Disney Channel’s original movie ‘Descendants’ stars Booboo Stewart as Jay, Dove Cameron as Mal, Sofia Carson as Evie and Cameron Boyce as Carlos. (Disney Channel / Eike Schroter)
The Disney Channel has released a new trailer for the upcoming original movie Descendants airing this summer. Descendants centers around the kids of notorious Disney villains Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil, and Jafar as they try to make it through high school.
Dove Cameron plays Mal, the daughter of Maleficent (Kristin Chenoweth). Sofia Carso is Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen (Kathy Najimy), and Booboo Stewart is Jay, son of Jafar (Maz Jobrani). Rounding out the lead characters is Carlos played by Cameron Boyce. Carlos is the son of Cruella de Vil (Wendy Raquel Robinson), who, as we see in the trailer, inherited his mother’s fear of dogs.
High School Musical‘s Kenny Ortega directed, choreographed, and executive produced Descendants.
Dean-Charles Chapman and Lena Headey in ‘Game of Thrones’ (Photo: Macall B. Polay / HBO)
We open Game of Thrones season five’s third episode inside a dark and sinister-looking temple where we see statues of what we can only assume are gods. Arya (Maisie Williams) must earn her keep here in the House of Black and White, and is sweeping the floors and resenting it. She sees Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha), aka No One, give someone a drink of water. Arya takes this as her cue to complain to Jaqen about the slow progress of her training, “slow” as in it’s not happening at all yet. Jaqen, doing his Yoda/Mr. Miyagi impression, isn’t having it. He tells her that she needs to strip away the vestiges of her old life before she can become someone else, because there’s only one god and his name is Death. Life of the party, that Jaqen. Oh and by the way, the guy he gave a drink to is now dead.
Dissolve to the brightly lit streets of King’s Landing where Cersei (Lena Headey) is inside some sort of conveyance as it processes through the streets and listening as the people scream their adoration for Margaery (Natalie Dormer). Cersei looks a little green around the gills, and the torture is only just beginning. Huzzah! It’s the wedding of Margaery and Tommen the First of his Name! *blink* That was over quick. They’ve probably learned their lesson about prolonged receptions. Cut to the wedding night…hey Margaery is really a Queen now that she’s finally consummated one of her marriages! Never mind that her King probably doesn’t shave yet. Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) has a lot to learn, but at least he seems like an eager student and even likes his bride. Poor thing. He is putty in her hands. First order of business, get Cersei the hell out of King’s Landing.
Tommen is fast becoming a mouse for these two sharp-clawed cats to bat back and forth. Cersei sees right through him and tries to take it to Margaery. Margaery, of course, is expecting her and ready for battle. You’ve never seen Cersei out-Cersei’d like this before. Long live Queen Margaery! For her part since Cersei had NO comeback for the strumpet humping her son (a point QM was fully prepared to get graphic to make), I have to wonder if she’s ill. She’s seriously off her game.
North to Winterfell where there ain’t no sunshine since Ned’s been gone, and who do we see but Reek, aka Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) whose life is still a waking nightmare. But wait, WTF happened here? Has Ramsey just been allowed to run amok? Just Ramsay being Ramsey (Iwan Rheon). He’s flayed a recalcitrant Northern lord and half his family while the other half watched. Daddy Roose (Michael McElhatton), who just hides his brand of crazy a little better than his offspring, feels this would be a good time to tell his son he’s found him a wife to help him hold the North…
I KNEW IT!!!
Apparently Sansa (Sophie Turner) did too. Maybe not the particulars, but she knew Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) was up to something. Her first reaction is the sane one – to freak out at the prospect of going back to Winterfell where the mad man that betrayed her mother, her brother, his wife, and her unborn niece or nephew, is holding court. All Baelish can counter with is that she’s a Stark and there must be a Stark in Winterfell. Dark Sansa now has dark hair and dark clothes to match her mood. But while black may be the color of mourning, it’s also the color of strength and Sansa is about to start showing us how much she’s got.
