Latest news with #ConantheBarbarian
The Age
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
It's almost possible to feel affection for this dud of a film. Almost.
RED SONJA ★½ (MA15+) 110 minutes Do the times call for a lady Braveheart? I'm not sure they do, but that's roughly what we're getting in M.J. Bassett's underpowered Red Sonja, the latest reimagining of a character originally conceived in the 1930s by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. In the 1970s, Sonja showed up in Marvel comic books as an archetypal sword-wielding maiden in a chain mail bikini, a portrayal that formed the basis for the 1985 movie where she was played by Brigitte Nielsen, which disappointed many who were lured into expecting a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. This new Red Sonja doesn't have much to do with the earlier movie, nor with Marvel, who lost the rights to the character in the 1990s – and as a kind of ecofeminist parable, it also probably wouldn't have won the approval of the famously reactionary and bigoted Howard. We're in a mystical age of heroes, at the dawn of time. Sabre-toothed tigers and prehistoric rhinoceroses roam an ambiguously-located forest, as does the intrepid Sonja (Italian star Matilda Lutz), living off wild honey and paying obeisance to the mother goddess as she searches for her lost tribe. Before she can catch up with them, she's taken captive and forced to become a gladiator at the mercy of the wicked Dragan the Magnificent (Robert Sheehan), who fancies himself as both a future world emperor and a scientific genius, though his inventions aren't strictly his own. In an era when fantasy blockbusters tend to be either relentlessly flip or lumberingly pretentious, it's almost possible to feel affection for the straightforward B-grade badness of Red Sonja, a movie where a line like 'the fate of the world is in your hands' can be uttered with absolutely no irony. Almost, but not quite. The CGI-reliant action is unimpressive (the scene where Sonja and her new allies escape captivity is cut short as if money had run out). Lutz does a lot of scowling and baring her teeth, and has a way of making the dialogue of screenwriter Tasha Huo sound even more stilted than it is.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
It's almost possible to feel affection for this dud of a film. Almost.
RED SONJA ★½ (MA15+) 110 minutes Do the times call for a lady Braveheart? I'm not sure they do, but that's roughly what we're getting in M.J. Bassett's underpowered Red Sonja, the latest reimagining of a character originally conceived in the 1930s by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. In the 1970s, Sonja showed up in Marvel comic books as an archetypal sword-wielding maiden in a chain mail bikini, a portrayal that formed the basis for the 1985 movie where she was played by Brigitte Nielsen, which disappointed many who were lured into expecting a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. This new Red Sonja doesn't have much to do with the earlier movie, nor with Marvel, who lost the rights to the character in the 1990s – and as a kind of ecofeminist parable, it also probably wouldn't have won the approval of the famously reactionary and bigoted Howard. We're in a mystical age of heroes, at the dawn of time. Sabre-toothed tigers and prehistoric rhinoceroses roam an ambiguously-located forest, as does the intrepid Sonja (Italian star Matilda Lutz), living off wild honey and paying obeisance to the mother goddess as she searches for her lost tribe. Before she can catch up with them, she's taken captive and forced to become a gladiator at the mercy of the wicked Dragan the Magnificent (Robert Sheehan), who fancies himself as both a future world emperor and a scientific genius, though his inventions aren't strictly his own. In an era when fantasy blockbusters tend to be either relentlessly flip or lumberingly pretentious, it's almost possible to feel affection for the straightforward B-grade badness of Red Sonja, a movie where a line like 'the fate of the world is in your hands' can be uttered with absolutely no irony. Almost, but not quite. The CGI-reliant action is unimpressive (the scene where Sonja and her new allies escape captivity is cut short as if money had run out). Lutz does a lot of scowling and baring her teeth, and has a way of making the dialogue of screenwriter Tasha Huo sound even more stilted than it is.
