The CW network announced that they had three pilots in the works, one of which includes “Arrow”, which will explore the DC Comics’ character Green Arrow aka Oliver Queen. This is not the first emergence of Green Arrow on the network. Green Arrow/Oliver Queen was a regular character seen on “Smallville” and was played by Justin Hartley. However, it appears Hartley will not be affiliated with the show.

On the flip side, more details have emerged on which characters they’re planning to cast for the new show. One of the characters of note is Dinah “Laurel” Lance aka Black Canary. In the comics, Green Arrow and Black Canary are an item whereas in “Smallville”, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow ends up with Chloe Sullivan which was a character made up for the show [Smallville] when it first began in 2001. Seems the new series, “Arrow”, will stay closer to the comics.

Click the link below to see which characters they are casting. Got ideas on who should play what? Share them in the Comments section!

OLIVER QUEEN
27 year old reformed bad boy, who after having spent five years shipwrecked on a tiny, brutally dangerous island in the South China Sea returns to town a different man. Or to be more specific, a tortured, thoughtful master of the bow with a ferocious determination to make a difference.

DINAH “LAUREL” LANCE
28 years old, smart sexy, Laurel is a legal aid attorney determined to use her life as a one-woman war against the 1% following the death of her younger sister Sara. A sister, who as luck would have it, just so happened to have died aboard Oliver’s yacht.

TOMMY MERLYN
28 years old and devil-smooth, Tommy is a trustafarian like Oliver, a spectacularly rich young man whose life revolves around parties, clubs, liquor and lots of anonymous sex. Unlike Oliver, he can’t seem to understand his former best friend’s sudden change of lifestyle and direction.

MOIRA QUEEN
48 years old, a beautiful woman, Oliver’s mother Moira is a very wealthy woman who is not used to being shaken. Having remarried during the five years that former husband Robert and Oliver were both presumed dead, Moira has had free rein over the Queen billions. Not surprisingly, she’s deeply interested in learning whether or not Robert will also return unexpectedly, to ruin her present marriage and go over the books with a fine-tooth comb.

JOHN DIGGLE
35 years old, African-American, Diggle is really, really big, a former military man who served with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan, and has been a bodyguard for hire for the last four years. Hired by Moira to be Oliver’s chauffeur and protector, Diggle soon finds he is trapped in a battle of wits, as Oliver repeatedly eludes his protection. But in fact, Diggle’s primary conflict is one of loyalty — he has to show that he’s working for Oliver, not Moira, before Oliver will give him a smidgen of trust.

THEA QUEEN
17 years old (suggest 17-22 years), Oliver’s Lolita-esque sister, Thea was a 12 year old girl when he went on his infamous yachting voyage — but now she’s a celebutante who’s testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Thea loved her big brother with all her heart, and is delighted to have him back in her life — but she’s spreading her wings, and is unprepared for Oliver to become the Bad Cop in the family, restricting her access to boys and drugs.

The 84th Annual Academy Awards will air on February 26, 2012, with host Billy Crystal making this his 9th time as MC-ing the event.

Here are some nomination highlights:

BEST PICTURE
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy “
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week With Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

View the full list of nominees on the

"The Hunger Games" Final Poster via The Huffington Post

Check out the final poster for the book to screen adaptation for “The Hunger Games”! “The Hunger Games” is due out in theaters on March 23, 2012. Watch the teaser and/or theatrical trailers right here!

Want to know more about the books in the series? Read my overview of the trilogy right here!

The CW network has plans to move forward with ordering pilots for three new television series. Based on the DC Comics’ character, Green Arrow, the series “Arrow” is one of the pilots ordered. Greg Berlanti is one of the individuals tied to the project, so this show may have potential. Berlanti has produced such shows like “Dawson’s Creek”, “Everwood”, “Brother & Sisters”, and more recently he co-wrote the DC Comics’ movie adaptation of “Green Lantern” starring Ryan Reynolds and he also directed the film “Life as We Know It” starring Josh Duhamel and Katherine Heigl. Seems like “Arrow” might be try to capitalize on the success of “Smallville” which had its series finale in 2011. Although the CW tried to bring “Aquaman” to the network, but the show never made it to air. Although the pilot episode is still available on iTunes. Justin Hartley was the lead in “Aquaman”, but when the pilot fell through he later starred as Green Arrow aka Oliver Queen and became a regular cast member on “Smallville”. However, according to Entertainment Weekly, Hartley is not being courted nor will be tied to the new series.

