New The Belko Experiment trailer brings more office-approved gore
Orion Pictures and BH Tilt have revealed a new trailer for The Belko Experiment from writer/producer James Gunn (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Wolf Creek director Greg McLean. You can watch The Belko Experiment trailer below!
RELATED: Read our The Belko Experiment review
Taking its cues from Lord of the Flies and Battle Royale by way of The Hunger Games, the wildly gory The Belko Experiment explores a twisted social experiment, in which a group of 80 Americans are locked in their high-rise corporate office in Bogata, Columbia and ordered by an unknown voice on an intercom system to participate in a deadly game of kill or be killed.
The cast for The Belko Experiment includes John Gallagher Jr. (Short Term 12), Melonie Diaz (Fruitvale Station), John C. McGinley (Office Space), Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight), Gail Bean (Unexpected), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), Valentine Miele (Super), Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), Mikaela Hoover (Super), Josh Brener (Silicon Valley), Rusty Schwimmer (Louie), Joe Fria (Speedwagon), James Earl (The Lazarus Effect), Brent Sexton (The Killing), Stephen Blackehart (Tromeo and Juliet), David Del Rio (Pitch Perfect) and Ben Davis (Red Dead Redemption).
RELATED: Listen to an Exclusive Song from The Belko Experiment!
Check out the trailer below and for more bloody Belko fun, go to the Official Facebook page for a special message from “Human Resources.”
Win a copy of lurid Emily Blunt psychodrama The Girl on the Train
You probably find it odd that we’re including editorial about the recent adult thriller The Girl on the Train here, in the horror section of ComingSoon.net, but hear us out. The film, which stars Emily Blunt in a career best performance and which arrived on home video on January 17th after a successful theatrical run, is directed by Tate Taylor and based on the best-selling novel by Paula A. Hawkins. It’s a classic neo-Gothic psychodrama, the kind Hollywood used to make in the 1960s, about a good woman pushed deep into the dark by outside forces that threaten to decimate her. It’s a tale of addiction and obsession and is propelled by a lurid, leering pulp sensibility that is refreshingly played straight.
Blunt plays Rachel, a woman deeply lost in a haze of alcoholism and who rides the train past her former home every day, tormenting herself with memories of her old life and ex husband, who now lives there with his new wife and infant daughter. Rachel becomes fixated on the hose next door, and obsessed with its resident, a beautiufl bloned woman who seems to have the perfect life. Of course, said woman’s life is anything but and soon she winds up missing, possibly murdered. What happened? Rachel stumbles into this mystery and soon is in well over her head. Much sex, melodrama, violence and mystery ensue…
We loved the __film lots and we’re happy to report that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has given us a stack of Blu-ray/DVD combo packs to give away. To win one, email chris.alexander@shocktillyoudrop.com with the words “CRAZY TRAIN” in the subject line. Winners will be chosen at random…
And if you don’t want to try your luck, you can still buy or rent The Girl on the Train from Amazon here.
Matthew McConaughey as Kenny Wells Edgar Ramírez as Michael Acosta Bryce Dallas Howard as Kay Corey Stoll as Brian Woolf Toby Kebbell as Paul Jennings Bill Camp as Hollis Drescher Joshua Harto as Lloyd Stanton Timothy Simons as Jeff Jackson Craig T. Nelson as Kenny Wells Macon Blair as Connie Wright
Directed by Stephen Gaghan
Gold Review:
Gold may be very loosely based on real events (mostly the Bre-X scandal in the 1990s), but it’s also telling a story almost as old as cinema itself – how greed changes and corrupts even those with the best intentions (or even those without). We’ve seen it before in classics like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre all the way up to The Wolf of Wall Street. The audience may find themselves rooting for characters who don’t deserve it just to watch the money move. Everyone fantasizes about the next get-rich-quick scheme, getting the most with the minimal effort, but while Kenny Wells (Mathew McConaughey) is willing to work a little for a place at the table, he’s not willing to work too hard. His father scratched a living as a prospector, founding a mining company that was moderately successful, but while Kenny wants to keep the company going, he’s also interested in finding the easy score.
Enter fellow prospector Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez), who has a theory that the ground in Indonesia is ripe for a gold strike due to certain geological conditions. Wells believes him, and, inspired by a dream, seeks out Acosta to make good on his concept. After several weeks, Acosta tells a feverish-with-malaria Wells that they are successful – in fact, the dig in Indonesia may be the richest strike of gold ever recorded. Wells is swarmed by other companies, and even the government of Indonesia, to take a piece of the profits. But Wells, who has a drinking problem and probably isn’t as smart as he thinks he is, is overwhelmed, and becomes consumed by pride and avarice.
Gold is one of those movies that rewards audiences who stick with it, especially since its first half hour is so disjointed and difficult to follow. There is so much geology speak in the early minutes of the __film that it is difficult to understand just what exactly Wells does. It doesn’t help that McConaughey fills his performance with idiosyncrasies and quirks, turning the knob to 10 when an 8 would have sufficed. We are thrown into the deep end of modern prospecting, where it simply isn’t about digging into the earth for gold anymore, but a logistical and economic nightmare just to break ground. The __film doesn’t really find its footing until after the gold strike, when companies begin to line up to take part in Wells’ and Acosta’s success, and the boardroom maneuverings and wheeling and dealing that takes place begins to take its toll on Wells and his relationship with Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard).
Matthew McConaughey plays Kenny Wells as a white trash mogul who, with his cheap suits and bad haircut, is simply outmatched by more successful businessmen. But he has a wily, clever streak in him that causes people like Brian Wolff (Corey Stoll) to underestimate him. McConaughey is willing to deglamorize himself for the part, and I admire how pathetic McConaughey makes Kenny Wells. Bryce Dallas Howard as Kay shares Kenny’s down-to-earth lifestyle and philosophy, but Wells’ mad scramble to the bottom challenges Kay’s resolve and when Wells proves a leaky vessel for Kay to put her trust in, Kay becomes tested in unexpected ways.
Audiences will likely see where this story is headed a mile off, but they will likely stick with it due to McConaughey’s performance, where he admittedly seems to be having a ball playing this slightly unhinged but tenacious character. Edgar Ramirez’s work is by necessity quieter, but he’s also playing a bit of a shell game, not laying too many cards on the table, and Ramirez is quite good in a less assuming role. The most striking aspect of Gold is Robert Elswit’s cinematography, where he takes us from the seedy bars of Carson City, Nevada, to the elegance of the jungles of Indonesia, to the sterile but formidable boardrooms of corporate America.
Director Stephen Gaghan gets good performances out of his cast, but for a film that covers a lot of ground, the scope of Gold feels smaller than it should. The film works best when we watch these giant corporations try to outmaneuver Wells, and only through the tenacity of his character is he able to dodge them. There are pieces of a larger message about corporate greed and the pitfalls of unbridled capitalism, but because McConaughey plays Wells as a bit of a goofball, these themes are mostly glossed over in favor of watching McConaughey be a bit too broad for the material. Still, Gold works more often than not, and the twists of the third act lift the film up in unexpected and oddly touching ways. Kenny Wells may be a screw-up who fell out of failure into success, but we can admire Kenny’s will to succeed. There is an entrepreneurial zest and spirit to Kenny’s struggles, which anyone who has ever had dreams of wealth and success can recognize.
