The hundred-second teaser shows Phoenix, whose ex-military drifter character becomes drawn to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s L. Ron Hubbard-alike intellectual faith healer type fellow, being debriefed by some sort of army shrink. It’s not so dissimilar from the start of the Skyfall trailer, actually, apart from the bit where Phoenix apparently drinks rocket fuel out of an actual rocket. Beat that, Bond:

Set in 1950s America, The Master will follow Hoffman’s character and his right hand man Freddie Sutton (Phoenix) as the faith-based movement founded by ‘The Master’ began to gather speed. Sutton becomes progressively disillusioned with his mentor, as you might imagine. Also, Amy Adams is in it. Come on, it’s clearly going to be ace.

What do you think of this teaser – masterful or merely masturbatory? That so, SO nearly makes sense.

To give us all a smidgeon of background before we start batting names around the ballpark, The Thin Man follows the story of Nick Charles, a former detective who marries playful Nora for her money. They sink into a blissful retirement until an old friend asks Nick for help in solving a case and the husband and wife decide to give it a whirl, just for the sheer fun of it. Classy and hilarious film noir, basically.

Deadline has reported that Emily Blunt, Amy Adams, Carey Mulligan, Eva Green, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Kristen Wiig and Isla Fisher are among those meeting with director Rob Marshall next week to try to land the gig. It seems as if he’s got his work cut out for him…

While many are suggesting that Green, having worked with Marshall on Dark Shadows, has the upper hand, rumour mills are spiralling out of control with the idea of Emily Blunt in the role. She can do funny (we’ve seen Devil Wears Prada), she can make any on-screen relationship come to life (apparently) and can work her magic with even the worst material possible (not that we’ve seen Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, but… you know!).

Then again, if it’s comic timing we need, could we do any better than Wiig? And if it’s fresh young talent, what about Stone? Amy Adams has proven her salt in The Fighter, Isla Fisher would work well as a playful socialite, Rachel Weisz is, generally, amazing and Carey Mulligan… well, she’s very good. But we’re not so sure there’s any call for her so-very-sad eyes in this flick, to be honest.

Auditions are happening sometime this week and we’re thinking that, as the script is already in place, filming is set to begin sometime this year.

Who do YOU want to star alongside Johnny Depp?

Take a look, it’s slightly gritty and stuff:

Yeah. Fine, right? Nothing really remains except to remind ourselves where exactly we are with this reboot. So we’ve got Cavill on cape-duty, Lawrence Fishburne as the Daily Planet’s editor-in-chief Perry White, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and the brilliant Michael Shannon as antagonist General Zod. Though we’re still in the dark as to the exact storyline, we kind of prefer it that way. All we need to know for now is that the two Kryptonians will be going toe-to-toe in Snyder’s darker (always with the darker) adaptation, hopefully meaning a return to form for the director after the foamy mess that was Sucker Punch. KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!

So, it turns out the world is a rubbish place these days. It’s been years since the cancellation of The Muppet Show, TV is stuffed to the brim with shows like “Punch Teacher” and no-one has the time or the inclination to find out what happened to the hairy puppets the world used to love. The old team has been disbanded; Fozzie is working in Reno in a gloriously hideous Muppet Tribute band called The Moopets, Gonzo’s the head of a toilet emporium, Animal’s given up the drums for good and no-one has heard hide nor scale of Kermit The Frog since the Muppet Studios were shut down.

But there’s a young chap named Walter who refuses to give up hope. Ever since he was born a puppet (we’ve all been there), he’s felt a deep, soulful connection to the colourful team, replaying old episodes of The Muppet Show with his brother Gary (Jason Segel)and staring hungrily at the pure joy locked within every frame. When Gary and his girlfriend (Amy Adams) decide to take a trip to Los Angeles, Walter tags along determined to see the famous Muppet Studios for himself. But when they arrive it’s clear that there’s no trace of the old magic left – the buildings are decaying, abandoned and manned only by a wheeling-dealing Alan Arkin, damn him. Sneaking into his hero Kermit’s old office, Walter overhears the plan of dastardly oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) – he’s going to destroy the place completely (turns out there’s oil underneath these here grounds) and Walter knows that the only thing left to do is to try and get the old gang back together. One more show, that’s what it will take. One more great show and they might just raise the money to save their home. And Animal’s drums – just in case he decides he might want to play again…

