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In the upcoming episode of “Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color,” viewers are in for an intense and gripping watch. Titled “Battle of the Bulge,” the episode focuses on the heroic actions of the Black Panthers, an elite tank unit, as they bravely push back Hitler’s final advance during World War II. This installment promises to be a thrilling look at the courage and determination of these unsung heroes.

Set to air at 10:00 Pm on Monday, June 10, 2024, on National Geographic, this episode of “Erased” is sure to captivate audiences with its powerful storytelling and historical significance. As the Black Panthers face incredible odds on the battlefield, viewers will witness their unwavering resolve and the sacrifices they make to protect their fellow soldiers and fight against tyranny.

With its focus on a lesser-known aspect of history, “Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color” sheds light on the contributions of diverse groups during a pivotal moment in time.

Stars: Karen Black, Kevin Lloyd, Christine Burke, Robyn Hussa, Roger Galloway, Toni Covington, Joseph Campanella, David Burnell Smith, Jim Flynn | Written by Philip Yordan | Directed by John Carr

Jack is a young wanderer with a turbulent past who arrives at La Paloma, the cinema of his Aunt Ruth, the closest relative he has since the death of his mother, in the hope of a bed for a few nights. But in the city there is a serial killer who dances tango with his victims before strangling them and police start to suspect that Jack is in some way involved with the murders. His aunt and Julie, a girl who got a job in the cinema thanks to him, also begin to doubt his innocence…

Do you know what I like about the current state of physical media? All the boutique labels that have emerged, all fighting for the attention of...

I must have at least 7 home video releases of John Sturges’ classic, starting from VHS, but they’ve come up with a good reason to return: a 4K transfer with color and contrast grading that to me better represents the movie. The thrilling, not-too-violent escapades of Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, David McCallum, James Coburn, Charles Bronson & James Donald are no longer timed so that everything looks like a washed-out high noon: both the 4th of July and much of the mad-dash escape scramble are meant to take place near the crack of dawn. In this case ‘Much darker’ is much richer; faces don’t get blown out. And I do see more detail in the enhanced image. So here we go again, happily.

The Great Escape 4K

4K Ultra HD

Kl Studio Classics

1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 172 min. / Street Date January 11, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95

Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner,...

Predator 2 was a pretty strange movie. Transporting the alien hunter into the urban jungle was a logical step for a sequel, but the bizarre voodoo subplot, replacing Arnie with Danny Glover and the addition of Gary Busey resulted in a rather confused and ambling cinematic experience. Critics and fans agreed, too, with the film failing to meet box office expectations and suffering vicious reviews.

This makes it all the more frustrating to hear screenwriter Jim Thomas explain the initial plans for the project, revealing the following:

“We had an idea where at the end [of Predator], with the burned up clearing where the explosion happens. Predator 2 pens there. Predator’s invisible feet come into view and a hand plunges down into the dust, into the ashes, and brings up the Predator’s arm and then activates the computer and gets a readout to see everything that had happened up to that time,...

Donald Malarkey, a World War II veteran portrayed by Scott Grimes in the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, has died, reported the Associated Press. He was 96.

Malarkey died on Saturday in Salem, Oregon, of age-related causes, his son-in-law told the AP.

As a paratrooper, Malarkey was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroics on D-Day in 1944, according to the AP. He parachuted behind enemy lines at Normandy, destroying German artillery.

He was a member of the Easy Company — the Army company profiled in the 2001 American war drama — with whom he fought in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

After serving in the war,...

Sneak Peek footage, plus images from Sledgehammer Games' "Call of Duty: WWII", available November 3, 2017:

"...'Private Red Daniels', a young recruit in the 'Us First Infantry Division' experiences combat for the first time on 'D-Day'...

"...during one of the largest amphibious assaults in history. 

"After surviving the beaches of 'Normandy', Red and his squad will fight their way across Europe, engaging the enemy in iconic battle locations...

"...including the 'Hürtgen Forest' and the 'Battle of the Bulge', as they make their way into Germany and confront supernatural horrors..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Call of Duty: WWII"...

‘Things Blowing Up Good’ has been surefire entertainment since the beginning of cinema, but this ill-fated Cinerama extravaganza about the biggest explosion in recorded human history limps along despite some pretty darned impressive volcanic effects. It’s quite an entertaining spectacle, with various good performers in three soap opera plots, either overacting or loitering about with nothing to do. And don’t forget the from-left-field musical striptease.

