Jacob Hall
‘Star Trek 3’ Wants Bryan Cranston to Be the New Villain
After the many sins of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ Paramount seems dead set on righting the course of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise with ‘Star Trek 3.’ They ditched controversial director Roberto Orci, hired the great Simon Pegg to co-write the screenplay with Doug Jung, and now, word that hit the internet suggesting that the film will contain three new female characters ... and a villain fit for Bryan Cranston.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘American Sniper’ Continues Its January Onslaught
In most years, January tends to be the most boring month of the year for the box office. This is where Hollywood typically sends the movies in which it has the least faith. This is the dumping ground, the place where movies go to die so the studios can concentrate on their Oscar campaigns. However, thanks to ‘American Sniper,’ this January has bucked every trend. It may technically be a 2014 release, but Clint Eastwood’s war film has made the first chunk of 2015 interesting, shattering expectations and threatening to become the highest grossing film of last year in only a few weeks.
Bryan Cranston Returns as Walter White…For a Super Bowl Commercial
‘Breaking Bad’ may be completely, definitively over, but that doesn’t mean Walter White is ready to leave popular culture alone. Oh, no. As long as Bryan Cranston is alive and as lone as insurance companies are prepared to back dump trucks full of cash up this house, we’ll get to see America’s favorite meth dealer pop up every so often. So while it’s weird to se Cranston play Heisenberg one more time in an Esurance commercial, it’s not that surprising.
The Muppets Visit the Set of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in Fantastic Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Before he was a CGI creation, Jedi master Yoda was a puppet. Before green screens became the norm, the Dagobah set for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was built elevated off the ground to accommodate Yoda’s puppeteers. And before he brought Yoda to life, puppeteer and voice actor Frank Oz was best known as the man behind Miss Piggy. In a weird way, that makes the most wizened character in the ‘Star Wars’ universe a distant relative of the extended Muppet family.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘American Sniper’ Takes Out ‘Blackhat’
A lot of people are going to act like they didn’t see the enormous success of ‘American Sniper’ coming, but the signs were all there. On top of the promising limited release numbers, there was the awards buzz. On top of that, there were the names of director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper. On top of that, the subject matter of the film is inherently attractive to the same category of moviegoer that makes Christian-themed films into massive hits. ‘American Sniper’ had one doozy of a weekend, but it’s not that surprising.
Sony Hackers Threaten Terrorist Attacks Against Theaters Showing ‘The Interview’
The Sony hacking scandal has proven to be a massive headache for a company that’s already been having a rough few years. And now, this increasingly weird story has taken an even darker turn: the hackers are threatening to launch terrorist attacks against theaters showing ‘The Interview’ this Christmas. Seriously.
Weekend Box Office Report: Audiences Pass Over ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’
Sometimes, a film can effortlessly open at number one at the box office while still being a pretty huge disaster. This is the case with ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings,’ which rode a wave of terrible reviews and an even more terrible marketing campaign to a hugely disappointing start. With a lot of big movies opening the next two weeks, the new Biblical epic won’t even find time to grow some legs. Chances are strong that it is dead on arrival.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Proves That It Pays to be Stupid
‘Dumb and Dumber To’ arrives two decades after the first film was one of the bigger hits of 1994 and no one knew what to make of it ... until it topped the box office this weekend and made it look easy. Now, the idea of two middle-aged actors returning to two of the most idiotic characters in modern movie history doesn't seem so desperate and crazy. It seems canny.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Big Hero 6′ Have a Showdown
The showdown between 'Interstellar' and 'Big Hero 6' has got to be one of the most interesting things to happen to the box office in 2014. After all, it would be tough to find two movies that are simultaneously so different and so alike. Both are pro-science adventures that are all about using your intelligence to save your friends and family. However, one is an animated, family friendly release from Disney and the other is a three-hour epic from the ever-serious Christopher Nolan. In other words, they represent opposite ends of the blockbuster spectrum.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Ouija’ Scares Up a Victory Over ‘John Wick’
It feels like common sense: of course the horror movie released a week before Halloween is going to win the weekend war at the box office over the action movie. And yet, most horror movies continue to get released as far away from the season of the witch as possible. Can the recent success of 'Annabelle' and this weekend's 'Ouija' change that?
Clever New IKEA Commercial Parodies Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’
We live in a world where commercial directors speak (and breathe and live) the same pop culture language as the people they've been hired to peddle all kinds of products to. The result: television advertisements have gotten more clever, more specific, and most importantly, more ready to become instant viral sensations on the internet. A new IKEA commercial, whose release in the chilly weeks of October is no coincidence, cleverly parodies one of the most famous horror movies of all time and it's pretty cool.
James Cameron Explains Why Arnold Schwarzenegger is Old in ‘Terminator 5′
Arnold Schwarzenegger is 67 years old, which makes the idea of him playing an ageless, robotic killing machine in the upcoming 'Terminator: Genisys' seem oh-so-very silly [Ed. note: as silly as that title?]. However, it turns out that there's some fairly level-headed science fiction going on the explains Arnie's senior citizen appearance in the new film and it came courtesy of the franchise's original creator, James Cameron.