Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

* Peter Capaldi is confirmed to be coming back for the next season of Doctor Who. Not that anyone really expected he wouldn't, since there's usually much more fanfare when a Doctor leaves and a new one is cast, and also we just did that at the beginning of THIS season. But. You know. In case you were worried. No confirmation on Jenna Coleman, however.

* If you're a fan of The Americans or Masters of Sex, you may be happy to hear that The Millers was canceled, thus freeing up Margo Martindale and Beau Bridges to return to those (much better) shows.

* With Mockingjay coming out soon, Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the cast are out in full force. JLaw talks about the crazy ways her life has changed since accepting this role and makes plans to fight crime with Stephen Colbert, or possibly commit crimes as part of her downward spiral. Director Francis Lawrence discusses the pressure of being Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film, Sam Claflin talks a lot about his hair, and Natalie Dormer is her usual fierce self as always.

* Marvel has cast Daniel Bruhl to play an unspecified villain in Captain America: Civil War. No idea who he's actually playing, but here's some speculation, which also indicates that the Winter Soldier will still play a major role in the film. You know, in addition to Tony Stark being around, and Cap possibly having a whole new team, and introducing Black Panther... Man, this is going to be one really crowded movie; I'm not sure why they're even bothering to call it "Captain America" at this point.

* This is why it took so long to get Dancing Baby Groot merchandise.

* Rob Marshall and James Lapine talk about adapting Into the Woods for the film. I do not appreciate being told to "chill out." This is only THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY CHILDHOOD YOU ARE MESSING WITH HERE. That is, like, barely an exaggeration, you don't even know.

* First promo for Peter Pan live. Apparently, they are making quite a few changes from the original musical, but some of that's about making it less horribly racist, so I think even the purists would find it hard to argue with that one.

* Fantastic discussion of Connie Britton's career and magnificent hair.

* Interesting piece on how certain casting choices provoke outrage, what the threshold is for authenticity, and why some ethnic minorities get lumped together.

* Mandy Patinkin sings and talks really fast and says the Inigo Montoya quote on 60 Minutes.

Ugh, is Firefox being super buggy lately, or is it just me? (Or my computer, or the amount of tabs I keep open, lol.) It keeps freezing up so that I have to force-quit and restart. I had to do it about three times today and lost a significant portion of my linkspam and THAT MAKES ME ANGRY.

* I think this is a new trailer for Mockingjay. IDK there have been so many.

* Much as I'd like to see Cristin Milioti with her own sitcom, I haven't been too impressed by A to Z and can't say I'm sad to see it cancelled.

* Brian Williams is kind of hilarious talking about his daughter Allison playing Peter Pan in NBC's live show.

...I definitely had one other link in this section pre-crash, but I can't remember what it was, so DAMN YOU FIREFOX.

And the usual slew of Marvel things:

* ICYMI, here's the Age of Ultron preview that aired during last week's Agents of SHIELD (it's the trailer recut with the party scene that apparently was shown at Comic-Con this summer), and I don't know why they didn't just make this the trailer in the first place, because it is exactly the humor and team interaction the other one was lacking.

* Plus, here's the badass lumberjack Steve clip from the Marvel announcement, and, although it's mostly clips from existing movies, there is actually already a teaser for Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2, which let's not forget are four and five years away, respectively, because that is not in any way reasonable.

* And someone gave away their cameo appearance in Age of Ultron, which I'm assuming is supposed to be a surprise, but kinda makes sense given what we know already.

* Hope you weren't expecting a standalone Black Widow or Hulk movie, because neither of those is happening. Try again maybe in Marvel Phase 20?

* Here's the official Agent Carter preview, which is the same as the one I linked earlier, just with less of someone filming their TV with their iPhone, lol.

I also meant to talk about Agents of SHIELD during my Arrow/The Flash flailing, but didn't get around to it. ( Read more... )

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii guys!!!!! I have been in Chicago, so there's LOADS to catch up on. Which means you probably already saw these links two weeks ago when they were new, but in case you haven't, here they are:

( Under a cut because it's super-long )

One more Comic-Con linkspam. At least there's some other stuff...

* Jon Stewart's directorial debut, Rosewater, now has a release date.

* Laura Benanti will be appearing on Nashville.

* Undateable has been renewed for a second season.

* Photos and the first trailer for Into the Woods. It's... like they don't want you to know it's a musical or something? Weird.

* Girls' Allison Williams will be playing Peter Pan in NBC's live broadcast. You know what? I know a lot of people hate her (mostly because of her character on Girls), but I think she's actually a good choice.

* New Mockingjay trailer! I think this premiered at Comic-Con? There was weirdly little Hunger Games presence this year.

* Interviews with the creative team and the cast of Hannibal. (Spoilers for season 3.)

* Here's an interview with James Gunn and the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy. I got to see the movie earlier this week and it is delightful! It is just as off-the-wall kooky as you'd expect from a movie in which 2/5 of the heroes are a talking raccoon and a giant tree person, Chris Pratt is PERFECT (he's like Andy Dwyer crossed with Han Solo), and it feels pretty different from all the prior Marvel movies.