Krakatoa East of Java

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Maximilian Schell, Diane Baker, Brian Keith, Barbara Werle, Sal Mineo, Rossano Brazzi, John Leyton, J.D. Cannon, Jacqueline (Jacqui) Chan, Victoria Young, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Holder, Niall MacGinnis, Sumi Haru.

Cinematography: Manuel Berenguer

Film Editors: Walter Hannemann, Warren Low, Maurice Rootes

Production Design: Eugèné Lourié

Costumes: Laure Lourié

Special Effects: Eugèné Lourié, Alex Weldon, Francisco Prósper

Original Music: Frank De Vol

Written by Clifford Newton Gould,...

Going...going....

Last Remaining Copies.

Cinema Retro proudly presents this year's Movie Classics 80-page special issue: "World War II Movies of the Sixties", showcasing films that only Cinema Retro would cover in-depth. Some are true classics, others are simply vastly entertaining- and all are celebrated through rare production photos, international marketing campaigns, then-and-now location photos and little-known facts. 

Films covered in this issue:

The Guns of Navarone - Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven Battle of the Bulge- Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan Anzio- Robert Mitchum, Peter Falk The Victors- George Peppard, Eli Wallach, George Hamilton The Train- Burt Lancaster, Jeanne Moreau Tobruk-Rock Hudson, George Peppard, Nigel Davenport Hannibal Brooks- Oliver Reed, Michael J. Pollard The Devil's Brigade- William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards Von Ryan's Express- Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard Operation Crossbow- George Peppard, Sophia Loren, Richard Johnson Is Paris Burning?...

The cast of Broadway's hit musical Bandstand - the only musical to depict the World War II veteran experience on Broadway - welcomed 'America's Longest Working Rosie the Riveter,' 97-year-old Elinor Otto, and 93-year-old Luke Gasparre, decorated Battle of the Bulge Purple Heart recipient in his original service uniform, to the Broadway stage on Friday evening. Following the performance curtain call, Bandstand star Corey Cott invited them to join the Broadway company for a special salute and bow. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos from the visit below...

Charles Bronson plays a real-life Mafiosi in a period picture with a fine script, some good performances and a production so sloppy that the whole thing could be called The Anachronism Papers. Joseph Wiseman and Lino Ventura bring additional tough-guy star-power, and Bronson actually commits himself to the role — quite a change of pace for one of his later pictures.

The Valachi Papers

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 125 min. / Street Date June 13, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Charles Bronson, Lino Ventura, Jill Ireland, Walter Chiari, Joseph Wiseman, Gerald S. O’Loughlin, Amedeo Nazzari, Fausto Tozzi, Pupella Maggio, Angelo Infanti, Guido Leontini.

Cinematography: Aldo Tonti

Film Editor: Johnny Dwyre, Monica Finzi

Original Music: Riz Ortolani, Armando Trovajoli

Written by Stephen Geller from the novel by Peter Maas

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis, Roger Duchet

Directed by Terence Young

In 2001 I received the plum assignment of editing a...

When Warner Bros. releases Christopher Nolan’s WWII epic “Dunkirk,” audiences will have a chance to see it in the same format as classics like “Battle of the Bulge” and “Patton”: in 70mm film. In addition to digital and IMAX releases, “Dunkirk” will be given a wide release in traditional 35mm and 70mm film formats, making it the widest 70mm format release in 25 years. Film buffs often champion 70mm for its crisper image and wider presentation, allowing cinematographers to film expansive vistas that give movies a larger-than-life feel. From the late 1950s to the mid-70s, films like “Ben-Hur” and “Lawrence of.

Author: Competitions

To mark the release of The Battle of the Bulge on 5th June, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

Five months after D-Day, most American soldiers think the German army is broken. The Germans think otherwise. In order to buy time to fill the skies with their invincible new jets, they launch one furious offensive.

For this epic recreation of one of World War II’s most crucial confrontations, director Ken Annakin (The Longest Day) captures the explosive action of massive forces squaring off and the individual ingenuity of weary GIs trying to survive a cruel winter. The cast is a starry juggernaut: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and more.