Meanwhile, Brienne (Gwendolyn Christie) and Pod (Daniel Portman) are still on their trail. They have to go around Moat Cailin, though. Taking a break, they have a moment. Pod says he’s proud to be her squire. B apologizes for “always snapping” at him and promises to teach him how to fight properly. This is the first time we get a peek at their backstories where we learn how each was set upon the path that led them to where they are now. Especially touching is Brienne’s tale of how she ended up in the service of Renly Baratheon. He was kind to her when others were not and made her feel proud and beautiful instead of like a freak. She’s also sure that Stannis was behind the “shadow with a face” that killed Renly, so she’s gunning for Stannis.
Speaking of whom, back up at The Wall, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), of course, turns down Stannis the Mean and Miserable (Stephan Dillane), who is, as per usual, not happy about it. When he stomps off, Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) stays behind to tell Jon that Grumpy really respects him. He also makes some pretty good points about it might be in the best interest of the Night’s Watch to help Stannis fight Roose Bolton, because his kind of crazy is in no one’s best interest. Plus the Watch will probably turn against Jon eventually and he might want to get in front of that. Jon Snow, who famously knows nothing, appears to disregard this warning. He tells Stannis that the gravy train is over and he can’t afford to keep feeding his army so it’s time to hit the road.
Arya is throwing away her old clothes and her money, even the magic coin (which will probably come back again), all of her material possessions, so she can be no one. Well, almost all. She hesitates when it comes to Needle, her sword, a present from her brother, Jon Snow. It may be the one thing still tying her to her old life, but it’s also kept her alive. Instead of tossing it off the dock like the rest of her things, she just hides it under a pile of rocks. (Which means she’ll probably need it again at some point.) The next step in her training involves preparing a corpse, presumably for burial but who knows, perhaps they use them as dummies for knife practice.
Sansa arrives in Winterfell and looks like she wants to hurl when she sees what’s become of it, although at least they took down the human pinatas they’d decorated the place with, for her arrival. The sight of Sansa breaks through Reek’s Stockholm Syndrome-fog, and you can tell he’s building to a major meltdown, just not in this episode. So much crazy, so little time. If he had anything left resembling sense he’d get the hell out of Dodge, since Sansa believes he killed her little brothers.
Poor Sansa. Out of the frying pan into the fire – Joffrey Lannister was a poser compared to Ramsey
Bolton and his capacity for cruelty. The nicer he is to her and the more obsequious he is to Baelish, the more I fear for her. Anyway, Sansa has to put on a happy face and make nice, and the Boltons seem to be meeting her halfway and putting on their happy, non-psychotic faces as well. The brides of Dracula, last seen helping Ramsey cut off pieces of Theon, are throwing some serious shade, however.
Sophie Turner and Aidan Gillen in ‘Game of Thrones’ (Photo: Helen Sloan / HBO)
Sansa is shown to what seems to be her old room, which also seems a lot dingier since the last time she saw it. A servant, possibly a holdout from the old days, tells her, “The North remembers.” Hopefully, that means “Viva La Starks”, but could just as easily mean “Don’t even think about marrying into that band of serial killers called Bolton or we’ll kill you ourselves”.
Back at the wall, Jon Snow is holding his first staff meeting as Lord Commander. Of course, there are some sore losers faithful to Thorne (Owen Teale) ready to make trouble. Someone called Janos Slynt (Dominic Carter) refuses a direct order, knowing full well the punishment is death, expecting that his brothers will come to their senses and rise up to protect him and oust Jon. It didn’t happen.
Head on the chopping block, he begs for mercy. It almost appears Jon wants to give it, but we can see him make the decision. He needs to appear strong in front of The Watch, and not-so-coincidentally in front of Stannis, who sees all. Stannis the Austere almost smiled. How the rest of the Night’s Watch will react to all of this will have to wait for another episode. My guess, it’s gonna backfire. Even Sam (John Bradley) looked displeased with him.
Back in King’s Landing, some up close and personal in-your-face nakedness pulls back to find the High Septon (Paul Bentley) role-playing with some prostitutes in one of Littlefinger’s whorehouses, pretending to be the Seven.
