Take a Look at Netflix’s First Drama Series “House of Cards”

Netflix is getting into the original programming game in a big way. Along with streaming your favorite movies and tv shows, the service premieres its first drama series House of Cards in February. The political thriller stars Oscar winner Kevin Spacey as a U.S. Congressman hell-bent on conquering Washington D.C. Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee Robin Wright plays his wife while SAG nominees Kate Mara (Brokeback Mountain) and Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris) co-star. The series, directed by Oscar nominee David Fincher (The Social Network), will stream all 13 episodes beginning on February 1st and judging from the trailer, Cards looks pretty fantastic. I expect it to make a big splash for Netflix as well as factoring into the Emmy race in September. Take a look at the trailer below and see if you want to play with this deck of Cards…

House of Cards trailer

Will Jason Bateman ever have a hit Comedy Movie again?

What happened to Jason Bateman? His film career was flourishing with hits like the fantastic Oscar nominees  Juno  and Up in the Air and even the dreadful but high grossing Couples Retreat… Then all of a sudden, he’s like the comedy kiss of death. He’s had three big bombs in a row: Extract, The Switch and the absolutely horrendous and offensive Paul from earlier this year. So, the question is… will he ever have a hit comedy film again? Well, this summer he has two more films coming to theatres that could help his cause. The first and I think more promising film is called Horrible Bosses and stars Bateman alongside Jason Sudekis (Saturday Night Live) and Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as three guys who hate their horrific bosses so much they decide to kill them. Sounds pretty interesting so far. And it only gets better when you find out actors playing the bosses: Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Color me intrigued. Unfortunately, no trailer is yet available for this film which hits theatres on July 8th, but I’ll post one as soon as I see it… Bateman’s second film due August 5th is called The Change Up and features Bateman and Ryan Reynolds as a frustrated married guy and a swinging bachelor who end up switching bodies. It’s like Big except with adults, hehe… Kinda lame. However, it’s an R rated comedy from the kids who brought us The Hangover and costars Olivia Wilde (Tron Legacy, Cowboys and Aliens), Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) and Oscar winner Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine). So that bodes well. What doesn’t bode well is the fact that it’s a Universal picture and practically all of their films for the past few years have been terrible films and big failures and the new totally unfunny trailer. Check it out below.

The Change Up

Now, don’t fret Bateman fans. If both of these films strike out, he still has the highly anticipated Arrested Development movie in the works. At least we know that one will be funny…

Four More enter the Crowded Best Actor Race

So far, there are only two certainties in the Best Actor race this year: James Franco (127 Hours) and a nominee last year, Colin Firth (The Kings Speech). That leaves three spots open and a ton of contenders. Leading the pack currently for those openings are Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception or Shutter Island), Robert Duvall (Get Low),  Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) and Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine). Now, we can add four more to that list including the aforementioned Gosling (previously nominated for Half Nelson) whose new drama with Kirsten Dunst and Oscar nominee Frank Langella, All Good Things, hits theatres in early December. The other three who will try to vy for a spot with films opening in December are the never-nominated Jim Carrey as a gay con man in the hilarious I Love You Phillip Morris, former nominee Paul Giamatti (Sideways) in Barney’s Version and former two-time winner Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, The Usual Suspects) as Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack. Take a look at the trailers for all four new films below and let me know just who you think will make the final five.

Ryan Gosling in All Good Things

Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CXnwkh_Oro&feature=player_embedded

Paul Giamatti in Barney’s Version

Kevin Spacey in Casino Jack