The Wrap MovieByte

TJ’s Internet may be down for the count, but that’s not going to stop him from bringing you your weekly scoop! This week, TJ brings you news about RoboCop (and how, unsurprisingly, ‘The LEGO Movie’ is trouncing it at the box office). Next up, news that Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow will be getting her own Marvel film. That sounds exciting! Ron Howard will be directing one OF TWO upcoming ‘The Jungle Book’ adaptations. This one is for Warner Bros. Jon Favreau is directing the Disney adaption. And RoboCop, both new and old, got a lot of attention at MovieByte this week. TJ wrote a review of both films and it was the subject of much discussion on The MovieByte Podcast episode 80. And then, crime of all crimes, a woman accidentally kept in her possession for several years, a Jennifer Lopez film, ‘Monster-in-Law. Even though the rental store has since shut down, she was still forced to spend the night in jail when her wicked ways caught up with her, and she had to post a $2,000 bond. Wasn’t the JLo film punishment enough? ‘Monster Trucks’ is a movie that’s really happening thanks to the success of ‘The LEGO Movie’. Ugh. And ‘Ninjago’ might be happening before ‘The LEGO Movie 2’ which doesn’t seem like all that bright of an idea, but whatever. And of course, find out what you might like to see this weekend.

This week, Will Smith changed his mind again on whether he’s going to be in ‘Independence Day 2’. TJ has more to say about Philip Seymour Hoffman and his big scene left to shoot on ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay’. It seems like a digital recreation of the guy is in order so that the film can be finished. ‘Star Wars VII’ will be starting production in May. ‘The LEGO Movie’ was the big deal this week. It brought in a truckload of money on it’s opening weekend, and it was quite a good film. TJ wrote a review, and talked about it with Joe Darnell and Chad Hopkins on ‘The MovieByte Podcast’. And speaking of ‘The LEGO Movie’, a Fox News anchor has completely lost his mind and says the film is anti-business and anti-capitalist. What is his reasoning? Well the villain is named Lord Business. That’s some deep analysis right there. The director of R.I.P.D. will be directing the ‘Divergent’ sequel, ‘Insurgent’ which isn’t even in theaters yet. And of course, find out what to see this weekend!

The saddest of news this week: Philip Seymour Hoffman passed away from an apparent drug overdose this past week. We have lost one of the great story-tellers. Though he had one scene left to film in ‘The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay Part 2’, it will not affect the film’s release date. In lighter news, J.K. Rowling has seemingly lost her mind and decided it was not after all a good idea to put Ron and Hermione together and thinks that she should have instead put Harry and Hermione together. What a load of rubbish! There’s a lot to look forward to in the upcoming episodes of ‘Agents of SHIELD’. TJ has been nothing but thrilled with this show and doesn’t understand what the problem is for some people. This week, Chad, Fizz, and TJ gathered on ‘The MovieByte Podcast’ to discuss ‘American Hustle’. It may not quite be the film that it’s Oscar Nomination would suggest, but it’s worth watching. Netflix has renewed ‘House of Cards’ for a third season and this is great news! And continuing the "off topic" business with Nintendo, TJ talks about how Nintendo has a plan to keep it’s next generation of consoles from being a flop. Then we find out that in ‘Taken 3’ no one is going to be "take" which begs the question, what’s with the name? And of course, TJ walks you through what’s available in theaters for your viewing enjoyment.

TJ brings you up to speed on the goings on in the film world — and some stuff not really in the film world. First up, we’ve got Angelina Jolie’s new ‘Maleficent’ trailer. It’s spooky, scary, and really good looking. And it’s set to an unfamiliar arrangement of a familiar tune. And then TJ strayed a little off the beaten movie path this week to talk about Nintendo in three separate articles. But hey, he’s an adult, he can do what he wants, right? One of the more exciting films coming up in the beginning of this year is ‘The Lego Movie’ and TJ has lots of goodies for you on that front. Be sure to check out the clips from the upcoming film! Chad and TJ talked about ‘The Lone Survivor’ this week on ‘The MovieByte Podcast’. It was better than either of them were expecting. Paramount will bow to Christopher Nolan’s wishes and deliver the upcoming ‘Interstellar’ on both film and in digital format. And in the "say what?" category, ‘Taken 3’ is currently in the works. How many more times can these Bryan Mills and co go through this? And of course, as always, find out what to see this weekend!

TJ may be a day late getting this episode out, but he’s going to give you the news of the week anyway. Starting off the week we learned that ‘Batman vs. Superman’ has been pushed from 2015 to May 6, 2016. Given how crowded 2015 is, this doesn’t really seem like that bad of a thing. Jamie Alexander will appear on ‘Agents of SHIELD" in her role at Sif which seems exciting. The upcoming James Bond films will build on what happened in ‘Skyfall’ and this also seems like a good thing since ‘Skyfall’ is obviously the best of the three newer ‘Bond’ films. JJ Abrams says the ‘Star Wars VII’ script is done and they will be shooting the film on actual film stock. Federal agents removed a man from the theater and treated him like a criminal because he was wearing Google Glass. This is an extreme miscarriage of justice and an overstepping of bounds. Not to mention that this situation highlights again just how out of control our copyright system is. The focus of this weeks’ reviews and ‘The MovieByte Podcast’ was ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit’ — a passable film, but kind of disappointing. And it turns out that younger audience are paying no attention to this film. In the category of "sigh", ‘Atlas Shrugged 3’ is moving forward, but just as with part 2, with an all new cast. How inspiring… And of course, find out what to see at the box office this weekend.

TJ is back to give you the news from the past week. First up, the winner at the Golden Globes is ‘12 Years a Slave’. Then there’s ‘Star Wars’ Rumors galore. And they haven’t even started filming this thing. It’s going to be a long wait until the release of this film! ‘Catching Fire’ toppled ‘Iron Man 3’ as the biggest earner for 2013. Pretty big deal. Armond White was kicked out of the New York Film Critics Circle, and good riddance to him. TJ also focused his time and attention this week on ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ by writing a review, and releasing two podcasts about it. ‘Gravity’ is returning to theaters so you should check that out if you failed to see it the first time. A man in Florida was shot in the theater for texting. That’s really not good at all! And TJ has the list of Oscar nominees for you! Of course find out what to see this weekend as well.