‘The Tale’ Trailer: Laura Dern Stars In A Powerful Memoir Of Abuse One of the most powerful movies of this year’s Sundance Film Festival is coming to HBO next month, and now its first trailer has arrived.The Taleis the autobiographical story of directorJennifer Fox(played here by the always-terrificLaura Dern), a documentary filmmaker who dives into her own past and uncovers the truth about the sexual abuse she suffered when she was a teenager....

‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director Taika Waititi Wanted To Strip Down The ‘Thor’ Franchise It was nearly two years ago that directorTaika Waititiwas reported to be in talks to directThor: Ragnarok, the third film in the god of thunder’s solo franchise. The filmmaker wasn’t the most obvious choice for the blockbuster sequel, having only directedEagle vs Shark,Boy, and the outstanding mockumentaryWhat We Do in the Shadows. And we hadn’t even seen the fantasticHunt for the Wilderpeopleyet....

‘Tolkien’ First Look: Nicholas Hoult Is The Hot Young ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ Author Don’t knock theLord of the Ringsnerd: the seminal high fantasy series was created by a young, hot man who apparently looked a lot likeNicholas Hoult.The Favouriteactor stars in the upcoming biopicTolkienas a young, good-looking J.R.R. Tolkien, the writer ofThe Lord of the Ringsseries and the highly imaginative creator of the world of elves, hobbits, and dragons that have captured the minds of generations....

‘Urban Myths’ Trailer: See Joseph Fiennes As Michael Jackson, Rupert Grint As Hitler’s Friend & More Almost an entire year ago, you might remember the silly news thatShakespeare in LovestarJoseph Fienneswas set to playMichael Jacksonin a story that follows an alleged road trip taken by the King of Pop and his famous friendsElizabeth TaylorandMarlon Brandofrom New York to Ohio in an effort to get home after the terrorist attacks of 9/11....

‘Veronica Mars’ On UltraViolet: Or How To Screw Up A Movie Kickstarter Almost 100,000 fans spent over $5.7 million to back a movie sequel to the cult television seriesVeronica Mars. Backers who spent $35 were promised “a digital version of the movie within a few days of the movie’s theatrical debut” in addition to a t-shirt and some other extras. The movie was released both theatrically and on video on demand this weekend, but a percentage of the crowdfunded film’s backers were left dissatisfied with the movie’s digital download....

‘Woody Woodpecker’ In Development Under Universal And Illumination Entertainment Illumination Entertainment, the animation house sheltered at Universal that turned outDespicable Meand is responsible for next year’s releaseThe Lorax, now has a new subject. The company will make a film featuringWoody Woodpecker, the impetuous red-headed cartoon character created in 1940. THRsays thatJohn AltschulerandDave Krinsky(Blades of Glory) are in talks to develop a story. Universal has held the rights to the character since 1985, but we haven’t seen much use of Woody in the past few decades....

/Film Set Interview: ‘The Avengers’ Stars Jeremy Renner And Scarlett Johansson In June 2011, Marvel invited a handfull of journalists to the set ofThe Avengers. /Film was a part of this amazing visit to Albuquerque Studios (which you can read about here). While on set we participated in round table interviews with the cast and crew of the film. After the jump you will be able to read our interview withJeremy RennerandScarlett Johansson, who play Hawkeye and Black Widow inThe Avengers....

Alex Garland And Oscar Isaac On ‘Annihilation,’ The Film’s Behind-The-Scenes Clashes, And More [Interview] Writer/directorAlex Garlandset a high bar for himself withEx Machina, his stellar 2015 directorial debut. That sci-fi movie had a lot on its mind, but his newest film,Annihilation, is far more cerebral. It’s one of the most challenging movies of the year: bold, beautiful, and haunting in a way that occasionally verges on being experimental. Not long ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with Garland and actorOscar Isaac, who plays a key role in the film, to talk to them about bringing this story to the big screen....

Breaking: Oliver Stone To Direct George W. Bush Film Starring Josh Brolin “You mean,thatboy fromThe Goonies? Yippie-ki-yay!” Wowzers.Oliver Stonehad hinted at making a feature on the life of the current American president when he did press for theAlexanderDirector’s Cut, but who knew it’d come together this quick? Filming could begin as soon as April for the George W. Bush biopic, brilliantly entitledBush, which could mean a theatrical release right in time for the next election or inauguration....

Cardboard Cinema: Board Games For Video Gamers TheCardboard Cinemaseries was created to explore the overlapping worlds of movies and tabletop, to recommend board games to film fans looking to dip their toe into a hobby that is currently undergoing a golden age. This highly irregular column exists because we love board games here at /Film and want to share them with our fellow movie buffs. We’re taking a bit of a left turn with this edition, which is all about board game recommendations for video gamers....

Casting Bits: Topher Grace In ‘Gently Down The Stream;’ 50 Cent In ‘Odd Thomas;’ Juno Temple In ‘Magic, Magic’ Topher Gracehas joined the cast ofGently Down the Stream, which already has some prominent actors on board:Robert De Niro,Diane Keaton,Katherine HeiglandAmanda Seyfried.Justin Zackhamwrote and will direct the story of a slightly awkward family romance. Specifically, De Niro and Keaton are a couple and father to Topher Grace’s character. But he’s also got an adopted brother, and that guy has a sister, and Topher Grace falls for her....

Chance The Rapper’s Debut Film ‘Slice’ Is Now Available Online After more than a year of hype and cryptic, creepy teasers,Slicewas dropped online without much fanfare. An A24 horror film directed by first-time feature directorAustin Vesely,Slicehas ridden the buzz of its mystery for the past year, culminating in its one-night-only world premiere in Chicago on September 10. Then, mere hours after this flashy world premiere, A24 dropped the horror-comedy on digital platforms at midnight last night....

Cool Stuff: The Dark Knight Tumbler Lego Out September Outside of Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance, arguably the most iconic addition to the Batman universe thanks toChristopher Nolan’sDark Knight Trilogywas the Tumbler. The way Nolan created a functional, realistic Batmobile and continued to evolve it over the course of three films was just beyond cool. It was one of those things fans and non-fans alike wanted to own when they walked out of the movie....