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Disney made eternal waves across Hollywood with its advances animated projects, such as Pinocchio. However, they weren’t all immediate successes. Rather, some of them nearly cost Walt Disney everything after the losses that the company incurred. Pinocchio was one of the movies that nearly sunk the entire company, even though it would later become a substantial classic Disney film.

‘Pinocchio’ went into production after ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ L-r: Gepetto (voiced by Christian Rub), Pinocchio (voiced by Dickie Jones), and Figario (voiced by Clarence Nash), and Cleo | Lmpc via Getty Images

Geppetto (voiced by Christian Rub) is an old Italian woodcarver whose puppet, Pinocchio (voiced by Dickie Jones), comes to life thanks to a blue fairy (voiced by Evelyn Venable). The wooden puppet wants to be a real boy, but his only chance at doing so is to prove himself to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish.”

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs...

"RoboCop" was a hot favorite on the school playground when I was a kid. Stories of brutal cop killings and boardroom bloodbaths joined the head-popping scene from "Scanners" and the gruesome exploits of Freddy Krueger as the kind of viewing choice that separated the cool kids from the rest of us. Or at least, separated those who had access to their parents' video rental card from those who didn't.

I caught up with it again several years ago after a gap of about two decades, going in expecting a blast of pure '80s nostalgia. I got a blast alright, but there was nothing sentimental about it. Seeing it again as an adult made me realize that "RoboCop" isn't just a fun movie, it's a great one. Paul Verhoeven directs the hell out of it and there is plenty of substance and style to go with the over-the-top action.

Like all the best sci-fi dystopias,...

Track my film passions of the past year and the result is this list. These are the films that wowed and moved me, that turned me into a rabid champion, that gave me hope that brilliant cinematic storytelling — and a rebel spirit — is alive and well. It turned out to be a strong year for women directors (five), romances (three), World War II dramas (two), Angelina Jolie movies (two), animation (one), and documentaries (one).

See More:The Best Movies of 2017, According to IndieWire Critic Eric Kohn 12. “The Breadwinner” (GKids)

Directed by Nora Twomey of Cartoon Saloon (“The Secret of Kells”) and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, Irish-Canadian “The Breadwinner” is based on Deborah Ellis’s Ya novel about 11-year-old Parvana (voiced by Canadian actress Saara Chaudry), a strong-willed Afghan girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family and save her father under threat from the Taliban.

All this week, IndieWire is rolling out our annual Fall Preview, including the very best indie cinema has to offer, all the awards contenders you need to know about, and even blockbuster fare that seems poised to please the most discerning tastes, all with an eye towards introducing you to all the new movies you need to get through a jam-packed fall movie-going season. Check back every day for a new look at the best the season has to offer, and clear your schedule, because we’re going to fill it right up. First up: indie films and festival favorites.

“mother!” (September 15)

The return of Darren Aronofsky should be enough to get any cinephile back to the theater, but the fact that “mother!” has remained so secretive with just under a month to go has only made anticipation higher. Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem play a couple whose lives are...

Nick Viall is a real boy—and without a beard! The Bachelor star and his professional partner Peta Murgatroyd did a jazz number on Dancing With the Stars to "I've Got No Strings" by Dickie Jones in honor of Pinocchio and received their best scores yet—a 34, complete with two nines from the judges. But the couple was last to be called safe—again. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne was sent home after receiving a 32 from the judges and dancing to "Unforgettable" by Sia for Finding Dory. "It would have been a real bummer and honestly disappointing to get the scores that we did and have the performance that we had only to go home tonight. I feel rejuvenated....

The magic of Disney is coming to life in the ballroom!

It's week five of Dancing With the Stars, and the remaining nine couples will each be dancing to catchy tunes while dressed as some of the brand's most iconic characters as "Disney Night" kicks off Monday at 8 p.m. Et on ABC.

Ahead of their sure-to-be fun, lively and energetic performances, Et's breaking down everything you need to know!

Watch: 'Dancing With the Stars' Week 4 Dance Recap: Best Lifts, Kicks, Tricks and Flips!

Who's on top of the leaderboard?

1. Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater: 39/40

2. Simone Biles and Sasha Farber: 36/40

3. Heather Morris and Maksim Chmerkovskiy/Alan Bersten: 35/40

Who's in danger of elimination?

