If you're excited about Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's upcoming film La La Land, I've got a couple of treats for you today. A new trailer has been released feature plenty of new footage from the film. I've also included another embed featuring the song "City of Stars," which is a duet sung by Stone and Gosling. I actually really like the song, and you should give it a listen. 

La La Land comes from director Damien Chazelle, who previously brought us the incredible film Whiplash. I have no doubt that he's going to give audiences another amazing film with La La Land, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. 

A devotee of the jazz legends Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) plays a mean piano himself and is determined to uphold the values of the old masters. His plans include opening his own club, but to make ends meet he’s stuck playing tepid cocktail jazz in a humdrum Los Angeles restaurant. Mia (Emma Stone) is a movie buff with an eye for the classics who aspires to be a serious actress. For the moment, the closest she comes to seeing stars is serving lattes in the canteen on the Warner Bros. lot.

Sebastian and Mia meet cute no less than three times before diving headlong into a life-altering romance, but is their love strong enough to weather disappointment, compromise, and ever-burgeoning periods apart?

La La Land gets a limited release on December 2 and a wide release on December 16.

New Line Cinema is moving forward with their James Wan-produced reboot of Mortal Kombat with the hiring of a commercial director by the name of Simon McQuoid to helm the project. 

The film entered development a few years ago, and it was originally supposed to be directed by Kevin Tancharoen, who was behind the awesome Mortal Kombat: Legacy web-series. For some reason, he ended up dropping out of the project, which is a shame. 

The most recent draft of the script was written by Greg Russo, and it looks like this is the first feature film screenplay he’s ever written. There are a lot of filmmaking newbies attached to this project, so I’m really not expecting much.

I really enjoyed the recent Mortal Kombat web-series, and it’s a shame that they lost that talent. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the movie will end up being better than the web-series or even the original 1995 film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, which almost every kid in the 90s thought was awesome. 

Mortal Kombat is such a badass video game franchise. I have a lot of fond memories playing it when I was growing up, and it’s been a lot of fun playing the other games that have been released throughout the years. I hope that the new movie gives fans something awesome and completely unexpected.  

With Wan helping guide the project in the right direction, there’s a good chance that this film could turn out cool. McQuoid is an Australian filmmaker who has directed commercials for PlayStation, Halo, Range Rover, Beats by Dre, and several other top brands. You can watch a few of them below.

Via: Variety

"Where there's hope, there's a chance. "

Lucasfilm has released yet another cool TV spot for Rogue One: A Star War Story, and it features a bit of new footage of the rebellion fighting to save the dream. I can't get enough from this movie! Everything I've seen from it so far just looks so epic and exciting! They definitely know how to get fans pumped up. We're all sold on seeing the movie, now it's just a matter of seeing if they will deliver on their promise of an incredible new kind of Star Wars film. The movie is set to be released on December 16th. 

Updated post with two more TV spots titled "Protect" and "Jyn & Cassian" with even more new footage!

If you’re into dark westerns, you might want to check out this trailer for the new film Brimstone, which stars Guy Pearce and Dakota Fanning. Pearce is a great actor, and it’s good to see him take on an intense and dark role like this. It looks like he gives a hell of a great performance. It’s also nice to see Fanning in another decent role. It’s been a long time since she’s done anything really worth seeing. I’ll definitely be checking this one out, though. 

A triumphant epic of survival and a tale of powerful womanhood and resistance against the unforgiving cruelty of a hell on earth. Our heroine is Liz (Dakota Fanning), carved from the beautiful wilderness, full of heart and grit, hunted by a vengeful Preacher (Guy Pearce) – a diabolical zealot and her twisted nemesis. But Liz is a genuine survivor; she’s no victim – a woman of fearsome strength who responds with astonishing bravery to claim the better life she and her daughter deserve.

Retribution is coming.

Brimstone also stars Kit Harington, and it will be released in the U.S. next year by Momentum Pictures.

The trailer for Logan was pretty damn powerful, especially with the footage being cut to Johnny Cash’s rendition of the song “Hurt.” Since that trailer was released, a few other superheroes have gotten their own trailers in the same style with that same song.

