One of the big questions I have about Star Trek Beyond is whether or not co-writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung were able to craft a complex and interesting villain. Star Trek Into Darkness recycled Khan as a baddie, and Eric Bana's villain from 2009's Star Trek served the story but isn't super memorable (I couldn't remember that character's name without looking it up — it's Nero). So what about Krall, Idris Elba's character that seems to be a completely new invention by the writers? We won't know for sure until we see the full film (I'm seeing a screening this week, but the embargo doesn't lift until July 20th), but Paramount has released a new featurette that tells us a little more about him than we've seen in the trailers.

Star Trek Beyond hits theaters on July 22, 2016, and has its world premiere at San Diego Comic-Con on Wednesday, July 20th.

It's something we've all wanted since last season. We will FINALLY get to see Wally West (played by Keiynan Lonsdale) suit up as Kid Flash in next season of The Flash. No real info is known about which Wally will be suiting up, but I would imagine it's going to be alternate timeline Flashpoint Wally. Don't you assume that's how it will go? What are your ideas? Check out the costume below:

Six years ago, way back in July of 2010, I started The Not Just New Movies Podcast, a movie review show in which my co-hosts and I watched a seemingly random film that wasn't currently playing in theaters. It started out as a way for me to talk about movies while staying in touch with my friends on the East Coast after I moved out to Los Angeles, but over the course of two years and 100 episodes, it took on a life of its own. We had a bunch of guests on over the years, from entertainment journalists to writers, actors, and directors, and talked about a truly crazy breadth of films: Pulp Fiction, The Fly, Once Upon a Time in The West, Big Trouble in Little China, Paper Moon, Charade, Cool World, Marathon Man, Wet Hot American Summer...the list goes on. (You can find all of our episodes archived here.) If you're a long-time GeekTyrant reader, you might remember the show because we used to post the episodes here on the site. But life got in the way around August of 2012, and I put the show on what I thought was going to be a brief pause with the intention of finding a new co-host to replace Tyler, who was moving on to another project.

It turns out the other project Tyler was moving on to was The 5Cast, a new podcast in which the hosts would rank their top 5 favorites within the confines of that week's topic (breakfast cereals, neighbors in pop culture, cinematic tough guys, David Bowie songs, and many, many more). While I was hunting for a new host for The NJNM Podcast, Tyler asked me to join him on The 5Cast, and I accepted and never left. We've been doing that show ever since, and you've probably seen it pop up on GeekTyrant as well. NJNM fell by the wayside, but it was always there in the back of my mind, like R2-D2 waiting to ramp up again at the end of The Force Awakens.

At long last, that day has finally come. We're reviving the podcast with a slightly tweaked format and adding it to the roster of shows we have over at PodTyrant.com, the new podcast network we launched earlier this year. We'll still review a seemingly random movie currently not in theaters, but instead of weekly, the episodes will come out monthly, which will allow us to continue to do The 5Cast (and leave us some free time to keep our sanity). Our first episode back (technically Ep. 101) is an in-depth look at Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a movie I hadn't seen since childhood. Does it deserve its classic status, or is it little more than a nostalgia trip? Listen in to find out!

I encourage you to e-mail us with your thoughts and suggestions for the show at notjustnewmovies@gmail.com, and you can call and leave us a voicemail at (904) 469-NJNM [6566], and we'll probably play your message on an upcoming episode of the show. Like us on Facebook, and be sure to follow us on Twitter, because we're going to try out a monthly Twitter poll you can vote in if you want to participate that way. Feel free to subscribe through iTunes, but we aren't in the store yet; you can search for us there in a few weeks and we should be back in business.

Producing and hosting the show was a lot of fun the first time around, and I'm excited to get it started back up again. Next month's episode will be about Bong Joon-Ho's 2006 Korean monster movie The Host, and we'll be back in August with that episode. We never had a massive audience for The Not Just New Movies Podcast (we didn't come close to a million listeners or anything), but I know there were some devoted GeekTyrant fans out there who listened regularly. If you give the show a shot and discover it isn't for you, I also encourage you to check out the other shows at PodTyrant — there's some really great stuff over there, and some more cool podcasts on the way. As always, thanks for listening.

This Game of Thrones recap video narrated by Samuel L. Jackson is the only recap video of the show you will ever need or want to see. HBO released the video, which is a NSFW beginner's guide that takes us through all the big moments that have transpired in the series so far, and we have Jackson's lovely voice to take us through the journey. It's ridiculously entertaining and fans are going to love it! 

There are only 13 to 15 episodes left before the series ends, and next season is said to consist of only seven episodes. It's going to be sad to see such a great show come to an end, but you all know the saying... "all good things must come to an end," but not before Jackson narrates the shit out of this recap video.

