This week’s pick salutes the American Caesar, and the hero of the Pacific War. Joseph Sargent directs MacArthur (1977) which is a biopic about famed American General Douglas MacArthur who led Allied forces to victory in World War II and years later in the early days of the Korean conflict. Riding on the studio success of Patton and what it did for Twentieth Century Fox several years earlier, Universal believed that a story about MacArthur would be box office gold as well.

Gregory Peck turns out a tour de force performance as General MacArthur. The film is set as a flashback as he is addressing a graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. The film also stars Dan O’ Herlihy as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marj Dusay as Mrs. Jean MacArthur, and Ed Flanders as President Harry S. Truman.

As the General is addressing the cadet corp at West Point, the film then opens up in the Philippines just before the battle of Bataan is about to begin. MacArthur is holding on and waiting for much needed men and supplies to come to his aid but following the attack on Pearl Harbor, MacArthur and his forces are made to hold on and hope that some relief will come from President Roosevelt and the United States Navy.

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Happy New Year to all you faithful War Movie Monday fans, and thank you for a fantastic year of classic war films. This week’s pick to ring in the start of a new year is the John Milius 1975 classic The Wind and the Lion, which was loosely based on an international incident which led to possible war between the U.S. and European powers in 1904 Morocco. The film stars Sean Connery (Raisuli), Candice Bergen (Eden Perdicaris), Brian Keith (President Theodore Roosevelt), John Huston (Sec. of State John Hay), Geoffrey Lewis (American Ambassador to Morocco Samuel R. Gummere), Steve Kanaly (Captain Eugene Jerome, USMC), and Vladek Sheybal (The Bashaw of Tangier).

The film open up with a sweeping score from famed composer Jerry Goldsmith, who sets the stage for a fantastic adventure film with a tone of modern era warfare between desert tribesmen and the imperial powers of Germany, France, and Great Britain who are trying to establish their own spheres of influence throughout the Arab world.

Mulai Amhed er Raisuli (Connery) is the leader of a band of Berber tribesmen who are opposed to the Sultan and his Uncle (Sheybal) the Bashaw of Tangier who are corrupt and easily influenced by the European powers. The Raisuli plans to embarrass the rulers of Morocco by having his men kidnap an American woman, Eden Perdicaris (Bergen) and her two children from their home in Tangier, and hold them for ransom for gold, rifles, and sovereignty from the Europeans.

Milius wrote and directed the film which was loosely based on an actual account which was known as the “Perdicaris incident” in 1904. An American man and his stepson were kidnapped by Barbary pirates and were ransomed. Both were unharmed and the incident gave President Theodore Roosevelt a platform to wield the “big stick” of foreign policy for his re-election to office that year in November.

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This week’s pick is the 1970 British epic Cromwell which stars veteran actor Richard Harris as the man who led Parliamentary forces to victory during The English Civil War. The film also stars Sir Alec Guinness (King Charles I), Robert Morley (The Earl of Manchester), Timothy Dalton (Prince Rupert), Patrick Wymark (The Earl of Stafford), and Michael Jayston (Henry Ireton).

After years of unjust and unacceptable policies during the mid 1600′s, many members of the dissolved Parliament feel that King Charles I has forsaken his subjects and that England is in need for drastic political change. Oliver Cromwell is a good, god fearing country magistrate who is called upon by his fellow members of Parliament to exact radical change and reform in England for a government for and by the people.

Cromwell is prepared to leave England with his family for a life in the New World until he is persuaded to return to London and to sit once again in the newly resumed Parliament with its members in order to take their grievances to the King who encroaches on their lands and steals it from commoners for the rich, a policy which angers Cromwell and his fellows immensely.

King Charles (Guinness) allows Parliament to resume after eleven years in order to gain their support and to raise money against the Scots and Irish who are threatening England with invasion. Cromwell and the rest of Parliament refuse to grant the King money in order to fight until their demands are met.

Charles fears that if common men were to govern themselves, he would merely be reduced to just a figure head and lose his god given right to rule England and the Church of England which he is a devout member of, even though his French wife is a practicing Catholic. Charles along with his Catholic wife who demands him to stand firm against such an ultimatum from his subjects, refuses to come to terms with Parliament’s requests and the country steers ever closer to civil war.

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This week’s pick salutes the heroes of a forgotten American war, The Spanish American War which until the First Gulf War, was the shortest war in American history. John Milius (Red Dawn, Flight of the Intruder, The Wind and the Lion), directs Rough Riders, which stars Tom Berenger as future American president Teddy Roosevelt who commanded the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry unit during the war.

Originally aired as a three hour mini series in 1997 on TNT Networks, the film is a fantastic look at the men who made history against Spanish hegemony in 1898 Cuba. The film stars a who’s who of great actors and characters who would help to shape history. Gary Busey (Maj. Gen. Joe Wheeler) commander of all cavalry units during the war, and a U.S. Congressman as well, Brian Keith (President William McKinley), Dale Dye (Col. Leonard Wood) Marshall R. Teague (Lt. John “Black Jack” Pershing), and Adam Storke (Stephen Crane).

As the United States was entering the twentieth century, its presence on the world stage was beginning to take hold. The Spanish American War was what allowed the U.S. to become a major player in world events, and allowed the U.S. to forever wield the “Big Stick” of foreign policy. The film opens up with a brilliant montage of newspaper headlines which depict the defenseless Cubans battling their Spanish masters, while Uncle Sam looks on with a sense of anger and an overwhelming desire to help the oppressed.

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Every once in a while, a piece of casting news comes out of left field and seems like the best possible choice for a film. That is 100% the case in this piece of news, as Borat’s Sacha Baron Cohen has signed to play Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in an upcoming untitled biopic about the band.

The script comes from writer Peter Morgan, who also brought historical dramas like Frost/Nixon and The Queen to the silver screen. Morgan is currently finishing another draft of the script, which means we will most likely see production for the film begin be the beginning of next year.

Baron Cohen, who’s most known for his Kaufman-esque stunts as Borat and Brüno, may be stepping out of his outlandish comedic role to play more of an outlandish musical character. Though the flamboyance of Mercury could be seen as a parallel to some of Cohen’s other roles, we can’t imagine this film being done in the same vain as Da Ali G Show.

Rights have been purchased for such Queen classics as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Another One Bites The Dust and You’re My Best Friend. No word on whether or not Cohen will actually step in to rerecord the vocals, but knowing his method-style of acting, we can imagine he might.

The film is currently under the banner of GK Films, who will produce alongside De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions. More news will likely break in the coming months as to the casting and plot outline for the rest of the film.

The world of internet pornography is certainly a gigantic one. It’s…entertained millions, if not trillions of consumers across the globe for nearly two decades, and even helped usher in a new world of digital consumerism. Where did it all get started? Well, the newest film Middle Men gives you the answers.

From writer/director George Gallo (Bad Boys, The Whole Ten Yards) comes this near biopic about the men who brought adult entertainment to the world wide web. The film stars Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, and Gabriel Macht (The Spirit), with some pretty great cameos along the way including Kelsey Grammer, James Caan, Martin Kove, and Kevin Pollack.

Check out the newest trailer for the film, which has the brilliantly simple tagline “getting in is easy, getting out is hard”, after the jump, and be sure to keep an eye out for Middle Men when it hits theaters on August 6th.

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Dakota Fanning is all grown up and delivers an impressive performance in this bio-pic that skims the story of the origins of The Runaways. The all female rock band was a novelty in the 70′s, when founder Joan Jett (played by Kristen Stewart) was told on more than one occasion that “women don’t play electric guitar.”

Eschewing this advice, Jett strong-armed her way into meeting music producer Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), who saw a glimmer of talent and encouraged Jett to work the all-female angle of her band. The first step was finding a charismatic lead singer.

Enter Cherie (Dakota Fanning), an androgynous David Bowie enthusiast all of 15 years old. Cherie is brought into the band, sexed up a bit, and soon is growling the infamous “Cherry bomb” song, which was inspired by Cherie.

It is notable to mention that Cherie was hand picked on her look alone, actual talent seemed to be of secondary importance. Seems some things about the music industry never change, huh?