Oh gosh it’s good to see them again. From the achingly joyful opening number “Life’s A Happy Song”, it’s clear that we are in a cynicism-free zone; where gleeful self-reference, slapstick comedy and and felt-heavy protagonists rule the Cee-Lo-Green-singing-chicken roost. Keeping the story simple and the arc clutter-free, Segel’s script is instead free to bounce from joke to joke, playfully riffing on classic movie conventions (“in order to save time, might I suggest we collect everyone else by montage?”), celebrating the characters we love so dearly and hammering home the message that made the Muppets family favourites in the first place: believe in yourself, and believe in those you love.

Seeing Gonzo rip off his corporate attire to reveal his human cannonball costume, watching Miss Piggy do battle with a back-streets imposter, seeing Dr Honeydew and Beaker do literally anything at all – it’s tempting to attribute the joy of these moments to nostalgia alone, but it would be an injustice to do so. The thing that made the Muppets great to begin with is still out in full, triumphant force: the ability to merge innocent, open-hearted joy with irreverent, brilliant self-awareness. In an increasingly hardened, celebrity-focussed movie world, it’s often the big names and sexy content that draw the youth of today to the cinema – and kudos need to be given to the Henson team for keeping the focus on the furry heroes themselves. That’s not to say there aren’t stellar cameos – Neil Patrick Harris, Whoopie Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Jack Black – all come and do their thing, but they are throwaway extras in Kermit and crew’s show; a bit of added fun in a story that doesn’t need them.

I have to say though, there were a couple of things that disappointed me about The Muppets. The music, a staple of any classic Henson flick, seemed at times to be lack lustre; peaking in the opening number and then never really ever hitting the same heights. The simplistic story means there aren’t a lot of opportunities for interesting character developments – Amy Adams, for instance, barely has anything to do save look a bit put out – and with so many treasured Muppet pals to focus on, we never quite get a satisfying grip on any of them. Frank Oz decided not to return to this film because he believed that it was a script that was led by jokes rather than story, and he’s completely right. Segel’s script makes for a face-splittingly good time, but with nothing ever really at stake it doesn’t quite have the firm grounding of previous Muppet exploits. The thing is, despite the central conceit of this film, there was never really any doubt that the Muppets are here to stay. Now that we’ve stopped worrying about it, let’s give them a story worth telling.

Anne Hathaway can have The Princess Diaries; it was her first big hit and, let’s face it, nobody else would want the role anyway.

#9 – Alice In Wonderland
Because Tilda Swinton would have been the shiz!

Anne Hathaway was okay in Alice In Wonderland, wasn’t she? But that’s just it; she was only okay. Sure, it wasn’t glaringly horrible but, on the whole, all she did was make her eyes very wide and pose prettily against the moon every once in a while. On the other hand, wouldn’t Tilda Swinton have been bloody amazing? Regal, kindly, beautiful (in a glacial sort of way), she’d definitely have managed to convey that all-important hidden psychosis bubbling beneath the calm surface.

#8 – Bride Wars
Time to mix things up with Jennifer Hudson

Bride Wars was never going to be a brilliant film; two Bridezillas fighting over a wedding venue is old hat, thanks to all those reality TV shows on Living. Kate Hudson versus Anne Hathaway was sort of fine; Anne did the meek to bold thing adequately, but we can’t help but think how much better things would have been with Jennifer Hudson. We know she can do timid, we know she can do sassy and we know she’s ultra-charismatic. Pitching the Hudsons against each other would have been an INSPIRING idea!

#7 -Love And Other Drugs
Amanda Seyfried is the ultimate sexy-vulnerable chick

Anne Hathaway plays the romantic invalid in Love And Other Drugs, starring alongside the ultimate pin-up for girls and boys everywhere, Jake Gyllenhaal. We’d have preferred to see someone like Amanda Seyfried in this role; the blonde Mean Girls star has covered a lot of ground in her career so far, proving that she can do sexy-sexy AND vulnerable. Perfect for this prime Hathaway role.