Summit Entertainment has released a new trailer for their upcoming musical La La Land, and it's really quite charming and charismatic. The movie was written and directed by Damien Chazelle who made the incredible film Whiplash with J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller. The fact that he's the brains behind La La Land is enough to make me want to see the movie, but there's more!

The movie stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who are both incredibly talented actors. The film tells the story of Mia (Stone), who is an aspiring actress, and Sebastian (Gosling), who is a dedicated jazz musician. The film is set in modern day Los Angeles and the two characters "are struggling to make ends meet in a city known for crushing hopes and breaking hearts." 

This is also an original musical about everyday life that "explores the joy and pain of pursuing your dreams." The movie may take place in modern day, but it has an old Hollywood vibe to it that I love. La La Land opens in theaters on December 2nd, 2016.

Lots of people have been praising Nintendo about the revolutionary and game-changing nature of Pokemon Go. People are making friends, getting active...read more on Gametyrant

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There's a movie coming out in the near future called A Monster Calls, and it seems like there is a lack of interest in it. Hopefully that all changes with this new trailer that was released because this movie looks absolutely amazing! The trailer offers a ton of new footage including our best look yet at the monster voiced by Liam Neeson.

This is one of those fantastically edited trailers that will make you choke up while trying to hold back the tears. The movie is based on a children’s fantasy novel, which follows a 12-year-old boy named Conor (Lewis MacDougall) "as he attempts to deal with his mother’s (Felicity Jones) illness and the bullying of his classmates by escaping into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales that explore courage, loss, and faith."

As a person who was bullied growing up, this is a story that I can completely relate to. I used to escape into my imagination all the time. I was always writing and drawing and coming up with strange and crazy creatures and characters. I just love how the story is introduced in this trailer and the tone and atmosphere of the story are brilliant. 

The movie was directed by J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, The Impossible), and it also stars Toby Kebbell, Sigourney Weaver, and Geraldine Chaplin. It's set to be released in theaters on October 21st, and I can't wait!

EXCLUSIVE: Watch the trailer for #AMonsterCalls and try as hard as you can not to tear up: https://t.co/DQuGngp508https://t.co/OMDJftC0AF

— USA TODAY Life (@usatodaylife) July 13, 2016

Via: USA Today

If you smell what The Rock is cooking, it's probably because he now has enough money to buy some massive grill that stretches across half a state. That joke may have gotten away from me, but it does not change the fact that Dwayne Johnson is now the highest paid actor in the world according to Forbes. The most electrifying man in entertainment managed to rake in $64.5 million dollars alone in 2015!

Perhaps what's more surprising is that Johnson made most of that money off San Andreas, which was pretty godawful in my opinion.

On the flip side, he starred in HBO's Ballers, which was one of my favorite shows last year so there's a trade off!

All in all, I'm happy for The Rock. He got a lot of guff when he first entered the acting world, and he's really done a lot to earn a legitimate spot within the film world. Now let's see if he can one day do something Oscar worthy!

Hideo Kojima wholeheartedly believes Death Stranding to be his "best work yet" according to Digital Spy. This news comes from a PS4 keynote where the developer...read more on Gametyrant

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Because I'm a shill that gets paid under the table to promote the film (sarcasm), I figured I should let you know Ghostbusters is now leading advance ticket sales going into this weekend, according to Variety. As of now, that puts its Fandango presale above other live-action comedies this year which include Ride Along 2 and Central Intelligence. That's not a huge bar to set, mind you, but both those films did really well at the box office if not critically.

I'm going to be honest: I was entirely indifferent to this movie prior to being called a corporate sellout half a dozen times. After weeks of that, however, I hope it does well enough to get a sequel just to explode the heads of the haters. As for the rest of you, enjoy the movie if you're going to watch it, enjoy your life and the original if not! Seriously, I can't wait for this film to come and go.

When The Mask came out in 1994, I was the perfect age for the movie to completely work for me on every level. I loved the outlandish larger than life comedy, the art deco production design, and the lead performances by Jim Carrey and a then-unknown bombshell named Cameron Diaz. I haven't seen the film in years so I'm not sure how it holds up, but it looks like these two cosplayers at Montreal Comiccon have studied it a lot, because they've recreated one of the dance sequences that took place at the Coco Bongo Club. I mean, some pretty ridiculous stuff happens in that sequence that isn't physically possible for humans to do (at one point, Carrey throws Diaz up in the air, dramatically checks his watch, and catches her), but these guys approximate it as well as possible.

