Review: 'Miss Americana', Taylor Swift Opens Up In Emotionally Powerful Documentary

Pop singer Taylor Swift reveals intimate details of her life while showcasing backstage and onstage concert footage.

Reviewing a movie like Miss Americana is something that seems extremely difficult for me to do. Why is that? Because it is a documentary all about pop star Taylor Alison Swift. You might be thinking "So what?". Well, in short, it is because that Swift herself has interacted with me on the internet a few times in the past, and has served as one of my all-time biggest inspirations. She is my idol.

For those who are unaware, in January 2015, I wrote a post on social media service Tumblr, opening up about my experiences with being bullied while attending school and in my life in general. In my post, I explained how Taylor Swift and her music genuinely helped me to overcome my bullies and to keep my head up high. I thanked Taylor for her music, her personality, and for just being her.

Never in a million years did I expect to get a response from her. "She is Taylor Swift", I thought. She is a megastar. One of the most popular and influential celebrities in the world. But, much to my surprise and immense delight, she did exactly that. On January 23, 2015, just two days after my post went up, she posted a long reply just to me. I could not believe it. In the post, she supported me and comforted me and told me so much helpful advice. To this day, I still think about that post and how much it means to me. In that moment, I felt like Taylor was actually my friend, and that was the best feeling in the world.

But as I am a film critic, I have to be careful not to go into any movie with bias. No matter who is in it or what it is about. I may like Taylor Swift but I didn't like Cats. So I went into Miss Americana careful not to just say it was great because it's a movie all about Taylor and I love Taylor so it must be great. I had to watch the film under a critical viewpoint and so that is what I did. Now that I have seen it, I can happily report that it is the first truly amazing movie of the new year and the new decade. Finally, a great movie. It felt like one would never come. But alas, here we are.

Taylor Swift has never been more open and honest as she is in Miss Americana. As a lifelong fan of hers, watching this film was extremely eyeopening as I got to learn more about her personal life more than ever before. Even if you are not a fan of her or her music, I think this movie has something for everybody. It is a fascinating film, that, at its core, is a movie about a woman who, for her whole life, has been told she has to be restrained. She has to be the "nice girl" and she has to do and say whatever people want her to say. With Miss Americana, Taylor is finally saying enough of that. She is no longer going to be controlled by people. She is going to be who she is, and she is going to share her opinions and thoughts. Taylor Swift felt restrained for years. For her whole life, really. But now, she feels more alive than ever before. She feels like she finally has a voice, and she definitely does, and she wants to use it, which is so great.

Watching this story is so inspiring. Like I said, I truthfully feel like you don't have to be a Taylor Swift fan to really enjoy this movie and get an amazing experience out of it. Not only is it an incredibly uplifting and feel-good movie, but it is one that is going to speak to a lot of people, especially her fan base. This movie is going to mean a lot to so many people and that is such an exciting thing.

Something that I never expected however, was the emotions I would be feeling. Miss Americana has some scenes that hit me so hard in my emotions and I never saw it coming in a million years. I don't know why I didn't see it coming either, to be honest. The film was being marketed as an open and honest film about Taylor and we would get to see her like we have never seen her before. Surely I should have expected something emotional to happen, but I just didn't.

There is one scene in particular in the film that honestly left me with tears rolling down my face. It's a genuinely sad and emotional scene that left me in complete and utter awe. Those who have already seen the movie probably know exactly what scene I am talking about.

Plus, it is terrifically directed by Lana Wilson, who has previously directed the two features After Tiller and The Departure. Her direction here is incredible and I truly hope she continues to make films because it is incredibly evident that she is a raw talent.

Something that I wished was different about Miss Americana was its running time. Clocking in at just eighty five minutes in length, it does feel like it's over before you know it, and it would have been nice to have had the running time extended just a little bit, that way the film could have felt more grand as a whole.

It's also a film that has some genuinely amazing editing. There are some moments where we will see behind the scenes footage of Taylor and her producers thinking of lyrics for new songs on her new album, and we will cut to her actually singing the final version of the song on stage. Edits like that feel powerful and bold and I loved it.