Fantastic Beasts Blu-ray and Digital HD announcement
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that the blockbuster Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them arrives on Digital HD on March 7 and Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD on March 28. Check out the Fantastic Beasts Blu-ray trailer and details below!
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes us to a new era of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, decades before Harry Potter and half a world away. Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything, The Danish Girl) stars in the central role of Magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” blockbusters.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them also stars Katherine Waterston as Tina, Tony Award winner Dan Fogler as Jacob, Alison Sudol as Tina’s sister, Queenie, Ezra Miller as Credence, two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton as Mary Lou Barebone, Oscar winner Jon Voight as Henry Shaw, Sr., Carmen Ejogo as Seraphina Picquery, and Colin Farrell as Percival Graves.
The __film marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, whose seven beloved Harry Potter books were adapted into one of the highest grossing __film franchises of all time. Her script was inspired by the Hogwarts textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” written by her character Newt Scamander.
In addition to David Yates, the film reunited a number of people from the Harry Potter features, including producers David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram. Tim Lewis, Neil Blair and Rick Senat served as executive producers.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be available on Ultra HD Blu-ray for $44.95, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack for $44.95, Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99 and 2-disc DVD Special Edition for $28.98 on March 28. The Ultra HD Blu-ray features an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the film in 4K with HDR, a Blu-ray disc of the film in high definition, and a digital version of the film in Digital HD with UltraViolet*. The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack features the film in 3D hi-definition, hi-definition and standard definition; the Blu-ray Combo Pack features the film in hi-definition on Blu-ray; and the DVD features the film in standard definition. All versions include a digital version of the movie in Digital HD with UltraViolet. Fans can also own Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them via purchase from digital retailers.
Additionally, all of the special features, including interviews with filmmakers, character and creature featurettes, deleted scenes and 360° videos, can be experienced in an entirely new, dynamic and immersive manner on tablets and mobile phones using the Warner Bros. Movies All Access App, available for both iOS and Android devices. When purchased digitally and redeemed on UltraViolet, the Warner Bros. Movies All Access App allows users to watch the movie and simultaneously experience synchronized content related to any scene, simply by rotating their device. Synchronized content is presented on the same screen while the movie is playing, thus enabling users to quickly learn more about any scene, such as actor biographies, scene locations, fun trivia, or image galleries. Also, users can share movie clips with friends on social media and experience other immersive content. The Movies All Access app is available for download on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.
The Blu-ray discs of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will feature a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. To experience Dolby Atmos at home, a Dolby Atmos enabled AV receiver and additional speakers are required, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar; however, Dolby Atmos soundtracks are also fully backward compatible with traditional audio configurations and legacy home entertainment equipment.
FANTASTIC BEASTS VIRTUAL REALITY Also available this year will be an expanded Fantastic Beasts Virtual Reality experience. This version of the previously released Virtual Reality will allow fans to return to the wizarding world for a more robust and expanded experience featuring new beasts and participate in more magical spells as they interact with each of the creatures inside Newt’s case. Additionally, the experience includes never-before-seen footage and will be available for purchase on several VR platforms.
HARRY POTTER ON ULTRA HD BLU-RAY Finally, Warner Bros. will release all eight Harry Potter films on Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2017. The last four films will be released on March 28 and will include Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be available later in 2017. Ultra HD Blu-ray showcases 4K resolution with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and a wider color spectrum, offering consumers brighter, deeper, more lifelike colors for a home entertainment viewing experience like never before.
BLU-RAY AND DVD ELEMENTS Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Ultra HD Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray,Blu-ray Combo Packs and 2-disc DVD Special Edition contains the following special features: · Before Harry Potter: A New Era of Magic Begins! o Join J.K. Rowling as she, David Yates and David Heyman return to Leavesden Studios to build a new and exciting corner of the wizarding universe. · Characters o The Magizoologist o The Goldstein Sisters o The New Salemers o The No-Maj Baker o The President and the Auror · Creatures o Meet the Fantastic Beasts o Bowtruckle o Demiguise o Erumpent o Niffler o Occamy o Thunderbird · Design o Shaping the World of Fantastic Beasts (360°) o New York City (360°) o MACUSA (360°) o Newt’s Magical Case (360°) o The Shaw Banquet o The Blind Pig (360°) · Deleted Scenes (11 scenes)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, FOX has ordered a pilot for a The Passage TV series, based on Justin Cronin’s best-selling vampire novels.
The series, about an attempt to save the human race from a vampire plague, would potentially take place over the span of a century, with a young girl named Amy at the center. Cronin’s book tells of terminally ill patients who become healthy after they are bitten by bats in South America. The government conducts secret tests on human subjects to see if the virus can cure illness, but the result is an apocalyptic unleashing of bloodthirsty vampire test subjects that include death row inmates.
The pilot was written by Elizabeth Heldens (Friday Night Lights), Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes, Let Me In) attached to executive produce alongside Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker. Cronin will also co-exec produce alongside Reeves’ 6th and Idaho Productions executive vice president Adam Kassan.
Reeves was first announced to direct a __film version of The Passage in 2011, with Jason Keller redrafting a script by John Logan.
Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown to star in Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
Legendary has announced today that Stranger Things breakout Millie Bobby Brown is set to star in the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the sequel to 2014’s Godzilla. She was recently nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and People’s Choice Award for her portrayal of “Eleven” in the Netflix series.
Brown is the first cast member to be revealed for the upcoming sequel, which is being written by Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus) and Zach Shields, with Dougherty set to direct.
It remains to be seen what the plot for the upcoming sequel will be, but Legendary previously announced the addition of several more Toho kaiju, including Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, is possible and potentially some original monsters like the 2014 film’s MUTO.
The __film is part of the Legendary and Warner Bros. cinematic Monsterverse, which also includes the upcoming Kong: Skull Island, due out in theaters on March 10, 2017, and even a Godzilla vs King Kong feature (a rematch of the first time the pair collided in 1962) now set for a May 29, 2020 release.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be released on March 22, 2019.
Directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), 2014’s Godzilla brought in $529 million at the global box office and starred Aaron Johnson, Ken Watanabe. Elizabeth Olsen, Sally Hawkins, and Bryan Cranston.
Legion First Look: An inside look at the FX series
FX and Marvel Entertainment have released a new Legion First Look that takes you behind the scenes of the anticipated series, premiering on FX on February 8.
Fargo‘s Noah Hawley serves as Executive Producer, along with Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Jeph Loeb, Jim Chory and John Cameron. Legion is the latest project from Hawley and Cameron, two of the executive producers of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning FX limited series Fargo.
Legion, based on the Marvel Comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, is the story of David Haller (Dan Stevens), a troubled young man who may be more than human. Diagnosed as schizophrenic as a child, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. Now in his early 30s and institutionalized once again, David loses himself in the rhythm of the structured regimen of life in the hospital: breakfast, lunch, dinner, therapy, medications, sleep. David spends the rest of his time in companionable silence alongside his chatterbox friend Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), a fellow patient whose life-long drug and alcohol addiction has done nothing to quell her boundless optimism that her luck is about to change. The pleasant numbness of David’s routine is completely upended with the arrival of a beautiful and troubled new patient named Syd (Rachel Keller). Inexplicably drawn to one another, David and Syd share a startling encounter, after which David must confront the shocking possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees may actually be real.
