Small-screen horror has been experiencing a boom in the past few years, with the continued survival of quality programs like NBC's Hannibal and AMC's The Walking Dead. Surprisingly, basic cable networks beat premium ones to the punch in terms of ordering up legitimately scary shows, unless you count HBO's True Blood (and I certainly wouldn't). Now, Showtime is jumping into the ring with Penny Dreadful, an old-school creature feature set in an alt-history 19th-century London populated by some of literature's most feared creations.
The 1993 murders of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, has been explored time and time again, in documentaries like HBO's Paradise Lost trilogy and Peter Jackson's West of Memphis, but pop culture can't seem to leave the sensational case alone. The question of whether Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were actually guilty of the savage crimes seems to destined never to be answered, though most films about the case have driven home how tenuous the links between the trio and the murders actually were.
The DC Universe Animated Original Movies line has delivered some absolutely terrific comic book adaptations (Jay Oliva's two-part Batman: The Dark Knight Returns comes to mind), and also some thoroughly mediocre ones (like most of the Superman entries). It's impressive how much work goes into animating these direct-to-video titles, but a fair share of them have been unfortunately sidetracked by stilted voice acting and weak writing.
What a miserable day for TV fans. Community has been cancelled over on NBC (along with Revolution, Believe, Crisis and Growing Up Fisher, though none of those are huge losses), and ABC has been merrily swinging the cancellation axe all day long. Though the bloodbath may not be over yet, we can report that Suburgatory, Trophy Wife, Mixology, Super Fun Night and The Neighbors are all down and out.
Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz are expected to return for the next entry in Universal's popular Bourne series, but just about everything else is changing for the untitled follow-up to 2012's The Bourne Legacy. Tony Gilroy, who has been with the series since The Bourne Identity, is no longer involved, and it's highly unlikely that either director Paul Greengrass or star Matt Damon will return in the near future.
Instead, Fast & Furious 6 helmer Justin Lin was brought in last year to direct Bourne 5, and Sherlock Holmes scribe Anthony Peckham took over script-writing duties. However, now we're hearing that Universal has nominated Andrew Baldwin, a Black List scribe (for his unproduced Western The West is Dead) once attached to pen the now-dead Logan's Run reboot, to rewrite the script.
That's not great news, considering the film is currently set for release next summer but is still struggling to figure out its script, but at least Baldwin sounds like a solid choice. He previously penned The Outsider, about an American G.I. (once set to be played by Tom Hardy) who joins the Japanese yakuza, which was scheduled for 2015 but is still in development. Baldwin also wrote Red Asphalt, an action film that Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov wants to direct for Lionsgate.
Nothing has been revealed in terms of plot just yet, though The Bourne Legacy's middling box office performance and reviews might have encouraged Universal to go in a different direction with the story. Whether that means reduced roles for Renner and Weisz is unclear.
This one really hurts. It's May, which means the major TV networks are busy handing down renewal and cancellation decisions. Today, NBC announced that it will not be renewing its beloved, brilliant comedy Community for the sixth season that fans have long clamored for.
Rejoice, fellow TV addicts! Every critic out there (including this one) absolutely despised Fox's new comedy Dads, and the ratings weren't great either. Now, the network has decided to pull the plug on the series, which solely consisted of Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi spouting racist/sexist/ageist garbage to unfortunate co-stars Brenda Song, Martin Mull and Peter Riegert.
Action fans have become very familiar with Liam Neeson's distinctively grizzled voice over the past few years, thanks to his transition from serious dramas like Schindler's List and Kinsey to thriller fare including Taken, Unknown and Non-Stop. The actor has built a solid reputation for playing resourceful tough guys, though it's more common to find him playing the hero than the villain. However, after weeks of being courted by Focus Features, Neeson has agreed to lend his growl to the titular monster in Juan Antonio Bayona's upcoming dark fantasy, A Monster Calls.
Hollywood has been dying to adapt Stephen King's seminal, post-apocalyptic horror epic The Stand since the book hit shelves in 1978. And though 1994 saw the release of an ABC miniseries adaptation, no feature-length film adaptation has ever come to fruition - despite the efforts of such talented individuals as David Yates, Ben Affleck and Scott Cooper. Now, however, The Stand has taken a few steps forward, with news that The Fault in Our Stars helmer Josh Boone has become attached as director and scribe, and has already snagged his first cast member.
One of We Got This Covered's 35 most anticipated movies of the summer, Seth MacFarlane's comedy western A Million Ways to Die in the West, is either going to be side-splittingly hilarious (like MacFarlane's Oscar hosting gig) or disappointingly scattershot (like his last big-screen venture, Ted). If today's red band trailer for the film is any indication, however, A Million Ways to Die in the West may well prove to be the Family Guy funnyman's most uproarious creation to date.