Experience the vast panorama of war in all its intensity — and all its heroism.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Small...

Battleground

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Don Taylor, James Whitmore, Douglas Fowley, Leon Ames, Guy Anderson, Denise Darcel, Richard Jaeckel, James Arness

Cinematography: Paul Vogel

Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters

Film Editor: John D. Dunning

Original Music: Lennie Hayton

Written by: Robert Pirosh

Produced by: Dore Schary

Directed by William A. Wellman

“The Guts, Gags and Glory of a Lot of Wonderful Guys!”

— say, what kind of movie is this, anyway?

Action movies about combat are now mostly about soldiers that fight like killing machines, or stories of battle with a strong political axe to grind. WW2 changed perceptions completely, when a mostly civilian army did the fighting. With the cessation of hostilities combat pictures tapered off quickly, and Hollywood gave the subject a break for several years.

Rishi Sharma has made it his mission to conduct commemorative in-depth interviews with WWII combat veterans. He’s stopping at nothing on his quest to meet as many of the 620,000 remaining men as he can — and with most vets in their 90s, the 19-year-old knows time is not on his side.

“This is my sole mission in life, I’m just focused on getting to as many men as I can,” he tells People as he hurries to his next interview with 95-year-old Bill Gerard, who served as a machinist’s mate in the Army.

Sharma, a Southern California high...

A major talent of the New German Cinema finds his footing out on the open highway, in a trio of intensely creative pictures that capture the pace and feel of living off the beaten path. All three star Rüdiger Vogler, an actor who could be director Wim Wenders' alter ego. Wim Wenders' The Road Trilogy Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 813 1974-1976 / B&W and Color / 1:66 widescreen / 113, 104, 176 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 30, 2016 / 99.95 Starring Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Yetta Rottländer; Hannah Schygulla, Nasstasja Kinski, Hans Christian Blech, Ivan Desny; Robert Zischler. Cinematography Robby Müller, Martin Schäfer Film Editor Peter Przygodda, Barbara von Weltershausen Original Music Can, Jürgen Knieper, Axel Linstädt. Directed by Wim Wenders

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This morning I 'fessed up to never having seen David Lynch's Lost Highway. Now I get to say that until now I've never seen Wim Wenders'...

In a casting move that can be described as boy band meets Battle of the Bulge, One Direction member Harry Styles will be joining the production of Christopher Nolan's WWII action thriller project Dunkirk. There was an extensive search to find the film's young leads. Along with Styles, English actors Jack Lowden and Aneurin Barnard are in talks to board epic production. Newcomer Fionn Whitehead has been cast in what could best be described as the lead role of the project but sources say the script is ensemble in nature.   The Warner Bros. film centers on the British military evacuation of the

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The world's favorite nononegarian lovebird is back home! D-Day veteran Norwood Thomas, 93, has returned to Virginia after a whirlwind reunion Down Under with the 88-year-old sweetheart he last saw 70 years ago in wartime London. "It was wonderful," Norwood tells People about reconnecting with Joyce Durrant for Valentine's Day in Adelaide, Australia. Acknowledging that he's now "tired, but getting over it," he says,"I don't know how it could have been better." Adds Norwood: "Seeing Joyce was the highlight of the trip." The couple, who found each other over the Internet last fall, reunited in person thanks to the generosity of...

The world's favorite nononegarian lovebird is back home! D-Day veteran Norwood Thomas, 93, has returned to Virginia after a whirlwind reunion Down Under with the 88-year-old sweetheart he last saw 70 years ago in wartime London. "It was wonderful," Norwood tells People about reconnecting with Joyce Durrant for Valentine's Day in Adelaide, Australia. Acknowledging that he's now "tired, but getting over it," he says,"I don't know how it could have been better." Adds Norwood: "Seeing Joyce was the highlight of the trip." The couple, who found each other over the Internet last fall, reunited in person thanks to the generosity of...

