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We’re starting the day with sad news I’m afraid. The legendary British actors Sir Christopher Lee and Ron Moody have both passed away today.

Lee made his name early, playing Count Dracula and other characters for Hammer Films. His Wikipedia page lists appearances in some 206 films, not to mention numerous TV, stage, and even video game roles. Over the years, he’s played Death, both Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, Frankenstein’s Creature, Fu Manchu, Lord Summerisle, and King Haggard. Bond fans will surely remember him as the villain Francisco Scaramanga from The Man with the Golden Gun. Younger Star Wars prequel fans were likely introduced to him as Count Dooku. Of course, his last great role was the wizard Saruman the White in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films. But Lee lived an adventurous life beyond stage and screen as well. He apparently hunted Nazis during world war II as a member of Churchill’s so-called “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” He even recorded a symphonic metal concept album called Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross. Now that’s a helluva life. You can read more here via The Telegraph and The New York Times.  Lee was 93.  [Read on here…]

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We’ve got just a quick Blu-ray release news update for you this afternoon, so let’s get to it…

As we’ve previously reported, Paramount has set Project Almanac for Blu-ray and DVD on 6/9. We now have the final cover art for you below.

Film Movement is releasing Peter Greenaway’s The Pillow Book on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/9. The disc will include a new audio commentary with Greenaway, the trailer, and a new essay by film critic Nicolas Rapold.  [Read on here…]

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Are any of you guys Star Trek fans? Of course, you are! Well, we have something awesome to report for you today. I’m sure many of you are familiar with Prelude to Axanar – we’ve mentioned it here before. It’s a professionally-produced and original fan film, directed by Christian Gossett (of The Red Star fame) and set in the Star Trek universe. It’s sort of an in-world documentary production, as if produced by Memory Alpha and the Federation Historical Society, that looks back at the so-called Four Years War between the Klingons and the Federation. Remember: This is an entirely non-profit effort, completely funded by fans through Kickstarter. It was so successful that a full feature-length dramatic film called Axanar is now deep into pre-production that tells the actual story of that war. [Read on here…]