Photo-Credit_-Tyler-Golden Harry Bosch knows no rules when it comes to his legacy! Today, Amazon Freevee released the teaser for the highly anticipated second season return of the hit drama, Bosch: Legacy. The second season picks up with the Season One cliffhanger, following a masked assailant abducting Madeline “Maddie” Bosch (Madison Lintz). The first two episodes of the new season will be available to stream exclusively on Amazon Freevee in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria beginning on October 20, with two additional episodes available each Friday through November 18. The series will also be available day-and-date as an Amazon Original in 35 other territories around the world via Prime Video. The new season includes the return of beloved characters from the original Bosch series, including Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector), Det. Robert “Crate” Moore (Gregory Scott Cummins), and Det. “Barrel” Johnson (Troy Evans), who join Bosch (Titus Welliver), Honey “Money” Chandler (Mimi Rogers...

Harry Bosch is returning to Amazon Freevee on Oct. 20 – and he’s taking matters into his own hands to save his daughter in a new teaser for “Bosch: Legacy” Season 2.

The drama series’ second season finds Bosch (Titus Welliver) working alongside Honey “Money” Chandler (Mimi Rogers) to track down a masked assailant who kidnapped his daughter Maddie (Madison Lintz) before time runs out. But as the FBI scrutinizes Carl Rogers’ murder, Bosch and Chandler are placed under suspicion.

In the clip, Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) tells Bosch that he needs to let authorities do their job to find his daughter, to which he replies: “Don’t cut me out!.” He also makes clear that while the FBI has to do things the “right way,” those rules don’t apply to him.

In addition to Edgar, Season 2 will see the return of Detective Robert “Crate” Moore (Gregory Scott Cummins), and Detective...

RZA joined Russell Crowe on-stage with his band The Gentlemen Barbers on May 19th as part of the actor’s Australian pub concert series, the Indoor Garden Party.

The Wu-Tang Clan mastermind made his surprise guest appearance at The Bridge Hotel in Sydney as Crowe’s collective, which featured keys, trumpet, and a trio of backing vocalists, launched into the original tune “Let Your Light Shine.” The Oscar-winning actor and lead vocalist originally shared a studio version of the song in early May, but its live rendition stands as a worthy remix with its fresh RZA verse and slicker, bluesy edge from the live band. Watch fan-captured footage of the moment, plus a subsequent local news report posted by Crowe, below.

RZA and Russell Crowe’s creative partnership has spanned nearly two decades, though its typically manifested on film rather than the mic. The pair shared screen credits on 2007’s...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Today we talk with a legend (Blake Howard of One Heat Minute Productions) about a legend: Russell Crowe. Born in New Zealand and settled in Australia, Crowe had starred in a dozen films (he was even a child actor!) before his American breakthrough in Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential.

Our first B-Side is an Australian picture he made with icon (and close friend) Jack Thompson: The Sum of Us. Our second is the wines & vines rom-com A Good Year! Number three is the Pittsburgh shot-and-set action drama The Next Three Days. And, finally, we get a little Unhinged. Don’t worry, during this part of the show you will find nary a hinge.

Blake dishes...

Elizabeth Banks is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in Pitch Perfect, Hunger Games and Cocaine Bear.

Elizabeth Banks Biography: Early Life, Age, Family, Education

Elizabeth Banks, originally named Elizabeth Mitchell, was born on February 10, 1974 (Elizabeth Banks: Age 49) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Ann and Mark Mitchell. She is the oldest of her three siblings. Banks tried out for the school play after breaking her leg in Little League, which is what started her acting career.

In 1992, Banks graduated from Pittsfield High School. She then went on to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 with a major in communications and a minor in theater arts. Banks finished her schooling with an Mfa degree from the American Conservatory Theater in 1998.

Elizabeth Banks Biography: Career

When Banks joined the Screen Actors Guild, she changed her last name from Mitchell to Banks because of another actress was already named Elizabeth Mitchell.

HBO Max may (hopefully) be done randomly pulling original series from the service, but there are still a number of TV shows and films due to leave HBO Max in January as part of the regularly scheduled shuffling.

Multiple seasons of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” will leave HBO Max on Jan. 3, so get those final binge-watches in Asap. And the beloved WB series “Everwood” is due to depart on Jan. 21 if you feel like seeing what young Chris Pratt was up to in the early 2000s.

In terms of movies leaving HBO Max, there are quite a lot. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” turns into a ghost on Jan. 20, while Jon M. Chu’s delightful musical “In the Heights” leaves on Jan. 27.

Noteworthy films leaving HBO Max on Jan. 31 include the first three “John Wick” movies, the first three “Jurassic Park” films, the first two installments in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise,...

The historical drama is a follow-up to ‘Coda’ for Vendôme Films and Pathé.

