I’m not gonna lie, I’m sort of excited for Life After Beth.  I’ve heard that director Jeff Baena’s film is fun yet slight, but it seems like the kind of slight I could get into.  And A24 has just released two clips that continue to further my anticipation of a film I might enjoy in the most casual of ways.  The film stars Dane DeHaan as a young man whose girlfriend (Aubrey Plaza) comes back from the dead, only to start deteriorating into a flesh-craving zombie.  One of these new clips highlights the apparent fact that smooth jazz can soothe a zombie while the other is more of a John Hughes-ish look at the dynamic between DeHaan and his older brother in the film that has a bit of a “Wyatt vs. Chet” Weird Science vibe.

Hit the jump to watch the Life After Beth clips. You can also check out Adam’s Sundance interviews with Plaza & DeHaan and writer/director Jeff Baena.  The film also stars Matthew Gray Gubler, Paul Reiser, Anna Kendrick, and Cheryl Hines.  Life After Beth debuts exclusively on DirecTV on July 17th and opens in limited release on August 15th.

We have a few release date changes and announcements to attend to this afternoon.  Briefly:

• 20th Century Fox’s “Untitled Ridley Scott Project” has been confirmed, as The Martian release date has been moved up from March 2016 to November 25, 2015.
• Director Tim Burton’s next film, Peregrine’s Home for Peculiars, will take over the date previously held by The Martin, as Fox has pushed it to March 4, 2016.
• Following the success of The Fault in Our Stars, Fox has set the adaptation of another John Green novel, Paper Towns, for release on July 31, 2015.
• Universal Pictures will release Clifford the Big Red Dog on April 8, 2016.

Hit the jump for more on the aforementioned projects. 

Now playing around the world is director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.  As most of you know, the story follows five intergalactic misfits—Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper)—as they set out to protect a powerful and mysterious orb from the villainous Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).  Loaded with great performances, an extremely funny script, and some fantastic action sequences,Guardians of the Galaxy should be a big hit with moviegoers and it helps to explain why Marvel was so quick to announce that a sequel is coming July 28, 2017.  For more on the film, read Matt’s review.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I landed an exclusive video interview with James Gunn.  He talked about his reaction to everyone loving the film, deleted scenes, whether he would release an extended cut, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, how he’s thought about solo movies for the Guardians cast as well as a sequel featuring the whole gang together, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Now playing in theaters is director Lasse Hallström’s (Chocolat) adaptation of the Richard C. Morais novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey.  The story centers on the Kadam family, who set up an Indian restaurant in a small village in the south of France, unknowingly beginning a rivalry with the nearby classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren).  However, this rivalry eventually turns into friendship as the two establishments begin to learn and appreciate the other’s cuisine.  Produced by Oprah and Steven Spielberg, the film also stars Manish Dayal, Om Puri, and Charlotte Le Bon.  For more on the film, watch the trailer.

At the Los Angeles press day for the film, I landed an extended video interview with Lasse Hallström.  He talked about how he got involved in The Hundred-Foot Journey, film versus digital, his shooting style, the first cut, deleted scenes, turning down Catch Me If You Can, how the failure of Casanova affected his career, future projects, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

This week’s new Blu-ray releases include the definitive, remastered Twin Peaks box set, a Biblical epic from Darren Aronofsky, a salsa dancing comedy, a new Criterion Collection addition with a killer soundtrack, a Werner Herzog box set, and more.  Briefly:

• Noah (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD) – $17.99 (55% off)
• Cuban Fury [Blu-ray] – $19.78 (34% off)
• The Other Woman [Blu-ray] – $19.99 (50% off)
• The Big Chill (Blu-ray + DVD) – $27.59 (31% off)
• Herzog: The Collection (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] – $149.99 (6% off)
• Marty [Blu-ray] - $16.99 (43% off)

As you’ve probably gleaned from the past week, we here at Collider managed to pull a lot of coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2014.  Following a series of press line interviews with the cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron that Steve conducted backstage after the film’s Hall H panel, today we’re bringing you his video interview with Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, and Jeremy Renner, plus an unexpected cameo by Mr. Robert Downey Jr.

In the interview, the actors discuss the disbanded nature of S.H.I.E.L.D., their reactions to first reading the Age of Ultron script and seeing normal human conversations (though Renner notes that he didn’t understand anything that was happening in the second half of the script), the atmosphere on set for the sequel versus the first film, and more.  Hit the jump to watch the video interview.  Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in theaters on May 1, 2015.

