I love me some damn dirty apes, and I’m not alone. Ever since the first Planet of the Apes movie in 1968, it’s been one of Hollywood’s most consistent (on a quality level) franchises. Think about it. Has there ever really been a lousy Planet of the Apes movie? Not really. Yet, it’s often unheralded when we talk about the great franchises. So, let’s look at the series as a whole, with this Planet of the Apes movies ranked list (from worst to best). And don’t worry – you’ll get to have your say tomorrow with a poll I’ll be publishing, so check back for that.

Planet of the Apes (2001)

Tim Burton’s remake of the original 1968 classic is a mixed bag. Mark Wahlberg was a little too green at this point in his career to make a captivating action hero, with him paling compared to Charlton Heston’s powerhouse performance in the original. The film itself is more than a little inconsistent, and I can see why it couldn’t launch a big new franchise for the studio, even if it did pretty well financially ($362 million worldwide). However, the makeup from Rick Baker is incredible, and the fact that it’s the last Apes movie to use the old, practical makeup FX instead of CGI makes it a must-see. Also, it’s one of Paul Giamatti’s favourite roles ever. 

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1972)

In the sixties and seventies, sequels were made differently. The general consensus was always that a sequel would make less money than its predecessor, so the budgets were lower. As the Planet of the Apes series went on at 20th Century Fox, the studio started pumping less and less money into them, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes had a minuscule budget, resulting in the cheapest-looking Apes film of all time. However, it still has Roddy McDowell acting his ass off in the culmination of the original Caesar trilogy. It also has a very eccentric supporting cast, with director John Huston and singer Paul Williams (The Phantom of the Paradise) turning up as Apes. Williams loved playing the part so much that he was known to turn up on talk shows wearing John Chambers’ makeup. Like all the other Apes movies, it made money for Fox, but rather than make an even cheaper sequel, they opted to spin the series off into a short-lived TV series they managed to get McDowell to return for. 

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

When Planet of the Apes was a smash hit, 20th Century Fox immediately committed to a sequel. But, as was the general thinking about sequels those days, it was not designed as an “A-feature” in the vein of the first film. That movie’s director, Franklin J. Schaffner, never considered returning, with him making the Oscar-winning Patton for the same studio instead. The budget was only a fraction of the first film’s, partly because the studio had suffered a series of costly flops. The result is a reasonably cheap-looking film, with TV actor James Franciscus taking over for Charlton Heston in the lead. However, they did manage to entice Heston back for an extended cameo, which allows the film to end on a provocatively gloomy note, making the movie worth watching. This is the only classic Apes movie that didn’t have Roddy McDowell in it, with him shooting another film while doing this – and his absence is sorely felt.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Wes Ball’s new entry into the Apes saga is half a great movie. It’s terrific when it focuses on Ape culture and the new characters, such as Owen Teague’s Noa. But, when it starts to emphasize the humans and tee up yet another interspecies war, it becomes more of a mixed bag. We already have a pretty good trilogy on that very topic, so it would be nice to see this potential new series heading in another direction.

Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971)

This one starts on a deceptively light note, with us seeing that Apes Zira (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) escaped the destruction of the planet of the apes (a future version of Earth) and have gone through a time warp that sends them back in time to 1973. Initially, they become celebrities, with the movie adopting a silly, sitcom-style tone, only to take a HARD left turn towards the finale, when it becomes a tragedy that expertly sets the stage for all the movies to come. 

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

In my review of Kingdom, I mentioned this movie being a mixed bag, and I was surprised at how upset some folks got with me in the comments, as this is almost universally beloved among fans of the series. I remember it getting more of a mixed reaction when it originally came out, and I stand by the idea that it’s a GOOD film, but the sequels are better. James Franco phones in his performance, but it doesn’t matter in the end because the movie wisely focuses on Andy Serkis as our new ape hero, Caesar. John Lithgow is excellent in this as Franco’s dementia-affected father, who becomes a surrogate parent to Caesar, leading to a heartbreaking conclusion.

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

The reboot trilogy ended with this all-out war film depicting how humans lost control of the planet due to their desire to re-establish dominance over the Apes. Some found the film overly self-serious and dark, but it brought the reboot trilogy to an operatic end and gave Serkis a platform to deliver (perhaps) his best mo-cap performance to date. Woody Harrelson also makes one of the most despicable human villains in the series (to date).

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

For me, this stands as the best entry in the reboot trilogy. It was Matt Reeves’ first time making a super large-scale blockbuster, and he does a better job than most other films in the series of juggling the screen time between humans and aes, with Gary Oldman playing the most sympathetic antagonist the series ever had. 

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

While Beneath and Escape the Planet of the Apes were hits, Fox continued slashing every subsequent instalment’s budget. Yet, the silver lining was that the movies were able to tackle riskier material, with director J. Lee Thompson and his writer Paul Dehn making the film a metaphor for fraught race relations in the U.S, with this very much informed by the battle for Civil Rights, the rise of the Black Panthers, and more. The film’s theatrical cut was toned down a bit by Fox, but if you watch it on Blu-ray, you’ll see the legit, uncompromised cut, with it standing as one of the more radical sci-fi films of the era.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Of course, no movie in the series can match Franklin J. Schaffer’s original entry, one of the best science fiction movies ever made. It’s a very influential film, with stunning makeup effects courtesy of John Chambers, a superb musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, and an iconic performance by the great Charlton Heston in the lead. It also has one of the most unhinged, disturbing endings of all time. As good as every other movie in the franchise is, this one is arguably the only true masterpiece of the series. That said, in my opinion, again, there’s never actually been a bad Planet of the Apes movie. 

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A few months ago, I wrote an article listing ten movies that – despite being well known – were difficult to find (legally) on any streaming service or even on disc. Those titles ranged from Ron Howard’s Cocoon to movies like Dawn of the Dead (the original). In the comments, many of our readers chimed in with their two cents on films they’ve found difficult to find over the years, so here are a few more challenging-to-find flicks, some of which may surprise you.

Panic Room:

The fact that David Fincher’s Panic Room has never been issued on Blu-ray blows me away. It’s been announced a few times, but a physical release never seems to happen (although you can stream it in HD pretty easily). What gives? You’d think the fact that it has Fincher’s name on it, and stars Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and was a massive hit (it made nearly $200 million) would have guaranteed it a Blu-ray release, but it never happened. Part of the reason may be due to it coming out in 2002, a few years before Blu-ray’s came onto the market, but given how well it sold on DVD for Sony, I’m at a loss as to why it’s never gotten a legit release in HD, much less 4K.

28 Days Later:

So this one got a Blu-ray release, but it’s since gone out of print. Unlike other movies on this list, there’s a good reason as Sony bought the rights to the film to make the upcoming sequel, 28 Years Later. Presumably, they’re planning to give this a big re-release, although given that it was shot on consumer-grade digital cameras, it’ll need a pretty heavy restoration, which might mess with how it looked originally. You can read more about its absence here.

Dogma:

Now, unlike other movies on this list, there’s a legitimate reason why Dogma is so hard to find, and it goes back to the complicated way it was initially released in 1999. Kevin Smith’s film was originally made for Miramax Films, but the company that Disney owned at the time became worried about the risk of releasing a film deemed blasphemous. So, the heads of Miramax, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, released the movie on their own (through Lionsgate), meaning they owned the rights to it. With Harvey Weinstein now in prison, the former mogul has been holding onto the rights in a vain attempt to do something with the property to raise money. With him no longer on speaking terms with his brother Bob and Kevin Smith vowing never to associate with them again, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a re-release unless the rights are somehow pried from the Weinstein Brothers’ control. 

