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As 100,000 franchise-hungry fans ravaged the San Diego Convention Center at Comic-Con over the weekend, demanding more Robert Downey Jr movies, more Easter Eggs, and more Russos, an MCU Anchor Being was trapped without a hero in sight. Jennifer Garner and, presumably, her team were stuck between floors of the San...

Last week, it was officially announced that Disney is developing a live-action remake of their 1997 animated take on the Greek myth of Hercules. Whenever one of these is greenlit, fans wonder whether it will end up being a close match to the original – like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast – or something that’s a bit looser with the source material – like Dumbo or the upcoming Mulan. Well, producers the Russo brothers have now teased that Herc will be an example of the latter.

While speaking to Collider, the filmmakers were asked whether their Hercules will change things up somewhat and Anthony Russo promised that they will definitely serve up “some new elements,” as they did with their Marvel films.

“Well, I think you always have to bring something new to the table because from our perspective as storytellers, it’s not compelling for us to do a literal translation.

Updated with video: Joaquin Phoenix capped a triumphant awards season on Sunday night when he claimed the Oscar for best actor for Joker, the subversive psychological thriller that defied the conventions of superhero cinema and, in the process, delivered the most unlikely billion-dollar hit in Hollywood history.

Joker premiered five months ago to instant acclaim at the 76th Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest film festival, where the film claimed the Golden Lion for Best Film. Phoenix won the Venice festival’s acting award which propelled him into an awards season of wall-to-wall success. Phoenix claimed every major prize along the way: a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA, and a Critics’ Choice Award among them.

Phoenix’s season of dominance was punctuated by an Oscar acceptance speech keyed to a message of art transcending the score-keeping nature of trophy competitions and cancel culture.

“I do...

Gee whiz, sci-fi sure was simple in the early ‘50s, wasn’t it? Slap a little Red Scare subtext here, a damsel in distress there, scientists, the military, and of course aliens rounding out the films that beamed from every drive-in on a Saturday night. One of the earliest (and best) of the bunch is Invaders from Mars (1953), which sets itself apart by employing a unique viewpoint and having spectacular and surreal production design. Don’t write this off as a cheap time waster, you whippersnappers.

Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox near the end of April, this independent production received some favorable notices and made a swift return on its $290,000 budget, for good reason – seen through a child’s eyes, it captures that imagination and runs with it for 78 minutes, shoddy getups and all. Invaders from Mars is told with the fervor of an excited youth playing catch up with an exploding imagination.

Crazy has always tapped a main vein in horror films; if it didn’t we would be stuck watching films of people being pranked or wronged, who laugh it off and become dentists instead (with all due respect to Corbin Bernsen). Now, of particular interest to me is when the sins of the flesh meet that fracture of the mind; where the lascivious and the lurid tangle in sweaty, blood stained sheets. And 1982 coughed up a doozy (in character and content) with Night Warning, a tale of a very protective aunt who doesn’t want to see her nephew leave the nest.

Also known as Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (a cool title, but neither relate to the story at all), Night Warning was distributed by Comworld Pictures in early ’82 (but didn’t go wide until early ’83) and garnered some good reviews while passing by audiences. Why? Because it was just...

Long before he was a critically-lauded and Oscar-nominated leading man, Joaquin Phoenix was a precocious child star who began working professionally when he was just 7 years old.

As a youngster, Phoenix went by the first name of Leaf before switching back to his given name Joaquin for To Die For. The Gus Van Sant drama saw Phoenix hold his own against Nicole Kidman, and he hasn't looked back since.

Digital Spy dives into the archives to pick out 5 early roles for Joaquin back when he was known as Leaf...

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982)

Joaquin's older brother River Phoenix was a cast member on the short-lived '80s TV series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and he made his acting debut on the episode 'Christmas Song'.

Unfortunately, it was a less-than-auspicious start for Leaf who, if you watch the above video closely, gets clocked by a wayward fist (at 01:...

Born in the Big Apple in january of 1951, Sheldon Lettich moved with his family to the West Coast at a young age. After finishing High School, he joined the Marine Corps, serving his country for four years, one of them as a Radio Operator in Vietnam.

Partially based upon his experiences in Southeast Asia, he co-authored Tracers, a play seen in the Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and London stages, to great acclaim; It subsequently won the prestigious Drama Desk and L.A. Drama Critics Awards.

The writing of screenplays seemed like a natural progression and his writing eventually began attracting the attention of many Hollywood producers.

Since then, Lettich has become known as expert in testosterone-driven action extravaganzas, many of the films starring some of the silver screen´s best-loved slugfest protagonists: Sylvester Stallone (Sheldon shared screenwriting credit with Sly in the third cinematic episode of the Rambo series,...

Back in ’82 this little movie came out about a boy who found an alien in his backyard. It was called E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Ever heard of it? He phoned home and whatnot? This was basically the movie that solidified Steven Spielberg as being not just a guy who was making great movies everybody liked, but as being the most important director in the world: the guy. When you see that Amblin Entertainment logo you know you’re in for a certain kind of movie designed to appeal to everyone, and it’s an image from E.T. that gets the job done. Russkies came out in ’87, when the outbreak of Spielberg imitator movies about kids going on adventures was in full swing. This one is about a group of kids who find a Russian naval officer who has washed up on the coast of their Florida town. Even Spielberg knockoffs as bad as Mac and Me still get...

Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.

This Week’s New Instant Releases…

Promised Lands (1974)

Streaming Available: 04/19/2011

Cast: Documentary

Director: Susan Sontag

Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.

Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)

Streaming Available: 04/19/2011

Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles

Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...

(Summer Phoenix, left)

(I spoke with Summer Phoenix for Venice Magazine in spring of 2002, during a time when she was getting a real publicity push and lots of work. A press kit that was sent to me in advance had articles from just about every major newspaper and magazine. She was living in London at the time, doing a play with Casey Affleck, who she would marry a few years later. I thought she was quite strong in both The Believer, which would give Ryan Gosling a big push, and a lesser-seen film called Esther Kahn, in which she was the lead. I don't know if she has abandoned acting for the time being, as her IMDb credits seem to stop in 2004. Regardless, I believe she is still a talent and an interesting person from the film world of the decade that was, and so am including our talk in our flashback series.