A haunted man, David escapes from the hospital and seeks shelter with his sister Amy (Katie Aselton). But Amy’s concern for her brother is trumped by her desire to protect the picture perfect suburban life she’s built for herself. Eventually, Syd guides David to Melanie Bird (Jean Smart), a nurturing but demanding therapist with a sharp mind and unconventional methods. She and her team of specialists – Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris), Kerry (Amber Midthunder) and Cary (Bill Irwin) – open David’s eyes to an extraordinary new world of possibilities.
Patriot premiere date and key art revealed by Amazon
Amazon today announced the Patriot premiere date and debuted key art for its new original one-hour series. The Patriot will premiere on Friday, February 24 exclusively on Prime Video in the US, UK, Germany and Austria. Check out the key art and photos from the show in our gallery below!
Starring Michael Dorman (Wonderland), Emmy winner Terry O’Quinn (Lost), Kurtwood Smith (That ’70s Show) and Michael Chernus (Orange Is the New Black), Patriot follows the complicated life of intelligence officer John Tavner (Dorman). His latest assignment is to prevent Iran from going nuclear, requiring him to forgo all safety nets and assume a perilous “non-official cover”—that of a mid-level employee at a Midwestern industrial piping firm. A bout with PTSD, the Federal government’s incompetence and the intricacies of keeping a day job in the “front” industrial piping company cause a barrage of ever-escalating fiascos that jeopardize Tavner’s mission.
The series, recently selected to have its world premiere at the Berlin __film Festival Berlinale, is executive produced by Steven Conrad (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), who also writes and directs on the series, James Parriott (Grey’s Anatomy), Glenn Ficarra (This Is Us), John Requa (Crazy Stupid Love, Focus), Charles Gogolak (Focus), and Gil Bellows (Temple Grandin). Customers can watch the pilot episode online at Amazon.com/PatriotTV before the full season’s remaining nine episodes air on February 24.
Patriot explores the lesser known, unglamorous aspects of life as an intelligence officer. While the future of the world is at stake, it’s often the idiosyncrasies of those around John Tavner that force him to have to choose between bad alternatives. Those characters include Tom Tavner (O’Quinn), John’s State Department Director of Intelligence father; John’s older brother Edward Tavner (Chernus), a young Texas congressman; John’s wife Alice, played by Kathleen Munroe (Call Me Fitz); Agathe, played by Aliette Opheim (Sandor slash Ida), a brilliant young homicide detective from Luxembourg hot on John’s trail; and Mr. Claret (Smith), John’s stickler of a new “boss” at the piping firm where John is “employed.”
Prime members will be able to stream the series exclusively via the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices and online. Members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. Patriot will be a global release and available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video for members to watch via the Prime Video app for popular smart TVs, Fire TV, Fire Tablets and Android and iOS phones and tablets. The show will also be available later this year on PrimeVideo.com for Prime Video members in more than 200 countries and territories.
“As smart, compelling and contradictory as the world it portrays, Steve Conrad’s ‘Patriot’ is an incredible comedic drama about the world of modern intelligence,” said Joe Lewis, Head of Comedy and Drama, Amazon Studios. “Told skillfully and artfully, Steve and the incredible cast have made something truly unique and we can’t wait to bring it to customers soon.”
Patriot was part of Amazon’s pilot season last year, a unique development process that gives all customers an opportunity to stream and review pilots in order to help choose the next Amazon Original Series that are then available to Prime members.
Based on an unforgettable episode of “This American Life,” Matt Ruskin’s “Crown Heights” dramatizes a remarkable and enduringly relevant miscarriage of justice and the result is a thin, restless film that’s also a thrilling testament to the power of public radio.
Ruskin’s version begins on April 10, 1980, the fateful spring day when an innocent man’s life all but came to an end. Colin Warner (compellingly embodied by “Short Term 12” star Lakeith Stanfield, whose slender frame is strong enough to shoulder much of the movie) is an 18-year-old Trinidad native living in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. He’s arrested for the murder of a local Jamaican teenager named Mark Hamilton. (In real life, Warner reluctantly volunteered himself to a local precinct after they called him in for questioning. In the film, the heavily accented immigrant is chased down by two aggressive cops who corner him in an alley and drag him down to the station.)
The police don’t have any hard evidence implicating Warner, but they don’t care about that — they only care that he has a few priors, and that a scared young witness was coerced into randomly picking his photo out of a lineup. For black men in America, the path between arrest and conviction has always been remarkably straightforward, and so in no time at all a skeptical judge hands Warner 15 years to life at a maximum security prison, the minimum possible sentence for the defendant’s supposed crime. Just like that. The greatest difficulty in achieving justice is that injustice moves much faster.
READ MORE: 20 Must-See Movies At Sundance 2017
Perhaps that explains why “Crown Heights” hurtles forward through time like it’s being pulled along by the inertia of prejudice, the script eschewing scenes in favor of moments, rushing through almost every significant opportunity for pathos or character. The film doesn’t even slow down when Warner is locked in a cell with the actual killer — the one man capable of freeing him from his nightmare — leaving Stanfield to pack years’ worth of unimaginable frustration into a handful of fleeting shots.
Part of the problem is Ruskin seems unsure of how best to frame this tragic American narrative, or to whom it ultimately belongs. While half the movie stays with Warner as he slowly adjusts to prison life (glossing over years in solitary confinement in the span of a single cut), the other half focuses on Warner’s childhood friend Carl King.
Portrayed with tenacity and tremendous feeling by former NFL star Nnamdi Asomugha, King devotes his life to proving Warner’s innocence, crowdfunding money from the neighborhood in a desperate to attempt to find a lawyer who might actually give a damn about a wrongfully convicted black man. Both strands of this story are about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, but only King’s portion, which is better defined and more structured than Warner’s, provides any sense of the unfathomable perseverance required to eke the smallest measure of justice from a system that doesn’t believe you deserve any.
Despite the efforts of its cast, “Crown Heights” is too crammed and hectic to convey the immensity of the systemic evils that run through its ruptured heart. Ruskin skitters along the surface of the institutional failures that he condemns, pointing out all of the places where it ought to have dug deeper along the way. For all its noble efforts to bridge the gap between the personal and the political, “Crown Heights” ultimately falls in the space between. Everything is indicated, nothing is realized — the film’s strengths make you wish that Ruskin had made a miniseries, while its weaknesses make you grateful that Warner’s saga has already been relayed in his own words and broadcast for the world to hear.
Grade: C-
“Crown Heights” premiered in U.S. Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It is currently seeking distribution.
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The nominations for the 89th Academy Awards are finally here. With so many quality films from 2016 competing for a limited number of slots, Academy voters had many tough decisions to make. The three films that have had the most success so far this awards season are Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” and Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea.”
Take a look at the full list below.