Following their Oscars triumph with Coda, France’s Vendôme Films and Pathé have been quietly laying the ground work for the North American release of follow-up production, Second World War drama Farewell, Mr. Haffmann.

Directed by Fred Cavayé and starring Daniel Auteuil, Gilles Lellouche and Sara Girardeau, the French-language film has been well received by audiences on the festival circuit in North America.

It most recently won the audience award at the Gold Coast International Film Festival following awards at the Ottawa Film Festival (jury’s prize...

Olivia Wilde’s 20 years in Hollywood have taught her what not to do.

The director behind “Booksmart” and the upcoming psychological thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” revealed to Maggie Gyllenhaal for Interview magazine (in a Q&a seemingly conducted prior to recent scandals dogging the film) that less-than-ideal past acting roles informed her directing style today.

“It helps me navigate any feelings about movies that I don’t think are great when I look back on them, and it helps me understand them within the context of my proxy film school experience,” Wilde told “The Lost Daughter” helmer Gyllenhaal. “I’ve made like 5,000 times more shitty movies than you have.”

Wilde continued, “I’ve been in some really bad ones, and now I think, ‘I did those to learn all the cautionary tales that would help me define myself as a director: how I will never speak to a crew, how...

The Gladiator star appears to have given up on an Oscar by taking on a series of low-calorie action roles that might once have been offered to the internet’s favourite Ott actor

If there was ever an actor who found himself tripped up by success, it’s Russell Crowe. The wild commercial and critical acclaim Crowe received for Gladiator 22 years ago threw him down a hole that at times seemed inescapable. For years, he found himself chasing Oscars in a series of dismal, middlebrow thrillers that existed for the pleasure of nobody at all. Nobody remembers State of Play fondly. Or Body of Lies or The Next Three Days. Or Proof of Life, for that matter.

And yet, look at him now. It has just been reported that Crowe has signed up to play the lead in Julius Avery’s new film The Pope’s Exorcist, about the man...

If you’ve been putting off watching the terrifically adventurous Brendan Fraser-led “The Mummy” again, now’s the time to prioritize it. The 1999 film is one of a bevy of movies leaving HBO Max in June, the full list of which you can read below.

Also leaving HBO and HBO Max this month is a bevy of Tyler Perry’s Madea movies, “Rounders,” “She’s All That” and “Real Steel.”

If you’re looking to prioritize some selections, “Presumed Innocent” is one of Harrison Ford’s most underrated films (featuring one of his best performances) and the Melissa McCarthy/Jason Bateman comedy “Identity Thief” is good for some solid laughs.

Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max below.

Also Read:

Here’s What’s New on HBO and HBO Max in June 2022

June 9:

12 Strong, 2018

June 30:

2 Guns, 2013

20 Feet From Stardom, 2013 (HBO)

All Dogs Go To Heaven,...

Eleven months in to 2021, and Warner Bros. movie streaming strategy on HBO Max is still going strong. Now the list of new releases for November 2021 on HBO Max is highlighted by yet another big ticket film.

King Richard, starring Will Smith, is set to arrive on HBO Max and in theaters on Nov. 19. The movie will tell the story of Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams. Smith is already getting some early awards buzz for the role so Oscar-heads may want to check this one out.

Read more TV Peacemaker: All the DC Heroes and Villains in that HBO Max Trailer By Jim Dandeneau TV House of the Dragon: Game of Thrones Prequel Trailer Breakdown By Alec Bojalad

Aside from that, it’s a relatively light month for originals on HBO Max. The streamer is clearly attempting to step up its non-English...

November is a good month for saying goodbye on HBO Max. The streaming platform will host the final 2021 episodes of HBO late-night staples “Real Time with Bill Maher” and the Emmy Award-winning “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” the season finales of Max originals “Love Life” and “Doom Patrol,” and also provide home viewers their last opportunity to watch “Dune” on HBO Max until sometime in 2022 (“Dune” leaves HBO Max on November 21).

But beyond those conclusions, there are some huge premieres as well: Oscar contender “King Richard” arrives on November 19 with Will Smith in the lead role, the back-half of “Gossip Girl” Season 1 will make its debut at some point, and the HBO Music Box series continues with the Alanis Morrisette documentary “Jagged” (which the singer roundly criticized) and a new feature on Dmx. All of that content, plus a number of library classics, including but not limited to “Moonstruck,...

The newly released Netflix original, “Firefly Lane,” starring Katherine Heigle and Sarah Chalke, was the only program to break the one billion minutes viewing threshold the week of Feb. 1 in all three weekly Top 10 lists, winning at just over 1.3 billion minutes. The show, which chronicles the life of two women throughout thirty years of friendship, was most popular with viewers 35 and older.

In addition to the originals list, the global marketing research firm will also be pushing out weekly Top 10 lists that take into consideration original programming and movies in an effort to provide an expanded and more inclusive look at most streamed programs for that given week.

