football star/FBI agent Johnny Utah, Patrick Swayze as zen-surfer/bank-robber Bodhi, and Gary Busey as agent Angelo “Get me two” Pappas. So while this 2015 remake has gone international, amped up the stunts to a startling level, and added in a fictional enlightenment motivation called the Ozaki Eight, the trio of Luke Bracey, Edgar Ramirez and Ray Winstone haven't yet exhibited the charisma of the original cast. Directed By Ericson Core (Invincible), who’s also not exactly Kathryn Bigelow, the new Point Break hits theaters December 25th.

akest S th o r Do you take your coffee seriously? Probably not as seriously as the competitors in Barista. Find the documentary in select theaters November 6th.

esn o tan N dew s Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) will star in Steven Spielberg‘s adaptation of Ernest Cline‘s novel Ready Player One. - Heat Vision Woody Harrelson will play the villain in Matt Reeves’ War of the Planet of the Apes. - Heat Vision Darren Aronofsky is in talks to direct Channing Tatum in Sony’s planned Evel Knievel biopic. - The Tracking Board Patton Oswalt has joined Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, John Boyega, and Karen Gillan in James Ponsoldt’s adaptation of Dave Eggers’ novel The Circle. - Deadline converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street, Workaholics) and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) have joined Ice Cube and Charlie Day in the comedy Fist Fight. Richie Keen (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) will direct from a screenplay by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. - THR Disney is planning a new Mary Poppins film with director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Into the Woods). It will derive from other tales in P.L. Travers’ book series and will have original songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Smash). Emily Blunt is rumored to be wanted for the role. - EW & Den of Geek Jenny Slate has joined Chris Evans and Octavia Spencer in Gifted. Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) will direct from a script by Tom Flynn about a father (Evans) raising his gifted daughter. - Variety Ice Cube will star for director Tim Story in Humbug, a contemporary adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. - Deadline Rumors have Warner Bros. considering Sean Bean and Eva Green for the villain roles of Ares (The God of War) and Circe (The Sorceress), respectively, in Wonder Woman. Heroic Hollywood Danika Yarosh (Heroes Reborn) has joined Tom Cruise and Cobie Smulders in Jack Reacher 2. - Variety Elizabeth Banks is in talks to direct a reboot of Charlie’s Angels. - THR Liam Neeson will star in the action-comedy The Revenger. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) will direct from a script by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museum). - Deadline Don’t shed a tear for the end of Kaiju vs. Jaeger battles just yet. Despite THR’s report that Pacific Rim 2 is on indefinite hold, director Guillermo Del Toro tells EW he’s still working on it. Director Rupert Wyatt (The Gambler, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) has exited Gambit (starring Channing Tatum) due to a scheduling conflict. - Deadline Bryan Singer announced that a remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be his next film.

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LamontRaymond Sep 18, 2015 12:41PM There will be TWO MORE Divergent movies?? Ugh. The second one was one of the most ponderous things I've had the displeasure to sit through - and I loved the first one! The YA curse continues.

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As the BFI stages a five-month retrospective of Hitchcock’s work, Michael provides a run-down of the director’s 10 most iconic movies... Whenever geeky film conversations turn to the topic of the greatest British directors, a few answers frequently crop up. Charlie Chaplin, David Lean, Nicolas Roeg and Michael Powell are just a handful of a list of potentials, but there is one man whose impact on film history outclasses almost all contenders: Alfred Hitchcock.

Born on the cusp of the 20th Century, Hitchcock came to define entire genres of cinema in a career that spanned over 50 years and over 50 films. His body of work - not to mention his rotund body itself - is both immense and iconic, full of tense thrillers, psycho-dramas and adventure flicks that were not only wildly popular at the time, but inspired both critical re-evaluation and whole new generations of filmmakers in ensuing years.

The French New Wave critics picked Hitchcock as a prime example for their auteur theory, a way of reading films that highlights the creative authority of the director over all other influences. As with any crackpot critical theory, auteurism becomes a little masturbatory and inaccurate when applied generally, and its dismissiveness towards other aspects of the creative process is downright ungenerous. But there’s something about a Hitchcock film - the dry wit, the recurring themes, the willingness to experiment with the art form - that is undeniably distinctive.

The British Film Institute agree, calling Hitchcock ‘the most influential and iconic British director of all time’, and giving over five months of the BFI Southbank’s schedule

to a celebration of his work, titled The Genius of Hitchcock.