Also, yes, the music here is phenomenal, because almost all of the music used throughout the film is Taylor Swift's music from various different albums. From the likes of Lover, Reputation, and even her self-titled debut studio album.

But, like I said earlier, this movie is not great solely because it has some of Taylor Swift's best hit songs playing throughout. It is not great solely because it is a film all about Taylor Swift. It is great because it is an open, honest, raw, and emotionally powerful look at one of the world's biggest celebrities. It's an inspiring story of finding your voice and finally using it when you wanted to for your whole life. It brought me to tears and it will stick with me for an incredibly long time. It's not just for Swifties, it's for everybody.

Miss Americana is an emotionally powerful and raw look at Taylor Swift, and is an incredibly inspiring story of finding and using your voice.

3.5 out of 5

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'Miss Americana' Trailer: Taylor Swift Finds Her Voice In Netflix's Sundance Documentary

This may come as a shock to you, but I don't follow Taylor Swift all that much. Unless she's playing Dazzler in an X-Men movie I don't know shit about her. What I do know is that Netflix's upcoming documentary about Swift, titled Miss Americana, is going to cause a stampede as the Opening Night film here at Sundance. And just a day before it debuts, a new trailer has arrived.

Directed by Lana Wilson (After Tiller) and produced by Oscar winner Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), the film finds Swift using her celebrity to speak up and champion the causes important to her. This wasn't always the case, as Swift infamously kept quiet during the 2016 Presidential elections, when her voice could have really tipped the balance one way or another. But with her newfound confidence as a vocal activist, Swift faces the same blacklisting that destroyed the careers of another popular pop-country act, The Dixie Chicks.

Miss Americana hits select theaters and Netflix on January 31st.

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Review: Tom Hooper's 'Cats' Is An Unfathomable Mess You Won't Be Able To Look Away From

Going into Cats having endured a couple of bizzarro trailers, I thought maybe it would've been smart to drop some acid, or at least go in drunk. I did neither.  The good news is that after watching this goopy hairball of a film by supposedly-great director Tom Hooper (I've yet to see any evidence of this), I feel like somebody sprinkled acid onto my hot dog.

What I won't do, aside from the mention of a hairball, is drop a bunch of clever feline puns on you. There are undoubtedly a few hundred reviews from critics who think they've come up with some seriously funny cat puns. Some of them might be right, most of them are definitely wrong. You don't need me to try and be funny. 

This movie is bad. It's a true howler, and makes me wonder how in the world Cats was one Broadway's most successful and long-running shows. Is everybody who watched it high? Coming out of it, I told my friend I still had no idea what the fuck Cats is about. That wasn't exactly true. The plot of Cats has been known to me for years, but having never seen the stage version, watching it try to play out on screen makes you question everything. In a slight deviation from the familiar "story", a stray cat named Victoria (newcomer and ballet dancer Francesca Hayward) is literally dumped into the orbit of the Jellicle cats. What's a Jellicle cat? You got me. The entire plot of the movie consists of this band of misfit felines singing and dancing to explain who they are. They don't do a very good job of it. Apparently, Victoria has stumbled onto the day of the Jellicle Ball, when Old Deuteronomy (Judi Dench, who enters looking slightly bewildered) will select a deserving member of their order to ascend to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn.

Say what?

Yeah, makes no sense to me, either.

But there's also an evil dude, a gangster cat named Macavity (an unfortunate Idris Elba), with strange magical powers (???), and a trench coat to hide that he's super naked underneath it. Like a flasher. He's the flasher Jellicle? He wants to ascend for some reason, and will make all of his competition literally vanish in order to win. We don't really know why he wants to go, or why he (and one other cat) have magical powers. We don't know much of anything, which makes it really annoying that the entire movie is an attempt to explain the unexplainable.  I can only gather the stageplay is similarly incomprehensible. Perhaps that's why people love it?

