Director Gareth Edwards unveiled the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story poster which features all the new key Star Wars players plus one very familiar face lurking in the background. The poster arrives one day before what will be the release of the final trailer for the Star Wars standalone film starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker. The upcoming Star Wars movie is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur, and Simon Emanuel, and executive produced by John Knoll and Jason McGatlin.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will open in theaters on December 16, 2016.
The Plot: From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
There’s now one less new series to worry about as Fox has confirmed Lethal Weapon will stick around for a full first season. The network’s ordered five additional episodes for the show’s first season, upping the number of one-hour episodes to 18. Season one is currently airing on Wednesday nights at 8pm ET/PT and stars Clayne Crawford, Damon Wayans, Dante Brown, Kevin Rahm, Jordana Brewster, Keesha Sharp, Chandler Kinney, and Jonathan Fernandez.
“Lethal Weapon delivers an explosive and wildly entertaining core relationship between two cops, with dynamic performances by Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford, surrounded by cinematic action, endearing humor and true heart,” said David Madden, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “Matt Miller, McG, Dan Lin and Jennifer Gwartz have done a tremendous job on this show, which has proven to be a self-starter and solid companion for EMPIRE. We are thrilled to add these episodes to Lethal Weapon’s first season.”
According to Fox, Lethal Weapon pulled in the network’s highest fall premiere ratings of the past two years. Its premiere was watched by 12.4 million viewers and the show’s been averaging 11.5 million viewers, making it the #3 new dramatic series of the 2016-2017 season. The series is executive produced by Matt Miller, Dan Lin, Jennifer Gwartz, and McG.
The Plot: Combining action and drama with ride-or-die friendship and humor, Lethal Weapon reimagines the hit movie franchise, as it follows classic cop duo Riggs (Crawford) and Murtaugh (Wayans), who work a crime-ridden beat in modern-day Los Angeles. Grief-stricken after the loss of his young wife and unborn child, ex-Navy SEAL-turned-detective Martin Riggs moves to California to “start over” at the LAPD. He’s paired up with Roger Murtaugh, who’s just coming back to the job after a near-fatal heart attack. Riggs’ penchant for diving headfirst into the line of fire immediately clashes with Murtaugh’s prudent, by-the-book technique. One has everything to live for, the other has nothing to lose.
Rose Leslie joins ‘The Good Wife’ spinoff (Photo Courtesy of CBS)
Rose Leslie has signed on to the cast of CBS’ new The Good Wife spinoff series, joining The Good Wife veterans Christine Baranski, Sarah Steele, and Cush Jumbo in the upcoming show. Baranski will reprise her role as Diane Lockhart, Steele’s back as Marissa Gold, and Jumbo will once again play Lucca Quinn. Announcing Rose Leslie’s casting, CBS revealed she’ll be playing Maia, “Diane’s goddaughter who joins her firm just after passing the bar, and is a key part of Diane’s plan for the future.”
Leslie’s best known to millions of Game of Thrones fans for playing wildling Ygritte and delivering the line, “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” Her credits also include Downton Abbey, Honeymoon, Luther, and Morgan.
CBS’s The Good Wife spinoff will air on CBS All Access, the network’s subscription video on-demand service. The series is expected to premiere in February 2017 and will kick off with a special broadcast on CBS before moving to CBS All Access. The new The Good Wife comes from the original series’ creators Robert and Michelle King. The Kings are the showrunners and executive produce the upcoming new show, with Phil Alden, Ridley Scott, David Zucker, Liz Glotzer, Brooke Kennedy and Alison Cross also on board as executive producers.
“We’re thrilled to have Rose on board,” stated executive producers Robert and Michelle King. “We needed a young actress who could hold her own with Christine Baranski and Cush Jumbo, and Rose is perfect. She’s real, she’s strong and she can play comedy. If we designed an actress from the ground up, we couldn’t have done better.”
The Plot: As previously announced, the new series will pick up one year after the events of the final broadcast episode of The Good Wife. In the series, an enormous financial scam has destroyed the reputation of a young lawyer, Maia (Leslie), while simultaneously wiping out her mentor Diane Lockhart’s savings. Forced out of Lockhart & Lee, they join Lucca Quinn at one of Chicago’s pre-eminent law firms.
Naturi Naughton in ‘Power’ season four (Photo Courtesy of Starz)
With filming officially underway on Power, Starz has released new photos from the set of season four. Shooting is taking place in New York and at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios with Omari Hardwick back in the lead role as drug kingpin James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick. Season four’s cast also includes Joseph Sikora as Tommy Egan, Ghost’s brother-in-arms in the drug business; Naturi Naughton as Tasha St. Patrick, Ghost’s wife; and Lela Loren as Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Valdes, Ghost’s first love.