Last year, a curious independent project started taking shape in the form of Russ & Roger Go Beyond.  Penned by The Simpsons and SNL scribe Christopher Cluess, the film chronicles the relationship between Roger Ebert and provocative director Russ Meyer as they develop and produce 1970’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which marked Ebert’s one and only screenplay credit.  Meyer was coming off a string of pulp films like Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill when he was asked by Fox to helm Dolls.  When he signed on, Meyer insisted that Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert write the screenplay.  The two struck up a rapport that continued until Ebert’s passing, and the film will follow their path to getting Dolls made, including the controversy with the ratings board surrounding the film’s X rating.

It’s been some time since we’ve heard about Russ & Roger Go Beyond, but now it appears that the project has piqued the interest of Will Ferrell, who is circling the role of Meyer.  More after the jump.

Whether you’re into True Blood or not, it’s about time that show comes to an end; Nelsan Ellis needs more time for movies now!  He stars in Get On Up as Bobby Byrd, James Brown’s (Chadwick Boseman) best friend, collaborator and steadfast supporter.  Back when they were just kids, Bobby convinced his family to take James in after he got out of prison and, ever since, even when things got especially tough, Bobby stood by his side no matter what.

With Get On Up due in theaters on Friday, August 1st, Ellis took the time to sit down and discuss how he went in to audition for the role of James Brown and came out playing Bobby Byrd, what made this film especially challenging, what he thinks about Bobby’s choice to stick with James despite his poor attitude, how he feels about the end of True Blood and more.  Hit the jump for the full video interview.

20th Century Fox has released a pair of new Gone Girl posters for David Fincher’s upcoming Gillian Flynn adaptation, as well as a new image from the film.  Ben Affleck stars as Nick Dunne, a man who becomes the prime suspect when his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) disappears on their fifth wedding anniversary.  These new posters are pretty great, framing Amy’s watchful eyes over a fractured Nick, standing sullen and frustrated amidst a flurry of news ticker headlines.  Fincher is always hands-on in the marketing of his own films, and thus far the campaign for Gone GIrl has failed to disappoint.  Additionally, a new image shows Affleck’s Dunne being questioned by Detectives Boney (Kim Dickens) and Gilpin (Patrick Fugit) as Amy’s parents look on.  The film continues to look fantastic, and I really can’t wait to see what Fincher does with this dark and emotionally complex story.  Hopefully we’re in for a few surprises.

Hit the jump to take a look at the Gone Girl posters and image.  The film also stars Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Emily Ratajkowski, Scoot McNairy, Missi Pyle, Casey Wilson, Sela Ward, Lisa Barnes, and David Clennon.  Gone Girl will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival and opens in theaters on October 3rd.

If you didn’t know about them all ready, you’ve probably heard about Rooster Teeth recently when they were able to raise $2.4 million on Indiegogo for their first feature length movie Lazer Team.  Rooster Teeth has been around for more then a decade, producing the popular Halo based comedic web-series Red Vs. Blue (now in its 12^th season), as well as comedic shorts, podcasts, video game and news related content, as well as hold a yearly internet and gaming convention, RTX, in early July in Austin, Texas.

Since Rooster Teeth launched RWBY in July of 2013, the beautifully CG animated anime-styled web-series has been wildly popular; inspiring cosplays, fanart, and fanfiction. Created by Monty Oum, who co-writes the show with Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross, the story centers on a team of four girls; Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, who are training to be Huntresses and protect their world.  The show is a rich and pleasant mix of awesome action scenes and compelling writing, making every episode more exciting then the last.  With Volume 2 of the series being released this month I couldn’t be more excited to see what happens next.  At Comic-Con I had the opportunity to sit with two of the voice actors of the series, Arryn Zech and Kara Eberle, the voices of Blake and Weiss respectively, to talk about epic food fights, meeting fans at RTX, character relationships, and what we can expect in the upcoming episodes of Volume 2.  Hit the jump for our RWBY interview.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.  Calvary opens today in limited release.]

The Catholic Church can give absolution to sinners who feel true repentance. The Church is a vessel for God’s forgiveness. But their cover-up of sex abuse was, by the morals of any civilized human being, unforgivable. John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary is a dark, complex, and demanding meditation on faith, the limits of forgiveness, the necessity of compassion, the possibility of absolution, and inevitable reckonings. Anchored by yet another incredible performance from Brendan Gleeson, Calvary is the rare film that shows the intricacies of religion without becoming pedantic in the process.