Kids and teens were fixated on Nickelodeon’s “Henry Danger” on Netflix, which garnered 0.544 billion viewing minutes across its 65 episodes, landing the family-friendly superhero sitcom in sixth place on the acquired content Top Ten list for the week of Feb. 1 through 7. Mystery...

In a rare week where no single program exceeded the 1 billion minute threshold, mystery police procedural “Criminal Minds,” a recurring top performer in Nielsen’s regular Weekly Top 10 list, towered over all other programs available on subscription-based streaming platforms with 0.98 million viewing minutes for Jan. 25 through the end of the month. The CBS cult-classic also ended up in the number one slot on Nielsen’s Weekly Top 10 Acquired Content.

In addition to the acquired content list, the global marketing research firm will also be pushing out weekly Top 10 lists that take into consideration original programming and movies in an effort to provide an expanded and more inclusive look at most streamed programs for that given week. First in originals was Shondaland’s first steamy scripted Netflix show “Bridgerton,” which garnered about 0.94 billion minutes of watch time across its only 8 episodes on Netflix. First on movies was 2010’s “The Next Three Days” on Netflix,...

Netflix’s offering of Criminal Minds was the most-viewed show on streaming platforms in the last week of January, according to Nielsen’s latest Top 10 list released Thursday.

The popularity of Criminal Minds been the fuel for news just this week. Paramount+ confirmed yesterday it is rebooting the hit CBS procedural, which ran from 2005-2020 and spawned two spinoffs, with a 10-episode season revolving around a single case. An unscripted companion series, tentatively titled The Real Criminal Minds, is also in the works. All 15 seasons of the original series will be on Paramount+, which launches March 4. The first 12 season will also remain on Netflix.

All 10 overall top titles on Nielslen for the week of Jan 25-31 were on Netflix, and all were series save a No. 8 ranking for the 2010 Paul Haggis movie The Next Three Days, starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks, which compiled 646 million minutes of views thanks likely...

This week offered little new on VOD. Did anticipation of “The Little Things” debuting on HBO Max as well as in theaters make others avoid the week? It left room for two titles to continue flying high with “Tenet” at $5.99, and “News of the World” at $19.99. Like last week, each placed #1 on two of the four charts we track.

Ongoing interest in Christopher Nolan’s film may seem ironic as it was the last major Warners release to see a traditional rollout. The studio reportedly recoups 70 percent of VOD rental; if there were 1 million rentals in a week, at the current price of $5.99, it would generate nearly $4.2 million. That would justify delaying a move to HBO Max.

As a PVOD, Universal sees a more generous revenue share of 80 percent on “News of the World” rentals. For a $4 million return — a nice bounty for a film with a reported $38 million budget...

Mubi's retrospective Uri Zohar Trilogy is showing July - October, 2020 in France.Above: Three Days and a ChildA charismatic actor and director, popular television star and icon of bohemian Tel Aviv, Uri Zohar set off shock waves in Israel’s secular society when he decided to become a practicing, observant Jew. Since that time, in the late 1970s, he has become an ultra-Orthodox rabbi and has denied his cinematic past, describing it as a dark period in his life.Yet his works have a life of their own. Many of the movies he directed, starting in the mid-’60s—some of which have become part of the canon of Israeli cinema—reveal extraordinary talent, inspiration and sensitivity, and they function as a tragicomic, pitiless and sometimes disillusioned mirror of Israeli society of that era. Born in 1935, Zohar was the main figure of the New Sensibility, this Israeli cinema movement...

There’s a moving moment in String Theory, one of the new installment-films in the ongoing Russian cinematic project Dau: Scientists at the Dau nuclear institute, in Soviet Russia, are discussing string theory. As usual, the exclusively male posse sits in a sumptuous room over a smorgasbord of canapés, while young women serve chilled wine. The setup says a lot about the status these scientists occupied in the Soviet society (at least for a time), and also signals at the underlying crème-de-la-crème hierarchy and petty rivalries. In this genteel, competitive inner-circle, which liberally includes western and Chinese guests, caviar comes on tap and bubblies flow ad nauseam. And even though the scientists’ living quarters are communal and cramped, mink coats and cigars appear de rigueur.In the other Dau films, such scenes instill at times a certain postmodern #MeToo disgruntlement from the audience, myself included. Why must Dau ooze unceasing male-fueled smugness,...

The more I watch Dau—the ambitious multi-film project spearheaded by Ilya Khrzhanovsky—the more it becomes clear that there’s little in the history of cinema to compare it to. To give Dau its due, it’s more useful to think of not just film, or theater, but also of site-specific improvisational performances, such as Sleep No More. Performed by the British theater group Punchdrunk, Sleep No More was staged at a sprawling New York City warehouse, rebranded as McKittrick Hotel, where you walked through darkly lit rooms to watch vignettes loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Similarly to that macabre British show, which the New York Times called a “voyeur’s delight,” Dau can make you feel alternatively like you’re in a musty hall of curiosities, or can seriously mess with your head.To recap, Dau was shot mostly in Ukraine on a sprawling set, which reconstructs a Soviet scientific institute,...

