Lee Daniels‘ The Paperboy technically has a plot.  It’s an idiotic, rambling plot that has no level of cohesion or momentum whatsoever, but it’s a story that chronologically follows from “A” to “B”.  Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy has characters.  They’re gross, idiotic people whose actions are repulsive and ambitions are bizarre, but their repulsive behavior and bizarre ambition are consistent.  Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy doesn’t earn points just because it meets the bare minimum of plot and character since it fails on just about every level of filmmaking.  Daniels, in his effort to go big all the time, mistakes luridness for atmosphere, sweat for character, and style for substance.

A first look at Jonah Hill’s character in director Martin Scorsese’s financial drama The Wolf of Wall Street has landed online courtesy of some set photos. Hill plays the close friend and business partner of Jordan Beflort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  We’ve already seen a few set photos of DiCaprio in character, and these images of Hill reinforce the idea that Scorsese is going to great lengths to make the actors look like their real-life counterparts.  Hill appears to be wearing some Gary Busey-esque false teeth along with his wonderfully 90s attire, complete with large glasses and a yellow sweater tied around his shoulders.

Hit the jump to take a look at the Hill images along with a new look at DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey.  The film also stars Kyle Chandler, Margot Robbie, Jean Dujardin, Joe Bernthal and Rob Reiner.

Matthew McConaughey looks to be continuing his run of great roles, as he has now joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.  Leonardo DiCaprio is set as the lead in the adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s memoir, as the story follows the hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering, and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  Per Deadline, McConaughey will be playing Mark Hanna, the early boss and mentor of Belfort.

The stacked cast now includes Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler, Joe Bernthal, Margot Robbie, and Rob Reiner.  Production begins this month in New York, and we previously learned that Scorsese will be shooting the pic in digital 2D.  McConaughey is coming off of fantastic roles in Magic Mike and Killer Joe, and he’s gearing up to shoot the AIDS drama The Dallas Buyer’s Club.

The first trailer for Precious director Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy has been released, and it’s pretty out there.  The film is an adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel and stars Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron as two brothers who team-up to investigate the potential wrongful conviction of a death-row inmate played by John Cusack.  The trailer’s pretty muddled, and it’s tough to make out just exactly what this movie is.  Efron appears to be fixated on a rather free-spirited woman played by Nicole Kidman, while Cusack seems to be playing some sort of victim/villain.  The pic was greeted with a less than enthusiastic response when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and while this trailer doesn’t inspire much evidence to the contrary I’m still interested to see the talented ensemble cast work together.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and check out the poster.  The Paperboy opens on October 5th.

Now playing, in limited release, is director William Friedkin‘s controversial thriller Killer Joe.  Based on the play by Tracey Letts, the NC-17-rated film centers on a son (Emile Hirsch) and his father (Thomas Haden Church) who hire a cop moonlighting as a hitman (Matthew McConaughey) to murder their mother in order to get her insurance policy.  The film also stars Juno Temple as Hirsch’s sister and Gina Gershon.  Loaded with great performances and an insane third act, Killer Joe is definitely worth checking out.  For more on the film, here’s the trailer, a clip, and my interview with Hirsch.

The other day I sat down with McConaughey here in Los Angeles. We talked about making Killer Joe, his initial reaction to the script, how the finished film compares to the script, his favorite movies, and more.  In addition, we talked about his movies with Richard Linklater, Wooderson (from Dazed and Confused), and the status of The Lincoln Lawyer sequel.  Hit the jump to watch..

Director Brad Furman’s adaptation of Michael Connelly’s novel The Lincoln Lawyer was a sizeable hit when the thriller opened last year, and given that Matthew McConaughey’s character of Mickey Haller appears in subsequent Connelly novels, many were hoping we’d be seeing more of Haller in future films.  Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns revealed last December that a sequel to the film was in the works as well as a television series, and now we have an update from McConaughey himself on the status of the follow-up.

Steve got the chance to speak with McConaughey earlier today for his upcoming thriller Killer Joe, and the actor spoke a bit about the Lincoln Lawyer sequel including his eagerness to return to the character and what the follow-up would entail.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

One of the best films of 2012 so far is a movie about male strippers.  I’m dead serious.  With Magic Mike, director Steven Soderbergh crafted a movie that works wonderfully both as an entertaining ensemble and as an introspective, sad portrait of the reality of the American Dream.  Matthew McConaughey gives one of the best performances of his career, and Channing Tatum continues his 2012 streak of proving that he’s a genuinely talented guy.  Though we already know that Tatum and Jonah Hill are developing a sequel to 21 Jump Street, and Tatum recently revealed that he’s working on a stage musical adaptation of Magic Mike with Soderbergh, the actor now says that he’s also developing a feature film sequel to Magic Mike.  Hit the jump for more.

A new clip from the William Friedkin‘s upcoming controversial thriller Killer Joe has been released.  The film is an NC-17 version of the play by Tracey Letts, and stars Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) as a young man who convinces his father (Thomas Hayden Church) to have a local policeman (Matthew McConaughey, in the title role) kill his mother for cash, trading in the virginity of his younger sister (Juno Temple).  Hey, these are hard economic times!

Billed as a “totally twisted deep-friend Texas redneck trailer park murder story” (well howdy do), the film earned its NC-17 rating because of “graphic disturbing content involving violence and sexuality, and a scene of brutality” (so, really, no worse than an average episode of Game of Thrones).  For more on the film and to see the clip, hit the jump.  Killer Joe opens in limited release on July 27th.

