Now in theaters is The Purge: Anarchy, James DeMonaco‘s ambitious follow up to last summer’s surprise hit The Purge. For the sequel DeMonaco takes to the streets with more action, a bigger cast of characters, and a deeper exploration of the world established in the first film. In the film Zach Gilford stars as Shane, a middle class everyman stranded outside on Purge night with his wife (played by Gildford’s real-life bride Kiele Sanchez). Their odds of surviving until morning look pretty grim until the couple joins forces with a mysterious, well-armed man (Frank Grillo) and a mother/daughter pair intent on survival (Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul). Together, the team struggles to evade the deadly forces all around them and find a place of sanctuary.

At the recent LA press day I joined a group of journalists to talk with Gilford about the film. He talked about producerJason Blum‘s method of filmmaking, why he loved working with director James DeMonaco, fun times on the set, the film’s socio-political commentary, the deleted scene that explains why his character is out on Purge night, and more. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

A few casting items crept up in today’s second half.  In short:

• Mathew McConaughey is said to be in talks to join The Company Man.  The former Black List script is currently looking for a director.
• Amy Ryan, Eve Hewson, Alan Alda and Billy Magnussen look to be joining Steven Spielberg’s Untitled Cold War Thriller starring Tom Hanks.
• Speaking of talks, Naomi Watts is apparently in them to join Jake Gyllenhaal in Demolition, the new picture from Dallas Buyers Club-director Jean-Marc Vallée.

Hit the jump for more on each announcement.

From filmmaker Joe Swanberg, Happy Christmas tells the story of budding novelist Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) and her film director husband Jeff (Swanberg), who live a peaceful existence with their two-year-old son.  When Jeff’s irresponsible younger sister, Jenny (Anna Kendrick), comes to live with them and disrupts things a bit, it prompts Kelly to look at her own life and career.

During this exclusive phone interview with Collider, Joe Swanberg talked about why he decided to explore the aspects of this particular story, why he wanted Anna Kendrick for this role, comparing the reality of the relationship between Jeff and Kelly to Coach Taylor and his wife from Friday Night Lights, why he decided to shoot this on 16mm film, shaping the story during the editing process, that he didn’t shoot much more than he used, how grateful he is for how much he’s learned on the films he’s made, how he usually thinks two movies ahead, that he’s already finished his next film, Digging for Fire, with Jake Johnson and Rosemarie DeWitt, and what’s surprised him most about how actors take to his improvisational style of filmmaking.  Check out what he had to say after the jump. 

Available now on VOD and arriving in select theaters this week is Beneath, a claustrophobic thriller centered on a group of coal miners as they struggle for survival following a catastrophic cave-in. Things go from really bad to even worse when the survivors start hearing mysterious noises and suffering horrifying visions. With bodies piling up and the cave’s air supply growing more toxic by the minute they must figure out who or what is after them. Beneath stars Jeff Fahey, Joey Kern, Kelly Noonan, Brent Briscoe and Eric Etebari.

I recently had the opportunity to jump on the phone for an exclusive interview with Jeff Fahey. He talked about what attracted him to the project, shooting on a dirty, cramped sound stage, and the challenge of playing a character with a physical ailment. He also talked about the joy of being a character actor, bouncing between film and stage productions, and if he prefers one format over the other. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Universal Pictures has released several new images for Get on Up, the James Brown biopic directed by Tate Taylor (The Help).  42 star Chadwick Boseman plays the Godfather of Soul in the film.  I’m not sure what kind of role there is for these kinds of films in the post Walk Hard universe.  Ever since that parody so thoroughly nailed the biopic genre the standard structure for these things has become so transparent.  It could very well be that this movie breaks out of the rather constraining narrative box, though most of the elements I’ve seen don’t indicate that it will.

Still, it could be a nice treat for Brown fans and the new images look handsome enough.  Brown didn’t live a boring life by any means, so I’m sure hitting those required bases will provide some kind of enjoyment.  The film also stars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Nelsan Ellis, Lennie James, Tika Sumpter, Jill Scott, and Dan Aykroyd.  It opens on August 1st.  Check out the trailer if you missed it.  Hit the jump for the new Get on Up images.

The prospect of seeing an original TV series from the mind of Charlie Kaufman was almost too good to be true.  Alas, after producing a pilot for a comedy called How and Why, FX has decided to pass on the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation. scribe’s potential series, per Deadline.  The show was to star John Hawkes as a man who can explain how and why a nuclear reactor works, but is clueless about life.  The promising cast also included Michael Cera, Sally Hawkins, and Catherine Keener, but apparently it wasn’t up to snuff for the network.  Hit the jump for more.

Okay.  So we know that DC and Warner Bros. would really like to play some catchup with Marvel and Disney.  Man of Steel didn’t do especially well, so they’re moving full steam ahead into the Avengers-esque territory of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, which will be shot back-to-back by Zack Snyder.

But wouldn’t it be nice if they put some solo movies in there too?  There were some rumors last month about a potentially leaked Warner Bros. schedule for Comic-Con this week that included a Wonder Woman movie, a Sandman movie and a Shazam movie.  And it’s the latter film that Dwayne Johnson seems to be hinting at.  Hit the jump for more on a possible Shazam movie starring Dwayne Johnson.

If you were looking forward to catching the next Cameron Crowe film this Christmas, we’ve got some bad news.  Sony Pictures has opted to push Crowe’s untitled new romantic comedy from its initial December 25th release date to May 29, 2015.  Sony recently saw a new cut and decided the pic was more of a summer play rather than a holiday/awards-type film.  Though I’m disappointed I’ll have to wait an extra five months to see the pic, hopefully it’s found a more fitting date.  On its new opening weekend, the film will square off against the horror sequel Insidous Chapter 3 and the animated adventure/family pic Monster Trucks.

