Category Archives: Entertainment

Preview first nine minutes of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ in IMAX 3D on December 14

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Was that split-second footage from Star Trek Into Darkness presented by director J.J. Abrams at Conan not enough for you? Starting December 14, select IMAX 3D theatres (approx. 500 of them) playing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will screen the first nine minutes from the Star Trek sequel.

Greg Foster, Chairman and President, IMAX Filmed Entertainment: “Our longtime partners J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and the Bad Robot team have really hit it out of the park – the footage is absolutely incredible. Their use of the IMAX Camera and canvas is sure to impress current and future Star Trek fans alike, and we’re thrilled to once again work with our friends at Paramount Pictures to offer this extended ‘first look’ at this highly anticipated summer blockbuster.”

Like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and some movies before it, Into Darkness includes scenes shot with IMAX rigs. According to Deadline, “sequences filmed with the extremely high-resolution cameras will expand to fill more of the screen with unprecedented crispness and clarity, putting moviegoers right into the explosive action and vast scope of the film.”

So if you want a taste of Abrams’ next vision in the Star Trek franchise, run (don’t walk) to your IMAX 3D theatre to experience never-before-seen footage from Into Darkness. The highly anticipated sequel is out May 17, 2013.

‘SNL’ parodies ‘Homeland’ with over-exaggeration and spot-on impersonation

Hilarity, Television, Video, , , , , ,

It was only a matter of time before Saturday Night Live produced a sketch parodying the uber-popular Showtime series Homeland. Anne Hathaway proved that she’s got what it takes to over-exaggerate Claire Danes’ “crazy” Carrie Matheson, Bill Hader can add yet another spot-on impersonation to his list with his subtle portrayal of Mandy Patinkin’s Saul Berenson, and Taran Killam has the look and just the right sized mouth to pull off a believable Nicholas Brody; Kenan served as David Estes and Nasim popped in at the end for a brief but effective poke at Brody’s annoying daughter Dana. From the re-creation of the opening credits sequence to Carrie’s obsession with corkboards and her quivering chin, SNL did a stand-up job parodying the show that’s on everyone’s DVRs. Though they had the opportunity to do so much more with it (where was Saul’s ruler and peanut butter…anyone?), it’s an instant classic in my book.

TV reminder: ‘Firefly’ reunion special ‘Browncoats Unite’ airs tonight at 10PM on Science Channel

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Serenity now! The time has come for legions of Firefly fans to return to Joss Whedon’s western-in-space. Tonight the Science Channel airs Firefly: Browncoats Unite, a one-hour special that celebrates the tenth anniversary of the cult show by bringing together Whedon, executive producer Tim Minear, executive story editor Jose Molina, and the entire crew of the Serenity: Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, and Jewel Staite. The special includes “secrets from the set, exclusive cast interviews, and footage from this year’s colossal Comic-Con panel,” according to Science. Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff Jensen leads a “roundtable interview that will dive deeper into burning fan questions about the beloved series.”

Preceding the 10PM airing of Browncoats Unite is a day-long marathon of Firefly the series starting at 7AM on the Science Channel.

‘Family Guy’ reaches 200 episodes this Sunday

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After staging a comeback from the depths of cancellation, Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy has managed to survive and thrive into its tenth season which premiere earlier this fall and tomorrow night the FOX animated sitcom will air its 200th episode. MacFarlane is acknowledging the milestone with a special episode titled “Yug Ylimaf” in which Brian fiddles with Stewie’s time machine and accidentally causes time to run in reverse. The logline spills that “he and Stewie must figure out how to restore the forward progress of time before Stewie is unborn.” The episode will relive a bunch of classic moments in Family Guy in reverse, including the unforgettable ipecac barf gag. Following the landmark 200th episode, FOX will air a half-hour retrospective called “200 Episodes Later” that includes a behind-the-scenes look at the long-running series and interviews with MacFarlane, producers, and the voice cast.

Sneak a peek at the one-hour Family Guy event set to air this Sunday at 9PM on FOX in the video embedded above.

‘FRINGE’ video: Joshua Jackson discusses Peter’s impending transformation

Television, Video, , ,

Fringe spoilers follow; if you haven’t watched the episode “An Origin Story” do not read ahead.

