A teaser trailer has made its way online for Hostiles, a western drama from Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace, and Black Mass director Scott Cooper starring Christian Bale.

The movie made waves with screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, and it has been compared to the 1956 John Wayne classic The Searchers directed by John Ford.

Continue reading for more info on Hostiles and to give the first trailer a watch.

I don’t know if people will be talking about Zack Snyder’s and Ben Affleck’s Batman when the year 2026 or so rolls around or not. What I do know is that people are still talking about Christopher Nolan‘s and Christian Bale‘s Batman, especially 2008’s The Dark Knight, which featured the late Heath Ledger‘s unforgettable Oscar-winning performance as the Joker.

An excellent new YouTube channel (only a couple of months old) called Lessons from the Screenplay takes a closer look at Ledger’s Joker in a recently released video, and what truly made him the perfect villain to face off with the Batman.

You can check it out below.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book set the bar pretty high not only for future adaptations of Rudyard Kipling‘s novel of the same name but also for filmmakers who will use the same stunning crystal clear visual technology that had audiences awestruck.

So there are a lot of eyes on Andy Serkis‘s Jungle Book: Origins, which uses pretty much the same-level star power and will employ a higher-level of visual effects given that Serkis is the one who is behind the camera. Warner Bros. recently decided to push the release date for the film. While that may have been a worry for some, the director says the new date would help him with perfecting the visuals for this very ambitious project, which he says will be “breaking new ground with realistic non-humanoid animal faces” and “convincingly communicate with human language and emotion via performance capture, and are able to stand up to real scrutiny in richly complex dramatic scenes.”

Now he is also talking about the film’s tone, which he says will be “dark” and explore a few different themes that Disney’s film didn’t. More on the story below.

It wasn’t more than few years ago when Alfonso Cuarón brought us a dazzling look at space with the Academy Award-winning Gravity. Now the filmmaker will be taking his talents to the jungle to help out Andy Serkis. New reports are coming in saying that Cuarón has been brought in to consult with Serkis on Jungle Book: Origins. Just a couple of weeks back, Warner Bros. pushed the film’s release back a full year in an effort to perfect the visual effects. But with a big name filmmaker already on board, it still remains to be seen how much of Cuarón’s involvement will have an impact on the film.

More on the story below.

On Sunday night, Hollywood will get together for its biggest party of the year, the 88th Annual Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars. The night promises laughs, shocks, and plenty of controversy as for the second straight year all 20 acting nominees are white. With comedian Chris Rock hosting, expect some jabs directed at the Academy.

I love the Oscars, even when I hate them. Movies are my passion and the biggest night in movies has become a holiday akin to the Super Bowl. Every year, I try earnestly to see all the films nominated for top honors, and I went over and beyond this year. Not only did I watch all 8 nominated films, but I watched 19 of the 20 of the ranked Oscar performances (sorry Charlotte Rampling). Since this is my first of several Oscars 2016 columns to come, I thought it best to start in the same way the big show begins”¦ no sorry, not with a huge musical number. Nearly every year, they open the awards distribution with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Last year, JK Simmons accepted his trophy for playing the deliciously malicious orchestra leader in Best Pic nominee Whiplash. Simmons, much more resigned than his ferocious role as Fletcher, encouraged everyone to call their moms.

So without further ado, let’s introduce the Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominees, and then move on to the Best Actor and Actress nominees. I’ll tell you who will likely will win”¦ but more importantly, who I think should win.