Video: Bernie Mac, Samuel L. Jackson in “Soul Men”

It’s a true classic of literature, required reading in many schools throughout the country. George Orwell’s cautionary tale about the dire existence that trading freedom for security will eventually lead. What was once a denunciation of the evils of Communism is now invoked in the case of overreaching technology and the omnipresent media of today - often dubbed “The Ministry of Truth” rather derisively.

John Hurt stars as Wintson Smith, a bureaucrat in the post-nuclear nation of Oceania. His job is to work for the Ministry of Truth and rewrite all news of current events to fit the edicts of the repressive totalitarian regime known as only as The Party. The country is at war, it has always been at war, and it will always need support. Everyone obeys the omnipresent leader known as Big Brother, and the Thought Police watch everything everyone does every minute of every day. Free will is outlawed. Sex is outlawed. Even language is curtailed to limit personal expression. Adjectives allowed range from doubleplusgood to doubleplusungood.

Yet Winston Smith is keeping a private diary in secret, which is tantamount to thoughtcrime. He escalates his offense when he meets a striking woman named Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), and the two of them begin a clandestine affair in a remote countryside, and it proves so alluring that he rents a room above a pawn shop to continue their meetings for a few months, relishing an idyllic existence. That is, until the Thought Police raid without warning and arrest them. Then the true nightmare begins, as a man Winston had admired, called only O’Brien (Richard Burton), is set to the task of rehabilitating Winston back into party loyalty through brainwashing and torture… at the Ministry of Love.

Dark, ominous and unsettling, this film features a masterful performance from Hurt and the final on-screen appearance of Burton. Michael Radford’s 1984 truly is a must-see.

Watch 1984 for free in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.

It looks like the late greats Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes left us with a great comedy to remember them by.

Mac and Samuel L. Jackson star in Malcolm D. Lee’s Soul Men, a comedy about two R&B singers called The Real Deal who haven’t performed in 30 years, and VH-1 wants them to reunite. Trouble is, they had a pretty severe falling out, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot of trials and a hell of a lot of tribulations to get them back on stage and in fine form.

Director Lee got hit hard when his star Mac died in the same weekend as Hayes, who has a cameo role in the film, and he spoke openly about it. He told us all that Soul Men features Mac at the top of his game, and from the looks of this trailer, he ain’t lyin’.

Watch the new trailer for Soul Men right here on Fancast.