Erika Jayne and Gleb Savchenko were in the bottom two last week, and after receiving the lowest score (30/40) from the judges during Most Memorable Year night, we have a feeling this might be it for #TeamPrettyXxspensive. However, [link...

Ryan Lambie Apr 6, 2017

Adverts and TV form an integral part in Paul Verhoeven's classic sci-fi films, RoboCop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers...

"I looked at American society in a kind of dazed way when I was doing RoboCop," director Paul Verhoeven told us earlier this year. Back in the mid-80s, when he was better known for his Dutch films like Soldier Of Orange and The Fourth Man, Verhoeven was still getting used to the pace and tone of American culture - and his outsider status arguably fed into the wry, spikily satirical edge in all three sci-fi films he made while in Hollywood.

See related Deadpool: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick interview Deadpool: Ryan Reynolds on channeling the character

"It was all so different from living in Holland," Verhoeven recalled. "A lot of my, let's say, amazement, at American society is in RoboCop; in the commercials, in...

Ryan Lambie Mar 9, 2017

In RoboCop, we see death and resurrection through Murphy's eyes. Here's how its Pov sequences create such a timeless movie...

"Well, he signed a release form when he joined the force. He's legally dead. We can do pretty much what we want to him."

Articles probably ought to begin with a punchy, attention-grabbing argument, so here's one: RoboCop's an underrated film. As financially successful as it was, as oft-quoted it is by its legion fans,  and despite all the sequels, the TV spin-off and the 2014 reboot, the brilliance of its filmmaking is still easily overlooked. Why? Because RoboCop's writing, direction, acting and design all slip together so seamlessly that singling out exactly why the film works so well.

See related  James Cameron's Avatar: five years on Avatar review

RoboCop's often described in terms of its spectacularly bloody violence or its satirical humour -...

Ryan Lambie Jan 20, 2017

We're sad to report that American actor Miguel Ferrer has died at the age of 61.

One of America's great character actors, Miguel Ferrer has died at the age of 61, we're sorry to announce. Many will remember him for his signature turn as Bob Morton in the 1987 classic RoboCop: the slick, ambitious Ocp executive who creates the film's title law enforcer and inadvertently gets on the wrong side of the villainous Dick Jones (Ronny Cox).

That film was but one stand-out in an immensely busy career: through the 1980s, brief roles in such shows as Magnum Pi and Cagney & Lacey eventually led to his recurring part as FBI agent Albert Rosenfield in David Lynch's brilliantly surreal thriller series, Twin Peaks. Ferrer reprised the role in Lynch's 1992 film spin-off Fire Walk With Me, and returned once again as Rosenfeld in the first episode of the Twin Peaks revival series.

If you grew up during the 1980s and the 1990s like myself, you gotta check out this video created by Smash TV called Megaplex. It’s the ultimate audio and visual nostalgia trip: a mashup of over 80 movies, fake trailers, and more edited together with some retro music from the era. This thing is absolutely ridiculous in the greatest of ways and it made me miss the good ol’ days. Here’s the note that came along with the video:

Megaplex is the most insane double feature the world has ever seen. With a running time of 80 minutes and thousands of cuts from more than 80 movies, Smash TV has spent the past year and a half cramming the most entertainment possible into every second. It's dense enough to pressurize these diamonds in the rough into gleaming treasures.Megaplex is the long awaited followup to the critically acclaimed Skinemax, much more fully realized,...

'The Merry Widow' with Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald and Minna Gombell under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch. Ernst Lubitsch movies: 'The Merry Widow,' 'Ninotchka' (See previous post: “Ernst Lubitsch Best Films: Passé Subtle 'Touch' in Age of Sledgehammer Filmmaking.”) Initially a project for Ramon Novarro – who for quite some time aspired to become an opera singer and who had a pleasant singing voice – The Merry Widow ultimately starred Maurice Chevalier, the hammiest film performer this side of Bob Hope, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler – the list goes on and on. Generally speaking, “hammy” isn't my idea of effective film acting. For that reason, I usually find Chevalier a major handicap to his movies, especially during the early talkie era; he upsets their dramatic (or comedic) balance much like Jack Nicholson in Martin Scorsese's The Departed or Jerry Lewis in anything (excepting Scorsese's The King of Comedy...

Sven Harvey Oct 18, 2017

Before Star Trek: Discovery, treat yourself to some Star Trek: The Next Generation classics...