Featuring screenings of all of his films (except The Mountain Eagle, which has been lost to time), the Genius of Hitchcock season is rather overwhelming to behold. There are recently rediscovered films that haven’t been screened in decades, revamps of old classics with new, specially-composed scores, and a whole host of tie-in events, workshops and talks.

But where do you start? Well, you could do much worse than perusing our list of the Top 10 Hitch-flicks.

Rebecca

While Hitchcock is held up as one of filmmaking history’s true auteurs, his first Hollywood feature is, in many ways, a studio film, as it was his first picture directed under contract to David O Selznick. By 1940, this legendary producer had made his name by creating lavish adaptations of literary epics, such as Anna Karenina, A Tale of Two Cities, and the high-grossing, Oscar-nabbing Gone with the Wind.

Rebecca, adapted from the Daphne du Maurier novel, is no different. Typical Hitchcock flourishes, like adventurous thrills and humor, are missing, but in their place is a masterful piece of psychological suspense, as Joan Fontaine’s unnamed protagonist is hounded by the memory of her new husband’s (Lawrence Olivier, fresh off his turn as Heathcliff in William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights) dead former wife.

It certainly convinced the Academy, who highlighted the film in 11 Oscar categories, and awarded it Best Black & White Cinematography (for George Barnes’ gothic gloom) and Best Picture. That award, of course, went to Selznick, while Hitchcock had to make do with the first of his five Best Director nominations.

Shadow of a Doubt

Just three years after Rebecca, Hitchcock perfected his dark, suspenseful style with Shadow of a Doubt, but the film has one quality that is rather unique in retrospect. Here, the suspicious protagonist is a teenage girl. Charlotte (Teresa Wright) is utterly bored with her life in suburban California, until her rebellious Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) - her namesake - turns up, with reports of murder following him from the big city.

While Shadow of a Doubt contains the familiar Hitchcockian tropes of deceit and serial killing, the lack of urban environments, international espionage, and steamy sexual tension gives the film a real edge. As Charlotte, Teresa Wright is Hitchcock’s most vulnerable heroine, but she is also his smartest and most capable, as seen in her slow investigation into her uncle’s activities. In a canon full of femmes’ fatales and murder victims, she stands out. As does, it must be noted, Joseph Cotten, who uses his jovial, charming manner to utterly chilling effect.

The Lady Vanishes

Or, as it should perhaps be known, Spies on a Train. In 1938, Europe was on the brink of war, and Hitchcock, after over a decade of thrilling, innovative

success in his country of birth, was on the cusp of making the cross-Atlantic

leap to Hollywood. The Lady Vanishes may not be his last British film (that would be Jamaica Inn), but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s certainly a last-hurrah for the witty, stiff-upper-lipped adventures he excelled at for much of the 30s.

Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave star, as two passengers on a Trans-Europe Express train who must unravel the mystery of a disappearing old dear, and the military secrets that might change the course of history. But the scene is resolutely stolen by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, who appear as Charters and Caldicott, a pair of prim British who have their own crisis to worry about: the test match in Manchester.

The Trouble with Harry

Sporting one of the best taglines in movie history - 'A comedy about a corpse!' - The Trouble with Harry is remembered as one of Hitchcock's major cinematic diversions, and one that provided the director with one of the biggest financial flops of his career. Time, though, has been kind to this quirky curio - allowing it to sit comfortably next to dark comedies like Harold & Maude and Heathers.

Harry's trouble, it turns out, is that he's dead - and it seems that any one of a handful of rural townsfolk could have killed him. But who did the deed? Was it the old maid, the retired sea captain - or perhaps Harry's estranged wife (played by a delightful Shirley MacLaine, in her first starring role)?

Hitchcock's films have always exhibited a strain of pitch-black comedy, but here the director indulged his penchant for gallows humor to the fullest, not least in the many scenes where the three suspects conspire to hide the corpse from the over-zealous local lawman. If his many murder-mystery thrillers treated its dark subject matter with tension at its most tragic - The Trouble with Harry sees it at its most farcical.

Rope

Like The Trouble with Harry, Rope deals with the aftermath of a murder. The enigmatic trailer, which features a short scene between a young man and his fiancĂŠe, declares, 'That's the last time she'll ever see him alive. And that's the last time YOU'LL ever see him alive'. Indeed, the murder itself is committed in the opening shot of the movie, and from thereon out, the entire film takes place in a trendy loft apartment, where the homicidal pair - a deliciously smarmy John Dall and an emotionally fragile Farley Granger - come to terms with their actions.

