Will Smith Leads All-Star Cast for "Suicide Squad"

Stars Commit to “Suicide Squad”

Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto to Head Cast

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An all-star roster of actors has joined Warner Bros. Pictures’ new action adventure “Suicide Squad,” bringing DC Comics’ super villain team to the big screen under the direction of David Ayer (“Fury”). The announcement was made today by Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

The film will star two-time Oscar nominee Will Smith (“The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Ali,” upcoming “Focus”) as Deadshot; Tom Hardy (“The Dark Knight Rises,” upcoming “Mad Max: Fury Road”) as Rick Flagg; Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” upcoming “Focus,” the “Tarzan” movie) as Harley Quinn; Oscar winner Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club,” “Alexander”) as the Joker; Jai Courtney (“Divergent,” upcoming “The Water Diviner”) as Boomerang; and Cara Delevingne (“Anna Karenina,” upcoming “Pan”) as Enchantress.

In making the announcement, Silverman said, “The Warner Bros. roots are deep on this one. David Ayer returns to the studio where he wrote ‘Training Day’ and brings his incredible ability to craft multidimensional villains to this iconic DC property with a cast of longtime Warner collaborators Will Smith and Tom Hardy, and other new and returning favorites: Margot, Jared, Jai and Cara. We look forward to seeing this terrific ensemble, under Ayer’s amazing guidance, give new meaning to what it means to be a villain and what it means to be a hero.”

Ayer is also writing the script for “Suicide Squad,” which is being produced by Charles Roven (“The Dark Knight” trilogy, upcoming “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”) and Richard Suckle (“American Hustle”). Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns are serving as executive producers.

The film is slated for release on August 5, 2016.

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"Terminator: Genisys" Preview Arriving Thursday, December 4th, 2014

Prepare for tomorrow's world premiere of the Terminator Genisys trailer at TerminatorMovie.com. #HeIsBack

Watch a sneak peek of tomorrow's trailer: http://youtu.be/t_77GeNEzFQ

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, Matt Smith, Byung-Hun Lee, JK Simmons
Directed by: Alan Taylor

Terminator Genisys in theaters July 1, 2015

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerminatorGenisys
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Terminator
Instagram: http://instagram.com/TerminatorGenisys

#HeIsBack

Neon Alley Updates for December 2014

VIZ MEDIA ADDS EXCITING ANIME CONTENT FOR DECEMBER UPDATE TO NEON ALLEY FREE ANIME STREAMING PLATFORM

Catch New SAILOR MOON Dubbed And SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL Subtitled Episodes, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Simulcast Premieres, And Latest Updates For BLEACH, NARUTO And RANMA ½

VIZ Media moves into December and prepares to round out the year with its latest digital anime content update for Neon Alley. The free digital streaming platform experienced significant growth and programming expansion in 2014 and is preparing several noteworthy content and series premiere announcements for 2015.

New episodes of widely loved series such as BLEACH, NARUTO and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, RANMA ½, and SAILOR MOON and SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL figure prominently in December’s programming update. These augment the Thanksgiving debut of the full series of COPPELION (dub) and the world premiere of the first 13 dubbed episodes of NARUTO SPIN-OFF: ROCK LEE AND HIS NINJA PALS.

Catch the exciting digital continuation of SAILOR MOON with the English dubbed premiere of Episodes 37-46, available to stream beginning on December 6th for a limited time on Neon Alley and Hulu.  Two new subtitled episodes of SAILOR MOON Season 2 will be added to the current series library every Monday throughout December. SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL fans also will not want to miss brand new episodes of SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL throughout December. SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL subtitled Episode 11, “Reunion – Endymion,” premieres on November 6th, followed by Episode 12, “Enemy – Queen Metalia,” on December 20th.

With the latest addition, Neon Alley now features over 30 series, and has a over 1,000 English dubbed episodes and 2,400 subtitled episodes for fans’ viewing pleasure! The 2014 update is augmented by scores of additional episodes from top-rated VIZ Media anime series including:

BLEACH
·         Neon Alley adds English dubbed BLEACH Season 18 Episodes 256-267 available to stream beginning on December 1st.
·         Viewers can now check out a total of 267 English dubbed episodes, as well as the complete subtitled BLEACH anime (366 episodes).