Cousin Lancel Lannister (Eugene Simon) bursts in with his new posse, the Sparrows, and breaks up the party, forcing the High Septon to walk through the streets naked. Septon goes to the Small Council, who have apparently decided to accept Cersei, for help. The men laugh at him, but Cersei, who has nothing better to do, goes to find the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce). Since that was the name of the episode after all, it’s about time we figured out why and why he’s important. I guess that will have to wait. All we get is the initial meeting.
After her visit among the poor and wretched being ministered to by The High Sparrow, Cersei visits Qyburn (Anton Lesser) to get him to send a raven to Littlefinger. I’m not sure what the hell he’s up to (or what the message was) down there in his La-bor-a-tory, but he appears to be doing some Dr. Frankenstein shit with whatever is under that sheet. Is that The Mountain?
Ramsey Bolton just promised “Lord Baelish” that he will “never hurt” Sansa. HA!
Baelish and Roose Bolton are having a tet-a-tet. One almost expects them to whip them out and slap them on a table. After some back and forth, the combatants back away to their respective corners, but not before Littlefinger asks for a raven to reply to Cersei’s message.
We finally get another edition of the Varys and Tyrion Traveling Road Show. Still in their “wheel house” (the Westeros version of an RV), still getting on each other’s nerves. When they finally arrive in Volantis, Tyrion throws caution to the wind and goes in search of a brothel. On the way, they stop to watch a gathering where a Red Priestess is intoning the words we’ve heard Melisandre speak so often, especially that “the night is dark and full of terrors”. She finds Tyrion in the crowd and gives him the evil eye.
In the brothel, the patrons are all clamoring for the affections of a Daenerys Targaryen look-alike. Tyrion finds one who reminds him of Shae but, much to his surprise, he doesn’t want to go play hide the pickle with her.
We spot a familiar face in the crowd. While pissing off a wall, the face comes up behind Tyrion, throws a rope around him, and then hoists him over his shoulder and announces he’s taking Tyrion “to the Queen”. Ser Jorah Mormant (Iain Glen) thinks he’s found his way back to Dany, obviously planning to drop a Lannister gift at her feet. Ironic considering that’s where Tyrion was headed anyway.
And we’re out. No Dany, no Mereen. No Sand Snakes, no Dorne, but there is only an hour. And it looks like we’ll get all that and more in the next installment.
Memorable lines from “High Sparrow”:
“We can’t hold the North with terror alone.”– Roose Bolton
“Nothing’s more hateful than failing to protect the one you love.” – Brienne
“As long as the Boltons rule the North, the North will suffer.” – Davos Seaforth
“There’s no justice in the world – not unless we make it. You loved your family…avenge them!” – Littlefinger
“Judging from the King’s…enthusiasm…the Queen Mother will be a Queen Grandmother soon.” – Queen Margaery
“You didn’t tell me we were going to meet The Savior!” – Tyrion Lannister
Come back next week, same bat time, same bat channel for a recap of season 5, episode 4: “The Sons of the Harpy”.
Paul Rudd earned the 2015 Male Star of the Year award at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of National Association of Theater Owners members held each year in Las Vegas. Rudd was chosen for the honor by the group because of his leading role in Marvel’s Ant-Man which opens in theaters on July 17, 2015. “With an already proven track record of making audiences around the world laugh with his memorable roles in such films as Knocked Up, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and The 40 Year Old Virgin, Rudd will thrill audiences this summer as he stars in his first action adventure film Ant-Man,” explained Mitch Neuhauser, Managing Director of CinemaCon.
Prior to accepting the award at the Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony at Caesars Palace, Rudd took part in a brief press conference to discuss the comic book-inspired film. Rudd talked about the costume, the appeal of Ant-Man, the film’s tone, and the joke about the name Ant-Man that’s featured in the film’s trailer.
Watch the interview:
The Plot:
The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
Britt Robertson currently has the romantic movie The Longest Ride playing in theaters and she’ll soon be seen in the Disney sci-fi adventure film Tomorrowland opposite George Clooney. 2015 is poised to be a busy year for the young actress who also recently completed work on Cook with Eddie Murphy.