#6 – Devil Wears Prada
Anna Kendrick deserves more than Twilight!

Has anybody else ever noticed that Hathaway seems to be the queen of the ugly-duckling-to-swan parts? Yeah, us too. Has anybody ever noticed that she achieves this solely by frizzing up her hair and wearing lots of layers? Yup, we’re obviously all on the same page with this one. So, rather than let Hathaway treat us to another carefully styled bad hair day, why not let Anna Kendricks take on the role of Andrea in Devil Wears Prada? She’s a stellar actress, naturally a little bit awkward and is no stranger to plain-girl roles either. Give Kendrick a chance!

#5 – Get Smart
The name is Jones. Felicity Jones…

This Steve Carell film was described as being “staggeringly unfunny” all the way through. Now we KNOW Steve is usually pretty witty and, sure, it’s probably down to the script, but we couldn’t help but wonder how things would have played out if Felicity Jones had stepped into the role of Agent 99. Less well-known than Hathaway, sure, but she’s just such a great dramatic actress; it would have been far more fun to see Miss Jones adopt the persona of the disdainful and adept spy, don’t you think?

#4 – Brokeback Mountain
Save the gritty drama for Amy Adams

The main issue I have (and the whole team at BFF have) with Anne Hathaway is that, no matter what role she takes on, she IS Anne Hathaway. |There’s just no getting away from it. Whilst some actresses slip seamlessly into roles and completely shed all of their past performances, Hathaway in Brokeback Mountain just led to a lot of confusion as we all wondered what the girl from The Princess Diaries was doing with her top off. Amy Adams, as proven in The Fighter, would have been the number one girl for this juicy role.

#3 – Les Misérables
How about someone who can actually sing?

We’ve touched briefly on this subject before; the casting at Les Mis has gotten wildly out of hand. Anne Hathaway’s singing performances, to date, comprise her little skit at the Oscars and not much else. Does that count? We don’t think it counts. Emmy Rossum, on the other hand, is a talented little whatsit and she’s disappeared from the radar since her Phantom Of The Opera days. Unless you watch Shameless, that is. Ditch Hathaway and give Rossum the break she’s been hoping for, please!

#2 – The Dark Knight Rises
If you can’t have Michelle Pfeiffer, go for Mila Kunis

Anne Hathaway is Catwoman. Did you know that Anne Hathaway was Catwoman? Don’t you think someone as smouldering as Mila Kunis should be the feline crusader instead? We know for a fact she’s a fab actress and extremely flexible, thanks to her stint in Black Swan, and there’s absolutely no doubt that she’d look damn fine in a leotard! Miaow Mila, goodbye Anne.

#1 – One Day
Hathaway ruined it; if only they’d cast Jessica Brown-Findlay instead…

What’s that? You’ve got a role in an English drama for someone who can do a good regional accent? Then why in the name of all that is holy did you hire an American actress to do the job?! Anne Hathaway’s terrible Yorkshire-meets-Brooklyn vocals ruined the highly-anticipated One Day for the majority of those who loved the book. If only they’d cast the amazingly adept Jessica Brown-Findlay, best known for her role as Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey. This little diamond in the rough is busy climbing the career ladder and recently impressed with her performance in feature film Albatross. She’s pretty, she’s charming, she’s vivacious and generally wonderful; in short, she would have acted the socks off Hathaway!

Who else deserves to take over Anne Hathaway’s career? Let us know below!

Big musical numbers, twelve costume changes alone for that diva Miss Piggy, Christian Louboutin “Muppet” heels, retro benjos, plenty of merchandise and plenty of Muppet humour. It seems like this movie has got pretty much everything going for it. They’ve even got cameos from the likes of Jack Black, Mila Kunis, Emily Blunt, Ricky Gervais, Katy Perry and Zach Galifianakis! Huge cast. Huge stakes. HUGE hopes; can The Muppets ever live up to our huge expectations?