Other cats put on weird display are the timid illusionist Mr. Mistoffelees (Laurie Davidson), the formerly glamorous Grizabella (Jennifer Hudson) now seeking redemption, the bubbly Jennyanydots (Rebel Wilson, really not in her comfort zone), the flirty Rum Tum Tugger (a randy Jason Derulo), and many more. There are notable, occasionally fun, performances by James Corden, Ian McKellen, and more, with Taylor Swift's jazzy, sexy Chicago-style rendition of "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" a true standout. Overall, however, there aren't any songs that are memorable, and that sadly includes Hudson's centerpiece "Memories". It's not really through any fault of hers, though. Mainly it has to do with the poor way in which it was shot, with so many strange close-ups you wonder what Hooper was seeing that you don't.

Hooper has plenty of experience adapting huge musicals for the big screen, with many celebrating his 2012 version of Les Miserables. I found that film to be les miserable as Hell, but the songs are so great (despite Russell Crowe's best efforts) that it was easy to overlook Hooper's deficiencies, all of which are repeated with Cats. When you're dealing with a film that relies so heavily on precise movements, getting the right angle is paramount. We're talking multiple dance numbers with dozens of characters littered about every inch of the screen, and yet Hooper dives in for one extreme close-up after another. The editing is so haphazard that we barely get a sense of what is happening. Hayward, a ballerina of some renown, has beautifully graceful movements that largely go to waste because Hooper can't be bothered to hang on a shot for more than a moment. And when he does, the perspective is often wildly out of sync. The cats shift from human size to normal pet size, their surroundings sometimes accompanying them and sometimes not.

But worst of all are the CGI fur costumes, and VFX that look so cheap it's distracting. Maybe it was what Hooper and his effects team were going for, I don't know why it would be the case, but the cast resemble mutant cat/human hybrids that just escaped from the Weapon X lab. The characters all retain the actors' human faces, which would be fine if they didn't look like they had been shakily mapped-on using old video game technology. When the cats are still, which is rare, this isn't a problem. During the bigger numbers with a lot of specific movements you can really see how poor of a job was done. And to make it all somehow worse, all of these cats are so damned horny! You'll never forget the sight of Dame Judi Dench, bundled up to her neck in white fur, smiling amorously to a decrepit Ian McKellen, her legs and tail waving suggestively in the air.  *shudders*

I'll give Cats this, though; it's definitely not dull. The cast are fully-committed to their roles, and there's a campiness that will make this studio-sized spectacle a sing-a-long favorite at midnight screenings. It's got a real Rocky Horror quality to it, and that extends to the technicolor landscapes, where these cat/human things prance along railways and march through kitchens singing about a whole lot of nothing. But I suspect it's the unfathomable quality that has drawn people to Cats for so long. In that, at least, I will give Tom Hooper credit. He's definitely captured that with his film and it may prove to be catnip (Ok, last one) for the musical's most devoted fans.

2 out of 5

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Get Ready, A New 'Cats' Trailer Is Here And It Still Looks Bizarre

So. Many. Jokes. The first trailer for Cats has been the butt of so many social media punchlines one might think Universal could pull the plug on the star-studded Broadway adaptation. Let's be honest, the sight of so many multi-talented celebs zipped up inside those Hellish cat suits is enough to make anybody quiver. But the movie is still happening, confirmed by the latest trailer which I think is just as disturbing as before.

Honestly, I respect Universal and director Tom Hooper for just going with their nightmarish creation and not pulling a Sonic the Hedgehog-style redo. The film is based on the Tony Award-winning Broadway classic about a tribe cats as they prepare to make the Jellicle choice and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. The cast is pretty amazing from top-to-bottom, which James Corden, Rebel Wilson, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo, Ian McKellen, Royal Ballet dancer  Francesca Hayward, and more.

Cats arrives just in time for the holidays on December 20th.

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Creepy Yet Oddly Beautiful. The First Trailer for 'Cats' is Here!

Cats is unquestionably one of the most well-known and popular theater productions of the 20th century, so I'm in the minority here...but I don't get it. So like, they're all just Cats re-enacting a feline version of what? West Side Story maybe? Chicago? Look, my lack of sophistication and culture aside there's something about this story that has touched people deep down for decades. Couple that with this remarkable who's who of musical theater superstars and you have something that is going to be the best version of itself, whatever that is.

