The networks are gearing up to announce their fall schedules next week at the upfronts, but this week we’re starting to learn which pilots have been picked up to series.  We saw Fox’s orders last night, and here’s a look at some of the series moving ahead at NBC:

• Believe – Kyle MacLachlan, Johnny Sequoyah, and Delroy Lindo star in this supernatural drama series that follows the unlikely friendship between a gifted young girl and a man recently released from prison.  Alfonso Cuaron, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, and Mark Friedman will executive produce, and Cuaron directed the pilot.
• Crisis – Gillian Anderson, Dermot Mulroney, and Rachel Taylor star in this drama series about Washington’s government being pulled into an international conspiracy.  Rand Ravich and Far Shariat (Life) will executive produce.  Phillip Noyce directed the pilot.
• About a Boy – David Walton, Minnie Driver, and Al Madrigal star in this comedy series adaptation of the Nick Hornby book and subsequent 2002 film.  Jason Katims (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) will executive produce, and Jon Favreau directed the pilot.
• Sean Saves the World – Sean Hayes, Linda Lavin, and Thomas Lennon star in this multi-camera sitcom about a man trying to parent his teenage daughter and appease his boss.  Victor Fresco (Better Off Ted) and Todd Milliner (Hot in Cleveland) will executive produce.

Hit the jump for news regarding the other two comedy pilots order to series, as well as full synopses for all six shows.

Dan Mazer‘s I Give It a Year is the rom-com in reverse and two rom-coms in one.  Mazer takes the difficult task of showing a marriage fall apart, and turns it into a surprisingly funny and witty comedy that never feels cynical.  And it’s absolutely easy to be cynical when it comes to marriage because of the 50% divorce rate.  But like any good comic writer, Mazer finds the humor in an unlikely topic, and succeeds with sharp dialogue, talented actors, and wisely keeping the tone of the film the same as an average romantic comedy.

A new trailer for the British romantic comedy I Give It a Year has been released online.  The film stars Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) and Rafe Spall (Prometheus) as a mismatched couple and centers on their struggle to survive their first year of marriage.  While the logline and “romantic comedy” description may sound a bit trite, this actually looks like a solid comedy.  The new trailer features some great stuff from Stephen Merchant and even a solid Justin Bieber joke for good measure.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Written and directed by Dan Mazer (Borat), the film also stars Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Olivia Colman, and Jane Asher.  I Give It A Year opens in the UK on February 8, 2013. 

The promising first trailer for the British romantic comedy I Give It a Year has been released online.  The film focuses on a mismatched couple as they struggle to survive their first year of marriage.  Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) and Rafe Spall (Anonymous) star as the newlywed couple, while Simon Baker and Anna Faris appear in supporting roles as temptations for the duo.  The pic actually looks really funny, with strong turns from Byrne and Spall and some big laughs from Stephen Merchant.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here for images and a synopsis for the film.  Written and directed by Dan Mazer (Borat), the film also stars Minnie Driver, Jason Flemyng, Olivia Colman, and Jane Asher.  I Give It A Year opens in the UK on February 8, 2013. 

Hunky Dory will inevitably draw comparisons to Glee, but only because they both feature paper-thin teenage characters singing about their feelings.  Not every teenage character in movies and television needs to go through something profound, but we still need to get wrapped up in their mess of emotions, or at least be transported back to when we shared their feelings.  Director Marc Evans and screenwriter Laurence Coriat spread their story too thin by trying to give arcs to too many of the teenage characters.  In addition, the movie also has to spend time with their inspirational teacher, Ms. May (Minnie Driver), and see what’s happening in her life.  The film owes more to American Graffiti than Glee, but it’s only at the end when Hunky Dory stands apart and does something powerful and original.

When a movie is based on a true story, it goes one of two ways, dipping into the realm of over-sentimentality or actually portraying the events in a real and human way.  Luckily Conviction is the latter.  The film is based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters and her 18-year struggle to free her brother, Kenny Waters, after he is wrongfully imprisoned for murdering an elderly neighbor.  This film is confident that the story itself is powerful enough and doesn’t try to sprinkle too much extra on top.  After watching this movie, it reminds me again how Sam Rockwell is one of the most overlooked actors by Awards season every year.  Hit the jump for my review of the Blu-ray of Conviction.

Opening this weekend, in limited release, is a great movie called Barney’s Version.  Based on Mordecai Richler’s prize-winning comic novel, the movie is about four decades, two continents, and the three wives of Barney Panofsky (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti).  Without saying too much, the film follows Barney’s long and colorful life and over the course of two hours, we really feel like we’ve spent a lifetime with him.  In a good way.  And while I singled out Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Rachelle Lefevre, Dustin Hoffman and Scott Speedman are all fantastic. For more on the film, watch the trailer here.

