Divergent: The Next Hunger Games?

Back in 2001 after Warner Bros. launched the Harry Potter books as a successful movie franchise, everyone wanted a piece of the pie as well.  So the next Harry Potter was Twilight, the next Twilight became The Hunger Games and now new kid on the block Divergent looks to be the next The Hunger Games.

 The debut novel of Veronica Roth, Divergent, was first published in 2011 and is set in a dystopian (surprise, surprise) world where society is divided up into five factions: Abnegation (the Selfless), Erudite (the Intelligent), Candor (the Honest), Amity (the Peaceful) and Dauntless (the Brave).  The female protagonist Beatrice Prior is born into Abnegation but struggles to find her true self. After taking her aptitude test when she is 16, Beatrice finds out that she is Divergent and contains traits of different factions.  At her Choosing Ceremony, she makes a difficult path of finding out who she is and instead chooses the Dauntless over the Abnegation.  Thus begins the journey of Tris. 

The book isn't as strongly written as Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games series which pulls you in from the get go but I do feel it is better suited for the big screen.  Summit Entertainment, who is producing the franchise, has already set a release date for March 2014 and I must say, the cast is shaping up nicely which is accentuated by the fact that Kate Winslet is playing Jeannie Matthews, the leader of Erudite.  Winslet has been showing up ensemble pieces like Contagion and Movie 43 in the last couple of years and her last big leading role was on HBO's Mildred Pearce so this is a big get for Divergent.  Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) who's the new Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be Tris and Theo James is the male lead Four.  (Sidenote: But he will forever be Mr. Parmuk from Downton Abbey for me.)  Aaron Eckhart, Zoe Kravitz, Jai Courtney and Maggie Q round out the rest of the cast as Andrew Prior, Christina, Eric and Tori respectively. The film will be directed by Neil Burger (Limitless).

So if all does go according to plan, we may looking out for the next Divergent in the following years.

The Veronica Mars fans have spoken

Alright, people, this is happening, the Veronica Mars movie is a go!! It seemed like only yesterday that creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell urged fans to contribute to their Kickstarter campaign to get a Veronica Mars film ready for release for 2014.  That’s because it actually was only yesterday that they asked fans if they could give whatever they could by April 12 for a reunion back in Neptune, California.  Less than 12 hours later and the minimum goal of $2 million has been met. 

I say, VM fans, give yourselves a pat on the back.  You really put this movie back into existence. So thank you from this Veronica Mars fan.  I cannot wait for the gang to get back together for the incredibly awkward yet amazing that get-together is going to be.   First a Nolan original film and now this, 2014 is certainly picking up on the movie front.  

And for those of you out there who have no idea who this Veronica Mars is, allow me to introduce you to the only super-sleuth you need to know.

You’re welcome.

Christopher Nolan's next film will be called...

I spoke too soon! Oh, happy day... what great news to receive after disappointing news this week, Christopher Nolan will be back to direction with a new film next year to be called Interstellar and it's a sci-fi movie about 'a heroic interstellar voyage' and will be co-produced by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. to be released November 7, 2014.  The script will, of course, be written by his brother Jonathan Nolan. I'm off to circle November 7th on next year's calendar.

Thank God It's Friday!!!

I don't know about you but there's hasn't been promising film news coming out this week.  First Sam Mendes says he's not coming back for the next James Bond film.  My mind screamed 'Nooooooo!' when I read this.  I enjoyed the last Bond film, Skyfall, primarily because of Mendes' deft direction in allowing us to glimpse in Bond's past and his emotional connections to the people he works with.  The film won a BAFTA for Best British Film and 2 Oscars, one for that haunting 'Skyfall' song sung by the amazing Adele.  I am not pleased by this.  At all.

Then Mark Ruffalo went ahead and confirmed on Twitter than there is no Hulk movie in the works as yet and we won't see him go all angry again until Avengers 2 in 2015. What? This is insanity.

Twitter / Mruff221: A lot of folks have been asking ... via kwout

But wait, the week's not over.  Thank God then we have this hilariously entertaining video of Mila Kunis on the press junket for Oz the Great and Powerful having quite possibly the best interview ever!

Thank you, Mila, for saving my week! Can we please see a part two the next time you're in town to promote your film?

10 Actors Who Have Yet To Win An Oscar

The 85^th Oscars are so last month.  We have clearly moved on and ahead to next year.  And while there are already potential Oscar contender names being bandied about (Grace of Monaco, August: Osage County, Inside Llewyn Davies, Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years a Slave, Saving Mr. Banks to name a few), I wanted to look at some actors who have yet to nab that elusive Oscar.  Every year, we see some of the same actors (Daniel Day-Lewis, Christoph Waltz) win yet another Oscar and some actors who receive their very first (Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway).  When will this highly acclaimed bunch of actors make to the podium to finally make their victory speech? Very, very soon, one can only hope…

 

 1) Amy Adams

4 nominations for Junebug (2005), Doubt (2008), The Fighter (2010) and The Master (2012). 

Amy Adams leads this list with 4 nominations in the past 8 years. She is in the Kate Winslet category, meaning she has to really earn her eventual Oscar. Winslet was nominated for years and years before she won her Oscar for The Reader (2008), which actually was actually a supporting role and ignored for her real leading turn in the devastating Revolutionary Road. Either way, she got that Oscar monkey off her back after 6 nominations.  I think I've figured out what she needs to do to win, get nominated in an odd number year to finally win.  She's working with director David O. Russell again so that's great sign and she also has a Janis Joplin biopic in the pipeline.  The Academy does love its biopics.

(Rest of the actors after the cut)