Movies

When a new Commander-in-Chief enters the Oval Office, changes are always made, from carpet and curtains to pictures and portraits; however, one in particular caused a stir.When President Barack Obama moved into the White House in 2009, he removed a bronze bust of Sir Winston Churchill in part to make way for one of Martin Luther King Jr.When President Donald Trump began his first term in 2017, he brought Churchill’s head back in as a sign of the special relationship and because of his great admiration for the World War 2 prime minister.It was then removed again when President Joe Biden took power, and it has now been reinstated this week as the 47th president begins his second term in office.Around the release of the film Darkest Hour, Churchill’s grandson Lord Soames previously told Ex...

Joseph Stalin was a big movie buff and a huge fan of American Westerns, which he regularly screened for the Soviet elite during his reign of terror.However, the communist dictator was bothered by John Wayne's powerful embodiment of America, having been warned about him by Russian director Sergei Gerasimov.Speaking exclusively with Express.co.uk, Duke’s son Ethan Wayne told us: “I think his films made the American idea very palatable to a broad swath of the world, and it was anti-communist.”As a result, Stalin wanted the actor assassinated, ordering KGB agents to carry out the hit around 1949. However, they were no match for Duke.According to Michael Munn’s John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth, Wayne survived a number of attempts on his life, and during the early 1950s, Duke’s stuntman Bu...

It’s been almost two years since Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 hit cinemas.Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt left us on both a literal and narrative cliffhanger in the spy’s battle against the powerful AI known as The Entity.Since then, Mission Impossible 8 has been retitled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in what is rumoured to be the last film in the franchise.The first trailer landed at the end of last year showing off a new plane stunt and Ethan locating the sunken nuclear submarine which houses the Entity’s mainframe.Now director Christopher McQuarrie, in a conversation with the latest issue of Empire magazine, has revealed that an early preview screening has taken place with some extreme reactions. Teasing the upcoming stunts in Mission Impossible 8, the filmmaker cl...

A survey by Talker Research revealed that a whopping 94% out of the 2,000 Americans who watched the FX series set in feudal Japan rated it positively—65% hailed it as "great."Another triumph for FX is the third season of The Bear, which garnered commendations from 92% of viewers who labelled it good or great, with a mere one percent expressing discontent.Landman also received high praise, securing a 91% approval with 65% deeming it "great".However, topping the charts in terms of viewership is Amazon Prime's Fallout, the adaptation of the celebrated video game franchise, drawing 13% of the study participants.Following closely are The Penguin (11%), Dune: Prophecy (10%), and the second season of House of the Dragon (9%).When it came to films, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has be...

Netflix UK has recently added one of the most outlandishly supernatural horror films of recent years to its catalogue.Featuring a top Hollywood star, this delightfully over-the-top spin on the exorcism genre has rapidly garnered a dedicated cult following, with at least one sequel already in the pipeline.Originally released in 2023 to mixed reviews, the film's concept and outrageous set pieces truly need to be witnessed firsthand.Russell Crowe, known for his role in Gladiator, stars as Father Gabriele Amorth, otherwise known as The Pope's Exorcist, tasked in the 1980s with banishing possessive demons from Europe.Loosely based on true events, Crowe's larger-than-life performance and darkly comedic approach to exorcisms resonated with horror enthusiasts, reports the Mirror.Furthermore, th...

Chisum was John Wayne's first movie of the 1970s, the Western legend's final decade. Having had a cancerous lung removed a few years earlier, Duke had to rely on an oxygen mask and hide his ailments from his fans in his movies. When this failed to happen, he was left seriously disheartened.The movie was based on the Lincoln County War of 1878 with Wayne starring as John Simpson Chisum, a wealthy cattle baron of the American West.The 62-year-old actor was playing a 54-year-old man, so he had to go out of his way to hide his advancing age, having cosmetic surgery in September 1969 – a month before filming began. As usual, Duke wore his hairpiece and had make-up applied to appear more youthful than he was.Meanwhile, Patric Knowles, who played Henry Tunstall, was labelled as the older man i...

Back in 1980, Jack Nicholson starred in a career-defining movie adaptation of Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining.Stanley Kubrick’s film may have been criticised, including by King, for differing much from the source material.Yet that didn’t stop the picture from going down as one of the greatest horror movies ever made.The story follows Nicholson’s Jack, a writer who accepts a position as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the remote Rocky Mountains during the off-season.Yet when a snowstorm leaves him and the family isolated, Jack’s sanity begins to deteriorate as the building’s ghosts come out to play.Upon its release, The Shining received mixed reviews and even controversial Razzie nominations for Worst Director and Worst Actress for Shelley Duvall.Yet in the years since its relea...

Next Monday, January 27, marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz during World War 2.The Nazi extermination camp located in occupied Poland was where over a million people (mainly Jews) were murdered; most infamously in the gas chambers.Over the decades, there have been some devastating films about the Holocaust, from The Pianist to Schindler’s List.Most recently was The Zone of Interest, which Steven Spielberg said was the best film on the subject since his latterly mentioned 1993 masterpiece.Meanwhile, fellow Hollywood director Alfonso Cuarón called it “probably the most important film of this century.”Nominated last year for five Oscars, including Best Picture, The Zone of Interest won the Academy Awards for Best International Feature and Best Sound.The German-langua...

A 2022 period horror flick has swiftly carved its way into the annals of great slasher movies, and it's now frighteningly easy to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa.As a standout entry from one of the highly praised trilogies of recent times, this enthralling, emotionally charged thriller boasts a "show-stopping" turn by a renowned actor.Transporting audiences to the 1910s, the film acts as a prequel to Ti West's X, plunging into the origins of that unforgettable tale with nightmarish flair.Mia Goth delivers a career-defining performance in the lead role of Pearl, a deranged hopeful of silver-screen fame driven insane by heart-wrenching rejection.Drawing dark parallels with The Wizard of Oz and the pursuit of stardom in a burgeoning Hollywood, this brooding psychological scare-fest res...

And in the meantime, there have been some changes in the bookies’ race, which should be taken with a pinch of salt.In recent weeks The Crown’s Josh O’Connor has been the bookies’ favourite but the latest odds has Kraven the Hunter star Aaron Taylor-Johnson retaking the top spot.According to Betfred, the latter is once again the favourite on 6-4 in joint first with The Gentleman’s Theo James.Meanwhile, James Norton shares 4-1 with O’Connor, followed by Paul Mescal on 5-1 and Jack Lowden on 6-1.