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Film directors are the masterminds behind the magic, the real wizards of the silver screen. While actors may get all the glory, it’s the directors who pull the strings, calling the shots (literally) and shaping the stories we love. From the old-school legends who defined cinema to the fresh talents shaking things up today, the film industry has been home to some of the most iconic filmmakers in history.

Some directors are known for their jaw-dropping action sequences, others for their mind-bending storytelling, and a few for making us cry into our popcorn. Whether it’s Steven Spielberg’s heartwarming adventures, Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked brilliance, or Christopher Nolan’s brain-busting timelines, each director brings something unique to the table. Here are 30 legendary directors from all over the world who spellbind us with their craft.

30. Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola in The Godfather Part III (Credits- Paramount)

Francis...

Netflix’s strategic investment in Asian-Pacific filmmaking is yielding significant returns, with Apac members’ film viewing surging nearly 20% in 2024, according to data revealed at the company’s ongoing Apac film showcase in Tokyo.

The streaming giant disclosed that Apac films dominated its Non-English Film Weekly Top 10 charts more than content from any other region last year, with over 100 Apac titles breaking into these rankings. The robust performance underscores Netflix’s expanding footprint in the world’s most populous region.

“The average Netflix member watches seven movies every month,” noted Minyoung Kim, VP of Content for Apac (excluding India), highlighting film’s crucial role in the platform’s engagement strategy. For Netflix India specifically, films represent nearly half of all viewing time – among the highest film engagement rates globally. Indian titles have maintained an unbroken presence in Netflix’s Global Top 10 (Non-English) list every week over the past year.

The showcase...

The animated Lego Star Wars series, Rebuild the Galaxy, is adding another two key pieces. At Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan, today, Lucasfilm announced that a new special is on its way: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past. The cast for that special will include an important part of Star Wars animation history, and a deep cut from the long history of Star Wars comic books. Ashley Eckstein will reprise her animated role of Ahsoka Tano (in Lego BrickHeadz form), and Ben Schwartz is expected to play the rascally alien rabbit Jaxxon.

The special will continue the story of the Rebuild the Galaxy miniseries, which centered around two nerf-herding brothers, Sig (Gaten Matarazzo) and Dev Greebling (Tony Revolori) who find an ancient artifact, the Cornerstone. Sig gets hurled into a Bizarro World version of the Star Wars universe, where Tattooine is a water world, Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best...

At the outset of the 1960s, the United States felt poised for its greatest decade yet or armageddon. The Soviet Union's launch of the Earth satellite Sputnik in 1957 had placed many Americans on edge. How had the Russkies beaten the most prosperous country on the planet into space, and what were our leaders doing to counteract this disaster? This led to one of the most contentious and closest Presidential elections in U.S. history, which found Democrat John F. Kennedy narrowly prevailing over Republican Richard M. Nixon. Many were hopeful that the country was in the right, aspirational hands; almost just as many were convinced we'd consigned the country to certain doom.

In times like these, people used to go to their local movie theater to escape the fresh hell of the outside world. They'd line for any entertainment that promised some kind of catharsis. Romances, comedies, romantic comedies, horror flicks,...

The Matrix is easily one of the most beloved and iconic sci-fi franchises of all time. The first three films of the cyberpunk franchise have continued to be a hit even over two decades since its release, and its latest addition came in 2021 with The Matrix Resurrections.

Although not all the installments of the franchise were as successful as the first film, which won four Academy Awards and became a pop culture symbol, including the red pill and blue pill conversation and its filmmaking style, the franchise continues to be a huge hit. The story will continue with The Matrix 5, although it will take a new direction. Speaking with Cbr's Grae Drake when promoting his newest action spy film The Amateur, Laurence Fishburne also weighed in on a possible The Matrix remake.

As Drake pointed out that a remake of The Matrix "would be wild," Fishburne replied, "You know what,...

Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke is one of his most famous creations. The Ghibli film created waves in Japan, though it was not received with the same enthusiasm in the West. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most eye-opening Ghibli films.

Princess Mononoke is about a tale as old as time: the struggle between mankind and nature. The plot begins with humans who have disrespected nature and are playing a huge role in its devastation. It then shows the forest rebelling and humans becoming mere toys in its hand.

Princess Mononoke had to fight several stereotypes | Credits: Ghibli

The movie has themes of environmentalism and a dire protest against capitalism. But it also actively fights to rid Japan of its several stereotypes.

