Free Republic

923. Camelot Richard Harris “King Arthur” prop “Excalibur” sword. (Warner Bros., 1967) In Camelot, the romantic Lerner and Lowe musical telling of “King Arthur” (Richard Harris) and his beloved “Guenevere” (Vanessa Redgrave), the most important prop must be the Excalibur sword. This 40 in. long sword was made in Spain for production. Consisting of steel blade with an ornate 8.25 x 10.25 in. brass handle, grip and pommel. One side of the blade is engraved with, “Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword Of This Stone Is Rightwise King Born Of All England”. Excalibur is visible in three pivotal scenes in the...

Olivia Wilde, Tom Sturridge and Reed Birney star in the bold staging of George Orwell’s dystopian novel. The play 1984 is not for the average theatergoer. Adapting George Orwell’s dystopian novel — set in a future when critical thought is suppressed by a totalitarian regime, ostensibly overseen by a party leader known as Big Brother — the new Broadway staging includes special effects like strobe lights and jackhammer sound effects, in addition to the plot’s extreme torture scenes. Throughout the London transfer’s previews, attendees have fainted, thrown up and screamed at the actors from their seats. After one performance, some...

We invite movie lovers and online learners from around the world to join us for a free, flexible online course, TCM Presents The Master of Suspense: 50 Years of Hitchcock (#Hitchcock50). This is the third free online course to be offered by TCM and Ball State, following Film Noir (2015) and Slapstick Comedy (2016). In this Hitchcock course, enjoy multimedia course materials, daily in-app messaging with movie clips, mini-games, and ongoing interactions with fellow film fans on the TCM message boards or at #Hitchcock50. We will explore 40+ Hitchcock films from his first film in the silent era, The Lodger...

Warner Bros. is developing a movie about Michael Brown's death, according to a Hollywood trade publication. The studio has acquired the rights to the memoir written by Lezley McSpadden, Brown’s mother, according to Tracking Board. The memoir is titled “Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil.”

If you don’t like the way a story ends, why not change it? That’s exactly what Netflix is encouraging viewers do with a brand new children’s show called “Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale.” As the show progresses, kids get to make a series of choices to move the story in any direction.

"If you really want to turn this movie around, you have got to get Jar Jar in there, and not just a supporting role. Maybe it's a Jar Jar movie now." Meesa thinks it's a long shot. In a recent Funny or Die clip, Jar Jar Binks makes a plea to Ron Howard to be added into the Han Solo spin-off after it was announced this week the Apollo 13 director was taking the reins. Jar Jar is in disguise for the nearly two-minute faux clip in which he praises Howard's work and says he knows the mostly unpopular Phantom...

The White House is adopting a new approach to the way that it handles press briefings with the hopes of messing with reporters, CNN reported. The approach works like this: the White House will host a public briefing one day and then cancel their briefings for the next few days, causing outrage from media outlets and their reporters. When the anger over a lack of press briefings builds up, the White House will host an off-camera briefing and continue the process all over again. Reporters have grown furious with this method as they are continually worked up into a frenzy...

The History Channel is running a four-part series tracing the history (duh!) of the so-called War on Drugs. Since I seldom watch TV any more, I learned about this after the third episode had already aired. Rats! However, as luck would have it those of us who missed out didn't really miss anything. We can watch at our own pace, a few minutes at a time if that's all we can digest in one sitting (or or are otherwise distracted by barking dogs, phone calls, kids, meals). The site will remember where you left off so you can resume at...

Lena Dunham is back, and she has a bunch of her celebrity friends helping her fight for abortion and Planned Parenthood again. Dunham’s “Lenny Letter” blog produced a short video this week urging people to call their U.S. Senators and tell them to support the No. 1 abortion business in the nation, according to The Wrap. U.S. Senate leaders announced plans to consider a bill next week to defund Planned Parenthood and repeal and replace Obamacare. The U.S. House already passed a bill. The House version of the bill would eliminate more than $390 million (about 86 percent) of the...

ccording to authorities, a deputy saw 39-year-old Jack Lee Ernest driving a quad ATV on Old Highway 58 in Barstow around 11 p.m. The deputy pulled Ernest over. As the traffic stop was being conducted, Ernest "attempted to flee and behaved so suspiciously he was detained," according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The deputy searched Ernest and found "numerous" illegal weapons, including a sawed-off shotgun with ammunition tactically attached. The deputy also found brass knuckles and two large knives which deputies say Ernest had "positioned for tactical access." According to deputies, Ernest said he fashioned himself as "Mad...