Judy Dench, Rebel Wilson, Ian McClellan, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, a lasciviously evil looking Idris Elba and a confusingly hot Taylor Swift headline the "folks you would know" list and while I'm confused and disturbed by the trailer I can't deny it's beauty. The music is beautiful and the set design looks to have the perfect touch that's so rare to see where they are able to make you feel like you're in a theater and a real place at the same time. It's as close as is possible to that inimitable feeling of being in a theater watching a live show.

Cats hits Theaters on December 20th, 2019

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Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, & Ian McKellan To Star In Tom Hooper's 'Cats'

With musicals proving to be big business once again, it was only a matter of time before the legendary Broadway musical Cats was adapted for the big screen. Leading the way will be director Tom Hooper, best known for The King's Speech and his adaptation of Les Miserables, and the cast he's putting together is one worth purring over.

The Wrap reports Oscar nominee and R&B singer Jennifer Hudson will star, along with superstar singler Taylor Swift, host and singer James Corden (If you havent seen him in One Chance, check it out), and Ian McKellan who needs no introduction. Lee Hall, who previously wrote Billy Elliot, will pen the script about a tribe of cats who must make "the Jellicle choice" and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage production was once the longest-running ever on Broadway, and introduced the song "Memory" which has become an iconic showtune.

Production should begin later this year, and I'm guessing they'll target a late 2019 release, perhaps around Christmas? Seemed to work pretty well for The Greatest Showman, right?

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Is That Really Taylor Swift As Dazzler In 'X-Men: Apocalypse'?

Dazzler is one of those X-Men characters that fans of a certain age love, but they only love her for when she was at her least cool. The character, real name Alison Blaire, is a mutant with the ability to turn sound into light, but she's mostly known for being an intergalactic rock star. She was created to be a reflection of the disco craze that was sweeping the country at the time, but that quickly died just like the music itself. Her time with the X-men was pretty short (she was in a really weird relationship with my favorite X-Man, Longshot), but the disco-inspired Dazzler gained a huge fan base. And apparently it's big enough to land her a tease in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Sophie Turner, who plays Jean Grey in the upcoming film, tweeted this image that shows Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) holding a Dazzler record album.

It's Turner's caption that has sparked a lot of interest, though....

"#FBF that time Cyclops and I went shopping at the mall and found our favorite singer’s album (pre 1989, of course)."

Many have taken this to be a reference to Taylor Swift's album, "1989", with the assumption being that the singer is actually playing Dazzler. While that's some seriously wild speculation, it's worth remembering that Swift was on set last year, as noted by Collider...

Haters gonna hate. @taylorswift13 #jamesmcavoy @SophieT pic.twitter.com/f8nwXPETSH

— Simon Kinberg (@Kinberg) July 8, 2015

Did Swift spend her time on set rockin' out for mutant rights? Maybe, maybe not. X-Men: Apocalypse takes place in the 1980s, and Turner's caption makes it clear she's speaking as Jean Grey not as herself, so the '1989' reference may have been nothing.   And even if it is her, does it really matter if all we see is her on a record album? This is a novelty like Nathan Filion's totally random (and meaningless) appearances in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Kinda cool for those who notice, but overall they have no impact on the movie.

I also remember a few years ago when Bryan Singer hit fans with an April Fool's Day joke claiming Lady Gaga would be playing Dazzler in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Far too many people bought into that one.

X-Men: Apocalypse opens May 27th, with or without Taylor Swift.

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Five Clips from 'The Giver' with Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Taylor Swift

Lois Lowry's The Giver predates many of the currently popular YA novels, so there's been some attempt to separate it from the genre. The problem is, every single trailer and piece of footage makes it look exactly like the others, which is probably what The Weinstein Company wanted to begin with. Like it or not, these movies make a lot of money and those that tried to be different (I'll put Beautiful Creatures as one of those) haven't been met with a lot of success. With the film arriving in theaters this week, five new clips from the film have been released and one of them gives us a look at Taylor Swift in a small role.

