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Louisa Mellor Nov 18, 2016

Director David Yates on Fantastic Beasts, Harry Potter, what took the most takes, and the late, great Alan Rickman...

Five years after the Potter circus closed its doors with Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2, the old gang is back with a new film about magical creature conservationist Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne.

See related American Horror Story: Roanoke might be its best season yet American Horror Story season 6: Roanoke finale speculation American Horror Story season 6: Roanoke Chapter 9 review American Horror Story season 6: Roanoke Chapter 8 review

The first of five planned pictures set against the the backdrop of dark wizard Gellart Grindelwald’s rise to power, a sequel to Fantastic Beasts has already been written by Jk Rowling. It’s reported to take place in Paris and will feature a young Albus Dumbledore alongside Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Wednesday’s Supernatural

Supernatural hosted a family reunion of sorts during Wednesday night’s Impala-themed hour when Sam had a vision of the younger version of his dad, as played by occasional guest-star Matt Cohen — except we found out it wasn’t really John Winchester telling him, “The Darkness is coming… God helps those who help themselves.” (As to who really appeared to Sam — could it be the holy deity himself? — that mystery lives on as the boys hunt.)

RelatedSupernatural Stars on Impala-Run Hour: ‘We Never See the Boys Do This Stuff’

“It...

With the advent of the Internet, postmodernism found the perfect vessel. Today, a few clicks and an enter button can thrust you into any realm you so chose – along with a wink and plenty of ironic air quotations. This practice hasn’t solely applied to the common consumer either; tastemakers and artists have also sought this chic alternative in their works. Charlie Kaufman writes about his fictional self in Adaptation (2002), dreams become genres within themselves in Inception (2010), and a super- (anti-) hero mocks comic book movies in next year’s Deadpool.

It’s become so ingrained in the cinema of today that thinking back to a time before deconstructive art becomes a postmodern practice within itself. But we have to keep reminding ourselves what the archetypes of each genre are, otherwise it’s easy to miss the irony and just absorb the quotations. This was something that the late, great...

Quick…name a favorable film where the landscape is run by (or at least partially include) the demographic of little people as part of the instrumental storyline? C’mon…it should not be that difficult, okay? If you want to mention say Darby O’Gill and the Little People then that would fine. How about Bad Santa or Poltergeist for that matter?

In That’s Good Enough, Short Stuff: Top Ten Films Featuring Little People we will take a look at some of the mini megastars that inhabited these movies and contributed their fair share of entertainment value to the on-screen proceedings. The debate as to whether some of these selected films featuring these pint-sized performers are considered positive, exploitative or dismissive are not up for discussion (although one of these considerations could apply in the minds of a few folks). Instead, we want to celebrate the inclusion of...

This was a huge week for movie trailers, so to make sure you don’t miss out on the big ones that didn’t make the Best Stuff cut, we’re beefing up this Best/Worst Trailers intro to incorporate the must-see lot. The first teaser of the Expendables 3 campaign will absolutely get franchise fans pumped, but it’s highly unlikely the gimmick will rouse much interest for those outside the big-guns, big-cast circle. Transcendence opened its marketing effort with a bit of a shtick of its own. For those willing to pay attention, the information is intriguing, but for those who’d rather not listen to the lengthy all-audio description, that Johnny Depp reveal won’t pack much of a punch. We’ve also got the first trailer for 22 Jump Street, and...

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CinemaCon 2013 just dished out loads of never-before-seen footage for many of the hottest upcoming releases and some of it has already made its way to the Web. Man of Steel nearly came out on top, showing off yet another beautifully moody representation of our new Superman, while The Lone Ranger hit middle ground, presenting more train footage, horses and Johnny Depp, but still falling short of justifying its epic budget. However, one CinemaCon debut did manage to crack the top three while another joined the dregs of the Worst Stuff. The Best Stuff 1. R.I.P.D.: As someone who knows nothing about Peter M. Lenkov’s comic book and, in turn, has had zero interest in the big-screen adaptation, the very first R.I.P.D. trailer is a wildly engaging nice surprise. It’s a...

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We start the Top 7. You finish the Top 10.

Ah, the Oscars. We so rarely agree on the best film of the year, and yet you know I can’t quit you. There are plenty of recent Best Picture winners that I like – even love in the case of No Country for Old Men – but my personal favorite hasn’t taken the gold in decades. The same cannot be said for the acting categories. Of course there are winners that leave me less than impressed – you sure were fine in Little Miss Sunshine, Alan Arkin – but recently there have been more than a few instances where my winner is the Academy’s winner. This is especially true over the past few years, as this list will reflect.

