Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is easily my most anticipated film of the rest of 2013. I still can’t believe that they’re finally making a sequel after all of these years, and watching the teaser trailers of Ron Burgundy, Champ Kind, Brick Tamland, and Brian Fantana standing around and tossing out one-liners made me very happy. But now, Paramount has released a full trailer that actually shows some real usable footage from the movie and sort of lays out the general plot for us. Take a look:

My God, this movie is going to be amazing. Anchorman 2 hits theaters on December 20th, 2013, and interestingly, the end of this trailer promises an alternate trailer in theaters attached to Paramount’s World War Z, so diehard Burgundy fans will be sure to want to check that out, too.

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OK, OK – this is only tangentially related to movies, but I find it hilarious and I want to spread the love in case you haven’t seen it yet.

Immediately after the Oscars this year, I left the TV on ABC and happened to catch a fantastic segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that featured White House Down co-stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx hanging out and expressing their bro-love for each other. It was pretty amusing, but it kicked into legendary status when Foxx (a notable musician in addition to an Oscar-winning actor) busted out a tune on a piano called “I Wanna Channing All Over Your Tatum.” Check that video out below:

Pretty magical, right? Well, if you dug that, you’re in for a treat. The duo is back – with special guests Olivia Munn, Gabourey Sidibe, and Miley Cyrus – and they’ve recorded a full length music video for the song. It’s just a little somethin’ breezy to listen to in the middle of the summer. Check it out below, and keep your eyes peeled for a cameo appearance from longtime Kimmel nemesis Matt Damon. Watch:

White House Down opens on June 28th, and until then, I’ll be Channing all over your Tatum.

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The darker side of Defiance rears its ugly head when a plague comes to call.

Irathients: the untouchables of the Votan races. To the Castithans, they are animals–disease incubators who rarely get sick but constantly infect others. In the case of the plague, Castithans are immune…but humans are not.

As the sick lay dying in tents and the Earth Republic sets up a quarantine, the town council votes to intern the Irathients in the mines. Rafe and his men round them up; Irisa puts up a fight, allowing a few to escape. Behind a wire fence, they pray…only to have a bigoted human miner interfere. She comes inside, disrupting their prayer circle and knocking over their totems. A fight ensues, and an Irathient named Rathus is killed.

It is a scene reminiscent of many of the darker moments in our own history, where people have been locked away due to the paranoia of others. “It’s for their own good,” the Castithans and humans say; with tensions running so high, the Irathients are likely to become victims of hate crimes. But the barrier isn’t a wall to protect them; it’s a fence to keep them out.

Connor and Nolan drive to the city limits, trying to reach a cure that was airdropped from San Francisco. They’re blocked by a squadron of soldiers from the Earth Republic…and Ambassador Tennety. Tennety demands that the soldiers shoot the pair, but the colonel in charge intervenes. They may pick up the medicine, so long as the soldiers keep the pair in their sights at all times.

During their road trip, Nolan asks Connor if he cheated on Amanda. After much evasion, he finally reveals the truth: Amanda had an abortion and didn’t tell him until after the fact.

Back in Defiance, Nicky lures Quentin into her snare. If he hands over the device, she’ll tell him where his mother really is. He balks; his mother’s dead. But Nicky persists, and Quentin caves. Nicky reveals that his mother was bipolar. Following the Pale War, many medications stopped production, and without her lithium, Pilar succumbed. For a time, Datak and Nicky were able to procure her medication on the black market, but eventually the drugs stopped working. One morning, Rafe found Pilar buttering her child’s bread with rat poison. He nearly killed her, but Nicky–with whom he’d been having an affair–intervened.

The plague wracks Nolan’s body as he drives back into town. He refuses to be treated until the others have their medicine, but spikes in the road halt the car. A group of escaped Irathients knock them out and take them hostage; only when the other Iraths–particularly Rathus–are freed will they let them go.

Christy and Amanda both fall ill. Crying, Alak places a wedding ring on his fiancee’s finger. With the mayor out of commission, her duties are passed on to Rafe…but Stahma, ever the opportunist, uses Christy’s illness to her advantage. She demands that Rafe be left alone…and seizes the opportunity for her husband to take over as acting mayor. Datak agrees to meet the Irathients’ demands.

He greets the Irathients with the medicine and tells them of Rathus’ death. Datak claims that he blames the humans, and that the plague is actually a blessing; it will cleanse the population and leave Earth for the Votan races. He throws the medicine outside and offers to destroy it, but his minion is waiting with a sniper rifle. Datak kills the remaining Irathients, bludgeoning the last one and yelling racist obscenities. He apologizes to Connor for his actions…then shoots the ERep Ambassador. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he says to the corpse. “It doesn’t fit my narrative.” Fortunately, Nolan is unconscious, and Datak has no reason to kill him too.

