Movies

Some Facts About The Omen Franchise

- Roshan

The Omen movie franchise is a popular horror series that revolves around the Antichrist and supernatural horror themes. Here are some key facts about the franchise:

1. The Original Movie (1976)

  • The Omen (1976) was directed by Richard Donner and starred Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and Harvey Stephens.
  • The film follows an American diplomat, Robert Thorn, who unknowingly adopts the Antichrist, Damien, after his own child dies at birth.
  • It was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $60 million on a $2.8 million budget.
  • The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Score, composed by Jerry Goldsmith, including the iconic “Ave Satani” chant.

2. The Original Trilogy

  1. The Omen (1976) – Introduces Damien as a child.
  2. Damien: Omen II (1978) – Follows a teenage Damien discovering his dark destiny.
  3. Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981) – Features an adult Damien, now a powerful politician, trying to prevent the Second Coming of Christ.

3. The Fourth Movie

  • Omen IV: The Awakening (1991) was a made-for-TV sequel.
  • It shifts focus to a girl named Delia, who is suggested to be the new Antichrist.

4. The 2006 Remake

  • A remake of The Omen was released on June 6, 2006 (06/06/06).
  • It starred Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as Damien.
  • The remake was a box office success, earning over $119 million worldwide.

5. The 2024 Prequel: The First Omen

  • A prequel titled The First Omen is set for release on April 5, 2024.
  • It explores the origins of the Antichrist and the events leading up to Damien’s birth.

6. Cultural Impact

  • The Omen is considered one of the greatest horror films of all time.
  • The film is famous for its “curse” legend, with multiple eerie accidents occurring during production.
  • Damien’s name became synonymous with evil and the Antichrist in pop culture.

RIP Pamela Bach

- Roshan

Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff, the former Baywatch actress and ex-wife of David Hasselhoff, has died by suicide at the age of 62 on March 5th. Ms Bach was found dead at her home in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday (Mar 5), a representative from the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed. As per law enforcement officials, Ms Bach’s family members got worried after they didn’t hear from her for a long time. First responders reached her house after receiving a report of an unconscious female. She was allegedly found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and no note.

Bach was from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the second of three daughters. Her mother was a model, and she also modeled as a teenager. She attended Tulsa East Central High School and studied Engineering/Theatre Arts at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. She moved to Los Angeles in 1985. Bach met David Hasselhoff on the set of the Knight Rider episode “Knight Racer” in 1985. They got married in 1989. She acted in a few films like Rumblefish, Appointment With Fear & Nudity Required before getting a recurring role on Baywatch in 1991 – she appeared in only 14 episodes – the huge hit show on which her husband was the lead.

Her other acting credits included soap opera The Young and the Restless, Cheers, The Fall Guy, T.J. Hooker, Superboy and Viper. The couple had two daughters: Taylor Ann Hasselhoff, born May 5, 1990, who attended the University of Arizona and was cast for the 2015 season of Rich Kids of Beverly Hills, and actress Hayley Hasselhoff, born August 26, 1992. In January 2006. Hasselhoff announced he was filing for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce was finalized in August 2006.Bach was given custody of one daughter and Hasselhoff custody of the other.

The 2025 Academy Awards Winners

- Roshan

“Anora” came out on top during the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday. The film, distributed by Neon, took home five trophies — best picture, best editing, best director, best original screenplay and best actress. It was the most of any film nominated. Sean Baker, the auteur behind “Anora,” is now the first person to win four Oscars for the same film. This year’s awards was a night of firsts: “The Brutalist” star Adrien Brody became the first to go 2-for-2 in the best actor category. “Flow” became the first Latvian film to claim an Academy Award, winning best animated feature, and Zoe Saldana became the first American of Dominican descent to win an Oscar.

Here’s the full list of 2025 Oscar winners:

Best supporting actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”

Best animated feature: “Flow”

Best costume design: Paul Tazewell, “Wicked”

Best original screenplay: Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best adapted screenplay: Peter Straughan, “Conclave”

Best editing: Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best supporting actress: Zoe Saldana, “Emilia Pérez”

Best original song: “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”

Best documentary feature: “No Other Land”

Best visual effects: “Dune: Part Two”

Best cinematography: Lol Crawley, “The Brutalist”

Best international feature: “I’m Still Here” (Brazil)

Best actor: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”

Best director: Sean Baker, “Anora”

Best actress: Mikey Madison, “Anora”

Best picture: “Anora”

Movies Or Television Shows?