Leading the charge back to television for the Star Trek franchise (just as Star Trek: Discovery is now), and paving the way for three further series to follow (fingers crossed that happens again), Star Trek: The Next Generation's 7 seasons had some very high points, and a couple of very low ones (that some would simply call “season 1....”, not that I’m one of them.)

See related Looking back at Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Would Khan be right for Jj Abrams’ Star Trek sequel? Planet Of The Titans: the Star Trek movie that never was Star Trek: was Cumberbatch supposed to be Gary Mitchell? Star Trek: the battle to make The Motion Picture

These are the top 25 “must-watch” episodes, not necessarily the top 25 for quality, or indeed my 25 favourites,...

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These 25 Star Trek: The Next Generation stories are the series’ unmissable episodes…

Leading the charge back to television for the Star Trek franchise, and paving the way for three further series to follow, Star Trek: The Next Generation's 7 seasons had some very high points, and a couple of very low ones (that some would simply call “season 1....”, not that I’m one of them.)

These are the top 25 “must-watch” episodes, not necessarily the top 25 for quality, or indeed my 25 favourites, but the 25 stories that give you the best flavour of the series and its relatively unplanned story arcs. Just don’t forget that, like The Original Series, The Next Generation is a product of its time, and as such certain issues that writers wanted to bring to the screen not only necessitated allegory, but sometimes stretched it thin so as not to raise issues with censorship.

Child actor Dickie Moore: 'Our Gang' member. Former child actor Dickie Moore dead at 89: Film career ranged from 'Our Gang' shorts to features opposite Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper 1930s child actor Dickie Moore, whose 100+ movie career ranged from Our Gang shorts to playing opposite the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, and Gary Cooper, died in Connecticut on Sept. 7, '15 – five days before his 90th birthday. So far, news reports haven't specified the cause of death. According to a 2013 Boston Phoenix article about Moore's wife, MGM musical star Jane Powell, he had been “suffering from arthritis and bouts of dementia.” Dickie Moore movies At the behest of a persistent family friend, combined with the fact that his father was out of a job, Dickie Moore (born on Sept. 12, 1925, in Los Angeles) made his film debut as an infant in Alan Crosland's 1927 costume drama The Beloved Rogue,...

Former child actress Jean Darling, best known for starring in the Our Gang comedy shorts during the silent era, has died at the age of 93.

The actress also starred in the first Broadway production of the famed Rogers & Hammerstein musical Carousel, where she played Carrie Pipperidge.

She died in Rodgau, Germany, where she lived with her son.

Darling came to fame at the age of 4 when she was cast in the Our Gang series, and subsequently played a role in Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland and as the child Jane Eyre in the 1934 adaptation.

Darling was born Dorothy Jean Lavake on August 23, 1922 in Santa Monica, with her mother changing her name to Jean Darling because she wanted her daughter to make it big in showbusiness.

She married a magician called Reuben Bowen in 1954, moving to Dublin in the early '70s, where she wrote mystery crime stories for magazines...

From early Bond to 21st century sci-fi, here's Ryan's pick of 11 unforgettable villain pairings from action cinema history...

You're generally lucky if a movie has one genuinely great villain in it, let alone two. This is probably because creating a villain takes great acting and writing - it's one thing to create a preening character who stomps around a story doing unpleasant things, but creating a villain who's three-dimensional, witty, scary and above all memorable requires considerable skill.

Every so often, a movie comes along which gives us not one, but two classic villains, with the personality of one complementing the other. A familiar dynamic was once laid out by Steven Spielberg: one is smart and eloquent , while the other is the tougher, more violent of the pair. It's a template that we've seen time and again in cinema, but it's only occasionally that both characters leap from the screen.

Given how revered Disney's "Pinocchio" is today, it's hard to believe it was a flop when it was first released exactly three quarters of a century ago. Upon its New York City premiere, on February 7, 1940, critics hailed the film as a masterpiece, and even to this day, many prefer it to Disney's pioneering first animated feature, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Yet it took the film many years and multiple re-releases to make a profit.

Today, of course, the legacy of "Pinocchio" is inescapable. Everyone's image of the puppet-boy with the nose that grows when he lies comes not from Carlo Collodi's original novel but from the kid with the Tyrolean hat and the Mickey Mouse gloves, as drawn by Disney animators. And the opening tune, Jiminy Cricket's "When You Wish Upon a Star," is ubiquitous as the theme music played before every Walt Disney movie and home video release.