Shoot to Kill:

The late, great Sidney Poitier stars this underrated action thriller from 1987. In it, he plays an FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer. He’s forced to chase his prey into the remote Pacific Northwest, where he’s infiltrated a hiking group led by a woman (Kirstie Alley) whose boyfriend (Tom Berenger) is an expert tracker. To save her, the agent and the tracker must team up (in classic mismatched buddy fashion) to track down the killer. What’s cool about this one is that all of the men on the hike with Alley are played by guys who have played villains (Clancy Brown, Richard Masur, and Andrew Robinson), so you never know who the killer is. This was a Touchstone Pictures release, so Disney owns the rights. It’s out on DVD but has never been issued on Blu-ray, and it’s unavailable on any of Disney’s streaming services (not even on Star in Canada – which has most Touchstone movies). Of all the movies on the list, this is the one I’m most eager to see get re-released, as it’s a total gem. It’s Sidney Poitier’s only real-deal action movie, and despite being in his sixties at the time, he did many of his own stunts. His chemistry with Berenger in this is also really good. 

The Devils:

Ken Russell’s infamous film has a long history that explains why it’s never been issued on disc in North America. It’s an X-rated, surreal account of a catholic priest (played by Oliver Reed) who burned at the stake as a witch due to the hysterical accusations of a lusty, hunchbacked, maniacal nun, played by Vanessa Redgrave. In the UK, this is more of a cult movie so that you can find it on disc. It occasionally shows up in the US on The Criterion Channel (it was streaming in February), but only in a dated transfer of the censored R-rated cut. Warner Bros, who owns the rights, has seemingly always been terrified of this film, but they won’t license it out either, despite interest from Criterion and other labels. 

The Cannonball Run:

You’d think that the third most popular film of 1981, and one that spawned two sequels, would be easier to find. If you grew up in the eighties, The Cannonball Run was everywhere, and the cast was jam-packed, including Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Farrah Fawcett, and even Jackie Chan. It’s about an illegal cross-country race and was a major blockbuster in its time. This one isn’t available because it was financed independently, while the sequels, which you can find, were not. One interesting thing about this movie is that Roger Moore plays a man who believes he’s…well…Roger Moore (or rather James Bond). EON Pictures were so upset that they included a clause in all future 007 contracts that actors could never wear a tuxedo in non-Bond projects while under contract. Moore himself had mixed feelings about the film, as one of the women who plays his companions in the movie, stuntwoman Heidi von Beltz, was left quadriplegic after a controversial accident during shooting. This is available on a DVD from HBO that was released in the 90s. 

Wired:

This controversial dramatization of Bob Woodward’s infamous account of John Belushi’s final days was roundly attacked by friends of the comedian back in 1989. Michael Chiklis plays Belushi in a performance that nearly ended his career – until he landed the lead in the series The Commish a few years later. Friends of Belushi’s took this movie so poorly that Dan Aykroyd had co-star JT Walsh blocked from a role in one of his movies years later. That said, the story has a happy ending as Chiklis, who’s gone on to a great career, ran into James Belushi, John’s brother, years later in a bar. He said the two had a drink and officially buried the hatchet after Chiklis apologized for taking a role in a movie that the family found hurtful. Of all the films on the list, maybe this is the only one that deserves the forced obscurity it’s found itself in, as its release serves no one. Also, it’s a bad movie. 

The post From Dogma to Panic Room: more hard-to-find movies (keep your DVDs) appeared first on JoBlo.

Recently, I wrote an article about how Ron Howard’s Cocoon was hard to find in any format. It came out on DVD many years ago but went out of print and has never been issued on Blu-ray. You also can’t find it digitally on any platform. This is a perfect example of why you should always hang on to your physical media, as I’m lucky enough to own the now out-of-print DVD of that movie, and while it’s far from an ideal copy, it’s something. 

But that got me thinking. What other movies are hard to find? I opened up the forum on Twitter, and I was shocked by how many prominent films aren’t available digitally and have gone out of print on disc, making them all the more precious for collectors. At the same time, there are some happy endings, such as Martin Campbell’s No Escape, which got a beautiful Blu-ray recently; too many of these films are caught up in legal limbo (or studio antipathy). 

Here are 10:

Cocoon: 

The one that started it all. How does a movie that won Don Ameche an Oscar and revitalized the careers of Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and the great Wilford Brimley go out of print? This is the movie that made Ron Howard an A-list director, and it was enough of a smash hit that it spawned a (pretty crappy) sequel, which, ironically, is very easy to find. What’s going on here? Disney may be working on a significant restoration, but it’s been gone for a long time.

Strange Days: 

Kathryn Bigelow’s Strange Days was a major flop when it came out in 1995 but has since been reevaluated as a classic. As it stars Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Lewis and Angela Bassett and is widely considered one of the greatest films of the nineties, some significant release – possibly through a company like Criterion would seem like a no-brainer. However, Disney has been sitting on this one for a while now, with the likely culprit being that James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment owns the movie. Presumably, any redux has to be cleared by him. With The Abyss, True Lies and Aliens all getting 4K re-releases, Strange Days may be coming. This one is streaming on Max but in the wrong aspect ratio. The existing DVD is non-anamorphic, meaning it gets window-boxed on your TV unless you stretch it out.

Showtime: 

This minor Eddie Murphy/ Robert De Niro comedy made a decent amount of coin when it came out, but it wasn’t a blockbuster. Yet, it’s a decent little action comedy, with a funny performance by William Shatner as himself. While it came out on DVD in an excellent anamorphic transfer, and you can buy it digitally in HD, it’s never been issued on Blu-ray.

Crossroads: 

This Brittany Spears cult classic would have gotten a Blu-ray re-release with all sorts of bells and whistles. Yet, outside of its original DVD run, it’s never been issued on Blu-ray and can’t be bought digitally. However, it was recently released to theatres in a special limited run to celebrate Spears’ new autobiography so the movie may be coming relatively soon.

UPDATE: Netflix has acquired streaming rights for Crossroads, and it will be available globally on February 15th.

Dawn of the Dead: 

This one comes with a caveat. George A. Romero’s zombie classic has been released on a beautiful 4K disc internationally and is region-free. Yet, it still needs to get a North American release on 4K and isn’t available digitally, which is a shame. Younger horror fans watch most of their stuff this way, and one hates to think they could be missing out on one of the genre’s best movies. 

UPDATE: Dawn of the Dead may be getting a theatrical re-release for its 45th anniversary via Redband releasing. So, perhaps a North American 4K Blu-ray release isn’t far off.

Looking for Mr. Goodbar: 

This 1977 film helped establish Diane Keaton as a star and was a significant hit. It’s based on the true story of a teacher who was played the bar scene in the early seventies and was eventually murdered by a man she had a one-night stand with. It’s a haunting film with a disturbing ending, but very hard to find. It’s only ever been released on VHS and Laserdisc, with rights issues surrounding the film’s music, which is what’s kept this in limbo. It doesn’t help that Paramount Pictures is famously slow regarding releasing library titles. Again, this would be a great one for the Criterion Collection.