Veteran character actor Brian Dennehy, known for a wide variety of roles in film, TV and on the stage, died Wednesday night (April 15) at the age of 81, according to Variety.

The Golden Globe and Tony-winning star passed away in New Haven, Connecticut from natural causes. A statement posted on Twitter by his daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, said, “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends.”

Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 9, 1938. He served in the Marines from 1959 to 1963, and later attended Columbia and Yale, earning a master’s degree in dramatic arts from the latter university. He worked briefly as a stockbroker before making both his film and TV debuts...

Brian Dennehy, the Golden Globe- and Tony Award-winning actor who appeared in big-screen hits like “Cocoon” and “Tommy Boy,” died late Wednesday in New Haven, Connecticut, at the age of 81, his representatives told TheWrap.

He died of natural causes says his family who was by his side. Best known for playing the overzealous Sheriff Will Teasle in “First Blood” (1982) opposite Sylvester Stallone, Dennehy went on to have a prolific acting career that included roles in such films as “Gorky Park” (1983), “Silverado” (1985), “Cocoon” (1985), “F/X”(1986), “Presumed Innocent” (1990), “Romeo + Juliet” (1996), and “Knight of Cups” (2015).

He appeared as the superior officer of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the 2008 cop drama “Righteous Kill” and as the father of Russell Crowe in the 2010 suspense film “The Next Three Days.”

Also Read: 'Bloodbath': The Hollywood Reporter Ends a 10-Year, Heady Run at Reinvention

His earlier films included several comedies, like “Semi-Tough” with Burt Reynolds,...

Burbank, CA, July 16 – Experience the epic monstrous action as legendary Titans collide when Godzilla: King of the Monsters arrives on 4K Uhd Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD Special Edition and Digital. Directed by Michael Dougherty, the film stars Kyle Chandler, Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) in her feature film debut.

From Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Toho Co. Ltd. and Huahua Media, the film’s acclaimed ensemble cast also includes Bradley Whitford, Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Oscar nominee David Strathairn, Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe and Golden Globe nominee Ziyi Zhang.

Dougherty directed from a script he wrote with Zach Shields, story by Max Borenstein, Dougherty and Shields, based on the characters Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan owned and created by Toho Co., Ltd. The film was produced by Mary Parent,...

After stomping onto the big screen in May, Godzilla: King of the Monsters is looking to reign supreme in your own home when the latest movie in Legendary and Warner Bros.' Monsterverse comes to Digital on August 6th, followed by a Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD release on August 27th:

From the Press Release: Experience the epic monstrous action as legendary Titans collide when “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” arrives on 4K Uhd Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD Special Edition and Digital. Directed by Michael Dougherty, the film stars Kyle Chandler, Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown (TV’s “Stranger Things”) in her feature film debut.

From Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Toho Co. Ltd. and Huahua Media, the film’s acclaimed ensemble cast also includes Bradley Whitford, Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr.

Making her directorial debut with the coming-of-age film Booksmart allowed Olivia Wilde to see herself in a new light in Hollywood.

During a candid interview with The New York Times, Wilde confessed that getting behind the camera helped her shed the pressure she feels to live up to “everyone’s version of a perfect woman.”

“I don’t have to carry that,” said Wilde. “It is remarkable that I am 35 years old and this is the first job I’ve ever had that wasn’t entirely dependent on and connected to my looks. It grosses me out to acknowledge it,...

Take another look @ "Charlie's Angels" director Elizabeth Banks in "...a sexy and surreal..." fashion spread, photographed by Hunter & Gatti for "Flaunt" magazine:

"People treat comedy like it's some frilly, unsubstantial thing," said Banks. "But we're bringing fucking joy!

"We're spreading joy 24/7!'...there is some skill behind what I'm doing..."

Banks made her film debut in the indie feature "Surrender Dorothy" (1998), followed by roles in director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy (2002–2007), followed by the "40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005)...

..."Zack and Miri Make a Porno" (2008), "Role Models" (2008), "The Next Three Days" (2010), "Pitch Perfect" (2012), "The Lego Movie" (2014), and "The Hunger Games" films (2012–2015). In 2015, she made her directorial debut with "Pitch Perfect 2", earning $69M opening weekend, setting a record for a first time director.

Also in 2015, Banks portrayed 'Melinda Ledbetter Wilson' in director Bill Pohlad's "Beach Boys" bio, "Love & Mercy".

Click the images to enlarge...

