Whether you're talking a serious classic like High Noon, or a frothy good time like Young Guns, one of the key assumptions about the Western genre is that the characters who populated the Old West were fiercely independent folk, driven to eke out an existence where no one else could tell them what to do or how to think.

In every Western, we expect that silent stranger to arrive in town and take care of everything: In The Magnificent Seven, the gun fighters stand up against bandits to protect a small village. In The Outlaw Josey Wales, though the title character is driven by revenge, he's also the film's moral compass. These guys might be new in town, but they adhere to a certain code of honor that shies away not from killing -- but from killing the wrong guy.

Continue reading "Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan Succumb to Mob Rule in The Ox-Bow Incident" »

Last weekend, a piece titled "The Uneven Playing Field" ran on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. Part of a soon-to-be published book titled, Warrior Girls, the article detailed the high injury rate for girls on elite soccer teams. These young women spend years training and playing soccer, on school teams, in off-season leagues, traveling teams and in tournaments. The wear and tear on their bodies is immense, and statistics indicate that girls suffer more injuries than boys playing the same sport.

Some have responded that the article's author, Michael Sokolove is trying to erode Title IX, the landmark legislation that guarantees women the same amount of sports funding as men in all public high schools and universities. Others have suggested that injuries or no, these girls are highly competitive and will stop at nothing to continue playing. While their fierceness is impressive, these girls have nothing on Million Dollar Baby's Maggie Fitzgerald in the determination department.

When Maggie (Hillary Swank) walks into Frankie Dunn's (Clint Eastwood) gym, hoping he'll train her, he says no. Firmly. Resoundingly. Again and again. But she wears him down. And it turns out she's good -- and a champion. For Maggie's best moves, visit our photo gallery.

For a full schedule of Million Dollar Baby on AMC, click here.

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There are many types of movie sequels, from those that actually continue the stories of the main characters, to those that only pay lip service with a similar plot. But then... there are those sequels you would never know follow a previous movie, because they hide the fact so successfully. We call these movies Stealth Sequels. Here are our top six, with each Tommy Lee representing difficulty of discovery.

Staying Alive (Sequel to Saturday Night Fever)
This is the classic example of a Stealth Sequel: A movie so stealthy -- we've all collectively tried to forget its existence. Staying Alive needlessly follows John Travolta's Tony Manero as he tries to make it on Broadway, in the worst musical ever made. Bet you didn't know this was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, did you? No, of course you didn't. Travolta, Stallone, and a sequel to a movie that didn't require one... There are sometimes good reasons to not let anyone know you're making a sequel, and in this case, it was to protect the memory of the original movie.

Stealthiness:

Be Cool (Sequel to Get Shorty)
John Travolta makes his second appearance on our list with an awful, unnecessary sequel to the rather sublime gangster comedy Get Shorty. Once again, Travolta's character tries to put on a musical (more or less). Once again, the movie completely fails to capture the lightning in a bottle quality of its predecessor. Some of the posters came emblazoned with, "From the people who brought you Get Shorty," but sadly, 10 years later, name-dropping Get Shorty wasn't enough to bring them into theaters. Fans who rediscover the original movie will, hopefully, remain in the dark about this one.

Stealthiness:

Continue reading "U.S. Marshals and Five Other Stealthy Movie Sequels" »

In the last 40 years, Hollywood has produced hundreds of movies revisiting the US's involvement in Vietnam, each through a different lens. We've selected the top 10 which spans from the high art Apocalypse Now to the less realistic, but more vengeful Missing in Action.

Watch the Chuck Norris trilogy tonight when the entire MIA series runs back to back to back. For a full schedule of Missing in Action on AMC, click here. And to check out other great movies using Vietnam War as their backdrop, visit our photo gallery.

Breaking into Hollywood is a difficult thing to do. It takes discipline, perseverance, and a whole lot of luck. But compared to boot camp, military service, and Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training, making it into showbiz is a walk in the park.

Before he became a wrestler, actor or a politician, Jesse Ventura was a Navy SEAL, completing his BUD/S training, which includes doing 42 push-ups in two minutes and swimming 500 yards in 10 minutes. Such physical training would come in handy for his work in the action movies Predator, Demolition Man, The Running Man, and Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe. Ventura described his SEALs training in his autobiography as "worse than anything you can imagine." Worse then going to 20 auditions without getting a call back? Ventura continued with useful advice for both aspiring SEALs and actors: "You have to want it bad, very bad."

Continue reading "Compared to Navy SEALS Training, Making It in Showbiz Is a Walk in the Park" »

Anyone who's seen the music-appreciation film, Mr. Holland's Opus, remembers the music of John Lennon being used to great effect, not only during a scene related to the Vietnam conflict, but also in a performance meant to build a bridge between the titular band-leader and his deaf son, Cole. The filmmakers buried a message of father-son reconciliation into the very fabric of their movie, however, by asking Julian Lennon to perform "Cole's Song" for the soundtrack.

Continue reading "The Reconnection of John and Julian Lennon Through the Music of Mr. Holland's Opus" »