Paramount Pictures’ World War Z is showing off a new poster featuring Brad Pitt gazing out at the new world under the control of zombies. And while the poster’s sort of cool, I’m still not sold on the film itself. As a fan of the World War Z book, I’ve yet to see a single scene from the movie that appears to have been based on something from the source material. It’ll be interesting to see if anything at all from the book did actually make its way into the movie version.
Directed by Marc Forster, World War Z also features Mireille Enos, Matthew Fox, and James Badge Dale.
The Plot: The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself. Enos plays Gerry’s wife Karen Lane; Daniella Kertesz is his comrade in arms, Segen.
Disney/Pixar’s prequel to Monsters, Inc – Monsters University – finds Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) in college and learning how to scare people. And in these new videos from the upcoming June 21, 2013 release, we get to see more of their fellow college students partying it up in G-rated fun.
In addition to Crystal and Goodman, the voice cast includes Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Dave Foley, Sean P. Hayes, Joel Murray, Peter Sohn, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion, Bobby Moynihan, Julia Sweeney, Aubrey Plaza, Tyler Labine, John Krasinski, Bonnie Hunt, Beth Behrs and John Ratzenberger.
The Plot: Ever since college-bound Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) was a little monster, he has dreamed of becoming a Scarer—and he knows better than anyone that the best Scarers come from Monsters University (MU). But during his first semester at MU, Mike’s plans are derailed when he crosses paths with hotshot James P. Sullivan, “Sulley” (voice of John Goodman), a natural-born Scarer.
The pair’s out-of-control competitive spirit gets them both kicked out of the University’s elite Scare Program. To make matters worse, they realize they will have to work together, along with an odd bunch of misfit monsters, if they ever hope to make things right.
A&E will not be renewing Intervention for another season. The network is ending the series after 13 seasons, with the final episode marking the show’s 243rd intervention. The final five episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series will kick off on June 13, 2013 at 9pm.
“As Intervention comes to an end, we’re proud to have paved the way for such an original and groundbreaking series,” said David McKillop, Executive Vice President of Programming for A&E Network and BIO Channel. “We’re honored to have been a part of the 243 interventions since its premiere in March of 2005, leading to the 156 individuals that are currently sober to this day.”
Details on the Last Intervention Episodes:
The final season of Intervention will feature some of the most intense and gripping stories of the series. The premiere episode introduces Jessica, a 29-year-old woman squatting in an abandoned house with no electricity or running water on the West side of Chicago. Jessica copes with her past by injecting heroin, a drug that was introduced to her by her own father.
The final season 14 will also feature Dana, a mother addicted painkillers and crack cocaine after a tragic fire turned her world upside down; Gina, a 34-year-old woman who uses heroin to escape the memories of her past; Kaila, a young girl suffering from a fatal eating disorder; Ryan, a 23-year-old who turned to drugs as a way of coping with his mother’s sudden suicide; and Eric, the once funny and generous son who has transformed into a junkie that hustles, steals and pawns to scrape together enough money for his fix.
Addiction specialists, and fan favorites, Jeff Van Vonderen, Candy Finnigan and Donna Chavous each return for the series’ final chapter, along with Ken Seeley who comes back for one of the most difficult and dramatic episodes in the series’ history.
Claire Danes and Damian Lewis star in ‘Homeland’ (Photo by Showtime)
We’re still four months away from the season three premiere of Homeland, but Showtime’s feeding our need for more news on the riveting series by releasing the names of actors who’ll be guest starring on the upcoming season along with character descriptions. Season three will kick off on September 29, 2013 at 9pm, followed by the premiere of the new series Masters of Sex.
The Season 3 Plot:
Homeland season three opens during the aftermath of the horrific terror attack that decimated the U.S. intelligence apparatus and prompted a global manhunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist – Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis). As Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) begin to pick up the pieces of their shattered professional and personal lives, they are swept up in the political and media firestorm surrounding the terror attack and the subsequent search for Brody’s whereabouts.
Season 3’s Guest Stars Include:
– Joanna Merlin (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) as “Grandma Lois,” Jessica Brody’s mother.
– Nazanin Boniadi (How I Met Your Mother) as “Fara,” a capable analyst despite her young appearance.
Sanjay and Craig will premiere on May 25, 2013 at 10:30am on Nickelodeon. What’s Sanjay and Craig? It’s a new animated series about best buddies: one a human and one a talking snake.
And the coolness factor of Sanjay and Craig is increased by the fact that Chris Hardwick (The Talking Dead) provides the voice of the smooth-talking, master of disguise snake named Craig. 30 Rock‘s Maulik Pancholy tackles the voice of Sanjay, a 12-year-old boy described as ‘excitable’ – but aren’t all 12-year-old boys excitable?
Season one consists of 20 episodes.
The Plot: Sanjay and Craig’s relationship is an alliance of equals, with Sanjay relying on his best buddy to aid his misadventures through their suburban neighborhood. From perfecting the ultimate bike skid, tightroping across a pool of garbage on a dare, or Craig manipulating a contest to win his best buddy one hundred dogs, their routine hijinks often cross into the land of the fantastical and the absurd. Only Sanjay and his closest friends can hear Craig’s warped words of wisdom.