Jean Arthur films on TCM include three Frank Capra classics Five Jean Arthur films will be shown this evening, Monday, January 5, 2015, on Turner Classic Movies, including three directed by Frank Capra, the man who helped to turn Arthur into a major Hollywood star. They are the following: Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; George Stevens' The More the Merrier; and Frank Borzage's History Is Made at Night. One the most effective performers of the studio era, Jean Arthur -- whose film career began inauspiciously in 1923 -- was Columbia Pictures' biggest female star from the mid-'30s to the mid-'40s, when Rita Hayworth came to prominence and, coincidentally, Arthur's Columbia contract expired. Today, she's best known for her trio of films directed by Frank Capra, Columbia's top director of the 1930s. Jean Arthur-Frank Capra...

Does the new Call Of Duty game envision a scary future we might soon be living in?

War has changed, and so has the way we fight them. Gone are the days when armies were populated by brave men standing up for freedom, liberty and the defence of their realm. Today wars are fought for money, a lot of money. And with governments under ever-greater pressure to reduce defence budgets, it’s hardly surprising that they’re looking beyond their own armed forces when conflicts do arise.

The term "mercenary" used to be a derogatory one. A label given to a soldier who would fight for whichever regime would pay him the most. A mercenary was considered to be a man with no allegiance, no honour, and no moral compass. But today a significant percentage of all military personnel could be described as mercenaries.

The rise of private military corporations...

Dick Jones, who provided the voice of the title character in Disney's 1940 animated classic Pinocchio, has died at age 87. The actor, who often went by the nickname "Dickie," passed away on Monday, July 7, after suffering a fall at his home in Northridge, near Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times quoted his son Rick as saying. The official cause of his death was not announced. Jones is also survived by his wife of 66 years, Betty; son Jeffrey, two sisters, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, the newspaper reported. Pinocchio marked Jones' most famous, and only, animated role. In addition to his voice performance as the wooden boy whose nose grows when he lies, the actor also...

The title star's conscience may have been Jiminy Cricket, but his voice in the 1940 Walt Disney animated feature Pinocchio belonged to 10-year-old Dick Jones, who made millions of fellow youngsters cry when his screen character was reunited with his father and then turned into a real boy. Jones, not only the voice of Pinocchio but the veteran of 40 movies before he landed that role, died Monday night after a fall in his San Fernando Valley, California, home, his son, Rick Jones, told the Los Angeles Times. He was 87. Inducted in 2000 as a "Disney Legend" at the studio that produced the beloved movie (which,...

Boy Culture counts down 100 best Golden Girls guest spots - movie stars of yore!

The Daily Beast has an excellent piece on Tammy and Melissa McCarthy's career and body (also body of work) by Teo Bugbee

New Yorker thorough piece on the arguments for and against VOD for indies and the question of "cultural endurance" (I'm against VOD in general but I recognize that's probably because I live in NYC where I can actually see the movies and I think moviegoing is so much more immersive than watching things at home)

Me Says considers Notes on a Scandal (2006) the Whatever Happened to Baby Jane of our time 

Bad-Ass Digest on Exodus: Gods and Kings' 'white men with bronzer' cast. Will it finally crystallize the white-wash problem for people who still don't get it? 

Nathaniel R and have you seen that tacky black&white-in-color poster?

EW Dick Jones the...

Richard Percy Jones, who gave his voice to an iconic animated character and rode horses in Western movies, died on July 7th at his home in Northridge, California. He was 87.

Jones turned 10 in 1937, the year Disney’s first animated feature, Snow White, came to theaters. Until then, he was billed onscreen as “Dickie” Jones. Afterward, he shortened it to the more grown-up “Dick,” but he will forever be remembered for the boy he voiced in Disney’s second animated feature, in 1940, Pinocchio.

Walt Disney picked Jones for the role at age 11, he told The Telegraph in 2009. “It was like a radio show,...

Richard Percy Jones, the voice of Disney's Pinocchio, has died aged 87.

The actor - also known as Dick or Dickie Jones - found fame as a child star in the classic animated 1940 film, and went on to appear in several popular westerns and B-movies.

He died on Monday (July 7) at his home in Northridge, California.

Jones is best known for his starring role as the puppet who wants to be a real boy, and performed the songs 'Give a Little Whistle', 'Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee' and 'I've Got No Strings'.

He also had small roles in the Our Gang movies, as well as Babes in Toyland, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Heaven Can Wait.