Marvel Studios’ The Avengers was a massive success, and while most fans were left satisfied by the film as a whole, Marvel kicked off another whirlwind of anticipation with the film’s post-credits scene in which the comics supervillain Thanos was first glimpsed.  Speculation ran rampant that the cosmic baddie would be the foe in The Avengers 2, but that turned out to be false as Joss Whedon and Co. instead settled on the robot Ultron.  And so it appears that Marvel is playing the long game when it comes to Thanos, but his time may finally be drawing near as the character makes his first in-movie appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, opening in theaters this weekend.  Josh Brolin was cast in the integral role, performing the facial performance capture for the character after principal photography on Guardians had already wrapped.  Though Thanos isn’t on screen for too long in the film, he certainly has a memorable presence.  Now, on opening day, Marvel has released the first official Thanos image from Guardians.

If you so desire, hit the jump to get a good look at the Big Bad in the first Thanos image from Guardians of the Galaxy along with an extended recap video of Marvel’s Phase 1 & 2.  You can check out the film in theaters this weekend to see the character in action. 

When Marvel Studios kicked off its first independent production with Iron Man in 2008, few could have predicted that it would become the juggernaut that it is today.  “Marvel” is no longer just the company, it’s the brand name.  This is why Guardians of the Galaxy is much less of a risk than people might think; a “Marvel Movie” is a massive selling point in and of itself.  One of the benefits of the autonomy that Marvel Studios has enjoyed over the past few years is the ability to pepper its films with Easter Eggs that actually pay off, rather than ones that are just simply sly nods to the source material that never go anywhere (though there are a few of those too).  In celebration of this weekend’s release of Guardians of the Galaxy, a video has been put together that points out every single Easter Egg in the Marvel films through Thor: The Dark World, from obvious ones like Cap’s shield in Iron Man to more obscure comics references.

Hit the jump to watch the Marvel Easter Eggs explained, and sound off in the comments if there are any that were missed. 

Though we’ve seen a fair amount of sequels from Marvel Studios over the past few years, the time has finally come to introduce a new comics property to the moviegoing public with Guardians of the Galaxy.  The film has been billed as a “risk” since Day One given the source material’s offbeat and relatively obscure nature, and then it became even more of a question mark when Marvel tapped Slither and Super director James Gunn to take the helm.  However, while the finished film is indeed probably weirder than any Marvel film thus far, it’s oddly one of the most personal.  Guardians is very much a space opera, but more than that, it’s really a dysfunctional family story about a group of broken, morally ambiguous loners coming together to fight off real evil.  Chris Pratt proves he’s got the goods to lead a tentpole all his own, and even though he says but three words, Groot nearly steals the whole movie.  The film does suffer from the Marvel sameness at points (which, by now, is par for the course), but on the whole, I though Guardians was a hell of a good time and would rank it towards the top of the Marvel oeuvre thus far.

You can read Matt’s full review right here, but now that Guardians of the Galaxy is in theaters, we want to hear your thoughts.  Did James Gunn deliver on his promise of a weird space opera? Who was your favorite Guardian?  What’d you think about that post-credits scene?  Sound off in the comments after the jump.

Yesterday Jon Stewart’s directorial debut Rosewater got a release date and now we have a look at the first images released from the film.  If anyone was expecting a comedy, this definitely isn’t one.  Written and directed by Stewart, the film stars Gael Garcia Bernal and is an adaptation of BBC journalist Maziar Bahari‘s memoir, Then They Came for Me.  Bahari, who was born in Tehran, went to Iran in 2009 to interview Mir-Hossein Moussavi, but was arrested by the Revolutionary Guard, and then interrogated and beaten for 118 days by a man known only as “Rosewater”.  Stewart had a personal connection to the story as Bahari’s previous The Daily Show appearance was used as “evidence” that he was a spy.

I’m eager to see Rosewater, not just for the subject matter but out of personal curiosity to see if Stewart has directing chops.  He puts a lot of care into what he does (and is good at admitting past mistakes like Playing By Heart), so I’m confident his compass was true when he chose to take this on.  Hit the jump for the Rosewater images.  Open Road releases the film on November 7th.