We’re pretty sure that it will, judging from the pictures below. Can we hold our horses until February 2012? No! But, by Kermit, we’re going to give it a try…

And now we have something else to be mildly upset about – prepare to grieve the loss of these babies…

Alas, Henry Cavill, who plays said Man of Steel, has been photographed without the signature red pants in these newly released shots of the film. The suit itself is also a lot darker; suggesting that perhaps Snyder’s superman will be less ‘scrubbed-up good boy’, more ‘mysterious and complicated’.

Thankfully the standard chocolate brown locks, rippling muscles and red booties have not been overlooked.

More joy to come as we enter Cape Town! (Not to be confused with that place over in Africa).

But if we had things our way, this would be the fabulous result:

Much better.

Cavill is starring alongside an awesome cast including Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Russell Crowe as Jor-El.

The film is set for release in 2013.

How about some actresses who can also, I dunno, sing? Maybe that might be helpful.

Either way, here comes BFF’s ultimate Les Mis female casting list… complete with the decidedly less awesome and more likely candidates, just to hit you with a wave of depression on this very soggy Tuesday.

BFF’s Fantine – Amy Adams

We here at BFF are huge fans of Amy Adams. Not only has she delivered an amazingly gritty performance in The Fighter, but she’s also proven that she’s able to carry a tune in the hit live-action Disney film Enchanted.

Surely the combination of those two movies alone make Amy perfect for the role of Fantine? A beautiful young woman who has to turn to prostitution in order to survive the mean streets of revolutionary France? A sort of cruel anti-Disney, to combine the best of her talents? We’ve got broken dreams and a girl selling her own hair, all done whilst caring for her beautiful but illegitimate daughter. Throw in a mournful and iconic solo or two and this has, if the world were a good and just place, got Amy’s name all over it.

The More Likely Fantine – Anne Hathaway

Why? For the love of God, why? There’s huge and vicious rumours circling the movie circuit that Anne Hathaway, oh she of Princess Diaries fame, is the most likely to take on Fantine’s lament. Now, we can’t really deny that Anne is a good actress (we’ll have to steer you towards Brokeback Mountain, we guess), but we definitely know that she can’t sing. Remember what she did at the Oscars in 2009? Maybe we’re being a little unfair… for all we know, she could really pull this one out the bag. But it’s incredibly unlikely. Turn back Anne, turn back before it’s too late…

BFF’s Éponine – Emmy Rossum

Now, we haven’t seen very much of Emmy since her stint in The Phantom Of The Opera. And Shameless which, quite frankly, we don’t really want to talk about. But we do remember that she’s a brilliant singer, who can really hit those high notes, and quite a wonderful actress too. If you don’t remember, let me jog your memory…

Her obvious talent for looking simultaneously vulnerable, bewildered and turned-on would be ideal for Éponine, a ragged waif with a burning case of unrequited love. And saving her from the cast of Shameless would be an act of mercy that might just pay off big.

The More Likely Éponine – Hayden Panettiere

Hmm. There aren’t really any words that truly explore the depth of how I feel about this recent possible for the role. Yup, that’s right, it’s the girl from Heroes. And Scream 4. Both of which showed an amazing ability to sing, right? Ha! As if that even matters anymore. It’s not like Les Mis is a musical… please excuse me while I sob into my keyboard. I suppose she looks good and she’s an okay actress but I’m willing to eat my own hat if she proves to sing anywhere near as well as Rossum. Of course, it will be a specially commissioned hat, made of Victoria Sponge, but that’s beside the point.

BFF’s Cosette – Dakota Fanning

Mwuhaha, bet you weren’t expecting THAT! But I do have very good reasons for pushing Dakota into the running. Firstly, the girl has only got better at acting as she’s grown older, moving from animation to children’s film to adult drama with seemingly effortless grace. Secondly, I BET she can sing. I just know she can. I mean, she did pretty well in The Runaways after all.

If you look at Dakota in any role and listen ever so closely, you can almost hear her screaming internally “I am the perfect all-rounder!” Add that to the wide eyes and coltish beauty and you have the perfect candidate for Cosette, a young girl without a mother, deep in the thrusts of first love (that’s right, thrusts). Plus, she needs to do something pretty momentous after stooping so low with the Twilight Saga.

