Free Republic

This week's offering is a gripping combination of war film and spy thriller based on a real life Allied program to recruit German POW's to spy for them behind German lines. Richard Basehart, Gary Merill, and Oskar Werner star. In English with Spanish subtitles.

Menachem Golan, the colorful, free-spending Israeli-born producer and director whose Cannon Films yielded hundreds of productions starring the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris before going bust, died Friday in Israel, according to Haaretz. He was 85. Golan, whose first name is sometimes spelled Menahem, was famous for his overblown pronouncements and business plans, and partnered for many years with his cousin, Yoram Globus. The duo started their U.S. career making fast-paced action exploitation titles starring the likes of Norris and Charles Bronson. Then, in the '80s, Golan and Globus headed the ill-fated public company Cannon Entertainment, which began...

Big news from the box office: some people released some Christian-themed movies that weren’t completely terrible. The terribleness of Christian movies is, of course, an article of faith among film critics, who reserve for them their most damning barbs (“doesn’t even meet the standards of decent propaganda”; “doesn’t belong in a theatre”). On Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, they garner basement-level scores rivalled only by torture porn and holocaust-exploitation flicks. But not this year, which has seen box-office success for studio-backed movies such as Son of God ($67m since its debut in late February), Darren Aronofsky’s Noah ($359m), God’s Not Dead...

"We Are Groot." Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy ruled the box office this weekend with a fantastic $94 million. That's easily the biggest debut ever for an August release; the previous record holder, The Bourne Ultimatum, opened to $69.3 million in 2007. Meanwhile, James Brown biopic Get On Up took third place with a modest $14 million debut. This weekend reversed the box office slump in a big way: the top 12 earned $172.6 million, which is up a whopping 40 percent from the same frame last year. With a packed line-up of major releases coming up, this August is...

The reviews aren't yet in for Scarlett Johansson's new movie Lucy, but a single viewing of the trailer is enough to give the film a resounding "two thumbs down" on science... The idea that humans only use 10% of their brains is a complete, utter, and total myth. Lucy is entirely premised on neuroscientific BS...

*** Those growling jowls of Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” movies? Mr. Smith applied them. The brooding F. Murray Abraham in “Amadeus”? Mr. Smith helped turn Mr. Abraham’s Antonio Salieri, the composer and rival of the upstart young Mozart, into a hoary relic as an embittered, and somewhat mad, old man. David Bowie aging before your eyes in “The Hunger”? Mr. Smith’s were the hands of time. And little Linda Blair, who played the 12-year-old possessed by evil in “The Exorcist”? Mr. Smith made her head spin and spew green vomit and filled her mouth with decaying teeth.

A recent list of top science fiction films had some unusual choices and left out some well-regarded classics. But, says Quentin Cooper, that's part of the problem – sci-fi is such a broad church it's often very hard to define. Time Out, the weekly listings magazine, recently ranked the 100 best sci-fi movies of all time. They did it by polling 150 "leading sci-fi experts, filmmakers, science fiction writers, film critics and scientists" and getting them to each provide their 10 favourites. As lists go it's a decent one. It's hard for me to take issue with a top three...

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Mrs. Pharmboy and I saw Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" a few hours ago. It was brilliant.It took him 12 years to do this movie, following the principles through time with the focus on Mason Jr., who starts out as a 7 year old and finishes with his first day of college. The only actors you would know are Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke, and both are great. But the reason I am writing this is to let you Freepers know that this movie has a huge surprise: at Mason's small birthday party celebrated at stepmother's parent's house, his step grandma gives...

To the women of America: Please do not underestimate the significance of this. Here, now, you have been given the opportunity to grab ahold of our society and drag it back from the precipice. You cannot cure all of our ills, but, if you answer the call, you can at least help us take one small step toward peace and prosperity. This is truly a seminal moment in our history. The weight of our future, our children’s future, our children’s children’s future, partially rests on the decision you are facing. Your task, ladies, is simple. All you must do is...