Hayao Miyazaki calls out an Akira Kurosawa masterpiece for creating a stereotype

Seven Samurai is an epic samurai action movie directed by none other than Akira Kurosawa. It...

At this point in their careers, Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua simply trust each other and it's not hard to see why. The pair's first collaboration, 2001's "Training Day" resulted in an Oscar win for Denzel, which considering this was the first movie in which the esteemed star played a villain, is a pretty good outcome — even more so when you consider Denzel's "Training Day" casting sparked so much controversy that he was warned against taking the role by the NAACP.

In the years that followed, Washington and Fuqua worked together multiple times, most notably on the "Equalizer" films which saw Washington going full John Wick-mode in a trilogy of action thrillers based on the 1985 CBS series. But "The Equalizer" and its sequels aren't the only Fuqua/Washington team-ups to come in the wake of "Training Day." In 2016, the director oversaw yet another Denzel Washington first with "The Magnificent Seven,...

The ultimate confrontation between good and evil is set to unfold as the long-running superhero anime sensation “My Hero Academia” prepares to take its final bow.

At the AnimeJapan 2025 expo in Tokyo, Toho Co., Ltd. revealed a teaser trailer and key art for the eighth and final season, which will pit protagonist Deku against the villain Shigaraki.

Set in a world where approximately 80% of the population possesses supernatural abilities known as Quirks, “My Hero Academia” chronicles the journey of Izuku Midoriya and his classmates at U.A. High School as they train to become professional heroes who protect society from villains who use their powers for nefarious purposes.

“My Hero Academia Final Season” will make its global debut this October, with Crunchyroll securing worldwide streaming rights (excluding Asia). The platform will continue its simulcast tradition, delivering new episodes to international audiences on the same day they air in Japan.

Returning...

With season two of Star Wars: Visions coming in 2023, I wanted to look back at each short from season one and celebrate why they’re great. This is Visions Remembered.

The Duel is the perfect opener for Star Wars: Visions. Not just for the fans of anime, but it’s really made everyone else who never dipped their toe into the medium. When everyday people think of Japan or anime, I’m sure one of the first things that come to their mind are samurai. Opening Star Wars: Visions with a Star Wars version of a classic Ronin story eases an everyday audience into what to expect from anime before it veers into different kinds of anime genres. Maybe The Village Bride or The Elder could have been successful as first entries too, but The Duel does a fantastic job capturing what an average audience probably expects out of something from Japan short of Godzilla,...

If you think about the sorts of genres movies about samurai fall into, it’s understandable to think about epics (Seven Samurai), grim dramas (Harakiri), or maybe even Hollywood action movies (like The Last Samurai). Stories about samurai and samurai times can do a bit of everything when it comes to genre and tone, and that includes samurai movies sometimes also functioning as comedies.

Ever since the release of John Wick, every story about an individual with a violent past resuming their old ways in order to do some good has been labeled as a rip-off of the Keanu Reeves-led action film. But the fact of the matter is that this particular plotline is as old as movies themselves. Akira Kurosawa used this trope in Seven Samurai all the way back in 1954. Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name is a recognizable figure in this action subgenre, and that character began his journey on the silver screen in 1964. In the ‘90s, we got The Long Kiss Goodnight. David Cronenberg gave us his own take on this kind of story with A History of Violence in 2005. If you dip your toes into Tamil and Telugu films and their Bollywood remakes, almost every project with an aging star has that same old narrative. I don...

Japanese television series “La Grande Maison Tokyo” aired on TBS Television in the “Sunday Theater” slot, from October to December 2019. Following its success, high viewer ratings, and several TV awards, the series has spawned a few sequels; a special television episode in 2024, “La Grande Maison Tokyo Special”, depicting the restaurant’s aftermath following the Covid-19 pandemic, and – soon after – the feature film “La Grande Maison Paris” produced by TBS Sparkle and distributed by Toho and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, and released at the end of 2024. Moreover, one of the original series’ characters, Chef Shohei Hirako, has his own spinoff series.

In 2015, Japanese chef Natsuki Obana (Takuya Kimura) was running the prestigious Michelin-starred restaurant Escoffille in Paris when his life was turned upside down by an accident. During an important lunch for the Japan-France summit, an allergenic ingredient slipped through unnoticed in the kitchen and ended up in the sea urchin starter for the VIPs,...