Where was Leonard Pinth Garnell when we needed him?  Joseph Losey is often accused of pretension but in this case he may be guilty. Robert Shaw and Malcolm McDowell are escapees scrambling across a rocky terrain, pursued by a helicopter that seems satisfied to just harass them. Keeping the audience in the dark doesn't reap any dramatic or thematic benefit that I can see. Figures in a Landscape Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date January 12, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Robert Shaw, Malcolm McDowell, Roger Lloyd Pack, Pamela Brown. Cinematography Henri Alekan, Peter Suschitzky, Guy Tabary Film Editor Reginald Beck Art Direction Ted Tester Original Music Richard Rodney Bennett Written by Robert Shaw from the novel by Barry England Produced by John Kohn Directed by Joseph Losey

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Joseph Losey is a gold mine for film criticism but a real problem for simple film reviewing.

The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that Academy Award® winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming feature The Hateful Eight, will premiere in 70mm on December 25, 2015exclusively for a 1-week roadshow opening that will be featured in glorious 70mm in 100 theaters nationwide. Following the 1-week engagement, the film will open with a theatrical digital release nationwide on December 31, 2015, while continuing to be shown in 70mm as well. The film premieres tonight in New York in 70mm at the Ziegfeld theater.

Starting today, moviegoers can purchase tickets for the 70mm roadshow showings at tickets.thehatefuleight.com. To mark the occasion, Quentin and TWC are commemorating the opening with the “12 Days of Hateful Eight Giveaways”, where each day a different Hateful Eight prize, memorabilia or once-in-a-lifetime experience will be given away to moviegoers who buy roadshow tickets in advance leading up to the Christmas day opening.

The exclusive roadshow engagement that...

The Weinstein Company announced today that Academy Award winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming feature The Hateful Eight, will premiere in 70mm on December 25, 2015 exclusively for a 1-week roadshow opening that will be featured in glorious 70mm in 100 theaters nationwide. Following the 1-week engagement, the film will open with a theatrical digital release nationwide on December 31, 2015, while continuing to be shown in 70mm as well. The film premieres tonight in New York in 70mm at the Ziegfeld theater.

Starting today, moviegoers can purchase tickets for the 70mm roadshow showings at tickets.thehatefuleight.com.

To mark the occasion, Quentin and TWC are commemorating the opening with the “12 Days of Hateful Eight Giveaways”, where each day a different Hateful Eight prize, memorabilia or once-in-a-lifetime experience will be given away to moviegoers who buy roadshow tickets in advance leading up to the Christmas day opening.

The exclusive roadshow engagement that The Hateful Eight...

Doing things his way has often meant Quentin Tarantino doing the things his revered filmmaking forebears did back in the day. Things that have been mothballed by modern studios with their obsession with 3D, eye on new markets and digital tech. Things like giving their new movie a Us roadshow theatrical release on Christmas day, complete with 70mm projection, interval and prelude music. Samuel L. Jackson, absent with filming commitments but appearing via the magic of pre-record, revealed that, like in the days of Spartacus, El Cid and Battle Of The Bulge, The Hateful Eight will be released in the most spectacular format possible. Continuing that sense of movie heritage was news that the great Ennio Morricone will be scoring the film, his first Western score in four decades.So it was that Hall H found itself treated to The Hateful Eight panel that was part footage premiere, part history lesson.

Morning show hosts reacted Thursday to the brewing controversy surrounding NBC “Nightly News” host Brian Williams admitting he was not on a Iraqi helicopter forced down by RPG fire during the initial 2003 invasion in Iraq. “That’s embarrassing,” Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy said. “So if you hear Brian Williams that he was in the Battle of the Bulge, he’s talking about a diet,” Doocy joked at Williams’ expense. Also Read: Brian Williams Apologizes for False Iraq Story Claiming He Was on Helicopter Forced Down by RPG Fire Williams has told the story of he and his crew being on a.

Moviegoers can finally enjoy a film with a genuine hero who served his country and fought in a righteous war

The New England Patriots spent this past weekend earning a spot in the Super Bowl. But many more patriots went to the movies and propelled “American Sniper” to a record-setting January box office weekend.

In doing so, they officially declared war against the likes of Michael Moore, Seth Rogen and so many liberal, peace loving, pot-smoking A-listers and Hollywood suits who, since the 1970s, have had an ambivalent, if not disdainful relationship with war movies in general, and American patriotism in particular.

Veteran broadcaster Tom Brokaw revealed Sunday that his cancer is in remission.