In the 1950s, he played Dick West and Jimmy the Kid in 78 episodes of the Range Rider TV series.

He later had appearances in The Gene Autry Show and Annie Oakley, and played the title role in Buffalo Bill Jr....

Some years ago I showed the 1939 classic Destry Rides Again to my class at USC; most of the students had never seen it. Following the screening I introduced Dick Jones, who appeared in the film and was featured in the penultimate scene with James Stewart. We talked about the fact that he worked with Stewart that same year in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and also spent some time at the Walt Disney studio recording the dialogue for Pinocchio. I turned to the class and said, pointedly, “He was the voice of Pinocchio.” This was greeted by a chorus of oohs and ahhs and immediately changed the tenor of the evening. Pinocchio gave Dick a kind of immortality, but if it affected him he...

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Richard Percy Jones, best known for voicing the wooden puppet “Pinocchio” in Disney's 1940 animated film, has died at the age of 87. According to the Los Angeles County coroner's office, Jones was found dead in his residence in Northridge, Calif. on Monday by a family member. An autopsy is scheduled to take place Wednesday or Thursday, although the coroner's office tells TheWrap there were no signs of foul play, and it appears Jones died of natural causes. Jones had a long and successful career in Hollywood. The actor, who was known...

Richard Percy Jones, who voiced the title character in Disney's 1940 animated film Pinocchio, died July 7 at his home in Northridge, Calif. He was 87. Lt. Fred Corral, of the L.A. Coroner's Office investigation division, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that an 87-year-old man was found dead Monday by his wife on the bathroom floor of their Northridge home. She called 911, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death has not yet been determined. Photos Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2014 Jones voiced the role of the puppet who wants to be

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The first man who brought Pinocchio to life on the big screen has died -- Richard Percy Jones passed away at home in Northridge, CA.Jones died Monday night ... apparently of natural causes.As a kid, he was chosen by Walt Disney to provide the voice of the boy puppet for the 1940 animated flick, "Pinocchio." Jones was also a skilled rodeo rider -- appearing in a bunch of B-movies and TV shows. He also had...

There are people out there who have never seen The Princess Bride. They walk among us, holding down jobs, contributing to society, and generally living happy, semi-fulfilled lives. But whisper a perfectly-timed “mawage” in their direction during a wedding, and the resulting blank stare or awkward chuckle will expose an inconceivable pop-cultural blind spot. Someone failed them when they were growing up.

In many ways it’s too late for them, but we can still save the next generation. The 55 Essential Movies Kids Must Experience (Before They Turn 13) is a starting point. This isn’t a list of the 55 “best” kids movies,...

Re-Animator, The Beast Within and Camp Dread are among the horror films to appear on DVD and Blu-ray this month. Nick takes a look...

Feature

Wow. Just a month in and this regular post dedicated to the - shall we say - more idiosyncratic, less delicate of movies (or shall we just say “gory horrors and not-quite-b-movies”) has the splendid fortune of getting to review Stuart Gordon’s tongue-in-cheek classic, Re-Animator.

Produced by Brian Yuzna, the warped individual behind the brutal class satire/mutant cannibalism jaunt Society, and starring that rubber-faced icon of the midnight movie, Jeffrey Combs, this remains one of the crowning glories of 80s cult film-making. Re-Animator's essentially an outlandish, sillier take on Hp Lovecraft’s spin on the Frankenstein mad-scientist story, and Combs, who you’ll undoubtedly know from such box-office juggernauts as Doctor Mordrid and Cellar Dweller (reviewed here next month), plays brilliant-if-misguided medical student Herbert West.

The number one cause of death for guys named either Boddicker or Dick Jones is back, this time with a shiny new upgrade. RoboCop, the much-anticipated reboot of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 classic, takes a page from the Chris Nolan playbook by grounding Robo’s origin story in a very "real" near future. (Well, as "real" as a PG-13 rating will allow.) To celebrate Alex Murphy’s return to the big screen on February 12, Fandango looks back at the franchise – from films to animated series – with some stats worth buying for a dollar. 30: Total body count for Verhoeven’s film. 11: Times the 1987 film had to be submitted to the MPAA before it secured an R rating. $13 million: Budget of the original RoboCop in 1987. $100...

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Twenty-seven years ago Robocop hit cinema screens to an overwhelmingly positive reaction and now in 2014 we await the imminent release of the remake. We’ve endured the expected reaction of seething rage from diehard fans, but is it really that bad for further elements of the Robocop world to be explored?