The cast for this one is certainly impressive with Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges providing a veteran presence to Philip Noyce's film set in a society free of emotions and thus free of violence. In this supposedly utopian society one man, known as the giver, is gifted with the good and bad memories of the past. Brenton Thwaites plays Jonas, a young man who is the new Receiver of Memories, and upon learning how things used to be he decides that emotion needs to be restored. Of course there are those who would fight against him in order to keep the status quo. So basically this sounds almost exactly like Divergent, and with the requisite amount of teen romance in the midst of a societal breakdown it's just like every other YA story on the market. Katie Holmes and Odeya Rush co-star, and Taylor Swift makes a brief appearance as Rosemary, a key figure from the Giver's past.

Our own +Mae Abdulbaki swears by these books but I'm less than convinced. The Giver opens on August 15th, look for our review tomorrow.


The Giver Movie CLIP - Lose Him (2014) - Brenton Thwaites, Meryl Streep Movie HD by MovieTampan


The Giver Movie CLIP - The Girl Has A Name (2014) - Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges Movie HD. by Buzz Films


The Giver Movie CLIP - Something More (2014) - Jeff Bridges, Katie Holmes Movie HD. by Buzz Films


The Giver Movie CLIP - Rescue Gabe (2014) - Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes Movie HD by MovieTampan


Rosemary No Longer Exists In 'The Giver' by celebritywire

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New Trailer for 'The Giver' Shows a Colorless Future

In Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, there are numerous scenes depicted in stark black and white, so when the first trailer for the film emerged in full color it drove fans a little crazy. Maybe The Weinstein Company and director Philip Noyce heard the outcry, or maybe it was always designed to be this way, but the latest footage assures the book's readers the film will indeed be faithful.

While those same fans would also have you believe The Giver is not your typical YA adaptation, the trailers would seem to indicate otherwise. Starring Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, and Taylor Swift, the film is set in a seemingly idyllic world of total conformity, until one young boy receives the gift of past memories and threatens to expose a secret that could destroy everything. So it's not unlike Divergent and The Hunger Games in following one special character who threatens to break the fragile status quo by following their true feelings.

The Giver opens on August 15th.


The Giver Official Trailer #2 (2014) - Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges Movie HD by Trailer-Addict

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First Trailer for 'The Giver' with Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, and Taylor Swift

Jeff Bridges has spent the better part of a decade developing The Giver, an adaptation of Lois Lowry's science-fiction children's novel. If it had come out then it would be entering a more wide open field, but with The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other similar adaptations out there it may be tough to stand out. It can't even lay claim to being (apparently) the only one to feature a male lead now that the male-dominated The Maze Runner is right around the corner. So what does The Giver have that these other films don't have? Meryl Streep.

The first trailer for The Giver has arrived and Streep is a big part of it, along with fellow Oscar-winner Bridges. Starring Brenton Thwaites, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgarrd, Odeya Rush, and Taylor Swift (!!!), it's set in a seemingly perfect future society where there is no sickness, racism, or conflict. Only one person, known as the Receiver, still holds memories of the past. When Jonas (Thwaites) is selected to be the new Receiver, he uncovers dark secrets about the past while being trained by the Giver (Bridges).

There hasn't been much buzz about the film since it was announced,  and this rather dull trailer probably isn't going to change that. Will Streep fans pay to see her in a movie like this? We'll find out when the Philip Noyce-directed film opens August 6th.


The Giver Official Trailer #1 (2014) - Jeff Bridges, Taylor Swift Movie HD by NovaCotton

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Taylor Swift and Katie Holmes Join Meryl Streep In 'The Giver'

Taylor Swift has won seven Grammys, has a terrific voice, and (so I'm told) gives an impressive performance on stage. As an actress we can only really judge her on rom-com hodge podge Valentine's Day, which didn't call for her to do all that much. On the other hand, Katie Holmes' film career began strong with The Ice Storm then petered out as she got older, with her last starring role in Adam Sandler's Jack & Jill earning her a Razzie award win. Bravo. Basically, both actresses could use a big screen hit, and they'll have a pretty good shot by joining Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges in The Giver.