“A year ago my future was more uncertain than I cared to acknowledge but now I face the New Year with very encouraging news,” Brokaw, who anchored the “NBC Nightly News” from 1982 to 2004, wrote in a note to NBC News staff.

Brokaw, 74, revealed in February that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that attacks bone marrow.

Also Read: Meryl Streep, Tom Brokaw, Stevie Wonder to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Brokaw, who remains an NBC News special correspondent, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November.

In February, Tom Brokaw revealed that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August of 2013 and was undergoing treatment. Sunday morning, the 74-year-old NBC News special correspondent and former anchor of NBC Nightly News released a statement announcing that his cancer was in remission. "A year ago my future was more uncertain than I cared to acknowledge but now I face the New Year with very encouraging news," Brokaw wrote in a statement released by NBC. "The cancer is in remission and I will shortly go on a drug maintenance regimen to keep it there." Brokaw continued, writing, "Last...

In February, Tom Brokaw revealed that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in August of 2013 and was undergoing treatment. Sunday morning, the 74-year-old NBC News special correspondent and former anchor of NBC Nightly News released a statement announcing that his cancer was in remission. "A year ago my future was more uncertain than I cared to acknowledge but now I face the New Year with very encouraging news," Brokaw wrote in a statement released by NBC. "The cancer is in remission and I will shortly go on a drug maintenance regimen to keep it there." Brokaw continued, writing, "Last...

Tom Brokaw had some good news to share on Sunday morning, telling his NBC News colleagues that his multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting blood cells in the bone marrow, is in remission. "The cancer is in remission and I will shortly go on a drug maintenance regimen to keep it there," Brokaw wrote in a note to his "NBC family." He kept his remarks about the disease brief, saying that he was reminded last weekend that whatever challenges he faced didn't compare to those who served in the military during the Battle of the Bulge. Brokaw, who served

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Like thousands of other young men in the 1940s, Rupert Starr joined the Army, fought overseas and saw his share of hardship, including several weeks as a German prisoner of war. He returned to Ohio with a Bronze Star for heroism and a secret. Not until his service as a military man was needed once again - this time as an activist against the Pentagon's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy - did Starr, who is gay, slowly step out of the closet. Now 92 and still on the go, Starr - known universally by his family nickname "Twink" - is unabashed...

Director David Ayer’s gripping World War 2 film, Fury, is now in cinemas and took in $23.5M at the box office to claim the #1 spot this weekend.

Over the course of 24 fateful hours, five men of the Sherman Tank “Fury” – Wardaddy, the commander; Boyd Swan, the gunner; Grady Travis, the loader; Trini Garcia, the driver; and Norman, the assistant driver – take on 300 enemy German troops in a desperate battle for survival. Ayer’s movie resonates with common themes of brotherly love, friendship, and trust.

The closing night film at the BFI London Film Festival, Sony Pictures’ Fury stars Brad Pitt, Shia Labeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, Jon Bernthal, Jason Isaacs, and Scott Eastwood. Fury opens in UK cinemas on October 22.

The creative behind the scenes artists are cinematographer Roman Vasyanov, production designer Andrew Menzies, film editors Dody Dorn, Ace and Jay Cassidy, Ace, costume designer Owen Thornton, and composer Steven Price.

On October 17, director David Ayer’s film Fury opens in theaters. For many whose fathers and grandfathers served during World War II over in Europe, this movie will undoubtedly take on a very personal meaning.

Sony Pictures has released six powerful new clips and photos from the movie.

Fury takes place in late-war Germany, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.

“The war’s almost over and this dying elephant – the Nazi empire – is on its last legs,” Ayer explains. “It’s a different world from your usual war movie, where we...

Review by Sam Moffitt

With Memorial Day, Fourth of July and most importantly, another June 6th, (the 70th anniversary of the landing in Normandy called Operation Overlord but always referred to as D-Day) approaching, I thought it appropriate to shine a light on one of the greatest war movies ever made, if not the greatest, which details the invasion of Europe, step by step; Darryl F Zanuck’s super production The Longest Day.

Firstly I have to say, as I’ve said before, I am against war, being a practicing Nicheren Buddhist , a member of the Soka Gakkai International, I do not believe war is necessary. But even before taking up the practice of Buddhism I have questioned every war the United States has become involved in since Vietnam. Yet I also served four years in the Us Navy, in peacetime, true, but I did serve my time and was honorably discharged.

