
After a couple of talking head viral teasers, we finally get our first glimpse of the situation in Panem in the new trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Based on the final installment of Suzanne Collins’s wildly popular series of Hunger Games novels, Mockingjay moves from the games arena to a full-on rebellion reluctantly led by Katniss Everdeen.

The hottest and most popular film genre is the superhero genre. Since the late ’90s, thanks to DC Comics and Marvel Pictures, they have consistently produced superhero films that bring audiences in big masses to theaters. So far this year, there have been three films from that genre, and we are still waiting for the much-anticipated release of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st.

It’s really amazing how some actors are willing to forgo a career full of surefire cash grabs and blockbusters for smaller, bolder roles. Actors like Ryan Gosling and Jake Gyllenhaal have done this and created some very interesting (though not always great) movies that stretch their abilities and require more thought than the many interchangeable popcorn flicks. Maybe it was the train wreck that was Prince of Persia:

Could Foxcatcher be the next big Oscar bait film? Foxcatcher is the unsettling true story of American millionaire John du Pont’s relationship with American Olympic wrestling brothers, Mark and Dave Schultz. Foxcatcher is helmed by Bennet Miller, and stars Channing Tatum, Steve Carrell, and Mark Ruffalo.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is the sequel to Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011), which heralded the latest reboot of the Planet Of The Apes franchise. Dawn presents a story much more intelligent than you’d expect of a blockbuster, its creators having put an overwhelming amount of effort into creating a world that is believable, into creating a wholly new culture for characters that are unique and relatable, furry or not. Rise was good, but Dawn is even better.

The New York Film Academy recently published a pretty awesome infographic on their website, featuring the top 10 darkest characters in film. I’ve been known to be partial to the darker characters – I’m still a bit unsure whether I’ve a dark passenger of my own inside me or not, but I can’t help but always like the dark characters more than the happy ones. As I see it, they make any story more interesting.