With a recent outbreak of viral videos flooding the internet in the build up to its February 7th release, it’s interesting to see an active effort to explore new avenues unseen in the Paul Verhoeven original. The 1987 film examined ideas of big corporate greed as well as man as a consumer commodity by building a product that’s part man and part machine. Instead, Jose Padilha’s interpretation presents Joel Kinnaman’s Robocop as a “man inside of a machine”. It appears that instead of ripping Alex J. Murphy of his humanity it is exploring the very nature...

The new Robocop trailer has been released online and personally, I think it is one you need to see. Watch the trailer below and read my thoughts afterward.

Trailer #2

Many of you might still be crying about Verhoeven’s classic being remade but let’s be honest, this is not a rehash of Verhoeven’s film. Sure, there seems to be a commentary of consumerism and product marketing and manufacturing that is done in the original film. However, it seems like director José Padilha is making different choices here. While the first one focused briefly on police corruption, with the character of Dick Jones, it seems that corruption is full fledged in this version. Also, this is a man in a suit as opposed to a machine given man-like qualities.

I like what I see here. The trailer touches on many of the political commentary that I expected from Padilha,...

RoboCop was always a prime candidate for the remake treatment given the character's potential and enduring popularity, but Jose Padilha's upcoming reboot has the unenviable task of living up to one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time.

The 1987 original marked the Hollywood debut of director Paul Verhoeven, the Dutch filmmaker who went on to helm the likes of Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers.

Written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner, RoboCop was an example of multi-layered storytelling at its finest - action-packed sci-fi with deep philosophical themes intertwined among the blood and carnage.

Verhoeven's opus was more than just a movie about a cyborg police officer in a crime-ridden near future, it was an exploration of the life-after-death concept and a poignant piece of social commentary dealing with issues such as capitalism, privatisation and gentrification.

RoboCop is set in an alternate version of Detroit, Michigan...

Feature Ryan Lambie 9 Sep 2013 - 05:56

The first trailer for the RoboCop remake landed last week, so what have we learned from it? We take a closer look...

Among the many behind-the-scenes stills from the 1987 RoboCop production, there's a picture of director Paul Verhoeven standing in front of the full-scale prop of Ed-209. He's attempting to get across to his cast the menace of this static object - an object that, in the finished film, will be a machine-gunning, growling robot on the rampage. To do this, Verhoeven's flailing his arms and baring his teeth. His long hair's almost standing on end, like a cat in a temper.

This image, more than any other, sums up the febrile, manic energy this maverick filmmaker brought to RoboCop. It's a true masterpiece of 80s cinema, and every scene comes loaded with an almost palpable intensity. So when it was announced that a remake was on the way,...

Dick Jones would be turning over in his grave!!! Check out the new look Robocop, fresh from Comic Con and we’ve got a new video as well. Maybe its the nostalgic Robo geek in me, but this “new look” Robo looks horrific. I hate to be negative about it as I love the original, but seriously, Come On!!! Anyway, that aside this article is about to get worse, and not the quality of the writing either, thats bad enough as it is. The new Robocop reboot will be a PG-13. Which is potentially a 12 / 12A over here. The MPAA definition is “Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13”. At Comic Con yesterday director Jose Padiha turned up for a panel with some of the cast and said “"The original Robocop tonally was very ironic and very violent, and also a critique of fascism," said Padilha.

In June Variety reported that Hugh Laurie was in negotiations to play, "the cold, sarcastic CEO of Omni Corp, which creates the title character." That lead many to assume that it was for the role of Dick Jones, which was played by Ronny Cox in the original 1987 film. But now Variety's Jeff Sneider is reporting that Laurie has pulled out of negotiations. MGM Rumor #1: While he was never officially confirmed, sources telling Variety that Hugh Laurie has ended talks to play villain in Robocop.— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) August 23, 2012 Check out this funny moment that Joel Kinnaman had during an interview on Swedish television RoboCop will be directed by Jose Padilha and star Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) in the lead role of Alex Murphy/Robocop. The film also stars: Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jennifer Ehle, Jay Baruchel and Abbie Cornish. The remake will be in theaters August 9th,...

I’m still not sold on Len Wiseman’s retelling of the Total Recall story. It seems like an unneseccary revisitation based on a weird sense of nostalgia-optimised timing as much as anything.