UPDATE: This is apparently streaming on Paramount Plus in Europe, but NOT North America.

Something Wicked This Way Comes: 

We recently covered this movie in our series Fantasizing About Fantasy Films, which was available on DVD/ Blu-ray for a while. Yet, Disney has vaulted this Ray Bradbury adaptation, and you can’t stream it or buy it digitally, either.

The Blood of Heroes (aka Salute of the Jugger):

This post-apocalyptic action movie comes from David Webb Peoples, the writer of Blade Runner, Unforgiven and Soldier. It was a rare directorial effort that reteamed him with Rutger Hauer, who stars opposite a young Joan Chen and Vincent D’Onofrio. Legal rights limbo has kept this one obscure in North America, with various cuts circulating in bad transfers. Hopefully, it gets some kind of restoration, and it’s a neat little sci-fi movie.

John Woo’s Hong Kong Films: 

Recently, John Woo mentioned that he would love to restore his Hong Kong classics with a company like Criterion, but that the rights to most of the movies are caught up in legal limbo. The Killer and Hard Boiled are streaming and on Blu-ray (albeit in interlaced transfers), but A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2 and Bullet in the Head are MIA.

The Heartbreak Kid:

Elaine May is a revered figure on film Twitter, but her biggest hit, The Heartbreak Kid, which got remade by the Farrelly Bros, is impossible to find. This is a shame as it’s one of star Charles Gordon’s best movies and features two Oscar-nominated performances by Jeannie Berlin (also May’s daughter) and Eddie Albert. 

What titles have we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post 10 Movies That Are Surprisingly Hard to Find (So Keep Your Discs) – UPDATED appeared first on JoBlo.

Is there any current director who is more controversial than Zack Snyder? It’s wild how divisive a figure he is, with his fans nearly cult-like in their devotion, while his detractors are just as fervent. Here at JoBlo, we’ve always been ardent supporters, even if we haven’t unquestioningly praised all of his films. Thus, we thought it would be interesting to do an all-around ranking of his films (although we’ve left the animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole off the list). So, without further ado, here’s our ranking from worst to best.

Sucker Punch (2011)

I’ll admit to not knowing precisely what Snyder was trying to pull off when I saw this movie in 2011. It remains the most obscure of his live-action films. It is a tough nut to crack, being that it’s a fantastical, hyper-surrealistic fantasy centred around a woman’s flight into fantasy as she’s committed to a mental asylum. It has many classic Zack Snyder hallmarks, and I’m sure some of his most devoted fans consider it underrated. He has teased doing a Snyder cut that would emphasize the musical elements toned down by the studio, so it’s possible that cut might be an improvement. But, for me, this is his least successful film.

Army of the Dead (2021)

I’m not sure any zombie movie needs to be 150 minutes, but Snyder wanted to make an epic for his first Netflix flick, and he did. While it was (predictably) slammed by his detractors, the action in the film is intense, and Dave Bautista is a great lead. It’s worth noting that Fallout star Ella Purnell got her start fighting zombies in this one, and it did manage to spawn a pretty fun heist film follow-up, Army of Thieves. 

Rebel Moon (2023 / 2024)

This one comes with a caveat, as I think the two “Snyder Cuts” coming this summer will make this a much better sci-fi epic than the PG-13 version we got. I’m counting this as one movie, although I must admit that I found the first installment, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, much more compelling than Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, which I wasn’t crazy about. Hopefully, the “Snyder Cut” makes a significant difference, so when it comes out we’ll revisit this list.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

To some, this comic book movie remains director Zack Snyder’s ultimate achievement, as it was infamously taken out of his hands and largely reshot by the now cancelled Joss Whedon, which has since gone down as one of the worst decisions in modern studio history. “Restore the Snyder Cut” became a movement, especially during the early days of the pandemic when, let’s face it, none of us had anything better to do. While I liked the Snyder Cut, I would be curious to see what he would have delivered had he not been removed from the project initially, as there’s no way he intended to give Warner Bros a four-hour movie. I can’t help but think a slightly punchier version would be an improvement, although it’s a million times better than the horrible Whedon version.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Interestingly, last week, we published a poll asking readers what their favourite movie of his was, and it was one of our most popular polls in a while. Shockingly, the winner (by a landslide) was this, a movie whose reception was so controversial that, in many ways, it cost Snyder his place in the DC Extended Universe. It’s cool to see a film go from being universally loathed to loved, but likely the fact that the three-hour “Snyder Cut” is so much better played a role in its enhanced reputation among fans. We all agree on two things: the score is incredible, and Ben Affleck is one heck of a good Batman, no matter what anyone says.

Man of Steel (2013)

Speaking of good casting, Henry Cavill’s treatment by WB has to go down as one of the most inexplicable studio decisions on record, as he was a great Superman (easily the best since Christopher Reeve). Many fans didn’t like Snyder’s darker treatment of the character, which ended with an infamously violent climax that saw the Man of Steel kill Michael Shannon’s General Zod. Still, I maintain that the people wanting a happy-go-lucky Superman in the vein of Richard Donner are misguided. Bryan Singer tried this with Superman Returns, and audiences stayed away. Maybe James Gunn will have better luck as he scraps the DCEU and builds his own universe, but in my opinion, Snyder is the only director (so far) to nail a modern Superman movie.

Watchmen (2009)

Fans eagerly anticipated Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel, but its box office (and critical) reception was underwhelming. Time has been kind to Snyder’s well-cast adaption, with Jackie Earle Haley a standout as Rorschach. My only issue is that Snyder uses too many needle drops, with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during the Nite Owl/ Silk Spectre II love scene being particularly silly. Nevertheless, it’s about as good of a big-screen adaptation of Moore’s work as we ever could have expected. 

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Like many, I was dead set against a remake of George A. Romero’s classic zombie flick, but Snyder (working from a screenplay by James Gunn) made himself a director of note when he nailed the adaptation, which was his feature film debut. It’s incredibly well-cast and possibly his most propulsive movie to date, with it holding up as one of the better modern zombie flicks, with the highly nihilistic ending being one that will stick with you for a while after.

300 (2007)

What else could it be? While some believe 300 hasn’t aged particularly well, with the then cutting-edge technology seeming quaint seventeen years later, it was massive when this came out in 2007. It made Gerard Butler a star, put Michael Fassbender on the map, and turned a whole new generation onto the work of Frank Miller. It also proved there was a massive audience for R-rated fantasy epics, paving the way for HBO’s Game of Thrones. 

What do you think of our rankings? Let us know in the comments!

The post Zack Snyder Movies Ranked: From Worst to Best appeared first on JoBlo.

Some of the biggest 80s movie stars are still entertaining us to this day: look at Risky Business lead Tom Cruise making over a billion dollars for Paramount Pictures with Top Gun: Maverick, Molly Ringwald starring in the TV series Feud, or her The Breakfast Club co-star Anthony Michael Hall showing up in the likes of The Dark Knight and Halloween Kills. But today, we’re going to be talking about some actors whose days of appearing in box office hits are behind them… but we hope they might be ahead of them as well. In previous articles, we have taken a look at stars of the past we would like to see make a comeback – and there are a lot of them! It was too hard to narrow it down to just a few, so now we’ve put together another list of 80s stars we want back, including a couple of Freddy victims, some 1980s beauties we miss, and a lady we’ve only seen twice on our screens.  

