Charles Bramesco
Check Out the New ‘Beauty and the Beast’ TV Spots, Go Ahead, Be Our Guest
Despite volumes of scholarship from feminist theorists on its undertones of spousal abuse and insidious romanticizing of male brutality, Disney‘s Beauty and the Beast has remained a cherished childhood favorite worldwide. Kids love talking furniture, go figure. The live-action remake starring Emma Watson and an unrecognizable Dan Stevens is hot on the way to its March 17 release, and Disney has now released two new TV spots to further amp up the anticipation. In the first, embedded above, the Beast implores lovely Belle to “think of the one thing you’ve always wanted, and feel it in your heart.” We get a glimpse of the timeless ballroom-waltz scene, some barroom carousing from Gaston, and yet another look at the deeply unsettling character designs for Lumiere and Cogsworth.
‘Star Wars’ Designer Explains the Process of Creating Darth Vader’s ‘Rogue One’ Castle
Rogue One will have to settle for being the second-highest grossing film of the year — damn you, cultural juggernaut Finding Dory! — but it does have the distinction of being among the better-reviewed films in its franchise. Many critics have praised director Gareth Edwards’ vision of some unexplored pockets of George Lucas’ universe, singling out Darth Vader’s castle lair that appears in the film on a violent, molten-lava planet. (The planet bears a strong resemblance to Mustafar, the magma-covered site of the final showdown between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith.) Now, one of the key designers from Rogue One has provided a little background on the memorable locale and how it came to be.
Kevin Costner Wants to Cinch His Saddle Up on a 10-Hour Western
Kevin Costner currently shares the screen with Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae in the new release Hidden Figures, but the frequent actor hasn’t gotten behind the camera in some time. He took the Oscars by storm as the helmer behind Dances with Wolves in 1990, followed that up with the bizarro The Postman in 1997, and returned in 2003 with the Western Open Range. But for the past 13 years, it’s been all radio silence from Costner as to when audiences can expect another go at directing. As he’s hit the interview circuit to promote Hidden Figures, however, the actor has floated an idea for a grand project on a scale unlike anything he’s attempted before.
Did ‘Friends’ Chandler and Monica Move Into the ‘Home Alone’ House?
It’s not uncommon for movie studios to recycle their sets between productions, or for different crews to make use of the same locations. For sharp-eyed viewers, this can create the surreal effect of fictional universes overlapping and coexisting with one another. Take Hogan’s Heroes, for instance: the company behind the popular POW camp-set sitcom put the compound on which they shot most of their episodes up for sale after they had wrapped. It was later used for numerous other shoots, most notably in the pornographic Nazi-exploitation film Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S.
Elle Fanning Voices a Parisian Ballerina in the Plucky ‘Leap!’ Trailer
There’s no shortage of kid-friendly movies that promote the importance of following your dreams and achieving your true potential. (I suspect in part because any Hollywood screenwriter who has sold a feature-length script has necessarily realized their dreams — easy for them to say.) Youngsters will get yet another lesson on the absolute vitality of dream-chasing this spring, when the new animated feature Leap! leaps into theaters on March 3. Dreams shall be followed, and what’s more, a little cartoon Dane DeHaan will speak explicitly about following those same dreams, just to be sure that no child leaves the theater unclear. To quote Jon Heder’s answering machine message in the figure-skating comedy vehicle Blades of Glory: if you can dream it, you can do it!
Michael Peña and Alexander Skarsgard Declare ‘War on Everyone’ In Raucous New Trailer
A bruise-black crime comedy about a pair of tough-guy partners working in a dark-grey moral area to unravel a larger crime syndicate, executed with a '70s flair. It sure looks like 2017 will find its The Nice Guys in John Michael McDonagh's upcoming feature War on Everyone, the trailer for which debuted today in advance of its February 3 debut. The new Gosling/Crowe power couple is none other than Michael Peña (poised to rebound from the career cyanide of Collateral Beauty) and Alexander Skarsgård (also in need of a rebound, from this summer's dud Tarzan), as a pair of police officers who make typical cop-on-the-edge types look like they're not even on the edge, like they're a safe distance from the cliff.