I’ve included three of the best ones that I’ve seen so far below. The first is a trailer for Superman called “Kent,” the second fan trailer is for Batman and is called “Wayne,” and the third one is for Iron Man and is called “Stark." 

This version of “Hurt” is such a great song, and it works so well with the footage used in these trailers from the DC and Marvel films that have been. Check ‘em out!

Matthew McConaughey is set to star in a fascinating new film project from director Yann Derange called White Boy Rick.

The film is set in the mid 1980s, and it tells the true story of Richard Wershe Jr., who became on undercover informant for local and federal law enforcement agencies at the age of 14. While doing this, he established himself as a major drug dealer. He led a dual life that “eventually put him into the cross-hairs of the feds when he was found with 17 pounds of cocaine (at only 17 years of age). He was put in jail for life, but ethical questions remain as how much the feds were involved in putting him deeper into his life of drugs.”

Doesn’t that sound like an intriguing story?! According to Deadline, McConaughey will play Wershe’s father, who is described as “a blue-collar factory worker trying to keep his family together as the automotive industry collapses around him in Detroit.” 

This sounds like it would be a great project for McConaughey. The boy in the film has yet to be cast, but this sounds like a pretty heavy role for anyone to take on. This seems like the kind of character that any young serious actor would want to land, and it’ll be interesting to see who they end up casting.

McConaughey recently completed shooting The Dark Tower, and White Boy Rick is set to start shooting in Michigan and Ohio in March.

Michael Shannon is a crazy talented actor who, for the most part, chooses great film projects to be part of. The guy seems like he is the kind of actor that is picky about the films that he will be in. 

Well, during an interview with Fandango, the actor was asked if he had any interest in being in a Star Wars or Marvel movie. Those are two franchises I think it would be pretty cool to see him in, and he revealed that he was actually approached by someone to be in one! He explained that it just wasn't interesting enough for him, though.

"No, I’m not really looking for that. They called me recently about some iteration – I won’t say – but some version of a movie that’s been made already countless times. They were gonna give me a lot of of money, but I was like nah. Big movie, too. But I have to think it’s an interesting story. If I don’t, I can’t do it. I won’t do it."

It's hard to speculate on what the film project could've been, but he does say the movie was made countless times, which leads me to believe that it was probably Marvel. I just don't know what role it could have been. Maybe something for the upcoming Avengers sequels in development. 

I also find it surprising that Shannon said this, because he took on the role of General Zod in Man of Steel. In case you're wondering what he saw in that character and film that made it interesting for him, he previously said:

"This is one of the biggest stories of all time: the Superman story. Its prevalence is enormous. And I remember watching the original films — the [Richard] Donner films, and Terence Stamp in the role [of Zod], and the three Kryptonians — it scared the crap out of me. It really left an impression on me. Someone asking me to follow in those footsteps seemed like the highest kind of challenge you could have as an actor. And I always like to be challenged."

I personally didn't care for Man of Steel. Shannon was fine as Zod, but it was definitely not his best or most interesting role. He obviously saw something in it, though. Regardless of his lack of interest in Marvel and Star Wars, he's still going to take strong roles in other movies and that's what's important. 

With more rumors mounting every day on what the Nintendo Switch could offer, I figured this was worth your time! CryZENx, who's typically known for his recreation of Ocarina of Time Unreal Engine 4 remakes, took a stab at Super Mario Sunshine and it looks incredible...read more on Gametyrant

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Walt Disney Animation is about to release its 56th film on November 23rd with Moana, which is directed by studio veterans Ron Clements and Jon Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules). But before everyone has the opportunity to see that, I wanted to take a look back and rank the top eight films the Walt Disney Animation Studio has made since the year 2000. Why limit the list to just eight? Simply because that’s what I felt like doing today. The studio has had some big hits and some big misses over the last sixteen years, but the way I see it, these are the eight best movies they’ve put out in that time frame.

8. Treasure Planet

An underrated reimagining of Treasure Island, but with a steampunk vibe. With cool production design and solid voice work all around (including from Joseph Gordon-Levitt voicing the lead character), this movie deserves more love alongside its early 2000s contemporaries.