It hasn’t been a good week for Liam Neeson. He’s still getting raked over the coals for an interview telling the story of how he fantasized about killing “some black bastard” after a close friend was raped. And now, his latest gritty action film, “Cold Pursuit,” is yielding one of the worst opening weekends in the actor’s box office career.

The Lionsgate film opened with an estimated $10.8 million, the worst opening for any wide release starring Neeson since 2010. That year, he starred alongside Russell Crowe in “The Next Three Days,” which opened to $6.5 million.

To be fair, “Cold Pursuit” wasn’t tracking to be a blockbuster even before his ill-timed interview with London’s The Independent — or a Tuesday “Good Morning America” appearance in which he insisted he’s not a racist.

Prior to this past week, the Lionsgate film was expected by independent trackers to only open to $7-10 million.

Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Movie 2” will take the top spot at the box office this weekend, but after grossing $8.5 million on Friday from 4,303 screens, it is in danger of falling well below box office expectations.

Prior to the weekend, trackers and WB had the film opening to $50-52 million, while analysts who spoke to TheWrap said it had a strong chance of opening closer to the $69 million made by the first “Lego Movie” in 2014. Instead, it’s now estimated to make just $31 million this weekend. While there’s a chance for that estimate to rebound from families attending Saturday matinees, this is bad news for an animated film that sports a reported budget of $100 million.

The one bright spot for this sequel is that critic and audience reception has been strong. It currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85 percent...

After a slow opening month to 2019, business is about to pick up as four wide releases hit the box office this weekend. The biggest of the bunch is Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” the first direct sequel to the 2014 stop-motion animated hit that launched a series of spinoffs in the intervening years.

Independent trackers are projecting an opening of $45-52 million this weekend from 4,276 screens, but analysts and rival distribution chiefs who spoke with TheWrap say that “Lego Movie 2” has a much higher ceiling. Rivals expect the film to earn a $55-60 million start, closer to the $69 million made by the first “Lego Movie.” WB is projecting an opening in the low $50 million range. Regardless of the figure, “Lego Movie 2” will post an opening higher than any release last month, including “Glass,” which opened to $40.2 million

“This is the first big, four-quadrant release of the year,...

Exclusive: Hotel Mumbai actress Nazanin Boniadi has boarded Jay Roach’s untitled Roger Ailes movie in the role of former Fox News reporter Rudi Bakhtiar. The film is currently in production.

After Fnc host Gretchen Carlson came forward with sexual allegations against late Fox News chief Ailes in July 2016, Bakhtiar spoke to the New York Times and New York magazine sharing how she was sexually propositioned for a a full-time Washington D.C. correspondent position by Fnc colleague Brian Wilson who was being upped to the network’s DC bureau chief. She also detailed incidents of being harassed by Ailes whereby he asked to see her legs during an interview, and through others at the network, insisted she wear short skirts on Fox & Friends. In 2007, Ailes fired her saying the network didn’t like Bakhtiar’s reporting. During her tenure at Fnc, Bakhtair was key in covering news inside Iran (She...

Liam Neeson has long been an outspoken fan of Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages, but one horse in particular recently stole his heart. At a recent Q & A for Joel and Ethan Coen’s “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” at the New York Film Festival, Neeson shared a rather odd anecdote from the set. The actor plays what he called a “traveling impresario” in the anthology Western, driving a horse carriage and setting the stage for an armless, legless orator who regales indifferent crowds with classical monologues.

“The odd thing is the horse who pulls my wagon knew me,” Neeson said. When asked to follow-up, he added: “You won’t believe it. I’m saying this horse knew me. He actually remembered me from another Western we made awhile back. I love animals. When we worked together before I took special care of him. I fed him treats. Gave him...

Exclusive: Jonathan Tucker has been added to the Elizabeth Banks-directed Charlie's Angels reboot, which will focus on the next generation of elite crime-fighting detectives. Tucker joins Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks, Naomi Scott, Luis Gerardo Mendez, as well as both Patrick Stewart and Banks playing Bosley characters.

Sony's Columbia Pictures is releasing the pic, based on the original 1970s ABC series, which was followed by two films: Charlie's Angels (2000) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003). Since the original films, The Townsend Agency has grown considerably and gone global, providing security and intelligence services to a wide variety of private clients with offices and highly-trained teams worldwide. This film focuses on one of those teams.

Banks and Jay Basu wrote the latest draft of the script with earlier drafts by Craig Mazin and Semi Chellas. Banks and Max Handelman will produce via their Brownstone Productions shingle, along with Doug Belgrad,...

Out today in select theaters and on VOD is the new found footage horror film VooDoo, and for our latest Q&A feature, we caught up with the movie's writer and direct, Tom Costabile, to discuss the guerilla-style approach to VooDoo, shooting the "Hell" scenes, and much more.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Tom. How and when did you first come up with the idea for VooDoo?