“Beauty and the Beast” is the next series that the CW is lookiing to bring to the network. The show is loosely based on the 1987 television series starring Linda Hamilton (“The Terminator”) and Ron Perlman (“Hellboy”), a reboot if you will. With the success of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time”, which brings fairy tale and Disney characters to the screen, it seems the CW is hoping to have the same success. Although most recently the screen adaptation of “Beastly” starring Alex Pettyfer (“I Am Number Four”) and Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical”) was not really ground breaking in terms of “Beauty and Beast” inspired stories.

The third is a prequel to the Emmy Award winning show, “Sex and the City”, based on the Candace Bushnell book series which will be called “The Carrie Diaries”. The story will focus on Carrie Bradshaw’s life in Manhattan in the 1980′s. This sounds a lot like the “Gossip Girl” spin-off prequel that never happened. The target audience for the original series are probably not the target audience for this new series so it will be interesting to see how this show will be different and what angle it will take in order to set it apart from the existing teen drama shows on the network like “90210″ and the aforementioned show “Gossip Girl”.

Thoughts? Yay or Nay…post your thoughts in the Comments section below!

Another year has passed and welcome to a new year! The new year starts with a mix of movies. Mark Wahlberg stars in “Contraband” while if you’re looking for a more cheerful movie…Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton star in “Joyful Noise”.

The rest of the month is all about the thrillers. Ewan McGregor (“Moulin Rouge”), Antonio Banderas (“Desperado”), Michael Douglas (“Wall Street”), and Channing Tatum (“G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra”) headline “Haywire” which looks like a cross between Alias and The Bourne Ultimatum. The film is directed by Steven Soderberg, amongst his credits include Ocean’s Eleven and Traffic. Other thrillers being released this month include that latest in the Underworld franchise, “Underworld Awakening”, Liam Neeson starring in “The Grey” and Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) stars in “Man on a Ledge”.

At the end of the month it’s the movie release of “One for the Money”. Fans of the books have been very vocal about the casting choices but the film is complete. Originally the film was suppose to be released in Summer 2011, but it was pushed back. Good move or bad move…we shall see. I think there is enough curiosity surrounding it that people are going to go out and see it.

My spotlight pick of the month is T“Beauty and the Beast” 3D. This could be a big hit considering the success of bringing back “The Lion King” in 3D last year. I think the film will look great in 3D, especially the ballroom scene.

Well that’s my January overview, click on the link below to check out the rest of the movies coming out this month and check back next month for more Winter Movie Season picks and if you’ve seen any of the films from this month…leave some feedback/suggestions in the Comments section on what to see.

**NOTE: Theatrical Release Dates are subject to change.**
Source: Comingsoon.net

January 2
- Albatross (limited)

January 4
- It’s About You (NY; LA release: Jan. 6)
- Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (NY)

January 6
- Beneath the Darkness (limited)
- The Devil Inside
- Norwegian Wood (NY)
- Roadie (NY)

January 11
- Loosies (limited)

January 12
- Miss Bala (limited)
- Northeast (limited)

January 13
- Beauty and the Beast 3D (3D/2D theaters)
- Contraband
- The Divide (limited)
- Don’t Go in the Woods (limited)
- Joyful Noise
- Newlyweds (Chicago)
- Sing Your Song (NY)
- We Need to Talk About Kevin (NY; LA release: Jan. 20)

January 18
- Crazy Horse (NY)
- Desir (NY)

January 20
- Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (limited)
- Coriolanus (limited)
- The Front Line (limited)
- Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos (limited)
- Haywire
- Red Tails
- Underworld Awakening (3D/2D theaters and IMAX 3D)
- Watching TV with the Red Chinese (limited)

January 27
- Declaration of War (limited)
- The Grey
- Man on a Ledge
- One for the Money
- The Theatre Bizarre (NY, LA)
- The Wicker Tree (limited)

In terms of Television, HBO leads the nominations with 18 followed by Showtime with 8. Freshman comedy “New Girl” earned 2 nominations including Best Television Series – Comedy, and Best Performance by an Actress (Television Comeday) nomination for Zooey Deschanel. ABC’s “Modern Family” earned 3 nominations, while noticeably absent are nominations for AMC’s “Mad Men”.

