I recently got to speak with Lee Pace  (Thranduil), Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), and Orlando Bloom (Legolas) for the final chapter in Peter Jackson‘s Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.  During this very fun interview they talked about what they would ask J. R. R. Tolkien, what the World Premiere after-party was like, Halt and Catch Fire season 2, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

We’ve already got trailers for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tomorrowland, Jurassic World and Terminator: Genisys, but what about Ant-Man?  The Peyton Reed-directed film is still about seven months away, but it looks like it’ll add to the growing list of summer blockbuster trailers any day now because the Alberta Film Classification Board just gave the very first Ant-Man trailer a one minute and 48-second running time and a PG rating.

When will we get to see it?  We don’t know for sure yet, but there are some days that seem more likely than others so hit the jump for a little speculation.  Ant-Man is due in theaters on July 17, 2015 and stars Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña and Judy Greer.

Yowza.  This Dragon Blade trailer (and its accompanying images and character posters) looks insane.  I hope I’m not hurting anyone’s feelings when I say that this simply isn’t for me.  I can take schlock with the best of them, and I like the work of a lot of people involved in this movie, but the combination of it being a swords and sandals affair (not my bag) and awful looking is a devastating one-two punch against any personal interest I have in this.  But it exists, so if this kind of thing is in your wheelhouse, have at it!

Hit the jump to check out the Dragon Blade trailer, images and character posters.  John Cusack, Adrien Brody and Jackie Chan star in this film about Roman soldiers who are lost in China.  Directed by Daniel Lee (White Vengeance), I’d expect to see this film hit sometime next year in the U.S. should it find a distributor.  It comes out in China in February.

A few days ago in Los Angeles I landed an exclusive video interview with Anna Kendrick for Rob Marshall‘s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim‘s classic musical, Into the Woods.  In the film she plays Cinderella (you can hear her sing “On the Steps of the Palace” here).  During the interview she talked about her experiences on the film, having Meryl Streep sing to her face, and if she really got lost on the set with Chris Pine.  She also addresses tweeting during NBC’s Peter Pan Live and how “fucked up” the story of Peter Pan is along with discussing her upcoming films The Voices (with Ryan Reynolds) and John Krasinski’s The Hollers, future plans, and a lot more.  It’s a really fun interview so check it out.

On Christmas Day, the year’s last big box office bout, one film emerged the undisputed champion.  It was not the film that most people expected to come out on top, but hey!  2014 just wouldn’t feel complete if the box office didn’t shake industry tracking one last time.  Unbroken – a film that received more publicity in the last week for leaked emails and awards season snubbings than for its content, came out on top with an estimated $15.6 million from 3,131 locations.  Into the Woods (the presumed box office victor as late as Christmas Eve) took in just over $15 million from 2,440 venues, including $1.1 million from previews.  That makes the Disney musical Thursday’s per-screen victor, but that kind of subtlety doesn’t play well in marketing campaigns, does it?

Full story, including The Interview estimates and the Christmas Day top ten, after the jump.

Rupert Wyatt’s The Gambler stars Mark Wahlberg as Jim Bennett, a college professor with a serious gambling problem.  Jim just isn’t capable of quitting when he’s ahead so, as a result, he’s lost a significant amount of his own mother’s (Jessica Lange) money and owes a good deal to a few unforgiving moneylenders (Michael K. Williams, John Goodman and Alvin Ing) as well.

Shortly before The Gambler’s Christmas Day release, I got the opportunity to sit down with Wyatt to discuss the challenge of shooting card games and college lectures in a visually stimulating manner, his color code for the moneylenders, the new sci-fi TV series he’s working on called Echo Chamber and more.  Check it all out in the video interview after the jump.

This doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, but I suppose it’s worth posting to get some clarity on a process that seems to be playing out in an unusually public fashion.  After vacating the director’s chair, Roberto Orci has confirmed that his script for Star Trek 3 will not be used.  Again, not a shock considering that “creative differences” were cited as the reason for his departure from that position (I mean, the script is pretty much the only thing that could cause the aforementioned rift).

With Justin Lin signed on to direct and a July 2016 release date looming, I suppose there was a chance that they’d use elements of Orci’s draft in order to make the deadline (and I imagine they’ve already started pre-viz on action sequences that will have to be implemented into the next script that comes together), but the narrative Orci is giving the fans has him onboard as a producer only.  Hit the jump for more on Star Trek 3 coming together without Roberto Orci’s script.

The Wire is widely considered to be one of the best television shows ever made.  Creator and showrunner David Simon used long-form storytelling over the course of five seasons to explore the complexities of city life in Baltimore ranging from crime, the working class, politics, education, and media, and seeing how all of these worlds intertwined into a fascinating and disheartening ecosystem.

While the show is filled with plenty of memorable characters, perhaps the most popular is Omar Little, a thief who robs drug dealers, and does with aplomb, charm, and skill, not to mention his charisma.  It was a breakthrough role for actor Michael K. Williams, who has gone on to co-star in Boardwalk Empire, The Road, and most recently, Inherent Vice.  With The Wire getting an HD re-release, I had the chance to speak to Williams about the show’s return, why the series is more relevant than ever, what he looks for in a role, and much more.  Hit the jump to check out the interview.  A marathon of the remastered episodes of The Wire begins on HBO Signature on December 26th at 12pm.  The show will also be available on HBO Go.

Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) is the infamous plagiarist who pressured Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) into giving him credit for her paintings.  That probably doesn’t sound like the kind of guy you want to identify with, but Big Eyes is a Tim Burton film and as Christoph Waltz points out, Burton has an incredible ability to use his characters to tap into what’s suppressed in a viewer’s subconscious and inspire them to confront the dark sides within themselves.

With Big Eyes making its way into select theaters on December 25th, I got the chance to talk to Waltz about that as well as his prep process, his thoughts on doing research for a role and a little about his character in Spectre.  Hit the jump to check it out.

I didn’t watch any of the first season of Penny Dreadful but I’m tempted to power through it before season 2 arrives.  I’ve heard pretty much nothing but good things about the show, it’s horror (my wheelhouse), and it stars Eva Green.  That’s a lot of assets in its corner.  This new teaser isn’t half bad either, giving us a slightly gory glimpse of what’s to come in the new year.

Season 1 players Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, Reeve Carney, Rory Kinnear, Billie Piper, Harry Treadaway, Helen McCrory and Simon Russell Beale will also return and will be joined by Patti LuPone, Douglas Hodge, Sarah Green and Jonny Beauchamp.  Hit the jump to check out that Penny Dreadful season 2 teaser.  Showtime will air the second run of the series sometime in 2015.

The Interview is a silly movie.  Had the cyberterrorists who attacked Sony let the movie simply been released, it would have went by quietly—an amusing, R-rated comedy option this holiday season among Oscar-hopefuls and broad family fare.  The film can certainly be construed to something larger than it is, and it certainly will be, not by its own virtues, but because of the historic events surrounding it.  On its own merits, the movie is very funny and largely inoffensive based on how casually it treats its target (although that casualness—the refusal to give a dictator and by proxy his horrible crimes their due contemplation—will likely offend some).  Directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg haven’t made a biting satire, and it’s clear they didn’t intend to.  They made a movie where characters talk about “stank-dick” and needing to get an interview with a goat Matthew McConaughey may or may not have fucked, and that’s okay (for the movie; if McConaughey actually fucked a goat, that would warrant a longer conversation).

As someone who just produced her first horror feature, there is nothing more inspiring than seeing first-time filmmakers deliver killer debut films and this year, my Top 10 horror list has six of them.  It’s a good time to be a horror fan because not only do we have new talent like Jennifer Kent, Leigh Janiak and E.L. Katz on the rise with all the potential in the world, but more seasoned directors like Adam Wingard and Mike Flanagan are taking their work to new levels.  Whether we’re talking about vicious villains ripping helpless victims to shreds or more calculated scares that put you on edge, this year has been packed with films that excel because of thoughtful and thorough executions that lead to unique and refreshing experiences.

Check out my Top 10 Horror Films of 2014 after the jump.

Back in the late 1950s, Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) hit it big when his paintings of waifs with big eyes earned a huge following, allowing him to commercialize the artwork and amass a fortune.  But little did the public know, Walter Keane wasn’t the one responsible for creating the enigmatic and somewhat haunting images of doe-eyed children; it was actually his wife Margaret (Amy Adams).  According to Big Eyes co-scribe Scott Alexander, “If it weren’t true, I wouldn’t believe it.”  And he’s right.  Just wait until you see what happens in the film, and particularly the epic courtroom scene.

With the big screen rendition of Margaret Keane’s story now playing in theaters, I got the opportunity to sit down with director Tim Burton and cast members Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Jason Schwartzman and Krysten Ritter to talk about their experience making the film.  The group touched on what drew them to the project, their appreciation for Burton’s work, how they prepped for their roles, the unique color palette of the film and more.  Check it all out in the video interview after the jump.

Selma already scored four Golden Globe nominations, five Independent Spirit Awards nominations, a slew of critics association honors and I’d like to bet it’ll add even more accolades to the list as we move through awards season.  The film is actually the very first major motion picture to feature Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) as the protagonist and also the first to chronicle his efforts during the voting rights movement.  Selma focuses on what happens when Dr. King tries to hold a peaceful march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama in the spring of 1965 in hopes of ending the widespread obstruction of black Americans’ right to vote.

With Selma now playing in select theaters, I got the opportunity to sit down with director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo to discuss their personal connections to the material, showing the lesser-known sides of Dr. King, the timely release of the film, DuVernay’s shot selection and much more.  Catch it all in the video interview after the jump, and you can also click here to check out the trailer for the film, which is actually one of my favorite trailers of the year.

In my review for Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys from earlier this year, I noted that the director didn’t really seem to be interested in doing anything worthwhile for his pictures, and it seemed like he was directing more as a way to keep busy rather than convey any artistic vision.  But Jersey Boys looks like it’s bursting with imagination compared to the hollow, thoughtless American Sniper. The real story of U.S. Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle doesn’t question the moral cost of what it means to kill well over one hundred people one-by-one.  It’s not even that the movie lacks nuance as much as it lacks just about everything short of star Bradley Cooper giving it his all for a soldier he deeply admired.   Eastwood doesn’t share even an ounce of that passion as he turns in a movie that couldn’t even charitably be described as workmanlike as it talks down to its audience and yet almost consciously avoids saying anything at all.