As the plague victims recover, the town resumes its normal activities. Against his father’s protests, Quentin leaves for Mendocino to find his mother. Amanda and Datak address the city over the radio, but Datak hijacks the microphone and declares his candidacy for mayor.

As the rain pours over Defiance, Nicky awaits a visit from her final co-conspirator. Doc Ywel is one of her old allies, although it seems that she has left the cause…or at least discontinued her work with Nicky and Birch over their reckless actions. Nicky asks her to return, and tells Ywel that she’s finally gotten her hands on one of the kolovan–specifically the golden knot. Ywel demands that Nicky destroy it, but she refuses.

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If you’ll remember, back in 2011, Oscar-nominated actor James Franco inexplicably turned to Kickstarter to help raise $5000 for some crazy thing called The Museum Of Non-Visible Art (above) and in the end, they managed to squeeze $16,197 from charitable hipsters for non-existent art pieces.

YEAH, OKAY.

Now Franco is back and THIS time he’s using Indiegogo to ask for (wait for it) $500,000 in order to fund a film trilogy based on his book of short stories, “Palo Alto.”

Inspired by his experiences in high school, Franco – who has directed six films in the last three years – is turning to four NYU students (three grad students and one graduate) to bring his stories to life. Memoria will be directed by Nina Ljeti and Vladimir de Fontenay, while Killing Animals will be directed by Bruce Thierry Craig and Yosemite directed by Gabrielle Demeestere.

Unlike the weirdo perks that were offered in the last crowdfunding project Franco was involved in, the rewards are actually TANGIBLE this time around and include an audio recording from Franco himself ($20), a role in the film with a line, cast credit, and hair/makeup/wardrobe, etc ($5000), an original Franco painting ($7000), associate producer credit on one ($1000) or all three films ($2000) and an executive producer credit plus VIP dinner with Franco and his production team ($10,000).

When I first heard about this, I rolled my eyes HARD. But after doing a little more reading and realizing that Franco will NOT star in any of the said trilogy and is merely using his name to help get these funded, it’s a bit of a different animal…and unlike Kickstarter, whatever they raise through Indiegogo they get to keep and use toward the films and Franco has said that he will donate the profits of the films to The Art Of Elysium (a non-profit organization that encourages actors, artists, and musicians to dedicate their time and talent to children battling serious medical conditions).

But…while I dig what Franco’s trying to do by giving these first-time directors a shot in the big leagues, why can’t he pony up all of the dough himself (he says he’s putting in some money, but how much)?

And according to IMDb, there’s already a Palo Alto film directed/co-written by Gia Coppola and Franco that stars himself, Emma Roberts (Scream 4) and Val Kilmer (Real Genius) in post-production, so what up with THAT?

I’ve loved James Franco since “Freaks and Geeks” so I’m gonna give him SOME leeway…I just hope he’s actually gonna match whatever they raise on Indiegogo.

Stay tuned.

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Juan Antonio Bayona is far from a household name. The Spanish filmmaker has directed the atmospheric thriller The Orphanage and last year’s tsunami drama The Impossible, but he’s not yet well known in mainstream circles. Power players at Hollywood studios, however, have taken note of Bayona and have placed him in the mix for a number of high profile projects over the past few years. But now, according to a Showtime press release, the talented up-and-coming director is heading to the small screen for a project that sounds surprisingly awesome.

Bayona has been brought on board to direct the first two episodes of Showtime’s new series “Penny Dreadful.” I’m not a Showtime subscriber – I stopped watching “Dexter” years ago – but this project sounds cool enough that it just might be enough to get me to sign up. Billed as a “psychosexual horror series,” the show features “some of literature’s most famously terrifying characters – including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula – [as they] become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation.” I really enjoyed the concept of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (even though the movie was terrible), and Bill Willingham’s “Fables” has been a terrific comic series that weaves together legendary characters with ease, so the idea of a show like this that sees famous literary characters sharing the same world is exciting.

And if that wasn’t enough for you, the show is created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and Neal Street’s Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife). This sounds like a massively cool project that Logan and Mendes are collaborating on in their off time between Bond movies; Logan wrote the sequel to Skyfall and it’s been reported that Mendes will return to direct the next Bond film.

Sounds cool, right? Bayona seems like a great choice to handle material like this, and all the talent behind the scenes should draw in some terrific actors when they start casting. Shooting gets underway in London this fall, so we’ll likely be hearing some updates about who will be playing these iconic characters very soon. Stay tuned.