- Roshan

Do you prefer watching movies or TV shows?

Both! It’s an question that does not need a single or individual answer. They are both different and the enjoyment is different. A great movie and a great tv series hits you differently. While both movies and TV series are forms of visual storytelling, the key difference lies in their length and structure, with movies typically offering a self-contained narrative within a shorter timeframe, while TV series have the ability to develop characters and storylines more deeply over multiple episodes across seasons, allowing for more complex plots and character arcs.

But both movies and tv shows can have the “comfort food” factor for you. I love the familiarity of seeing the same characters in different episodes as they grow with me over the few years or so that they are on and then in reruns as well. It’s like being with good friends, you enjoy their company. That is why I tend to like movies that are part of a franchise so I can see the same characters and actors in more than 1 movie – 2, 3, 4 or 5 movie series!

Movies tend to focus on a single, tightly-paced plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end, while TV series can have more intricate storylines with multiple subplots and character development over time. Due to their longer format, TV series have more opportunity to delve deeper into character motivations and backstories compared to movies. I enjoy both a lot!

Prompt from Journaling Prompts from The Coffee Monterz Co . Com

RIP Gene Hackman

- Roshan

Oscar-winning & multiple other awards winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in New Mexico, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office told CNN. He was 95. Their cause of death has not been confirmed but it is not believed to be foul play, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Womack-Avila told CNN on Thursday morning. Deputies responded to a welfare check request at the home around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday and found Hackman, Arakawa and a dog deceased, Womack-Avila said. An investigation is ongoing, police said. Hackman’s best roles were often of conflicted authority figures or surprisingly clever white-collar villains, such as the iconic evil villain Lex Luthor in the “Superman” film series in the 1970s and 80s. Many held a hint – sometimes more than a hint – of menace.

In a career that spanned six decades, he received two Academy Awards, two British Academy Films Awards and four Golden Globes. Hackman’s two Academy Award wins were for Best Actor for his role as Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s action thriller The French Connection (1971) and for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a villainous Sheriff in Clint Eastwood’s Western film Unforgiven (1992). He was Oscar-nominated for his roles as Buck Barrow in the crime drama Bonnie and Clyde (1967), a college professor in the drama I Never Sang for My Father (1970), and an FBI agent in the historical drama  Mississippi Burning (1988).

Hackman gained further fame for his portrayal of Lex Luthor in Superman (1978)  and its sequel Superman II (1980). He also acted in: The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Scarecrow  (1973), The Conversation (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Under Fire (1983), Power (1986), Loose Cannons  (1990), The Firm (1993), The Quick and the Dead (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Enemy of the State  (1998), Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003). He retired from acting after starring in Welcome to Mooseport (2004).

Hackman was married twice. He had three children from his first marriage. In 1956, Hackman married Faye Maltese (1929–2017), with whom he had one son and two daughters: Christopher Allen, Elizabeth Jean, and Leslie Anne Hackman. The couple divorced in 1986, after three decades of marriage. In 1991, Hackman married classical pianist Betsy Arakawa (1961–2025). They shared a Santa Fe, New Mexico. he Santa Fe Police Department said there were no significant signs of foul play but did not provide either time or cause of death.

RIP Michelle Trachtenberg

- Roshan

Michelle Trachtenberg, the former child star actress known for a wide range of TV and film roles including in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gossip Girl,” has died at the age of 39. Trachtenberg was found by her mother around 8 a.m. Wednesday at One Columbus Place, a 51-story luxury apartment complex in Manhattan’s Central Park South neighborhood, the sources said. The actress underwent a liver transplant  within the last year, but her body may have rejected the organ, according to sources, who said she died of natural causes.