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Celebrate Arnold Schwarzenegger's Birthday With These 10 Terminator Details a Normal Person Wouldn't Know
As we say happy birthday Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turns 78 today, let's look back at arguably his greatest role. The bodybuilder turned movie star had screen successes before The Terminator — including Conan the Barbarian — but the Terminator became the role that defined him. Here 10 Terminator behind the scenes stories. Related Headlines All 12 Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked All 8 Superman Movies Ranked Worst to Best, Including James Gunn's Brilliant Latest 13 Bond Girl Names Ranked From Silly to Sensational Came to James Cameron in a Dream 'The Terminator came from a dream that I had while I was sick with a fever in a cheap pensione in Rome in 1981. It was the image of a chrome skeleton emerging from a fire. When I woke up, I began sketching on the hotel stationery," the film's writer-director, James Cameron, told the British Film Institute. 'The first sketch I did showed a metal skeleton cut in half at the waist, crawling over a tile floor, using a large kitchen knife to pull itself forward while reaching out with the other hand. In a second drawing, the character is threatening a crawling woman. "Minus the kitchen knife, these images became the finale of The Terminator almost exactly.' The Terminator Script Didn't Grab Arnold Schwarzenegger at First The terrific new book The Last Action Heroes: The Triumphs, Flops, and Feuds of Hollywood's Kings of Carnage, written by Nick de Semlyen, reveals that Schwarzenegger was not initially impressed by the Terminator script. "Still, urged to take a good look at the script by his girlfriend Maria, who had been hooked by it when it arrived at their home, he agreed to meet its writer -director for lunch," de Semlyen writes. Maria, of course, was Maria Shriver, to whom Schwarzenegger was married from 1986 to 2021. Arnold Schwarzenegger Was Originally in the Running to Play Kyle Reese When Schwarznegger was first approached about the film, he was in the running to play the heroic Kyle Reese, the role that ultimately went to Michael Biehn. 'It was a total coincidence because I didn't even try out for Terminator,' Schwarzenegger once told Howard Stern. 'I was trying to be Kyle Reese, and during the lunch when I met with James Cameron, the director, I kept talking all the time about The Terminator.' OJ Simpson Could Have Been The Terminator Studio chief Mike Medavoy wanted the Buffalo Bills star in the role of a cold-blooded killing machine. We'll let you handle the joke here. Medavoy later explained to EW: "At the time, O.J. Simpson had one of those commercials for Hertz where he jumped over a counter and ran to get a rental car. It was all of that athletic stuff, which I thought the Terminator should have." Arnold Schwarzenegger Says 131 Words — Total — in Three of them, of course, are "I'll be back." Don't believe us? Watch this. Linda Hamilton Wanted to Do Shakespeare "I was going to be a Shakespearean actress when I came out of the Strasberg studio in New York. And so I wasn't as excited about The Terminator as my people were," Hamilton told EW. Maybe I was a little snobby. I thought, 'Oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm not sure about that.'" But later, when she watched him work, she remembered thinking to herself: 'Hmm, this might work.' She added to EW: "There was something so utterly robotic and terrifying about him. I realized that we were doing something new here, and all of the sudden I believed." Sarah Connor's Age The movie never mentions Sarah Connor's age. Though different Terminator movies have since given her different dates of birth, the original film's script states that she is only 19 years old. Specifically, it says she "is 19, pretty in a flawed, accessible way," whatever that means. Could have just left it at "pretty." Shooting During Shooting James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Biehn blew off steam during the shooting of the movie by... shooting. Here they are at a shooting range with John Milius, who directed Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian. Was Defeated by Ralph Macchio, and Nerds The film did fine at the box office, but it wasn't in the Top 20 movies of 1984 — it ranked No. 21 domestically, behind movies like Revenge of the Nerds, Breakin', Bachelor Party, and Red Dawn. The top movie of 1984? Domestically, it was Ghostbusters, followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, and The Karate Kid. (Internationally, Beverly Hills Cop was the No. 1 movie, followed by the others listed, in the same order.) Yep: The Karate Kid trounced The Terminator. But no one was complaining, because The Terminator was made for just $6.4 million, and earned $34 million domestically, and $38 million total. It Found Its Audience on VHS The Terminator quickly gained a VHS following: It was the No. 2 VHS rental of 1985. (Though again lost to that infernal Ralph Macchio, whose film The Karate Kid was No. 1. Partly because of the original film's huge home-video following, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, was No. 1 at the 1991 box office. And a franchise was born. Thanks for Reading These Terminator Behind the Scenes Stories You might also like this list of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 7 Best Movies or this list of Must-See 1984 Movies. Main image: The Terminator. All images from Orion pictures except where noted. Related Headlines All 12 Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked All 8 Superman Movies Ranked Worst to Best, Including James Gunn's Brilliant Latest 13 Bond Girl Names Ranked From Silly to Sensational Solve the daily Crossword
See - Sada Elbalad
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Forgotten "Conan the Barbarian" Spin-Off movie "Red Sonja" Gets Release Date and Trailer