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”) Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”) Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”) Denzel Washington (“Fences”)
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”)
Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”)
Hugh Grant (“Florence Foster Jenkins”)
Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”)
Dev Patel (“Lion”)
Best Supporting Actress
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
“Land of Mine” (Denmark)
“A Man Called Ove” (Sweden)
“Tanna” (Australia)
“The Salesman” (Iran)
“Toni Erdmann” (Germany)
Best Documentary Feature
“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
“OJ: Made in America”
“The 13th”
Best Animated Feature
Best Film Editing
Best Song
Best Original Score
Best Visual Effects
“Deepwater Horion”
“Dr. Strange”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
Best Cinematography
“Arrival”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
Best Costume Design
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
“Arrival”
“Deepwater Horizon”
Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Sully”
Best Sound Mixing
“Arrival”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“La La Land”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“Thirteen Hours”
Best Short Film, Live Action
Best Short Film, Animated
Best Documentary Short Subject
The Academy Awards will take place February 26 at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, and broadcast live on ABC at 5:30PM PST / 8:30PM EST.
The most nerve-wracking morning of Oscar season is upon us. The nominations for the 89th Academy Awards will be revealed at 8:18am ET, and you can live stream the press conference right here in the video below.
READ MORE: 2017 Oscar Nomination Predictions: IndieWire’s Final Selections Before Tomorrow’s Reveal
In the past, the Oscar nominations ceremony was hosted by one or two celebrities who read the nominees aloud, but this year the Academy is trying something new with a global live stream. Various members of the academy will announce the nominees on video, with talent like Brie Larson and Jennifer Hudson scheduled to appear.
Golden Globe winner “La La Land” is widely expected to walk away with the most nominations, but whether it can break the Oscar nomination record of 14 noms remains to be seen. Critical favorites “Arrival,” “Moonlight” and “Manchester By the Sea” should also fare well in multiple categories. Click here for Anne Thompson’s full predictions.
Jimmy Kimmel is set to host the 89th Academy Awards on February 26. Watch the live stream below.
AMC Greenlights James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction
AMC announced at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour that it has greenlit a new documentary series, James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (Working Title), from James Cameron, the acclaimed filmmaker behind legendary sci-fi films The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Avatar. The series, which explores the evolution of sci-fi from its origins as a small genre with a cult following to the blockbuster pop-cultural phenomenon we know today, will consist of six one-hour episodes and will debut on AMC in 2018.
From Star Wars and Avatar to The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead, sci-fi has become a cornerstone of pop culture. In each episode of James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction, Cameron introduces one of the “Big Questions” that humankind has contemplated throughout the ages, and reaches back into sci-fi’s past to better understand how our favorite films, TV shows, books, and video games were born, and where the genre — and our species — might be going in the future. Cameron and his contemporaries, who have helped to fuel sci-fi’s spectacular growth over the last several decades, debate the merits, meanings, and impacts of the films and novels that influenced them.
Before James Cameron became one of the most successful and accomplished filmmakers of his generation, he was a self-proclaimed “sci-fi nerd.” “When I was a kid, I basically read any book with a spaceship on the cover and I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey many, many times,” said Cameron. “The movie inspired me to become a filmmaker. I liked the special effects, but I really loved the ideas and the questions behind them: How will the world end? Will technology destroy us? What does it mean to be human?”
“These are subjects sci-fi has never been afraid to tackle,” added Cameron. “With this series, we are going back to the origins of sci-fi, following the DNA of these ideas back to the source. Without Jules Verne and H.G. Wells there wouldn’t have been Ray Bradbury or Robert A. Heinlein, and without them, there wouldn’t be Lucas, Spielberg, Ridley Scott or me. As a filmmaker who specializes in science fiction, I’m interested in exploring the struggles and the triumphs that brought these incredible stories to life and seeing how art imitates life, as well as how science fiction imitates and sometimes informs science.”
“James Cameron is one of the great filmmakers of our time, and his films have literally defined the genre of science fiction for this generation, and generations to come,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. “As we continue to pursue event documentary series at AMC that our viewers are passionate about, it’s hard to imagine a better fit to explore the rich history of this genre than Mr. Cameron. He’s a consummate entertainer, a scholar, and an explorer. We are incredibly fortunate to be working with him and the amazing team at Left/Right on this endeavor.”
James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction is produced by Left/Right. Executive producers are James Cameron, Maria Wilhelm, Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver. Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), which houses the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, is consulting on the series.
Black Panther movie set to flashback to T’Challa’s American education
A new report from Oakland’s East Bay Times reveals an interesting development about Marvel‘s upcoming Black Panther movie, as the outlet reveals the production has secured the rights to a 1990s-era model of one of the area’s public transit buses for a scene set in T’Challa’s past. They go on to report that the scene will show off the young hero’s American education at Saint Mary’s College High School in Berkeley.
Part of the character’s origin in the comic books is him leaving his home of Wakanda to attend the best schools in America and the UK, having graduated from Oxford University with a Ph.D. in Physics, though it seems his schooling in the __film will be more of a fun Easter egg as it’s the alma mater of director Ryan Coogler.
Chadwick Boseman is set to star as the title hero in the __film alongside Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Fruitvale Station), who will play Erik Killmonger (a villain in the source material), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Nakia (a former member of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje, now an agent of Killmonger), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as elder statesman Zuri, Daniel Kaluuya (Sicario, Get Out) as T’Challa’s confidant W’Kabi, Florence Kasumba (Captain America: Civil War) reprising her role as Ayo, Winston Duke as M’Baku, aka the villain Man-Ape, Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead) as Okoye (a member of the Dora Milaje, the wives-in-training for the King of Wakanda), Letitia Wright (Ready Player One), Sterling K. Brown (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, This is Us) as N’Jobu, a figure from T’Challa’s past; and Angela Bassett (What’s Love Got to Do With It, Olympus Has Fallen) as Ramonda, mother of T’Challa.
With a script by Joe Robert Cole and Ryan Coogler, the latter will direct the Kevin Feige-produced film which begins shooting in January in Atlanta, Georgia. The film will be released in theaters on February 16, 2018.
If you’d like to know more about Black Panther, be sure to check out our previously-published Origins & Evolutions feature on T’Challa by clicking here!
Director James Mangold continues to share some great Logan shots on his Twitter account and you can view there more in the gallery below of Hugh Jackman as Logan, Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Dafne Keen.
RELATED: Calling Wolverine Fans! Win a Chance to Meet Hugh Jackman!
Set In the near future, the __film follows a weary Logan as he cares for an ailing Professor X in a hideout on the Mexican border. But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are up-ended when a young mutant arrives, being pursued by dark forces.
Little else is still known about the film’s plot despite its trailer, though we know that the primary villains for the __film will include The Reavers as well as Wolverine’s favorite group, Weapon X. The film also has a role for the comics’ Wolverine clone, X-23. She’s played in Logan by Dafne Keen.
RELATED: Director James Mangold Shares a Taste of the Logan Score
Also starring Sir Patrick Stewart, Eriq La Salle, Stephen Merchant, Elise Neal and Elizabeth Rodriguez, Logan is coming to theaters on March 3, 2017. Directed by James Mangold and scripted by David James Kelly, the new film will mark the ninth (and said to be final) time that Jackman has played the Marvel Comics character on the big screen.
What do you think of the sound of the Logan shots? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
NBC has released a new promo for the upcoming DC comedy series Powerless which reveals that star Alan Tudyk has a famous cousin – none other than Bruce Wayne! Check it out in the player below. Powerless will premiere on Thursday, February 2 at 8:30pm ET/PT.
Emily Locke (Vanessa Hudgens) lands her dream job as Director of Research and Development for Wayne Security in Charm City, home to super heroes and villains and citizens fed up with the collateral damage of their constant fighting. Full of confidence and big ideas, Emily quickly learns that her aspirations far exceed those of her new boss and officemates, so it will be up to her to lead the team toward their full potential and the realization that you don’t need superpowers to be a hero.
