Anyone who has watched NBC's Parks and Recreation over the years can attest to the fact that Aubrey Plaza is very, very funny (even if her "break-out" film The To-Do List was not). And in Safety Not Guaranteed, she proved that her range extends far beyond quirky deadpan humor. Now, in this summer's Life After Beth, she's taking the bold move of both pushing into the horror genre and seizing what could be her most dramatic role to date. Plaza alone has put this one on our watchlist, but that she's working alongside actors like Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly, Anna Kendrick and Molly Shannon is some pretty major icing on the cake.
Fox is ramping up publicity for its buzzy new series Gotham ahead of its September debut, and now, hot on the heels of an appealing teaser for the show, we've been treated to a new crop of images by Entertainment Weekly, which featured Gotham in a recent issue. There are no startling revelations in the shots, though I don't recall seeing much of Wayne Manor, home to a young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and butler Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee), before this point.
This winter's Paddington has received our attention for all the wrong reasons so far. First, there was that terrifying image of the film's stuffed bear that sparked the hilarious Creepy Paddington meme. Then, The Weinstein Company released a disappointing first trailer for the movie that made it appear to be a spiritual - albeit less gratingly non-musical - cousin to Alvin and the Chipmunks, of all things. Finally, we learned that Colin Firth, who had previously been set to voice Paddington, had dropped out of the project mid-way through production. Luckily for TWC though, it doesn't appear that the film will be delayed, as Skyfall actor Ben Whishaw has just been set to lend his voice to the animated bear.
No word yet on who she's playing, but Christina Chong has joined the burgeoning cast of J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII. She's best known for acting opposite Kiefer Sutherland in this summer's 24: Live Another Day miniseries, and also recently landed the lead female role in the digital series Halo: Nightfall. The actress should be a familiar face to British TV viewers as well, having appeared in Doctor Who, Monroe, Whitechapel and Black Mirror. She's also had roles in the films W.E. and Legacy.
Harrison Ford is getting old, and Lucasfilm is still struggling to find ways to keep the Indiana Jones franchise going with or without the actor, but is there a new intrepid explorer already on the scene? Columbia Pictures certainly seems to think it has found one in Nathan Drake, as the studio appears to be moving full steam ahead with an adaptation of Uncharted, the video-game franchise in which that character stars.
One of the movies I'm most nervous about in 2015 would have to be Goosebumps, which finds Jack Black playing a fictional iteration of author R.L. Stine, who wrote the iconic kids horror series of the title. The film will reteam Black with Rob Letterman, the same director he worked with on the godawful Gulliver's Travels, and it doesn't draw from any particular installment in the Goosebumps series. Instead, it finds a cowardly version of Stine (Black) combatting his creations when they come to life and menace his neighborhood.
With two evocative, brilliantly scored trailers, David Fincher's Gone Girl has convinced me that it is going to be one of the very best thrillers of the year, and so I'm happy to report on every scrap of news about the project, no matter how small. And today, we've learned some very exciting news about Gone Girl - namely, that it will open the New York Film Festival this fall. That's a big honor, and one that cements the film's status as an awards contender (though, seeing as it was handed the same release date that Gravity got last year, that doesn't come as a surprise).
Whatever your thoughts are on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy when compared to the director's Lord of the Rings trilogy, you certainly can't fault him for casting. This new trilogy, which concludes in December with The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, has brought back Ian McKellen as the great wizard Gandalf and Orlando Bloom as archer Legolas, while starring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Benedict Cumberbatch as the dragon Smaug and Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, among many, many others. Now, we've got a new image from the trilogy topper, highlighting McKellen and Evans as they gaze, awe-struck, off-screen at what I can only presume is The Hobbit's collective worldwide box office haul.
TV miniseries are all the rage these days, from Fox's 24: Live Another Day to FX's Fargo, and it's not hard to see why. The ability to play a story out across a whole season allows writers and directors to toy with convention and pursue ambitious plots that just wouldn't work as well on the big screen, while the limited episode count and commitment attracts big name stars like Halle Berry (on CBS's Extant) and Matthew McConaughey (who did a one-season run on 'anthology series' True Detective, which is basically a set of self-contained miniseries from the same showrunner). Now, Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk) has become the latest Hollywood talent to contract the miniseries bug, and will be adapting Scott Berg's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Lindbergh for Paramount Television.
Though fellow frightener Ouija beat The Conjuring spinoff Annabelle to the punch by releasing its horrifying first trailer yesterday, there's no way to tell which horror flick will be the most effective at earning filmgoers' screams this October. Now, however, Annabelle has jumped back into the spotlight with its first preview, a very creepy look at the movie.