Unlike Harry's kooky humor, Hitchcock wrings the situation for all of the tension he can get, as dinner guests flood the apartment, and Dall's cocky manner starts to grate on Granger. James Stewart, in his first Hitchcock role, plays against type, as the boys' former schoolteacher, whose cynical, nihilistic worldview might have inspired the murder.

It's a brilliant set-up, perfectly executed by a director who, by then, had already garnered a reputation as the Master of Suspense, but Rope stands apart because of one incredibly ambitious flourish. Years before digital filmmaking allowed such experiments as Russian Ark and Timecode, Hitchcock envisioned Rope as a single, unbroken shot, using sweeping camera movements and masked cuts to better engross the audience in the single location, and to inspire claustrophobia as the simmering tension starts to boil.

Much is made of Hitchcock's formal experiments, which included meticulous miniatures, in-camera effects and even a dalliance with 3D, but Rope - which was also his first color film - is that rare case where the technical risk pays off enormously.

The 39 Steps

Hitchcock's British films are often overlooked in favor of his Hollywood heyday, but every aspect of his cinematic character can be glimpsed in the fertile 13 years before he eloped across the Atlantic, when he made some of the UK's best pre-war flicks. The 39 Steps is the best of the lot, taking John Buchan's source adventure novel and turning it into a cross-country caper, as Richard Hannay (a superbly suave Robert Donat) stumbles into a mystery involving assassins, military secrets, and a music hall performer with a photographic memory.

Typical of early Hitchcock, The 39 Steps was brutally efficient, with a lean narrative structure that took you all over the literal and metaphorical map, from London to Scotland and back again, encompassing both a ‘wrong man’ crosscountry chase, a twisty espionage plot concerning the most meaningless of MacGuffins (design specifications for a silent aircraft engine), and even a little bit of screwball romance, no doubt influenced by Frank Capra’s archetypal flick It Happened One Night. Likewise, after Hitchcock’s previous film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, used London landmark the Royal Albert Hall to great effect, The 39 Steps featured thrilling sequences in the London Palladium and, most notably, on the Forth Bridge. And all this happens in a mere 86 minutes. Take note, Chris Nolan.

Vertigo

What is there left to say about Vertigo? Every frame of this film has been extracted, pored over and analyzed to the point where, despite its enduring reputation, it’s easy to forget that it’s an incredible film in its own right - a daylight noir that takes an unexpected turn into surreal, unsettling psychological territory.

James Stewart stars as Scottie, a retired San Francisco detective who finds himself knee-deep in a new case, investigating the claims of an old buddy’s wife that she is possessed by the spirit of her great-grandmother. From there, things just get weirder, as Hitchcock’s favorite themes of murder, madness and obsession are raised to near operatic levels.

Vertigo has inspired generations of filmmakers, from the late French director Chris Marker to David Lynch, the king of the mundane made nightmarish. Indeed, Scottie is not unlike a grown-up version of Kyle MacLauchlan’s teen snooper in Blue Velvet, and the way that Hitchcock plays with Stewart’s gee-whizz persona, as Scottie’s twisted obsession with Madeleine (played by Kim Novak, the iciest of the director’s icy blondes) turns him from good ol’ guy to an unseemly monster, has much in common with Lynch’s predilection for revealing the ugliness hidden behind innocence.

But, for all this powerful drama, Vertigo exhibits all of the unexpected, undercutting comedy that crops up so often in Hitchcock’s films. Scottie’s long-suffering ex-girlfriend, the rather tomboyish painter Midge, is a classic Hitchcockian supporting lady, full of humor and playful banter. And the film’s climax, while on the one hand a thrilling resolution of

plot, theme and character, features one of the funniest last-gasp non-sequiturs in cinema history: death by blundering nun.

Rear Window

A wheelchair-bound James Stewart, convalescing in his apartment with only his camera for company, turns his journalist's eye on the neighboring residents of his tenement block. One day, he spots what looks like a man murdering his wife. But are his eyes playing tricks on him?

Rear Window is another impossibly iconic film, born of a handful of brilliant cinematic ideas. A single location, a cabin-fever set-up, a murder close to home, and a vulnerable protagonist whose curiosity puts him in serious danger. Each complements the other to create a thriller that is as unified and as finely crafted as its elaborate apartment block courtyard set.