7. Bolt

The meta story in this movie is fine (a dog has been trained to think he’s a superhero his whole life, but he’s really just the star of a TV show), but Bolt is important because it’s the first movie Pixar’s John Lasseter oversaw on the Walt Disney Animation side of things, and some say it kicked off the new revitalization of the company. Plus, the animation looked really good for the time and it had surprisingly excellent voice acting from John Travolta. Props.

6. The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog earned the number six spot because of its ability to recreate New Orleans and wonderfully transport us that setting…but mainly, it earned this spot because of Ray, the Cajun firefly with a heart of gold. If you haven’t seen this movie, check it out for Ray alone…his storyline is the most moving thing about the entire film.

5. Big Hero 6

A nice little superhero origin story. I like Big Hero 6 less for its Marvel superhero qualities and more for its characters and its awe-inspiringly cool merging of Tokyo and San Francisco. And yes, Baymax is pretty damn great, too. *Fist bump, weird noise*

4. Tangled

I wasn’t impressed by this film’s trailers, so I avoided seeing this movie for five years. That was a huge mistake, because it’s absolutely terrific. Great humor, great songs, spot-on voice acting, and excellent side characters make this one a true gem. I hope you didn’t make the same mistake I did, but if you’ve also avoided this one, remedy that immediately. You won’t regret it.

3. Frozen

Remember when this was just a movie before it was a full-on cultural phenomenon? That’s probably the best way to remember Frozen: as it was, instead of what it became. Before you understandably rolled your eyes after hearing “Let It Go” for the two thousandth time, the movie was a dazzling piece of storytelling and a terrific subversion of classic fairy tale tropes. And yes, the music is still legitimately great, even if it’s been overplayed more than any other Disney movie music in recent memory.

2. Wreck-It Ralph

I don’t think there’s been a better video game movie than Wreck-It Ralph. Sure, that may technically be a slight cheat because it’s not based on an existing game, but the way this movie treats the game worlds and their characters is pitch perfect, and John C. Reilly could not possibly be a better fit for the lovable “bad guy” title character.

1. Zootopia

I was not expecting Zootopia to be a staggeringly relevant examination of race in America in 2016, but that’s exactly what it is. It covers some of the same thematic ground as Wreck-It Ralph (empowering individuals to overcome societal expectations, etc), but does so in a much more focused way. Zootopia may not be the most purely fun movie on this list, but it’s unquestionably the most important. This should be required viewing for people of all ages, but especially for kids as a way to introduce them to concepts they’re going to be faced with for the rest of their lives.

Fans and the public at large have fallen in love with Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and early detractors have reversed themselves or gone quiet. Obviously she looks the part, but it's the actor's inner strength and belief in the strong woman that really shines through. I think a mark that she will leave permanently on Wonder Woman will be her accent. It now would seem odd for Wonder Woman to have an American accent when she's a princess of a magical greek island.

At Rhode Island Comic Con Gadot talked about what it was like to put on the Wonder Woman costume for the first time during Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

“Tight. Very, very, very, very tight.”

“The very-very first time I tried the costume on was three days after I got cast. And they flew me to Michigan, and I got into this huge hangar. Huge, with tons of white walls covered with posters of me as Wonder Woman. I got into the room and I couldn't stop looking at the posters. And then, when they wanted me to try on the costume—because I was so excited that they cast me for the role—I couldn't say anything; I couldn't breathe, but I was like, 'That's okay. That's fine.' It was really-really tight, and we adjusted it. And I love the costume. I think, it complements Wonder Woman very much so, as being the greatest warrior out there. And now it's much more comfortable.”

Gadot also talked about meeting Lynda Carter for the first time.

“I saw Lynda, so I couldn’t keep my coolness…I was like, ‘Lynda, oh my God, I’m so happy to see you, to meet you, finally.’
 
“My English got completely broken for a second there…I’m not surprised, you know, it’s very clear to me why she was the very first Wonder Woman to be cast, because she is such an inspiring, beautiful, happy, funny, strong confident woman who immediately makes you, you know she makes you feel comfortable around her, and she’s eye level, she’s great.”

During the panel she also shared that she jumped right into the production of Justice League after Wonder Woman wrapped. A few weeks into production she got pregnant and got “heavy migraines from the green-screens.” Gadot kept the pregnancy a secret as long as she could until Jason Momoa figured it out. I guess she must have been really nauseous during what I can only imagine were several sequences involving Atlantis.