Tom Costabile: Thank you for the interview, I’m honored! The real estate crash happened and was lingering for a long time. I owned a mortgage company at the time and I couldn’t get it back off the ground. So I finally had time to invest in why I came to La in the first place for the first time in ten years and just started writing. Within a year or so we were on set.

MaryAnn’s quick take…

It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It is bland manufactured entertainment product. It’s fine. Hollywood is not creatively bankrupt. Everything is fine. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

It’s fine. Everything is fine. This new Ben-Hur is fine. It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It is a piece of bland manufactured entertainment product. It exists. It’s fine.

It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It’s fine. Hollywood is not creatively bankrupt. Everything is fine.

It’s fine that major Hollywood studios that insist they are businesses first sunk $100 million into producing a movie that no one was demanding, and many more tens of millions in advertising and marketing trying to convince audiences they wanted to see it.

Take another look @ "Pitch Perfect 2" director Elizabeth Banks in "...a sexy and surreal..." fashion spread, photographed by Hunter & Gatti for "Flaunt" magazine:

"People treat comedy like it's some frilly, unsubstantial thing," said Banks. "But we're bringing fucking joy!

"We're spreading joy 24/7!'...there is some skill behind what I'm doing..."

Banks made her film debut in the indie feature "Surrender Dorothy" (1998), followed by roles in director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy (2002–2007), followed by the "40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005)...

..."Zack and Miri Make a Porno" (2008), "Role Models" (2008), "The Next Three Days" (2010), "Pitch Perfect" (2012), "The Lego Movie" (2014), and "The Hunger Games" films (2012–2015). In 2015, she made her directorial debut with "Pitch Perfect 2", earning $69M opening weekend, setting a record for a first time director.

Also in 2015, Banks portrayed 'Melinda Ledbetter Wilson' in director Bill Pohlad's "Beach Boys" bio, "Love & Mercy".

Click the images to enlarge...

Lionsgate

Elizabeth Banks has become one of the most reliable comedic actresses of her generation, with a proven ability to steal scenes from even seasoned co-stars. She’s managed to stretch herself in a number of varied roles, from real life figures to wicked stepmothers and even a Lego figure. Her talent has also helped viewers get through less than amazing movies like Walk Of Shame and The Next Three Days.

In addition to her acting she’s also the driving force behind the Pitch Perfect series; she produced the original and made her directing debut with the second. With the huge success of Pitch Perfect 2 she’s now an in-demand director, as well as a vocal supporter of the need for more female directors in Hollywood.

She’s not one to just trade on her good looks for a role either, as she usually manages to bring a...

Disjointed, incohesive, and psychologically ridiculous. And actually repulsive on multiple levels in ways that the first film was not. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

The only good thing about Sinister was Ethan Hawke’s portrayal of a writer having what looked like a mental breakdown, to the degree that it was easy to suspect that perhaps he was the perpetrator of the family murder he was investigating for a true-crime book. Before that film was half over, however, such a potentially intriguing scenario was rendered impossible, and Sinister became yet another by-the-numbers demon-haunted funhouse. And here’s Sinister 2, which doesn’t have anything so minimally compelling going for it.

Another family has been targeted for ritual killings by the devil Bhughul, which is just a fancy name for the Boogeyman, and he’s...

Sneak Peek new images of Emmy-nominated actress ("30 Rock") and "Pitch Perfect 2" director Elizabeth Banks in "...a sexy and surreal" fashion spread, photographed by Hunter & Gatti for "Flaunt" magazine:

"People treat comedy like it's some frilly, unsubstantial thing," said Banks. "But we're bringing fucking joy!

"We're spreading joy 24/7!'...there is some skill behind what I'm doing..."

Banks made her film debut in the indie feature "Surrender Dorothy" (1998), followed by roles in director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy (2002–2007), followed by the "40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005)...

..."Zack and Miri Make a Porno" (2008), "Role Models" (2008), "The Next Three Days" (2010), "Pitch Perfect" (2012), "The Lego Movie" (2014), and "The Hunger Games" films (2012–2015). In 2015, she made her directorial debut with "Pitch Perfect 2", earning $69M opening weekend, setting a record for a first time director.

Also in 2015, Banks portrayed 'Melinda Ledbetter Wilson' in director Bill Pohlad's "Beach Boys" bio, "Love & Mercy".

Click the images to enlarge...

Many had hoped that "Insurgent" could improve upon the opening of its predecessor this weekend and signal a big step forward in the franchise.  Based on the film's $21.3 million Friday, they may just have to be satisfied with the status quo.  The second adaptation of Veronica Roth's Young Adult novel series, "Insurgent's" Friday was just behind "Divergent's" $22.7 million a year ago. It eventually ended up with a $54.6 million weekend.  At this point, "Insurgent" will likely earn somewhere between $48-52 million.   Walt Disney's "Cinderella" continued its magic in second place earning another $9.5 million for $97 million in just eight days.  Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the classic fairy tale is well on its way to becoming a very profitable player for the studio. Sean Peen tried to return to action films with Pierre Morel's "The Gunman," but audiences weren't interested.  The thriller is a rare misfire for Open...