Michael Beck

It’s a sad tale of a promising acting career being kneecapped by bad luck… actually, by a bad movie. Playing the character Swan in the 1979 classic The Warriors, Michael Beck proved he had what it took to be a badass leading man. It looked like his career would be soaring onward and upward from there. But his momentum came to a screeching halt the following year when he had the misfortune of starring in the famously bad box office disappointment Xanadu. Who knew signing on to make a musical fantasy film with Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly could be such a tragic mistake? Beck has continued to act as the decades have gone by, working on titles like Battletruck, Megaforce, The Last Ninja, Chiller, Blackout, Houston Knights, and more, including episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger and Murder, She Wrote. His output has slowed down since the turn of the century, but he never received the career-reviving role he deserved, which would be something on the level of John Travolta getting cast in Pulp Fiction.

Mia Sara 

Mia Sara may have started her career on All My Children in 1983, but she really rose to fame with her first feature film role as the ethereal Lili in Legend in 1985. She followed this with a huge film, playing Sloane Peterson in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986. She was quite busy through the 1980s and 1990s, only slowing down in the 2000s, and having her last credit in 2013. Simply put, we miss her, and we are certain we’re not the only ones. Her career has had a ton of variety from fantasy films to comedies to science fiction films to dramas, on the big and the small screen. From what can be found online, it looks like she’s been busy having a family and enjoying life. It looks like she’s in semi-retirement. As her youngest is an adult now, perhaps she may have a bit more time on her hands to get back to acting and come back to her fans. However, semi-retirement sounds great to be honest, especially if she’s enjoying it, so maybe we can keep hoping, but perhaps we should just return to her older films and enjoy them on repeat.  

Miko Hughes 

A mainstay of the convention circuit in the US, Miko Hughes is a favorite child actor of horror fans who started with Pet Sematary in 1989, so he’s only on the cusp of being a 1980s actor, but we’ll count him anyways. His horror film career launched him to stardom early on in a part that was both adorable and tragic. Later, he came back to horror Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, playing Heather Langenkamp’s son in the meta reality of the film. His part was quite central to Heather’s plight in the story, having some powerful scenes with Freddy as well. Between those two films, Hughes appeared in everything from Kindergarten Cop, Beverly Hills, 90210, Jack the Bear, and The Nanny to name but a few. Following New Nightmare, he kept busy with Full House, Apollo 13, Spawn, Mercury Rising, and plenty more. His career slowed down in the 2010s and he seemed only to go for the rare parts after 2007. He does have a few upcoming credits, but only one short film is in post-production. Everything else seems to be in pre-production or in development, with one film showing as in production as of now, but not much is available about it. This kid was everywhere and seemed to disappear for the most part, leaving behind a fairly big following, something clear from his popularity at conventions. 

Carrie Henn 

Better known as Rebecca, or Newt, the little girl found on LV-426 by the crew in Aliens, Henn has only done one more film in 2020, called Thunder Island. Why do we want her back? She has a ton of potential and a great personality. Her recent public appearances show that she still seems to be showbiz-minded, so why not get her back in front of the camera. She has said that she would love to be in a Quentin Tarantino film, something that could lead to a fun part for her and for the public. As she has been attending conventions for a few years now, she clearly has not been in hiding or shunning the spotlight, so why not bring her back for a feature film, something fun, maybe a science-fiction story, or something completely different.  

Gene Davis

Gene Davis racked up 31 screen acting credits over a period of 33 years, but he didn’t get many opportunities to shine in a prominent role. He was in the 1986 classic The Hitcher, but only stands out for the moment where he gets accidentally kicked in the head by C. Thomas Howell. He’s in the Van Damme / Lundgren mash-up Universal Soldier, but didn’t even get a character name. Just a rank: Lieutenant. It’s the 1983 Charles Bronson film 10 to Midnight where Davis had the chance to show his full potential, delivering an unforgettable performance as serial killer Warren Stacey. We needed to see Davis in more Stacey level roles over the years. He hasn’t been on screen since the 2010 TV movie After the Fall, but he he’s not entirely out of the industry, as he runs Rocking Horse Productions and executive produced the TV movie Enchanted Christmas in 2017. Maybe he’ll decide to make a comeback one of these days and give himself a role that lives up to the greatness of Warren Stacey.

Jsu Garcia 

Another face associated with the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, Garcia has had a solid career between 1982, when he first showed up the Fame television series, and 2011. Since then, he appeared in two Christmas movies and has 1 film pending post-production. Looking at his credits, the man had a varied career with lots of good parts of varying size in films such as Slaves of New York, Predator 2, Vampire in Brooklyn, Traffic, Collateral Damage, and Along Came Polly. His television career has seen him on The Facts of Life, Miami Vice, Babylon 5, JAG, CSI Miami, etc. The man has been all over the place, proving he is a solid choice for just about any part and then he was gone. Yes, he has one film coming soon, but that is nothing compared to his early career, and it would be great fun to get him back in films and television series. His biography details that can be found online are interesting to say the least, something that could probably be brought into parts of many kinds. 

Deborah Foreman 

THE Valley Girl, Foreman was a whole mood in this movie as well as in April Fool’s Day. She was everywhere for a while and then she vanished. Or so it seemed. Foreman’s career started in 1981 on The Grady Nutt Show, and she followed this with parts on Family Ties, MacGyver, The Marshal, and a few other television appearances. Her film career started with I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can, and included a bit of everything including Real Genius, Destroyer, Waxwork, Lobster Man from Mars, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Lunatics: A Love Story, and a whole lot more. She seemed to go “poof” in 1995, only resurfacing in Beautiful Loser in 2008, a quick part in the Valley Girl remake in 2020, and a role in a recent film called The Demons Within. There hasn’t been all that much for Foreman in the last few years to say the least. This may have been by choice; we don’t really know. All we know is, we miss her and would love to see more of her.  

Deborah Goodrich

Speaking of Deborahs who were in April Fool’s Day, we would love to see Deborah Goodrich return to the screen. Making her screen debut as a dancer in the 1980s film Those Lips, Those Eyes, Goodrich racked up several credits throughout the 80s and into the early 90s, from appearances on TV shows like All My Children, The Edge of Night, The New Mike Hammer, Three’s a Crowd, Hotel, The A-Team, St. Elsewhere, 21 Jump Street, Alien Nation, and Beverly Hills 90210, to roles in the feature films Just One of the Guys, Survival Game, and Remote Control. Sadly, she hasn’t earned a single acting credit since the 1992 movie Out on a Limb, which is a shame because she had a great screen presence and a distinct voice we wish we could hear in more movies. In the years since she retired from the screen, Goodrich has worked behind-the-scenes in script development and restored and reopened the Avon Theater Film Center, an independent cinema in Stamford, Connecticut.

There are so many folks we would love to see back on our televisions and theater screens, there are so many opportunities these days with all the streaming platforms producing their own content at an unexpected speed that there has to be room to bring back more beloved stars, some more obvious than others, and to revive careers while also playing the nostalgia strings.  

The post 80s Stars We Want Back! appeared first on JoBlo.