However this new clip does introduce one of the reasons to break out a modicum of excitement for the project – namely the first good look at Bryan Cranston as Vilos Cohaagen, corporate nasty (not the corrupt governor of Mars in the 1990 film, played to creepy perfection by Ronny Cox – Dick Jones to Robocop fans).

Given the situation presented in this clip, and who he is talking to, it may be considered a little spoileresque but if you’re familiar with Paul Verhoeven’s film none of this will be a shock to you.

Sit back, relax, let us fill your mind with thirty-seven seconds of new memories.

Time to fire up the Thanksmobile and drive it on over to Hollywood.

Ah, RoboCop remake – you just don’t give a fuck, do you?

Seriously, you just might be a super villain masquerading as a film remake. ”Is this just Doctor Doom?” wonders no one, and then also “Will Squirrel Girl show up to stop him?”

No matter how much you have going for you, I’ll just kind of be pissed that you’re happening. And I’m not the only one. Dick Jones doesn’t like you either. And you know what, you just fucked with the wrong guy, RoboCop remake.

Why, you ask? Uh… because he’ll disparage you! In a very collegiate fashion. Take that!

Ronny Cox, who played villain Dick Jones in the original RoboCop has, in an interview with THR, stated that “I hate remakes,” while at the same time saying he “wish[es] them well with them,” presumably being cut before finishing with “because it’s...

Hugh Laurie (of House M.D. fame) is in deep negotiations to depict the menacing counterpart to Joel Kinnaman’s (Safe House) sympathetic but not entirely human, Robocop. The film, which has stirred quite the buzz, serves as a remake of Paul Verhoeven’s immensely popular 1987 sci-fi/action offering. Reports indicate that Laurie (should negotiations close on the positive) will depict the vile CEO of Omnicorp, the same company responsible for transforming the dying officer Alex Murphy into a crime fighting cyborg. As you may recall; this character, originally named in the film as Dick Jones was portrayed by the hard edged Ronny Cox.

Capitalizing on his ability to remain coldly detached in the face of medical horror, MGM has entered negotiations with House star Hugh Laurie about playing the main villain in its RoboCop remake, a film whose titanium shell of interesting character actors continues to protect it against volleyed charges that it has no reason to exist. Laurie would co-star as the CEO of Omni Corp.—a parallel to Ronny Cox's Dick Jones in the first film, we suppose, though with slightly more Laurie-inspired likeability. No word yet on whether Laurie will be allowed to be British in the role, nor ...

Brazilian director José Padilha's (Elite Squad) last few casting choices for his Robocop remake have provided insight into how the movie will differ from director Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original. First, Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) was cast as Norton, the scientist who creates Robocop and finds himself in a moral dilemma between his loyalty to his creation and the company that employs him; a character that did not exist in the original. Then, Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers) was cast as "charismatic media mogul" Pat Novak, another character that wasn't in the original Robocop. Now Padilha's looking to cast the remake's villain, who will again be an executive at the megacorporation that created Robocop.

THR reports that House actor Hugh Laurie is in negotiations to play the CEO of Omnicorp, the company behind the cyborg known as Robocop. The company in the original was Omni Consumer Products, or Ocp.

Earlier this year we learned that MGM had opted for a somewhat unknown actor to play the lead role in their upcoming Robocop reboot. Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) landed the gig back in February, taking on the unenviable task of stepping into Peter Weller's metallic boots. Fortunately, he has stated in interviews that they will set his character apart by going for a more "human" cyborg this time around, using a see-through visor to show his eyes and facial expressions. Now this month they seem to be filling out the rest of the cast by surrounding him with some more familiar faces. Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson have both recently signed on for roles, and this week everyone's favourite drug-addled medical genius has also joined the film. That's right, Dr. Gregory House himself, Hugh Laurie is reportedly in talks to play the film's villain. According to THR, Laurie...

Now that “House” has finished its run on our television screens, we might well reap the rewards with Hugh Laurie appearing in more movies. And that can only be a good thing!

Variety reports that Laurie will play one of the villains in “RoboCop”, MGM’s reboot of the late 80′s/early 90′s sci-fi/action franchise whose cast has grew significantly in the past fortnight with Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish all recently joining lead Joel Kinnaman.

Laurie takes the role of the CEO of Omni Corp, the cold and ruthless visionary who creates RoboCop for his own gain. Basically, the character is a more evil and even more detached version of Dr. Gregory House and will be the kind of role that Laurie could do in his sleep by now. The character was called Dick Jones in the original film and was memorably played by Ronny Cox...

