The official trailer’s arrived for the new NBC dramatic series Shades of Blue premiering in January 2016. The series stars Jennifer Lopez as an FBI agent and Ray Liotta as her boss, with Warren Kole, Dayo Okeniyi, Drea De Matteo, Hampton Fluker, Vincent Laresca and Sarah Jeffery in supporting roles. NBC’s kicking off the series with a special two-hour premiere on Thursday, January 14 at 9pm ET/PT.
Jack Orman and Adi Hasak are the series’ writers and executive producers. Lopez, Barry Levinson (pilot), Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Benny Medina, Ryan Seacrest, and Nina Wass also executive produce.
The Shades of Blue Plot:
In a steamy new drama, Jennifer Lopez stars as sexy New York detective (and single mother) Harlee Santos, who fell in with a tight-knit group of dirty cops, taking bribes and protection money that she uses to provide the best life for her honest and talented daughter. When she’s trapped by the FBI, however, and forced to inform on her own “brothers,” she’ll have to walk the fine line between love, loyalty, honor, and betrayal, and try to keep it together for her daughter’s future.
The animated The Peanuts Movie performed slightly better than expected over its first weekend in theaters. The family-friendly film targeted a different audience than Spectre, with 70% of its audience made up of families.
Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in a scene from ‘Carol’
Oscar winner Cate Blanchett has been chosen to receive the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Blanchett was selected as the recipient of the festival’s prestigious award in recognition of her performances this year in Carol and Truth. The Desert Palm Achievement Award will be presented during the festival’s gala awards event on January 2, 2016 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
“Cate Blanchett is one of the most award-winning and outstanding actresses of her generation, delivering extraordinary performances throughout her career including her Academy Award-winning roles as Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator and the title role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine,” stated festival chairman Harold Matzner. “In her latest films Carol and Truth, Blanchett yet again brings to life two vibrant characters, both worthy of awards recognition. It is our honor to present the 2016 Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress, to Cate Blanchett.”
Blanchett joins a list of honorees that includes Julianne Moore, Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts and Michelle Williams.
The Palm Springs International Film Festival runs January 1-11, 2016.
Russell Hodkinson as Doc and Nat Zang as 10K in ‘Z Nation’ Season 2 (Photo by: Daniel Sawyer Schaefer / Go2 Z Ice / Syfy
Zombies are still hot (as in popular, not as in attractive) on TV and Syfy’s sticking with the zombie craze by giving Z Nation a third season renewal order. According to the network, season three of the action drama will consist of 15 episodes and will premiere in 2016. Season two’s currently airing on Fridays at 10pm ET/PT and has been averaging a respectable 1.5 million viewers.
The cast of Z Nation includes DJ Qualls, Kellita Smith, Keith Allan, Anastasia Baranova, Russell Hodgkinson, Nat Zang, Matt Cedeno, and Emilio Rivera. Season two’s guest stars include Gina Gershon, Anthony Michael Hall, Doug Jones, and Missi Pyle.
The Z Nation Plot:
In Z Nation, three years have passed since the zombie virus has gutted the country, and a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind’s survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America.
Hot off his starring awards-worthy performance in Black Mass, Johnny Depp has signed to voice the title role in Sherlock Gnomes. The family-friendly, gnome-friendly film is a return to the genre for Depp who previously lent his voice to characters in Rango and Corpse Bride. The Paramount Animation/MGM project is a sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo and Juliet and will bring back the lead voice actors, James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, from that popular animated film to once again provide the voices of Gnomeo and Juliet.
Sherlock Gnomes will be produced by Elton John‘s Rocket Pictures and Kung Fu Panda‘s John Stevenson is on board to direct from a script by Ben Zazove. Elton John, David Furnish, Steve Hamilton-Shaw, and Carolyn Soper are producing. We can expect to see the Gnomeo and Juliet sequel in theaters on January 12, 2018. The original film opened on February 11, 2011 and made $25 million domestically over its opening weekend. The film went on to gross $193 million worldwide before exiting theaters.
The Sherlock Gnomes Plot:
The film takes place after a string of garden gnome disappearances in London, when Gnomeo and Juliet look to legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes to solve the case.
Netflix just confirmed the new animated comedy series F is for Family will premiere on December 18, 2015. The comedy show was created by Bill Burr and Michael Price (The Simpsons), and Burr, Price, Vince Vaughn, and Peter Billingsley executive produce the series.