In recognition of her upcoming films, CinemaCon selected Robertson as the 2015 Star of Tomorrow. Before she took the stage to accept her award during the Big Screen Achievement Awards at Caesars Palace in Vegas, Robertson talked about what it was like working on the Disney film, her love of all things Disney, and her career thus far.
The Tomorrowland Plot: From Disney comes two-time Oscar winner Brad Bird’s mystery adventure Tomorrowland, starring Academy Award® winner George Clooney. Bound by a shared destiny, former boy genius Frank (Clooney), jaded by disillusionment, and Casey (Robertson), a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity, embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space known only as “Tomorrowland.” What they must do there changes the world—and them—forever.
Home Sweet Home! Or maybe not!!! On the 12th episode of Outlander season one we witness Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) return home after four years. The first clash with Captain Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) took Jamie away. But before we get to Jamie’s flashbacks of that terrible day, we need to actually arrive at Lallybroch. The episode begins with the breathtaking scenery of the Highlands in Scotland. As our couple comes into view, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) is explaining airplanes to Jamie. I love these little interjections of the 20th century into the 18th, now that she can talk to Jamie about all of it after the last episode, “The Devils Mark,” where she admits she came from the future. Jamie says, “It must be God’s own view,” when looking out from a plane. Too cute how he is really trying to envision the world she speaks about.
He then asks Claire how old she is. Rudeness, you don’t ask a woman her age!! She says she is 27 years old, about four years older than Jamie. I’m sure many might think Jamie is older than he is, especially given all he has already endured in his life, but he is only around 23 years old. Of course, Claire has been through a world war as well, so age has little to do with wisdom sometimes. And, then again, it often has something to do with poor judgments and Jamie makes a few of those during this homecoming.
They crest a hill and in the distance Jamie points out to Claire that it is Lallybroch. They hop down from Donas (Sleepy is the horse’s real name) and walk the rest of the way to the front of the castle courtyard. Jamie immediately has a flashback to his whipping by BJR as he was tied to the entryway. That scene was in the second episode “Castle Leoch” when Jamie tells Claire about the scars on his back. Walking up to the castle Jamie also tells Claire that Dougal told him of a rumor that BJR had gotten his sister pregnant. In the book, Jamie is much more tormented by all of this. He hasn’t written home to even tell his sister he was still alive because he felt so much guilt over anything she had endured, especially the possibility of a child by BJR.
They walk up to the front entrance and Jamie stops short, with another flashback to the situation with BJR. Claire walks in and starts chatting with a little boy sitting near the steps to the house. Jenny (Laura Donnelly) comes around the house just then. She drops the basket of wash she was carrying and runs, holding her current pregnant belly, to give Jamie a hug. Jamie saw the boy run over and thinks it is Randall’s child. Jenny introduces the boy as wee Jamie (Aaron Wright), named after himself. Enter the argument between brother and sister. The book has it as a huge blowout that goes on for a long while. The stubborn streak in both is in full flare. The show does not make the confrontation between them as big, though some words are thrown around to be sure. In the show, Jenny threw a good dose of venom at Claire, the book it was not so obvious. There was an initial suspicion of Claire from Jenny, but in the show she is openly hostile to Claire.
About the time Jamie is chastising Jenny for the second child on the way, Ian (Steven Cree), Jenny’s husband comes walking up and corrects the entire situation with the truth that Jamie wouldn’t receive from Jenny. Ian is her husband and both children are his. Inside, Jamie makes Jenny tell him what happened with BJR after he was knocked out. Jenny reluctantly explains what happened. This part was very close to the book and how BJR treated Jenny when he took her inside the house that day. Jamie thought BJR raped her, and that was his intention at the time. But at this time it is unknown what BJR’s true sexual preferences are.
Jenny tells Jamie that he is rough with her, and throws her on the bed. He then starts stroking himself to get ready but can’t get it up. She starts laughing at him, and he knocks her around a bit more. She keeps laughing at him and he eventually knocks her out cold. He leaves her there and departs. He never did rape her.