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I’m not by any means the biggest Lord of the Rings/Hobbit fan. But heck, I had all 3 Extended DVDs for a short while, and while I have yet to watch part one of The Hobbit, I did read the story in high school (and of course, saw the Rankin-Bass 1970′s cartoon, complete with folk music.) Plus, who could forget the retelling of the tale of Bilbo Baggins, as told by Leonard Nimoy?

At any rate, on the heels of The Desolation of Smaug trailer comes a 6 minute featurette full of Hobbiton goodness. Peter Jackson and friends take you on a trip behind the scenes of Hobbiton, out in Matamata, New Zealand, and show you the evolution from the original 1999 LotR version, to the up to date Hobbit one. What they DON’T tell you is that the Hobbiton area is also available for tours (P.S.: be sure to ask for the “Sheep Shearing Experience.” They’re very comfortable shearing/castrating a sheep’s area.)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits theaters this December. While we wait, I suggest doing what I’m going to do soon…rent The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on DVD now!

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Not into the current lineup of summer blockbusters? Why not take in a free documentary about the film that gave life to the term?

Jamie Benning’s Inside Jaws goes behind the scenes of the Steven Spielberg-directed classic. With a two-and-a-half hour runtime, the filmumentary (made up of rare interviews, photos, BTS footage, and much more) will please even those that have already devoured the extras on the Blu-ray edition of Jaws. 

Released in 1975, Jaws earned critical acclaim and is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. The Oscar-nominated hit was followed by the moderately successful Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3D (1978) and Jaws: The Revenge (1987).

Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first documentary on the thriller.

In 1997, the hour-long In the Teeth of Jaws aired on BBC and chronicled the making of the film. Erik Hollander’s 2008 film The Shark is Still Working delves into the impact the film has had on cinema. That movie was developed over a sever-year period and is narrated by original Jaws star Roy Scheider.

Jamie Benning seems to have a talent for directing movies about movies. Last year marked the release of the excellent Raiding the Lost Ark, a film that offers a fascinating foray into the first Indiana Jones installment. In 2011, his trilogy on the making of Stars Wars debuted. Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi combines over 30 years’ worth of archival footage on how the iconic films were crafted.

Sit back, make sure you have a big enough boat, and check out Inside Jaws below:

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but superhero movies are kind of a big deal right now. Sony was one of the first studios to produce some of the really great ones with Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, and now – more than ten years later – the studio is making plans to keep your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man visiting your local cineplex for at least the next five years.

The L.A. Times reports that in addition to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which kicks off next year’s summer movie season on May 2nd, 2014, the studio has set release dates for TWO more Spidey movies after that. The third film in this newly-restarted franchise will come to theaters on June 10, 2016, and the fourth entry will hit on May 4, 2018. That’s a lot of Spider-Man.

I just wrote about how The Amazing Spider-Man 2 could be getting crowded with potentially four villains in the mix in addition to the dual love interests of Gwen Stacey and Mary-Jane Watson. But this announcement makes us think that a lot of these characters are going to have much smaller roles in the upcoming movie, with – hopefully – a lot of setup for future films. That method is much more preferable than stuffing everyone in the same film – until, of course, we finally get to the point where Spidey faces off against the Sinister Six.

With Marvel’s massive success building an intersecting cinematic universe, it looks like Sony is attempting to really lay the proper groundwork of their own and keep the story contained to just one franchise. We’ll see how it plays out for them, but these future sequels have to be an improvement over The Amazing Spider-Man, right? Hopefully they’ll build on each other that will make that movie retroactively better, like how the Fast & Furious franchise has increased the meaning (and overall value) of Tokyo Drift years later. Thoughts?

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Boy, was I wrong.

The brains (no pun intended) who brought you Dead Island have pulled out all the stops, and that includes the ability to free run, so for those of you looking to live out your parkour fantasies, here you go!

Think Left 4 Dead meets Mirror’s Edge and you have Dying Light.

Wanna see a trailer?

RIGHT?!

During the day, you’re scavenging for supplies and creating makeshift weapons to defend yourself not only from zombies but something much more treacherous in what’s known as a “viral.” Virals are just as dangerous because until they fully turn, they still have the power of speech and therefore can lure you to your doom with two simple words “help me.”

Guided by an unseen voice known as Jade, the player (trapped in the quarantine zone for the last two months) now has to make his way to the safe house before sundown…as that’s when the REALLY dangerous characters come out. And when I say “dangerous,” I mean DANGEROUS – as in there’s no WAY you’ll be able to survive against some of the freaks that only come out at night…but I’ll get into that in a minute.