The Powerless cast also includes Danny Pudi (Community, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Ron Funches (Trolls, Get Hard) and Christina Kirk (Along Came Polly, A – Z).
RELATED: NBC Midseason 2017 Schedule Revealed
Ben Queen serves as writer and executive producer. Michael Patrick Jann (who directed the pilot) also executive produces. Powerless is produced by Warner Bros. Television and based on the characters from DC Comics.
That’s Bruce Wayne to you. He’s B Dubs to his cousin. #Powerless pic.twitter.com/Za55BXJXQk
We celebrate circus culture history with a look at 8 great circus horror films
Some reacted with cheers, others with hanging heads when, over the weekend, the people at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey announced that their iconic circus would be taking down the tent for good after 146 years in business.
Founded by revered showman P.T. Barnum and death-defying acrobat outfit Ringling Bros., the circus was, once upon a time, the apex of entertainment, with children (who literally often plotted to run away from home and join the show) thrilling to the clowns, human oddities, wild aerial acts and show-stopping animal antics. The latter antics were diminished when animal rights groups recently rallied to liberate mistreated elephants (thankfully) and other beasts whose place in the circus have long been plagued with controversy. But the real reason the show must not go on is that kids have too much to distract them 24 hours a day. The circus is antiquated, forever trapped in a time warp and laced with a kind of secret seediness as only traveling shows filled with people who live by their own, clandestine rules can have.
RELATED: Pennywise the clown says hello in Stephen King’s IT
Horror movies have long set their action at “The Greatest Show on Earth,” tapping into the tawdrier aspects of circus life while also celebrating the once beloved spectacle.
So while we say goodbye to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s legacy as a touring show (though we do suspect admirers of circus culture will revive the art at some point), we combed through our vaults and picked 8 great horror films that celebrate circus life while exploring its darker side.
As Barnum himself once famously wrote, “This way to the Egress…”
The Snatch series trailer has arrived in advance of the show’s March 16 debut
With the series set to debut on Crackle for free starting March 16, the Snatch series trailer has arrived. Check it out in the player below for a look at the upcoming show based on the 2000 Guy Ritchie film. There’s also new poster art for the show, which you can check out in the gallery viewer at the bottom of this page.
RELATED: First Snatch TV Series Set Photos are Here
The Snatch series stars Rupert Grint, best known for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter__film franchise, as the posh Charlie Cavendish alongside Dougray Scott (Fear the Walking Dead, Doctor Who) as Vic Hill and Ed Westwick (Wicked City, Gossip Girl) as Sonny Castillo. Nick Renton (The Musketeers, Jericho), meanwhile, serves as director for the series, which filmed in Manchester, England.
Inspired by a real-life heist in London, the Snatch series centers on a group of twenty-something, up and coming hustlers who stumble upon a truck load of stolen gold bullion and are suddenly thrust into the high-stakes world of organized crime. The boys must quickly learn to navigate the treacherous waters of London’s underworld as rogue cops, gypsy fighters, international mobsters and local villains descend.
RELATED: Check Out the Trailer and Key Art for Crackle’s StartUp, Starring Martin Freeman
The Snatch series will premiere in 2017 with 10 one-hour episodes. Alex De Rakoff also serves as executive producer and Helen Flint produces for Little Island Productions.
What do you think of the Snatch series trailer? Will you check out the show when it debuts on Crackle in March? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
IFC has announced that its flagship Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning sketch series Portlandia will return in 2018 for its eighth and final season. The series, currently airing Thursdays at 10PM, has captivated viewers and critics alike since its premiere in 2011 by lovingly satirizing our society’s idiosyncrasies by exploring the eccentric misfits who embody the foibles of modern culture. Portlandia was created by Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel. The show is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video.
“I am so proud to have worked with Fred, Carrie and the entire cast and crew-family of Portlandia to make something so funny and so special,” said creator, executive producer, writer and director Krisel.
Said IFC President, Jennifer Caserta: “There are very few shows that can be credited with both establishing and helping to define a television network, and that’s exactly what Portlandia has done for IFC. It has been at the heart of our ‘slightly-off’ comedy programming strategy since its inception. It is a joy and a privilege to work with Fred, Carrie, Jon, Lorne and everyone at Broadway Video to create a show that was prescient in its satirization of modern culture while having a sensibility and state-of-mind that has only become more prevalent across its run. Only this team of multi-hyphenates could have predicted the increasingly relevant impact that farm to table dining, binge-watching, a TSA red carpet or the pitiful plight of men would have on society. But all good things must come to an end, and we very much look forward to Season 8 or as Bryce Shivers and Lisa Eversman might say… put a bird on it!”
Since debuting six years ago, Portlandia has become a cultural conversation-starter, portraying the great city of Portland as being inhabited by a variety of residents played by Armisen and Brownstein. These resonant characters, such as feminist bookstore owners Toni and Candace, bohemian couple Peter and Nance, and local curators Lisa Eversman and Bryce Shivers, have all managed to perfectly crystallize the hilarity in pickling, artisan coffee, organic chicken, social media protesting and even brunch. Guest stars from the worlds of film, television, music and sports have visited Portlandia through the years including Louis CK, Claire Danes, Judy Greer, Kristen Wiig, Damian Lillard, Natasha Lyonne, Lauri Metcalf, Glenn Danzig, Rose Byrne, recurring guests Kyle MacLachlan, Steve Buscemi, Jeff Goldblum and Kumail Nanjiani, and many more.
Portlandia continues to be as popular as ever as Season 7 premiered earlier this month to great acclaim. Its earlier seasons have been recognized with a Peabody Award in 2012, a Writer’s Guild Award in 2013, four Creative Arts Emmy Awards (most recently, the Outstanding Production Design Award in 2016 for Season 6), and 17 Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
In addition to their role as creators, Armisen, Brownstein and Krisel serve as writers and executive producers of Portlandia, along with co-executive producer Graham Wagner. Broadway Video’s Andrew Singer is also an executive producer. Veteran Portlandia director Jonathan Krisel is joined in Season 7 by guest directors Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Alice Mathias, Steve Buscemi, and Bill Benz. Portlandia is shot entirely on location in Portland, Oregon.
Portlandia Seasons 1-6 are available now on Netflix and iTunes. Catch up on Season 7 on demand and on all IFC platforms.
Michael Keaton talks The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming
While promoting Oscar-contender The Founder with Variety, actor Michael Keaton took time out to talk about his role as Adrian Toomes — a.k.a. The Vulture — in Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios‘ upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.
“Not to give too much away, but interestingly, he is and he isn’t, that character,”Keaton said of The Vulture being a villain. “He’s a really interesting — and more interesting than I thought — villain because there’s parts of him that you go, ‘You know what? I might see his point.’ Really, really. It makes it interesting to play.”
The actor broke big in the late ’80s/early ’90s playing Batman, and then later skewered superhero culture in the Oscar-winning Birdman. However, he seemed to have no hesitation in diving back into the comic book movie well.
