What you may need to know

1. Surprisingly good trailer alert.

2. That said, Ben Stiller’s record as director-star is pretty good: we’re thinking Zoolander (2001) and Tropic Thunder (2008). He also directed The Cable Guy (1996), and did a great cameo.

3. Hopefully, he’s knocking the focking Fokker films on the head.

4. He also produces (and cameos in) our very favorite web series.

5. Minus point for Adam Scott’s fake beard.

6. Bonus point for unlikely Sean Penn cameo.

7. Prognosis: Stiller wants Oscar. Stranger things have happened.

Release Date: Christmas

What you may need to know:

1. Those crazy kids who brought you Silver Linings Playbook (2012) are BACK! And they’ve brought Batman, Hawkeye and Lois Lane with them!

2. American Hustle is directed by David O’Russell, and stars Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner – Bobby De Niro and Louis CK are in it too.

3. Re: Good Times Bad Times on the soundtrack – you gotta get special permission to use a Led Zeppelin track in your movie – ask Jack Black.

4. Make no mistake, this movie is ALL about the hair. Bale aside, Cooper’s ‘jew-fro’ is channeling Sean Penn in Carlito’s Way (1993).

5. Yes, it’s based on a true story. The movie was originally titled American Bullshit. Fact.

6. ‘I just got bigger balls than you.”

7. Broadsheet Prognosis: (1) They may have seen Goodfellas (1990). (2) There will be nominations. (3) The comb over is officially back.

Release Date: Christmas Day (US)
H/t Ruairi Carroll

What you may need to know.

1. THAT’S what we call a teaser.

2. Is Breaking Bad the greatest TV show ever made? Better than The Sopranos, The Wire and At Your Service with the Brennan Brothers?

3. Alright, so Brian Cranston will be Walter White forever. He used to be the dad from Malcolm In The Middle.

4. Cranston snuck around unnoticed at Comic-Con, disguised as… himself.

5. Watch Jesse Pinkman be super-nice to his Irish fans.

6. Netflix Ireland are making the last BB episodes available the day after they premiere in the US, apparently.

7. So… Who’s for that Better Call Saul spin-off?

Release date: August 11 (US)

What you may need to know:

1. Warning: this clip is totally safe for work.That said, it does feature Shia Labeouf.

2. Nymphomaniac is the new film from Danish provocateur Lars Von Trier.

3. It stars Von Trier regulars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe – both adorable in Lars’ playful romantic comedy Antichrist (2009) – alongside Uma Thurman, Stellan Skarsgard and Christian Slater, long overdue a comeback. It’s been twenty-five years since Heathers (1988). Shocking.

4. The film will be released in two versions, an explicit one and a softer cut. We suggest a third cut, minus Labeouf and his dodgy British accent.

5. Lars Von Trier – mad genius or total chancer? You decide…

Release Date: 2014

What you may need to know

1. Keanu Reeves knows kung-fu. But sure you knew that already.

2. 47 Ronin has had a rather troubled production history. It’s coming out a year later than originally intended.

3. Hollywood is going out of its way to bag that Eastern audience. It’s the fastest growing movie market in the world.

4. Truth be told, we have no idea what’s going on here. That said, neither does Keanu, who looks like he stopped by en route to do his laundry.

5. Sad Keanu no more!

6. This is not to be confused with the other chop-socky flick Keanu’s got coming out

7. We went to see The Wolverine (2013) over the weekend. Great post-credits scene.

Release Date: Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1YkuWrMvBp0#at=96

What you may need to know:

1. Ads for plays are usually rubbish.

2. Fundraising ads for plays are even worse.

3. That said, we do like this one for Dublin-based combo Collapsing Horse.

4. What’s more, they raised the money already.

5. It’s almost enough to give theatre a good name. Almost.

Release Date: Winter

Collapsing Horse (Facebook)

What you may need to know:

1. Jonathan Rhys Meyers IS sexy Dracula!

2. It’s his first TV series since The Tudors. We still think he should have worn the fat suit.

3. It co-stars Victoria Smurfit.

4. Rhys Meyers shot Michael Collins, you know.

5. And he’s rumored to be doing the new Star Wars. No wait, he’s going to be the next Dr. Who.

Release Date: October

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keT5CRhhy84

What you may need to know:

1. The first one was MASSIVE. There’s at least another three to go.

2. Read the books. Seriously.

3. If you’re an Oscar-winning twenty-something movie star, you gotta have a franchise. J-Law has two, Hunger Games and X-Men.

4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, paying the bills.

5. Stanley Tucci’s teeth deserve a spin-off.

6. Dennis Farina RIP – just because.

Release Date: November

What you may need to know:

1. It’s written by Cormac McCarthy, his first original screenplay.

2. It’s directed by Ridley Scott. We forgive him for Prometheus (2012).

3. It stars Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, with his best hair-do since No Country For Old Men (2007).

4. It feels like Ridley’s channeling his late, great brother Tony. No bad thing.

5. Fassbender’s got a Steve McQueen movie, a Terrence Malick movie and another X-Men movie in the can.

6. Broadsheet Prognosis: No Country For A Kerry-German.

Release Date: October

What you may need to know:

1. We can barely remember the last Spider-Man movie. No, wait, Rhys Ifans wanted to turn the world into lizards, or something. We were too distracted by Martin Sheen’s teeth.

2. This is a Comic-Con teaser of new Spidey villian Electro, played by Jamie Foxx.

3. He’ll always be Motherfucker Jones to us.

4. Truth be told, we’re more excited about Paul Giamatti as The Rhino.

5. Broadsheet Prognosis: I like the way you fry, boy.

Release Date: Summer 2014