Tweets and Where To Find Them

Before we get to this week's best and most amusing tweets on topics like HBO's Westworld, film reviews, Ben Affleck, Hillary Clinton and more after the jump, let's start with a few tweets on the next franchise no one has seen yet but is still eager to spend billions on... Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. (sigh)

The direction I'd take the Harry Potter franchise in... #LetsGetWiested pic.twitter.com/JzuaWRtYzV

— Mark (@dublin_zoetrope) October 16, 2016

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Linkin' on Heaven's Door

Los Angeles Times Lily Tomlin's classic one woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is being relaunched in LA as a 12 person play (!)
/Film Rogue One releases its final trailer. I'm personally not watching(I like to save something for the movie theater) but it's here if you want it
Variety JK Rowling will never leave us alone. Five films are planned in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise.
Tracking Board here's interesting news. Mark Rylance will team with Embrace of the Serpent director Ciro Guerra for a movie based on a 1980 Nobel prize winning book called Waiting for the Barbarians
Deadline Netflix in the lead to get The Helicopter Heist starring Jake Gyllenhaal

The New Yorker on Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize in literature
Interview talks to rising star Ben Schetzer (Pride, Goat, Warcraft)
The New Republic Miriam Bale on both of the new films about Christine Chubbuck, Christine (starring Rebecca Hall) and the experimental documentary Kate Plays Christine.
EW It's come to this. We know have "power lists" in magazines not of actors or producers but of superheroes. Wonder Woman is currently #1 
In Contention supporting/lead options open w/ Viola in Fences & The Bening in 20th Century
Awards Daily Annette Bening will be honored at AFI 
Towleroad Kristen Stewart talking up her current relationship with Alicia Cargile
Boy Culture Miley Cyrus on her pansexuality
Playbill There will be a live audience for Hairspray Live on NBC- website coming soon with how to apply! 

Just 4 Fun
Jezebel "I wore a tail for 1 week and learned nothing" 
AV Club Documentary Now has done a full Talking Heads parody album! 

Has the Whole World Gone Insane?
Film Comment are film critics losing sight of film in the rush for content / social media?
IndieWire interviews the man behind the satire twitter account "Arthouse Donald Trump" which was hilarious and prismatically accurate of loudmouth cinephiles and Trump
Daily Beast Billy Bush is now attempting to drag NBC down with him into the mud after his "Pussygate" suspension - classy!
Gothamist a Talking Trump Zoltar machine appears in Brooklyn spewing prophesies
THR the whole Devin Faraci (Birth. Movies. Death editor) story that blew up this week when a former colleague accused him of touching her without her consent
Awards Daily ...airs a different perspective, mourning the loss of Faraci's voice against misogyny in the fanboy community, particularly during Gaming Gate. 

Exit Video
Harry Belafonte's company produces this PSA on police brutality. Actors Michael B Jordan and Danny Glover and other luminaries star

Against The Wall from Against The Wall on Vimeo.

Comic-Con Trailer Round Up

Chris here with some post-Comic Con excitement. We've already shown you the two standouts of footage revealed at Comic Con (Wonder Woman and Kong: Skull Island) but they didn't suck all of the air out of the room. This year felt like the first in a long time to be jampacked with buzzy titles, from early first looks, deeper dives, and "Gotcha!" surprises. Here's some of the footage (and first thoughts) you might have missed:

Justice League

• Jason Momoa as Aquaman is the standout, striking the right balance of brooding and fun that BvS never struck.
• ... but haven't we been promised that Justice League would be a less morose affair? An amped up rock tune is not a levity factory - turn the volume off and unfortunately this looks like more of the same.
• If it brings more of Ezra Miller's charm to the masses, will it all be worth it anyway?
• No hinting at Superman's inevitable return, so thankfully no long-game tease of what we already know, killing any tension in the actual film.

Fantastic Beasts, a new take on King Arthur, and more after the jump...

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Fantastic Beasts Behind the Scenes

Manuel here. We talked briefly a while ago about Eddie Redmayne's dapper outfit as Newt Scamander in JK Rowling's upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We got a teaser shortly thereafter and now, we've gotten some behind the scenes footage of the Harry Potter spinoff that fleshes out a bit more about what we can expect from this franchise prequel.

The film follows Scamandar, a famed British Magizoologist who arrives in New York City in the 1920s with a suitcase full of fantastic beasts some of whom escape, putting the necessary plot into motion. Joining him are a pair of wizarding sisters (played by Katherine Waterstone and Alison Sudol) as well as a muggle (Dan Fogler, perhaps the most curious casting of them all) — together they must... well, it's unclear still. I'm guessing they'll have to wrangle the beasts back into the suitcase? We're still in teaser territory so maybe we shouldn't worry about that yet.

You can watch the entire video below but I've isolated four moments that caught my attention.

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Eddie Redmayne and the Fantastic Beasts

Manuel here sharing the first look at Best Actor incumbent Eddie Redmayne in his first* blockbuster outing.

Yes, that's everyone's favorite ginger as Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter spinoff series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which takes its title from one of the many textbooks Harry & co. used during their tenure at Hogwarts which J.K. Rowling actually released as a real book back in 2001, and if you've gotten this far and understood what all of those things mean, chances are you are the teensiest bit excited about plunging back into the world of wands and wizards. (And/or irritated at WB's shameless attempt at keeping the franchise alive).

And if you're wondering who's responsible for Redmayne's oh-so-dapper look  it's none other than the great Colleen Atwood. And if this is any indication, the film will at least be pretty to look at. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to shop around for a sapphire blue coat and brown wool suit.

*He'll surely want us to forget Jupiter Ascending.