“No, I mean, not at all. It’s just a thing. A gig,”Keaton stated. “I don’t mean it’s just a gig, it’s the next job. And you think you can do it or want to do it and in fact I said no, because I couldn’t, it didn’t work in my schedule. Then I’m glad to say, they kind of shifted the scheduling and it worked out. So it fit in and I’m glad I did it.”
A young Peter Parker / Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Spider-Man: Homecoming also stars Zendaya, Jon Favreau, Donald Glover and Tyne Daly.
Directed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Homecoming was written by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, Jon Watts & Christopher Ford, and Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. The __film is produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, and executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Jeremy Latcham, and Stan Lee.
Spider-Man: Homecoming will swing into theaters on July 7, 2017.
Better Call Saul Season 3 and Into the Badlands Season 2 premiere dates
AMC has announced, from the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour, winter and spring premiere dates for several new and returning original series, including the martial arts drama Into the Badlands, new epic The Son and the Emmy-nominated Better Call Saul.
You can view the premiere date and series information below, as well as new videos for each.
Into the Badlands The martial arts drama “Into the Badlands” will return for its highly-anticipated second season on Sunday, March 19th at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. “Into the Badlands” Season 2 finds Sunny (Daniel Wu) and M.K. (Aramis Knight) separated and scattered to the wind, each imprisoned in unlikely places. While M.K. struggles to control his powers, Sunny is determined to fight his way back into the Badlands to find his family or die trying. On their journey, Clipper and Colt are assisted by mysterious, new allies whose motivations may be anything but pure. Meanwhile, The Widow (Emily Beecham) continues to consolidate power against the other Barons, while a dark and mysterious threat prepares to exact revenge on them all. Alliances are struck, friendships betrayed, and by season’s end, Sunny and M.K.’s lives will be forever altered with devastating consequences.
In its first season, “Into the Badlands” averaged 5.3 million viewers, 3.2 million adults 18-49 and 3.3 million adults 25-54 in live+3 ratings, ranking as the #4 highest-rated freshmen season of any series in cable history among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in live+3 viewing. The series, which Deadline called a “smoldering, serpentine and supremely stylized series that does the legacy of Bruce Lee proud,” is executive produced by creators/showrunners/writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Shanghai Noon, “Smallville”), Oscar®-nominated producers Stacey Sher and Michael Shamberg (Pulp Fiction, Contagion), David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers, Shanghai Nights), director Stephen Fung (Tai Chi Zero, House of Fury) and Daniel Wu (Tai Chi Zero).
The Son Based on Philipp Meyer’s New York Times best-selling and Pulitzer Prize finalist novel, “The Son” will air on AMC and SundanceTV beginning Saturday, April 8th with a two-hour premiere at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. Both networks will air all episodes from season one. The ten-episode, one-hour drama is a sweeping family saga spanning 150 years and three generations of the McCullough family. The series traces the transformation of Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan), the charismatic family patriarch, from good-natured innocent to calculating killer. He loses everything on the wild frontier, setting him on the path to building a ranching-and-oil dynasty of unsurpassed wealth and privilege. Eli’s eldest son Pete (Henry Garrett), has grown up in his father’s shadow and struggles to make him proud while forging his own identity. Pete’s strong-willed daughter, Jeannie (Sydney Lucas) idolizes her grandfather and despite being raised in a male-dominated world, rejects her fate of existing solely to marry and bear children. Eli’s ruthlessness pits him against his wealthy Spanish neighbor, Pedro Garcia (Carlos Bardem) and his quest for power triggers consequences that span generations. Shared through a series of flashbacks, “The Son” pulls viewers into the world of young Eli McCullough (Jacob Lofland) and his father figure, Comanche war chief, Toshaway (Zahn McClarnon) and deftly explores the McCullough’s rise to become one the most powerful family dynasties in Texas.
Produced by AMC Studios and Sonar Entertainment, “The Son” is written and executive produced by Meyer, Lee Shipman, Brian McGreevy and showrunner Kevin Murphy. Tom Lesinski and Jenna Santoianni also serve as executive producers.
Better Call Saul The Emmy®-nominated series “Better Call Saul” will return for Season 3 on Monday, April 10th at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The new season follows the twists and turns of Jimmy McGill’s (Bob Odenkirk) devolution toward “Breaking Bad’s” Saul Goodman – Albuquerque’s most notorious criminal lawyer. Six years before he meets Walter White, Jimmy is a more or less law-abiding, small-time attorney hustling to champion his underdog clients, build his practice and somehow make a name for himself.
The acclaimed second season ended with a pair of cliffhangers. Determined to prevent his brother from practicing law, Chuck (Michael McKean) staged an elaborate con, secretly recording Jimmy’s confession to a felony. When Mike (Jonathan Banks) set his sights on sociopathic cartel boss Hector Salamanca (Mark Margolis), an ominous intervention stopped him from pulling the trigger, raising questions as to what other dangerous players may be in the game.
RELATED: Los Pollos Returns in New Better Call Saul Teasers
As the new season begins, the repercussions of Chuck’s scheme test Jimmy and Kim’s (Rhea Seehorn) fledgling law practices – and their romance – as never before. This imminent existential threat presses Jimmy’s faltering moral compass to the limit. Meanwhile, Mike searches for a mysterious adversary who seems to know almost everything about his business. As the season progresses, new characters are introduced and backstories are further illuminated with meaningful nods to the “Breaking Bad” universe.
Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan helm season three alongside fellow executive producers Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Thomas Schnauz and Gennifer Hutchison. The second season of “Better Call Saul” garnered seven Emmy® Award nominations and three Critics’ Choice Award nominations. The series has also been recognized with an AFI Award for TV Program of the Year, a Writers Guild Award and numerous award nominations from the Writers Guild, Producers Guild, Golden Globes, and Television Critics Association. Co-created by Gilligan and Gould, the series stars Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Michael McKean, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, and Michael Mando.
Chevrolet, along with students from Detroit’s Cody Rouge community, A World in Motion and FIRST LEGO League, unveiled its life-size LEGO Batmobile at the North American International Auto Show. You can view photos from the unveiling in the gallery below.
Measuring 17-feet long and featuring exclusive stud shooters, the LEGO Batmobile from Chevrolet was designed to strike fear in the heart of any villain. The vehicle was inspired by Batman’s Speedwagon featured in The LEGO Batman Movie, which hits U.S. theaters on Feb. 10.
In this exciting new animated LEGO adventure, Batman, DC’s iconic Super Hero who famously prefers to work alone, must learn to cooperate and connect with others to save Gotham City from The Joker.
“To work on the LEGO Batmobile with Warner Bros. is an absolute thrill for us at Chevy,” said Paul Edwards, U.S. vice president of Chevrolet Marketing. “Many of the themes in ‘The LEGO Batman Movie,’ like imagination, family and community, align perfectly with our Chevy brand values and add to the value of the partnership.”
The LEGO Batmobile from Chevrolet will also appear in the next variation of Chevrolet’s “Real People, Not Actors” campaign. In the new spot, real LEGO Minifigure figurines discuss what kind of person would drive the all-new LEGO Batmobile. You can watch the video below!
To learn more about all the exciting options available on the LEGO Batmobile, please visit Chevrolet.com.