NARUTO
·         For ninja fans, Neon Alley adds dubbed Episodes 66-78 of the original NARUTO anime series, which will all be available beginning on December 3rd.
·         With the newest addition, viewers can check out a total of 77 English dubbed episodes as well as the complete subtitled NARUTO anime (all 220 episodes) series!

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN
·         Don’t miss simulcasts of the latest English subtitled episodes of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN every Thursday in December beginning with a special double premiere of Episodes 389 and 390 on December 11th. Single episode simulcasts of the next 3 NARUTO SHIPPUDEN episodes will take place every Thursday for the remainder of the month.
·         Also catch the action-packed addition of NARUTO SHIPPUDEN English dubbed Episodes 19-23, bringing the total number of available dubbed episodes of the series to over 100.

RANMA ½
·         RANMA ½ fans can enjoy the addition of 2 new dubbed episodes of the classic martial arts comedy each week throughout December beginning with Season 6, Episodes 119-120 on December 5th and every Friday thereafter.

Neon Alley is VIZ Media’s consolidated online destination for FREE streaming anime content in the U.S. with over 3,200 subtitled and English dubbed episodes and movies from more than 36 series! Neon Alley also reaches an expansive on-demand U.S.-based audience on Hulu, which enables viewers to watch shows anytime, anywhere across devices including Xbox One, PlayStation®4 (PS4™), Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, and mobile devices. A full list of Hulu -enabled devices can be found at http://www.hulu.com/plus/devices.

Additional information on Neon Alley is available at: www.NeonAlley.com.

Gotham Awards Choose "Birdman" as Best Picture of 2014; Michael Keaton Named "Best Actor"

Honoring independent films, the Gotham Awards are the first major awards of the film awards season.  This year, the 2014 edition kicks off the 2014-15 season.  The Gotham Awards ceremony was held on Monday, December 1, 2014 at Cipriani Wall Street.

The 2014/24th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award winners are:

Best Feature
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, director; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Documentary
CITIZENFOUR
Laura Poitras, director; Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky, producers (RADiUS, Participant Media, and HBO Documentary Films)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Kino Lorber)

Best Actor*
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

* The 2014 Best Actor nominating panel also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award jointly to Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum for their ensemble performance in Foxcatcher (Sony Pictures Classics).

Best Actress
Julianne Moore in Still Alice (Sony Pictures Classics)

Breakthrough Actor
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)


Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ Grant:
For the fourth consecutive year, IFP is proud present the euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film.

WINNER: Chloé Zhao, director, Songs My Brothers Taught Me

The nominees are:
Garrett Bradley, director, Below Dreams
Claire Carré, director, Embers


Gotham Independent Film Audience Award: Boyhood
New this year, IFP members had a voice in determining the 5th Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award with nominees comprised of the 15 nominated films in the Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award categories. All IFP current, active members at the Individual Level and above will be eligible to vote.  Voting took place online from November 19th at 12:01 AM EST and concluded on November 26th at 5:00 PM EST.  The winner of the Audience Award was announced at the Gotham Awards Ceremony on December 1, 2014.


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New York Film Critics Cricle Chooses "Boyhood" as Best Picture of 2014

Founded in 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle is, according to their website, “an organization of film reviewers from New York-based publications that exists to honor excellence in U.S. and world cinema.”  Members are critics from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, and online general-interest publications (that meet certain qualifications). Every year in December, Circle members meet in New York to vote on awards for the year's films.  The Circle also puts on an awards presentation, which will be held in January 2015 to honor 2014 winners.

The Circle was the first film critics organization that I encountered as a budding, young movie lover.  The Circle's awards have been predictors of the Oscar nominations. However, The Circle sees it awards “as a principled alternative to the Oscars, honoring esthetic merit in a forum that is immune to commercial and political pressures,” according to their website.