It’s testament to the evocative simplicity of the film’s narrative conceit (pilfered from a short story by writer Cornell Woolrich called It Had To Be Murder) that Rear Window has proved to be so popular as a reference point for generations of filmmakers and TV writers. Even this year, in radioactive-reboot The Amazing Spider-Man, the film’s poster was used as a visual shortcut - appearing on Peter Parker’s bedroom wall as a quick hint at the voyeuristic undercurrent of the character’s photographic obsession with Gwen Stacy. It was a neat link to make, but only because of Rear Window’s undimmed resonance.

Psycho

Psycho is an undisputed horror classic. Its impact is only slightly diminished by the fact that almost all of its iconic moments have been parodied, sampled and ripped off time and again for the last 50 years. Bernard Herrmann's razor-sharp string arrangements, Anthony Perkins' genuinely creepy turn as the shy, charming killer Norman Bates, and Janet Leigh's grisly murder in the shower are all very familiar even if you're not a horror aficionado, but it is essential viewing nonetheless.

Shot on a much smaller budget than Hitchcock's previous films, and using the close-knit crew he'd groomed on his Alfred Hitchcock Presents television show, Psycho was a lean, effective, and inspired thriller that arguably gave birth to a genre of its own. And it paid off.

Made for a mere $800,000 - less than a quarter of the cost of its immediate predecessor North By Northwest Psycho grossed upwards of $30 million over its extended run, and provided Universal with a property it has continued to milk to this day. But, more than anything, it served as Hitchcock's most daring riposte to the Production Code, delivering an edgy, thrilling film that dealt with horrific matters intelligently and artfully. When twinned with similar films of the period, such as Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder, it helped sound the death knell for Hollywood's most conservative institution.

North by Northwest

The best film ever made? Well, certainly the best film ever made about nothing at all. Taking cues from both The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps, Hitchcock turned his framed-man-on-the-run, MacGuffin-powered archetype into a glorious, Technicolor marvel, which thrills and delights in equal measure. But what sets North By Northwest apart from its British forebears, other than a superlative Bernard Herrmann score and the sense of scale that comes from taking the whole endeavor Stateside - a choice that culminates in an iconic tussle on the literal cliff-face(s) of Mount Rushmore - is the genteel quirkiness of its lead, Cary Grant.

Sure, by North by Northwest Grant was a Hollywood icon, in Pauline Kael's words 'the male love object' whose stardom was predicated on a sophisticated, graceful sexuality. But his performance as Roger Thornhill, the Madison Avenue ad man who is mistaken for a spy, rests just as much on Grant's sophistication - the way he wears that iconic suit - as it does his dopey sense of comic timing.

After all, the man was once Archibald Leach, the Bristol-born vaudevillian tumbler who, like Hitchcock, flew to Hollywood in search of mega stardom. And it's this comic flair - Thornhill's pratfalls, miss-steps and, most of all, his henpecked relationship with his overbearing mother - that elevates North by Northwest right to the top of the Hollywood tradition of continent-spanning spectacle. In many ways, the film paved the way for James Bond, Indiana Jones, and many of the blockbusting action thrillers that annually fill our local multiplexes, but few are as slick, as stunning, and as silly, as North by Northwest.

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Join the discussion… susanbluesky • 4 hours ago

i hope this movie becomes a total flop • Reply • Share ›

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Tom_ BradyIsABigotSupporter • 6 hours ago

I already saw it and I really want to see it again • Reply • Share ›

BrooklynTam • 7 hours ago

Even Bulger's lawyer was on set and according to the director he was freaked out and had to leave! Can't wait to see this!! 1

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FirstMan2013 > BrooklynTam • 4 hours ago

it was very good. 1

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Sue • 7 hours ago

Wow, maybe Oscar time? Excellent actor, and would be well deserved. 4

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MICHAELCORPTHUG • 9 hours ago

I want to see this Movie now! • Reply • Share ›

SmotheredHope • 9 hours ago

Johhny Depp always nails these roles whether it's Dillinger, the dude from Blow or Donnie Brasco. more of this, less Willy Wonka and POTC! • Reply • Share ›

Guest • 9 hours ago

It's good he says that Johnny captured Whitey well, because as an actor in a movie he did an amazing job, so it's good to know that it wasn't only a performance but that in fact he got Bulger as he was 1

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Jamie • 9 hours ago

The movie was friggin creepy as any horror movie I have seen in a long time. Depps portrayal was just...no other word for it but CREEPY. Great movie 1

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Tom_ BradyIsABigotSupporter > Jamie • 6 hours ago

The most chilling moment was when Whitey was "face raping" (The director's words not mine) Connolly's wife 2