Season four will consist of 10 new one-hour episodes which will air during the 2017 summer. Power is Starz’s biggest ratings grabber, with more than 7.1 million viewers tuning into season three of the dramatic series created by Courtney A. Kemp. Kemp is the showrunner and executive produces along with Curtis 50 Cent Jackson, Mark Canton, Randall Emmett, and Gary Lennon.
The Power Season Four Plot: The new season will pick up on the heels of James “Ghost” St. Patrick’s highly publicized arrest by his ex-girlfriend, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Valdes, for the murder of FBI Agent Greg Knox – a crime he did not commit. Ghost can’t outrun his past choices and mounting enemies this season, which threaten his freedom and his family’s safety at every turn. His fight for redemption brings him face-to-face with the Feds, the media, new allies, and old foes. But the biggest obstacle for Ghost remains himself and his internal struggle between the man he wants to be and the one he really is. Power is a visionary drama that straddles the glamorous Manhattan lifestyles of the rich and infamous and the underworld of the international drug trade.
Omari Hardwick in ‘Power’ season four (Photo Courtesy of Starz)
Netflix says filming is now underway on Mute, a thriller starring Alexander Skarsgard (Tarzan, True Blood), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), and Justin Theroux (The Girl on the Train). Shooting is taking place in Berlin, Germany on the film from director Duncan Jones (Moon, Warcraft) who co-wrote the script with Michael Robert Johnson. Charles J.D. Schlissel executive produces the project, which is aiming for a 2017 premiere on Netflix.
“Mute is an encapsulation of everything I am fascinated by; noir, science fiction, and unique people in trouble because of who and what they are. I’m delighted to be able to return to Berlin for the shoot, a place I lived for a period of time growing up, and I’m excited to be working with Netflix on a film that is so close to my heart,” explained writer/director Duncan Jones.
“Duncan Jones is such a dynamic directing force, and the team he has assembled in front of and behind the camera will continue to reinvigorate the science fiction genre. It will be exciting to share this film with Netflix audiences around the world next year,” stated Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer.
“Duncan handed me a version of Mute at our very first meeting together 13 years ago, and I have wanted to bring it to life ever since. We just had to make Moon, Source Code and Warcraft in between, and in that time Netflix has become the place for original films. The perfect home for Mute,” added producer Stuart Fenegan of Liberty Films.
The Plot: The film follows Leo (Skarsgård), a mute man searching for a missing person in the year 2052 in Berlin while dueling with two rogue villains played by Rudd and Theroux.
“The question you need to ask yourself is…what kind of hero are you going to be? Are you just going to take a do-over every time you make a mistake or are you going to live with them and move on?” asks Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp) to Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) after stopping Barry from trying to go back in time again to fix the problems his friends are going through after he tried to reset the timeline in The CW’s comic-book inspired fantasy action series, The Flash.
Upset and needing a friend to talk to, Barry races to Star City to visit Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) to vent about all the changes that have taken place since he reset the timeline. The episode goes back and forth between Barry telling an intrigued and surprised Felicity to showing the changes back in Central City. First, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) and Iris (Candice Patton) are not on speaking terms. Second, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) is grieving over the loss of his brother killed by a drunk driver and extremely angry at Barry for refusing to go back in time and save him. The scene where Barry intrudes on Cisco’s grief support group and Cisco shooting him daggers asking, “What? So now you want to be there for me?” is powerful and unsettling. And third, Barry is not the only CSI in Central City anymore. He shares his office with Julian Albert (Tom Felton) who specializes in the metahuman cases and dislikes Barry. “He doesn’t like me very much,” says Barry to Felicity who responds by saying, “That’s impossible. You’re like pudding…everybody likes pudding.”
Barry wonders if he changed anything in Felicity and Oliver’s lives so he uses her computer and discovers that Diggle’s daughter, Sara, has been replaced by his son, John. Barry, feeling sick, says he doesn’t want to know any more and Felicity tells him to run back to Central City and find a way to fix everything he changed RIGHT NOW.
Back at Central City, Edward Clariss (Todd Lasance) is having visions of the ‘Flashpoint’ timeline, remembering when he was a speedster. He’s also being called to by someone named Alchemy. After having an outburst on a public bus, Clariss finds his way to what looks to be Alchemy’s lair. A hooded masked figure turns to Clariss and calls himself Alchemy (voiced by Tobin Bell). Clariss tells Alchemy he keeps having visions and asks him to make them stop. Alchemy asks him if that’s what he really wants or would he rather have his speed back. Clariss seems to become almost entranced and says he wants his speed back. Alchemy then sends a surge of energy at Clariss.