At the end of the episode “An Origin Story,” Fringe took Peter Bishop’s character in a bold new direction. After interrogating a captured Observer, Peter discovered and removed a chip from the back of the baldie’s noggin. “You are nothing but tech,” Peter lashed out to the Observer. “I would be ten times what you are if I had that tech in my head.” In a fit of rage following the recent death of his daughter Etta at the hands of the Observers, Peter lodged the tech into the back of his head and thus began his journey of revenge. He must’ve forgotten what Anil told him an episode prior: “A person who embarks on a path of revenge should first dig two graves.”

So what can we expect from this transformed Peter? In an interview clip embedded above, Jackson shares that “once [Peter] has the tech in his head he’s kinda drunk on his own power all of a sudden” and that “Peter as we know him is very rapidly slipping away.”

And if you watched last night’s episode “Through the Looking Glass and What Peter Found There” we got a glimpse of Peter’s new abilities, though the tech doesn’t seem to be fully affecting his capacity to show emotion…yet. Just as Olivia starts to reach out to Peter, he pushes himself further away by injected the Observer tech into his head. Olivia’s portrayer Anna Torv discusses this topic in the clip.

Minor spoiler from “Through the Looking Glass…” follows. Jackson makes an interesting point in the clip at the end when he mentions that Peter and his father Walter are experiencing “parallel lives.” Jackson is undergoing a transformation thanks to the Observer tech, and Walter is similarly changing ever since Etta and Simon installed the missing parts of Walter’s brain in the pivotal “future episode” 419 last season. Walter made an emotional realization at the end of last night’s episode: “I’m not safe. It’s my mind. Ever since the pieces of my brain were reimplanted, it’s been changing me back into the man I was before. Bit by bit. I’m losing myself, Peter. I’m losing the man that you helped me become.” He’s afraid that he is transforming back into the “arrogant” man he used to be during the days he experimented with William Bell. It will be interesting to watch these parallel character transformations unfold as we enter the final stretch of episodes. Peter promises that he will not let Walter lose himself, but can he keep his word if he’s losing himself to the Observer tech?

Fringe airs Friday nights at 9PM on FOX.

Michael Arndt to write ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’

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Star Wars is making a comeback after Disney’s recent acquisition of Lucasfilm; that we know. Who will direct? Who will write the coveted screenplay? Today we have a definitive answer to the latter question. Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will pen the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII. He is best known for writing Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3; he also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire. According to a news brief directly from the official Star Wars website, Star Wars creator George Lucas (who is serving as creative consultant on the project), newly appointed head of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy (the film’s executive producer), and Arndt have commenced story conferences and Episode VII is slated to release in 2015.

The Star Wars fanbase is a rabid one, so the pressure is on for Arndt to deliver.

[Via Star Wars]

Movie trailer round-up: ‘World War Z’, ‘Jurassic Park 3D’ & ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’

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After reports of numerous setbacks including reshoots and rewrites, the film adaptation of Max Brooks’ popular novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is on track to release June 21, 2013. Directed by Marc Forster (Quantam of Solace, Finding Neverland) and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) with help from Damon Lindelof (Prometheus) and Drew Goddard (Cloverfield), World War Z stars Brad Pitt as a United Nations worker attempting to stop widespread zombie outbreak. Despite the public setbacks, the material stitched together in this first-look trailer is exciting and intriguing to say the least. Unlike the walkers Rick Grimes has to face in AMC’s The Walking Dead, the zombies here are mighty fast and travel in extremely large hordes. The plan is to expand Brooks’ novels (“Z” is preceded by two “Zombie Survival Guides”) into a trilogy of movies, all depending on how the first one performs at the box office. With a trailer as suspenseful and intense as this, anticipating World War Z‘s release won’t be hard to do.

Jump after the break for more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘World War Z’, ‘Jurassic Park 3D’ & ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ →

Kid Cudi parties with King Chip in “Just What I Am” music video

Music, Video, , , ,

Cudder’s released a self-directed music video for the first single off his upcoming fourth studio album Indicud. Along with featured guest King Chip and a young group of ragers, Kid Cudi mellows out and has fun partying it up and driving around town. You’ll notice that the video is framed inside a boarder that’s accustomed to holding artwork. “All my videos will be in a baroque frame. I create art, so it will be presented as such. ART IN MOTION,” explained Cudi in a tweet.

Watch the music video above, download the single here, and anticipate the second single “Immortal” coming soon.