Anyway, the other day I sat down with Giamatti and Pike and while I didn’t have much time, we talked about how they got involved in the project, the rehearsal process, did they read the book, and Pike gave me an update on The Godmother.  Hit the jump to watch what the interview:

Opening this weekend, in limited release, is a great movie called Barney’s Version.  Based on Mordecai Richler’s prize-winning comic novel, the movie is about four decades, two continents, and the three wives of Barney Panofsky (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti).  Without saying too much, the film follows Barney’s long and colorful life and over the course of two hours, we really feel like we’ve spent a lifetime with him.  In a good way.  And while I singled out Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Rachelle Lefevre, Dustin Hoffman and Scott Speedman are all fantastic. For more on the film, watch the trailer here.

Anyway, the other day I sat down with Minnie Driver and we talked about how she got cast in the film, what it was like to make it, did she read the book, working with Giamatti, doing accents, her music career, her nex film Goats, and so much more.  Hit the jump for the interview:

David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Keri Russell, Minnie Driver, and Will Arnett have joined Ty Burrell and Graham Phillips (Evan Almighty) in Christopher Neil’s indie comedy Goats.  The film is based on the novel of the same name by Mark Jude Poirier (Smart People).  With the exception of Duchovny, this is a very different cast than the one that was attached a year ago, which according to The Playlist, included Hopper Penn, Robin Wright, Josh Brolin, Jason Schwartzman, and Robert Schwartzman.  Here’s the synopsis from the press release:

The coming of age story follows 15 year-old, Ellis (Phillips) as he moves from Wendy, his flakey, new age mother’s (Farmiga) South-Western home to an East Coast prep school where his estranged father Frank (Burrell) was once a star student.  For Ellis, this means leaving behind the only real dad he has ever known, Goat Man (Duchovny), his pot-smoking, goat herding mentor, and ultimately needing to evaluate his new prep school lifestyle that’s in stark contrast to his stoner upbringing.  Rounding out the cast are Keri Russell as Frank’s new wife, Minnie Driver as Wendy’s best friend and yogic advisor Johanna, and Will Arnett as Wendy’s boyfriend Bennett.

Hit the jump for the full press release.  Filming is set to begin in February.

Straight out of the American Film Market (AFM), we’ve got some new images from a few upcoming films. First up is Hunky Dory, which is a musical from the producer of 2000’s Billy Elliott and starring Minnie Driver. The film is directed by Marc Evans (Snow Cake) and centers on a drama teacher who mounts a rock ‘n roll version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a 1970’s high school.  The flick will feature an impressive soundtrack that includes the music of David Bowie, The Beach Boys, and Pink Floyd.  Skills is a Swedish parkour movie, starring Marcus Gustafsson who is one of the world’s leading parkour-artists. It features fight choreography by Ong Bak 2’s Tim Man and is directed by Johannes Pinter (Sleepwalker).  Finally, Wu Xia is a martial arts film from Peter Ho-Sun Chan (The Warlords) starring Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Tang Wei. Hit the jump to check out the images/promo posters.

The last time we reported on Barney’s Version, they released a teaser trailer in August that showed the subtle humor that Paul Giamatti is best at. The film is directed by Richard J. Lewis and is headlined by Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Scott Speedman, Rosamund Pike, Rachelle Lefevre, and Bruce Greenwood. While Lewis has done a majority of his work on the small screen, he seems to have a nice start here with plenty of humor to go around. For further proof, a brand new trailer for the film was released today. Hit the jump for the full trailer, synopsis, and more.

One of the many films that premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was director Tony Goldwyn’s Conviction.  Based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters and her struggle to free her innocent brother from a life sentence in prison, the film stars Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo and Peter Gallagher.

While some might see this movie as nothing more than Oscar bait, I caught a screening and thought Goldwyn did a good job bringing the story to life and it was more than a made for TV movie.  Of course, with fantastic performances from both Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, it’s a lot easier to make any movie better.  While Sam Rockwell is still under the radar to most moviegoers, his performance in Conviction is just another reason why I think he’s one of the best actors working today.

With Conviction getting released October 15, Fox Searchlight has sent over three clips and you can check them out after the jump.  You can hear both Swank and Rockwell doing New England accents.

Fox Searchlight has debuted the first trailer for Conviction, based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters, who “puts herself through high school, college and, finally, law school in an 18-year quest” to overturn her brother’s murder conviction.  Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo, and Minnie Driver star under the direction of Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss).  Check out the trailer after the jump.

The first image from Fox Searchlight’s Betty Anne Waters has been released and it features Sam Rockwell and Hilary Swank.  Currently set to open in this fall, the film is about a single working mother that spends nearly two decades putting herself through law school and tirelessly trying to overturn her brother’s unjust murder conviction.

Directed by Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss), the film also stars Melissa Leo, Minnie Driver, Juliette Lewis and Peter Gallagher.  Hit the jump for the full synopsis and image.

South Park is now an institution. Something to take for granted. The show struggled early on after it became a breakout sensation, but now it’s there, always there. You know what Trey Parker and Matt Stone are going to do to a certain extent. Their comic rhythms are familiar, and they know how to tell a joke. The fun in revisiting the movie is that Trey Parker obviously loves musicals, and he made one with his film. My review of South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut after the jump.