Meanwhile, Barry is trying to get his family and friends back together which is not an easy task. He manages to use his super-speed to race back and forth between Iris at her work and Joe at the CCPD to set up a family dinner together at Joe’s house, telling each one that the other needs to talk to each other about something important. Barry asks Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker), who’s back to being a brilliant scientist and Barry’s doctor, to please invite Cisco to the dinner and for her to join them so he can patch up everything. Caitlin, as always, agrees to help.
Dinner doesn’t go well at all and Cisco’s still resentful toward Barry for not saving his brother. Joe and Iris realize they’ve both been set up by Barry and become angry. The only two on Barry’s side are Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) and Caitlin who remain rather quiet. It’s not long before Cisco’s metahuman app goes off and the group is off to S.T.A.R. Labs to help The Flash go after another metahuman villain. The Flash is surprised to see that it’s Clariss aka The Rival (still in that ridiculous-looking outfit) who remembers the Flashpoint timeline and fighting The Flash and Kid Flash. The two speedsters race around and Clariss is able to give The Flash the slip.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry is confronted by Iris who saw a video of his confrontation with Clariss and realizes they had fought before. She knows Barry and demands he tell her the truth or they won’t be able to move forward with having a relationship. Barry tells Iris everything that’s wrong is all his fault and he has to go and set it right. So Barry races off to the speed force to travel back in time to try to fix the timeline again. As he closes his eyes and tries to focus on a key point in time he sees someone racing at him and that someone grabs him and rips him out of the speed force. Barry is sitting on the ground when he looks up and sees Jay Garrick looking down at him. “Here, put these on,” says the older speedster.
Jay takes Barry to one of his favorite spots to eat and tells him the corned beef hash is the best when Barry asks what year it is. The mature speedster replies 1998. Barry asks if he stopped him just to treat him to a meal and Jay confesses that he’s been watching over Barry ever since Harry (Tom Cavanagh) told Garrick about Barry losing both his parents and that he’s Barry’s dad’s doppelganger. He understands why Barry would want to try to go back in time and fix it, but he explains to Barry using a coffee cup as a stand-in for the space-time continuum that if you crack a piece off even if he goes back and puts it back together it will still have cracks and never be exactly the way it was before. Garrick then gives Barry the much overdue speech about them being men not gods bestowed with powers to help people and that he can’t have a “do-over” for every mistake he makes but instead needs to push forward.
Barry returns to S.T.A.R. Labs where his family and friends have been wondering where he’s been and tells them he needs to tell the truth. Everyone is shocked and hurt when Barry tells them about the Flashpoint timeline he created and how he has changed all their lives by his incredibly selfish acts. Cisco takes it especially hard telling Barry, “So it’s okay for you to use your powers to save someone in your family?” Barry tells Cisco that he’s sorry and he’s learned that he can not go back again and alter the timeline. He has to move forward and he hopes Cisco will be able to one day soon.
Barry goes to the CSI lab to ask Julian for a favor. Julian has been working on a case of a new metahuman attack and Barry wants to see his report thinking it might give him a clue where to find Clariss. Barry lies to Julian, telling him it might help with another case he’s working and Julian reluctantly complies. It works and Barry speeds over to where Clariss aka The Rival (a stupid villain name) is hiding out. Unfortunately for Barry, it’s a trap. Clariss has been joined by Alchemy who uses his energy blasts on The Flash knocking him down and out of breath. Barry asks who he is and what he wants and Alchemy tells him that he’s going to “prepare the world” which Barry realizes means he wants to restore powers to the once metahumans.
While Barry tries to fight back and keeps losing (it is two against one after all), Team Flash is still struggling with the whole alternate timeline story Barry told them and Iris and Caitlin are the first to back up Barry saying he made a mistake. Iris reminds Cisco how he revealed to Captain Cold The Flash’s identity to protect his brother. Caitlin reminds everyone that it’s their Barry after all and then she realizes he’s in trouble by looking at his vitals on the screen. Just as Clariss is about to plunge a very big spike into The Flash, he gets knocked off his feet by an energy blast. Cisco aka Vibe has arrived to save the day! “Leave my friend alone,” he says as both Barry and Vibe defeat Clariss together.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, the group tells Barry they don’t want to know how their lives were different in the other timeline and they agree to move forward together. They all agree they need to find out who’s Alchemy, who Cisco adds a ‘Dr.’ to and Iris and Joe go off to CC Jitters to work on their father/daughter relationship with Wally tagging along. Barry tells Cisco it was great backing him up and maybe that’s something they can do from time to time. Cisco tells Barry he’s not there yet but maybe one day and walks off with a small smile. Barry and Caitlin smile at each other and Barry admits he’s happy things are starting to get back to sort of normal. He looks back at her and says she doesn’t have anything to worry about from the other timeline, that she wasn’t affected that much and adds “unless you’re moonlighting on the side as a pediatric ophthalmologist.” Caitlin looks confused and he smiles and says it’s just a timeline joke. As he leaves, the smile on Caitlin’s face fades to concern and fear. She looks at her right hand as it starts to turn cold and has freezing air coming from it. (Barry, what have you done to poor Caitlin?!)