Disney demonstrated an uncanny ability to be consistent with live action films based on its animated classics while Liam Neeson had one of the worst opening weekends of the last decade. Cinderella danced into theaters with a strong number one, banking $70 million. That's almost the exact amount Maleficent took in on its opening weekend last May. It's also the highest opening for a movie helmed by Kenneth Branagh, topping the $65 million opening for Thor in 2011. Neeson's latest Run All Night ranked a very distant second place with just $11 million. The painful start is less than half of the worst of the Taken movies and the second lowest for a non-wide-release Neeson movie since 2003's Love Actually (The Next Three Days opened with just $6 million in 2010). For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below: 1.Cinderella (2015) *   $70,053,000 Total: $70,053,000 Lw: N      Thtrs: 3,845 2.Run All Night *   $11,015,000 Total: $11,015,000 Lw: N      Thtrs: 3,171 3.Kingsman: The...

Girls young and old showed up for a Cinderella story this weekend, as Disney’s live-action version of the story had one of the biggest March openings ever, taking in $70.1 million. That is slightly ahead of Maleficent‘s start from last May ($69.4 million), although a bit behind fellow Disney March release Oz the Great and Powerful ($79.1 million). Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation has received good reviews and an A CinemaScore, which bodes well for healthy grosses over the March Break. Due to many kids being out of school on Monday, Disney is predicting a smaller-than-usual 26% drop from Saturday to Sunday.

Even without a major headlining star – Cate Blanchett did not get that much screen time in ads and is not a noted box office performer – Cinderella still had a strong start, even without the benefit of 3D surcharges. Undoubtedly, there was a rush to see the Frozen short film preceding the feature presentation,...

Like many of you, I was pretty surprised and more than a little bit delighted when Liam Neeson made the next act in his illustrious career an action packed one. No one expected Taken to be a hit, or as satisfyingly enjoyable as it was, but it signaled a new trajectory for Neeson. That’s been all well and good, but one thing that it’s cost us is his performances in Oscar fare. Since Taken, Neeson has more or less dropped off of the Academy’s radar, with only one upcoming project hopefully set to return him to prestige territory. I like when he kicks ass, like he does in Friday’s new release Run All Night, but I prefer it when he contends for awards. Neeson is a very strong dramatic actor and certainly very solid as an action hero, but it’s the former where he’s really been able to shine.

The 62-year old star of Taken has gone on the record to confirm his badass days may soon be a thing of the past. Liam Neeson, who has since 2008 forged a career off the back of his Bryan Mills persona, spoke out on the subject of his filmic future… and it will apparently have fewer guns and swarthy terrorists.

The Irish thesp sat down with Good Morning America (via /Film) who broached the topic of his action career, asking if it’s something he would hope to continue, to which he answered:

Maybe two more years. If God spares me and I’m healthy. But after that, I’ll stop [the action], I think. I’m in a very, career-wise, great place. [After] the success of certainly the Taken films, Hollywood seems to see me in a different light. I get sent quite a few action-oriented scripts, which is great. I’m not knocking it.

Remember Harley Keener from Iron Man 3? The adorable rapscallion from rural Tennessee who helped Tony Stark track down the Mandarin? Well, there is heavy rumor doing the rounds that he could be in line to replace Robert Downey Jr. as the titular superhero in a potential fourth installment to the Iron Man franchise. Crazy, right? The name of the thespian in question is 13-year-old Ty Simpkins, who has had a rather impressive start to his burgeoning acting career. According to Movie Pilot, who got their information from the ingeniously named website Bam Smack Pow, Ty Simpkins will make his debut as the character in 2019.s Iron Man 4. If this rumor is actually true, then the blockbuster would come out hot on the heels of Avengers: Infinity War Part 2. Ty Simpkins popped up in the likes of Revolutionary Road, Insidious, and The Next Three Days, but his turn in Iron Man 3...

It’s a good thing Fred Cavayé’s new-school French crime flick keeps the pace high, because there’s not much under the hood

A tough-nosed French policier of the new school, which means moody lighting, shiny cars and copious bloodletting. Fred Cavayé, whose first film Anything for Her was remade as the Russell Crowe thriller The Next Three Days, is the mastermind here; he brings together grizzled duo Vincent Lindon and Gilles Lellouche as a former cop and his still-on-the-force erstwhile partner; they buddy up to protect Lindon’s son from an extremely stabby drug gang after the kid witnesses a murder. Cavayé pumps up the car chases and shootouts, and pumps down the plausibility; but it all moves along at such a lick it doesn’t matter much. Still, it’s a tad too birdbrained for a remake, I’d have thought.