Directed by Philip Noyce, the film is based on Lois Lowry's novel set in an antiseptic utopian society where free will and diversity has been replaced by "sameness". Bridges plays a Giver, a keeper of memories who must past knowledge of the past to a Receiver, played by Brenton Thwaites. Meryl Streep is the villainous chief elder, while Holmes will play Thwaites' mother who dutifully follows the society's rules. It's yet to be revealed exactly what role Swift will be taking on.

Also starring Alexander Skarsgard, The Giver opens August 15th 2014. [THR]

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Taylor Swift and David Beckham Rumored for Matthew Vaughn's 'The Secret Service'

It looks like the tabloids have moved on (mostly) from whether or not pop princess Taylor Swift told Harry Styles to "shut the f**k up" at the VMAs, and on to what future ex-boyfriend she'll be writing a sad love song about next. According to the Mirror, one of the U.K.'s top trash rags, Swift will be joining the cast of Matthew Vaughn's spy flick The Secret Service, which she'll obviously then use to steal away David Beckham from his posh wife Victoria.

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Allison Williams, Ari Graynor, Olivia Thirlby and more circling Carly Simon and Carole King roles in 'Girls Like Us'

Suddenly it's like folk music has become cool again. Or more accurately, folk music movies are cool again, and that's nearly 10 years after David Guest mocked the crap out of folk artists in A Mighty Wind. Last spring we learned that Taylor Swift and Alison Pill were circling the roles of folk legends Joni Mitchell and Carole King in the biopic, Girls Like Us. Right now it looks like Swift is a lock for Mitchell, but things aren't quite so certain for Pill as a bevy of lovely ladies are in contention for the part, along with more wanting to play Carly Simon.

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Taylor Swift and Alison Pill eyed to play Joni Mitchell and Carole King in new biopic

Getting a biopic on legendary female singers and feminist icons Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon off the ground is tough business. It's a tough sell, as despite their Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame credentials, they aren't as immediately recognizable or perceived to have lived quite the turbulent lives of Ray Charles or Johnny Cash. The best you can probably hope for is a moderate critical and box office success like The Runaways, which was smart enough to have Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett.

Sony Pictures is taking a similar path with their adaptation of Girls Like Us, which follows the careers of King, Mitchell, and Simon as they came of age in the 1960s folk music scene to become significant forces not only in music but to the women's movement as a whole. Variety reports that Taylor Swift is currently attached to play Joni Mitchell, while Alison Pill(Pieces of April) is in line to play King. There aren't any offers on the table yet, but that may change soon as filming is set tentatively set for later this year. Katie Jacobs, a producer on House and a television director, will make her feature film debut behind the camera.  The great John Sayles(Matewan) wrote the script.

It's hard to deny that Swift and Mitchell are almost polar opposite in their style of music and public persona, but Swift is a tougher, more competent artist than I think people give her credit for being. But can she act? We know she can lay down a tune and sing her heart out, but this would be the most complex role of her young acting career.

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The Sunday Drive: 3/4/12

3. The Secret World of Arrietty
You're running out of time to catch up with the latest visual, heartwarming masterpiece from Studio Ghibli. Following a family of inch-high "Borrowers" who live in the homes of regular sized people, their lives are turned upside down with the arrival of a curious new human boy looking for a taste of adventure.

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Review: 'The Lorax', featuring Zac Efron and Taylor Swift

Adapting the timeless works of Dr. Seuss into feature films has proven to be a lucrative, if not always creatively successful venture. The problem has always been in finding a style that can adequately capture the author's unique style. Live-action movies like How the Grinch Stole Christmas were hamstrung by leaving the animated format, and The Cat in the Hat suffered a similar fate made worse by Mike Meyers' inability to be funny. A CGI version of Horton Hears a Who! better interpreted Seuss' daffy visual style, and that model is employed yet again with equal vibrancy in The Lorax, a film that shows the author's cautionary tale is as vital today as ever.