The final scene is in Barry’s CSI lab where Julian tries to give Barry the results of his report because it might help that case he’s working on and Barry says there was no connection after all. Julian tells Barry that he’s on to him and that when he asked for the file he already knew the metahumans name even though Julian never told him. “I don’t trust you and I don’t like who I don’t trust,” says Julian as he leaves.
Review of The Flash ‘Paradox’:
Filled with heartache, sorrow, and regret, episode two titled “Paradox” still managed to include some of the much-needed humor while taking a darker turn for Team Flash. The performances were much stronger in this second episode with Barry feeling the guilt and despair of all the pain and problems he had created for the people he loves the most in his life.
The two stand-out performances in this episode go to Grant Gustin and Carlos Valdes as Barry and Cisco. The two scenes with Gustin as Barry trying to fix their friendship and Valdes being unable to forgive his best friend for not saving his brother are heartbreaking and unsettling. To see these two who are so close being torn apart was painful to watch. The new tragedy in Cisco’s life and the sad upcoming metamorphosis for Caitlin will undoubtedly alter and change forever the dynamic of the show. If that will be a positive element, possibly igniting the show with a new crime-fighting team out in the field or a negative tearing them apart and leaving Barry to work alone and possibly against a close friend now turned deadly enemy, is still to be revealed. Here’s hoping Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin will find a way to always be Team Flash.
This year’s AMC FearFest is set to be the network’s biggest horror event to date. 2016 marks FearFest’s 20th anniversary and will include more than 400 hours of horror/genre programming, with AMC scheduling an 88 hour marathon of all six seasons of The Walking Dead during the frightfest. Among the classic horror films that will be screened this year are movies from the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises.
The 2016 AMC FearFest runs for 19 days, beginning on October 13th and finishing up on Halloween night.
“Movies have always been at the core of AMC, and for 20 years AMC FearFest has given us the opportunity to serve some of the most passionate and engaged movie fans of all – fans of the horror genre,” said Tom Halleen, executive vice president of programming and scheduling for AMC and SundanceTV. “This year’s AMC FearFest is the largest in our history, more than 400 hours of programming including 11 iconic horror franchises, a full 88-hour marathon of The Walking Dead, which premiered as part of the annual celebration in 2010, an all-new two-hour catch-up special and the highly anticipated season seven premiere.”
The AMC FearFest Lineup:
Halloween: The original Halloween 1-5 (1978-1989), Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009).
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The original A Nightmare on Elm Street 1-5 (1984-1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (#6, 1991), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010).
Friday the 13th: The original Friday the 13th Parts I-VIII (1980-1989), Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (Part 9, 1993), Jason X (Part 10, 2001), and Friday the 13th (2009).
The Amityville Horror: The original The Amityville Horror (1979), Amityville II: The Possession (1982), Amityville 3 (1983), and The Amityville Horror (2005).
The Exorcist: The original The Exorcist (1973) and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).
The Omen: The original The Omen (1976), Damien: Omen II (1978), Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), Omen IV: The Awakening (1991).
Chucky: Child’s Play 2 (1990), Child’s Play 3 (1991), Bride of Chucky (1998) and Seed of Chucky (2004).
Tremors: Tremors (1990), Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996), Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001), Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004).
Underworld: Underworld (2003), Underworld: Evolution (2006), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009).
Stephen King: Cujo (1983), Carrie (1976, 40th anniversary), Silver Bullet (1985), The Graveyard Shift (1990), Dreamcatcher (2003), Thinner (1996, 20th anniversary), 1408 (2007), Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992), Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995).
The Curse of Oak Island and Hunting Hitler will return to History’s primetime lineup on November 15, 2016. The Curse of Oak Island season four will air at 9pm ET/PT followed by Hunting Hitler season two at 10pm ET/PT. Both shows are among History’s biggest ratings earners, with Curse ranking as the #1 nonfiction series and Hunting Hitler the #2 new nonfiction series.