Case in point, unless Sally Field shocks on Sunday (February 24) and wins her third Oscar, Anne Hathaway’s performance in Les Misérables will earn...

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

While Hollywood continues to go mad for remakes, 21 Jump Street shows exactly how it should be done, referencing the original in a knowing way that occasionally edges towards parody, but which never destroys the legacy of the original as other remakes tend to. The film uses the 1980s cop show that launched Johnny Depp as a clever foundation, using that show’s conceit that high-school would essentially always be the same to comic effect when the undercover duo (played by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) head back to school to discover that everything has changed.

The success of the film of course relies upon the chemistry between the two leads, and indeed the comic dynamic: despite the fact that we might expect Jonah Hill to steal the show in comic terms, he is rather understated, and there isn’t a great deal of comic bogarting from either of the leads.

Just when the weather starts to heat up, Hollywood trots out a whole slew of flicks to give us the chills. We've compiled an awesomely scary list of summer movies hitting the theaters that will make you scream…with delight, that is! Whether you're after creepy aliens in Prometheus, Johnny Depp's vampy swagger in Dark Shadows or even the determined undead in Resident Evil: Retribution, there's definitely a spooky flick for every summer moviegoer to enjoy. Peep our full list of upcoming supernatural movies and then hit the comments to share which thrillers you plan on catching this summer. Photos: Summer Movie Guide: Spooky Stuff!

Los Angeles — Hollywood is respecting the environment and recycling – again.

The prospect of a few dozen sequels, prequels, remakes and assorted other reworkings of familiar tales might sound tiresome until you look over the guest list studios have lined up.

More Batman with "The Dark Knight Rises." More Peter Parker with "The Amazing Spider-Man." More short guys on a quest with "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." More vamps and werewolves with "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2." More cool sunglasses with "Men in Black 3." More Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Incredible Hulk with "The Avengers." More prehistoric pals with "Ice Age: Continental Drift." More traveling zoo animals with "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted." There's even more Curly, Larry and Moe with "The Three Stooges."

Add in three action flicks based on classic fairy tales and four 3-D reissues of major blockbusters, and 2012 might make good on Hollywood's aim to...

There have been plenty of creepy songs over the last thousand or so years. (Mozart‘s Requiem anybody? Well everybody, eventually.) We’ve decided to compile The 88 Creepiest Song Titles Of All Time. To be fair, we left out pretty much every death metal title because, frankly, they’re all pretty creepy. Click on the names of each artist to hear the selection. And feel free to weigh in on any song titles we may have left out in the comments. 88. “My Ding-a-Ling” Chuck Berry A no-brainer. It’s a song about a little boy discovering his penis, and it’s sung by a man well into his 40s. Perverted Justice’s favorite tune. 87. “Two Lovely Black Eyes” Charles Coborn What’s lovelier than a woman who was beaten in the face twice? According to Charles Coborn, nothing! 86. “With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm” Stanley Holloway A song about Anne Boleyn,...

0:00 - Intro 4:06 - Headlines: P.T. Anderson’s Next Movie is Happening, Terminator Rights Change Hands Again, NBC Passes on Wonder Woman Pilot 21:15 - Review: Bridesmaids 46:25 - Trailer Trash: Horrible Bosses, Fright Night 57:52 - Other Stuff We Watched: The Last Detail, Get Him to the Greek, Something Wild, Oceans, Avatar, The Crazies, Murder Rock aka Slashdance, Vanishing on 7th Street, Talking Funny 1:34:25 - Junk Mail: Episodes 200 and 207 in 4 Minutes, Johnny Depp, Music Recommendations, Quality vs. Quantity in Directors, Young Frankenstein, Headphones vs. Subtitles, Violence at the Theatre, The Ideal Vacation 2:07:55 - This Week's DVD Releases 2:10:15 - Outro » Download the MP3 (61 Mb) [1] » View the show notes [2] » Vote for us on Podcast Alley! [3] » Rate us on iTunes! [4] Subscribe to the podcast feed: [5] [6] [7] Donate via Paypal: Recurring Donation $2/Month: [1] http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/filmjunk/filmjunk318.mp3 [2] http://www.

In "Jurassic Park," Jeff Goldblum's character argues that, unlike that prehistoric theme park gone awry, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland didn't come to life and eat the people. But it looks like he was wrong, and Ian Malcolm's second worst nightmare is about to come true -- well, sort of.

