My prediction: Starz has a huge hit on their hands with Outlander, debuting this summer. Based on the bestselling and incredibly addicting book series by Diana Gabaldon, this lengthy trailer completely captures the tone and the setting of Gabaldon’s books and demonstrates why Caitriona Balfe was the right choice to play Claire and why Sam Heughan was chosen for the role of Jamie Fraser.
The Plot:
The Outlander series spans the genres of romance, science fiction, history, and adventure in one epic tale. It follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945, who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743.
Upon her arrival, she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. But when she is forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate relationship is ignited. Now, Claire’s heart is torn between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Taking their cue from the UK series, Lifetime has ordered up a new docuseries titled Child Genius which will be about…well, that’s fairly obvious, isn’t it? The network’s given the greenlight to eight episodes of the competition series that will focus on some of America’s “most extraordinary and gifted children and their families as they prepare for a national intelligence competition.”
Working with American MENSA, Child Genius will follow intelligent children as they go through the process of competing for the title of Child Genius 2014 in the first annual national intelligence showdown.
In cooperation with American MENSA, the competition will take place over several weeks this summer and will test America’s best young minds on their knowledge of logic, current affairs, history, memory, science, spelling, math and debate. Only one phenomenal kid will shine brighter than the rest and be named Child Genius 2014.
Transformation specialists and trainers Chris Powell and his wife, Heidi, return for more “Extreme Weight Loss” (Photo: ABC / Rick Rowell)
ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss returns on May 27, 2014 at 8pm ET/PT for season four of the reality series in which 17 participants spend one year attempting to change their lives and lose weight. Chris and Heidi Powell will be back working with this season’s participants as they try and transform their bodies.
Extreme Weight Loss Season 4 Participants
Charita & Ty (Colorado Springs, CO; Oklahoma City, OK) – Charita/310 lbs., a mother of three who wants to be able to dance again, & Ty/480 lbs., a baseball prospect who could get a professional contract if he can get under 300 lbs. (This will be the first time in the show’s history that the participants go head-to-head, with only one in this episode making it to the final weigh-in.)
Kathie & Josh (Charlotte, NC) – Single mother/255 lbs. & her 21-year-old son/345 lbs., who lives at home.
Bruce (Salt Lake City, UT) – Football coach/382 lbs., who wants to confront his imprisoned father, a convicted child molester, for what he says happened to him during his childhood.
Jeff & Juliana (Denver, CO) – Father/423 lbs. & his 15-year-old daughter/265 lbs., who have a strained relationship.
Jayce (Nashville, TN) – Country songwriter/417 lbs., who wants to be a performer.
Melissa (Shadyside, OH) – Widow/301 lbs. who was married to an Afghanistan war veteran until he committed suicide as a result of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
David (St. Louis, MO) – Gourmet chef/413 lbs. who can’t overcome the guilt he feels about his brother & sister’s deaths.
Brandi (Atlanta, GA) – Former Pageant Queen/329 lbs. who wants to be pretty again.
Georgeanna (Tulsa, OK) – Pastor’s wife/315 lbs. who was a former gymnast & cheerleader, but stopped pursuing both to become a mom.
Sara (Owensboro, KY) – The first “little person”/245 lbs. ever on the show.
Cassie (Milwaukee, WI) – Mother/347 lbs. who wants to get healthy to meet the son she gave up for adoption 18 years ago.
Rod (Tallahassee, FL) – Drama teacher/448 lbs., who wants to come out as being gay and then pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
Christy & Kenny (Las Vegas, NV; Oklahoma City, OK) – Christy/380 lbs., who tried to commit suicide after experiencing teenage bullying, & Kenny/410 lbs., a former Marine who wants to make his kids proud. (Their head-to-head episode is not to be missed; only one of them will make it to the final weigh-in, while the other is the first participant ever to be kicked off the show for bad behavior.)
The Details:
The hit series Extreme Weight Loss, a unique, non-competitive show about weight-loss transformations that documents the unprecedented 365-day journey of courageous, “super-obese” participants, will make its Season 4 premiere on TUESDAY, MAY 27 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET/PT) on the ABC Television Network. In each of the 13 stand-alone, two-hour episodes, the participants — whose lives have become unmanageable because of their weight — will undergo a transformation not only of their bodies, but of who they are as individuals. With the proper nourishment, exercise and guidance assured by “Extreme Weight Loss,” they are afforded a fresh perspective.
It’s no longer a mystery as to which mystery writers will win the 2014 Edgar Allan Poe Awards as the Mystery Writers of America have unveiled this year’s winners. The Edgar Allan Poe Awards recognize the best in “mystery fiction, non-fiction and television,” with the 2014 winners receiving their awards at the 2014 gala banquet held today at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
BEST NOVEL Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger (Simon & Schuster — Atria Books)
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews (Simon & Schuster — Scribner)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood (Penguin Group USA — Penguin Books)
BEST FACT CRIME The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War
by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur Books)
BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL America is Elsewhere: The Noir Tradition in the Age of Consumer Culture
by Erik Dussere (Oxford University Press)
BEST SHORT STORY
“The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” — Bibliomysteries
by John Connolly (Mysterious Bookshop)
BEST JUVENILE One Came Home by Amy Timberlake (Random House Children’s Books — Alfred A. Knopf BFYR)
BEST YOUNG ADULT
Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher (Hachette Book Group — Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode 1” — The Fall, Teleplay byAllan Cubitt(Netflix)
ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
“The Wentworth Letter” — Criminal Element’s Malfeasance Occasional
By Jeff Soloway (St. Martin’s Press)
GRAND MASTER
Robert Crais
Carolyn Hart
RAVEN AWARDS
Aunt Agatha’s Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Michigan
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER — MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
(Presented at MWA’s Agents & Editors Party on Wednesday, April 30, 2014)
Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman (Random House Publishing Group — Ballantine Books)
The appeal of the new Terminator movie just increased substantially as Paramount Pictures/Skydance Productions have announced Doctor Who‘s Matt Smith will star in the reboot of the sci-fi franchise. Smith joins a cast that includes Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Byung Hun Lee, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
According to the official announcement, Smith has signed on to play “a new character with a strong connection to John Connor.”
Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier wrote the script and Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) is set to direct the sci-fi action reboot. The new Terminator will open in theaters on July 1, 2015.
In addition to Doctor Who, Smith’s credits include The Street, Moses Jones, Christopher and His Kind, and the upcoming Ryan Gosling movie, Lost River.
Andrew Garfield and host Jimmy Fallon on May 1, 2014 (Photo by: Nathaniel Chadwick/NBC)
Proving he’s pretty much up for anything while promoting The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Andrew Garfield showed off his musical skills by performing the Spider-Man theme song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Garfield began the song looking quite soulful while seated in a guest chair next to Fallon’s desk, but then as the song went on, he really got into it.
Fallon eventually joined in by accompanying Garfield on the tambourine.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in theaters on May 2, 2014.
“I like to think Spider-Man gives people hope,” says Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) to his on-again off-again girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) in the action movie sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters on May 2, 2014.
Peter Parker loves his costumed alter-ego Spider-Man and all of his superhero/crime-fighting abilities, soaring above the big skyscrapers in New York, chasing criminals and leaving them caught in one of his webs for the police to arrest. The one thing he can’t seem to shake is seeing Gwen’s dead father almost every time he’s with her. He’s haunted by the fact they he went back on his word that he would stay away from Gwen to keep her safe from his enemies. This is causing serious strain on their already uneven relationship.
Meanwhile, one of Spider-Man’s biggest fans, engineer/electrician Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) – who was saved by the web-slinger from being rundown by on oncoming truck – has a horrible accident at work (the infamous Oscorp company) and becomes the glowing, electricity-surging Electro. Not really understanding what’s happened to him as he walks the streets of Times Square, Electro begins to draw all the energy and electricity to himself. Surrounded by police Electro becomes both scared and angry and begins to use his energy against them when Spidey shows up to save the day as usual.
Life becomes even busier for Peter when his old childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHann) returns to bury his father, Norman (Chris Cooper), and take over the family business. They reconnect and talk about old times – Harry was there for Peter and was his only friend when he lost his parents – but the friendship is doomed to be short-lived as Harry becomes obsessed with finding Spider-Man believing he is the key to a deadly medical condition Harry suffers from. With Harry getting more desperate and constantly bugging Peter to find Spider-Man for him, and Electro threatening the city, Peter knows that he’s about to face the toughest battle yet in his crime-fighting career.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a big improvement over its predecessor and has some thrilling action scenes but suffers from overacting, horrible dialogue, and a cluttered script.
Andrew Garfield is solid as the cocky web-slinger hero who makes wise cracks and funny one-liners to criminals as he fights them. It’s in the role of Peter Parker, however, where he fails to bring to the screen the nice, shy, smart young man who Toby Maguire captured perfectly in the Sam Raimi films. Emma Stone is cute and feisty as Peter’s love interest Gwen and they have real chemistry on screen, but the dialogue written for them is just awful and at times cringe-worthy.
Jamie Foxx delivers a ridiculous, over-the-top performance as both the awkward and nerdy electrician Max Dillon and the power-surging villain Electro. At times it makes the film seem cartoonish.
Another major problem is with the overly busy script which tries to incorporate and tell a love story, birth of a powerful villain, a cloak and dagger mystery revolving around Peter’s parents and Oscorp, the rekindling of an old friendship, and a second even worse villain who shows up in the last 20 minutes of the film. This really ruins the pacing and direction of the movie.
The wonderful use of 3D in the film is its true highlight as audiences are sure to feel as though they are soaring between sky scrapers with Spider-Man and plunging downward toward the cars and streets as Spidey closes in on the bad guys. It’s how 3D should be used in a superhero movie. The action scenes are exhilarating, especially impressive is the Time Square battle between Spider-Man and Electro.