Everyone loves a good shark movie. Ever since Jaws hit theaters and broke box office records in 1975, it’s been a reliable horror movie genre. While everyone knows Jaws is by far the best shark movie ever, there are loads of other movies out there that should make you just as afraid to get in the water. We’re gonna need a bigger boat as we travel these dangerous waters of shark films.

ghost shark
2-headed shark attack
steven spielberg

Z​ombie (1979)

O​k. Already I’m cheating, but I mean . . . come on. This has one of the best shark scenes in cinematic history. During an early scene of the movie, a woman decides to go for a swim in the lovely Caribbean waters when a tiger shark appears. As she hides among some of the terrain on the ocean floor, she quickly finds she is not alone. A zombie has found his way into the depths. As she swims away, the zombie turns its attention to the shark. What ensues is one of the greatest shark fights on film, and it involves a real shark.

M​ako: Jaws Of Death (1976)

T​his movie has a little bit of everything. Vietnam war veterans, evil strip club owners, and telepathic connections to sharks. What more do you need? Sonny is in Vietnam and is saved by a mako shark as he is being stalked by the enemy. He decides he loves sharks and is given a magic medallion by a shaman that lets him telepathically communicate with his beloved creatures. When he moves to Florida, he runs afoul of the owner of a local aquarium and a strip club owner who wants to use sharks in one of his acts. They try to convince Sonny to use his powers to help them, but instead, he declares war on those that try to hurt them. Ironically, for a movie that’s pro-shark, many of the tactics used off screen during filming were cruel, with sharks having had their teeth removed prior to filming.

Great White aka The Last Shark (1981):

This Italian-made Jaws-rip-off was a smash hit. It made $18 million and probably would have made a lot more, were it not for the fact that Universal Studios actually sued the American distributor to have it pulled from theaters. For the longest time, this was unavailable in the U.S, but now you can see the Italian release version, The Last Shark, online. While some may wonder, after seeing it, why Universal sued, part of the reason is the original score the American distributor commissioned for the film. It was very, very closely patterned on what John Williams wrote for Jaws, and isn’t available on any currently existing version of the film.

S​harknado (2013)

The cheesy shark film that started a phenomenon! This low-budget horror film seemed destined to follow the other such films that end up on the SyFy Channel, but this one caught on with audiences who fell in love. There ended up being six of these films made over five years. You don’t need to be in deep water for there to be a shark attack, but in this movie you don’t even need to be in the water at all. A freak weather accident causes a hurricane off the coast of Los Angeles and picks up a load of deadly great white sharks. It drops them on the unsuspecting public as the city is drenched. Finley has to fight his way to Beverly Hills to make sure his family is safe. The cultural impact of this movie immediately made it one of the best shark movies.

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Another tale that proves that humans should not genetically meddle with ultimate killing machines in research facilities. Scientists in an underwater laboratory begin altering the DNA of a group of mako sharks. Now they are larger and way more intelligent than they should be. The group funding the project show up to question if it should move forward, but they all end up trapped in the base as a tropical storm rages above. The sharks get loose and begin wreaking havoc upon anyone they lay their eyes on. A fun movie that will have you pumping your fist in the air.

B​ait 3D (2012)

M​ade during the newer 3D craze, this film tries to make the best use of it by sticking you in a supermarket with sharks. A tsunami hits the coast of Australia, trapping a group of people in a quickly flooding grocery store. Among them is former lifeguard Josh who found a new profession after a shark attack. As they begin to wonder when the storm will let up, they realize that the flooded store has a twelve-foot-long killer shark patrolling its aisles. Now they must figure out how to survive and not become a cleanup in aisle five.

The Reef (2010)

P​roving that you should never go sailing with your friends. A group sets out for a fun day of sailing when the boat hits a rock. This opens up the bottom of the ship, and the group has to decide what to do. One of them recommends they try and swim to a nearby island as the overturned boat is being pulled out to sea. Then a shark fin appears in the water. As they swim, they are being hunted by a great white shark. They are being picked off one by one as they try to make it to land.

4​7 Meters Down (2017)

S​o not only are you being hunted by a man-eating shark, but you’re also trapped on the ocean floor? Sounds like a nightmare. This is precisely what happens to the two sisters as they go on vacation. They decide to do a cage diving excursion in shark-infested waters, but the cable holding onto the cage snaps. As they settle onto the bottom of the ocean, they see that sharks are starting to appear. Now they only have one hour of air left and can’t leave the cage as the sharks try to wait them out. Can you imagine cage diving and seeing a megalodon just show up like in The Meg 2?

The Black Demon (2013)

This was a surprise hit in the spring of 2023. While this Josh Lucas-led shark flick didn’t get much theatrical play via new distributor The Avenue (they had a solid theatrical hit with Land of Bad), this was a huge streaming hit and a sequel is in the works. While it’s lower-key than a lot of other movies on this list, the setting on a Mexican Oil Rig is cool, and Lucas is a better actor than usual for movies like this.

T​he Shallows (2016)

A​ surfer hears about a secluded beach that is supposed to be the ultimate destination to catch some waves. When she heads out, she quickly finds a shark hunting in the area and attacks her. She ends up on a rock only 200 feet from shore but can’t safely make it back without becoming a shark dinner. As she sits trying to figure out what to do, she realizes that high tide is coming soon and the rock she is safe on will be underwater. A great thriller that is tense throughout.

Open Water (2003)

M​aybe the most terrifying thing about this movie is that it’s based on a true story! It will keep anyone out of the ocean. A young couple books a scuba diving trip in the Caribbean. They have such a great time that they are the last to surface in their group. To their dismay, they find that the rest of their group has left them behind after a botched headcount. The couple is left to float out in the ocean and see that sharks could soon be the biggest problem. This one will make your stomach clench the whole time you’re watching it. Beware.

J​aws (1975)

I​t had to be right? This Steven Spielberg film not only changed the summer movie season forever but also terrified people of getting in the water. Sadly it also caused a worldwide problem when people began hunting sharks due to fear of this movie becoming a reality. Sheriff Brody thinks a shark may be patrolling off the coast of his small town and tries to convince the mayor to shut the beaches down. He refuses to do so because the July 4th weekend would be an economic disaster. Of course, then a giant shark shows up and kills a little boy. A team is assembled to hunt the shark down and kill it, but not before it takes out most of the crew and sinks their boat. A classic film that is worth a watch whenever possible. A classic film that is worth a watch whenever possible.

Honorable Mention: Jaws 2 (1978)

While making a sequel to Jaws was an act of pure commerce, the first one they did isn’t half bad. This time, a great white stalks a bunch of teens, and despite saving Amity just a few years before, no one believes Brody when he warns them that a shark is on the loose. This benefits from Roy Scheider reprising his role and the classy director of Jeannot Szwarc. That said, the next two Jaws movies are REALLY bad. Wanna know just how bad? Watch the two videos below:

W​hat do you think are some of the best shark movies? Where are the Ghost Shark and 2-Headed Shark Attack fans? Let us know in the comments.

The post The Best Shark Movies Ever Made appeared first on JoBlo.

Damien Thorn is the antichrist, and the trilogy that tells his unholy tale remains popular almost fifty years later. Indeed, while putting together this Omen movie ranked list and revisiting the original franchise, I was surprised at how well the old movies held up. Omen fans will be happy that the series has been restarted in a pretty interesting way this weekend, with The First Omen a surprisingly excellent prequel to the original trilogy (check out our interviews with the director and cast here), even if it takes one large liberty involving Damien’s birth that some fans may have an issue with. So, how do the Omen films rank against each other? Let’s take a look, but remember that the Fox TV movie, Omen IV: The Awakening, is not included, as I’m sticking with feature films.