Yara Sameh The release date and official trailer for long-gestating Red Sonja reboot have been finally unveiled. Written by Tasha Huo and directed by M.J. Bassett the fantasy is based on the best-selling comic book series and follows barbarian huntress Red Sonja, who must unite a group of unlikely warriors to face off against the evil tyrant Emperor Draygan, and his deadly bride Dark Annisia. Red Sonja was created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian #23 in 1973; although the series adapted Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, Sonja is an original creation, inspired by Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino. The character, a fiery warrior whose prowess in battle matched even Conan's, proved popular enough to get her own spin-off comic. Marvel eventually lost the rights to the character, who is now published by Dynamite Comics. During the barbarian movie craze of the 1980s, she hit the big screen in 1985's Red Sonja, where she was portrayed by Danish model Brigitte Nielsen in her movie debut; it also starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Conan-like warrior Kalidor and Sandahl Bergman, who had starred alongside Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian, as the villainous Queen Gedren. The reboot stars Matilda Lutz, Robert Sheehan, Wallis Day, Michael Bisping, Luca Pasqualino, Rhona Mitra, Martyn Ford, Ben Radcliffe, Eliza Matengu, Veronica Ferres, Phillip Winchester, and Trevor Eve. Different versions were in development for at least 20 years prior to this iteration as different writers, directors, and financiers grappled with the project. In the trailer, Lutz plays the flame-haired barbarian warrior as she seeks vengeance, battles monsters, and confronts death in a gladiatorial arena. M.J. Bassett (Rogue) directs the film, which had been stuck in development hell for decades. The footage follows Sonja (Lutz, Magpie) as she swears revenge on the raiders who killed her people, sending her on a quest that eventually lands her in the clutches of the villainous warlord Draygan The Magnificent (Robert Sheehan, The Umbrella Academy) and pitted against his deadly, eyebrow-less bride, Dark Annisia (Wallis Day, Batwoman). In a nod to the character's fantasy origins, she battles not only Draygan's warriors, but also a massive horned monster. And yes, she does find herself in her comics incarnation's infamous "chainmail bikini," which is lampshaded in the trailer's closing moments; Sonja is concerned that it provides her little protection, and the gladiatorial armorer who hands it to her agrees, but contends that "the crowd will love it." The reboot is produced by Avi Lerner, Mark Canton p.g.a, Courtney Solomon p.g.a., Luke Lieberman, Les Weldon, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Joe Gatta, MJ Bassett, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, and Yariv Lerner. Executive producers include Trevor Short, Darina Pavlova, Boaz Davidson, Tanner Mobley, Nick Barrucci, Dorothy Canton, Scott Karol, and Heidi Jo Markel. Co-producers include Shannon Lieberman. "Red Sonja" will be released in theaters on August 15, 2025. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream Arts & Culture Hawass Foundation Launches 1st Course to Teach Ancient Egyptian Language
Hindustan Times
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
World's richest actor is an immigrant raised by Nazi cop; now has $1.2B net worth; beat Tom Cruise, SRK, Dwayne Johnson
On Wednesday, Forbes magazine released an interesting list - America's most successful immigrants. The list contains names of billionaire immigrants, people who were born outside the US but emigrated to the United States and made it big. As names like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella, and George Soros headline the list, a few from the world of entertainment feature too, including the world's richest actor - a 77-year-old who started in a Nazi household before becoming one of America's most loved icons. The world's richest actor is an immigrant with a net worth of $1.2 billion. The world's richest actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former California governor and action star, is the richest actor in the world with a staggering net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. This is a marked decline from his peak wealth of $1.49 billion earlier this year, but it still keeps him on top of the list. Among men and women who have derived their fame and wealth from acting primarily, nobody else is a billionaire. Dwayne Johnson, Shah Rukh Khan, and Tom Cruise follow Arnold, all with net worth in the $800-900 million range. Tyler Perry and Jerry Seinfeld are the only two performer billionaires among men, while Rihanna is the only woman. But none of them are primarily actors. From immigrant to billionaire, how Arnold made his billions Arnold was born in Styria to local chief of police, Gustav Schwarzenegger and his wife Aurelia in 1947. Arnold grew up in a tough household and later revealed that he endured child abuse at the hands of his father. At age 14, Arnold began bodybuilding, and within three years, he was competing professionally. He served in the Austrian Army for a year, winning the Junior Mr Europe title during his service. This opened the doors for international competitions. In 1966, he participated in the Mr Universe competition in the US, and never returned to Austria. Over the next decade, he established himself as one of the most dominant bodybuilders in history, winning the Mr Olympia title a record seven times and the Mr Universe title thrice. Even though he started acting as early as 1970, Arnold focused on bodybuilding through the 70s. He gained fame with the 1982 hit Conan the Barbarian. In the 80s and 90s, he became the world's number one action star with blockbusters like The Terminator, Commando, Predator, Total Recall, and True Lies. One of the highest-paid actors ever, Forbes estimates that Arnold has earned $500 million (before taxes and fees) in paychecks and profit-sharing deals from his movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a top bodybuilder in the 70s before becoming one of Hollywood's biggest action stars in the 80s and 90s. He has made more money from investments in real estate and other fronts, including a minority stake in David Booth's Dimensional Fund Advisors. His other valuable investments include a piece of Easton Town Center, the Columbus, Ohio mall created by billionaire Les Wexner, and equity in the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Los Angeles, notes Forbes. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Nazi connection Arnold's father Gustav was a policeman in Austria, who joined the Nazi Party in 1938 after the German occupation. Over the next seven years, he served as a military policeman in the invasions of Poland, France and the Soviet Union. According to Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum, Gustav Schwarzenegger served 'in theatres of the war where atrocities were committed. But there is no way to know from the documents whether he played a role.' Gustav and Amelia Schwarzenegger at their wedding in 1945. Gustav's links to the Nazis became a subject of debate and controversy when Arnold ran for California governor in 2003. The actor has shied away from addressing his father's military service. But in 2022, he broke that silence with a rare message during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 'To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast, you already know much of the truth that I'm speaking. You've seen it in your own eyes. I don't want you to be broken like my father,' he said. Gustav died in 1972, when Arnold was 25. He did not attend his father's funeral.
