Thanks To ‘Tusk’, Kevin Smith Has Funding For ‘Clerks III’ Like almost allKevin Smithfilms,Tuskhas been incredibly polarizing. I found myself in themiddle of the road, seeing great promise in a film with some major problems. Some loved the audaciousness of Smith’s horrific tale, while others just hated everything about it. Smith himself is very proud ofTusk, calling it the closest thing he’s ever done to what he imagined he’d be making as a filmmaker....

The Plot Of Star Trek Into Darkness Had To Live Up To Its Price Tag Making effects-based genre blockbuster movies must be a chore. In addition to wrangling and scheduling a large cast of known actors, who are likely being courted by other projects constantly, one must build sets, arrange international teams of CGI artists to develop the VFX, and shoot under a strict timetable, all while deflecting journalists and responding to constant input from a studio that keeps your budget in its fist, wondering if story elements, visuals, dialogue, or actors be changed to fit their vision on what will make them the most money....

The Quarantine Stream: ‘Galaxy Quest’ Documentary ‘Never Surrender’ Celebrates The Cult Classic (Welcome toThe Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.)The Movie:Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest DocumentaryWhere You Can Stream It: Amazon PrimeThe Pitch:Galaxy Questcast membersTim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Justin Long, Sam Rockwell, Tony Shalhoub, Missi Pyle, Rainn WilsonandDaryl “Chill” Mitchell, along with directorDean Parisotand writerRobert Gordon, share their memories of making the movie in a fantastic ensemble of new interviews....

This Week In DVD & Blu-Ray: Law Abiding Citizen, Black Dynamite, Cabin Fever 2, And More We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.LAW ABIDING CITIZEN Logic and subtlety are the last things viewers should expect from Law Abiding Citizen, an absurdly enjoyable B-movie thriller that critics made the mistake oftrying to take seriously....

This Week In Trailers: Let’s Play Two, Apocalypse Now Now, Under The Tree, Abundant Acreage Available, Valley Of Shadows Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising?...

This Week In Trailers: Silenced, Little Accidents, The Last American Vampire, Giuseppe Makes A Movie, National Gallery Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we thank the Obama administration for ruthlessly going after whistleblowers, wonder whether the spirit of Andre Dubus lives on, revisit Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, stand in wonderment of artistic masters, and praise the efforts of small filmmakers everywhere....

TV Bits: ‘Arrested Development,’ ‘Community,’ ‘Dracula,’ ‘Fringe,’ ‘Modern Family’ In this edition of TV Bits, your can see script pages, read about lawsuits, sickness and advertising. After the jump, read about the following: Arrested Developmentis coming back and I couldn’t be more excited.Ron Howardfeels the same way. The narrator/executive producer just got the first script of the season’s first episode and it confirms what we’d heard, each episode will be character centric and episode one will focus on Michael, played byJason Bateman....

VOTD: Learn About The Scrapped Attempts To Make A ‘Jurassic Park’ Animated Series There was a time when the next logical step for successful live-action movies was to have them turned into animated series.Back to the Future, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Dumb and Dumber, Jumanji, Men in Black,The Karate Kidand plenty more all became animated series. But there was one movie that never made it to television in the form of an animated series, though there were a couple attempts, and it’s one that probably could have made for some great Saturday morning cartoon programming....

Warner Bros. Buys Pitch For 3D Film About Battle Of Midway, From ‘The Pacific’ Producer Bruce McKenna The next big WWII film might be in 3D.Bruce C. McKenna, producer and writer forThe Pacific, this week sold a pitch to Warner Bros. for a big-budget 3D film calledThe Battle of Midway, which (shock!) intends to recreate the decisive air and sea battle that took place June 4-6, 1942. Deadlinesays the pitch was bought late last week and is being fast-tracked, with McKenna set to deliver a script two months from now....

Why Sofia Coppola Dropped Out Of ‘The Little Mermaid’ Hollywood is high on live-action fairy tales at the moment, but even so some of these projects have found much better luck than others. Disney’sCinderellawas a big hit at the start of the year, but Joe Wright’sPanwas a big fat flop for Warner Bros. this summer. Some of these movies run into trouble before they even get off the ground — like Universal’sThe Little Mermaid, which lost directorSofia Coppolaearlier this year....

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ TV Spot: Teenaged Groot Has An Attitude As he’s been depicted thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Groot has been an emotionally pure, well-meaning, and protective talking alien tree. But after he sacrificed himself for theGuardiansat the end of their first movie and spent all ofGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2as Baby Groot, the character has grown into a moody teenager. In a newAvengers: Infinity WarTV spot, we see just how much he’s changed and get a look at Groot’s newfound attitude....

‘Drive Hard’ Trailer: John Cusack Makes Thomas Jane His Getaway Driver A former racing champion turned driving instructor is forced into being a getaway driver inDrive Hard, the latest film from the director ofLeprechaun 4: In Space. But before you back away slowly from this post while laughing madly, know that the race-car driver is played byThomas Janeand the bank robber is played byJohn Cusack. Directed by cult filmmakerBrian Trenchard-Smith, Voltage Pictures will releaseDrive Hardlater this year and a trailer has now come online....

‘Escape Room’ Trailer: Everyone’s Favorite Craze Becomes A Horror Movie There’s been a surge in escape rooms around the country and their popularity doesn’t seem to be waning. If you’ve done one, you know the drill: you and other players have an hour to solve a series of puzzles and escape room. As the craze doesn’t seem to be subsiding, it’s about time for a movie to try to bank off its popularity....