I have dropped the damn ball this year when it comes to Oscar prep. Here we are. four days away from the ceremony and I still haven’t seen all the nominees for the major awards let alone some of the more obscure categories. I really have only myself to blame – I started out strong this year and then just ran out of steam, thinking that I had more time than I actually did. For some reason I thought that I had an extra week before the ceremony so I totally squandered my three day weekend last weekend. My inability to properly read a calendar is my apparently undoing.
That being said, I’m still trying to finish strong. I’ve committed to finishing the best picture, best actor/actress, and best supporting actor/actress categories. That means a lot of movie watching but I’m up for the challenge. So while I’m binging movies like crazy, get yourself caught up on all the pop culture that you may have missed with this week’s roundup.
Television
- Stephen Kings and J.J. Abrams are teaming up for the Hulu series Castle Rock.
- This news delights me beyond words – Busy Phillips to star in a comedy pilot from Tina Fey. PLEASE let this get picked up to series.
- It doesn’t sound like filming the new season of Game of Thrones is all that fun.
- Demi Moore will have a recurring role on Empire.
- Aaron Paul will star in WGN America’s Blood and Whiskey, about the life of Jack Daniel.
- Fox renewed The Mick for a second season.
- HBO will make this Sunday’s episodes of Big Little Lies, Girls, and Crashing early so not to compete with the Oscars.
- Jimmy Kimmel may retire when his contract is up in 2019.
- Kit Harington and Liv Tyler to star in BBC’s historical drama Gunpowder.
- Blue Planet is getting a sequel series.
- Amazon is bringing back Goliath for a second season with a new showrunner.
- Iwan Rheon has joined the cast of Marvel’s Inhumans series.
- Season 3 of Outlander will premiere in September.
- Steve Buscemi to appear on Broad City.
- Details of season 4 of Black Mirror have been revealed.
- E! is doing a TV series based on the film Jawbreaker.
- Archer: Dreamland will debut in April.
- Chelsea Handler’s Netflix talk show is switching to a weekly format.
- Tim Robbins set to star in Alan Ball’s new family drama for HBO.
- The Big Bang Theory will likely go two more seasons.
- Matthew Lillard to co-star in the NBC drama pilot Good Girls. Retta will also star.
- Sigh. American Horror Story is doing a season about the 2016 election.
- Benedict Cumberbatch to executive produce and star in a BBC film based on Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time.
- Darren Criss and Edgar Ramirez will have major roles in Versace: American Crime Story.
- Garry Shandling almost made a TV series based on his journals.
- Starz is developing a drama series about independent wrestling.
- Chris Colfer is developing a sci-fi drama series about kids with powers. He’ll also star.
- Anders Holm to star in NBC’s comedy pilot from Mindy Kaling.
- The final season of Review has a premiere date.
- Constance Zimmer will guest star on Angie Tribeca.
- Here’s what’s coming and going from HBO in March.
Movies
- Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro’s next project is reportedly coming to Netflix.
- Mel Gibson is in early talks to direct the Suicide Squad sequel. I like absolutely nothing about that sentence.
- A feel-good movie about Tom Brady and the Patriots is in development. Not a fan of that sentence either.
- Love Actually will get a sequel of sorts for Red Nose Day in March.
- Angela Lansbury will appear in Mary Poppins Returns.
- Alfie Allen joins the Predator reboot.
- Constance Wu will star in the big screen adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians.
- We’re about to test my Kyle Chandler theory – he joins the cast of Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
- A pop-up La La Land coffeehouse is open at Warner Brothers.
- Donald Glover and James Earl Jones will lend their voices to the live-action Lion King.
- Here’s your first look at the cast of the Han Solo movie:
- Stick around – Kong: Skull Island will have a post-credits scene.
- Hellboy 3 is DOA.
- The Purge 4 is a go.
- Mahershala Ali has joined Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy in Triple Frontier.
- A Step Brothers sequel isn’t coming anytime soon.
- Noah Hawley to direct the sci-fi film Pale Blue Dot.
- Sam Raimi will direct a movie about the Bermuda Triangle.
- Jared Leto is set to direct an adaptation of James Ellroy’s crime thriller 77.
- The Raid (which is awesome) is getting a “reimagining” for American audiences.
- Daniel Craig is now the second-longest serving James Bond.
- The number of female protagonists in movies hit a historical high in 2016.
- Hook’s Dante Basco is trying to kickstart a Rufio prequel.
- James Cromwell joins the Jurassic World sequel.
- An opening date for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Disney California Adventure has been announced.
Trailers
- The House:
- Veep, season 6:
- Silicon Valley, season 4:
- The Institute:
- Sandy Wexler:
- Mine:
- The final season of The Leftovers:
- Rock and a Hard Place:
- Tales from the Crypt reboot:
- King Arthur:
- The Sinner:
- Colossal:
- The Discovery:
- Dean:
- Power Rangers: All-Star:
- The Devil’s Candy:
- Song to Song:
- The Void:
Music
- Spoon announced tour dates and released a new music video.
- Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney are making music together again.
- Roger Waters is releasing a solo album – his first in 25 years.
- HBO has picked up a David Bowie documentary.
- A lot of people in Australia are having sex to the cantina song from Star Wars. I will never understand Star Wars people.
- The Roots announced the lineup for their 10th annual Roots Picnic.
- Weird Al shares an unreleased Beatles parody about Pac-Man.
- Kid Rock might be considering a Senate run.
- David Cassidy will quit performing due to his battle with dementia.
- Frances Bean Cobain remembered her dad Kurt on what would have been his 50th birthday.
Theater
- Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan will replace Josh Groban in Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.
- Sara Bareilles is officially taking over the lead in Waitress.
Stand-up
- Mike Birbiglia’s Thank God for Jokes premieres next month on Netflix.
Books
- Tom Hanks has a book of short stories coming out this fall.
- How much do the characters on Game of Thrones resemble the character descriptions in the books?
- A grad student discovered a lost Walt Whitman novel.
- Simon & Schuster cancelled Milo Yiannopoulos’ book deal.
- The Clerks and Mallrats sequels may be comic books.
- Krysten Ritter is writing her first novel.
- Mick Jagger has an unpublished memoir that he doesn’t remember writing.
Odds and Ends
- This one’s for my brother – the oral history of The Oregon Trail.
- Rosario Dawson and Eric Andre are a couple – and the Internet is having a tough time believing this.
- NBC’ Keith Morrison is the new voice of Waze.
- Chris Brown – still trash.
- Lisa Marie Presley’s daughters are in protective custody.
- Ashton Kutcher testified about human trafficking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
- Drake offered to help police talk down a guy threatening to jump off a bridge.
- Jason Ritter and Melanie Lynskey are engaged.
- Hoda Kotb has adopted a baby girl.
- Zoe Saldana and Marco Perego welcomed their third child.
- Film critic Richard Schickel has passed away.
- Twin Peaks’ Warren Frost has died.
- WWE wrestler George “The Animal” Steele has died. He was 79.
Mashups and Supercuts
- R-rated movies drawn in the style of children’s books:
- The Roots wrote a basketball musical for NBA All-Star Weekend:
- Eddie and the Beast:
- Making the foods of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
- Cate Blanchett lip synched at a drag show at the Stonewall Inn:
- You can make a musical video for The Beastie Boys “Sabotage” using footage from The Americans: