Jacob Hall
New Study Says Binge Watching is For the Sad and Lonely
In news that should surprise approximately no one, a new study from the University of Texas at Austin has discovered that “binge-watching” has been linked to depression, loneliness, and the inability to make wise decisions, like getting off the couch and doing anything else. Researchers Wei-Na Lee, Yoon Hi Sung and Eun Yeon Kang surveyed 316 people between the ages of 18 and 29, asking them about their mental and emotional states while they marathoned TV shows on Netflix (the study defined binge-watching as at least three episodes in a row).
‘Star Trek 3’ Wants Bryan Cranston to Be the New Villain
After the many sins of ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ Paramount seems dead set on righting the course of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise with ‘Star Trek 3.’ They ditched controversial director Roberto Orci, hired the great Simon Pegg to co-write the screenplay with Doug Jung, and now, word that hit the internet suggesting that the film will contain three new female characters ... and a villain fit for Bryan Cranston.
‘Minions’ First Look: See Sandra Bullock’s Supervillain, Scarlet Overkill
The massive success of the ‘Despicable Me’ films have created a monster. Monsters, actually. Well, cute, yellow, strange little monsters that countless children (and some adults) all over the world have fallen in love with. Yeah, ‘Minions’ is going to be huge and it’s all going to be thanks to those little guys. However, the presence of a major star like Sandra Bullock can’t hurt and Universal has released the first images of her supervillain character, Scarlet Overkill.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘American Sniper’ Continues Its January Onslaught
In most years, January tends to be the most boring month of the year for the box office. This is where Hollywood typically sends the movies in which it has the least faith. This is the dumping ground, the place where movies go to die so the studios can concentrate on their Oscar campaigns. However, thanks to ‘American Sniper,’ this January has bucked every trend. It may technically be a 2014 release, but Clint Eastwood’s war film has made the first chunk of 2015 interesting, shattering expectations and threatening to become the highest grossing film of last year in only a few weeks.
‘SNL’ Has a Super Bowl Commercial Parody Designed to Make You Feel Reeeal Bad
Super Bowl commercials are still a big, huge, massive, crazy deal, with major corporations shelling out absurd amounts of money on ads designed to win over the most reliably large and receptive audience in all of televised sports. So of course ‘SNL’ was going to contribute its own commercial parody to the mix...but man, no one was expecting something this mean, scathing or on-point.
Bryan Cranston Returns as Walter White…For a Super Bowl Commercial
‘Breaking Bad’ may be completely, definitively over, but that doesn’t mean Walter White is ready to leave popular culture alone. Oh, no. As long as Bryan Cranston is alive and as lone as insurance companies are prepared to back dump trucks full of cash up this house, we’ll get to see America’s favorite meth dealer pop up every so often. So while it’s weird to se Cranston play Heisenberg one more time in an Esurance commercial, it’s not that surprising.
The Muppets Visit the Set of ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in Fantastic Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Before he was a CGI creation, Jedi master Yoda was a puppet. Before green screens became the norm, the Dagobah set for ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was built elevated off the ground to accommodate Yoda’s puppeteers. And before he brought Yoda to life, puppeteer and voice actor Frank Oz was best known as the man behind Miss Piggy. In a weird way, that makes the most wizened character in the ‘Star Wars’ universe a distant relative of the extended Muppet family.
‘Minions’ Super Bowl Trailer Features All of the Yellow Nudity You’ll Ever Need to See
With the Super Bowl arriving this weekend, every corporation in the world is fighting for your attention, spending ludicrous amounts of cash on tiny advertisements for things that most people already like. The same goes for movies and the biggest sporting event in the United States is no stranger to premiering new trailers and TV spots for massively anticipated films. So, without further ado, let’s all take a moment to watch the new ad for ‘Minions’.
Hasbro May Be Planning to Make a ‘GoBots’ Movie
We currently live in a world where society has stopped blinking incredulously at the mere idea of major film franchises based on the dumb toys you used to play with back in the ‘80s. So, it’s not too surprising that Hasbro is apparently examining the possibility of a big screen ‘GoBots’ revival.
Nicolas Cage Will Hunt Osama bin Laden in an Upcoming Comedy
Nicolas Cage has made a habit of selecting atrocious film roles for the better part of a decade, so it’s always a pleasant surprise when he finds himself attached to something that actually sounds promising. Fresh off a Razzie nomination for the quick and dirty paycheck gig that was ‘Left Behind,’ Cage is set to lead ‘Army of One,’ a film adaptation of a truly bizarre story about man’s hunt for Osama Bin Laden.
Weekend Box Office Report: ‘American Sniper’ Takes Out ‘Blackhat’
A lot of people are going to act like they didn’t see the enormous success of ‘American Sniper’ coming, but the signs were all there. On top of the promising limited release numbers, there was the awards buzz. On top of that, there were the names of director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper. On top of that, the subject matter of the film is inherently attractive to the same category of moviegoer that makes Christian-themed films into massive hits. ‘American Sniper’ had one doozy of a weekend, but it’s not that surprising.
Ranking the 2015 Oscar Snubs From “Totally Forgivable” to “WTF?”
Yep, it’s that time of the year again. The 2015 Oscar nominations are here and it’s time for everyone to get outraged and cynical over which movies get the opportunity to take home statuettes of naked golden dudes. Sure, we always tell ourselves that the Academy Awards don’t really matter and that a film’s legacy will live or die for reasons beyond trophies, but we always end up getting angry about these things anyway. However, this year’s biggest snubs seems more egregious than usual and require slightly more yelling and stamping of feet.