Hugh Laurie came to America from the UK after a successful career in comedy and quickly found himself playing lead in a critical and commercial hit on the Fox network. His film work over here has been relegated to small, supporting roles, but it looks like he may get a chance to flex his dark side on the big screen in a big way. Per Variety, Laurie is in talks to join MGM’s upcoming Robocop remake for director Jose Padilha as the film’s main villain. He has large, partially bald shoes to fill if he hopes to be half as entertaining as the original’s main baddies played by Kurtwood Smith and Ronny Cox. Clarence Boddicker is a memorably brutal (and brutally funny) psycho, and Dick Jones is the epitome of a dickish CEO, but while it’s rumored Laurie would be playing a brand new version of the latter he’d kill in either...

Variety report that Hugh Lauries is "in negotiations" to join the already very impressive cast of the upcoming remake/reboot of the classic '80s sci-fi flick Robocop According to the trade, Laurie would play "the cold, sarcastic CEO of Omni Corp, which creates the title character". Now that sounds like the character played by Ronny Cox in the original, Dick Jones. But now that THR report that Laurie would indeed play the villain of the story, my guess is that this character would be an amalgamation of Jones and another villain from the original who was more hands-on involved in Murphy's transformation, Bob Morton played by Miguel Ferrer. Of course, hopefully we will also get a Clarence Bodicker type in the mix too - and we better see the "I'd by that for a dollar" guy, I mean that would be a deal breaker. Jose Padilha is directing the movie,...

That didn’t take long.

Two days after the news of Benicio Del Toro falling out of talks over Star Trek 2 broke, Variety tells us that Édgar Ramirez is now J.J. Abrams and Paramount’s top pick. An offer has yet to be thrown toward the actor — who gave last year’s best performance in Carlos — but a need for someone to be in place before the weekend means he’s “expected to test for the role via Skype either later today or early tomorrow.” Colombiana actor Jordi Mollá is also named as a contender, but the focus is all on Ramirez at the moment.

Of course, the Variety story doesn’t answer the pesky question of who he might appear as, but, come on: it’s Khan. (I honestly didn’t intend for that to rhyme.) If it wasn’t the evil Sikh immortalized by the Hispanic Ricardo Montalbán,...

It’s the one aspect of humanity that binds the demographics; the one thing that’s on everyone’s mind, young or old. Whether you’ve come to terms with your mortality or not, Hollywood thrives off it and the simple fact that you just can’t look away.

Many films exist and across them countless characters shuffle off the mortal coil; some nobly while others pointlessly, some even to the audiences’ collective groan of derision (two words: Mace Windu). Regardless of their dramatic accomplishment, movie deaths present a director with an opportunity to invoke empathy at the most primal level – sure Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) was an asshole throughout Die Hard but it’s hard not to acknowledge his humanity given his expression of mortal terror as he falls from the Nakatomi Plaza rooftop.

Done well, movie deaths make dramatic statements. They’ll kick-start a narrative or punctuate it with tragedy.

As the RoboCop reboot finally gets a writer and director, we've got a wishlist of suggestions it really needs to follow if it wants to avoid RoboCop 3 hell...

As we heard late last week, the plans for a rebooted RoboCop are continuing apace, with Elite Squad director José Padilha signed up to front the project, with words provided by writer Josh Zeturner.

It’s far too early at this stage to predict what kind of film will come about as the result of their collaboration, but for now, we hold firmly onto the hope that Padilha and Zeturner can come up with a 21st century RoboCop worthy of the law enforcer’s name.

It’s with cautious optimism, therefore, that we offer up a list of what we’d like to see in the forthcoming RoboCop reboot…

A decent nemesis

Part of what made the original movie so spectacular was...

A good boss is a genuine treasure not only for his or her staff, but for the whole company. A leader, an innovator, a constant source of encouragement; demanding much, but leading always by example; not making promises they can't keep, and encouraging good work from his or her subordinates by being a true and genuine inspiration; giving credit and advancement to those members of the team that have made the boss look good. I hope you have had such a boss at some point in your working life. I did, once, and I shall never forget him.

And then there are the bosses that most of us get, most of the time.

The stealers of ideas; the ferocious saboteurs of those underlings who threaten to be better at their job than they are; the early-departers who haven't seen the rush-hour in years; the credit-sequesterers; the ones who view the...