Known for his contributions to the documentary medium with epic portraits like “The Vietnam War” and “Baseball,” Ken Burns took to the Criterion Closet recently to express his appreciation for narrative cinema and how, for him, “becoming a filmmaker was born in tragedy.” Burns shared that his mother passed from cancer when he was only 11 and soon after, his father introduced him to cinema as a way of coping.

“My dad, who had never cried before in his life — not during her illness, not when she died, not at her impossibly sad funeral — would let me stay up late and watch films,” Burns said, “He’d take me out to the Cinema Guild in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we’d look at films together of all sorts. And I got my education there and decided to become a filmmaker when he showed me one night Sir Carol Reed’s ‘Odd Man Out...

When a game truly embraces authenticity, it takes the player’s experience to an entirely new level. The weight of every battle, the depth of every character, and the world itself feel more immersive and believable. Capcom seems to understand this well.

The game is set to release in 2026 on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox Series X|S. | Image Credit: Capcom

With its latest samurai title, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the studio is making a bold move to ensure the game captures the true essence of a warrior’s journey.

Rather than simply drawing inspiration from the legendary swordsman of history, the studio is taking an extra step and has modeled the protagonist’s face after one of Japan’s most iconic samurai actors, the late Toshiro Mifune.

A samurai legend returns with Capcom’s Onimusha: Way of the Sword

For those unfamiliar, Toshiro Mifune was more than just an...

1. Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

Akira Kurosawa‘s directorial debut is based on the homonymous novel by Tsuneo Tomita, the son of prominent judoka Tsunejiro Tomita, with the main character drawing from Shiro Saigo, one of the earliest disciples of Judo, a martial art that was originally created by Jigoro Kano. The film revolves around the challenges Sanshiro Sugata faces, both from himself and from opponents, in his effort to prove judo’s superiority over traditional jujitsu techniques. Gennosuke Higaki, the “villain” in the story, is also based on a real-life fighter, Mataemon Tanabe, who is considered one of the greatest modern jujutsuka.

Buy This Title 2. The Most Beautiful (1944) 3. Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945)

Susumu Fajita’s performance is a key factor here, as he highlights Sanshiro’s struggle as he thinks about where his path has led him thus far, and how many opponents he has left shattered and disgraced along the way.

Based on the successful “Abortion Doctor” by Kazuo Kikuta, “The Quiet Duel” is Kurosawa’s only film deriving from a modern Japanese stage play. When the director saw on stage Chiaki Minoru, who later debuted as a Kurosawa regular in “Stray Dog” (1949), he immediately pictured Toshiro Mifune as his lead for his cinematic adaption. Looking at the genesis of his other films, putting the actor first in the production process was a rather unique approach for Kurosawa. Mifune had just been posed as a gangster in “Drunken Angel” (1949) and Kurosawa wanted to use the medical subject to show him from a different side. At the same time, this was a playground for his newly formed independent director’s unit, which also led to the consideration to release “The Quiet Duel” with Daiei and, unlike his previous productions, under the Toho label.

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by clicking on the image below...

It might ordinarily sound like hyperbole to come right out and say that a movie is one of the very best of all time, but something as grand, timeless, and exciting as Seven Samurai deserves ludicrous praise thrown its way. Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece has always been worthy of that, and probably will be until the world ends, however that might be. It’s not just one of the most influential action movies of all time, but it could well be the film that helped define the action genre as it’s now enjoyed/understood. It tells a simple story but with perfect style and grace, following a town filled with desperate people wanting to protect themselves from bandits. They endeavor to hire warriors, end up with seven of them, and then preparations for an inevitable battle commence. The final act, then, is when all the action takes place, with...

This week on the Film Stories Podcast Network: space spies, spectral forces, legendary critics and more. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

Writers on Film

A legend is in the house with John Bleasdale this week as he invites on David Thomson, an emeritus international film critic across half a century, to discuss the joy of cinema. Plus! Don’t miss The Malick Hours where John talks about 2017’s Song to Song…

Modern Horror

There’s a ghost in my house, as the old Motown song goes, but just what is haunting the family in Steven Soderbergh’s Presence? A. J. Black and Hugh McStay try to find out…

Academy Watch

In the first of several pre-Oscar breakdowns of the Best Picture nominees, Bo Nicholson is joined by Sean Wilson to dig deep on Sean Baker’s Anora, plus he talks to Violet Hammond about Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance…...