* So, Chris Pratt has been asked a lot about his weight loss (in the link above, he talks about emotional eating and having body image issues), and I'm actually kind of amazed Marvel has let him talk so candidly. I mean, he talked about how they literally sent people to his house to weigh him every week. Granted, I'm sure he's not the only one - and it probably happens to actresses all the time even when they're not playing superheroes - but nobody ever talks about the gross body policing quite that bluntly. It's actually kind of uncomfortable.

And now for your daily dose of adorable idiots...

( Read more... )

* Natasha Lyonne will be guest-starring on the upcoming season of Girls.

* Doesn't look good for #sixseasonsandamovie - Hulu is not bringing Community back.

* I knew about half of these "27 facts about the West Wing you probably didn't know."

* Go see Snowpiercer! Do it! (And if you're in the DC area, go see it with me! Seriously.)

* Mark Ruffalo talks about playing the Hulk.

* An interview with Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta about The Leftovers, which I am super excited about, based on early reviews.

* Laura Prepon will be in every episode of Orange is the New Black next season. In case you were worried.

* These Hunger Games posters are creepy and cool, as is President Snow addressing Panem in this clip.

* Kristen Bell is having another baby.

* Not surprisingly, Stephen Sondheim backtracked like crazy on his Into the Woods comments. I remain skeptical. ("Coincidentally" he watched the rough cut immediately after making those remarks? Coincidentally? Really?)

* The Orphan Black creators talk about the season finale and how they did that awesome clone dance party scene.

* Doctor Who returns August 23 with Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor.

* Behind the scenes photos from Orange is the New Black season 2.

* George Clooney is pranking Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and has sucked Matt Damon into his schemes. George is the best at pranks.

* This is how they're going to continue Mockingjay without Philip Seymour Hoffman.

* And here is your daily dose of Clark Gregg interviews about Agents of SHIELD. I gotta say, if this show goes down, it's certainly not going to be for lack of an enthusiastic cast tirelessly promoting it.

* Captain America: The Winter Soldier will apparently have a big impact on events in Agents of SHIELD and set up Avengers: Age of Ultron. Which, I mean, we kind of already assumed, given the way Marvel works, but there's an awfully pretty photo of Chris Evans at that link.

* Verrrrrry interesting Age of Ultron casting news. It's not clear whether Marvel is adding a new character (because what this movie really needs is MORE characters, right?) or... repurposing an existing one. (And yes, that is deliberately vague to avoid spoiling.)

* New Hannibal trailer. *screaming*

* Some asshole interviewer spoiled the 3rd season of Homeland for Jennifer Lawrence on the red carpet. On camera. While meeting Damian Lewis. It's sort of horrible (Lewis even asks her, "Are you crying?") and obviously spoilery, but Jen's reaction is entertaining as always.

* Natalie Dormer is hardcore, yo. She shaved half her head for her role in Mockingjay.

* An interesting take on the escapism of Downton Abbey.

* Chloe Bennet and Elizabeth Henstridge talk about the slew of guest stars coming up on Agents of SHIELD. Clark Gregg talked about them, too.

* The AV Club has an article on why Elementary is better than Sherlock. Oh boy, them's fightin' words! but I actually agree with them.

* 24 has started filming in London.

* Photos of Chris and Ann's goodbye episode of Parks and Recreation.

* Here's a take on Girls I don't think I've seen before - as a sort of modern-day Little Women. I... I kind of see the parallels?

Stuck at work, waiting for it to officially be the long weekend. Lots of Catching Fire links:

* The genderbending of Katniss/Peeta was one of the first things that stood out to me in reading the series, so I'm glad other people are picking up on it.

* How realistic are the economic conditions of Panem?

* Francis Lawrence talks about filming the cliffhanger ending. Also, how they snuck in Johanna's f-bombs, lol.

* Catching Fire review/discussion: "I think Peeta might be Steve Rogers in another life" = OMFG THAT IS SO TRUE. CANNOT UNSEE.  And now I am imagining the Avengers competing in the Hunger Games. Natasha would wipe the floor with everyone.

* Nine ways in which this blog author clearly missed the point of Mockingjay. Yes, Mockingjay is depressing, people die, and horrible things happen to everyone. That is the ENTIRE POINT.

* This Catching Fire discussion actually gets at that first "problem" of Katniss being a passive participant by pointing out that Katniss has never been in control of the action: "Katniss is tough, resourceful, and a survivor, but not really a plotter, and not one who likes to think about the big picture, or what her role in that picture might be. [...] She can be brilliant in the moment, like when she threatens to eat those poison berries, but she’s generally being kicked around by friend and foe alike." She never wanted to be "the girl on fire." She never wanted to be the Mockingjay or the leader of a rebellion. It was a strategy she accepted reluctantly as a means to survive.

Fortunately, the films "do a better job than the books at keeping her from seeming dim or weak as a consequence," so I hope they can manage to portray the nuances of a character with PTSD and her role as a somewhat passive figurehead in Mockingjay without making her less sympathetic. 

* LOL Marvel have finally confirmed that Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen are playing the Maximoffs. EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS, YOU GUYS.