William "Wild Bill" Guarnere, one of the World War II veterans whose exploits were dramatized in the TV miniseries Band of Brothers, has died. He was 90. His son, William Guarnere Jr., confirmed Sunday that his father died at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Guarnere was rushed to the hospital early Saturday and died of a ruptured aneurysm early Saturday night. "He had a good, long life," his son said. The HBO miniseries, based on a book by Stephen Ambrose, followed the members of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from training in Georgia in 1942 through some of the war's...

Review Robert Keeling 3 Mar 2014 - 06:58

Rob's daily Band Of Brothers look-back comes to one of the series' most powerful and striking episodes...

Read the previous part in this series, here.

The events depicted in this episode take place during the bloody Battle of the Bulge, a last-ditch German offensive in the Ardennes forest which caught Allied forces by surprise and proved to be the deadliest battle of the war for the United States Army. For me, this is one of the most powerful and striking episodes of the entire series. In Bastogne, we find Easy Company facing some truly terrible conditions and struggling against the odds to hold their position. At the outset, the real Easy veterans remind us that they were lacking in equipment and ammo, couldn’t get resupplied and the German forces had them zeroed in

Upon entering Bastogne, Easy Company had no winter clothes, next to no food,...

Review Robert Keeling 28 Feb 2014 - 06:15

Rob's daily Band Of Brothers look-back reaches the half-way point with Tom Hanks-directed episode, Crossroads...

Read the previous part in this series, here.

Crossroads is another episode with Dick Winters as the focal point and it starts off with the real men of Easy telling us just what a great leader and model soldier he was. They are all quick to point out that he was never shy about leading from the front and when he was Easy’s commander, he was always the first man into battle.

The episode itself plays out partly in flashback as Winters, now in effective Battalion command, sets about writing up his numerous reports on the recent events that have effected Easy. It’s clear throughout this episode that while Dick is proud and content to be a high ranking officer, he misses the camaraderie and closeness...

Feature Robert Keeling 24 Feb 2014 - 07:00

Over the next fortnight, we revisit each episode of HBO's superlative war drama, Band Of Brothers. Here's Rob's look at the series opener...

It’s been over twelve years since the ten-part miniseries Band Of Brothers first aired and it remains an incredibly visceral and evocative piece of war drama. Over the course of its ten episodes, the series allows us to become immersed in the difficult and often terrifying experiences the men of Easy Company faced during World War Two and brings into sharp focus the brutal and horrific reality of armed conflict.

The series traces its roots back to American historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s book of the same name. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers was an insightful piece of military history focusing on one specific cog in the wider military machine of World War Two. That crucial cog was Easy Company,...

George Clooney's epic about second world war art theft gets the true story of these art sleuths right, but needs to be liberated from too much material and a wayward plot

• George Clooney calls for Mona Lisa to be returned to Italy

Monuments Men (2014)

Director: George Clooney

Entertainment grade: C

History grade: B

The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives programme was a group of men and women in the Allied armies who protected and preserved treasures during the second world war, and later found and returned art stolen by the Nazis.

Art

It's March 1943. Belgian monks hide their altarpieces, a swastika flag flutters in front of the Eiffel Tower, and Adolf Hitler is pilfering art from all over Europe to build a collection for his planned Führermuseum. Meanwhile, in the Us, museum curator Frank Stokes (George Clooney) tries to persuade American commanders that European art is worth saving. "This is Da Vinci's Last Supper,...

When my friend jokingly asked before our screening of The Monuments Men if this would be like an Ocean's Eleven part 4, she wasn't far off. Actor/director George Clooney assembles a cast of heavy-hitters for this World War II dramedy and only barely taps into their talent. I have a feeling the actors were having a better time chumming around together off the lot than we did watching the resulting movie.

Clooney's film is based on a group of men past conscription age -- art historians, architects and art directors -- who volunteer to go to Europe to save important works of Western art from Nazi capture or destruction. The characters all have names, but with the lack of any real character introduction or development, good luck remembering them. I could only keep the people straight by recognizing the actors involved. 

John Goodman and Bill Murray play architects, Bob Balaban...