With a likable hero and exciting action but terrible dialogue and too many plot elements, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn’t the best film in the franchise but it’s not the worst either…it’s right in the middle.
GRADE: C+
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was directed by Marc Webb and is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action/violence.
Delivering a new Godzilla movie to theaters that will be accepted by passionate fans of the iconic creature as well as moviegoers who aren’t necessarily into creature features was a huge task for screenwriter Max Borenstein to undertake. And at the 2014 WonderCon in Anaheim, CA, Borenstein explained his approach to the franchise and what audiences can expect from this Godzilla when Warner Bros Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the film in theaters on May 14, 2014.
Max Borenstein Interview
How did it feel to be a part of the Godzilla franchise?
Max Borenstein: There’s something crazy about trying to restart, reimagine something with such an incredible legacy and so many preconceptions and so many devoted fans. I don’t know if scared was the right term but excited, certainly trying to be thoughtful about it.”
Can you talk about the tone of this new Godzilla movie?
Max Borenstein: “When we started talking about it we wanted to make a Godzilla movie that was going to be more serious in tone than some of them – including the most recent – but that was going to be fun. We wanted to really have a monster that was scary and exciting and feels grounded and real, and if we could do that with a giant 300 foot monster, if you could make people watching the film feel like this could be plausible, that this could be happening, that felt like what we should try to aim for. As a fan of the genre you meet some people who aren’t fans of the genre and you want to try to explain to them why they should care. It felt like let’s make a movie that will convert people, that people will watch and even if they’re not fans of a monster movie, they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, now I get it.’ And people who are fans, they’re going to get their juicy payoff.”
Why didn’t you include any of the classic creatures along with Godzilla?
Max Borenstein: “We were always thinking of the creatures that we invented and trying to sort of invent our own for this movie. It was always about trying to figure out a way in which they could live in the same universe as Godzilla, that we could bring them together that felt our organic and not, ‘Let’s throw two together,’ although I love that also. But the idea here was what would be appropriate for this film, something that’s scary and feels like it exists in the same universe.”
Vivek (Darshan Jariwala, left), JB's Indian liaison, and JB (Jon Hamm) clock potential pitchers in India as Ray (Alan Arkin) sleeps in 'Million Dollar Arm' (Photo by Ishika Mohan/Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
The inspirational baseball movie Million Dollar Arm is showing off a new clip that has nothing to do with baseball. Instead, the “Your Porsche Looks Like a Mini-Van” clip features a quieter moment between Jon Hamm and Lake Bell.
Coming to theaters on May 16, 2014, Million Dollar Arm was directed by Craig Gillespie and co-stars Aasif Mandvi, Bill Paxton, Suraj Sharma, and Alan Arkin.
The Plot:
Based on a true story, sports agent JB Bernstein (Jon Hamm) finds that business has changed and things aren’t going well for his career. In a last ditch effort to save his livelihood he concocts a scheme to find baseball’s next great pitching ace. Hoping to find a young cricket pitcher he can turn into a major league baseball star, JB travels to India to produce a reality show competition called “The Million Dollar Arm.” With the help of cantankerous but eagle-eyed retired baseball scout Ray Poitevint (Alan Arkin), he discovers Dinesh (Madhur Mittal) and Rinku (Suraj Sharma), two 18-year-old boys who have no idea about playing baseball, yet have a knack for throwing a fastball.
Hoping to sign them to major league contracts and make a quick buck, JB brings the boys home to America to train. While the Americans are definitely out of their element in India, the boys, who have never left their rural villages, are equally challenged when they come to the States. As the boys learn the finer points of baseball, JB, with the help of his charming friend Brenda (Lake Bell), learns valuable life lessons about teamwork, commitment and what it means to be a family.
Season two of Netflix’s critically acclaimed comedy/drama Derek will arrive on May 30, 2014 at 12:01am PT, but you don’t have to wait that long to see what’s in store on the new season. Netflix has released an official trailer for the upcoming second season which returns with Ricky Gervais in the title role. Gervais also writes, directs, and executive produces the series.
The cast also includes Karl Pilkington, Kerry Godliman, and David Earl.
The Plot: An Award-winning bittersweet comedy-drama about a group of outsiders living on society’s margins, Derek centers around Derek Noakes (Gervais), a tender, innocent man whose love for his job at a retirement home shines through. Derek cares deeply for the home’s residents because they are kind and funny and tell him stories of what life used to be like. Working alongside Derek is Dougie (Pilkington), his landlord who is one of life’s unlucky individuals; Kev (Earl), a loveable train wreck; and Hannah (Godliman), a care worker in the home and Derek’s best friend. She is smart, witty and hard-working, but unlucky in love, and, like Derek, always puts other people first.
In the second season, Derek’s kindness has truly extended to those around him as he forges new friendships. The retirement home’s residents and employees have built a familial community and Derek’s positive outlook and good-natured spirit allows them to persevere through the difficult times that they sometimes face.
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