The Omen (2006):

There’s honestly no reason for this movie to exist. It’s a scene-for-scene remake of Richard Donner’s original classic, with it being so faithful that the original screenwriter, David Seltzer, has sole screenplay credit. Despite a decent cast, you can tell the difference between an old pro like Donner and a guy like John Moore, who gets outclassed in his attempt to bring the original film up to date. This remake is without any real merit, with it losing the Jerry Goldsmith score and the slew of great performances delivered in the original. Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles do their best but are too young to play their parts and lack any sense of gravitas. Overall, this movie is a giant waste of time, which is why it’s at the bottom of my Omen movies ranked list.

Omen III: The Final Conflict:

I should make an important distinction here. I only consider one of the Omen movies bad: the 2006 remake. All of the others are at various levels of good. Omen III is probably the silliest Omen movie, but it also boasts an intense performance by Sam Neill as the now-grown Damien. Neill was a rising star at the time, making Zulawski’s classic Possession the same year. Young, charismatic and good-looking, you buy him as the son of the devil. But, it has two problems. One is that adult Damien will never be as scary as child Damien. The other is that they decided this would be the end of the franchise, and they opted to end it on a happy note rather than the foreboding conclusions of its predecessors. It also comes up short in the gore department, with no signature kills like in the other movies.

The First Omen: 

I was wary of a prequel to The Omen, having been burned by the remake. Yet, despite everything, I enjoyed Arkasha Stevenson’s prequel to Richard Donner’s original film, which is primarily faithful. The only issue is that they changed an essential detail about Damien’s conception at the end in order to this into a new series. But the change they made is pretty disturbing in its own right so that I can forgive it. I was also taken with Nell Tiger Free’s performance in the lead, with her a star on the rise. The early box office numbers are a bit soft, which is too bad, as I’d like to see this franchise continue.

Damien: The Omen II

No one will ever say that The Omen II lives up to the original, but you must hand it to director Don Taylor. Despite being little more than a journeyman, he made a pretty bold sequel, with a couple of gory kills that almost outdo the original. The guy getting chopped in half in the elevator (Meshach Taylor – who would play Jazz in Mannequin) is pretty gnarly, and the drowning of Lew Ayres under the ice of a frozen lake is disturbing. The legend is that the movie’s star, William Holden, was the original choice for the first film, but he turned it down and regretted it when the movie became a hit (Gregory Peck also had a percentage of the box office and made a killing). He was a contemporary of Peck’s, but by this point, alcoholism had begun to take its toll, and his decent performance doesn’t compare to Peck’s. Still, it has a young Lance Henriksen in an early role, and Jonathan Scott-Taylor delivers a good performance as a believably conflicted Damien.

The Omen:

If you’re making a list ranking The Omen films, only one could ever top the list. granddaddy of them all. At the time, the film was critically maligned, with many calling it little more than a rip-off of The Exorcist, but time has proven the naysayers wrong. Richard Donner made a smash hit but adopted a classy, realistic style and cast it perfectly. People nowadays may not realize how provocatively cast Gregory Peck was, as he was perhaps the most beloved actor in Hollywood at the time. After all, he was Atticus Finch! Men of his stature didn’t make horror films, and the film benefits from his fantastic performance. I have always liked that he and Lee Remick portray an older couple who are getting their last shot at being parents, making their disbelief at the fact that their presumed son is evil and being all the more potent. Plus, there’s David Warner, Leo McKern, the amazing Billie Whitelaw, and some unique kills. Damien! It’s all for you!

Do you agree with my Omen movies ranked list? Let me know in the comments!

The post The Omen Movies Ranked: From the Worst to the Best appeared first on JoBlo.

Gerard Butler has had a varied career so far, with him playing everything from action leads to rom-com love interests to a singing Phantom of the Opera. But, it has to be said that his most consistently entertaining output falls squarely into the action genre, and as far as Gerard Butler movies go, the action films will always be our favorites… so don’t expect to see The Ugly Truth on this list, but the Jennifer Aniston adventure The Bounty Hunter might scrape by. Or maybe not. Let’s see how it goes:

300 (2006) 

Perhaps THE film that put Gerard Butler on the map for most people, particularly the action and comic book crowds. Butler is in peek physical form here, showing off his bod as the ultimate Spartan warrior and proving that he is indeed quite the leading man. His performance here is commanding, a bit in your face (in the right way), and exactly what the film needed. Considering 300 is still well-remembered by most while its Butler-less sequel seems to have disappeared from the common consciousness says a lot about how he embodies the character of King Leonidas and how viewers connected to him in this Zack Snyder adaptation of the Frank Miller and Lynn Varley graphic novel. The film being shot basically fully on green screen with brand new, at the time, technology created a very particular look for the film and from interviews with the cast and crew, it seems it required some adaptation and readiness to embrace the unusual ways of shooting scenes. Butler’s performance here works great with all the green screen and CGI and shows a good evolution from his previous action-fantasy roles in Beowulf & Grendel, Timeline, and (Best Movie You Never Saw fave) Reign of Fire. 

Plane (2023) 

Released just a few months ago, right at that time of year (January) when it seems like nothing good gets to theaters, Plane was already working the odds stacked against it. Beyond its less-than-ideal release date, the film had changed distributors a few times before finally getting released by Lionsgate. The trailer didn’t bode too well either, but it ended up getting some positive reviews that helped lead it to a $52 million box office. It’s even getting a sequel, albeit without Butler as the lead. Here, he plays an airline pilot who has fallen from grace and thus works away from his family with a home base in Asia. On this flight that starts the film, things go awry with the weather, and he is forced to land his few passengers and a felon (the great Mike Colter) being extradited to an unknown island where things go from bad to worse. Butler does quite well here, showing the public that he is still a go-to actor for action thrillers. His big fight scene near the middle of the film works well and he really gets into the character of a man who has lost almost everything but is more than willing to fight for what hs has left. Butler sells the part here and really works with the depressed lead and his issues who finds himself back in a crisis. This is a good Gerard Butler performance, one that works for his fans and for those willing to give this surprising film a chance. 

Olympus Has Fallen (2013) 

The first in a trilogy, Olympus Has Fallen sets up high stakes by making its story about the US President and his security. Gerard Butler comes into this as a secret service agent who must rescue the President who was kidnapped after a terrorist attack. Generally speaking, this one is a bit more generic, but the work by Butler and Morgan Freeman here helps rescue this from being just another late-night cable-bound action film. There’s a bit more here of course and a lot of that “bit more” comes down to Butler’s work and the direction by Antoine Fuqua who is a pro at bringing action films and thrillers to the screen. In the case of Butler in this film, he takes a part seen so many times before, the lone protector who is the only one able to rescue the victim, and turns it into something more interesting. Between his capacities as an actor, his ease in handling action scenes, and his charisma, Butler pulls off the part of Mike Banning very well. So well in fact, that he reprised this role in both sequels London Has Fallen (2016) and Angel Has Fallen (2019). Sadly, another sequel seems unlikely, with Butler initially taking Millenium to court over unpaid profits. While the lawsuit was settled recently, I wonder if Butler will be eager to get back in bed with them anytime soon.