One thing I've learned from my years as a writer, reader, and sharer of media is that certain genres form constellations. By that I mean, if you come up to me and say you’re a fan of fantasy, it’s likely that your interest could be piqued by something in an adjacent genre...with the right pitch, that is.

And while book enthusiasts can talk your ear off on YouTube about what stories to read this year, and you could consult Goodreads and its exceedingly unhelpful 5-star rating system, the best way to curate your Tbr list is still through good ol’ word of mouth. I hope this can be that for you.

One of the constellations I’ve come to really enjoy recommending for Sci-Fi and Fantasy heads is Horror. Every person on this Earth has their dark side. Regardless of how much we suppress what’s inside,...

Every now and then, a film comes along that transcends its genre, reshaping the cinematic landscape and becoming something of a cultural phenomenon. Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is one such movie.

Released in 1975, this thriller didn’t just win audiences over; it reinvented the concept of the summer blockbuster. But its influence didn’t stop there. Jaws secured a rare spot in the hearts of filmmakers worldwide, including one of the most celebrated animators of all time, Hayao Miyazaki.

A scene from Jaws | Credits: Universal Pictures

From the pulse-pounding score that sticks to your bones to the ever-tightening noose of suspense, Jaws was a cultural earthquake, setting the stage for the blockbuster era that would follow. And then there’s that shark. It didn’t just swim into our screens—it sunk its teeth into the very heart of Hollywood, leaving a legacy that continues to send ripples through the industry.

Akira Kurosawa is the William Shakespeare of cinema. Whether implicitly or explicitly, every film, to one degree or another, is influenced by the legendary Japanese director's work. Kurosawa's influence is evident in all modern classics, from franchise blockbusters like Star Wars to prestigious dramas like The Godfather. Unfairly or not, the scope and grandeur of any historical epic will always be measured to Seven Samurai. Nonlinear storytelling and alternate perspectives are frequently repeated cinematic devices, and it's all a credit to Kurosawa, whose classic film, Rashomon, established the theory of the Rashomon Effect about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. If there is one well that movies and television have returned to more than any, it's the world of cops and criminal investigations. Kurosawa, of course, also established the modern police procedural with his early classic, Stray Dog, which also serves as the archetypal buddy-cop movie.

Cinema is a profound language of emotion and storytelling; few understand this as deeply as Denis Villeneuve. His curated selections for the Criterion Collection reveal a director’s intimate connection with transformative filmmaking. These choices span decades and continents, showcasing films that challenge narrative conventions, explore human complexity, and push artistic boundaries. Villeneuve’s picks are not mere recommendations but a masterclass in cinematic appreciation—each film is a testament to storytelling’s power to illuminate the human experience.

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Kieślowski’s masterpiece represents cinematic poetry in motion. Denis Villeneuve is captivated by its meticulous artistic synthesis—the delicate interplay between visual composition, emotional narrative, and musical score. The film explores grief through a devastatingly intimate lens, tracking a woman’s journey of loss and eventual emotional reconstruction. Its visual language transcends traditional storytelling, creating a symphonic experience that moves viewers at a profound, almost cellular level.

★★★★★/★★★★★

Drawing on hardboiled US fiction, as American film had fed on his own Seven Samurai, the director brings unforgettable intensity to his anxious noir

Akira Kurosawa’s scalding 1949 cop thriller Stray Dog (★★★★★), with its extended closeup shot of a mad dog snarling into the camera over the opening credits, is about a stolen gun; as with De Sica’s stolen bicycle the year before, the resulting search leads us on a tour of the city, scene by scene into a world of poverty, cynicism and violence.

It is a gripping, drum-tight picture, a panoramic drama of crime revealed over one sweltering summer in postwar Tokyo which culminates in an ominous monsoon downpour and it stars two alpha-dogs of Japanese cinema, both stalwarts of Kurosawa. Takashi Shimura is veteran police officer Detective Sato, tolerant, good-humoured, realistic about the prospects for containing, if not eradicating crime, and Toshiro Mifune is his partner,...

“Rifle Club” by Aashiq Abu delivers neon-lit chaos, gun culture critique, and an all-timer third act in one of 2024’s sexiest thrillers.

The conceit of “The Most Dangerous Game” – the 1932 pre-code horror movie directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichell – was a horror movie that takes the romanticization of the hunt and uses that to delineate the psychology of a serial killer. From a structural standpoint, it allows the template of victims trapped in a desolate location and being hunted off one by one.