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Saturday was Carl Barks’s birthday. Had he not died in 2000 at the age of 99, he’d be 109. Anyone else who grew up loving Ducktales has him to thank: For nearly 65 years he was involved with Disney, most famously as author and illustrator of the “Duck” comic books, and among his creations are Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, Flintheart Glomgold, Magica DeSpell, the Beagle Boys, and, of course, Uncle $crooge.

Born in Merrill, Oregon, in 1901, Barks grew up on a small farm his parents owned and purportedly took up a number of odd jobs (that would later be reflected in Donald Duck’s vocational transcience) before deciding, on a whim, that he should go into cartooning, taking up a job at Disney in 1935. In 1942, he began his celebrated tenure working on Donald Duck comics, his first effort being the comic adaptation of an unproduced feature animation film showcasing Mickey, Goofy, and Donald seeking some lost treasure of the pirate Henry Morgan.

The book, plotline heavily lifted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island; incorporating Mickey Mouse’s primary antagonist Black Pete; and entitled Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold, was a collaboration between Barks and another Disney artist Jack Hannah. With Pirate Gold, Barks made somewhat of a name for himself and went on to write and illustrate around 500 stories featuring the ducks, until his retirement in 1966. Disney comic-book artists were never given credit in those days, but the quality of Barks’ art and stories was so distinct that fans were able to identify his work and those among the knowing would refer to him as “The Good Duck Artist.”

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That’s right. It’s here. The first ever parody trailer about one of the most popular parody songwriters ever. Granted, we were all a bit let down when we realized that this trailer wasn’t real (the fact that it was on funnyordie.com was our first clue), but that doesn’t mean that it still isn’t pretty brilliant.

In a time where Hollywood is picking up the rights for “The Joan Jett Story”, why wouldn’t they want to do a heartfelt biopic about America’s weirdest folk musician? Walk Hard may have already covered most of the ground, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still room for another.

After the jump, check out this incredibly well done trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story starring Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Olivia Wilde, Gary Cole, Mary Steenburgen, and Patton Oswalt as Dr. Demento. It’s pretty impressive stuff, even if about a third of it isn’t true.

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A little while back, we brought you the first clip from the upcoming rock biopic, The Runaways, in which Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) meet for the very first time. With the film’s release less than a month away, we’re now getting even more stuff to share, including some great clips of the rest of the band.

The film is written and directed by artist Floria Sigismondi, and covers the formation and eventual break up of one of the first all-girl rock bands. The film is sure to get the attention of a younger crowd as it teams Twilight: New Moon’s Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning.

Also along for the ride is Halloween’s Scout Taylor-Compton and Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat. The film looks to fall in the ranks with other great music biopics such as Almost Famous and Ray, while adding a younger appeal.

Check out four brand new clips from The Runaways after the jump, and be sure to catch the “cherry bomb” when it hit’s theaters on April 9th.

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Things have been pretty quiet for the upcoming sequel to Wall Street since we caught a glimpse of some set photos with Shia LeBeouf and Frank Langella a few months ago. Since then, production has finished up and we finally have a trailer to enjoy.

The film follows almost real-time after the events of the original 1987 film. Gordon Gecko is getting out of prison, and wants back in the game, except everything is different now. Douglas joins in with newcomer LeBeouf, as well as some old friends including Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and Frank Langella.

Given where the economy and Wall Street is today, compared to 1987, you can expect this film to take an interesting turn and border on didactic. Oliver Stone is returning to helm the sequel, who’s best known for his topical films such as World Trade Center and  W, so expect to see some potshots taken at the financial climate.

Check out the first new trailer after the jump, and catch Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps in theaters on April 23rd.

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Now that things have finally calmed down for Kristen Stawart after New Moon swept the nation, it’s finally time for fans to get excited for her upcoming biopic about the legendary rock group The Runaways. Stewart takes the lead in the film as Joan Jett, with Dakota Fanning playing Cherie Currie and Scout Taylor-Compton playing Lita Ford, as well as others.

The film is said to be a coming-of-age biopic that takes place when the band was first being formed, and the turmoil that broke the band up in 1979. In a new clip that we just got our hands on, we get a glimpse at the very first introduction between Joan Jett (Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Fanning).

Check out the clip after the jump, and take a look at the brand new poster for the film, courtesy of our pals at MTV Movies Blog. Catch The Runaways in theaters on March 19th.

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