Side quests are encouraged and interactions with NPCs can affect whether you live or die. Nothing is guaranteed once you hit the supply drop as demonstrated in the demo when we came upon a group of looters with machine guns going through the supplies. They drew their weapons and the protagonist put up his hands and walked away…however, they could’ve just shot for fun; the outcome is never the same.

As the sun quickly drops while nearing the second supply drop, Jade tells him to move his a– because even with awesome custom-craft weapons (like an electrified machete) if he’s out there after dark, he’s food.

And just like that, it’s night and the “slow-biters” are joined by a really bad number known as a “volatile”, a severely giant, FAST, mutated zomb that would make even the hardest guy around piss their pants at the mere sight.

The volatile are no joke as you see a car fly at you out of nowhere and unlike the Tanks from Left 4 Dead, you can’t defeat them (nor are you meant to); your job is to AVOID them at all costs. But as you’re totally able to free run in this game, you have a SLIGHT advantage in being able to leap between buildings and run up walls in order to not only ambush enemies but can save your butt in a pinch.

See the beast on the left who looks like he has ‘roid rage? That’s a Volatile a.k.a. “your worst nightmare,” and that wrench ain’t gonna help.

It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve been creeped out by a zombie game; I remember my breathing and heart rate rising every time I’d hear that collective “RAAAAAAAARRRRRR” that would occur right before a zombie horde attack in Left 4 Dead and being scared sh–less waiting for them to get in close enough range for pipe bombs and the like. I never thought I’d feel that again but Dying Light has brought back the fear…once night fell and the faster zombs came out to play, I cried out “HOLY FUDGE” (only I didn’t say “fudge”) when I saw a car fly past my line of sight.

When the volatile (who resembles 2 Jason Voorhees stacked on top of each other wearing a Tron-like suit) came into view, I couldn’t help breathing quickly out of panic as our character hid in between two crates as the MASSIVE beast passed close by and nearly yelled when it was upon us about to rip our face off.

If trapped out in the open after dark, using a radar known as “the pulse” will help you figure out if said volatiles are in the area. If you send out a ping and a red flash appears, move your ass to higher ground or hide someplace safe because if a volatile sees you, chances are you’ll be nice and dead within minutes…which is precisely what happened to our guy in the demo.

Once the Volatile’s upon you, it’s “Game over, man.”

And with that, the demo sadly ended…but with massive amounts of brutal melee and range-combat weapons (light and heavy weapons like knives, bats, axes, sledgehammers, guns) and more complex and tasty items like the aforementioned electrified machete (I HIGHLY recommend beheading as many as you can) make taking out these jerks super fun.

I also recommend playing this with the lights off and the sound cranked (or headsets so your neighbors won’t hate you or think you’re being murdered).

And like the game says, “Good Night. Good Luck.”

Dying Light hits 360, PS4, Xbox One, PS4 and PC next year and I can’t WAIT.

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Now that Man of Steel is in our collective rearview mirror, the Internet dictates that we must immediately start looking ahead to the next big thing. One of our most anticipated films of the year is Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, his sci-fi follow up to the Oscar-nominated District 9, and that movie hits theaters on August 9th. To tide us over until then, Blomkamp has made some interesting statements recently which we thought were worth discussing.

When it was announced that Disney purchased Lucasfilm and new Star Wars movies would be made, fans quickly started churning out lists of who they thought would be the best directors to return to George Lucas’ cinematic universe. Blomkamp’s name was on almost every one of those lists because of the immense talent he showed in District 9 and also because of his history with science fiction and how he came THISCLOSE to directing a massive Halo film a few years back. Obviously J.J. Abrams has scored the director’s chair for Star Wars: Episode VII, but because Disney plans to make tons of Star Wars movies in the foreseeable future, there was still a chance that Blomkamp and people like Guillermo del Toro or even Zack Snyder could step into that galaxy far, far away. But speaking with IGN, Blomkamp has removed himself from the selection process before offers even start going out. Here’s what he had to say:

“No. I don’t think so. I love Star Wars. I really, really love Star Wars. But I’m not the right guy. And also, just taking ideas that already exist in Hollywood is just not for me.”

It takes a lot of balls for a director to stick with only making original projects in today’s economic landscape, but it also gives them something that many other directors are sorely lacking: a true recognizable voice. Writer/directors like Blomkamp, Rian Johnson, are Martin McDonagh are some of the most exciting people working right now, and even though they may not be household names yet, you know immediately that when you watch their work, you’re going to see something that you wouldn’t see anywhere else.

The possibilities for Star Wars are limitless at this early stage in the franchise’s rebirth, and while many fans might be disappointed that Blomkamp won’t bring his vision to the property, I’m actually much more excited about the director continuing to bring us original works with his own unique filmmaking brand all over them instead of stepping into a pre-established hierarchy. What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.

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