Directed by: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Written by: Eric Heisserer

Starring: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen, Joel Edgerton, Jørgen Langhelle, Kim Bubbs, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Paul Braunstein, Ulrich Thomsen

Genre: Action, Horror, Prequel, Remake, Sci-fi, Suspense, Thriller

MPAA Rating: R

The Thing is a prequel/remake of John Carpenter’s classic horror film of the same name about a group of scientists trapped in Antarctica with an alien that can shapeshift into the form of other animals, including humans.  In this prequel, an alien ship is discovered by a team of Norwegian scientists and American grad student Kate Lloyd (Winstead; Scott Pilgrim) is brought along for her expertise.  They find a seemingly dead alien creature frozen in the ice not far from the ship and excavate it but things quickly go bad when the creature wakes up and starts wreaking havoc.

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Directed by: Ti West

Written by: Ti West

Starring: Kelly McGillis, Pat Healy, Sara Paxton

Genre: Horror

MPAA Rating: R

The Innkeepers takes place during the final weekend of operation at the Yankee Pedlar Inn, an old hotel that’s said to be haunted.  The two staff members, Luke (Healy) and Claire (Paxton; Last House on the Left) alternate shifts at the front desk of the nearly empty inn while also trying to use the final days to capture proof of the ghost that is supposed to walk it’s halls.  They’re joined by an old actress turned spiritualist, a woman in a fight with her husband, and an old former honeymooner.

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Starring: Benjamin Charles Watson, Cassie Steele, Chelan Simmons, Jewel Staite, Joe Dinicol, Jonathan Patrick Moore

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Network: Much Music, The CW

The L.A. Complex is a new Canadian series about a variety of entertainers trying to make their way in Hollywood.  While they try and get that big break they’re all living in poverty at The Deluxe (The Lux), a long-term motel, based on the real life Highland Gardens (which a pretty good documentary was made about a few years ago).  It’s from the some of the people behind Degrassi: The New Generation and created by Bored To Death‘s Martin Gero.

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Directed by: Bruce Sinofsky, Joe Berlinger

Starring: Damien Wayne Echols, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Miskelly

Genre: Crime, Documentary, Drama, Legal

MPAA Rating: Unrated

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is the final film in a trilogy that has gone on for almost 20 years by Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger. Paradise Lost – The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2 – Revelations both previously took us into the case of the West Memphis 3, three teenagers (at the time) who were charged and convicted of murdering 3 small boys in a horrific manner and the many miscarriages of justice that occurred during the case.  This 3rd film brings us back to West Memphis, Arkansas 10 years after the last one and updates us on things some of the greatest law enforcement minds in the world have discovered about the case.

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Starring: Jonny Coyne, Jorge Garcia, Robert Forster, Sam Neill, Sarah Jones

Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi, Supernatural, Thriller

Network: Fox

Alcatraz is a mysterious show that proposes the truth behind the closing of Alcatraz prison is that in 1963 all the prisoners and guards just vanished one night.  Now in modern day San Francisco these people are re-appearing just as mysteriously, not having aged a day.  Detective Rebecca Madsen (Jones; Sons of Anarchy) and Alcatraz expert Diego Soto (Garcia; LOST) stumble upon the happenings and a secret task force run by the equally mysterious Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill; Jurassic Park) and are enlisted to help capture some of the worst criminals of their day.  The story of the events on 1960′s Alcatraz are told alongside the modern day story as well.

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Written by: Ryan David Jahn

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

The Dispatcher is about a police dispatcher who’s young daughter is abducted from her bedroom while she sleeps.  Many years later after being presumed dead, while on shift he gets a call from a girl claiming to be her.  He sets off on a new investigation to find her.

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Starring: Anjelica Huston, Christian Borle, Debra Messing, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty

Genre: Drama, Musical

Network: NBC

Smash is about a group of characters all converging to create a new Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe.  A mid-west transplant actress/waitress (McPhee), an current ensemble actress (Hilty), a pair of writing partners (Messing & Borle), an egotistical director (Davenport), and a newly divorced and trying to prove she’s still in the game producer (Huston), all have their own stories to be told and must come together to create the next Broadway “smash”.

Read more on “Smash – Pilot” »

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Written by: Diablo Cody

Starring: Charlize Theron, Elizabeth Reaser, Patrick Wilson, Patton Oswalt

Genre: Comedy, Drama

MPAA Rating: R

Young Adult is about Mavis Gary (Theron; Monster, Aeon Flux), a ghost author of young adult books who’s life isn’t going too well.  She receives a birth announcement from her high school sweetheart Buddy Slade (Wilson; Hard Candy, Watchmen) and decides to go visit her hometown for a bit to win him back as her life spirals out of control.  Once there she befriends Matt (Oswalt; Big Fan), a guy who was beaten and crippled by the popular kids in high school and who also harbors a crush on her.

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Directed by: Bennett Miller

Written by: Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Steven Zaillian

Starring: Brad Pitt, Chris Pratt, Jonah Hill, Kerris Dorsey, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Stephen Bishop

Genre: Based on a true story, Drama, Sports

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Moneyball is the true story of Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane (Pitt; Seven, Fight Club) who needs to improve his team if they ever hope to get into the championships and keep his job.  The problem he faces in the modern age of professional sports is that his team doesn’t have a lot of money and can’t compete with bigger budget teams like the Yankees.  He finds statistician Peter Brand (Hill; Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) who has ideas about how a team can win using lower priced players that have been written off for one reason or another.  He takes a chance on this new system despite having to fight with everyone around him who is set on using traditional methods of playing ball.  The movie is based off the book( ) of the same name by Michael Lewis.

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Directed by: David Gordon Green

Written by: Alessandro Tanaka, Brian Gatewood

Starring: Ari Graynor, Jonah Hill, Kevin Hernandez, Kylie Bunbury, Landry Bender, Max Records, Sam Rockwell

Genre: Adventure, Comedy

MPAA Rating: R

The Sitter is about Noah (Hill; Moneyball, Superbad), a college dropout who gets wrangled into babysitting for 3 eccentric kids when he wants to go to a party with his “girlfriend” (Graynor; Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist).  Being a horrible babysitter he goes to buy some cocaine for his girlfriend and this sets off a series of events that leave him and the kids on the run from various characters in New York City.

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