* More discussion of Marvel and how the Avengers franchise is more like television than movies.

* Yay! I'm glad J. August Richards will be back on Agents of SHIELD. Please make him a regular character.

* Words cannot express how desperately I covet the full series Breaking Bad DVD set. The behind-the-scenes documentary alone sounds worth it.

* Stephen Sondheim wrote a new song for Meryl Streep for Into the Woods. Because only new original songs are eligible for Oscars. *sigh*

* Anna Gunn is playing the female lead role opposite David Tennant in that American remake of Broadchurch (which, incidentally, is called Gracepoint). It still seems silly to remake the same show over again, but honestly, if someone at Fox watched Broadchurch and was like, "You know what? We should totally remake that, just so Anna Gunn can be in it!" I really can't fault them for their logic.

* James Marsters has written another Spike comic. This interview is confusing, because the interviewer keeps talking about "season 6" when the description of the plot clearly places it after Spike gets his soul. Scott Allie clarifies - it takes place during season 7.

* What to get the Breaking Bad fan in your life for Christmas. And the Marvel fan.

* In related news, there's apparently a Hellmouth in Turkmenistan.

* I am always a sucker for TV credits sequence mashups, but Orphan Black done Parks & Rec style is doubly hilarious because ALL THE ACTORS ARE TATIANA MASLANY.

* Which Doctor Who companion are you? I am Rory Williams. I feel like that's accurate?

* There really are a lot of similarities between Scandal and Game of Thrones in the way men treat women, aren't there?

* IDK guys, the trailer for Muppets Most Wanted doesn't really thrill me. I think it needs musical numbers and Jason Segel.

* How Friends paired up Monica and Chandler.

* I never realized there were so many turtlenecks in Love Actually...

* I don't watch Saturday Night Live regularly, but when I do, Kate McKinnon is always flawless.

* I'm not sure how I feel about Idris Elba playing Luke Cage when he's already playing another role in the Marvel universe. Then again, Chris Evans, but aren't we pretending The Fantastic Four never happened?

* Haha, remember back in, like, early season 3 when Damon/Elena was crowned the 12-year-old idiot ship? (Sigh. Good times.) Well, they've officially been replaced by Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson's ridiculous bromance. Also, Jen continues to be adorably nuts on David Letterman. (Also, girlfriend, you have my sympathies on the GI issues. BEEN THERE. POOPED THAT.)

* Aaron Paul pulls the best pranks ever. I feel like he's told that meteor story before, but the cartoon illustrations really make it.

* Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez are adorable as always answering fan questions. THE INTERSECT IS FOR PORN OMG DYING. Also, you guys, I am going to see First Date at Christmas woooo!

* A cat has been summoned for jury duty in Boston. Your move, Florida.

* Best nutrition facts ever.

* Fun for my linguists: not one but two articles examining the influence of the Internet on the English language. Because reasons.

* The most WTF thing someone did while hooking up. No lie, I laughed outrageously hard at the ninja turtles one.

* Laura Prepon's role in Orange is the New Black season 2 has been expanded from one episode to four.

* I am not sure how I feel about a Princess Bride musical. I mean, it combines two of my favorite things, but I remain wary.

* I mentioned it in the comments of my last linkspam, but in case you missed it, here is the trailer for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode.

* Elizabeth Olsen talks about Avengers: Age of Ultron.

* Not surprisingly, The Originals was picked up for a full season. I didn't make it more than two episodes, but it doesn't take much to be a hit on the CW.

* Speaking of successful shows I'm not watching, Downton Abbey was renewed for season 5. I'll probably watch season 4 when it airs on PBS out of perverse curiosity. I don't care enough anymore to be bothered with avoiding spoilers, so I kinda already know what happens and I look forward to the inevitable facepalming.

* Dan Stevens will be playing Lancelot in Night at the Museum 3. Bet he's glad he left Downton for that movie career. In other news, they are making a Night at the Museum 3??

* It is Catching Fire time, which means it is time for Jennifer Lawrence Says the Darnedest Things. The crickets OMG dying.

* It is also Tom Hiddleston season. I watched that whole interview, and it was... strange. But his Natalie Portman impression is spot on and deserves to become an internet meme.

* The Dissolve looks at what Marvel's shared universe means for movies, and pretty much nails why I am such a fan of the Marvel movies in general. I tend to prefer TV over movies because of the greater emphasis on character development and opportunity for long-term arcs, but what Marvel is doing is actually a way for the franchise to sort of duplicate that on the big screen in a way that other franchises don't bother to do. By keeping all its movies centered on the characters, by letting them weave in and out of each other's stories and carry arcs through, Marvel has embraced the long-form storytelling of its comic book source material (which is otherwise impossible to do in a two-hour film) and managed to tell stories with the depth and richness that you typically see in TV series.

Weird, then, that Agents of SHIELD is its weakest link, although the last two episodes (including tonight's) have been much improved. These are the kinds of stories the show should've been telling right out of the gate, so we'd care about the characters sooner.

* I made these cookies for a potluck this weekend. Make these cookies. They are delicious and will win you lots of admirers.