Disney announced that beginning this Friday, March 25 through May, Disneyland will have a 3-D sneak peek and interactive stage show centered on the eagerly anticipated "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides." Find out some of the details after the jump!

Calling All Captains. Jack, That Is.

No, you won't get to see Johnny Depp in the flesh (though the superstar will appear in extended 3-D segments from the film) but an undoubtedly capable Disneyland actor will pose as Captain Jack, calling on park goers to become part of his crew and embark on the Thunder Mountain Trail.

Here's a sneak peek at what's opening this weekend, including the Robert De Niro/Ben Stiller comedy "Little Fockers," the fantastical "Gulliver's Travels," the Coen brothers' "True Grit" and the country music drama "Country Strong."

In Theaters Now (December)'Little Fockers' (Dec. 22)

Who: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner; directed by Paul Weitz What: Stiller and De Niro are back for with this holiday focking-stuffer, as the ultimate son-in-law,...

Chicago – On a good day, Nicolas Cage can be one of the most exciting and enjoyable actors in the business. Whether he’s angrily reciting the alphabet in Robert Bierman’s 1988 satire “Vampire’s Kiss,” or hallucinating about iguanas in Werner Herzog’s 2009 comic masterpiece “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” Cage has proven to be the most fun to watch when granted the opportunity to cut loose.

Unfortunately, Cage’s most profitable films have nearly always been his weakest, thanks to the master of commercial mediocrity, Jerry Bruckheimer. The man is incapable of producing a picture that doesn’t have his dumbed down thumbprint engraved on it. His so-called family entertainments are nothing more than watered down versions of his standard action blockbusters sold to adults, with a few cutesy in-jokes thrown in to give audiences the impression that they’re watching a Disney movie (a Buzz Lightyear alarm clock here,...

Damon Albarn has confirmed that he is finishing off his previously-announced record with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. The Blur and Gorillaz frontman told Stuff that the project also features Tony Allen, who drummed on 2007 supergroup album The Good, The Bad & The Queen and previously worked with Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Albarn said: "[The album is] three-quarters of the way through; I need to get this finished... [It's] another band with Tony Allen; centred around what he does. "But this time it's him and me and Flea from the Chili Peppers and some of my favourite African musicians will be involved also. Flea of course is an anagram for Fela and Flea is so into this music - so that's been great." He added of his (more)...

Not to be outdone by Thom Yorke, Gorillaz singer and former Blur frontman, Damon Albarn is creating a supergroup. He's enlisted the services of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, who is also in Yorke's band Atoms for Peace. The group will also feature afro beat drummer Tony Allen, a collaborator on Albarn's other side-project the Good, the Bad, and the Queen. The new project doesn't have a name yet.  This exciting news came during an interview with Stuff, a New Zealand magazine, where the forty-two-year old Albarn talked about other future projects, which include another Gorillaz album that he called "my love letter to America." According to Albarn, the U.S. has made quite an impression on him during the current Gorillaz tour, but he also still finds the country confusing.  Unfortunately, Albarn also shot down any chance of a Blur world [...]...

Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been named world’s sexiest film stars in a poll conducted in New Zealand. In the online poll, conducted by local film site Flicks.co.nz, Pitt and Jolie, regularly named Hollywood''s hottest stars, were on the top. Pitt beat other Hollywood hunks like George Clooney, Johnny Depp Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Pattinson to the top spot, while Jolie surpassed Scarlett Johnasson, Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Zoe Saldana to become the sexiest star, reports Stuff.co.nz. The poll was conducted on more than 7500 people. The top five sexiest male film: 1. Brad Pitt 2. Johnny Depp 3. George Clooney 4. ...

Wellington, Aug 12 – Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been named world’s sexiest film stars in a poll conducted in New Zealand.

In the online poll, conducted by local film site Flicks.co.nz, Pitt and Jolie, regularly named Hollywood’’s hottest stars, were on the top.

Pitt beat other Hollywood hunks like George Clooney, Johnny Depp Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Pattinson to the top spot, while Jolie surpassed Scarlett Johnasson, Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Zoe Saldana to become the sexiest star, reports Stuff.co.nz.

The poll was conducted on more than 7500 people.

The top five.

A few days ago a teaser trailer for the upcoming Gore Verbinski animated feature Rango dropped which revealed… well, pretty much nothing. Now the poster for the confounding flick has come out, and it reveals… well, not much more.