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Ben-Hur

"Homeland" actress Nazanin Boniadi has scored the female lead role opposite Jack Huston in Timur Bekmambetov's "Ben-Hur" remake at MGM and Paramount Pictures.

Boniadi will play Esther, the role that Gal Gadot was in discussions before conflicts knocked her out of the running. Boniadi also beat out Sofia Boutella ("Kingsman: The Secret Service"), Moran Atias ("The Next Three Days") and Natalia Warner ("Learning To Breathe") for the role. [Source: Deadline]

Inferno

Felicity Jones ("The Theory Of Everything") is in early talks for the female lead role in Ron Howard's film adaptation of the Dan Brown novel "Inferno" at Sony Pictures and Imagine Entertainment.

Tom Hanks reprises his role of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who awakens in an Italian hospital with amnesia. He teams up with a doctor (Jones) whom he hopes will help him recover his memories and prevent a madman from releasing a global plague. [Source: Deadline]

Unforgettable

Kerry Washington...

"The Maze Runner" breathed a little life into the box office this weekend with a very good $32.5 million debut.   Some polling services had the adaptation of James Rashner's 2007 novel opening closer to $40 million, but considering its the first film since "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" at the beginning of August to open over $30 million Hollywood will happily take it. "Runner" grossed substantially more than "The Giver's" $12 million debut last month, but significantly lower than "Divergent's" $54.6 million in March. The film, which is top lined by "Teen Wolf" star Dylan O'Brien, earned an A- Cinemascore grade which means it should have solid word of mouth in the weeks to come. Disappointing in second place was Universal Pictures' "A Walk Among the Tombstones" with just $13.1 million.  The Scott Frank directed thriller is Liam Neeson's lowest wide release opening since "The Next Three Days" in 2010.  With a reported production budget of $28 million...

"The Maze Runner" is the third major Ya movie to hit theaters in 2014 and while it didn't shatter any records it got off to a very good start on Friday. Directed by Wes Ball, the adaptation of James Rashner's 2007 novel earned an estimated $11.2 million on its first full day of release.  That means it should end up with somewhere between $30-32 million for the weekend. That would put it far ahead of "The Giver's" $12 million debut in August, but significantly lower than "Divergent's" $54.6 million opening this past March. The film, which is top lined by "Teen Wolf" star Dylan O'Brien, also earned an A- Cinemascore grade which means it should have solid word of mouth in the weeks to come. Disappointing in second place was Universal Pictures' "A Walk Among the Tombstones" with just $4.7 million.  The Scott Frank directed thriller looks as though it will be lucky to hit $14 million by Eod Sunday.

★★★☆☆There's an endearing nature to Liam Neeson's action-hero exploits - what CineVue's Chris Fennell dubbed "Neesploitation" - over the years. The man who won an Oscar nomination twenty years past for Schindler's List (1993) is now a more bankable hardman than Schwarzenegger and Stallone, and yet little before 2008's Taken suggested such a second career for someone of Neeson's gruff appearance. Perhaps the tragic death of his then-wife Natasha Richardson was the catalyst. There's a gravitas and indeed a tragedy that makes him effortlessly identifiable in these madcap parts. Just look at how many 'former' roles he plays - an ex-cia man in the Taken films, a reformed convict in The Next Three Days.

Kevin McCallister is all grown up now. Macaulay Culkin celebrates his 34th birthday today (August 26), so what better time to take a trip down memory lane to find out what happened to the cast of Culkin's greatest work: Home Alone.

Digital Spy goes 'then & now' with the cast of the comedy classic below...

Macaulay Culkin

The biggest child star of the '90s, Culkin spent almost a decade away from screen acting following 1994's Ri¢hie Ri¢h. After a stint on London's West End in Madame Melville, he returned to TV and film in 2003 with roles in Will & Grace and Party Monster. His acting parts since have been sparse - a 2010 Robot Chicken Christmas special is his last (voice only) credit - but Culkin seems to have found his calling as the frontman of a Velvet Underground pizza-themed cover band.

A 2013 YouTube video titled simply 'Macaulay Culkin Eating a...

A riveting BBC political thriller offering one of the most trenchant explorations yet of the sick symbiosis between big government and big business. I’m “biast” (pro): love Jason Isaacs and Ben Daniels

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I wasn’t planning on writing anything about this. I only came across it on Netflix (it’s available in the U.S. and the U.K., but not Canada) because I’m crushing on Ben Daniels (just inducted into the Boyfriend Hall of Fame) and there were no Law & Order: UK reruns on at that moment and I needed a fix. And this had Jason Isaacs in it, too! Double yum.

But oh my god, now that I’ve finished all seven episodes — it’s a limited miniseries, so that’s all there will ever be — I feel like I...