Title: Smashed Director: James Ponsoldt Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, Alcoholism is not a laughing matter. It’s a disease that effects millions of Americans and ruins many more lives. Dealing with this sensitive subject can be tricky but a sure-hand behind the camera can make it work. Sadly, in the newest film from filmmaker James Ponsoldt, “Smashed,” it deals with alcoholism in a quick and easy way, reaching for a strange tonal balance I don’t feel the film pulls off completely. But in saying that, there’s still a lot of good in this movie I can recommend but don’t expect it to…

I’d like to bet there’s a gift for everyone in this Movie News Cheat Sheet because this week’s edition is packed with a particularly eclectic selection of material. My favorite industry present? Starship Troopers is set to return! Ender’s Game fans will be happy to know that the incredibly talented Hailee Steinfeld was offered the role of Petra Arkanian in the big screen adaptation while those who hold the Where’s Waldo books near and dear to their hearts will be thrilled to find out that the feature production is moving forward with screenwriter Todd Berger. We’ve also got a nice sized package of first looks including images from Wrath of…

Title: The Thing Directed By: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Paul Braunstein, Trond Espen Seim, Kim Bubbs, Kristofer Hivju, Stig Henrik Hoff When you’re trying to live up to the standards, or perhaps exceed those set by John Carpenter’s The Thing, you’ve got your work cut out for you. While Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s version offers a nice thrill, it doesn’t come close to, well, replicating the elements that made Carpenter’s piece iconic. It’s 1982 in Antarctica. A team of Norwegian scientists travel across the snowy tundra trying to track a mysterious signal. Upon pinpointing the position of…

A discussion and review the week’s new movie release from your favorite entertainment and celebrity website. Hello everyone, this is episode 18 of the Movie Night Podcast. This week Rudie Obias and is joined by Jeremy Kirk, a writer for FilmSchoolRejects.com and the co-host of The Golden Briefcase on FirstShowing.net, they discuss “The Thing,” the prequel to John Carpenter’s “The Thing”. Also, Rudie Obias and Perri Nemiroff discuss “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Melancholia” and “The Skin I Live In,” as part of the 49th New York Film Festival. Subscribe on iTunes or Download and Listen Here. “The Thing” features Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen and…

Opening weekend of the Matthijs van Heijningen Jr-directed prequel “The Thing” is upon us. Fans of the 1982 John Carpenter film have eagerly been awaiting, or dreading, the impending Universal prequel for some time. But before some of you flock out to the theaters to see it, maybe you should read on to find out more about the whole process of bringing this prequel to life on the big screen, along with the creature’s variously disturbing forms. At an Antarctica research site, the discovery of an alien craft leads to a confrontation between graduate student Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and scientist Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen). While Dr. Halvorson…

Title: The Thing Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kim Bubbs, Jorgen Langhelle, Jan Gunnar Rosie Well the first 30 minutes-and-change of this remake of a remake (1982 – original was 1951) is basically a wash for the most part. If you can plow through that portion then The Thing actually proves to have something to it; even though this is essentially the same screenplay from the 1982 version that starred Kurt Russell. The gist of the story is that a discovery is made just outside of a remote base on Antarctica in 1982. A group of scientists…

How about a hefty dose of casting news to prep for the work/school week? This week’s Cheat Sheet is absolutely packed to the brim with casting updates and every single one of them is rather exciting! Even if you’re a hardcore Saw fan, there’s still a good chance you’ve got no clue who Darren Lynn Bousman is. Well, he was the man behind the lens of the series’ second, third and fourth installments and now he’s working on another horror film that not only boasts an interesting premise, but now a stellar cast, too. Alex Proyas, on the other hand, has been in the spotlight time and time again, which…

Happy Sunday! Or should I say, happy Harry Potter week? After seven days of madness courtesy of the grand finale of the eight-film franchise, the web world is drenched in Potter news, discussion pieces, lists, photos and more. It’s a wonder there was room for any non-HP news. However, we did get quite a bit of information on some other highly anticipated upcoming projects, particularly in the image department. Not only did we get a look at The Amazing Spider-Man and Underworld: Awakenings, but Total Recall and The Hobbit, too. It was also a busy week for trailers as far too many debuted to even squeeze into this Cheat Sheet….

ShockTilYouDrop has posted a picture from the unique horror film “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. The still shows Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) giving an address to an audience, with his delegation and a woman I’m assuming is his wife Marry Todd Lincoln (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) behind him. The film, based on a humorous horror book by Seth Grahame-Smith, tells the story of Lincoln’s “true” life story, in which he goes on a rampage against vampire-kind after a creature, presumably a vampire, kills his mother. Aside from going after vampires, Lincoln also fights the vampire’s allies, slave-owners. Eat your hearts out, history books! Also starring in “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” are Dominic Cooper…

Trent Reznor’s career is vast, spanning out not only from his internationally famous band Nine Inch Nails but into feature-length films. The general audience is already evident of his achievements with his Academy Award win for his score work with David Fincher’s “The Social Network” for best score, but he may be dipping his feet into another sub-genre fairly soon. The famed musician/Academy Award winner will be making a semi-transition from the medium to a feature-length film. Trent Reznor will be not only providing the score for Seth Grahame-Smith’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” but will be acting a small but pivotal role in the production. He’ll be appearing as the…