LEGO Batmobile Fast Facts:
– It’s 83 inches (6.92 feet) high, 204 inches (17 feet) long and 111 inches (9.25 feet) wide. – Total weight is 1,695.5 pounds. Each tire is just over 100 pounds. – The interior frame is made from more than 86 feet of square tube aluminum and weighs 282.5 pounds. – Total number of LEGO bricks used to build the Batmobile: 344,187 – Total number of LEGO colors used: 17 – The LEGO Batmobile took 222 hours to design and 1,833 hours to build. – The LEGO Batmobile was designed and assembled in the LEGO Model Shop in Enfield, Connecticut, by LEGO Master Builders.
Gotham Mid-Season premiere promo gives Jerome a facelift
FOX has released a new promo for the mid-season premiere of Gotham Season 3, featuring the return of Joker-to-be Jerome who has had a bit of a facelift since we last saw him. Check it out in the player below!
Titled “Ghosts,” episode 3.12 is set to premiere tonight, Monday, January 16, and is described as follows:
“Falcone places a hit on Gordon after learning that he shot Mario. ?Gordon and Bullock discover a follower of Jerome (guest star Cameron Monaghan), who plans to bring him back to life. Meanwhile, Penguin spirals out of control before the biggest television interview of his Mayoral career, and Bruce and Selina deal with Selina’s mom’s return to Gotham.”
Gotham stars Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, Michael Chiklis as Detective Nathaniel Barnes, Sean Pertwee as Alfred, Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/the future Riddler, Chris Chalk as Lucius Fox, and Jamie Chung as Valerie Vale, the aunt of future Batman love interest Vicki Vale.
Tom Quinn and Tim League’s young distribution shingle officially has a name: Neon. The company will be hunting for acquisitions next week at the Sundance Film Festival, Deadline reports. Quinn and League were not immediately available for comment.
READ MORE: TIFF 2016: Anne Hathaway Made Monster Movie ‘Colossal’ For Her 16-Year-Old Self
Quinn, the former co-founder of RADiUS, and League, co-founder and CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, had already acquired two films under their new venture, but had not released any details about the company itself. The pair purchased the Anne Hathaway monster movie “Colossal” at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and previously released Michael Moore’s “Where To Invade Next” in 2015, to indifferent box office results.
“Colossal” will screen as a part of the Sundance Spotlight sidebar. The movie hits theaters on April 7.
Neon will distribute films of various sizes, from wide theatrical releases to digital and VOD-focused titles. The company is staffed with former members of RADiUS and the Alamo Drafthouse’s distribution arm, Drafthouse Films, and will have offices in Austin, New York and Los Angeles. Jackie Chan’s China-based media company Sparkle Roll Media is a backer of Neon.
Rumors first began swirling that Quinn and League were joining forces shortly after Quinn and partner Jason Janego left The Weinstein Company, where they ran the now-dormant RADiUS division. Janego is no longer part of the new company.
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“The Gorburger Show” is best known as a live-action Funny or Die digital series, in which T.J. Miller voices the show’s giant blue alien host. Now, Comedy Central has announced that they have greenlit the alternative late talk __show to series.
The first season will consist of eight episodes, executive produced by Miller who will continue to voice and puppet the title character.
“In these times? Damn we need a blue ass monster alien to talk about what the heck is going on with humanity. And what is the difference between a hog and a chicken?” Miller said in a statement.
“Through his monster alter ego, ‘Gorburger,’ T.J. Miller will ask the big questions. Then he will confuse us with clarity,” Comedy Central president Kent Alterman added.
READ MORE: Doug Benson Gets Stoned, Then Rules Court Cases, on New Comedy Central Legal Show
“The Gorburger Show” centers on the extra-terrestrial who, after invading a Japanese television variety __show and enslaving its staff, broadcasts from Japan and interviews guests in an attempt to understand what it means to be human. The series will continue to have celebrity interviews, musical guests, strange games and other random happenings.
The show is created by the Ryan McNeely and Josh Martin, who will also write, direct, and executive produce the series, along with Sean Boyle for Funny Or Die. The web series has previously released 19 episodes over the course of two seasons andfeatured guests like Jack Black, Carson Daly, Eagles of Death Metal and many more.
Ian Friedman, Rachel Olson and Kellyn Parker are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central, with Caviar producing.
“The Gorburger Show” is scheduled to premiere this spring.
Watch an old trailer for the digital series below.
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After the recent news that the “Twin Peaks” revival has finally landed a premiere date, we now have our first real look at the show’s long-awaited return — and it’s every bit as off-kilter and enigmatic as you’d imagine. Watch the teaser below, featuring a glimpse of Kyle MacLachlan reprising his role as FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper.
READ MORE: ‘Twin Peaks’: David Lynch Hints What Laura Palmer Has to Do With the Showtime Revival
David Lynch (and, by extension, Mark Frost) has been characteristically tight-lipped about what this upcoming batch of episodes — the first since “Twin Peaks” was canceled after its disappointing second season in 1991 — will entail, making this new footage our first substantive indication of what to expect. Not seen here, unfortunately, are all the original cast members who are still with us but not involved in the show’s third season: Piper Laurie, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joan Chen, Michael Ontkean and Eric Da Re, among others.
READ MORE: ‘Twin Peaks’ Revival: Release Date Announced For David Lynch’s Iconic Series
“Twin Peaks” will premiere on Showtime on May 21 with a two-hour episode, and the next two will immediately be available online after that. The revival consists of 18 episodes total.
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Alternative comedy fans have long been enamored with the explosive John Early and biting Kate Berlant’s collaborative friendship, but now the up-and-comers will bestow their rapid fire eccentricities on a wider audience in “555,” a new Vimeo original series which released its trailer today.
READ MORE: The 16 Best Breakthrough TV Performances of 2016
In five standalone episodes, Berlant and Early cast their keen satirical eyes to Hollywood, and the outlandish and groveling figures they encounter on their quest for stardom. Each part of this mini anthology series lampoons the greed, egotism and ignorance of ambitious stage mothers, naive acting students, and an agent fallen from grace, among others. Blink and you’ll miss it, but the trailer promises guest appearances from Jane Adams and Kristen Johnston.
READ MORE: ‘Search Party’ Review: A Millennial Mystery Exploring the Highs and Lows of Generation Me
Early has wracked up an impressive array of credits in the last few years, announcing himself quite resoundingly in “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” with a show-stealing number from the musical Pippin. He plays Elliott in TBS’s critical darling “Search Party,” and has made appearances in “Girls,” “High Maintenance,” and “Difficult People.”
Sundance audiences will meet Early this month, when he appears in Miguel Arteta’s “Life as Beatriz.” Famous for his Britney Spears impression, Early’s boyish enthusiasm for celebrity culture makes him a less cynical Billy Eichner — if Eichner did impressions.
Official poster for “555”
Vimeo
A fixture on the experimental comedy scene for years, Berlant’s fearless wit has echoes of Rory Scovel, Maria Bamford, and Margaret Cho, but her bizarreness is unmistakably her own. With small parts on “Transparent,” “Comedy! Bang! Bang!,” and “Search Party,” this latest endeavor aims to propel her into Early-level ubiquity.
READ MORE: ‘High Maintenance’ Creators Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld On Their Unique Writing And Audition Process
“555” is produced by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. It is directed by Andrew DeYoung, a three-time Vimeo staff pick filmmaker who boasts Werner Herzog as a fan. As comfortable with comedy as he is with art house film, DeYoung recently directed the first season of TruTV’s “Jon Glaser Loves Gear.” If the trailer is any indication, DeYoung is a visionary new presence.