Music video: Ben Gibbard can do no wrong in “Teardrop Windows”

Music, Video, ,

Death Cab for Cutie lead singer Ben Gibbard ventured off and released his first solo album Former Lives. Here we have a music video for the single “Teardrop Windows” and it’s actually pretty funny. The clip, written and directed by Tom Scharpling, starts with comedian Kurt Braunohler as his manager telling Gibbard that he’s too normal to sell records; “People don’t want to buy music from normal people. People want to hear music from bad boys,” says Braunohler. After a little over a minute of setup the music finally kicks in and we watch as Gibbard attempts but miserably fail at transforming into a “bad boy.” It’s fun to watch the clean-cut singer from Death Cab for Trudie take a stab at making fun of himself.

Former Lives is available at iTunes and Amazon.

‘FRINGE’ end date: Friday, January 18, 2013

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FOX outed a press release today confirming the day its sci-fi saga Fringe will come to an end. The fifth and final season will conclude on Friday, January 18, 2013. On that day the network will air the final two episodes back-to-back, effectively scheduling a two-hour block from 8PM-10PM dedicated to wrapping up the story and saying goodbye to the Fringe team. This date celebrates another major milestone for the series–here it will reach its 100th episode. The PR is jam-packed with statements from co-creator J.J. Abrams, executive producer and showrunner J.H. Wyman, and FOX Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly.

Abrams: “It has been an absolute honor to have been a part of the weird and wonderful world of FRINGE. I will always owe the cast and crew for pouring their hearts and souls into every dimension of this series. Creating the show with Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman was a joy, but watching it evolve over the years into such an imaginative, insane and heartbreaking ride is nothing less than a thrill. I am grateful to our blessed fans, and to Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice and everyone at the glorious Fox network for allowing FRINGE to reach its bittersweet conclusion.”

Wyman: “Above all else, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to personally thank everyone involved with FRINGE. From the most amazing fans, to our incredible cast, writers and crew, and our wonderful partners at FOX and Warner Bros. – we would not be here without you. It simply cannot be overstated how grateful I am for the ongoing and unconditional support we have received over the past five seasons. It has been both mind-blowing and humbling. I’ve always been a fan of science fiction, and to be able to tell this story about a family – a family that, through everything, fought together for survival – has been a highlight of my career. As we approach the final chapter, I can hardly believe it, and I’m just truly thankful for this unparalleled experience.”

Reilly: “FRINGE has truly imagined the impossibilities over its five seasons and will go down in the books as one of FOX’s most riveting and creatively brilliant series. It has been a blast to work with J.J., Joel and their masterful creative teams, as well as with Anna, Josh and John and the rest of the most talented cast and crew in the business.”

The PR, which can be read entirely at the source link, also does a great job at prepping tonight’s all-new episode:

In the aftermath of the devastating loss of Peter and Olivia’s daughter, Etta, the intensity escalates as the combat continues and Peter makes a pivotal and game-changing move in the all-new “An Origin Story” episode airing tonight [at 9PM] on FOX.

There are seven episodes left as we climb toward the climatic two-hour series finale event that takes place early next year. The beginning of the end is sight. RESIST!

[Via Facebook]

A Halloween treat: ‘Despicable Me 2’ trailer starring the Minions!

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Universal picked the spookiest holiday of the year to release a new trailer for their upcoming animated sequel Despicable Me 2. Like the teaser that came before it, this lengthier trailer stars the little yellow Minions as we watch them tuck one of the girls to sleep and then get abducted by aliens! And these are very picky extraterrestrial beings because they spit out the alley cat that mistakenly gets sucked up into the beam of light. The sequel’s official synopsis follows; unfortunately it does not offer much in terms of where the movie will take us exactly.

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s worldwide blockbuster, Despicable Me, delighted audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than $540 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history. In Summer 2013, get ready for more minion madness in Despicable Me 2. Chris Meledandri and his acclaimed filmmaking team create an all-new comedy animated adventure featuring the return of Gru (Steve Carell), the girls, the unpredictably hilarious minions…and a host of new and outrageously funny characters.

Yes, Steve Carrell is back as the voice of Gru, who interestingly barely makes an appearance in this trailer. Other returning voice actors include Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove and Kristen Wiig. Al Pacino has signed on to voice the villain. Illumination Entertainment CEO Chris Meledandri produces and original directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud are back as well.

Despicable Me 2 is out July 3, 2013 and then the Minions will go on to headline their very own spin-off feature in 2014.

Happy Halloween!