If for some crazy reason you want to watch that again, but at a different location, here you go:

Source: CityNetMagazine, via GeeksAreSexy

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about how MoviePass was trying out new "tiered" forms of membership in an effort to pull more people into their service. Engadget says after weeks of testing, this is the new breakdown for people who wish to join the service. Depending on the size of your city, you may be put in one of 3 "tiers" which affects your pricing:

• Tier 1 markets: $15 for 2 movies; $22 for 3 movies; and $40 for unlimited.
• Tier 2 markets: $18 for 2 movies; $27 for 3 movies; and $45 unlimited.
• Tier 3 markets: $21 for 2 movies; $31 for 3 movies; $50 for unlimited.

This is where you learn that movie theaters charge different prices depending on where you live. I learned recently and was shocked when the matinee price for L.A. was what I pay for the weekend charge in Indianapolis! Back to the matter at hand, depending on who you are, this could be a sweet deal.

If you're somebody who typically goes to a lot of movies with friends or solo, $50 is a steal even in the highest market. If I were to go to 2 movies a month with my wife, I guarantee we would spend over $30 when it's all said and done, so that also seems like an attractive offer.

Overall, the whole thing sounds much more attractive than the rumored $99 a month unlimited plan! Will you be picking up a pass?

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we have our very first official look at Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown in the new film adaptation of Stephen King's It. As you can see, he's definitely got that terrifying clown look that we would expect from the evil monster. You can't say that it's not a faithful representation and I can dig it. There's also an interview with Skarsgård, who open up about the villainous character:

"It’s such an extreme character. Inhumane. It’s beyond even a sociopath, because he’s not even human. He’s not even a clown. I’m playing just one of the beings It creates. It’s important that we do something fresh and original for this one. It’s purposely not going toward that weird, greasy look. It truly enjoys the shape of the clown Pennywise, and enjoys the game and the hunt. What’s funny to this evil entity might not be funny to everyone else. But he thinks it’s funny.

“There’s a childishness to the character, because he’s so closely linked to the kids. The clown is the manifestation of children’s imaginations, so there’s something child-like about that.”

Tim Curry awesomely played Pennywise in the TV movie adaptation of the story and he was frightening as hell. When talking about what it was like to follow in Curry's footsteps, the actor said:

"Tim Curry’s performance was truly great, but it’s important for me to do something different because of that. I’ll never be able to make a Tim Curry performance as good as Tim Curry." 

It will be interesting to see what Skarsgård does to make the character his own. This image definitely got me more excited for what is to come. Andrés Muschietti (Mama) is directing the movie and the horror adventure will be split into two films. The first one will focus on a group of friends known as "The Losers Club" who band together to battle a terrifying monster who is killing kids in Derry, Maine. The second film is set 30 years later when the monster returns and the group of old friends come back together to try and destroy It once and for all.

The site confirms that the first movie will take place in the 1980s rather than '50s, which is something I speculated about early on and I'm totally fine with that time change because I loved the '80s! 

It is set for release on September 8, 2017, and I'm looking forward to seeing and learning more about the film. What do you think of the new Pennywise?

I just want everyone to know before they watch this video and get disappointed, you will not get to see a robot lassoing a cow. In my mind, that's like 90% of what cowboys do, but I guess the technology is just not there yet. What it lacks in cattle-roping, however, "SwagBot" can make up for in cattle-herding, moving equipment, and plenty of other stuff. See it in action courtesy of New Scientist below.

Let's start with this: the poster (above) for John Krasinski's The Hollars, the newest film which he directed and stars in, is absolutely awful. It's one of the worst kinds of movie poster, right up there with Photoshopped floating heads. Taking a bunch of screenshots from the movie and slapping them on a poster seems like the least interesting way possible to market a movie, and I hope the film is good enough that I can see it, look back, and say it deserves better than this poster. (You can read our review from this year's Sundance Film Festival right here.)

As for the trailer, it looks like a nice little low-key family dramedy, as if Krasinski is slowly easing himself into mainstream filmmaking after his 2009 debut feature Brief Interviews With Hideous Men. The most appealing aspect is the cast, that includes Krasinski himself, Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Charlie Day, Sharlto Copley, and Randall Park. Those are all actors I enjoy, so I may end up seeing this one on the strength of the cast alone.

The Hollars opens in limited release on August 26th.

John Hollar, a struggling NYC artist, is forced to navigate the small middle-American town he left behind when news of his mother's illness brings him home. Back in the house he grew up in, John is immediately swept up in the problems of his dysfunctional family, high school rival, and an over-eager ex-girlfriend as he faces impending fatherhood with his girlfriend in New York.

From a script by Jim Strouse that is at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, John Krasinski's second feature is a poignant look at the bonds of family and friendship.

Neill Blomkamp's Alien sequel is known to fans as Alien 5, but it seems highly unlikely to retain that title because it was recently confirmed that the film would ignore the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection and instead pick up as a direct sequel to Aliens. Sigourney Weaver, who will reprise her iconic role of Ellen Ripley, spoke a bit more about the movie in a new interview with EW. She reiterated that the film was delayed because Fox wanted Ridley Scott to make Alien: Covenant first, but that the script for their movie is ready and waiting:

"Now that we’re waiting for that, I have a couple of Avatars to do and Neill has The Gone World,” Weaver says. “So we’ll have to see what happens when we get back, when those projects are over. It’s a great story and it’s satisfying to me to give this woman an ending."

That certainly sounds like it has some finality to it, so I'm not sure that fans should hold out hope for this to kickstart a new Ripley-centric trilogy or anything like that.

But for me, the most fascinating thing in this interview was when Weaver talked about Blomkamp's approach to the actual aliens themselves:

“The script itself has so much in it that’s so original, but also really satisfies the, I would say, the primal needs of the aliens,” Weaver says. “It’s a tribute to all of the great work that the other directors have done, in a way, but goes in a completely new direction. I hope we’ll do it.”

If Blomkamp has found a way to give Ripley the ending she deserves and also has time to explore the mentality of the aliens, that sounds like it has loads of potential.

Meanwhile, Weaver elaborated on where this movie will appear in the franchise timeline:

“It’s just as if, you know, the path forks and one direction goes off to three and four and another direction goes off to Neill’s movie,” Weaver says. “It’s just more, I would say, following Jim Cameron’s story about these characters, rather than just ending up in this sort of monastery in space, which was [Alien3 screenwriter] Vincent Ward’s idea and Fox elected to go in that direction. I think Fincher was fine with that. Each director kind of wanted to create a whole new set of circumstances. In this case, it picks up, it follows directly the circumstances of Jim Cameron’s Aliens.”

No word yet on exactly when filming will begin, but when EW mentioned that it could be in "a few years" to Weaver, she responded, "I hope it won’t be a few. I hope it’ll be a couple. But we’ll see. Yeah." So if she gets her way, she'll have an extremely busy rest of the decade. We'll keep you posted about this movie when we hear more.

Netflix has a new animated feature based on a hit children's film, but it seems a lot different? It's not like that's a bad thing, as 2015's Home (starring Jim Parsons and Rihanna) wasn't really a critical success, so any diversion from the initial plot would likely be an improvement.

From the looks of the trailer, it seems like the inspirational message has been nixed for what could be described as Adventure Time on crack. Who knows how that'll play out in the long run, but the trailer has it's moments. Most likely this will be a fun one to watch with kids. Look out for it on Netflix July 29th.

It feels like movie fans have been repeating the same points for years when it comes to action movies. Make the geography of the fight scenes clear. Have action moments reveal something about the characters that make us care beyond just visceral thrills. Use shaky cam sparingly, if at all. That's part of the reason why movies like John Wick or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, ones that actually do the things we've been asking for, are so well-received. This video essay from YouTuber Must See Films (via /Film) explores how The Russo Brothers approach action in their films, which hopefully bodes well for the upcoming two-part Infinity War movies.

Chiwetel Ejiofor has had my attention ever since he played The Operative in Joss Whedon's Serenity, and it's been cool to see him rise to fame in a big way over the past few years. I expect that mainstream ascent will continue with his appearance in Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange, but in the meantime, he's eyeing some smaller projects to continue to stretch his acting muscles.

Deadline reports that the 12 Years a Slave actor is in talks to join Mary Magdalene, a movie that has Rooney Mara in the title role and Joaquin Phoenix lined up to play Jesus Christ. Ejiofor would play the apostle Peter, Jesus' lead disciple who famously denied him three times and was forgiven after the resurrection. The film is being directed by Garth Davis (Lion), and is described as "an authentic and humanistic portrait of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood spiritual figures in history."

I don't know anything about Davis as a filmmaker, but he's assembled a pretty interesting and unexpected cast for this movie. According to the Bible, Mary Magdalene attended Jesus' crucifixion and was the first to discover his empty tomb after He was resurrected, and for some reason she's become widely recognized as a prostitute even though that description doesn't appear in any of the four gospels. I wonder what his take on her story will be like.

Orlando Arocena

I have my fingers crossed that Star Trek Beyond is going to be great, and I really hope director Justin Lin is able to come in breathe some fresh life into that franchise after Star Trek Into Darkness, which has its supporters but I think, years after its release, is largely disliked by a majority of Trek fans. To celebrate the new movie and to honor the franchise's 50th anniversary, the awesome artists at Poster Posse have put together an amazing collection of Star Trek art. You can find all of the pieces at their website (starting right here), but I'm going to pull a bunch of my favorites and paste them below for you to enjoy. The film hits theaters on July 22, 2016.

Orlando Arocena

Kevin Tiernan

Robert Ekblom

Rich Davies

Payback Penguin

Mike Mahle

Chris Malbon