Boston, with its prestigious academics and rich sense of culture, doesn't seem completely deserving of its cinematic reputation as a decaying den of iniquity, but there's no denying the gritty, gloomy atmosphere in which nearly every "Boston film" of the past five years has been cloaked. The Town, The Departed, Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone - all of them paint the city with a devastating brush, populating it with characters who seem constantly at a breaking point, ready to bubble over from seething anger to vicious violence.
It's been a long time, almost two years, since we last heard from Frank Ocean, the singer behind 2012's stunning Channel Orange, but while the rest of us were celebrating Black Friday last week, Ocean sneakily dropped a new track via Soundcloud.
Noah Hawley's Fargo miniseries was one of the most unexpected delights of television this year, so it's no wonder we're keen to hear more about where the show will go from here now that FX has renewed it for a second season. Today, it was revealed that Hawley has begun casting for the next iteration of Fargo, adding Burn Notice's Jeffrey Donovan and Rachel Keller (Hollidaysburg) to what will be an ensemble cast. Additionally, he's sent an offer out to Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman.
Fans and Sony agree that Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams would be a great fit for the role of Ellie in the studio's planned adaptation of its massively popular video game The Last of Us. She definitely looks the part, but besides that, the young star's work on the HBO fantasy series has proven that she certainly has the depth and grit that would be required of such a demanding role. Now, Williams has again stoked fans' fires by stating that her taking on the part of Ellie is "looking good."
On Thursday, the official title and cast of Bond 24 will be revealed during an event on the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios, but us journalists are an impatient bunch, so it's hardly surprising that the rumor mill continues to churn with regard to actors who may or may not have roles in the upcoming spy thriller. Recently, two intriguing rumors began making the rounds online, from Deadline and The Mirror.
Perhaps no comic-book movie in the works has suffered as much derision from fans ahead of release as Josh Trank's upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, which the director has promised will be "grounded" and approach the characters in a new light. A few weeks ago, possible plot details for the Fox tentpole leaked online, and many fans were infuriated by what they revealed. Doctor Doom as an "anti-social Eastern European computer programmer and hacktivist?" A mood ring-esque Human Torch?? "Genius convenience store clerk" Reed Richards???
It may have been a bit of a non-starter insofar as awards consideration goes, but David Dobkin's legal drama The Judge isn't without its merits, including fine performances from Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. If you missed the pair squaring off on the big screen, rest assured you'll have a chance to check out the film soon enough - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that it will release The Judge on Blu-Ray on January 27th, 2015.
With The Walking Dead smashing past ratings records on the regular (Sunday's midseason finale drew a jaw-dropping 14.8 million eyes, with 9.6 million among adults 18-49), AMC obviously remains heavily invested in turning the post-apocalyptic zombie thriller series into a bona fide media franchise. A spinoff series, tentatively titled Cobalt, has been in the works at the network for some time now, and today brings news that AMC has cast two major roles in the spinoff.
As we head into December, awards season is well under way, and though we'll have to wait until the spring for really big fish like the Oscars and the Golden Globes, this month has a respectable number of ceremonies of its own. Last night, celebrities gathered at Cipriani Wall Street in New York for the 2014 Gotham Independent Film Awards.
As Universal powers full steam ahead with its plans to relaunch its library of classic movie monsters, red-hot writer Jay Basu (Monsters: Dark Continent) has become the latest scribe to join a brain trust being set up to mastermind the studio's ambitious endeavor. It's unclear which entry in Universal Monsters Basu will be personally heading up (if any), but his feedback will be incorporated into all projects under the banner.