Scratch that: it does show our first glimpse of the titular chameleon, voiced by Johnny Depp (is Depp being typecast as Hawaiian-shirt wearing weirdos stuck in the desert?). But beyond the rather awesome character design and surprisingly well-rendered CGI, we’re still not getting a very good idea of what this cartoon could be about. Maybe the trailer has some Abrams-esque easter eggs, but I couldn’t catch any (and I watched it twice!):

If you do visit Rangomovie.com you get an animated intro that says “2 days later,” which I can only assume means one of two things:

(1) A full-length trailer with some more revealing footage will drop.

(2) Verbinski...

Wellington, May 26 – Megan Fox is eyeing a part in the new Pirates of the Caribbean flick, it has emerged.

Movie bosses are reportedly looking for an actress to play a sexy mermaid in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”, which stars Johnny Depp as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.

And Megan, whose exit from the Transformers franchise has recently been announced, is keen to land the role.

“Megan is mulling over a number of big movie offers including another sci-fi franchise and a role in the next Pirates of the Caribbean,” Stuff.co.nz quoted a source, as saying.

The insider.

Megan Fox is eyeing a part in the new Pirates of the Caribbean flick, it has emerged.Movie bosses are reportedly looking for an actress to play a sexy mermaid in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", which stars Johnny Depp as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.And Megan, whose exit from the Transformers franchise has recently been announced, is keen to land the role."Megan is mulling over a number of big movie offers including another sci-fi franchise and a role in the next Pirates of the Caribbean," Stuff.co.nz quoted a source, as saying.The insider added: "She would play a mermaid who charms Captain Jack but she has a dark motive."Also, teaming up with Depp is something Megan has always dreamt of."Megan has always loved Johnny and is desperate to work with him. She's grateful to Transformers...

If you haven't ever read Ambrose Bierce's short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," you've surely been exposed to it in one way or another. Maybe you saw a copy of it on Lost or experienced its influence on films like Donnie Darko and Jacob's Ladder. Perhaps you saw Robert Enrico's 1962 short film adaptation, which won an Oscar and a prize at Cannes before being aired on TV as an episode of The Twilight Zone (watch it free here). Other versions include a silent film by King Vidor, an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and now a music video directed by Johnny Depp for the band Babybird, which is basically a short film adaptation of the story if you remove the shots of singer Stephen Jones.

I'm not too keen on the song, but it's great to see more behind-the-camera work from the Pirates of the Caribbean star.

I've never seen Deadwood, so I'm not sure just how bad-ass Ian McShane can get, but I'm aware of the show's reputation enough to get the jokes about him upping the swear-word count of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise if he is indeed cast as the fourth installment's villain. Of course, it is a family-friendly franchise with Disney's name on it, so unfortunately we're not actually going to be hearing any more "fuck"s or "cocksucker"s than usual.

Aside from his foul-mouthed work on HBO, it should be noted that McShane is becoming quite a staple for family fare, particularly animation, playing good and bad guys. He voiced the classic Disney-quality villain in Kung-Fu Panda, the beet-loving blue Russian in Coraline, the armored polar bear in The Golden Compass and he's even done the pirate thing as Captain Hook in Shrek the Third.

Still, as much as he...

The Big Picture Divine Digs – Director Tim Burton’s London office was once owned by Arthur Rackham, a famous English book illustrator who created the iconic color plates for the 1907 edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The Question Is Who Are You? – Lewis Carroll is actually a pen name for Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics at Christchurch University in Oxford, England. Wonderland, No Underland — Underland is the same fantastical land that Alice visited as a child, but—according to screenwriter Linda Woolverton—she misheard the word “Underland” and thought they said “Wonderland.” Woolverton says Underland is a part of the Earth, lying somewhere far beneath our world. It’s come upon hard times since the malevolent Red Queen took over the throne, but is a truly wonderful land, which might explain why the girl who mistook it for Wonderland has been called upon to help return it to its glory.

Wouldn’t you love to knock down some pins with Taylor?

Want to know how Taylor Lautner and his New Moon wolf pack blew off steam after a long day of filming? They hit the bowling alley! “[Taylor's] an excellent bowler,” Chaske Spencer told HollywoodLife.com at last night’s Access Hollywood “Stuff You Must…” Lounge. “We’re all very competitive. … He’s a good kid. I love that kid.” Aww!

While we can’t imagine Taylor getting heated over bowling, his skills on the lane shouldn’t be that surprising. Between his constant trips to the gym and his crazy martial arts skills, it’s no wonder 17-year-old Taylor has a knack for powerfully knocking down those tricky little pins. Is there anything he Can’T do?