Claire joined in with Jenny asking Jamie for an apology and Jamie takes Claire into the other room to educate her again on how a wife should act in public. He doesn’t tell her not to be herself in private, but in public she is not to contradict his word or opinions.
Our Sassenach does remind him that he will still hear her opinions in private. I don’t think Jamie would expect anything less from her. She does still have to get used to the customs of this time, so Claire shows she is still feeling her way. In this episode, Jamie demonstrates he is trying to do the same thing. He is Laird with responsibilities that come along with the position.
The next day is a rent-gathering day from the tenants, and a time to celebrate the Laird’s return. Jamie shows arrogance to begin with, which is very much out of his character. A certain level of boyhood arrogance is expected, and demonstrated in the book…but very little. The show overdoes this element to the point of it being excessive. Much of the show involves interactions where Jamie is butting heads with Jenny, and he continues to remind her he is just trying to be what their father would have expected. There is a need to demonstrate this element of course, and the book does as well. It just feels like too fine a point is placed on it for too long in the episode. I will let you be the judge for yourself, Mo Charaid!
They are then taken to the Laird’s chamber to settle in. Jamie begins to tell Claire much more about his father, and even reaches under the bed where his father’s sword is still placed. I miss that they don’t say anything about his mother in this episode. Claire just grins as Jamie is relaying memories of his father to her. Jamie eventually gets into the discussion around the last time he saw his father, Black Brian (Douglas Henshall), alive. It was at Fort William on the day he was flogged the second time. He saw him for a brief moment in the hallway on the way to BJR’s office. His father just barely had time to give him a kiss on the cheek and tell him to be strong. Jamie was whisked away to BJR’s office for a little ‘chat’. Nothing with Randall is ever little.
Much is revealed about the man in the proposal he puts before Jamie. He gives Jamie an alternative to being flogged. Jamie could be ‘buggered’, as he calls it, by Randall or take his flogging as scheduled. This is our first real understanding that he likes the lads instead of the lasses. Jamie, still feeling his father’s kiss, decides against the offer that would have given him his freedom. When Jamie is telling Claire about this he appears almost embarrassed that Randall wanted him, his body.
In the book there is a little Bible that Jamie carries that fell into his hands through the doctor at the fort. A man’s name is in the book, and is the reason he carried it. BJR had broken that man to the point he killed himself. We know that Jamie to be a man of a profoundly strong will, and he wouldn’t take Randall’s offer because he wouldn’t let the man break him. But the sight of his son being flogged was what did cause Jamie’s father’s death. Jamie didn’t know he was there at the time or that he had died. Jamie found out later when he was determined to be strong enough to hear the news. Of course, Jamie feels responsible for his father’s death after all this. Natural reaction!
The next day was Quarter Day when rents were gathered and all those of the lands come to pay their respects to the new Laird. You get to see some of the people of the area. Such great Scottish people!! Jamie does go against his sister’s and Ian’s advice for what is needed. They have been running the lands for the four years while Jamie has been away, and yet Jamie does not even so much as ask how the community has been handling the difficult past few years. At the end of the long day of drinking and socializing, Jamie staggers up the stairs to the Laird’s chamber. Claire is already in bed and WAS asleep. They have kind of a “drunken husband home from a night out with the guys” conversation, and Jamie passes out. The inevitable hangover follows the next morning.
Jamie finds out that the mill is not working after biting into a piece of bread that’s like eating pebbles, so he and Claire go down to look at the mill. Not the wisest of decisions since he is still wanted by the British. Jamie has to strip down and get into extremely cold water to go under the mill wheel. Gratuitous butt shot moment that we Sassenachs love!! Jenny races, as fast as she can heavy with child, across the field after them. Claire, ever the nurse, tells her she shouldn’t be racing up there in her condition. Jenny turns Claire around to see a British patrol coming. Jamie has to dive and stay underwater for a very long time.