The Monuments Men

Written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov

Directed by George Clooney

USA and Germany, 2014

The high-school history teachers of the world, or at least of the United States, can breathe easy, because they’ll have a new movie to add to their collections soon enough. Right before exam week, they can pop in The Monuments Men, a dull and flat period piece that takes a genuinely interesting nugget of a premise based on a true story and sands it down to a nub, removing all trace of personality within. Because the film’s co-writer and director, George Clooney, has assembled an all-star lineup with which to surround himself, The Monuments Men is not an entirely wasted affair, but it is absolutely a disappointing one.

Clooney plays Frank Stokes, an art professor who pleads his case to President Roosevelt in the middle of World War II, about the...

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Germans_in_Stalingrad.jpg

World War II was the single most brutal and destructive conflict in human history. It not only changed the map of the world and led to an era of mutual hostility, but it also was the battleground for some of the most horrifying and cruel battles of all time. Whether the European, Asian or Mediterranean theater, millions were killed in operations and defenses which, whilst proving either tactically superior or inferior, were costly in terms of humans lives.

Some battles were worse than others, however, and have remained in the memories of those involved (and who survived) for years since. They have also, more often than not, proved to be crucial in determining the outcome of the conflict. They also demonstrated how little remorse or care was shown to both soldiers and civilians.

This list will try to show how brutal...

John S. D. Eisenhower, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's son and renowned military historian, died at his Maryland home on Saturday. He was 91.

John Eisenhower Dies

Eisenhower’s death was announced by his family, reported The New York Times. He had been the oldest surviving child of a former president of the United States.

“He grew up the son of an American hero, but emerged a great American in his own right — a brave soldier who served in World War II, the Korean War, and ultimately retired with the rank of Brigadier General, an accomplished writer and historian, a talented diplomat,” wrote President Barack Obama in a statement. “His was a big and quintessentially American life —one of patriotism and character, learning and teaching, and a deep and abiding sense of service to his country."

Eisenhower had followed in his father’s military footsteps, serving as an officer in the...

The Hollywood Reporter has started releasing their fantastic awards season roundtable interviews and today comes their screenwriters edition, which includes John Ridley (12 Years A Slave), Danny Strong (Lee Daniels' The Butler), Julie Delpy (Before Midnight), Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said) and Jonas Cuaron (Gravity) along with George Clooney and Grant Heslov for The Monuments Men, even though that film was recently pushed into 2014 although having them along for the ride certainly proves worth it. As they run the gamut of topics the one that gets the most attention is the line between fact and fiction, beginning with Strong's screenplay for The Butler, which I already got into the facts of the matter earlier this year. Cuaron is asked about those that question that accuracy of Gravity and Ridley is questioned about 12 Years a Slave, but it's Clooney that really gets passionate about the subject. After Strong gives his answer regarding the changes to The Butler,...

Like Bryan Singer over at X-Towers, David Ayer is a director who likes to take a refreshingly lo-fi approach to publicising his movie, with Twitter and Instagram to the fore. Fury, a World War 2 tank movie that's got us dusting off our old copies of Kelly's Heroes and Battle Of The Bulge, is taking shape on Ayer's Twitter feed. Here's a new batch of stills showing the titular Sherman and its crew of battle-weary tankmen in action on location in Oxfordshire. Written and directed by Training Day scribe Ayer, Fury is an intriguing departure from his previous, more urban terrain. His handheld cop thriller End Of Watch, depicting Los Angeles as an urban battleground, was a highlight of 2012. We're looking forward to seeing what he does with a bigger budget and more toys.Brad Pitt stars as an Us Army sergeant nicknamed Wardaddy, commanding a five-man beast of a vehicle...

Sneak Peek more footage from The Weinstein Company documentary production of director Shane Salerno’s "Salinger", that "...contains an unprecedented amount of unseen footage, photographs and biographical information on the 'notoriously' reclusive 'Catcher in the Rye' author..."

The trailer opens with a photographer apparently stalking the late author outside a post office, waiting in his car for a 'good shot' with a long telephoto lens mounted on a camera, hoping to "get" the reclusive author, who valued his privacy above all other concerns and requested others to respect that as well.

