Britt Hayes is a writer, movie lover, and sensible sweater enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. She watches too much TV and never eats her vegetables.
Britt Hayes
New Netflix Instant Releases: December 2016
As a special gift to you this holiday season, Netflix is bringing Captain America: Civil War to Instant (on Christmas, no less), allowing you to stream and repeat to your heart’s desire. That’s not all, of course, as the streaming service is adding several new and classic titles in December, including Netflix Originals like Fuller House Season 2, the first season of the Guillermo del Toro-produced animated series Trollhunters, and the young Barack Obama-goes-to-college movie Barry (the trailer for that one just dropped this morning).
‘Kong: Skull Island’ Trailer: All Hail the King
The first trailer for Kong: Skull Island debuted at Comic-Con back in July, offering a sneak peek that was more visually exciting and intriguing than we could have possibly hoped, clearly evoking classic war films like Apocalypse Now and The Thin Red Line — you know, but with a giant ape. After a week of teasers and images preparing us for Kong’s revival, a new official trailer has arrived online heralding a bigger, badder return for the legendary movie monster.
Robert Vaughn, Star of ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’, Has Passed Away at 83
Robert Vaughn, best known for his television roles in such classics as The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Protectors, has passed away at the age of 83. Vaughn, who began his career in the ’50s with appearances on shows like As the World Turns and West Point, died today, November 11. His manager, Matthew Sullivan, confirmed that Vaughn succumbed to a fight with acute leukemia.
89th Academy Awards Taps ‘Social Network’ and ‘Live By Night’ Producers
This awards season is off to a tardy start across the board, with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences taking a bit longer than usual to select the producers of their annual Oscars ceremony. After a few months of speculation, the Academy has finally set a creative team to produce the 89th awards telecast: Three-time Oscar-nominated producer Michael DeLuca and Emmy-nominated producer Jennifer Todd.
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Reveals Belle’s Reinvented Backstory and New High-Res Images
While we continue to wait for a full trailer (ahem, Disney, let’s do this already) for Beauty and the Beast, Disney has released nine new high-res images from the upcoming live-action remake. The stills (which you can view in the gallery above) feature beautiful, detailed looks at Emma Watson’s Belle, Dan Stevens’ Beast, Luke Evans’ Gaston, and all those charming animated household helpers. And although Bill Condon’s film looks pretty faithful to the original animated version, Watson has revealed that they made at least one significant change to the story — Belle’s backstory, specifically.
There’s a ‘Starship Troopers’ Reboot in the Works, Would You Like to Know More?
A reboot of Starship Troopers has been kicking around for several years, despite the fact that Paul Verhoeven’s cult classic (which could describe most of his films) is pretty great as is. It’s hard to imagine another filmmaking team successfully delivering a great sci-fi B-movie that perfectly functions as a satire of sci-fi B-movies layered into a satire of the military (it’s like a seven-layer satire dip, really) — especially in 2016, or 2017, or whenever this thing happens. But if Donald Trump wins the presidency, it could be quite timely.
‘Wonder Woman’ Trailer: Diana Fights the War to End All Wars
As promised yesterday, a new Wonder Woman trailer has arrived and it is PACKED with new footage — from Diana’s home world of Themyscira (aka Paradise Island, which sounds like Jimmy Buffet’s jam) to the deadly realm of man (aka Earth), there’s a whole lot to unpack in the latest sneak peek at Gal Gadot’s first solo movie. And since it doesn’t arrive until next summer, we have plenty of time to take it all in.
New ‘Willy Wonka’ Prequel Will Challenge Your Belief in a World of Pure Imagination
Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory may be a world of pure imagination where the sky is the limit and anything is possible, but it’s hard to say the same about major studios, which keep returning to the same well of established franchises (including board games and toys) to cash-in on name recognition — why risk millions on an original, inventive idea when they can just repurpose a tried-and-true classic? Such is the case with good ol’ Willy Wonka, who is returning to the big screen in a new prequel film from the producer of the Harry Potter series.
Lucasfilm Files Lawsuit Against Unauthorized Lightsaber Academy
The force is very strong with Disney and Lucasfilm’s legal department — or at least one would assume, which is why it’s probably not a good idea to infringe on their trademarked properties, especially Star Wars. But that’s exactly what one enterprising business owner did when he started the Lightsaber Academy, which is now the target of a lawsuit filed by Lucasfilm late last week.
Disney’s Live-Action ‘Mulan’ Gets a Release Date
Few things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics. One of the studio’s many, many, many upcoming live-action projects has graduated from concept to reality (or something close to it) as Disney has officially set a release date for Mulan, giving you ample time to clear your calendar for the first weekend of November…in 2018.
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Images Reveal First Look at Emma Watson’s Belle, Dan Stevens’ Beast
The wait for the full Beauty and the Beast trailer has reached agonizing levels, as Disney spent the last couple of months promoting the new 25th anniversary Blu-ray release of the classic animated film. Thankfully, we’ve gotten a few sneak peeks at the live-action redo via concept art, behind-the-scenes stills and a clip from a featurette on the aforementioned Blu-ray — and now we have a couple of new photos giving us our first look at Emma Watson’s Belle and Dan Stevens’ beast. But still no trailer. Sad trombone.
More ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Characters May Have Been Revealed
Take this with a grain of salt, etc., etc., but a very interesting image popped up online this afternoon which seems to feature a call sheet for Spider-Man: Homecoming. In addition to listing a few characters we already knew about, the rundown apparently reveals some that haven’t been reported, including a potential third villain. Possible spoilers ahead!