The influence of “The Most Dangerous Game” would be numerous, both directly and through differing adaptations, with the basic concept choosing to remain the same. What Aashiq Abu chooses to do is take that basic idea and craft a world where the love of guns and a celebration of gun culture and the hunt would bring individuals together, resulting in the titular “Rifle Club.” Then,...

Creator and director Shannon Tindle expected fans to connect with Ken Sato, the charismatic main character of Ultraman: Rising, but social media has taken his reception to another level. The animated film follows the professional baseball star as he returns home to Tokyo to take up the family mantle of being the world-famous, kaiju-fighting hero Ultraman — only to find himself the reluctant father figure to an adorable yet demanding baby kaiju named Emi.

Once the film was released on Netflix, audiences were drawn in by the action and fell in love with the heartwarming father-daughter relationship at its core. But more surprisingly, fans began swooning over Ken as a “hot dad,” creating videos with heart-eye emojis honoring the character. While this wasn’t exactly the reaction Tindle anticipated, it wasn’t entirely unwarranted. Ken’s creator had modeled him after Toshiro Mifune, the star of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and Seven Samurai,...

Dune: Part II has shown up on many critics' lists of the best films of 2024, including MovieWeb's list. It's an epic film from a great director who has been expanding our notions of what science-fiction films can be since Arrival and then Blade Runner 2049, and Denis Villeneuve had made tense masterpieces even before then. While he's too humble to include his own film, Villeneuve has revealed his own picks for the best movies of 2024.

Villeneuve's picks are fairly standard awards fare — they're neither too international or arthouse nor big blockbusters. He has chosen an historical epic that will likely sweep the Oscars (The Brutalist), a beautifully poetic indie about the lives of two Black men (Nickel Boys), a star-studded drama about religion and power (Conclave), a boundary-pushing adaptation with a subversive lead performance (Queer), and a controversial French film about a transgender crime lord (Emilia Pérez). Villeneuve told Total...

If you think about some of the best epic movies of all time, it’s understandable if lofty dramas come to mind first. Think about films along the lines of Lawrence of Arabia, Seven Samurai, or even The Lord of the Rings, if you want to look at fantastical epics. Such movies might have action and adventure elements, or even a little by way of comedic relief, but they can often also be called dramas.

For Akira Kurosawa, “Man is a genius when he is dreaming.” While films like Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and Ran quickly spring to mind when one thinks of the Japanese filmmaker, some of his deeper cuts have inevitably slipped under the radar.

A still from High and Low | Credits: Toho Co

For a career that spanned over fifty years, with over thirty films released across multiple decades, even Kurosawa’s lesser-known works offer a compelling watch for film buffs.

Here, we rank ten overlooked Kurosawa films that show the breadth of the director’s cinema, his boundless curiosity, and his innate understanding of humanity.

10. I Live in Fear (1955)

Akira Kurosawa opens with Tokyo’s bustling intersections, scored by a theremin – a 1950s Atomic Age paranoia hallmark. We meet Dr. Harada, a dentist-cum-mediator, summoned to resolve a family dispute involving Kiichi Nakajima, a wealthy industrialist.

Nakajima’s obsession with nuclear fallout drives...

Kurosawa Akira understood the American western beyond the mythos of the lone warrior. The western is one of the most political of genres, concerned with how resources are dispersed. The struggle in American westerns between various enforcers embodies the tug of war between the working-class and robber barons, and Kurosawa saw in these stories parallels to Japan’s fraught cultural shifts. In the case of 1961’s Yojimbo, and to a lesser extent its sequel, 1962’s Sanjuro, he uses the western template to riff on Japan’s postwar leap into capitalism.

The very first conversation in Yojimbo is between a ronin who calls himself Sanjuro (Mifune Toshiro) and a man who regrets the new generation’s obsession with money. Kurosawa stages this encounter as a comic scene, but the man’s alienation stings, especially as Kurosawa lingers on the rhythmic sound of his wife working her loom for the silk she weaves as a side hustle.

While the downfall of physical media has been predicted time and time again, 2024 has proved the opposite with many impressive and interesting releases, not juts Asian titles. However, when it comes to Asian cinema many boutique labels especially have given film-lovers the opportunity to (re-)discover many gems of the cinematic landscapes of Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand to name but a few. The following list may serve as an overview of some of these releases, some of which may stand representative of a whole catalogue from a production company.

