Charles Bramesco
It’s Official: ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ Is Titled ‘The Last Jedi’
We’ve got 11 long months to go before anyone will get a look at Star Wars: Episode VIII, so Lucasfilm has tried to pace itself with leaking details of the hotly anticipated upcoming release. Today, however, they dropped a big one: on the official Star Wars web site, a new announcement revealed the subtitle for the eighth installment in what the site refers to as “the Skywalker saga.” The post declared, “We have the greatest fans in this or any other galaxy. In appreciation of the fans, we wanted them to be the first to know the title of the next chapter in the Skywalker saga: STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI.”
Long-Awaited Horror Indie ‘The Blackcoat’s Daughter’ Gets Release Date, Photos
Osgood Perkins made his directorial debut this past October with the staid, eerie Netflix release I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, except not really. When attendees at the Toronto International Film Festival lined up to catch that film’s world premiere back in September, many were reminiscing about the proceedings one year earlier, where Perkins’ real directorial debut February screened. The horror indie made a positive impression on critics and landed a deal with boutique distributor A24, but floated around post-production purgatory for the entirety of 2016. But at last, parties intrigued by murmurs of this creepy festival standout will get their wish — the film since retitled The Blackcoat’s Daughter finally has a release date.
Check Out the New ‘Beauty and the Beast’ TV Spots, Go Ahead, Be Our Guest
Despite volumes of scholarship from feminist theorists on its undertones of spousal abuse and insidious romanticizing of male brutality, Disney‘s Beauty and the Beast has remained a cherished childhood favorite worldwide. Kids love talking furniture, go figure. The live-action remake starring Emma Watson and an unrecognizable Dan Stevens is hot on the way to its March 17 release, and Disney has now released two new TV spots to further amp up the anticipation. In the first, embedded above, the Beast implores lovely Belle to “think of the one thing you’ve always wanted, and feel it in your heart.” We get a glimpse of the timeless ballroom-waltz scene, some barroom carousing from Gaston, and yet another look at the deeply unsettling character designs for Lumiere and Cogsworth.
IMDb’s Top 10 Movies of 2016 List Is… Interesting, Let’s Just Put It That Way
The Internet Movie Database is a fount of helpful information. With a few simple clicks, users can learn who shot the Miley Cyrus vehicle So Undercover (Things to Come cinematographer Denis Lenoir), which sequel in the Hellraiser franchise featured a performance from a young Adam Scott (the fourth one), or how old Taraji P. Henson is (who looks that good at 46?!). As a repository for loose factoids from in and around the world of screen entertainment, it can’t be beat. As a source for critical perspectives on those same films, however... hoo boy. Just take a gander at any comment section for a movie’s page and marvel at the IMDb is the site where rabid anti-Ghostbusters zealots congregated to downvote Paul Feig’s movie into oblivion weeks before its actual release, and the newly-released IMDb Top 10 provides an even clearer view of its user base.
‘A Cure for Wellness’ Trailer: Definitely Don’t Drink This Water
2016 was a hell of a year for horror, from the high-literary chills of I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House to ‘cult classic’ The Invitation to rigorously designed colonial freakout The Witch to the stripped-down nightmare of Don’t Breathe. 2017’s already looking like it’ll be able to give this year’s chills a run for their money, though; the advance reviews for M. Night Shyamalan’s multiple-personality abduction thriller Split have been improbably positive, the trailer for Jordan Peele’s directorial debut Get Out looks absolutely bonkers, and Gore Verbinski has given February a shot in the arm (pun extremely, shamelessly intended) with his upcoming psych ward-set feature A Cure for Wellness.
Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn Are the Sexual Equivalent of Melted Candles in ‘Snatched’ Trailer
The public’s first look at Amy Schumer’s upcoming crime-comedy Snatched came a couple of months ago, when she posted that video of her and her costar Goldie Hawn doing a lightly choreographed dance routine tribute to Beyoncé’s “Formation” and instantly earned the ire of the internet. Somewhat less likely to earn her charges of cultural appropriation, however, is the official red-band trailer for that movie, which Schumer released today in the hopes that she has not yet fallen entirely out of favor with the general public. The people will most likely smile more kindly on Schumer when she’s getting a beverage spat on her instead of putting her face on an anthem for black womanhood — the spit take can bridge any cultural gap, truly.
‘Fifty Shades Darker’ Soundtrack Lands Taylor Swift and Zayn Malik for Lead Single
For someone who’s oriented so much of her music around her relationships with men, Taylor Swift has remained strangely asexual. Though she’s often seen canoodling with her various paramours, her public persona has remained squeaky clean and her music matches. Her songs focus on romance rather than seduction, more concerned with the dress she’s wearing rather than the process of taking it off. She’s a big fan of the “just sort of bending over” dance move, which could be kinda sexual, if you insist on taking it there. But for the most part, she’s kept it chastely PG.
Desk Jockeys Go From Yule-o to YOLO in New ‘Office Christmas Party’ Trailer
Come Christmastime, there’s nothing quite like sharing in the generous Yuletide spirit by singing a few carols, trading presents, and getting completely wasteycakes-drunk with all your favorite coworkers. Unrestrained bacchanalian debauchery is the reason for the season this year in the Office Christmas Party trailer, picking up where the drug-fueled shenanigans of last year's The Night Before left off. Pour yourself a glass of eggnog, spike it with some additional alcohol, pop a tab of Ecstasy in there if you're feeling particularly merry, and buckle up for the bumpiest sleigh ride of the year.
James McAvoy Goes a Little Mad in New ‘Split’ Trailer
M. Night Shyamalan’s Split came as a welcome surprise when it debuted unannounced as the secret screening at last month’s Fantastic Fest, delighting audiences with a daring turn from James McAvoy (and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy and James McAvoy) as a mental patient harboring 23 distinct personalities in his head. Our own Britt Hayes was on the scene and reported back with a resoundingly positive review naming the new film as Shyamalan’s best in years. (Not an especially high bar, admittedly, but praise is praise.)
Shia LaBeouf Comes Home From War in ‘Man Down’ Trailer
It’s hardly a secret that the American military has no idea what to do with its veterans, often leaving the traumatized men to fall through the cracks due to a lack of support. As the newly released trailer for the upcoming action-drama Man Down amply shows, soldier Gabriel Drummer (Shia LaBeouf, mercifully free of his American Honey rat-tail) has more than his fair share of baggage when he returns home from an extended tour of duty in an unidentified conflict. But he’ll have to contend with more than poverty and the guilt over watching his brother-in-arms (Jai Courtney) die; turns out that while he was away fighting to protect it, America went right to hell anyway.