The British have one of their number get down from his horse. He just happens to have a mill on his own property so he’s offering to help. Just then the wheel starts to turn, with a shirt stuck to it. Upon the British exit, up pops a completely all-natural Jamie from the freezing water. Not wanting his sister to see him naked, he turns around and she sees for the first time the strips on his back left there by BJR. He asks her to turn around so he could get out “before his cock snaps off” as he puts it. I can’t make up a better line than that. I could make a shrinkage crack, but why put insult to injury..{snort}. Having seen his scars for the first time, Jenny runs off feeling responsible for them. She thinks BJR did it because she laughed at him.
That night Claire is walking the halls and Ian happens by. Claire was looking at a picture of their mother, Ellen. Claire and Ian have a nice exchange about Jenny’s picture hanging right next to her mother’s picture. They have a sweet interaction about Fraser stubbornness. What in-laws do not bond over the traits of the siblings? Through this interaction Claire is reminded that she needs to bring Jamie back to reality a bit, so she goes right into their room to do just that. Okay, now tell me what wife hasn’t rolled their husband out of bed at least once during their marriage? Claire gives him a bit of an attitude adjustment and reality check rolled up into one, so the next morning Jamie goes to visit his father’s grave. Jenny and Jamie have a talk and finally get it out. They come to the shared understanding that it really was Black Jack that caused their father’s death.
That night Jamie tells Claire when he actually fell in love with her. This has been an exchange that fans have been waiting for and is one of the most loved passages of the book. Though more could have been communicated from what was written in the book, it was a nice exchange between Jamie and Claire. The next morning Claire wakes to find Jamie already gone from the bed. She rises and gets dressed. She comes out of the room to look down from the balcony overlooking the main living area to see a pistol pointed right at Jamie’s face. What a way to start your day, even before your morning coffee!! I guess we know how next week will start.
16+ million viewers tuned in to watch Diane Sawyer interview Bruce Jenner on April 24, 2015’s special episode 20/20. The episode was the highest rated episode of the series since March 2000, and Nielsen Social reported “Bruce Jenner – The Interview” was the subject of 972,000 tweets. Additionally, the Bruce Jenner special in which he talked about his life and his transition to being a transgender woman was the largest Friday night non-sports broadcast since 2003.
Jenner told Diane Sawyer during the interview that for all intents and purposes, he is a woman. He candidly discussed his history of cross-dressing in private and was open about what he’s been doing in order to prepare for life as a female.
Following the interview, E! confirmed Jenner will be featured in a new documentary series. The untitled show will “tell Bruce’s intimate story and will join him as he seeks out his ‘new normal’.” According to E!’s announcement, he is now living as “the person he feels he was born to be.” The upcoming series will be made up of eight one-hour episodes that will kick off on July 26, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT.
“Bruce is incredibly courageous and an inspiration, and we are proud to be entrusted with this deeply personal and important story,” stated Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Programming and Development, E! “This series will present an unfiltered look as Bruce boldly steps into uncharted territory and is true to himself for the first time.”
Jenner will executive produce the series along with Gil Goldschein, Jeff Jenkins, Farnaz Farjam, and Andrea Metz.
Francis Lawrence was the 2015 Director of the Year award winner at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of National Association of Theater Owners members. Lawrence, who directed three of the four Hunger Games films (Catching Fire and Mockingjay parts one and two), picked up the award during the Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony on April 23rd at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Prior to taking the stage, Lawrence took the time to participate in a press conference where he answered questions about The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, what audiences can expect from the final Hunger Games film, and working with Hunger Games star, Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 plot: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 now brings the franchise to its powerful fourth chapter in which Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) now fully realizes the stakes are no longer just for survival—they are for the future.
With the nation of Panem in a full-scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends—including Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin), and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson)—Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to stage an assassination attempt on President Snow, who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.”
Oscar nominee Frank Langella will be reprising his role as Gabriel in season four of FX’s critically acclaimed series The Americans. The Americans is set in the 1980s and stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell as Russian spies attempting to blend in as a normal American family. Langella’s Gabriel works with Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell’s characters as a KGB handler.
“Frank brings such instant depth and complexity to the part,” stated executive producer Joel Fields. “You know that Gabriel loves Philip and Elizabeth. But you can also feel, on a visceral level, what he’s been through as a Soviet. And if he needs them to do what they don’t want to do, he’s going to use everything in his power to make sure they do it.”