Without further ado, let’s delve into the list of the 30 best physical media releases of Asian cinema in 2024, in random order

1. Seven Samurai (BFI)

Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece certainly needs no introduction and its release on 4k was one of the most anticipated releases for connoisseurs of Asian cinema. While there is also the Criterion edition of the film,...

Who said the French and British couldn’t get along? When they’re not lighting up the screen together in films like Anthony Minghella’s “The English Patient, the 1992 adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” and recently in “The Return,” based on the last chapters of Homer’s “Odyssey,” pals and collaborators Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes enjoy just getting to spend a little time with one another. And thankfully, Criterion gave them the chance to do just that.

Stepping into the Criterion Closet, Binoche and Fiennes pretended not to know one another, but soon became quite intimate, a not-so-unforeseen side effect of the tight quarters they found themselves in. Binoche led most of the selection efforts, with the “Conclave” star serving as the curious pupil, having heard of many films she pulled down, but not actually having seen them. After coming across Jim Jarmusch’s moody prison comedy “Down by Law,...

The action-packed Western The Magnificent Seven, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, will soon be available for streaming. The movie is a remake of a 64-year-old Western, which is itself heavily inspired by a samurai film.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, Peacock subscribers can saddle up and revisit this thrilling remake of the iconic Western classic. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, most known for Training Day, the film features Washington as Sam Chisolm, a bounty hunter who leads a group of outlaws, gamblers, and sharpshooters to protect a small town from a ruthless industrialist. The star-studded cast also includes Chris Pratt as the charming and wisecracking gunslinger Josh Faraday, Moon Knight’s Ethan Hawke, Daredevil’s Vincent D’Onofrio, and Byung-hun Lee, bringing fresh energy to the story of justice and sacrifice.

Related This ‘80s Action Director Made One of the Most Underrated Western Movies

Walter Hill helped to usher in countless 80s classics, but...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

It’s astounding how many great modern martial arts movies have received near-universal praise on Rotten Tomatoes. While it’s well known that iconic classics of years gone by, like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, have long been favored by movie critics, these films' legendary status can sometimes overshadow the merits of more recent martial arts triumphs in the 21st century. That’s why it’s important to take the time to praise modern martial arts movies that have pushed the genre into brave new territory in recent years and continued to enthrall viewers with spectacular fight sequences.

Some of the all-time great martial performances occurred in the 21st century, and acclaimed directors like Zhang Yimou and Ang Lee have kept the quality of martial arts cinema high. These excellent films boasted spectacular performances from modern martial arts stars like Tony Jaa, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh. While martial arts cinema...

The IMDb top-250 is a curious portrait of populist taste. The list is, it's worth remembering, culled only from user ratings on the IMDb website, and, judging by the films on the list, the average IMDb user seems to be a college-age white male with a taste for crime, guns, fantasy, and the ultra-masculine. The top movies on the list all seem to be the types of movies that young men would own posters for, proudly displayed on their dorm room walls. There are many unassailable classics, to be sure, and young teens could easily look to the list as a rudimentary introduction to the world of cinema, but the list seems ... skewed. There's not a lot of variety. It's not curated by a single critic, nor even a panel of critics. It's just a general consensus of the taste of the types of people who like to rate movies on IMDb.

If you're watching a movie that exceeds say 2.5 or 3 hours, there’s generally a pretty good chance that you just so happen to be watching an epic movie. Such films are all about putting forth the idea that bigger is better, and will often have some of the following: long runtimes, lots of characters, ambitious narratives, stories that span decades, and considerable production value.

The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew."

There's something off about Jude Law's character in "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew." In the first episode of the show, he went by the name of Captain Silvio. In the second episode of the show, he introduced himself to the kids he helped break out of jail on Port Borgo as the Jedi Jod Na Nawood. In the series' third episode, however, Kh'ymmm refers to him as Crimson Jack. It would stand to reason he'll get yet another alias in the next episode as well. It might even prove to be a running gag, with Law's character getting a fresh alias in every episode.

Be that as it may, the alias he gets from the very cool owl/otter creature Kh'ymmm in the latest episode, Crimson Jack, has a long history dating back to the very beginning...

The internationally famous J. R. R. Tolkien franchise, The Lord of the Rings, recently saw its debut in the anime world with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. It is an anime dark fantasy movie that was released on December 5, 2024, and has earned a decent reception from anime fans from all over the world.