Crowe’s untitled romantic comedy stars Bradley Cooper as a defense contractor overseeing a weapons satellite launch from Hawaii who teams up with (and falls for) an Air Force pilot (Emma Stone) to scuttle the launch.  The promising ensemble also includes Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin, Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, and Danny McBride.

Actor Corey Stoll has been on a tremendous roll in his career lately, with his work on the Netflix series House of Cards, the horror series The Strain, currently on FX, a guest arc on Season 4 of Showtime’s Homeland, and roles in the White Bulger feature Black Mass, as well as Marvel’s Ant-Man.

Even though everything Marvel is always top-secret, when I got some time to chat with the incredibly versatile actor at the FX portion of the TCA Press Tour, I did get some tidbits and wanted to share his enthusiasm for what sounds like it will be a unique film about a scientist (Michael Douglas) who enlists a thief (Paul Rudd) to safeguard his size-changing technology and create a superhero with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength.  Having been cast by original director Edgar Wright, but now also having read the script for new director Peyton Reed‘s iteration of the project, Stoll said he thinks it’s insane that this movie hasn’t been made before, and that it will be a completely different experience.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.  

The Simpsons fans rejoiced when news broke that FX’s new specialty (ie. comedy-centric) channel FXX nabbed the syndication rights to all episodes of the legendary animated series, and now there’s reason to celebrate once again.  FXX announced today that it will kick off its syndication of The Simpsons by showing all 25 seasons (that’s 552 episodes) in chronological order, plus The Simpsons Movie (airing after episode 400), starting on August 21st.  The episodes will run 24 hours a day until the series is up to date on September 1st, making it the longest-running marathon in TV history.  Starting September 2nd, Simpsons episodes will be in heavy, regular rotation on FXX.

Hit the jump for more, including how you can access every full-length The Simpsons episode on demand.

With director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy opening August 1st, over the weekend, Marvel and Disney held a huge press junket here in Los Angeles.  While I’ll be posting my video interviews with the cast next week, I wanted to share my exclusive interview with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige today.  During our wide-ranging conversation he talked about making Guardians of the Galaxy, how much of the film was planned before James Gunn signed on, the great soundtrack, deleted scenes, whether we could see an extended cut in theaters before the Blu-ray release, and more.

In addition, we also talked about casting Josh Brolin as Thanos and if he signed a multi-picture deal, why they didn’t show the post-credits scene at the press screenings, the untitled Marvel movies being released through 2019, the studio’s Comic-Con plans, the fact that Marvel knows who will be playing Doctor Strange but the contract isn’t signed yet (if the person does sign by Comic-Con he’ll be announced on Saturday), the status of Thor 3 and Captain America 3, the chances Robert Downey Jr. returning for Iron Man 4, and more.  Hit the jump for the interview and click here to read some going tweets about Guardians of the Galaxy.

About three months ago it appeared that Guy Ritchie had firmed up King Arthur as his next project with the possibility of the tale stretching into six feature films (which sounds absolutely insane and near impossible to me, but whatever).  There’s still no word on this six movie business (which at this point I’m taking as a sign that this will be a standalone film that will leave the option for sequels open).  But now we have our first bit of casting news.

Idris Elba is in talks to join the film, which was written by Joby Harold and will be produced by Akiva Goldsman and Tory Tunnel.  Warner Bros. will be releasing the film in 2D and 3D on July 22, 2016.  Hit the jump for more on Idris Elba possibly joining King Arthur.

There’s no doubt about it, the 2014 New York Film Festival is on fire.  First they nabbed David Fincher’s Gone Girl as their opening night film, then they set the world premiere of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice as their centerpiece film.  Now they’ve announced that Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance will close out the festival on October 12th, just five days before the film opens in limited release on October 17th.  The black comedy stars Michael Keaton as an actor who once played an iconic superhero, and now faces troubles with his ego and family as he prepares to mount a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim past glory.  NYFF director Kent Jones describes the pic as “consistently surprising and inventive”, which is no surprise given that Iñárritu shot the movie to look like it’s one giant continuous take.

Birdman will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 17th.  The NYFF press release makes no mention of this being the film’s North American premiere, so a Telluride or TIFF debut in September seems likely.  NYFF 2014 runs from September 26th – October 12th.  Read the press release after the jump.

Well, this is going to be a problem.  Colin Trevorrow just tweeted out a stunning Jurassic World poster that a special few will get their hands on at San Diego Comic-Con, but included zero details on how to get it.  I’m still bummed I haven’t been able to get the JC Richard or Aaron Horkey Jurassic Park prints for Mondo, so scoring one of these Mark Englert designs might have to be an SDCC 2014 priority.

The combination of the old and new here is particularly impressive.  We’ve got the park construction going on in the background, but a very familiar smashed Jurassic Park vehicle up front.  However, it isn’t the one responsible for the destruction looming over the flipped car, but rather a Velociraptor.  Perhaps they’re the guys in charge this time around?  Hit the jump to check out the art for yourself.  The film opens on June 12, 2015 in 3D and IMAX, and stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Irrfan Khan, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy, and Judy Greer.

Lionsgate and Saban’s Power Rangers movie picked up a considerable amount of steam last week with the news that X-Men: First Class scribes Ashley Miller and Zack Stenz will be writing the screenplay.  Moreover, Transformers and Star Trek alum Roberto Orci has come aboard the project as executive producer.  Details regarding the adaptation of the popular 1990s TV series have been scarce, but Orci recently opened up a bit about their plans for the movie.  It’s still early days as the script hasn’t yet been written, but Orci revealed that the film will exist in continuity with the world of the TV series and also discussed the kind of research that he, Miller, and Stenz have been doing in preparation for the script.  More after the jump.