The only thing that stands in their way is their unhinged, snake-phobic neighbor, Mr. Noodman (Tony Hale), who’s always on the verge of figuring out that Craig can talk. Additional voice actors include Linda Cardellini as Megan, Matt Jones as Hector, and Kunal Nayyar as Vijay.
During the series premiere “Brett Venom MD,” Sanjay and Craig infiltrate the hospital to see the world’s first butt transplant. Then in “Laugh Quake,” the two go on a quest to find the ultimate laugh.
Animated kids movies these days understand that there are at least two distinct demographics that come to each showing: children and their parents. The goal is to fascinate and wow the wee ones while still making the time enjoyable, or better yet, actually entertaining for the adults who will probably be forced to put the movie on a loop once it hits the home market. Unfortunately, Epic doesn’t seem to understand that notion.
Perhaps the writing was on the wall once the title of the movie was announced. I understand changing it from what William Joyce’s book was called The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, that’s anything but an eye-catching moniker. But if you’re going to call your story “Epic,” and that word doesn’t actually tie into anything specific (no characters say “Epic,” none of them are named “Epic,” and “Epic” doesn’t appear on-screen anywhere other than the title), you’re simply asking for trouble. The only way not to receive criticism from the adults who were bored by your movie is to make the plot … well … epic.
The script is a Frankensteinian assemblage of other better kids’ movies like The Neverending Story, Arthur and the Invisibles, Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, and the The Spiderwick Chronicles. Some of that comparison is unfair as Joyce’s book was written in 1996, prior to two of those properties also seeing their source material gets published. However, if something like John Carter taught the world anything about adapting books into movies, it’s not about when your book hit the store shelves, it’s about when it hit the mainstream cultural zeitgeist.
In Epic, a race of tiny beings keeps the natural order of the forest in check. There are those who want to introduce rot and decay to the land (creepy bugs and bats and whatnot), and then there are the good guys (i.e., snails, pretty birds, and tiny human-like characters … because humans are always the good guys; Yes, that’s an example of me being snarky). The balance of power is put in jeopardy when the good Queen of the forest (Beyoncé Knowles) is defeated by the leader of the evil forces, Mandrake (Christoph Waltz). Circumstances bring a human down to size in the form of Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried), whose father (Jason Sudeikis) has been searching for proof of the existence of a miniature society in the forest for decades. If you don’t know how this is going to end, I recommend finishing primary school.
On the plus side, the animation itself is fine, and kids are going to find most of this fun to watch. Then again, they’ll watch anything as long as there’s a constant stream of flickering images, bright colors, and sound.
On the negative side is everything else. Putting aside the ho-hum, seen it many times over story, the manner in which it unfolds is so bland and unexciting it put a fellow critic to sleep on more than one occasion (and our screening took place at 10:30 in the morning). I might normally be annoyed by such behavior taking place right next to me, but it gave me something to be amused by; the film sure wasn’t doing so on its own.
The voice work is a mix of serviceable (Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson), uninspired (Colin Farrell, Christoph Waltz), and flat-out awful (Beyoncé). Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd attempt to inject life into the proceedings as a slug and snail, respectively, but for some reason, I kept thinking of the two racist Autobots from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen so I can’t really give them points on this effort. If it weren’t for my constant befuddlement at why there was one Irishman (Farrell) and one German (Waltz) amid the entirety of the forest creatures who otherwise were American, I probably would have nodded off myself.
Simply put, parents will likely be forced to endure this movie because their children haven’t developed anything close to a discerning cinematic palette. However, to mitigate the unavoidable chore that this task will end up being, any two-parent system should play a game of rock, paper, scissors (best two out of three, shoot on three). The loser brings the kid(s) to the theater. Or better yet, see if one parent will bring a group of kids and spare even more adults from the proceedings. For their efforts, I recommend a gift card to BevMo! or at least a nice bottle of wine (maybe a Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon .. Get it? Oak? Forest? The plot? It’s also a great bottle of wine … Oh, never mind).
Everyone else not being forced into this theater should stay away and find some other form of entertainment; if not another movie, then maybe something more exciting … like learning to crochet. And no, this is not me being snarky.
GRADE: D+
Epic opens in theaters on May 24, 2013 and is rated PG for mild action, some scary images and brief rude language.
Building on the momentum of Fast Five, racing into theaters now is Fast & Furious 6 (or just Furious 6 according to the opening credits). For those who didn’t watch any of the previous installments, a quick recap of the entire series is in the opening credits – though this isn’t Harry Potter. You can drop in or drop out at any time and catch onto what’s going on pretty quickly. No one’s ever said the screenwriting was the heart and soul of the proceedings.
