It’s an exciting year for movies for a number of reasons, but surely at the top of the list is the fact that we have a new Coen brothers film headed our way.  The prospect of seeing a new feature from brothers Joel and Ethan is thrilling in and of itself, but Inside Llewyn Davis is all the more promising given that it sees the Coens tooling around in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music scene.  A batch of new images has landed online ahead of the film’s Cannes Film Festival debut later this month, giving us full-color looks at some previously released black-and-white images as well as a couple of wholly new photos that highlight stars Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan, and a smile-inducing appearance by Girls standout Adam Driver wearing a cowboy hat.  I seriously cannot wait to see this movie.

Hit the jump to take a look at the new images.  Inside Llewyn Davis will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month and is slated for a December 6th theatrical release.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• James Gandolfini is in talks to join Tom Hardy in the crime drama Animal Rescue.
• Girls standout Adam Driver is in negotiations to join Tina Fey and Jason Bateman in the comedy/drama This Is Where I Leave You.
• Law & Order star S. Epatha Merkerson is looking to play Marvin Gaye’s mother in the biopic Sexual Healing.

Hit the jump for more details.

Oh my.  I’m not sure what to do with this season of Girls.  It’s been all over the place — from a strong, legitimately funny start to some strange, meditative episodes (Hannah and her affair with the doctor, Jessa’s trip back home), to the odd and boring (“On All Fours”).  This season has become less of a commentary on girls, these or otherwise, and more of a ritualistic humiliation that has zapped one character off of the map completely (please come back, Jessa, please!)  As for this week, the best I can do with “On All Fours” is that it seemed to be about returning to your base instincts and coming to terms with who you really are.  Or something.  Hit the jump for why “I’ve been known to dabble in the Macintosh arts.”

The first trailer for director Noah Baumbach’s (The Squid and the Whale) upcoming comedy Frances Ha has been released online.  The film is described as “a modern comic fable” and stars Greta Gerwig as the titular character.  A straight plot is unclear, but the film looks to follow the exploits of Frances as she meanders her way through late 20s irresponsibility, juggling friendships, love, and everything in between while living in New York City.  I adore the black and white aesthetic and the tone that this trailer conveys (Gerwig appears to be unendingly charming), so consider my hopes for this one high.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to read our review of the film from TIFF.  Written by Baumbach and Gerwig, the film also stars Mickey Summer, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen, and Patrick Heusinger.  Frances Ha opens on May 17th.

Did anyone count the seconds Shoshanna and Jessa turned up on screen in this episode of Girls?  More than twenty, but less than a full minute, surely.  The problem with any episode that focuses entirely on Hannah is that Hannah is, by far, the least likable of the foursome.  In small doses she can be fine — the cold open was a thing of beauty to anyone who works in, or pays close attention to, media.  Hannah, looking to do some kind of Woody Allen-esque “I just want to talk about how awkward I am” piece, or maybe some kind of long-form old-school journalism is told, “have a threesome with strangers you meet off of Craiglist.  Or go on a cocaine binge.  Just an idea.”  Hit the jump to see how that played out, as well as why you should “look at the doll and describe her!”

The first trailer for the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis is now available.  The story centers on the titular folk singer/songwriter, played by Oscar Isaac, who struggles to find his way in New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1960s.  The trailer shows us that, although he’s not overtly a ne’er-do-well, everyone around him sure does seem to despise him quite a bit.  Llewyn’s lover Jean Berkey (Carey Mulligan) is particularly vicious while John Goodman’s character appears to be more of a curmudgeonly businessman/agent type, with some apparent health problems.

Also starring Justin Timberlake, Garret Hedlund, Adam Driver and F. Murray Abraham, Inside Llewyn Davis opens later this year.  Hit the jump to see the trailer.

“I watched Girls, but I didn’t really have an opinion of it” – said no one ever.  Last year the show started off shaky and turned some viewers off, but got progressively better as the reality of what the series is — and not what the divisive hype claimed it was — became clear.  Girls is really a fine show.  Series creator and star Lena Dunham is not “the voice of the generation” (which was a satirically uttered line that HBO turned into a sincere tagline), but she has moments where she gets it really right.  So maybe getting the most out of the show means accepting it as an ironic embrace of White Girl Problems, without being dismissive of its truths.  Hit the jump to find out where all of the girls are now, and why things are already so much better than before.

The first trailer for the second season of HBO’s comedy series Girls has arrived, and it’s pretty great.  The first season of the Judd Apatow-produced series was met with a surprisingly polarized response, but creator/writer/producer/star Lena Dunham took it all in stride and is back with a vengeance.  Some of the season one criticisms were valid, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find this season two trailer incredibly funny.  The events of the season one finale look to be reverberating throughout the show’s second season, as we see Hannah (Dunham) taking advantage of her single life, Jessa (Jemima Kirke) getting to know her new husband (Chris O’Dowd), and the unendingly creepy/affable Adam (Adam Driver) going full stalker on Hannah.  Oh yeah, and Jorma Taccone’s back.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Season two of Girls, which will also feature Donald Glover, Andrew Rannells, Rita Wilson, Patrick Wilson, and Colin Quinn, premieres on HBO on January 13th.

Two pieces of casting to close out the night:

• Paz Vega will play opera singer Maria Callas in Grace of Monaco, the Grace Kelly biopic led by Nicole Kidman.
• Girls scene-stealer Adam Driver will star opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan in the romantic comedy The F Word.

Hit the jump for details on both projects.