Star Wars Episode VII Cast Revealed

Variety just released a statement announcing that the new Star Wars film (tentatively entitled "Star Wars Episode VII") has been cast, after months of speculation.

Veterans from the previous films, including Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayew, and Kenny Baker, will return along with an entirely new cast full of fresh faces.

Meet your 2014 Cannes Film Festival Jury

This year's Cannes Film Festival is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent history. After that star studded lineup, it was announced that Academy Award winner Jane Campion would serve as the jury president. Campion still remains the only female director in the history of the festival to receive the prestigious Palm d'Or.

However, today it was announced that Campion would be joined by 4 other women, including Academy Award winner Sofia Coppola,  rounding out the 9 person jury. Though it wasn't the "female dominated" jury people were expecting after the announcement that Campion would serve as its head, it's a change of pace from recent years which have been male oriented.

Below you will find a list of the complete jury, with a little background for each member.

The Amazing Spider Man 2 isn't all that Amazing

It's that time of the year where the (seemingly) endless barrage of big budget action flicks are upon us. Summer is Hollywood's opportunity to take a breather from the prestige films we were just subjected to over the past few months. Hot off the heals of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", another Marvel superhero is coming back for round 2, guns blazing, to reclaim the top of the box office crown currently held by the Star Spangled Avenger: Spiderman.

Natalie Portman's "Jane Got A Gun FINALLY Has a Release Date

It's been a long time since we've seen Natalie Portman challenge herself as an actress. After delivering the performance of a lifetime in the smash-hit "Black Swan" (and winning an Oscar for Best Actress in the process), Portman took some (much) needed time off after she announced she was pregnant with her first child. The Oscar win inspired interest in projects she had filmed prior to Black Swan's release, but were never put out to the public. Following Black Swan's success, "No Strings Attached", "Thor" "The Other Woman" and "Your Highness" were released all in 2011 right as she began her hiatus.

After giving birth, Portman (contractually) appeared in "Thor 2", while filming her directorial debut (entitled "A Tale of Love and Darkness in which she plays the protagonist's mother as well) and 2 yet-to-be-seen Terrence Malick films. Though she's been a busy bee,  it's been awhile since we've actually seen a compelling Natalie Portman performance.

Jessica Chastain Will Play Marylin Monroe in the New Biopic "Blonde"

That's right, the natural red head will star as the famous blonde bombshell in the upcoming adaptation, entitled "Blonde" based on the biography of the same name by Joyce Carol Oats.

Revisiting Martha Marcy May Marlene

Sean Durkin's first feature "Martha Marcy May Marlene" debuted at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim for lead actress Elizabeth Olsen's internal tour-de-force portrayal. The film opened up many acting opportunities for Olsen, who is set to appear as one of the leads in this summer's "Godzilla", a high profile remake of the original. Olsen also had a (very) small role in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" as the iconic Scarlett Witch, a role she will reprise in 2015 for the Avengers sequel, "Age of Ultron".

Though her profile has increased tremendously, Olsen hasn't struck gold the way she did in Durkin's indie masterpiece. No post-Martha project has allowed Olsen the opportunity to give the same type of tremendous performance. There was "Silent House" back in 2012, in which Olsen came close, but ultimately was hampered by the film's weak third act. She's either the best thing about a very bad film, or stuck in the background given close to nothing in terms of material to work with.

Anyone who watched Martha knows that Olsen's expressive face was the secret weapon behind Durkin's slow-burning thriller. The film itself is as mysterious and closed off as its subject material, but gives the audience hints and insight through Olsen herself; she is the key that unlocks the door to the film that holds us at an arm's length. This is an actress that deserves to be the foreground of her director's vision, not lumped in the background, almost unrecognizably cast as a doting girlfriend. Durkin is still the only director to have realized this.

I decided to re-watch the film recently, in an attempt to focus on the [disappointing] current state of Olsen's career. I'm pleased to report that it remains as haunting and mesmerizing as I found it 3 years ago.

2014 Cannes Line-up Announced; Watch Trailers

The Cannes Film Festival is (arguably) the start to Oscar season. Some will argue that it's Sundance that kicks the conversation off. However, many of the titles from Sundance do find their way to Cannes, which is recognized as the kick start for many Oscar prognosticators.

Cannes (especially in the last few years) has planted the seeds of Oscar dreams for many films. It was the first time 2011 Best Picture winner The Artist was seen, where Lead Actor Jean Dujardin won the festival's Best Actor award. That same year, Palm d'Or (the festival's Best Picture award) went to Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" which not only nabbed a Best Picture nomination from the Academy, but 4 other nominations as well. Other films like Amour, The Piano and Pulp Fiction have found their footing at Cannes and went on to Oscar glory.

This year's lineup is one of the starriest in recent memory. Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Channing Tatum, Steve Carrell, Hillary Swank, Nicole Kidman and many others all have at least one high-profile film that will be seen for the first time here

The festival takes place starting on May 14th till the 25th, which will yield to the festival's annual awards ceremony.

Below is the festival line-up. I've also put a * next to the films that many are paying close attention too. Their reception at Cannes could affect their footing in the coming Oscar race.

David Fincher & Ben Affleck Team Up for "Gone Girl" (Trailer)

After 2011's "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", it was anticipated that Academy Award Nominee David Fincher would be locked into finishing the trilogy with Dragon Tattoo's sequels "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" and "The Girl Who Played With Fire". However, Fincher has made no such plans, in fact, a screenplay for the second film hasn't been written. Instead, Fincher is adapting the popular novel "Gone Girl" into a film.

Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" is Still A Masterpiece 8 Years Later

"Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola's vision of the doomed queen."
- Rotten Tomatoes' consensus of Marie Antoinette.

Riding high off of explosive critical acclaim for her Oscar winning film "Lost In Translation" (Coppola won Best Original Screenplay, and was also nominated for Best Director, the 3rd woman ever to be recognized in that category) expectations were high for her next project. It's fair to say, the expectations themselves were unreachable; no matter what Coppola did, it would have been unfairly held next to Lost In Translation and picked apart for not being as good.

So when "Marie Antoinette" premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, the tepid reaction was (in a sense) predictable. The film was given a limited release and expanded, and then underperformed. Though it won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, it was quickly forgotten about and dismissed as a "failure".

When I first watched the film in middle school, I recall being dazzled in a way that no film had dazzled me before. Yes, the imagery was gorgeous (as it always is in a Sofia Coppola film). But what truly enchanted me the most was the innovative storytelling. With Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola takes the dull biopic genre and turns it upside down, taking a whole new approach to telling the story of the doomed Austrian princess turned French Queen.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman in "A Most Wanted Man"

The passing of the great Phillip Seymour Hoffman shocked us all just a few months ago. In his long career, Hoffman had given amazing performances in every film he was in, even when he was merely standing in the background. From Boogie Nights, to Almost Famous, to his Oscar winning work in Capote, it was clear that he was one of the greatest living actors: male or female.

Though he will be seen (briefly) in the last Hunger Games installment "Mockingjay"(Parts 1 and 2), his final lead performance will be in Anton Corbijn's "A Most Wanted Man" as a German intelligence agent living in the post-9/11 world, who is plagued by paranoia.
The source material comes from the same author of novels such as "Tinker Tailor Soildier Spy" and "The Constant Gardener" both of which were adapted into films and received Oscar nominations for their actors.

Has Zac Efron Found His Big Break with "Neighbors"?

Zac Efron is pretty gorgeous, let's face it. Ever since he made his debut in the obnoxiously popular High School Musical Franchise, he's been a heartthrob. But after the series closed out, Efron has struggled to find that project to really solidify his status as an actual actor.

Of course, there was 2007's critically acclaimed remake of the musical "Hairspray" which found Efron singing and dancing yet again as a heartthrob. Of course, the role wasn't really challenging Efron's abilities all that much, but nevertheless he was perfectly fine in the film.

When he signed on to play the lead role in 2009's "17 Again" (a re-telling of Tom Hanks' "Big"), people predicted that this was going to be the film that launched Efron into the A-List. However, as charming as some found it, 17 Again opened to tepid reviews, and while its box office receipts are nothing to scoff at, it didn't really do much for his career. Supporting roles in "Me and Orson Wells" and Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" along with leading roles in 2 Nicholas Sparks movies and this year's dreadful "That Awkward Moment" further drove the assumption that Efron wasn't meant to be the leading man everyone had pegged him out to be, and that his 15 minutes of fame were over.

Marion Cotillard Discovers the American Dream in "The Immigrant"

The opening shot of director/writer James Gray's fifth feature (entitled, "The Immigrant") is an image we're all familiar with: the back of The Statue of Liberty . To many, the statue represents the ideals that America was (allegedly) built on: truth, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

Gray's film opens in New York City, 1921 as 2 sisters, Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and Magda (Angela Sarafyan) are arriving on Ellis Island to be processed, and hopefully begin their new life in the legendary United States of America. However, they are turned away; Magda has contracted Tuberculosis and is carried away into the infirmary where she will be left until she can be deported back to Poland (the sisters' home country). Ewa, on the other hand, has been accused of having "questionable morals" during her time on the boat ride (we later learn she refused a man's sexual advances) and we learn "America doesn't accept women of questionable morals into the country."

In these first few moments of the film, Gray lays the overall tone of the film. The grand wide shots and bleak, sepia filter of the cinematography accentuate Ewa's helplessness and loneliness, and it becomes very clear why he chose to shoot the infamous statue from the back; While she stands for freedom and the hope of a better life, it becomes clear through the course of the film that she literally has her back turned to Ewa's plight, and the rest of these powerless people.

ScarJo Continues Career Renaissance with Luc Besson's "Lucy"

As I mentioned months before, it seems ScarJo is experiencing something of a revival in her career. It kicked off with her enthusiastic, full-bodied performance in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's "Don Jon" and followed her to Oscar buzz for her voice only performance in Spike Jonze's "Her" as an Operarting System named Samantha.

Now, Johansson is back with 3 pictures, each more different from the next. Besides her much raved about work in "Under the Skin" that will be released this weekend, she's got Captain America 2 next week where she will reprise her strong-willed Black Widow character. And if that wasn't enough, she's headlining an action thriller directed by Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional) entitled "Lucy".

New Images from "Serena" starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper

After the success of David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook", it was announced that Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence would team up (again) as the leads in Susanne Bier's "Serena".

The film is based on the novel of the same name, set in a depression era North Carolina. George Pemberton (Cooper) is struggling to manage his business while learning his wife Serena (Lawrence) cannot bear children.

The film was supposed to be released last year. A few pundits had predicted that come Oscar time, Lawrence would be a double-nominee (a Leading nomination for Serena and a Supporting nomination for American Hustle), but alas, the film was never released. It was reported that apparently several people involved with the making of the film didn't want it released (for reasons unknown) which is weird because of Lawrence's hot popularity at the moment and the overall success of Silver Linings Playbook.