This weekend I find myself deep in the heart of Louisville, KY for Fandomfest Louisville 2012. Part Comic-Con, part pop culture celebration, and part horror film festival, a few guests of note include Bruce Campbell, Sean Astin, Tyler Mane, and slasher icon Kane Hodder. While each of these attendees has a special place in my pop culture heart in one way or another, my mission today is to track down former WCW star Diamond Dallas Page. 10 year-old me loved nothing more than watching DDP and co. weekly on WCW Monday Nitro, and today may be the only opportunity I get to share that joy with someone who was an integral part of it.

All wrestling memories aside, awaiting you on the other side of this week’s Top 5 is a brief recap and link to our Magic Mike interviews with Channing Tatum, Steven Soderbergh and more, the new international and domestic trailers for Rian Johnson‘s Looper, Steve’s People Like Us video interviews with Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks and more, the new Total Recall trailer, and Brendan’s inaugural By the Numbers feature that spans Pixar’s entire filmography to date.

It hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike may soon be headed to Broadway.  Magic Mike: The Musical is currently in development by Soderbergh and star Channing Tatum, whose early life as a male stripper led to the genesis of the film.  The duo plans to have the musical performing and on its way to Broadway by the summer of next year.  John Buzzetti of WME is bringing the project together, while Soderbergh and Tatum are producing alongside Gregory Jacobs, Nick Wechsler and Reid Carolin. Deadline reports that Carolin, who scripted the feature film, will also pen the musical adaptation.  Magic Mike, starring Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash and Olivia Munn opens June 29th.

Magic Mike is the best male-stripper comedy-drama I’ve ever seen.  Granted, it’s the only male-stripper comedy-drama I’ve ever seen, but it’s still an enjoyable and thoughtful movie that explores issues of sexual objectification, artistic integrity, and gender roles.  These weighty topics come about organically through the majesty of well-choreographed and imaginatievely-designed stripping performances.  The film also features surprisingly effective performances from Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer along with one of the best roles in Matthew McConaughey‘s career.  Director Steven Soderbergh‘s film mostly keeps to fresh territory, and it only goes astray when it has to move through stale, undeveloped conflicts.  But until it reaches those points, you’ll want to throw dollar bills at the screen.

Magic Mike tells the story of an entrepreneur named Mike (Channing Tatum), who is a man of many talents and seemingly endless charm.  When he’s not roofing houses, detailing cars and designing his own furniture, he’s headlining an all-male revue in Tampa that’s run by club owner Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) and features Ken (Matt Bomer), Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Tarzan (Kevin Nash) and Tito (Adam Rodriguez).  He sees potential in a 19-year-old co-worker who he calls the Kid (Alex Pettyfer) and takes him under his wing to teach him how to make easy money while taking full advantage of the lifestyle, but quickly realizes that he’s really looking for something more for his own life.  For more on the film, here’s twelve clips.

At the film’s press day, co-stars Channing Tatum (who’s also one of the film’s producers), Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer (White Collar) and Joe Manganiello (True Blood) talked about their lack of wardrobe, why male strip clubs are different than female strip clubs, how nervous they all were for their big dance numbers, what surprised them about making this film, and their favorite costumes.  Channing Tatum also talked about how he, himself, ended up stripping at 18 and why he decided to stop.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

12 clips from director Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper pic Magic Mike have been released.  The film is loosely based on Channing Tatum’s early days as a male stripper, and the actor stars as a stripping mentor to a young up-and-comer played by Alex Pettyfer.  With Soderbergh onboard, we can reasonably assume that this won’t simply be a straightforward, flashy stripper movie.  Early word has been strongly positive, and I’m eager to see what kind of story Soderbergh intends to tell against the backdrop of this kind of world.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn, Kevin Nash, Riley Keough, Cody Horn and Adam Rodriguez.  Magic Mike opens on June 29th.

A couple of new release dates have been announced.  First up, Lee Daniels’ adaptation of The Paperboy will hit theaters on October 5th (per Deadline).  The film stars Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron as two brothers who team-up to investigate the potential wrongful conviction of a death-row inmate played by John Cusack.  The film was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response at the Cannes Film Festival, but I’m still interested in seeing the pic based on the impressive cast.  The drama faces considerable competition on that October release date, as Frankenweenie, Taken 2, the a capella comedy Pitch Perfect and the horror film Sinister all open on the same day.

Additionally, Studio Canal and Big Talk Pictures have set the salsa dancing revenge comedy (how’s that for a genre?) Cuban Fury for release on March 22nd in the UK and Ireland.  Nick Frost plays a burgeoning salsa dancing star alongside Rashida Jones, Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids), Olivia Colman (Hot Fuzz) and Ian McShane.  Production begins next week in London, and hopefully we’ll get a US release date announcement soon.  Hit the jump to read the press release.

We’ve got a good selection of new posters to share with you today (in addition to these awesome examples from the upcoming Total Recall reboot).  Here’s what we have to offer:

• Taken 2 – The sequel to Pierre Morel’s Taken features the return of ex-CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) who finds himself on the wrong end of a kidnapping.  Taken 2 opens October 5th.
• Savages – Oliver Stone’s newest film stars Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson as two marijuana dealers who must rescue their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) from Mexican cartel runners (Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro). Savages opens July 6th.
• Magic Mike – Based on his real-life experience as a male stripper, Magic Mike follows Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello and more through their daily (and nightly) exploits.  Magic Mike opens June 29th.
• Won’t Back Down – Based on a true story of the fight to reform urban education, Won’t Back Down stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis.  The film opens September 28th.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.