Here are some nomination highlights:
Source: Hollywood Foreign Press Association
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
THE DESCENDANTS
THE HELP
HUGO
THE IDES OF MARCH
MONEYBALL
WAR HORSE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
GLENN CLOSE – ALBERT NOBBS
VIOLA DAVIS – THE HELP
ROONEY MARA – THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MERYL STREEP – THE IRON LADY
TILDA SWINTON – WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
GEORGE CLOONEY – THE DESCENDANTS
LEONARDO DICAPRIO – J. EDGAR
MICHAEL FASSBENDER – SHAME
RYAN GOSLING – THE IDES OF MARCH
BRAD PITT – MONEYBALL

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
50/50
THE ARTIST
BRIDESMAIDS
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
JODIE FOSTER – CARNAGE
CHARLIZE THERON – YOUNG ADULT
KRISTEN WIIG – BRIDESMAIDS
MICHELLE WILLIAMS – MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
KATE WINSLET – CARNAGE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
JEAN DUJARDIN – THE ARTIST
BRENDAN GLEESON – THE GUARD
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT – 50/50
RYAN GOSLING – CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE.
OWEN WILSON – MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BOARDWALK EMPIRE
BOSS
GAME OF THRONES
HOMELAND

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
CLAIRE DANES – HOMELAND
MIREILLE ENOS – THE KILLING
JULIANNA MARGULIES – THE GOOD WIFE
MADELEINE STOWE – REVENGE
CALLIE THORNE – NECESSARY ROUGHNESS

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
STEVE BUSCEMI – BOARDWALK EMPIRE
BRYAN CRANSTON – BREAKING BAD
KELSEY GRAMMER – BOSS
JEREMY IRONS – THE BORGIAS
DAMIAN LEWIS – HOMELAND

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
ENLIGHTENED
EPISODES
GLEE
MODERN FAMILY
NEW GIRL

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
LAURA DERN – ENLIGHTENED
ZOOEY DESCHANEL – NEW GIRL
TINA FEY – 30 ROCK
LAURA LINNEY – THE BIG C
AMY POEHLER – PARKS AND RECREATION

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
ALEC BALDWIN – 30 ROCK
DAVID DUCHOVNY – CALIFORNICATION
JOHNNY GALECKI – THE BIG BANG THEORY
THOMAS JANE – HUNG
MATT LEBLANC – EPISODES

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
CINEMA VERITE
DOWNTON ABBEY
THE HOUR
MILDRED PIERCE
TOO BIG TO FAIL

For the full list of nominations, visit the Hollywood Foreign Press Association website

The first trailer for “Rock of Ages”, based on the Tony Award nominated Broadway Musical, has finally premiered! “Rock of Ages” hits theaters this summer on June 1, 2012. Adam Shankman is performing double duty again as he did for the stage to screen adaptation of “Hairspray”, as the film’s director and choreographer. Footloose star and Dancing with the Stars alumnus Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta (“90210″) play the leads. The cast also includes Academy Award winner, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Grammy Winner, Mary J. Blige, and many Academy Award nominees including Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”), Alec Baldwin (“The Cooler”), and Tom Cruise (“Jerry Maguire”) who plays Stacee Jaxx. Full cast list can be found on IMDB.com.

You can also view this trailer in HD on iTunes.  Click on the link below to check out the first theatrical poster for the film as well.

Image via Comingsoon.net

Check out the first trailer for “Men in Black 3″ starring Will Smith and Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones. Full cast list can be found on IMDB.com.

Here’s the premise via Comingsoon.net:Agent J (Will Smith) has to travel back in time and team up with a younger Agent K (Josh Brolin) in order to save the present day Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), the agency, and the future of man kind.”Men in Black 3″ is due out in theaters on May 25, 2012, in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D.

Check out the first full trailer for “The Hunger Games” based upon the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins, whom also co-wrote the screenplay. This trailer is also available to view in HD on iTunes.

From the looks of this trailer this film looks to be on point with the novel, which if done right will be epic! For more info. on the story and the trilogy, check out my overview of “The Hunger Games”. If you missed the teaser trailer, you can watch it here.

“The Hunger Games” is set to be released in theaters on March 23, 2012.

Check out the first trailer for “Snow White and the Huntsman” starring Twilight star Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”) as the Huntsman, and Academy Award winner Charlize Theron (“Monster”) as the Evil Queen.

Here’s a synopsis via IMDB.com:
In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.

“Snow White and the Huntsman” is set to hit theaters on June 1, 2012. For more info. on the movie, visit the official website.