H/T: ComicBook and GMP

The Walking Dead season seven started out strong, but with each episode it has become less and less interesting. Negan quickly became a predictable broken record, and Carl continues to prove how much of an idiot he is. At the end of last night's episode, he and Jesus end up in the back of a truck headed to Negan's compound. Thanks to The Walking Dead showrunner Scott Gimple, we know what their missions are once they get there, and they don't share the same goals:

"There are different missions. One of them is an assassination mission and one is more recon, but now they've been thrown together with different missions, and how that plays out with each other we'll see."

I'm sure things will get interesting once they get there, and there's no doubt that Carl is going to make even more dumb decisions. That might all come to an end, though because there's a chance that this could be Carl's last season.

According to a recent Facebook post by actor Chandler Riggs' father, William, it sounds like Riggs' time on the series has come to a close. This is what was said:

"7 year contract completed! Grateful to AMC, Cast & Crew, TWD fan base, and especially Chandler for always being 100% dedicated. Whether it was getting up at 4 AM, working in the freezing cold past 2 AM, leaving his friends and carefree kiddom behind, scrambling to make up missed schoolwork, he has done it without complaint and always made me proud & amazed to be his dad!"

This post has since been deleted from Facebook. I don't know about you, but that sounds kind of like a goodbye. Who knows, maybe they'll update that contract and keep him on board. To be honest, I wouldn't mind if Carl's time on the show was done. I never really cared for his character. 

If Carl does end up getting killed, Rick is going to freakin' lose his mind, and I imagine he'll unleash hell unlike the world has ever seen. So maybe this season will get better!  

Via: CB

YouTube user UpIsNotJump has begun recreating the trailers for every season of Game of Thrones in Skyrim. He just released his first trailer for Season 1 in which he used over 260 Skyrim mods so that "every Game of Thrones asset from the Season 1 trailer looks just right."

As you'll see, he did a fantastic job putting this together, and I included the original trailer for you to watch just so that you can compare the two if you want. Watching this makes me want to go back and rewatch the first season. It's been so long since I've seen it!

If you have any questions left prior to the launch of Final Fantasy XV next week, this trailer likely has the answer. You'll learn everything there is to know about the game from character backgrounds and their abilities, gameplay mechanics, and what exactly is going on in the game...read more on Gametyrant

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Disney has released the first teaser trailer for Cars 3, and as you'll see it takes the franchise in an unexpected and dramatic direction. The Cars film franchise isn't really the best thing Pixar has done, but this next chapter actually looks and sounds like it could be really interesting. 

Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician, Cruz Ramirez, with her own plan to win, plus inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage!

Cars 3 opens in theaters on June 16th, 2017.

Obligatory spoiler warning: this post discusses the ending of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so if you don’t want to know how it all ends, click the back button and come back after you have seen the movie. You should really know how this works by now.

A new fan theory coming from the very official-sounding Harry Potter Alliance draws a link between Fantastic Beasts and the Dumbledore family. Intrigued? Want to know more? ScreenCrush spoke to the Alliance’s Director of Wizard-Muggle relations, Jackson Bird, and he thinks there may have been an obscurus in the wizarding family’s past.

Fantastic Beasts introduces a new force into the wizarding world, called an obscurus. An obscurus is formed when a young witch or wizard attempts to suppress their magic, and instead an “unstable, uncontrollable dark force” breaks free and attacks. By Newt Scamander’s time, obscuri are rare enough to be thought extinct, but one wreaks havoc on New York City throughout the movie. Obscuri also almost always kill their host by the age of ten, although the film’s Obscurus host, Credence, managed to survive into young adulthood.

Although obscuri are never explicitly discussed in the Harry Potter series, there is one tragic character who may have been a host: Albus Dumbledore’s little sister, Ariana. As a child she was tortured by some muggle boys who discovered her using magic, and her brother Aberforth described the aftermath:

“It destroyed her what they did, she was never right again. She wouldn’t use magic, but she couldn’t get rid of it. It turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn’t control it and at times she was strange and dangerous.”

