Opening this weekend is Julian Farino’s The Oranges. The film is about two families who are best friends and neighbors- until one of the daughters (Leighton Meester) begins an affair with her father’s best friend (Hugh Laurie), and the comical and emotional aftermath of that affair. The all-star cast includes Catherine Keener as Laurie’s wife who finds a new purpose in life, Allison Janney and Oliver Platt as Nina’s bewildered parents and Alia Shawkat as Laurie’s daughter- and Nina’s former best friend turned arch rival. It also stars Adam Brody and up-and-comer Sam Rosen.

At the press junket for the film, I was able to speak to stars Allison Janney and Oliver Platt about their favorite kinds of cereal, how they got involved in this film, what it was like to work with an ever-present screenwriting team, and how similar they are to these hilarious characters. For the whole interview, click after the jump.

In what may be the most dysfunctional family holiday film since the Griswolds took on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, a new red-band trailer for The Oranges has landed.  Directed by Julian Farnio (Entourage), The Oranges centers on two suburban families who are the best of friends and the most boring and predictable of people.  That all changes when the daughter of the Ostroffs starts an affair with the father of the Wallings.

Starring Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, Adam Brody,  Alia Shawkat and Leighton Meester, The Oranges opens October 5th.  Hit the jump to check out the red-band trailer.

The first trailer for the animated feature Dorothy of Oz has been released.  The CG-animated musical centers on Dorothy (Lea Michele) returning to the Land of Oz, only to find that the kingdom and its inhabitants are in grave danger from a wicked Jester (Martin Short).  The low-budget film comes from the studio Summertime Entertainment, and the visuals are sadly a far cry from Pixar or DreamWorks Animation.  That said, the colorfulness and strange cast of characters would have been a big pull for me as a kid so maybe this will play better to younger audiences.  The film is almost reminiscent of the dark and twisted unofficial sequel Return to Oz, but with decidedly more singing/Broadway stars.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The voice cast also includes Dan Aykroyd, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, James Belushi, Bernadette Peters, Hugh Dancy, Megan Hilty, and Oliver Platt.  Dorothy of Oz will open sometime in 2013. 

When you’ve been in the stunt/action movie game for as long as Jackie Chan has, you probably start to think that everything’s been done.  And then one of your stunt guys suggests street luging in a fully articulated suit that’s covered in roller blades.  The stunt sequence is only one action piece in Chan’s upcoming Chinese Zodiac, a film that he claims will be his last major action role in order to focus on other acting pursuits (he wants to become the “Asian Robert De Niro”).  If that plan holds true, it’ll be a sad day for action fans, but what a way to go! Hit the jump to see Chan in action in the rollerblading suit in a new teaser for Chinese Zodiac, along with the film’s trailer.

The first trailer for the family comedy The Oranges has been released.  The film centers on two families who are both best friends and neighbors.  Their tight relationship is strained when it’s discovered that the father of one family (Hugh Laurie) is having an affair with the grown daughter of the other family (Leighton Meester).  The film looks like a pretty great comedy, and Allison Janney is unsurprisingly fantastic.  The cast—which includes Catherine Keener, Oliver Platt, Alia Shawkat. and Adam Brody—has great chemistry, and director Julian Farino appears to have crafted a solid comedy.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The Oranges opens later this year.

The dark comedy doesn’t finish its second season until September 26th, but Deadline reports Showtime is satisfied enough with the ratings for The Big C that the cable network has decided to renew the series for a third season which will start shooting the 10-episode order early next year to debut sometime in the middle of 2012. The series follows Laura Linney (The Truman Show, Love Actually) as as Cathy Jamison who this season become an all-out warrior in the fight against her Stage 4 melanoma, while her husband, Paul (Oliver Platt), stepped up to become her greatest advocate and treatment “cancierge.”

Wrapping up our coverage of new images from movies premiering at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival (at least for now since I’m sure more are on the way), we have the first images from Julian Farino’s The Oranges (starring Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, and Adam Brody), Lasse Hallstrom’s Salmon Fishing in Yemen (starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt), and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Woman in the Fifth (starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ethan Hawke).

Hit the jump to check out all of the images.  We’ve also provided the synopses.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8th – 18th.  For all the new TIFF images we’ve posted, click here.