Alec Baldwin Is So Excited For You to Watch ‘The Boss Baby’ Trailer, Really
It’s not uncommon for stars to speak for a moment or two before a trailer for their upcoming film, hyping the release a touch while lending their celebrity directly to the proceedings. Especially for animated projects such as the upcoming The Boss Baby, it’s helpful to see the talent’s face as a reassurance of the film’s pedigree. But it almost looks like the Academy Award-nominated actor is trying to hold a straight face when he reads the words, “You are seconds away from seeing a sneak peek of Dreamwork’s new animated film The Boss Baby. I’m so excited for you. Really.” That little “really” tacked on to the end makes it sound like he’s got something to prove. Baldwin knows exactly what he’s gotten himself into. He knows how the phrase “The Boss Baby, starring Alec Baldwin” sounds.
Shirley MacLaine Takes Control of Her Own Obituary in ‘The Last Word’ Trailer
With the upcoming dramedy The Last Word, gem of screen and stage Shirley MacLaine takes on the sort of role that actresses over eighty (hell, actresses over fifty) don’t get nearly enough of. She portrays one Harriet Lauler, a retired businesswoman and an objectively insufferable bee-yotch. She’s rude and condescending when not outright abusive to those around her, insistent on controlling everything and commanding everyone. (The most clutch line from the trailer above: when her OB/GYN recalls being told, “If I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.”) She’s a difficult, contemptible character, and for mature actresses, those are always in short supply.
God Is a Woman of Color (and Has an Oscar!) in the Trailer for ‘The Shack’
What does God look like? It’s an eternal question with which fiction has tussled on plenty of occasions, from the standard-issue “bearded white guy clad in flowing robe” to the off-beat “wordless flower child Alanis Morisette” to the factually accurate “Morgan Freeman chilling.” The upcoming faith-based drama The Shack takes a rather unusual tack in its depiction of the Lord; the film adapted from William P. Young’s best-selling novel splits the divine presence into the Trinity, with Jesus Christ as a carpenter of Middle Eastern descent, the Holy Spirit as a meek Asian-American woman named Sarayu, and God portrayed by none other than Octavia goddamn Spencer. Let the record show — God’s real, she’s black, and she’s got an Oscar.
Is That Grand Moff Tarkin in the New ‘Rogue One’ TV Spot?
The late actor Peter Cushing, mainstay of Hammer’s horror films and erstwhile Star Wars cast member, cut a distinctive figure: cheekbones that could slice diamond, perfectly coiffed shock of grey hair, mouth permanently pursed into a single flat line. As the ruthless Empire commander Grand Moff Tarkin, Cushing left a lasting impression on generations of viewers, austerity coded directly into the lines on his face. He makes for an instantly recognizable silhouette — so is that really him, out of focus and in the foreground for a split second in the latest Rogue One: A Star Wars Story TV spot?
Will Smith Reckons with Existence, Plays with Dominos in New ‘Collateral Beauty’ Trailer
Following through on the soupy metaphysics and syrupy emotionality of past projects Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith completes his “All Along, the Meaning of Life… Was Love” trilogy on December 16 with David Frankel’s Collateral Beauty. A new trailer for the inspirational/”inspirational” morality play has surfaced online today, and it contains all the sky-high emotions, A Christmas Carol-but-with-a-soul narrative structuring, and elaborate domino structures that audiences would expect. It could certainly use more footage of Smith playing with dominos, but then, what movie couldn’t?
Netflix Releases ‘I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House’ Just in Time for Halloween
In the pantheon of horror movies with titles so absurdly long and unwieldy they eventually become awesome again, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things have new company. There was no way Netflix was letting Halloween go by without releasing some seasonally-appropriate content, and right on cue, they’ve unveiled the trailer for one of their latest acquisitions, the delicate ghost story I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.