In any case, with what continuity the series does have, this one picks up immediately after the last one (if you waited for the extra scene in those credits). Our anti-heroes are avoiding extradition to the U.S. while enjoying the millions of dollars they snatched while in the process of briefly teaming up with U.S. Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “everyone still calls me The Rock” Johnson). The possibility that a former member of their crew (Michelle Rodriguez) is still alive draws them out to once again team up with Hobbs, who this time needs their help in order to capture a highly skilled heist crew led by a man named Owen Shaw (Luke Evans).
What takes place over the course of the two-plus hour runtime is some of the most consistent and exciting action since … well … the last Fast & Furious movie actually. When the series transitioned from being solely about street racing and became focused on the heist elements, it both broadened its fan base and gave itself a structure that was so dearly needed. The genre is simple enough for screenwriters to follow, and even with all of the hammy acting and some truly terrible dialogue, all of that gets washed away from the brain during the next adrenaline-packed sequence of muscles and cars.
The ladies take a bit more of a central role here, and that’s nice to see. The addition of MMA fighter turned actress Gina Carano goes a long way and her fights (yes, plural) with Michelle Rodriguez are probably the best fights in the film (and there are plenty more of them between the many other characters). This is also the first film starring The Rock this year I’m going to want to see again, after disappointing results in films like Snitch, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Pain & Gain.
Getting down to it, Fast & Furious 6 delivers on its premise and is easily the best action movie of 2013 to this point. Much of that action is ridiculously unrealistic and I nearly fell out of my seat in relation to one stunt that rivals Twister for believability. However, that’s fine because the over-the-top nature of the action is consistent throughout. There’s also a decent amount of comedy thrown into the mix to break the tensions, and while there are still a few too many scenes where the script attempts to let this collection of models attempt to act, that’s counterbalanced by other elements.
And like with so many movies these days, wait for a bonus scene in the credits. It will give you a hint at what’s coming in the 7th film (which is slated for a July 11th, 2014 release).
GRADE: B+
Fast and Furious 6 opens in theaters on May 24, 2013 and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action and mayhem throughout, some sexuality and language.
Muse has been confirmed to perform at the London premiere of Paramount Pictures’ World War Z. The Grammy Award-winning band, whose music is featured in the film, will perform at Horse Guards Parade Ground following the premiere in London’s Leicester Square on Sunday, June 2, 2013.
Tickets will go on sale May 28th at 9am. For more details, visit worldwarz.co.uk/MUSE.
More on World War Z:
World War Z revolves around an ex-United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos and James Badge Dale star in the film. Marc Forster directs from a screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Drew Goddard & Damon Lindelof. Paramount’s releasing it in theaters on June 21, 2013.
Spike TV’s just released a lengthy list of presenters/attendees for the upcoming Guys Choice awards taking place on June 8, 2013 and airing on June 12th at 9pm. Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Vin Diesel, Jeff ‘The Dude’ Bridges, Jason Sudeikis, Andrew Luck, Questlove, Jackie Chan, Chrissy Teigen, Katherine Webb, Workaholics Anders Holm, Blake Anderson and Adam DeVine, and Bar Rescue‘s Jon Taffer are the latest celebs confirmed for the show.
They’ll be joining previously announced attendees/presenters Ben Affleck who will receive the Guy of the Year award, Jimmy Kimmel who’s receiving the Funniest M.F. award, and Vince Vaughn who’s being honored with the Guycon award. Kevin Hart will be in attendance to pick up the first ever Stand-Up of the Year award, Emilia Clarke has been named the winner of the Holy Grail of Hot award, and Felix Baumgartner is this year’s recipient of the Mankind award for his world record free-fall space jump of 127,852.4 feet last October.
In the comedy movie Delivery Man, Vince Vaughn stars as a sperm donor who’s responsible for fathering 533 children. And as tie-in to the film, Disney’s offering a Father’s Day contest (although there’s no requirement that dads who enter have more than one child).
The Details [Courtesy of Disney]:
“Share a funny photo of your father on Twitter or Instagram with #DeliveryManSweeps to enter the Delivery Man Sweepstakes for a chance to deliver the perfect Father’s Day gift, a 50” inch Flat Screen TV! 10 lucky second place winners will also receive a $250 Gift Certificate to put towards your dad’s gadget of choice. All winners will be announced on Father’s Day on Facebook.com/DeliverManMovie!”
The Plot:
An affable underachiever finds out he’s fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity.
Delivery Man opens in theaters on November 22, 2013.
A&E will not be renewing Intervention for another season. The network is ending the series after 13 seasons, with the final episode marking the show’s 243rd intervention. The final five episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series will kick off on June 13, 2013 at 9pm.
Spike TV’s just released a lengthy list of presenters/attendees for the upcoming Guys Choice awards taking place on June 8, 2013 and airing on June 12th at 9pm. Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Vin Diesel, Jeff ‘The Dude’ Bridges, Jason Sudeikis, Andrew Luck, Questlove, Jackie Chan, Chrissy Teigen, Katherine Webb, Workaholics Anders Holm, Blake Anderson and Adam DeVine, and Bar Rescue‘s Jon Taffer are the latest celebs confirmed for the show.
In the comedy movie 
