Terminator, Deliverance Join US Film History

Saturday Night Fever also chosen for preservation collection

(NEWSER) - The Empire Strikes Back and Saturday Night Fever are among 25 films bound for a special Library of Congress archive this year. Some 2,100 films picked by the National Film Preservation Board and the public were nominated for preservation in the National Film Registry, the AP reports. The films aren’t necessarily considered the best in history; rather, they’re selected for their historical or cultural importance. More»

10,000 BC , Gladiator, and 300 top Yahoo's list of historical misfires

(NEWSER) - Most historical films forgo a few facts for dramatic flair, but these flicks leave truth to the cutting room floor. Yahoo lists the most inaccurate movies ever:

1. 10,000 BC: Woolly mammoths weren't around to help build the pyramids.
2. Gladiator: Emperor Commodus didn't kill his dad... chickenpox did.
3. 300: Spartan warriors wore bronze armor, not leather Speedos.
4. The Last Samurai: 19th-century Japan did have war advisers, but they weren't American.
5. Apocalypto: Mel's Mayan saviors actually killed off 90% of the indigenous people.

Back to the Future , Bullitt , Days of Heaven ascend to American film-buff heaven

(NEWSER) - The Librarian of Congress showed off his eclectic film taste this week, selecting 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically" notable movies that will be preserved forever in the National Film Registry. The widely varied picks, which bring the total list to 475, include:

1. Back to the Future (1985)
2. Days of Heaven (1978)
3. Dances with Wolves (1990)
4. Oklahoma! (1955)
5. Bullitt (1968)

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones return for alien flick

(NEWSER) - Sure, no one was that desperate for a Men in Black 3—but it's actually a pretty good summer movie. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back defending the planet from aliens, and this time, Josh Brolin's along for the ride as a young Jones.

• The movie "turns out to be so much fun," writes AO Scott in the New York Times . While it "carefully fulfills its blockbuster imperatives—with chases and explosions and elaborately contrived plot twists—it swerves into some marvelously silly, unexpectedly witty, and genuinely fresh territory."

Johnny Depp stars in Tim Burton film

(NEWSER) - Critics aren't thrilled with Tim Burton's latest offering, inspired by the late-1960s cult TV show of the same name and starring Johnny Depp as an 18th-century vampire who is buried alive, only to be accidentally dug up in 1972. The film isn't sure what it wants to be:

• Dark Shadows "tries to serve too many masters," writes Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News . "Initially it’s an epic valentine to the show. Then it’s a vamp-out-of-water story. Soon it’s a gung-ho comedy. Finally it's a monster flick." Still, it "unearths enough fun."