Burr helped break the release date news with a tweet: “Finally! First look at my new @netflix series #FIsForFamily, coming December 18. Trailer coming soon, look out!” – Bill Burr (@billburr), November 6, 2015
F is for Family Plot:
F is for Family follows the Murphy family in the 1970s, a time when you could smack your kid, smoke inside, and bring a gun to the airport. Burr will voice the role of Frank Murphy, the family’s extreme patriarch; Laura Dern will voice Frank’s wife Sue; and Justin Long voices the family’s oldest son, Kevin.
It’s finally arrived… The official Warcraft movie trailer has been released by Legendary Pictures and it’s visually impressive. CGI brings the world of Warcraft alive, but there’s also a glimpse in the trailer that teases there’s more going on in this video game adaptation than just battle scenes. Directed by Duncan Jones, the cast of Warcraft is led by Vikings‘ Travis Fimmel as Anduin Lothar and Toby Kebbell as Durotan, and includes Ben Foster as Medivh, Paula Patton as Garona, Dominic Cooper as King Llane Wrynn, Rob Kazinsky as Orgrim, and Clancy Brown as Blackhand.
The Warcraft Plot:
The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: Orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction and the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people and their home.
So begins a spectacular saga of power and sacrifice in which war has many faces, and everyone fights for something.
“Charlie Brown is not a quitter,” says Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) out loud to himself as he tries to perfect his pitching in an effort to better himself to impress the little red-haired girl who just moved in across the street in the animated film The Peanuts Movie.
When the little red-haired girl moves in, Charlie Brown finds himself smitten and wants to make a good impression so he sets out to try to improve himself with the help of his loyal and trusty dog, Snoopy (whines, howls, laughs and whimpers by Bill Melendez). Charlie seeks out the advice of his opinionated local practicing-without-a-license psychiatrist Lucy (voiced by Hadley Belle Miller) who gives him a book on how to make yourself a winner.
Sadly, still lacking any confidence, Charlie Brown just can’t seem to find the courage to go over and talk to the little red-haired girl even when his old pal Snoopy pushes him up to her front door and rings the doorbell. Charlie panics and hides in one of the shrubs by the house when the girl answers the door. As Charlie Brown struggles to find ways to impress the little red-haired girl so that she’ll like him, Snoopy – inspired by Charlie’s determination to win the little red-haired girl’s heart – toys with an old typewriter, begins to write an epic tale of himself as a famous WWI flying ace taking to the skies to pursue his arch-nemesis, The Red Baron, who has captured the flying ace’s true love.
Charming, funny, and sweet, The Peanuts Movie brings the classic Charles M. Schulz characters to the big screen keeping intact the personalities of all the characters and the gentle humor of the classic comic strip. All the classic themes and adventures are included, with Charlie Brown trying to fly a kite only to lose it to the menacing kite-eating tree, the trying to kick the football, and of course Snoopy fighting the Red Baron via his imagination.
Blue Sky Studios, who did the Ice Age films, stays with the staples in making the films by using child voice actors to bring the classic characters to life. All of them do a great job, especially Noah Schnapp as Charlie Brown, Alexander Garfin as Linus, Hadley Belle Miller as Lucy, Rebecca Bloom as Marcie, and Mariel Sheets as Sally. In a brilliant and respectful move, the studio uses stock sound of the late Bill Melendez – who produced, directed, and also animated most of the Peanuts specials. Melendez was the voice and sound of Snoopy and Woodstock, which had been kept an industry secret for years. This keeps Snoopy and Woodstock sounding exactly as they always have in every Peanuts animated special.
The film also has a wonderful message for kids about never giving up and believing in yourself. It also captures the true spirit of the boy who, despite trying his hardest, just can’t seem to ever win. One great scene that shows this is during the talent show when no one is doing very well, and Charlie Brown is sure to win with his magic act. When his little sister Sally starts to bomb and begins to cry on stage, Charlie, along with his trusted Beagle helps her wow the crowd with her grand finale while giving up another opportunity to impress the little red-haired girl.
The Peanuts Movie, while not introducing anything new, brings back the magic that IS Peanuts and is an above average addition to the franchise. The film is a perfect way for children who haven’t grown up with Charlie Brown and the gang to be introduced to them and also perfect for adults who did and want to go back and relive part of their childhoods. It’s a must-see for any age and one of this year’s best films.
Spectre could be both Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes’ final Bond film and that’s actually not a bad decision for either actor Craig or director Mendes. This latest Bond movie shows signs of wear, not in its spectacular, over-the-top, suspension of belief required action scenes but in its dialogue-driven moments when both the emotional attachment to Bond, James Bond seems off and the pacing turns sluggish. Bond films aren’t meant to challenge the audiences’ intellect, but Spectre does try our patience as it gives us a 007 who appears to have no idea who he is or what motivates him to action.