After beginning her career in TV commercials at age three, she made her television debut in her first credited role on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1994–1996). As a child actress, Trachtenberg starred in multiple Nickelodeon productions. In 1997, she won a Young Artist Award for her performance as Maggie in CBS’s Meego. In her late teens and early 20s, Trachtenberg rose to prominence in the cult classic EuroTrip (2004) and as Georgina Sparks on the CW TV show Gossip Girl, which aired from 2007 to 2012. Trachtenberg found further success on the WB/UPN supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000–2003) as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the show’s eponymous protagonist, a role which won her another Young Artist Award and earned her three Saturn Award nominations.

She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as the host of the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare (2001–2003). During the mid-2000s, she had a starring role in the film Ice Princess (2005) and supporting roles in the films Mysterious Skin (2004) and Black Christmas (2006). She also starred on the NBC television series Mercy (2009–2010) as Chloe Payne. In the 2010s, Trachtenberg starred in several television films, including Killing Kennedy (2013) and Sister Cities (2015), and in the science fiction film The Scribbler (2014). She provided the lead voice of Judy in the Facebook Watch adult animated web series Human Kind Of (2018) and executive produced the teen drama web series Guidance (2015–2017) and the Tubi true crime television series Meet, Marry, Murder (2021).

She was born in New York City to Jewish immigrants, her father from Germany and her mother from Russia.

My Weird On Again/Off Again Relationship With Netflix

- Roshan

I ignored Netflix for the longest time. When Netflix first launched their services in India, I took the 30 day trial a few times but didn’t feel like I have to go full on and commit to a long subscription. Once in a while I would borrow someone’s account and try to watch a newly released movie or maybe a tv show but I would not commit. On the few times that I felt that I needed to subscribe as they had a couple of movies and/or a season of a series that I wanted to watch, I would immediately cancel my subscription in a month or 2 at the most and then I would wait for a long time before subscribing again.

One of the reasons I did start liking Netflix was back in 2019 when, just before my birthday, I broke my toe on one foot and sprained the ankle as well as tore the ligaments on my other foot. Don’t ask! Having busted them, I was told by the doctor to rest for 8 days and then come and see him again. During those 8 days I was to lay down in bed as much as possible and keep my legs raised on a pillow. Hence after I wake up, coffee and have breakfast, take a shower and perhaps a shave, I would sit at my desk till 11 am, then lie down till lunch time. Post lunch I would lie down till 5 pm, have coffee and snacks and then be at my desk & laptop till 8:30 pm. I’d have dinner and then go and lie down until sleep caught up with me.

That was the perfect time for me to sign up for Netflix and I did. I watched a sitcom or I should say rewatched a sitcom – Full House – and then I watched a couple of movies in between and then I started watching Fuller House, which is the sequel to it. It continued for a few weeks until both shows were done. Then I didn’t sign up until November of this year. I wanted to watch Fuller House again. I already had Full House on dvd but I needed the sequel show. Having watched that show one Sunday before I was about to cancel the subscription, I started rewatching The Big Bang Theory again and then in January I rewatched the first season of Friends. And now I have started watching Star Trek Voyager. And I have more stuff lined up. I think this time, the Netflix subscription has hooked it’s claws into me and it’s gonna be around for good.

RIP David Lynch

- Roshan

David Lynch, the American filmmaker whose works include the surrealist cult classics Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks, has died aged 78. Known for his surrealist films, he developed his own unique cinematic style which has been dubbed “Lynchian” and is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound design. Lynch’s death was announced on his official Facebook page by his family. Lynch revealed in August last year he was battling emphysema, a chronic lung disease, from “many years of smoking”. Considered by many a maverick filmmaker, he received three best director Oscar nominations throughout his career for his work on Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man and Mulholland Drive.

Lynch’s first project was the 1967 short Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times), an animated film which blended elements of sculpture and painting into its animation. His first feature-length project, 1977’s Eraserhead, became a cult film and launched his commercial career. Lynch’s other feature films include the critically successful The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (2001), all of which went on to earn Academy Award nominations, and the then commercial flop but which became a cult favourite Dune. Lynch also branched out into television, and later, internet-based series. His first foray into the medium was the cult hit Twin Peaks, a joint venture with Mark Frost.

He won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival for Wild at Heart in 1990. His last major project was Twin Peaks: The Return, which was broadcast in 2017, and continued the TV series that ran for two seasons in the early 1990s.