The More Likely Cosette – Emma Watson

From a magical young actress to a young actress from a magical film now… it’s Emma Watson, she of Harry Potter fame. In fact, her entire acting resume consists of playing just one character and, let’s face it, Hermione isn’t exactly the most… erm… difficult role to take on. Actually, I’m being really unfair.| She also starred in a music video for One Night Only, where she played herself, looking bewildered, and didn’t sing a single note. Check it out…

It’s not that I dislike Emma Watson. In fact, I love her as Hermione… but I just don’t want her in Les Mis. Not ever. Especially if her singing is anywhere on par with that of fellow cast member turned ‘rapper’, Tom Felton. You haven’t heard his new song yet? Yiesh. I really didn’t want to have to do this, but if I must, I must.

Again, I am, quite literally, in love with Tom Felton. I have been ever since I first blinked into his impossibly blue eyes. But the guy is an absolutely STELLAR actor and needs to stick to making movies, not music.

BFF’s Madame Thénardier – Kate Winslet

Oh yup, it’s Kate ‘I’m A Bloody Hero’ Winslet. And we’re not just sticking her in here because of her legendary dash into a flaming building for Richard Branson’s mum. Oh no. THAT, my friends, is just an added bonus! So what are we doing here? The easiest reason to start off with is that she’s a bloody Oscar-winning actress. Remember her in The Reader and Revolutionary Road? She did dark and brooding to perfection, so we figure she’d be pretty damn awesome in the role of Thénardier’s unscrupulous wife. Second of all, we here at BFF have just spent a few fun moments humming along to Winslet’s power ballad, from The Christmas Carol. Which is, on the whole, pretty haunting and wonderful. Ready?

Now, wasn’t that something? Like Meryl Streep before her, Kate might enjoy throwing caution to the wind and starring in an on-screen musical. And, to make things even better, this role requires someone who can bring a dash of humour to proceedings. Cue the obligatory Extras reference:

Done! Is there anything the Winslet can’t do? For god’s sake Hooper, we can’t believe you haven’t asked her yet! You can have all the Emma Watsons and Anne Hathaways you want if you give us Kate…

The More Likely Madame Thénardier – Helena Bonham Carter

Now we admit we’re suitably impressed with this one. Fair played Hooper, fair played. Helena Bonham Carter is a total legend, after all, even as worthy of a place in British folklore as Kate Winslet. And she HAS given us a musical role before, when she starred alongside Johnny Depp (shocker) in Tim Burton’s (surprise!) version of Sweeney Todd.

Okay, so she’s not the best singer in the world, but she’s thrown herself to the task with apparent gusto. And she would definitely inject some extremely dark humour into the otherwise depressing Les Mis script. We’re quite liking this option. In fact, we’re LOVING this option. If we can’t have Winslet, we’ll settle for HBC… because she’s a bloody legend.

Of course, we’re willing to accept defeat if you can think of an even more amazing Les Mis cast… who do YOU want to see in the movie?

Wow. Just wow, right? I mean, did we all just see who Hugh Jackman personally recommended for the role of Fantine? Anne Hathaway, that’s who. Anne Hathaway, whose debut to public singing was at the Oscars in 2009…

It’s just awful, isn’t it? We’re actually more excited for Amy Adams to take on the role. We know she’s an excellent dramatic actress, thanks to her wonderful performance in The Fighter, and we even know that she can sing, thanks to Enchanted. Pretty much ideal, really.

We’ve got nothing against Russell and Geoffrey leaping into the fray, nor Helena Bonham Carter, who is, let’s face it, a complete and utter legend. Remember Sweeney Todd? She gave us some ‘interesting’ vocal exercises in that. But Emma Watson? There’s no magic in this film Emma, nor the need to furrow your brow constantly and refer to a large book. I guess we’ll just have to play the waiting game…

He is the latest name to be signed on to appear in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
Lennix will play General Swanwick, a high-ranking military officer in the Superman reboot.

He will be joining an out-of-this-world cast including Henry Cavill as the man of steel himself, Amy Adams as the fiesty Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as the ruthless General Zod, Russell Crowe as Jor-El (a bit of a weird choice if you ask us), and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as mama and papa Kent.

All these beautiful faces will hopefully be flying on to our screens in December 2012.