2014 NYFCC Awards:

Best Picture: Boyhood

Best Director: Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Best Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard - “The Immigrant,” and also “Two Days, One Night”

Best Actor: Timothy Spall - Mr. Turner

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette – Boyhood

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

Best Cinematographer: Darius Khondji - The Immigrant

Best Animated Film: The LEGO Movie

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): Citizenfour

Best Foreign Film: Ida (Poland)

Best First Film: Jennifer Kent - The Babadook

Special Award: Adrienne Mancia

Merry Negromancer December 2014

Welcome to Negromancer 2.0.  This is the rebirth of Negromancer, the former movie review website as a new movie review and movie news site.

Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.

All images and text appearing on this blog are © copyright and/or trademark their respective owners.

134 Documentary Films Vie for 15 Spots on 87th Academy Awards Shortlist

134 Documentary Features Submitted For 2014 Oscar® Race

One hundred thirty-four features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 87th Academy Awards®.

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:
“Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq”
“Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case”
“Algorithms”
“Alive Inside”
“All You Need Is Love”
“Altina”
“America: Imagine the World without Her”
“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs”
“Anita”
“Antarctica: A Year on Ice”
“Art and Craft”
“Awake: The Life of Yogananda”
“The Barefoot Artist”
“The Battered Bastards of Baseball”
“Before You Know It”
“Bitter Honey”
“Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity”
“Botso The Teacher from Tbilisi”
“Captivated The Trials of Pamela Smart”
“The Case against 8”
“Cesar’s Last Fast”
“Citizen Koch”
“CitizenFour”
“Code Black”
“Concerning Violence”
“The Culture High”
“Cyber-Seniors”
“DamNation”
“Dancing in Jaffa”
“Death Metal Angola”
“The Decent One”
“Dinosaur 13”
“Do You Know What My Name Is?”
“Documented”
“The Dog”
“E-Team”
“Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me”
“Elena”
“Evolution of a Criminal”
“Fed Up”
“Finding Fela”
“Finding Vivian Maier”
“Food Chains”
“The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden”
“Getting to the Nutcracker”
“Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me”
“Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia”
“The Great Flood”
“The Great Invisible”
“The Green Prince”
“The Hacker Wars”
“The Hadza: Last of the First”
“Hanna Ranch”
“Happy Valley”
“The Hornet’s Nest”
“I Am Ali”
“If You Build It”
“The Immortalists”
“The Internet’s Own Boy”
“Ivory Tower”
“James Cameron’s Deepsea Challenge”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Journey of a Female Comic”
“Keep On Keepin’ On”
“Kids for Cash”
“The Kill Team”
“Korengal”
“La Bare”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Last Hijack”
“The Last Patrol”
“Levitated Mass”
“Life Itself”
“Little White Lie”
“Llyn Foulkes One Man Band”
“Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles”
“Manakamana”
“Merchants of Doubt”
“Mission Blue”
“Mistaken for Strangers”
“Mitt”
“Monk with a Camera”
“Nas: Time Is Illmatic”
“National Gallery”
“Next Goal Wins”
“Next Year Jerusalem”
“Night Will Fall”
“No Cameras Allowed”
“Now: In the Wings on a World Stage”
“Occupy the Farm”
“The Only Real Game”
“The Overnighters”
“Particle Fever”
“Pay 2 Play: Democracy’s High Stakes”
“Pelican Dreams”
“The Pleasures of Being Out of Step”
“Plot for Peace”
“Point and Shoot”
“Poverty Inc.”
“Print the Legend”
“Private Violence”
“Pump”
“Rabindranath Tagore – The Poet of Eternity”
“Red Army”
“Remote Area Medical”
“Rich Hill”
“The Rule”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Shadows from My Past”
“She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry”
“A Small Section of the World”
“Smiling through the Apocalypse – Esquire in the 60s”
“Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon”
“The Supreme Price”
“Tales of the Grim Sleeper”
“Tanzania: A Journey Within”
“This Is Not a Ball”
“Thomas Keating: A Rising Tide of Silence”
“Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People”
“True Son”
“20,000 Days on Earth”
“Unclaimed”
“Under the Electric Sky”
“Underwater Dreams”
“Virunga”
“Waiting for August”
“Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago”
“Warsaw Uprising”
“Watchers of the Sky”
“Watermark”
“We Are the Giant”
“We Could Be King”
“Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger”
“A World Not Ours”

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process.  A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December.

Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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