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Jamie > Tom_ BradyIsABigotSupporter • 3 hours ago

YESSSSSSSSSSSS I just... I was literally SHAKING, squeezing my boyfriends leg! I had chills. It was truly disturbing and they BOTH played it amazing. I had no idea how far he was going to take it and just doing that and looking her up and down was truly terrifying. Telling her she was embarrassing her husband...OMG. • Reply • Share ›

Lexi • 10 hours ago

No matter the physical transformation for a role, sexy Johnny always shines through... • Reply • Share ›

ApMillz-CT • 10 hours ago

Depp did such a awesome job as "Whitey" I mean JD can play Oscar the Grouch and it would be great. HE'S A GREAT ACTOR! 2

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Mike • 10 hours ago

Like a deadly animal that was walking freely amongst us. Thankfully this type of person can no longer hurt another innocent victim. 1

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‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 12 Spoilers: 6 Things To Know Before The Sept. 24 Premiere By Megan Schaefer on September 23 2015 1:04 PM EDT 30

Maggie (Kelly McCreary) will find herself facing demons from her past in the Season 12 premiere of "Grey's Anatomy." ABC

Get ready to call dibs on the remote control, because your favorite ABC series “Grey’s Anatomy” is about to return with more juicy hospital drama in its Season 12 premiere Thursday. And we can assure you, you won’t want to miss what Shonda Rhimes, the mastermind behind the medical show, has up her sleeve for this installment. With that said, check out what Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital gang will be up to be when “Grey’s Anatomy” hits the small screen this fall: 1. Episode 1’s Medical Storyline The medical drama featured in episode 1, titled “Sledgehammer,” will center on bullying. “Grey Sloan Memorial springs into action to save the lives of two young girls whose powerful story will force some of the doctors to revisit the effects of bullying on their own pasts,” the synopsis reveals. Based on the premiere’s promotional video, it looks like the medical case will strike a personal chord with Maggie Pierce converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

(Kelly McCreary).

2. Meredith Gets New Roommates Mer will leave her McMansion (the home where she previously resided with her late husband) and move into her mother’s former house along with her two sisters, Maggie and Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone). Although Rhimes said their new living arrangements will be “funny,” it will also be a struggle for Mer who will have to “adjust to changes at home” with her new roomies. “Those three women are very different and don’t have very much in common, which is fantastic,” the showrunner dished to the Hollywood Reporter. 3. The Fight For Chief of Surgery Continues In the Season 11 finale, Catherine Avery (Debbie Allen) and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) came to the decision that Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) would have to go head-to-head with another candidate for the coveted position of chief. And it looks like Bailey’s competition will be played by none other than the “Chasing Amy” star Joey Lauren Adams. “We’re going to watch Bailey make a play for chief,” Rhimes told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re going to see what it means if she does or doesn’t get it, and we’re going to watch her struggle with growing up in that sense.” Adams will make her debut on the series during the Season 12 premiere.

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Fans will be introduced to Joey Lauren Adam's character (center) in the Season 12 premiere of "Grey's Anatomy." ABC

4. Time Jump When Season 12 begins, three months will have passed since Catherine and Richard had their wedding. The biggest reason for the time jump was to give Meredith enough time to grieve over the loss of Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) so that she could be fully present in the new installment. This will allow the new season to have a “lighter tone” in the wake of McDreamy’s heartbreaking demise. 5. New Romances For Callie and Arizona Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) will find themselves in “exciting” new romances, Rhimes dished during the 2015 Television Critics Association summer press tour. 6. Trouble For Japril Will Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew) be able to rekindle their shattered relationship in Season 12 of “Grey’s Anatomy”? After the gut-wrenching death of their child, April found solace in the military. However, Jackson felt like his wife had abandoned him, leaving him alone as she sailed overseas to partake in a new adventure. He then left her with an ultimatum in the Season 11 finale that if she was to return to the army, then he wouldn’t be waiting around when she came back. Rhimes divulged that April did decide to pack her bags for Jordan, which will put Japril’s relationship in a “difficult spot.” “April’s really changed, and she’s really done this thing that’s not necessarily the best thing for their marriage, and Jackson’s not happy about it. Does that mean it’s over? And does she accept that it’s over?” Rhimes said during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Fans will find out when April makes her return to Seattle in the Season 12 premiere episode of “Grey’s converted by Web2PDFConvert.com

Anatomy,” which is set to air on ABC Thursday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. EDT. Submit Correction