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim | Credit: Warner Bros. Animation

The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim follows the story of Helm Hammerhand, the king of Rohan, and his battle against the army of Dunlendings. The story is set 183 years before the original The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and puts a special focus on Helm’s family and their struggle against the attack of Dunlendings.

The anime film is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, and it is taken from a Lords of the Ring screenplay that...

Comcast’s Xfinity TV customers will be able to watch channels like TNT, TBS, and Discovery as Comcast will be continuing its partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery. The Wrap reports that the cable giant and Warner Bros. Discovery signed a multi-year distribution deal that will ensure the company’s content will be delivered to Xfinity as well as Sky U.K.

While the financial terms of the deal were not revealed, Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear cable networks, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Discovery, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, and Investigation Discovery will be available to Xfinity TV customers.

Related MCU Fan Favorite Elizabeth Olsen Joins Oscar-Winning A-List Star in New Thriller

WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen will be teaming up with an accomplished A-lister in a new thriller film.

HBO Will Continue to be Part of Xfinity’s Packages

The deal also maintains that HBO will continue to be available to Xfinity customers,...

James Mangold has proven himself to be a very consistent filmmaker with a true talent for working within many genres. There aren’t many directors working today who can say that they’ve made westerns, romantic comedies, crime thrillers, music biopics, and blockbuster franchise sequels, but Mangold has managed to show diversity within his output. The consistency of quality is critical to Mangold’s longevity within the industry; even the weaker projects in his filmography have noteworthy performances and excellent production design.

Not every single project that Mangold has worked on has been successful. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was a major disappointment that did not do justice to the Steven Spielberg films that preceded it, and “Knight and Day” was an awkward action comedy that seemed to misuse Tom Cruise. That being said, the vast majority of Mangold’s work has been of very high quality, with...

Japan has a robust and storied history of film, with some of the most influential movies of all time coming from the country. Akira Kurosawa is considered one of the greatest directors of all time, Kurosawa's movies helped pioneer the modern Hollywood blockbuster, with monumental films like Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo, which played a major role in shaping the Hollywood Western, and vice versa. In fact, George Lucas was heavily influenced by Kurosawa's films when making Star Wars, particularly The Hidden Fortress, as they share many similarities.

Japan's cinematic history is incredibly varied, with some of the greatest films fitting into a variety of genres, including samurai stories, family dramas, and horror. Alongside legendary directors, these films also include some of the best acting performances of all time, with some of the best actors in the world. Actors like Hiroyuki Sanada, Setsuko Hara, and Toshirō Mifune have all played significant roles in Japan's film industry,...

The holiday season is here and that means there are lots of new releases coming out just in time to make the season bright. Below are some of the picks coming out sure to make the movie fan in your life smile. Whether it is an upgrade to a 4K edition, a reliable Blu-ray, or a special edition Box Set, this list has something for everyone!

One disclaimer: Deals as good as these can be fickle, so there’s no telling if and when a money-saving opportunity might end or if the price may change. So if you want something – snap that shit up quick! Don’t wait, only to have Festivus roll around and discover you’ve nothing to give or the price suddenly changed and you no longer have the bread. And remember that if you want to support JoBlo.com, please make all your purchases by initially clicking through our links,...

If you want excitement, impressive stunt work, or explosions, then the action genre tends to be a good place to look. Sometimes, even great action films are looked down upon a little, or potentially snubbed by awards shows, but the genre remains popular among general audiences for good reason. Further, some of the greatest films in cinema history do belong to the action genre; see the likes of Seven Samurai, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for starters.

In 1960, one of the greatest Westerns of all time, The Magnificent Seven, premiered in theaters, yet many don't realize the movie is the first in a franchise of underrated Westerns. The Magnificent Seven is directed by John Sturges and based on the 1954 Akira Kurosawa movie, Seven Samurai. The film centers on a Mexican village being terrorized by a man named Calvera and his team of cruel outlaws. As a result, the villagers hire seven American gunslingers to protect them. The cowboys not only teach the villagers to protect themselves, but take down Calvera once and for all.

Though it may seem surprising now, upon its release, The Magnificent Seven was something of a failure. It did poorly at the box office in the United States and Canada, and only made a profit due to success in Europe and Asia. Furthermore, reviews were mixed. While some praised The Magnificent Seven for its high-energy first half,...