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Sure Shots: Brad Anderson; World War Z; Les Miserables

* Looks like The Hive has lost a couple of it's worker bees. The thriller set against the backdrop of 911 emergency response unit, follows a line worker who faces an enemy from her past while trying to help a young girl. Joel Schumacher was set to direct, with Halle Berry once attached to star. Now Variety reports that Brad Anderson(Transsiberian) has taken over the gig. A number of top actresses are said to be circling the lead role now that Berry has dropped out.

* Paramount thinks they have a hit on their hands with World War Z, and they might be right. Based on a novel by Max Brooks, the story takes place in the aftermath of a global zombie apocalypse, with Brad Pitt playing a bureaucrat investigating the crisis.  Think AMC's The Walking Dead and you have a pretty good idea of the tone. In an LA Times story, it was revealed that the studio is hoping to milk a trilogy out of it, which should surprise no one since EVERY movie is a potential franchise nowadays.  Co-starring Matthew Fox, Mirielle Enos, James Badge Dale, Bryan Cranston, and David Morse, it'll roll into theaters on December 21st.

* I have zero interest in Tom Hooper's adaptation of Les Miserables, but I do have quite the interest in the two latest actresses circling the musical. Taylor Swift and Amanda Seyfried have been offered the roles of Eponine and Cosett, which should put both of their singing talents to the test. If they accept, they'll join an amazing cast which includes Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Anne Hathaway, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Les Miserables opens in the thick of Oscar season on December 7th. [Twitch]

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Hear Taylor Swift's new song, 'Safe and Sound', from 'The Hunger Games' soundtrack

This is really the only way you're going to get me to listen to a Taylor Swift song voluntarily, by adding i to the soundtrack of a film I'm itching with anticipation for. Last night, Swift tweeted a link to her new track, 'Safe and Sound', which will be featured in Gary Ross's The Hunger Games.  I checked out about thirty seconds of it before zoning out, but it's pretty inoffensive. I can see Katniss(Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta(Josh Hutcherson) making out to it in between dodging fireballs and kids with murderous intentions.

My lukewarm response to it aside, Swift's tactic proved successful as #safeandsound quickly become the top trending topic on Twitter. I'm sure that means something somewhere. The Hunger Games opens next year on March 23, but you can check out 'Safe and Sound' below....

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Trailer Time: Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, voiced by Danny DeVito and Ed Helms

Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul, the duo who wrote the only good recent Dr. Seuss adaptation in Horton Hears a Who!, appear to be on the right track when it comes to The Lorax. For one, director Chris Renaud(Despicable Me) has made lush and beautiful the world dreamed up by the children's author. Also, I like some of the changes that have been made to the story, such as turning the novel's mostly unseen villain, the Once-ler(Ed Helms) into a man, the better to make clear man's responsibility to protecting the environment. I take some issue with DeVito's voice being used for the grumpy Lorax, as it doesn't seem to quite fit, but it's something that can be lived with.

The latest trailer for The Lorax confirms my excitement, looking like a charming little fable kids and adults should be able to enjoy. Check it out below, then look out for The Lorax when it arrives on March 2nd....

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Trailer Time: Dr. Seuss' The Lorax

Even though the live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat may have earned their share of coin, it was pretty clear to me that Dr. Seuss' works are best presented in animated form. The cartoons are beloved, and even Horton Hears a Who! turned out to be pretty good. Somebody finally figured that out, and was smart enough to get the talented folks at Illumination(Despicable Me, Hop) to beautifully adapt Seuss' environmental fable, The Lorax.

Directed by Chris Renaud, based on a script by Ken Daurio, the story takes place in a world where industrialism has completely taken over. A boy(voiced by Zac Efron) seeks to impress the girl of his dreams(Taylor Swift) by finding her one of the last remaining trees. To do so he must learn the story of the Lorax(Danny Devito), a grumpy creature who serves as nature's protector, and also the Once-Ler(Ed Helms) who may be the cause of the way things are. Check out the gorgeous, and kinda sweet, trailer for The Lorax below...

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