Star Trek: Discovery is shedding a creative restriction that’s long frustrated top writers on previous shows in the franchise. Showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg — working from a creative roadmap laid out by executive producer Bryan Fuller — are delivering a Trek saga that gets rid of one the franchise’s decades-old limitations in an effort to evolve the series. As part of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s utopian vision of the future (and one that Trek franchise executive producer Rick Berman carried on after Roddenberry’s death in 1991), writers on Trek shows were urged to avoid having Starfleet crew...

Coal company Murray Energy has sued HBO and its Sunday-night host, John Oliver, for what it says was a “false and malicious broadcast” last Sunday evening. It's seeking financial damages and a court order barring rebroadcasts of the segment's “defamatory statements.” Oliver's “Last Week Tonight” coal segment criticized the Trump administration's effort to revive the industry, saying coal jobs have dropped for decades and other energy alternatives are driving the industry's decline. He ribbed Murray Energy's CEO Robert Murray, who blames regulatory efforts by the Obama administration for damaging the coal industry. He said the 77-year-old looked like a “geriatric...

He’s earned 23 Olympic gold medals for the American swim team over his career, but can this all-American record-breaking athlete outswim a great white shark? We’ll find out when man races beast as soon as “Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs Great White” debuts on the Discovery Channel on July 23 for their annual “Shark Week” programming event. Phelps "has one competition left to win," according to the Discovery Channel. "An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark – the race...

NBC’s newest talent Megyn Kelly’s first three shows have failed to beat reruns of 60 Minutes, and television executives are already reportedly wondering if NBC is going to cancel Kelly’s Sunday newsmagazine show after the football season.

The summer tentpole is banking on a strong run overseas to make up for franchise fatigue in North America. Paramount and Hasbro's Transformers: The Last Knight easily topped the Wednesday box office chart with $15.7 million from 4,069 theaters, but that's the lowest opening day for any film in the franchise, including those titles that likewise debuted midweek. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) grossed $37.7 million when launching on a Wednesday, while Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) took in $62 million on its first Wednesday. Pre-release tracking suggests Transformers 5 will post a five-day domestic debut in the...

Star Trek has remained a ship somewhat adrift, especially since the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled before its fifth season. When J.J. Abrams brought his kinetic, alternative timeline to life in 2009, the long-running saga received a shot in the arm. Since then, the franchise, now split between Paramount (film) and CBS (small screen), continues to seek out for the right vehicle to truly set the stars ablaze in the 21st century. Star Trek Into Darkness and Beyond were both exciting and generally well-received entries but fell victim to diminishing returns at the box office when Beyond’s meager...

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said Tuesday that the Star Wars spinoff is parting ways with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller due to different creative visions on the film. ... Lord and Miller had been filming the untitled project in London since January 2017 with stars Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. The supporting cast includes Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton. “Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren’t fans of the phrase ‘creative differences’ but for once this cliché is true,” the...

Hollywood celebrities took to Twitter Tuesday night to vent after Democrat Jon Ossoff lost Georgia’s Sixth District special congressional election to Republican challenger Karen Handel. Celebrities who donated time and money to Ossoff’s campaign, including actresses Alyssa Milano and Rosie O’Donnell, used their social media accounts to react to the Democrat’s loss shortly after the election results were confirmed late Tuesday night.

For too long, Hollywood has inserted offensive, lewd, vulgar, and violent content into movies, leaving few appropriate movie options for families. The good news is that Sony Pictures recently announced a ‘Clean Version’ pilot program. This program will allow families to rent clean versions of certain movies. That’s right, these movies will have foul language, sexual content, and explicit violence edited out. This is fantastic news for family audiences! But the battle for the family is never easy. Some powerful filmmakers are furious with Sony Pictures for offering this option to families and Sony is already wavering. Director Judd Apatow...