Kevin Burns, Joe Lessard, Kim Sheerin, Matt Ginsburg, and Michael Stiller are executive producers on The Curse of Oak Island. Hunting Hitler is executive produced by Emre Sahin, Sarah Wetherbee, Kelly McPherson, Jason Wolf, Tim Healy and Melinda Toporoff.
The Curse of Oak Island Plot: For Rick and Marty Lagina, their lifelong dream of solving the 221-year Oak Island mystery may be on the verge of the greatest breakthrough yet. After discovering a mysterious shiny gold object last season in a cavity of the island, the Laginas are going for broke when The Curse of Oak Island returns. With over 450-tons of massive, state-of-the-art technology and heavy digging machinery, this season the Lagina Brothers and their partners are excavating the renowned Money Pit – a manmade hole first discovered by three teenage boys in the late 1700’s – which is believed to be hiding a chest full of valuable items.
The Hunting Hitler Plot: Season two of Hunting Hitler returns as 21-year CIA veteran, Bob Baer, and the UN’s premier war crimes investigator, Dr. John Cencich, continue their investigation to uncover the true fate of Adolf Hitler and the wider Nazi dispatch at the end of WWII. After an exploration last season that took them across thousands of miles and six countries, Baer and Cencich take their hunt to a new level in season two by gaining access to over 14,000 pages of declassified international documents from every major intelligence agency around the world.
With hundreds of new discoveries and promising leads at their fingertips, Baer and Cencich deploy dozens of experts, historians, and military man hunters armed with the most cutting edge technology to uncover the truth. From photographic evidence to the unveiling of a secret Nazi cult in the remote mountains of Chile, the team will stop at nothing in an effort to answer questions that have lingered for over seventy years.
Adam Devine will be traveling the U.S. in 2017 with his ‘Weird Life Tour’ kicking off on January 27th in Las Vegas. Devine is the co-creator and star of Comedy Central’s Workaholics and occasionally guest stars on Modern Family. He was recently seen in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates with Zac Efron and was Rebel Wilson’s love interest in Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2.
Tickets are set to go on sale beginning Friday, October 14, 2016 at 10am local time. For more info, visit Facebook.com/adamdevineofficial.
Weird Life Tour Dates:
January 27 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
January 28 Flagstaff, AZ Audrey Auditorium
January 31 Dallas, TX The Majestic Theatre
February 1 Houston, TX Revention Music Center
February 2 New Orleans Orpheum Theatre
February 3 Tampa, FL Tampa Theatre
February 4 Miami Beach, FL The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater
February 7 Charleston, SC Charleston Music Hall
February 8 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
February 9 Charlottesville, VA Paramount Theater
February 10 Columbus, OH Capitol Theatre
February 11 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit
February 12 Bloomington, IL Shirk Center (Illinois Wesleyan University)
February 14 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Memorial Hall
February 15 Saint Louis, MO The Pageant
February 16 Kirksville, MO Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall
February 17 Madison, WI Orpheum Theater
February 18 Des Moines, IA Hoyt Sherman Place
February 22 Midwest City, OK Rose State College – Hudiburg Chevrolet Theatre
February 23 Lawrence, KS Lied Center
February 25 Salt Lake City, UT Kingsbury Hall – University of Utah
The Scream team is back for a Halloween special set to air on October 18, 2016 from 9-11pm ET/PT. Returning for the two hour special are Scream stars Willa Fitzgerald as Emma, Amadeus Serafini as Kieran, John Karna as Noah, Santiago Segura as Stavo, and Bex Taylor-Klaus as Audrey.
The Plot: Just in time for Halloween, MTV unleashes a horrifying new 2-hour special that picks up eight months after Kieran’s (Serafini) arrest. Emma (Fitzgerald) is struggling to focus on her future and who she really is after everything that has happened. Meanwhile, Noah (John Karna) and Stavo (Segura) have combined forces to create a best-selling graphic novel based on the Kieran Wilcox murders and Audrey (Taylor-Klaus) has found herself in a new relationship.
Since the first anniversary of Piper’s killing spree is upon us, Emma and her friends are determined to be as far from Lakewood as possible and Stavo has the perfect solution. He and Noah are researching for their next graphic novel, a Lizzy Borden-esque legend on Shallow Grove Island, and suggest the rest of the group come along for the weekend. Just when they thought they were safe, the Lakewood survivors find themselves in another bloody standoff, leaving them to wonder – is an old legend coming back to life or has murder followed them from Lakewood?” Could there be more Scream to come?…