Big Beach has culled an eclectic cast to play immortals in the adaptation of Marie Phillips’ Gods Behaving Badly: Christopher Walken (Zeus), John Turturro (Hades), Sharon Stone (Aphrodite), Edie Falco (Artemis), Phylicia Rashad (Demeter), Nelsan Ellis (Dionysus), Gideon Glick (Eros), Henry Zebrowski (Hermes), Rosie Perez (Persephone).  Movieline passes along the official synopsis:

The film tells the story of the Greek Gods, alive and well and living in a brownstone in New York City, as they cross paths with a young couple, Kate and Neil. The intersection of the Gods and the mortals threatens not only the couple’s budding relationship, but the future of everything else.

Alicia Silverstone and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will play the young couple.  Admittedly, this cast would be more impressive in a year that begins 199_.  Regardless, this sounds like a fun project.  Production begins this month in New York on Gods Behaving Badly, the directorial debut of Big Beach co-founder Marc Turtletaub.

With director Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class set to open next week, 20th Century Fox has sent over three clips and twenty five minutes of behind the scenes footage!  For those that want to stay spoiler free, I advise you not to watch the behind the scenes footage until you’ve seen the movie as it’s loaded with could be considered spoilers.  However, if you’re curious how a movie is made, or what it was like on the set, the footage is great.

As I said a few days ago after I saw the movie, X-Men: First Class is a huge home-run.  Everything from the great script to the awesome performances by the entire cast (with special mention to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) makes this X-Men film my favorite in the franchise.   Also, the film is loaded with incredible action and a ton of Easter Eggs for the fans.  Even the sets and costumes are great.  Trust me, as soon as the movie is over, you’re going to wish the next chapter was coming out next week.   Hit the jump to check out the footage.

Well, we’re off to the races people. Summer blockbuster season is officially upon us and the Hollywood hype machines are working at full force. Today clips from arguably the two biggest movies of June have found their way onto the internet. New scenes from X-Men: First Class and JJ Abrams’ excitingly/frustratingly mysterious Super 8 are now available online.  Both blockbusters have a great deal of potential and the new clips certainly don’t reveal anything that will dissuade viewers from that opinion, but don’t expect to see anything earth shattering. It’s pretty simple stuff cherry picked for marketing purposes. You will however get to see 30 more mysterious seconds from Super 8 as well as an early look at X-Men: First Class’ Hank McCoy (aka Beast) in action and far more Oliver Platt than was ever expected to be in an X-Men movie. These flicks are looking like they’ll be pretty damn good. Hopefully they’ll deliver on the hype unlike, say, a certain pirate-related sequel. Hit the jump to see the clips.  X-Men: First Class opens on June 3rd while Super 8 hits theaters on June 10th.

Following the character trailers that were released last week, a new clip from X-Men: First Class has hit the web. This time we see James McAvoy’s Professor X trying to explain mutant abilities to the CIA. Apart from those ridiculous posters, every piece of footage that gets released from the film continues to hit all the right notes.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer. X-Men: First Class also stars James McAvoy, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.  The film opens June 3rd.

While Fox may be striking out with their posters for X-Men: First Class, the trailers continue to be fantastic.  The studio has released three new trailers for the film, each focusing on a different mutant: Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Havok (Lucas Till), and Beast (Nicholas Hoult).  One of my main concerns about the movie is that it will be overstuffed with mutants like X-Men: The Last Stand.  However, these brief character trailers give me hope that the film has devoted time to each of the characters to not only show their abilities, but also to illustrate their personalities.  However, in the trailers for Banshee and Havok, we get an even better sense of Xavier with James McAvoy doing an excellent job of conveying the character’s compassion.

Hit the jump to check out the trailers.  X-Men: First Class also stars Michael Fassbender, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.  It opens June 3rd.

On the heels of a new domestic trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class, Fox has also released an international version that sets a slightly different tone, and has some new footage including a first look at Oliver Platt and Ray Wise.  Again, there’s not of elaboration on the role the Hellfire Club will play, but the point of both trailers is clear: mutants prevented World War III.  Thanks, mutants!  Hit the jump to watch.

Fox has released a new trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class.  There’s a lot of good new footage and snippets of dialogue in this trailer. I’m still not sure how The Hellfire Club factors into the story, but I liked a lot of what the trailer has to show. We get a better look at the relationship between Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and there’s a much darker tone to the relationship between Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) as opposed to previous trailers which seemed to position Magneto more as a tragic figure. Fingers crossed that all these storylines and characters come together in a quality film.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  X-Men: First Class stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Oliver Platt, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, and Kevin Bacon.  The film opens June 3rd.

A UK trailer for X-Men: First Class has gone online.  There’s not much in the way of new footage, but it does provide a first look at Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones) in flight and Havok (Lucas Till) using his sonic blasts.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.  X-Men: First Class opens in the UK on June 1st and in the U.S. on June 3rd.