"Seven Samurai" by master Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa might just be the most remade film ever. The 1954 film is, sure enough, about seven samurai recruited to protect a farming village from bandits. The setting, themes, and characters are Japanese, but the premise is evergreen. "The Magnificent Seven" is just "Seven Samurai" but with cowboys. "A Bug's Life" retold the story with, well, bugs. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" episode "Bounty Hunters" recruits the seven from Jedi Knights and alien mercenaries. 

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas is a well-known fan of Kurosawa. (Lucas even helped him finance his 1980 epic "Kagemusha.") The galaxy far, far away isn't the only space franchise that can riff on "Seven Samurai" though. "Star Trek: Enterprise" aped the premise for its season 2 episode, "Marauders."

First, though, why are Kurosawa's films so often remade in spirit (besides them being so good)? One reason is ease of translation. Kurosawa...

The hit animated anthology series, Star Wars: Visions, is returning to Disney+ in 2025. The recently announced Star Wars: Visions, Season 3 will return to the format of Season 1, with an assortment of Japanese animation studios assembling to produce a collection of Star Wars anime shorts. While the first season of Star Wars: Visions was purely an anime anthology, Season 2 featured animation studios from all around the world, creating episodes in a variety of styles. Season 3 will welcome back four of the anime studios that worked on Season 1, as well as five new studios.

The Japanese studios working on Star Wars: Visions' first season were given free reign to reinterpret the Star Wars galaxy for the non-canon anthology and many brought the franchise back to its Japanese inspirations. When he created Star Wars, George Lucas drew upon myriad influences, including old Flash Gordon serials, his studies of mythology, war movies and Westerns.

The beloved classics in the Criterion Collection fit perfectly on Max, and will continue to stream there going forward.

The Criterion Collection is jam-packed with classic movies, arthouse flicks, and titles that true cinephiles consume non-stop. Having a reliable streaming partner for the Criterion Collection is a must for true movie lovers, and a new deal between it and Warner Bros. Discovery will secure that streaming future for multiple years to come. The two companies announced on Tuesday that they had extended their licensing deal, allowing Max to continue streaming Criterion Collection films.

Key Details: The new deal extension between Max and the Criterion Collection runs for multiple years. Classics like “Seven Samurai,” Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times,” and more are available. Max also offers Warner Bros. movies, A24 and Studio Ghibli films, and much more. Sign Up $9.99+ / month max via prime video

Max was already the streaming home of...

In the world of cinema, there are certain creative partnerships that, when formed, leave an indelible mark on the industry. One such collaboration was that of Akira Kurosawa and Ishir Honda. Kurosawa, the iconic Japanese director, is widely considered to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, known for masterpieces like Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Ran. On the other hand, Ishir Honda, famous for directing the original 1954 Godzilla, was a pioneer in the realm of monster movies, creating an influential legacy within the kaiju genre. These two directors couldn't be more different, but their behind-the-scenes collaboration culminated together in their last film to ever exist.

Decades after its initial release, Kurosawa Akira’s Seven Samurai is still one of the great pieces of popular art, a work of transcendent cinema as well as an intensely pleasurable movie in every sense of the word. Running like greased lightning despite its three-and-a-half-hour running time, Kurosawa’s film is the Rosetta stone of modern American action, influencing Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and countless others. A fable from the past that reverberates just as viscerally in the present, Seven Samurai is so assured that it feels timeless.

Kurosawa’s 1954 epic, produced in the middle of one of the more extraordinary run of films that any filmmaker has ever enjoyed, is a fluid balance of vast scale and intimate human emotions. Seven Samurai is much lighter on its feet than you might expect from a canonical landmark, a tall tale with a lot of room for the sort of comedy...

Physical media culture is alive and thriving thanks to the home video tastemakers hailing everywhere from The Criterion Collection to Kino Lorber and the Warner Archive Collection. Each month, IndieWire highlights the best recent and upcoming Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K releases for cinephiles to own now — and to bring ballast and permanence to your moviegoing at a time when streaming windows on classic movies close just as soon as they open.

New in November are cult classics getting a proper home video life for the first time, including Christina Hornisher’s 1974 exploitation classic “Hollywood 90028,” about a cinematographer whose Tinseltown alienation leads him to commit a murder. Our Jim Hemphill deemed it “one of the greatest films ever made about how truly brutal Hollywood’s dream factory can be on those whose dreams don’t come true.”

Meanwhile, and we’re cheating a bit, a Vinegar Syndrome 4K Uhd of...