Gamer (2009) 

Written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (the Crank guys), this film is a mix of science-fiction, action, and thriller set in a bleak, near-future where gamers play using death row convicts as their avatars, pitting them against impossible odds. Butler plays Kable, a convict whose teenage player is Simon (played by a young Logan Lerman). Should this team-up survive thirty brutal gaming sessions, Kable will be set free. Of course, much like the recent Death Race films, it’s not going to be that easy. Gerard Butler gets to be the man who has the carrot of survival dangled in front of him, making him a man ready to do almost anything to survive. His work here is on the darker side, playing a killer ready to slay anyone in his way so that he can survive and possibly get back to his family. This leads to a part filled with action sequences, fight scenes, and violence, with a bit of background to make him more human and likable. Butler does well here with a part that could have easily been completely one-dimensional. Ludacris also steals more than a few scenes in this one.

Greenland (2020) 

Coming fairly close on the heels of Geostorm, many assumed Greenland would terrible. It is yet another weather disaster film with a man, his estranged wife, and their kid in the middle of it all. If it sounds familiar, it’s because it’s been done a ton of times (San Andreas, any random SyFy channel disaster movie, etc) so it was easy to see the trailer for Greenland and think, yeah no… And honestly, the presence of Butler in this was probably the only reason some folks saw this movie at first. Thankfully, the film was made for a fairly modest budget considering the subject and how it was released in theaters (like many pandemic-era movies it went straight to streaming in North America). Its $35 million budget means that the box office for it being at $52.3 million was not a complete loss. It was a mild hit and most people who dared to see it first were part of the reason why as it built quite a bit on word of mouth. The movie, to everyone’s surprise, was good, thanks perhaps to the great director at the helm, Ric Roman Waugh (Shot Caller).At this point, more people have seen it and a sequel, Greenland: Migration is set to film in April with Butler returning.

Copshop (2021) 

Released during the pandemic post-lockdown, this one was skipped by far too many people. The trailer had some panache and the fact that it’s from director Joe Carnahan, who previously did the loads-of-fun Smokin’ Aces, Narc, The Grey, and a few more fun films, should have made it more of an attraction for action fans. Yet, the film only made a measly $6.9 million which basically means the public slept on this one and did not give the film its due. Gerard Butler stars opposite Frank Grillo here in a face-off set in a police station where Butler is after Grillo to kill him due to a con he pulled. This one is a lot of fun and the fact that other killers come into play makes this a dynamic movie where you never really know where it’s going exactly. Butler is having a ball here, playing a man filled with evil and a sort of almost glee about his job. His back and forth with Grillo make this the kind of film that is easy to watch and where the runtime flies by.   

Geostorm (2017)

Ok, to be fair this is NOT a good movie. It’s pretty terrible actually and was marred by a neverending series of delays and reshoots with the credited writer/ producer/ director, Dean Devlin having been removed, in favor of Jerry Bruckheimer and Judge Dredd director Danny Cannon. In the end, it lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $70 million for Warner Bros and resulted in Butler laying off the big PG-13 four-quadrant movies in order to do more modest actioners. Yet, if you like cheesy, fun movies it can’t be denied that Geostorm fits the bill pretty well. It’s unintentionally funny (take a shot everyone says “dutchboy”), but its curiously rewatchable.

So there you go, a bunch of suggestions that you can use to assemble your own Gerard Butler film festival.

What are your favorite Gerard Butler movies? Let us know in the comments.

The post Gerard Butler’s Best Action Movies  appeared first on JoBlo.

This weekend sees the release of the fifth film in WB/Legendary’s MonsterVerse saga, Godzilla x Kong: The New Era. These films have attempted to somewhat reinvent the traditional Kaiju film for Western audiences, with our mighty monster heroes being called Titans. While the franchise arguably stumbled out of the gate with director Gareth Edwards’ coolly received Godzilla, the saga has steadily grown in popularity, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is looking like a big hit. But how do the films stack up against each other? Let’s take a look with our MonsterVerse Movies Ranked List!

Godzilla (2014)

Audiences were pretty hyped for Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla reboot, with awesome early trailers that used Ligeti’s Requiem II from 2001: A Space Odyssey, promising the most intense Kaiju movie to date. It didn’t really work out that way, with many complaining about how dull the film was, with Godzilla himself off-screen for endless patches of time. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who’s since proved himself a solid leading man, made for a bland hero, and the fact that two of the best actors in the film, Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche, were killed off early on, didn’t endear it to anyone.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

Luckily, the sequel (which was actually the third film in the franchise), which replaced Edwards with director Michael Dougherty (Trick or Treat), was more entertaining, with it packed with more monster action. However, it proved to be a costly box office disappointment, earning initially poor reviews because Legendary was trying to set up a complicated shared universe no one seemed all that interested in – yet. The box office results were disasterous, and had they not already started shooting the next film in the franchise, the MonsterVerse might have ended right here. Still, the movie is a bit underrated, with Kyle Chandler cast against type as our family man hero.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

The newest addition to the MonsterVerse saga is stripped down as far as its human characters go. Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison Russell was initially supposed to be the franchise’s anchor, but she sits out this entry. Instead, Rebecca Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews and her adopted daughter, Kaylee Hottle Jia, seem to be the new anchors, with Brian Tyree Henry also carrying over from 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong for comic relief. One thing this movie does is double down on the monsters, especially Kong, with many extended sequences focusing only on the Titans themselves rather than the humans. Meanwhile, Dan Stevens brings some welcome energy to the film as a cool new character named Trapper, who’s basically a veterinarian for Kaiju.

Godzilla vs Kong (2021)

One of the smartest things Legendary and WB did for this installment was bring in genre director Adam Wingard to take over the franchise. Reinventing the saga from the perspective of an action director, he made Kong our underdog hero protagonist and doubled down on the carnage as the Titan went on an adventure into the Hollow Earth. Audiences loved it, and this fun flick was a bright spot for all during the early dark days of the pandemic.

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

As good as Adam Wingard’s additions to the franchise are, I have a soft spot for the Vietnam War-set prequel, Kong: Skull Island. For one thing, it has the best cast, even if the two heroes, played by Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston, are dull. There’s Samuel L. Jackson, Shea Wigham, John Goodman, and best of all, John C. Reilly, who delivers an acclaimed performance as a long-lost soldier from WW2 still fighting the war twenty-nine years later. Of all the movies in the franchise, this is the one with the most heart and style (from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts) and the one I judge all MonsterVerse movies against.

Do you agree with my rankings? Let us know how your list of MonsterVerse movies ranked would look in the comments!

The post MonsterVerse Movies Ranked: From Worst to Best appeared first on JoBlo.

As Easter Sunday approaches this weekend, we thought we’d “die” your eggs a little a differently. That is, we’re on the great hidden treasure hunt for some of the most colorful and delicious horror movie Easter eggs found in some of our favorite titles. But here’s the thing. We aren’t talking about obscure cameos from people that are hard to miss, or even secretive foreshadowing within a single movie, a la the entire Final Destination franchise. Nor are we talking about mere verbal references to other horror movies. Rather, we’re interested in visual crossover clues found one horror movie that pay homage to another, found tucked away in the background or even hidden in plain sight. You see the distinction. Good. Hopefully you haven’t already seen what’s to follow. Happy holiday y’all, here’s our Top 10 Favorite Crossover Horror Movie Easter Eggs!

