Kyle Chandler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bob Odenkirk, and Andre Royo have joined James Ponsoldt‘s indie flick The Spectacular Now.  The quartet of talented actors has joined a rapidly expanding cast that also includes Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, Masam Holden, and Dayo Okeniyi.  The coming-of-age story is based on the novel by Tim Tharp, and follows a live-for-the-moment high school senior (Teller) who develops a relationship with a “mercurial introvert” (Woodley).  At first, it sounds like the painful garbage of stuff like The Art of Getting By and Restless, but then the synopsis gets interesting: “As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, saving and corrupting, become inextricably blurred.”  It sounds like this movie could go to some dark, interesting places that quirky coming-of-age indies avoid like the plague.  Then again, screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber‘s (500) Days of Summer was twee beyond belief, and was only saved by Marc Webb‘s direction and Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s performance.

Hit the jump for details on who the new cast members will be playing.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced lineups for a few more 2012 programs today, and we’ve got a batch of new images from films that will be screening as part of the Midnight Madness series.  We’ve seen a couple of these images before, but now they’re all in glorious high-resolution.  Briefly:

• Dredd (Directed by Pete Travis) Starring Karl Urban, Lena Headey, and Olivia Thirlby.
• The Lords of Salem (Directed by Rob Zombie) Starring Sheri Moon Zombie, Clint Howard, and Sid Haig.
• Aftershock (Directed by Nicolas Lopez) Starring Eli Roth, Andrea Osvart, Ariel Levy, and Selena Gomez.
• Hellbenders (Directed by J.T. Petty) Starring Clancy Brown, Clifton Collins Jr., Robyn Rikoon, and Andre Royo

Hit the jump to check out images and synopses for these films.  The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.

Up until the past 15 years or so, television series were firmly episodic.  Serialized TV (outside of mini-series) risked alienating viewers since it stopped anyone from coming in mid-season.  However, with the rise of DVDs, OnDemand, and digital downloads, serialized TV series have become firmly established.  Some shows still retain an episodic nature, but some series—particularly dramas—have been built around telling one long story over the course of an entire season.  Our new feature, Seasoned, will review a TV series by season rather than by episode.

Hit the jump for my review of the fifth season of The Wire.  Click on the corresponding links for my reviews of Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, and Season 4.

While others have celebrated The Wire‘s 10 year anniversary with, say, a fantastically in depth oral history of the show by its creator, production crew and stars (or you can just check out the Cliff Notes), Funny or Die has created a four-minute preview for a musical version of the series that includes such hits as “I Got the Shotgun, You Got the Briefcase.”

Scoffing at the amateurs involved in the production? Think again – Michael K. Williams (Omar), Andre Royo (Bubbles), Sonja Sohn (Kima Greggs) and, yes, Felicia “Snoop” Pearson (“this is some Cinderella bullshit”) all make appearances. After the jump see the video that “explores the realistic portrayal of the decay of America’s inner cities through the magic of song!”

Up until the past 15 years or so, television series were firmly episodic.  Serialized TV (outside of mini-series) risked alienating viewers since it stopped anyone from coming in mid-season.  However, with the rise of DVDs, OnDemand, and digital downloads, serialized TV series have become firmly established.  Some shows still retain an episodic nature, but some series—particularly dramas—have been built around telling one long story over the course of an entire season.  Our new feature, Seasoned, will review a TV series by season rather than by episode.

Hit the jump for my review of the fourth season of The Wire.  Click on the corresponding links for my reviews of Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3.

Up until the past 15 years or so, television series were firmly episodic.  Serialized TV (outside of mini-series) risked alienating viewers since it stopped anyone from coming in mid-season.  However, with the rise of DVDs, OnDemand, and digital downloads, serialized TV series have become firmly established.  Some shows still retain an episodic nature, but some series—particularly dramas—have been built around telling one long story over the course of an entire season.  Our new feature, Seasoned, will review a TV series by season rather than by episode.

And we couldn’t think of a better kick-off to this feature than HBO’s The Wire.  Hit the jump for my review of the groundbreaking drama’s first season.

We’ve got a collection of brief TV news for you starting with THR’s report that following the success of the Lady Gaga-centric episode of Glee last season, writers are busy working on an episode that will feature the chart-topping pop music of Britney Spears. Series creator Ryan Murphy said succinctly, “We are writing a Britney Spears episode.” It doesn’t get any clearer than that, but what isn’t clear is whether or not the episode will call for an appearance form the pop princess herself, or if she’s even been asked to appear on the series. One thing’s for sure, Glee and it’s 19 Emmy nominations certainly seem to guarantee continued acclaim and viewership.

Speaking of viewers, hit the jump for some potentially bad news for fans of Mad Men, and a new cast member for Fringe.