“555” debuts exclusively on Vimeo on January 31st. Strap in.
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Gibney now has two films that explore the myriad ways that the internet can wreak havoc, with 2013’s “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” and the Oscar-shortlisted “Zero Days,” which stemmed from the U.S. and Israeli Stuxnet operation that destroyed 1000 nuclear centrifuges. Initially, producer Marc Shmuger, who brought him both projects, “knew more about it than I did,” said Gibney. “He had access to people telling him interesting things about the Stuxnet operation. It seemed like an event that deserved a deeper dive.”
Gibney dug deeper and found out how scary the world of cyberwarfare could be. And as the election took its twisty turns, revealing the Russia hacks, more of us caught up with a new reality that had only been imagined in science-fiction. The Matrix is here.
READ MORE: ‘Zero Days’ Exclusive Promo: See Alex Gibney’s New Cyberwar Documentary Thriller
“What is jaw-dropping,” Gibney said, “is that you see the world that we describe in ‘Zero Days,’ something that was going to come to pass in the future, is very much a story in the present tense, as all sorts of cyber weapons are being deployed by all sorts of countries, and nobody is acknowledging that it’s happening. Suddenly, the specter of cyber-espionage and cyber-war and conflict is being raised because everybody can see the consequences in front of them. It’s not abstract anymore. I did feel gratified that the film did say where we’re going and, lo and behold, this is where we are.”
Attacks on the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta “clearly came from Russia,” he added. “It was a question for Obama of whether he should retaliate, should it be secret or open? These cyber-weapons and our inability to talk about them honestly and openly until now have created an unstable media where news people are talking about fake news, with crisscrossing weapons all over the world and implants. The Chinese, Russians, and Iranians all have implants. Now we’re talking about an election that may have been hacked.”
For “Zero Days” Gibney relied on his many intelligence sources, although some were close-lipped. Luckily, ex-CIA chief Michael Hayden had a book to promote. “He’s normally one of the world’s great advocates of secrecy,” said Gibney, who also consulted The New York Times writer David Sanger (“Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power“).
“Zero Days”
Participant Media/Magnolia Pictures
Gibney reported his complex global detective thriller ahead of the curve. “It was a huge challenge,” he said, “a weird situation that had clearly happened, but nobody was willing to admit it. It was a covert operation, but once the operation was blown, with so many larger consequences, it was a bit like President Truman saying after the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ‘What bombs?’ It was frustrating that I couldn’t get people to talk to the issue. A number of people did want to talk about it and say things with a wink and a nod, so you do get to the bottom of things.”
The filmmaker protected his sources by using top-of-the-line graphics from VFX house Framestore and Scatter to create an anonymous NSA cyber-character played by actress Joanne Tucker, who read real dialogue stitched together from multiple interviews.
“Zero Days VR”
Cyberwarfare, says Gibney, has moved out of the espionage, spying side via software to malware that attacks physical infrastructure. “Every nation admits they’re spying,” he said. “It starts out as a spying mechanism. Once inside, you have the opportunity to attack. The espionage leads to the weaponry that can manipulate a machine, cross the barrier from the cyber world to the physical world. Suddenly, it could not only take control of a machine — blowing up centrifuges in an Iranian nuclear plant — but send a signal message to engineers that all is well, like ‘Oceans 11.'”
It all sounds like fiction, and Gibney does believe it could make for powerful fiction; he’s developing a “Zero Days” miniseries, working with Universal’s Carnival subsidiary (“Downton Abbey”) with a screenplay by “The Americans” writer and executive producer Stephen Schiff. However, for now the reality offers plenty on its own.
“Zero Days”
Russia used malware to shut down the Ukrainian power grid, said Gibney. “These weapons are getting ever more powerful and capable of doing more damage.”
At the heart of this cyber-detective thriller are the Philip Marlowes of the cyber world at Symantec. “Their job is to protect us all from malware,” Gibney said. “They broke down this code. They could explain it and put together the breadcrumb clues, and we visualized it. We worked hard to make it as accurate as possible.”
Gibney continues to track this evolving story. “Whether there will be another film add-on to what I have depends on where the story goes,” he said. “It has gotten more interesting to follow the Russian path to try and understand just how many implants are operational throughout the world, and how unstable that makes us all. The cyber science-fiction scenario is here.”
Showtime acquired “Zero Days” out of Berlin, and new senior VP Documentaries Vinnie Malhotra, pushed up the airdate ahead of the election after the hacking controversy broke. (It also got a theatrical release via Magnolia Pictures.)
READ MORE: ‘The New Yorker Presents’: How Alex Gibney and Kahane Cooperman Curated the Amazon Series
“I love Alex’s passion, spirit, and suspicion,” said Malhotra, who had worked with Gibney on “Death Row Stories” at CNN. “Since ‘Taxi to the Dark Side,’ he’s always the tip of the spear in the world of documentary and investigative filmmaking. He was not looking at the ground war but the cyber war, the dark area of warfare nobody understands. When the rest of us woke up to the Russian hacking story, Alex and his team had been probing and investigating it for a few years.”
Next up: Gibney is developing another doc series with Malhotra. “It seizes on another contemporary story of great importance,” he said, “as the American public has a growing lack of trust in the 24-hour news cycle.” As chief of Jigsaw Prods., Gibney is bringing Marina Zenovich’s “Water & Power: A California Heist” to Sundance, along with Matt Heinemann’s “City of Ghosts.”
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Last year it was announced that Rupert Grint was starring and executive producing Crackle’s new series “Snatch.” Now, during the streaming network’s panel at the Television Critics Association, they released the first trailer, which features the actor as the posh con man Charlie Cavendish.
The 10-episode, one-hour series is loosely based on Guy Ritchie’s 2000 comedy of the same name, starring Jason Statham and Brad Pitt. Inspired by a real-life heist in London, the series centers on a group of twenty-something, up-and-coming hustlers who stumble upon a truck load of stolen gold bullion and are suddenly thrust into the high-stakes world of organized crime.
READ MORE: ‘The Art of More’ Season 2 Trailer: Dennis Quaid and Kate Bosworth Return In Crackle’s Auctioneering Drama
The first sneak peek shows how, as rogue cops, gypsy fighters, international mobsters and local villains descend, the guys must quickly learn how to navigate the treacherous waters of London’s underworld.
“Snatch” also co-stars Dougray Scott as Vic Hill, a man who continues the con game from inside prison, Luke Pasqualino as Albert Hill, Lucien Laviscount as Billy Ayres, Phoebe Dynevor as Lotti Mott, Juliet Aubrey as Lily Hill, and Ed Westwick guest stars as night club owner Sonny Castillo.
READ MORE: ‘StartUp’ Exclusive Clip: Crackle’s New Drama Features Martin Freeman And Adam Brody On Opposite Sides of the Law
The series was created by Alex De Rakoff, who also serves as head writer and executive producer. Little Island Productions’ Helen Flint produces. All episodes are directed by Nick Renton.
Grint is best known for his role of Ron Weasley in the “Harry Potter” franchise. He was previously seen on Broadway in “It’s Only a Play,” “Moonwalkers” and is also starring in the series “Sick Note.”
“Snatch” premieres March 16 on Crackle. Check out the trailer and new poster below.
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