“What we were looking for when we first conceived of the part,” explained The Americans creator/executive producer Joe Weisberg, “was an actor who could really seemed paternal, in all that that word means: loving, nurturing, but also intimidating and demanding when it was required. Frank just gives you the sense of history: the history of a man who’s been through a lot, but also that particularly sad, deep, yearning history of Russia that frankly, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky make one feel. It’s just awesome to be able to write for him.”
Langella was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Frost/Nixon. He’s been busy working in feature films and on TV since the mid 1960s, and he’s just about to start work on Youth in Oregon this June. In addition, Langella has three films coming to theaters this year: 5 to 7, Driftless Area, and Captain Fantastic.
Evan Peters as Jimmy Darling in ‘American Horror Story’ (Photo by Michele K. Short/FX)
FX confirmed Evan Peters will return for the fifth edition of the horror anthology series, American Horror Story. Peters is back for American Horror Story: Hotel, joining returning AHS actors Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, and Chloe Sevigny. Lady Gaga and Cheyenne Jackson are also part of the American Horror Story: Hotel ensemble.
Peters and Paulson have been a part of all five AHS seasons.
Filming’s expected to begin on the new 13 episodes this summer, and FX is planning an October premiere of season five.
In addition to American Horror Story, Peters’ credits include Elvis & Nixon, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Kick-Ass, Never Back Down, and Invasion.
In Adult Beginners, Nick Kroll plays a tech entrepreneur whose product launch goes belly up, losing himself and his investors a lot of money. This forces him to move in with his sister (Rose Byrne) and her husband (Bobby Cannavale). She’s pregnant with child number two, and her husband may be stooping a co-worker but is otherwise a great guy … if one can look past the little lapse in monogamy.
This all sounds like fun, doesn’t it? For an extra fun plot element, Kroll has to resort to babysitting his nephew to earn his keep. This not only provides him with the opportunity to really see what priorities are most important in life (message!) but he also gets to fool around with the cute nanny (Paula Garces) of another kid from the park.
Are you excited now?
There’s also a Joel McHale cameo where he plays a bit of a self-obsessed jerk … which is so out of typecasting for him (smell that sarcasm).
Any more excited yet?
Yeah, well … you can’t really blame me for falling into this trap. I didn’t look to see what this movie was about before I watched it. I just have a basic rule of watching pretty much anything with Rose Byrne in it, and I always enjoy Bobby Cannavale. Sadly, here they’re playing generic clichés and not too far from other roles I’ve seen them in so even their inclusion couldn’t do much to perk things up.
As for Kroll, he’s the star of the show. He’s played good supporting characters before, and I’m a general fan of his comedy, but partially due to the script and partially due to his droll delivery, his role here is not really all that likable. Even as he starts to become less selfish, it’s hard to tell if he’s doing it because he’s bored or if he’s actually learning something.
And really, all of these characters leave us wishing we could like them a little bit more, want to root for their success just a little bit more. However, this feels like a first-time script crafted by someone who put far too many of their personal details into the plot but changed the names to disguise the source of their emotional trauma. It’s slightly surprising to see that none of those with writing credits (including Kroll himself) are first-time writers.
The characters are supposed to follow an arc but it never feels like they’re working to become the people they eventually become. The film simply keeps moving forward and each person is slightly different when all is said and done, though only because they’re supposed to be and not because anyone took the time to really think about why they should be. The end result is a rather stagnant effort that wasn’t so unappealing that I took the effort to get off the couch and stop the screener I was watching, but this felt more like background noise I’d put on while working on another project, cooking dinner, or surfing the internet.
You’re much better off going with something like Cedar Rapids, Your Sister’s Sister, or even last year’s The Skeleton Twins if you’re looking for characters dealing with a crisis of self. Adult Beginners only made me wish I had been watching one of those other movies (or maybe Beginners since the title seemed so obvious and it’s a far, far better film). There, at least I gave you some good prospects on other films you probably haven’t seen. So reading this wasn’t a complete waste, right? Right?