I’ve learned a lot from the outpouring of reader response to my two recent columns — 64 clips of movies you can’t find on DVD and Even more clips (70, in fact) of flicks you can’t find on DVD — about movies you can’t find on DVD.

Back in 2010, and amid some of the worst economic times of Barack Obama’s failed presidency, I lunched with an entrepreneur whose signage business was booming both domestically and globally. I asked this person how he thrived despite all the political barriers to growth, and he said “I’m way too smart for Obama, and I’ll always work around him.” The entrepreneur’s confident response came to mind as I watched Dinesh D’Souza’s latest documentary, America: Imagine the World Without Her. D’Souza properly loves the U.S., as does this writer, but his documentaries (the other was 2016: Obama’s America, released to much...

According to Nikki Finke the weekend box office is not only refusing to recover, it has slipped even further behind with a stunning 29% drop over last year. Despite all the industry happy talk around "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," the sequel opened well below where other under-performers have this summer and has no dropped 53% from last weekend. "Dawn" will do fine, no question, but within the context of what this summer needs, it is nothing close to a savior, nor were this weekend's three wide releases. "Planes: Fire & Rescue," "Sex Tape," and "Purge: Anarchy" offered...

We round up our 25 favorite films set in Texas. If you’ve seen them, maybe it's time to see them again. If you haven’t seen them, what are you waiting for?

America: Imagine the World Without Her is the newest propaganda hit piece from confessed criminal and Right-wing operative Dinesh D’Souza. During my weekly visit to the movies, I saw Deliver Us From Evil. It was a movie with great potential (the connection to PTSD and the “demons” that our veterans carry home with them from war could have been more thoroughly developed) that needed a thorough rewrite and editing. I am a sucker for movies about the supernatural and occult. Therefore, I felt obligated to see Deliver Us From Evil. Dinesh D’Souza’s new “documentary” “America” was also playing at the...

“You know of course that we could never really be friends… Men and women can’t be friends, because the sex part always gets in the way.” That’s from the 1989 romantic comedy, “When Harry Met Sally.” But you already knew that. It’s a famous movie and a famous line, and in the 25 years since Nora Ephron’s classic swept the box office, people still love this hilarious and heartwarming tale of true friendship melting into true love.

In the film "Obvious Child," Jenny Slate plays Donna Stern, a stand-up comedian who specializes in making jokes about her private parts, with the occasional foray into fart humor. She is about to go onstage. Her friend offers her some encouragement: "You are going to kill it out there!" Donna replies: "I actually have an appointment to do that tomorrow." Donna's talking about her abortion appointment. Get it? It's funny because it's true. Or if you're like me, you think it's not funny because it's true. Many critics think it's funny. One dubbed it "far and away the most...

Goodbye caped crusader, hello prophet! We’ve got an exclusive poster reveal of Christian Bale playing Moses in director Ridley Scott’s upcoming Old Testament epic Exodus: Gods and Kings. Bale’s armored warrior get-up is a far cry from the iconic beard-and-robe look sported by cinema’s most famous Moses, Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. But that’s by design: One of Bale’s conditions for taking the role, he told Entertainment Weekly, was “no fake beards.” “The biblical account of Moses is extraordinary, and there was lots of room for us to go to places that The Ten Commandments never dreamed of going,” the Oscar-winning actor...

Dinesh D'Souza's wonderful movie is moving up the Documentary ranks. As of posting this, it is #11 on the Political Documentary list. Political DocumentariesAll of us should have the goal to get this movie to #1 to pass the liar Michael Moore and his anti-American hit piece. I hope we can help this movie get there. Currently, it has grossed 4 million in 1,105 theaters. The liar's movie had 119 million and was in 2,011 theaters.

Here in Boone, NC, the most perfect and beautiful spot in all of America (and therefore the universe), the sky is blue and the air is cool and dry. For that reason, a movie festival is probably not on my agenda this holiday weekend. But for those of you stuck inside, what better way is there to celebrate the 4th of July than with a movie binge that takes you through the history of this great country of ours. My list is not perfect. Lists never are. It's a starting point. Feel free to make your own recommendations.