Mendes and Craig set the bar incredibly high with Skyfall, leaving themselves the near impossible task of topping what’s thought to be one of the best Bond films. With this third outing, Mendes and Craig have not only not topped Skyfall but they haven’t even offered audiences a Bond film that’s better than Casino Royale.
Spectre starts off well enough, with Bond taking out a building in the middle of Mexico City during the Day of the Dead celebration. Next, we see Bond in hot pursuit of a villain who’s weaving his way through the crowd in order to reach a helicopter. Bond, of course, catches up with him, leading to a terrifying fight on board the helicopter while it’s just over the heads of the crowd. Your stomach may match the action on the screen, swooping and swirling as the helicopter looks destined to decapitate innocent bystanders so that Bond can kill just one man.
After that outstanding sequence, the film goes downhill quickly. If you can actually track who Bond is after, why he’s after he/she/it, and how everything is connected, then I applaud you for being able to keep up with all the twists and turns (and incredible coincidences) the screenwriters have inserted in this two-and-a-half hour film.
I understand the action sequences in Bond movies (and Fast and Furious films) do not need to be grounded in reality. That’s simply a given for the spy franchise. But Mendes was able to make Skyfall, and to a lesser degree Casino Royale, establish characters’ actions and motivations that made sense in the framework of a Bond film while also satisfying Bond fans’ thirst for improbable yet extraordinary action set pieces. In Spectre, it’s all about moving the characters into positions specifically for the purpose of setting up an action scene. Rules are bent, characters experience personality changes at the drop of a hat, and Bond himself only occasionally lives up to the charming, sexy super-spy we’ve grown to know and expect.
Because of all the coincidences, intricate backstories, and improbable connections, it’s near impossible to talk about the film without giving away a potential spoiler, but I can say there are scenes that are both superfluous and a bit uncomfortable to watch. I’m specifically referring to a scene between Bond and the widow of the man Bond killed in the helicopter. Monica Bellucci plays the widow and while she’s simply gorgeous, there’s not a whiff of sexual chemistry between Bellucci and Craig which makes his immediate seduction of the grieving widow feel 50 shades of wrong.
As for the acting, again, this Bond doesn’t give Craig many special moments to sink his teeth into. He’s fine in the action scenes and opposite Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, and Ben Whishaw who handles most of the lighter moments as Q. In fact, it’s Whishaw and Bond newcomer Lea Seydoux who are the stand-outs in Spectre. Seydoux is not a typical “Bond Girl” and for that we applaud the writers and director Mendes. Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann is a strong, independent woman who can handle a gun, understands the world in which Bond exists, and is unwilling to be left on the sidelines and protected.
Christoph Waltz plays a villain with a complex connection to Bond and, unfortunately, he’s only in the film for maybe a total of 20 minutes. Waltz is the cowbell of Spectre…you can never have too much Waltz.
Spectre has one of the silliest action sequences of the franchise, with Bond somehow getting a hold of a small airplane in the middle of nowhere to chase Madeleine’s abductors down a snow-covered mountainside. Yes, the Bond films are full of examples of silly action sequences, but no single Bond film in recent memory has as many Spectre. Amid all of the silliness is a story that doesn’t makes sense, making Spectre a disappointing follow-up from – and farewell to – Mendes and Craig.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some disturbing images, sensuality and language
Both Guilt and Beyond have been picked up by ABC Family, joining the network’s lineup of scripted series that includes Switched at Birth. Announcing the pickups, ABC Family Executive Vice President of Programming and Development Karey Burke said, “These two shows are an exciting part of our evolution into Freeform. Guilt is a sexy, sophisticated event series whose European location feels bigger than anything we have ever done. Beyond introduces our audience to a new hero and takes them into a complex supernatural universe with great suspense and deep emotion.”
Kathryn Price and Nichole Millard created Guilt and are involved as writers and executive producers. Gary Fleder (Kingdom) directed the pilot.
The Guilt Plot:Guilt is a one-hour soapy drama about a young American woman in London who becomes the prime suspect in the savage murder of her roommate. As the investigation unfolds, viewers will question whether she’s a naïve, young girl whose poor decisions are being magnified under the ruthless glare of the British tabloids, or whether she’s a sociopath who brutally murdered her friend. Even her sister, who comes to London to defend her, will question how well she knows her little sister as more and more ugly truths come out. This mystery will twist through all layers of London society – from a posh but depraved sex club, all the way up to the Royal Family itself.
Beyond was created by writer/executive producer Adam Nussdorf, with Tim Kring, Zak Kadison, Justin Levy, and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones also on board as executive producers.
The Beyond Plot:Beyond is a one-hour drama about a young man who wakes up from a coma after 12 years and discovers new supernatural abilities that propel him into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy.