#10. SILENT HILL/VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

Silent Hill may hold the dubious distinction of being another movie that’s inferior to its videogame inspiration, but one thing the movie got right was its respectful ode to Wolf Rilla’s Village of the Damned. Just as James Gunn did with the Thing-poking R.J. MacReady funeral home in Slither, the edifice of the Midwich Elementary School building that Alessa attends is an overt reference to the accursed village where alien-like children with glowing eyes and white hair terrorize the citizenry. GET SILENT HILL HERE

#9. PSYCHO/HALLOWEEN H20 

There’s a delicious irony in the fact that golden-era scream queen, Janet Leigh, wanted nothing more than for her daughter to avoid horror movie acting, only to see Jamie Lee Curtis become her own preeminent generational scream queen. The connection between the two is honored in the paltry Halloween H20, in which Janet Leigh is not only cast alongside her daughter, but is further linked to her iconic role of Marion Crane in Hitchcock’s Psycho. Notice the sweet old classic 1957 Ford sedan above that Lee’s flaunting in H20? Yup, that’s the same ride Norman Bates dumped into the swamp after slaughtering Leigh in the shower in Psycho. Same plates an all: NFB 418. GET H20 HERE

#8. SHAUN OF DEAD FULCI/DAWN OF THE DEAD/ZOMBIE 

While most know that one year after redefining the zombie subgenre with Shaun of the Dead, star Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright showed up as rabid zombies in Romero’s Land of the Dead, many may have missed all the subtle visual gags in their own flick. Per the Romero love, take a peek at Pegg’s work-badge. Indeed, that says Foree Electric, as in Ken Foree, star of Romero’s beloved Dawn of the Dead. Further background sight-gags and references can be found, as in the Fulci Restaurant ad spotted in the newspaper directory. Fulci of course helmed Zombie, yet another inspiration behind Shaun of the Dead. GET SHAUN OF THE DEAD HERE

#7. NIGHT OF THE CREEPS/MONSTER SQUAD

Damn I’ve always loved this self-congratulatory shout-out! Do you recall who directed the superb Night of the Creeps? Now do you recount who helmed The Monster Squad one year later? Yessir, Fred Dekker is the man behind both flicks, yet strangely pays homage to a movie of his own that had not even been released yet. “Go Monster Squad!” would make little sense when spotting the clue in 1986, but one year later, the reference makes all the sense in the world. Dekker only directed three films in his career, and these two, both starring Tom Atkins mind you, are some of my all time 80s horror favorites. I’m glad to see Dekker connect the two! GET NIGHT OF THE CREEPS HERE

#6. DEATH PROOF/BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

I’ll admit, this one freaked me the f*ck out. And it’s not that it’s even scary, it’s just that the visual clue is so obviously in plain sight, and yet, having seen the Grindhouse double feature at least five times (as well as being a fan of the movie referenced), I’ve never once noticed it. But there it is folks. Hanging on the wall right above the table is Jack Burton’s tank-top from John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China. Of course, the meta-reference is made all the more pertinent due to the fact Death Proof also stars the great Kurt Russell. There are even several shots of Russell in the same frame as the tank-top, making the connection even stronger. GET DEATH PROOF HERE

#5. JASON GOES TO HELL/EVIL DEAD 

In a prop literally shared across both film franchises, Sam Raimi’s Necronomicon, aka the Book of the Dead that is seen throughout the Evil Dead series, makes a brief appearance in Adam Marcus’ Jason Goes to Hell. The tome pops up late in the film, just before Jason is pulled to hell by Freddy Krueger’s glove (another nice nod, but not nearly as clandestine). Our man Voorhees marauds through the dark moldering abode at the end of the film, quickly coming to a table adorned with ancient texts. The one front and center is indeed Raimi’s Deadite scroll, which as you’ll see below, makes Sam one of the most crossed-referenced horror movie Easter egg purveyors of all! GET JASON GOES TO HELL HERE

#4. SAW/DEAD SILENCE/INSIDIOUS

James-I’ve-been-turning- people-Wan with fear for well over decade now sure loves the legacy left behind by Saw, his breakout horror hit. In specific, Wan loves to subtly tuck the sinister visage of Billy Puppet, the maniacal mascot of the entire Saw franchise, into dark corners of his other titles. The first instance can be found in Wan’s Dead Silence, in which, toward the end, characters amble down a dark corridor and pass by Billy Puppet sitting in the right foreground corner. If that wasn’t alarming enough, in Wan’s Insidious, on the chalkboard behind Josh Lambert’s shoulder in his classroom sits an eerie chalk-sketching of Billy, frilly hair, spiral cheeks and all! GET DEAD SILENCE HERE

#3. PREDATOR 2/ALIEN 

Apparently, the murderous merger of two gargantuan horror movie franchises – Alien and Predator – was planted in our collective subconscious as early as 1990. That’s some serious f*cking premarket research right there. Indeed, at the ending of the risibly inferior Predator 2, a trophy case full of collected skeletons includes, for no other reason than to germinate the seeds of a mega-mash-up, a Xenomorph skull. Word is this was director Stephen Hopkins’ idea, as he wanted to pay tribute to the Dark Horse comic already popular Aliens vs. Predator comics. Since Fox owned both properties, a crossover was easy to license, giving round one in the battle to Predator. GET PREDATOR 2 HERE

#2. EVIL DEAD 2/A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

Sam Raimi and Wes Craven had a playful relationship. In Craven’s seminal horror masterpiece, A Nightmare on Elm Street, one of the movies Nancy watches while desperately trying to stay awake is in fact Raimi’s original Evil Dead. Picking up on the nod, Raimi responded in kind three years later in Evil Dead 2 by hanging Freddy Kreuger’s razor-claw glove on the wall of Ash’s toolshed. The glove is a bit difficult to spot in the background, but Raimi is sure to include it in a number of shots as to leave no doubt of the glove’s portentous presence. Of course, Raimi loves his horror movie Easter eggs, which is why he places his trusty Oldsmobile Delta ’88 (seen atop this page)in damn near every one of his films, including Spider-Man and even Ash Vs. Evil Dead. GET EVIL DEAD 2 HERE

#1. EYES WIDE SHUT/THE SHINING 

Well, we’ve arrived at the King of Easter Eggs and encoded subliminal messages. See this shot of Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick’s peerless masterwork Eyes Wide Shut? Notice the address is 237, illuminated by Shining Christmas lights? Coincidence? One might think so until learning this building does not exist, but was manufactured on the soundstage at Elstree studio in England, the façade of which is reused later in the film as the Jason Hotel (notice the three arches). Here’s the point. While there are many far-fetched, conspiracy-laden, tin-foil readings of Kubrick’s work (including the movie Room 237), there’s no doubt that Kubrick has used subliminal imagery in his work as far back as Lolita, when the salacious subject matter forced him to rethink the movie in visual innuendos, as a means of avoiding MPAA penalty. Much has been made about Kubrick’s The Shining as a coded confession of his secret relationship with NASA to film the moon landing. But honestly, more needs to be made about grand gestalt that is Eyes Wide Shut. This movie visually references every single Kubrick movie before it, including The Shining and its infamous room 237 (the hospital in the film is also addressed 237, giving us a twinning effect… more Shining allusions). The level of detail and hidden messaging in Eyes Wide Shut is frightening beyond belief! GET EYES WIDE SHUT HERE

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