Neverthless, the TWC release quotes Jonathan Karp, President and Publisher at Simon & Schuster (who will release a companion book "The Private War Of J.D. Salinger", written by Salerno and David Shields, September 3, 2013) demanding respect from anyone who has seen an advance screening of the film, or read the book, stating, "There are two kinds of people in the world – blabbermouths and confidants.

This documentary portrait of the reclusive Catcher in the Rye author manages to come up with some interesting new titbits, but doesn't radically change our view of the author

• Five new Salinger books on the way

• Read Tom Shone on summer blockbusters

"If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies," declared Holden Caulfield. Not so his creator who nursed youthful dreams of being an actor and liked nothing better, later in life, than to curl up in front of John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, or his personal favourite Frank Capra's Lost Horizon, in which Ronald Colman crash-lands in the Himalayas and stumbles across the secret of eternal youth. The perfect Salinger combination: enlightenment plus milkshake.

That the famously retiring author was engaged in a lifelong pursuit of the same, whether in his work or with women, is the contention of a new documentary,...

Sneak Peek the first trailer from The Weinstein Company documentary production of director Shane Salerno’s "Salinger", that "...contains an unprecedented amount of unseen footage, photographs and biographical information on the 'notoriously' reclusive 'Catcher in the Rye' author..."

The trailer opens with one of the film-makers apparently stalking the late author outside a post office, waiting in his car for a 'good shot' with a long telephoto lense mounted on a camera, hoping to "get" the reclusive author, who valued his privacy above all other concerns and requested others to respect that as well.

Neverthless, the TWC release quotes Jonathan Karp, President and Publisher at Simon & Schuster (who will release a companion book "The Private War Of J.D. Salinger", written by Salerno and David Shields, September 3, 2013) demanding respect from anyone who has seen an advance screening of the film, or read the book, stating, "There are two kinds of people...

At first glance, George Clooney’s credits as a writer-director — Good Night, and Good Luck., The Ides of March — and a producer —- Syriana, The American, Argo, etc. — don’t seem to have much in common, except a political edge and a sheen of old-Hollywood class. But in 2011, when Clooney was trying to find his next project with his writing and producing partner Grant Heslov, he picked out a subtle trend in his own work that he was eager to buck.

“I said, ‘You know, we tend to do a lot of cynical projects, and it would really be nice...

Tonight on MasterChef: The last person you’d think gets squeezed out of the top 10 like a spare macaron (look, I finally spelled it correctly, if we’re being all French about it) atop an overstuffed cookie box. Plus: Eva Longoria, the judges in wetsuits, a home cook who has Never Prepared Chicken, and a bully ready to rumble. Spoilers ahead!

Eliminated: Sweat Rag Lynn and Surprise Real Contestant Savannah

“Tonight it’s an A-list Mystery Box.” Maybe it’s a big cow, offered Savannah, a random woman they’d found on the street. Not exactly — it was actress Eva Longoria,...

Guillermo del Toro needs to stop toying with my emotions. Every five seconds I hear about a new, awesome film he wants to make and I have this terrifying feeling that he’ll never get around to it. I still hold out hope for someday seeing At The Mountains Of Madness, but that’s been receding. Now we learn that del Toro plans at some point to film an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five. Oh, and he has Charlie Kaufman writing it.

Wait. Beg pardon? Charlie Kaufman, the guy behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is writing a script based on a Kurt Vonnegut novel? Apparently so. Del Toro recently mentioned the project to The Daily Telegraph, saying that he’d like to get the movie made:

The studio will make it when it”s my next movie, but how can I...

On 6 June 1944, the Allies landed at Normandy and began an arduous and brutal campaign to push back occupying German forces across the Rhine, bringing an end to the most infamous brutal totalitarian empire of the 20th century. The battles fought across France and the Low Countries, from Omaha Beach to the Battle of the Bulge, are recalled vividly.

The Fps genre is utterly drowning in WWII shooters to such an extent that some commenters have observed wryly that gamers ‘have now killed more German soldiers than the Red Army’. This illustrates an important truth: the Western Allies, for all their verve, valour and ultimate victory, were never threatened by more than (depending on the source) between one-fourth or one-fifth of the Wehrmacht (here referring to the entire military: principally the Heer (Army) and Luftwaffe). And by 1944, the latter was virtually wiped from the skies.

The vast majority of the troops...