Get More on Taylor Lautner:

Exclusive! ‘Jersey Shore’s’ Snooki Tells Us She Wants to Dig Her Acrylic-Nails Into Taylor Lautner’s...

We've been incredibly lucky for the last month or so to have something of an extra, anonymous contributor here on the site in the form of The Hollywood Cog, who has provided -- and continues to provide -- quite a bit of industry news that few others have access to, and allowed us to report it. More than lucky, really: We're fortunate in that we've cultivated a reader who thinks enough of us to stick his neck out. But when a movie website that's not been known for breaking stories starts doing so on a regular basis, there's likely to be some skepticism with regard to the quality of the information. And there should be. I probably wouldn't be that inclined to run a news item that another site I'd heard little of (and that rhymes with "vagina," no less) had reported without at least providing some caveats. Luckily, several...

The only big film festival in my own backyard is back and it runs from November 12th through the 22nd. While it caters more to heavy run fest material and arthouse film, they do have some of the more interesting films playing this year:

Ryan Ward's excellent Son of the Sunshine which is one of my favorite films of the year. (review)

The weird, lengthy comedy The Revenant (review)

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

and much more. Program after the break!

In Competition

Children of Invention

Two first-generation Chinese kids in suburban Boston find themselves on their own after their desperate mother is unwittingly involved in a pyramid scheme and arrested. Older brother Raymond takes a page from her marketing seminars to start creating a life for himself and his sister - casting a strange, pint-sized reflection on the American Dream.

Footprints...

0:00 - Intro 4:45 - Headlines: Roman Polanski Gets Arrested, David Cronenberg to Remake The Fly, Universal and Mattel to Make Barbie Movie, Diablo Cody to Write and Produce a Sweet Valley High Movie, Titanic to Get 3-D Re-release?, Johnny Depp Might Drop Out of Pirates 4?, Justin Lin to Direct Highlander Reboot, The New A-Team Van 30:45 - Review: The Informant! 45:15 - Other Stuff We Watched: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Heroes, The Good Wife, The Vampire Diaries, The Forgotten, Surrogates, Bored to Death 1:02:50 - Junk Mail: Unemployment, Avoiding Trailers, Roman Polanski, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, The Staircase, Expectations and Hype 1:25:20 - This Week's DVD Releases 1:27:25 - Outro » Download the MP3 (40 Mb) [1] » View the show notes [2] » Vote for us on Podcast Alley! [3] Subscribe to the podcast feed: [4] [5] [6] [7] Donate via Paypal: Recurring Donation $2/Month: [1] http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.

0:00 - Intro 4:18 - Headlines: Naked Terminator Arrested in Casino, Nimrod Antal To Direct Predators, American Werewolf in London Remake, Asteroids: The Movie, View-Master: The Movie, Chuck Russell in Talks to Direct T.J. Hooker Movie, Johnny Depp is Michael Jackson? 12:15 - Review: Public Enemies 36:15 - Review: Not Quite Hollywood 47:00 - Trailer Trash: Couples Retreat, Jennifer's Body, The Informant 59:15 - Other Stuff We Watched: Stuck on You, Poison Ivy: The Secret Society, Angels and Demons, The Shining, The Black Belly of the Tarantula, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Hung, Virtuality, The Cleveland Show, Jason X, Sex Drive 1:31:38 - Junk Mail: YouTube Dis, Doug Nagy, Bilingual Covers in Belgium, Tiff Tips, Star Ratings, Film School, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2:00:29 - This Week's DVD Releases 2:02:55 - Outro » Download the MP3 (57 Mb...

As much as we try to cover everything here at Cinematical, unfortunately some stories slip through the cracks. Here's a bunch of stuff we missed this week:

-- The first images of The Fallen, from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen have arrived online ... except it's the toy version of the Transformer, which means it's a toy and not very interesting. But that's an image of the toy up above, and you can see two more below (courtesy of TF08).

Gallery: The Fallen

-- Robert Downey Jr., Tina Fey and Ben Stiller are in negotiations to lend their voices to a new animated superhero flick called Master Mind. This one, however, focuses on a brilliant superhero villain who loses purpose in life when he accidentally kills his good-guy nemesis. DreamWorks is currently eying a November 5, 2010 release for the film. [Hollywood Reporter]

-- Mickey Rourke has signed on to play a hit man who...