U News

Stephen Fry does it all. He writes, acts, speaks, blogs -- basically, he's putting us all out of jobs. His latest role will be that of an ordinary human, albeit one who gets to hang out with hobbits and dwarves and dragons. Compared to the  The Lord of the Rings  trilogy,  The Hobbit was always a lighter adventure, a prequel meant for younger readers as a segue into the epic, dark experiences of the Fellowship of the Ring and their quest to Mordor. Keeping with his past trilogy, it's likely that Peter Jackson's upcoming adaptation of  The Hobbit  will keep the same grim tone, but with recent casting additions, there may be room in the film for a bit more comedy. According to Peter Jackson's official Facebook page, British comedian/writer Stephen Fry has been cast in the film as the Master of Laketown. Bilbo Baggins and his posse of dwarves are welcomed to the town by the Master, who's real intentions are driven by greed and weakness. Jackson and Fry have a ...

The trippy sci-fi festival favorite from an alternate 1983 lands a distribution partner. Panos Cosmatos'  Beyond the Black Rainbow , the only memorable film from this year's Tribeca Film Festival, has landed a distribution partner.  And it is the  right  partner. Our friends at Magnet Releasing, the sociopaths who brought us  Rubber  and  Hobo With a Shotgun  and  Black Death  and the upcoming  Trollhunter , announced the deal the other day at the Cannes Film Festival.  It was swallowed by the news of Lars von Trier being a douche but, much like the insidious nature of this otherworldly film, the message has still seeped out. Beyond the Black Rainbow  is an endurance test - an intensely slow movie, focused on eerie tone over plot.  It bathes in the aesthetic of late '70s and early '80 science fiction, like a visit to EPCOT on some really bad LSD. No timetable for VOD or theatrical release has been announced. Below is ...

The Bridesmaids scene-stealer is doubling-down with two new comedies. When I first reviewed Bridesmaids I was so swept up with Kristen Wiig's performance (the best film comedienne since Madeline Kahn) that there were few column inches left to talk about the other performances. As I exited the SXSW premiere, however, I recall saying to friends that "if it were a just world, Melissa McCarthy would be starring in films of her own." Well, there's nothing like a movie overshooting its estimates (it made $25 million at the box office this weekend) and receiving near-universal praise to make miracles happen. Deadline reports that McCarthy is teaming with Bridesmaids co-writer Annie Mumolo on a quest movie to steal the Stanley Cup for her dying husband. The husband will be played by McCarthy's actual husband, Ben Falcone, who plays the object of McCarthy's affection in the soon-to-be-if-not-already airplane scene in Bridesmaids. What disgusting things are in store fo...

What's scarier than a haunted house?  TWO HAUNTED HOUSES! Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their three young children have just moved into a big, old home.  He's a teacher and she doesn't work, so immediately I assumed there was some deal with the devil to make the down payment, but this was just my mind playing tricks.  The young baby does nothing but cry and one night the eldest sees something, makes a spooky face, then goes to sleep and NEVER WAKES UP. He's not in a coma, he's just. . .in limbo.  Rather than making the cover of the New England Journal of Medicine with this indescribable condition, they just send the kid home.  And then the craziness starts. I can't lie, the first few scares got my heart rate up.  There are demonic sounds on the baby monitor and, even though I was thinking "here comes the scary part, here comes the scary part" when something finally jumped out, I yelped like a frightened puppy. I can't recall seeing a mov...

Tina Fey socks it to Will Ferrell in this deleted scene from Dream works Animation's Mega mind. Even in a modern, 3D, computer animated film there are things that hit the editing room floor. Only they do it more expensively than any ofther type of film imaginable. This sequence from Megamind shows TV reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) really sockin' it to Will Ferrell's Megamind for slaying Brad Pitt's Metro Man. I won't lie and call this a laugh riot, or even all that visually appealing, but for we obssessive completests out there, you need to watch this or you'll know, for the rest of your life, there's a part of Megamind you didn't see and it will drive you crazy.