That could be describing an obscurus, and if that’s the case, it may explain why Grindelwald/Percival Graves was so interested in acquiring the obscurus in the new film. The need to care for Ariana (and cover up her “strange and dangerous” behavior) is what drove Albus Dumbledore to move home after leaving Hogwarts, which is when he struck up an intense friendship with one Gellert Grindelwald, the wizarding world’s big bad of the Newt Scamander era. Grindelwald may have seen just how powerful an obscurus could be during his summer in Godric’s Hollow.

It’s an interesting theory, and one that we may possibly learn more about in the next Fantastic Beasts film, which will apparently feature a young Albus Dumbledore, and will definitely feature more of Johnny Depp's Grindelwald. What do you think? It sounds pretty plausible to me, but does it pass the smell test for you? Watch ScreenCrush's video below, and check out more news on the expanded wizarding world of Harry Potter here.

Source: ScreenCrush via Collider

The Christmas season is nearly upon us, which means it's time to break out the traditional "ugly sweater." But what if a sweater just isn't enough? Well geeks, we've got you covered you! Not only do we have ugly Christmas sweaters, we've also got socks, mugs, and pants.

The 2011 Smurfs movie, while financially successful with worldwide box office receipts of $563 million, was panned by critics and audiences alike. That leads us to the soft reboot Smurfs: The Lost Village, which is fully CGI animated. The mystery of why the there is only one female Smurf is the main storyline. The animation and voice work are good, the overall movie is very pretty to look at, but the whole thing is just kind of "meh." Last year's The Peanuts Movie seemed to have more earnest heart and feeling. The Lost Village — from what I've seen in the domestic and international trailer — is very surface level. Sure it's a kids film, but I think we should demand more of them when the bar has been raised so high by Disney, Pixar, Blue Sky, and at times Dreamworks.

Smurfs: The Lost Village sneaks into theaters April 17th, 2017.

It was confirmed earlier this year that Willem Dafoe would be appearing in Justice League as Aquaman main character Nuidis Vulko. For those not familiar with the Aquaman universe, Vulko is an Atlantean scientist and essentially an advisor/confidant to Aquaman.

Getting back to the news of the day, Dafoe has indicated in an interview with The Guardian that while Vulko will have a small role in Justice League, he will be a principal character in Aquaman:

Well, Justice League is very particular because it’s an ensemble movie and my character is being introduced here in order to be a principal role in Aquaman. These films are a different experience. They have different responsibilities, different resources and different intentions. It’s nice to go between those worlds if you can. They serve different impulses.

Seems pretty straightforward to me! While I would love to see more Dafoe in most films, is no one going to bring up he looks absolutely nothing like Nuidis Vulko? I guess some actors do transcend the "THEY DON'T LOOK LIKE THE CHARACTER" complaint after all...

You can now own the Triwizard Cup from Harry Potter without sacrificing a Hufflepuff! No longer will you have the short term guilt of getting a romantic rival "accidentally" killed by the Dark Lord of the wizarding world as ThinkGeek has a lamp you can purchase that looks just like it! $49.99 seems like a more than fair price for this awesome piece of HP memorabilia!

P.S.- J.K. Rowling can you make it canon that Harry was lowkey glad Cedric died so he could put the moves on Cho Chang?

Pick up the Cup, which also doubles as a lamp, here!

The first trailer has been released for Robert De Niro's upcoming dark comedy The Comedian. De Niro stars as "a once-edgy Don Rickles-like stand-up named Jackie Burke. After a successful but safe run on a television sitcom, Jackie charts his haphazard return to the insult-comedy boards."

This isn't the first time that De Niro has played a comedian. Back in In 1983 he starred in a film called The King of Comedy, in which he played Rupert Pupkin, who desperately wanted to be a stand-up comic.

The film was directed by Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Ray), and this is what he said about the film in an interview with EW:

“I saw the movie as a dark drama with some comedy, but then we tested it with an audience, and they really laughed hard. So better to call it a dark comedy with drama.”

The film has a great supporting cast that includes Danny DeVito and Patti LuPone as Jackie’s brother and sister-in-law; Edie Falco as his harried business manager; Leslie Mann as his romantic interest; Harvey Keitel as her father; and Billy Crystal as himself.

The Comedian hits theaters on January 13th. I also included a clip from the film that you can watch below the trailer.