Following the other shows making their returns this week, Scream Queens returned with plenty of popular characters from season one and some new faces that are already gaining popularity all their own. The Chanels are as irritating as ever but their poor attitudes and incessant whining have been knocked down a peg as they must now fight their way back to the top after losing almost everything in season one. We're not quite sure what to make of the lack of follow-through with them being committed to psychiatric facilities. It all screams a lack of foresight from the writers/producers.

The main new characters that have folks talking are John Stamos' Dr. Brock Holt and Taylor Lautner's Dr. Cassidy Cascade. It would be irresponsible for me to not push the fact that Taylor Lautner is far too young (and young-looking) to be believable as a doctor considering the amount of schooling required to gain a medical degree. It's understandable that the show exists in a heightened reality of sorts but it warranted mention. John Stamos is refreshingly funny as his character uses just the right amount of meta to poke fun at Stamos always being known as the Handsome one. But no one is funnier than Jamie Lee Curtis, whose writing is so outrageous and made all the more brilliant by her spot-on delivery. Our one main gripe thus far is that the show has been back for all of five minutes and already the (white) Chanels are getting loved up with the new 'Hot' Doctors but Zayday, who remains the most interesting, likable and grounded character, shows no sign of getting some loving on. We're not trying to jump to accusations of misogynoir... but once we're a few more episodes in, we'll revisit this issue if the writing hasn't resolved the matter.

Scream Queens airs on Tuesdays on FOX.

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World-renowned photographer Tyler Shields has made his feature film directorial debut on psychological thriller "Final Girl" and the film fits in well with the aesthetics and social commentary often present throughout his photographic pieces.

"Final Girl" tells the story of a girl named Veronica who is trained to take down a group of misogynistic killers who lure women into the woods to be hunted for sport. As far as a narrative back story goes, there are more questions than answers. But this simply aids to the film's hyperreality setting in which mood lighting and eerie shots contribute to a story that reads more like an arthouse piece in which viewers are left to simply follow the heroine's battle against the villainous serial killers.

Just as much of Shields' work has addressed some heavier societal issues, "Final Girl" can be interpreted as a statement about societal misogyny and violence against women. Abigail Breslin holds her own as an action-star on a highly artistic backdrop. Alexander Ludwig portrays the film's main antagonist, Jameson, and his performance is downright skin-crawling in its spot-on embodiment of narcissistic male entitlement. The supporting players are also commendable, and when brought together, we'd liken the group of killers to that of Alex DeLarge and his "droogs" in "A Clockwork Orange."

Though the visual aesthetic of "Final Girl" may look familiar to the most avid followers of Tyler Shields' work, the film is by in large a refreshing change of pace to much of the cinematic content of Hollywood receiving of wide distribution. We'd highly recommend viewing this film and look forward to more of what's to come from Tyler Shields as a film (or television, perhaps?) director.

MuseLed Interview with Tyler Shields on "Final Girl"

Final Girl is available for viewing in limited theatrical release and video-on-demand.

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Tyler Shields is a world-renowned photographer, who has repeatedly made headlines with his striking imagery. But now, Shields is transitioning for the first time into the role of a feature-film director. At San Diego Comic Con, Shields sat down with us to discuss the feature, "Final Girl," and offered up insight into the process of bringing the story to life, this new branch of his artistry, and the social commentary so frequently seen in his work.

Shields noted that for him, the art forms of photography and film-making were the same. After being approached by the producers of the film, he agreed to take the film on, but only under the condition that the film's thesis stay away from the 'female victim' trope so frequently used in Hollywood.

"Women are so powerful, and I view them in such a powered form. But what I find interesting is that, in this movie, you have a very strong female lead and another movie I'm doing, you have another very strong female lead, and there's a lot of people that seemingly want that, right? Yet people make it very difficult for you to make a movie like that; that's what was surprising to me. The people who write checks, they don't like the idea of that, so it's difficult to get these movies made." ~ Tyler Shields, on making film(s) with a strong female lead

No stranger to controversy, or introducing strong social commentary into his work, Shields say that the issues he is most inclined to highlight are the ones that have long-standing historical resonance, be it racism or misogyny. Abigail Breslin was his first choice to play the film's heroine, Veronica, and Shields shares that she accepted the role 45 minutes into reading the script.

"This movie has no CGI, everything you see in it is real. Everyone's fighting, Abigail Breslin is 16 and she's punching people in the face. When you see people's breathing, it's because they're freezing cold." ~ Tyler Shields, on the originality and realism of "Final Girl"

View the interview in full here:

"Final Girl" will have a limited theatrical release and be available for viewing on demand.

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Ryan Murphy mashes up his two previous hits Glee and American Horror Story to bring you Scream Queens! The teaser trailer is here which doesn't offer much, but there will be a lot more before it premieres this fall on Fox.

The horror-comedy anthology series is coming from American Horror Story and Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Ian Brennan and Dante Di Loreto. It's promising to be unique, scary and funny, the best of all of Murphy's worlds. Best of all it's got quite the cast collected. The original Scream Queen herself Jamie Lee Curtis and American Horror Story alum Emma Roberts will be joined by Glee's Lea Michelle, True Blood's hunky werewolf Joe Manganiello, master of sex Keke Palmer, and Little Miss Sunshine herself Abigail Breslin. Guest stars to include Ariana Grande and Nick Jonas

The first season of Scream Queens will lay waist to a college campus, where a string of grisly murders has rocked the student body. Production is set to begin this spring, with the series premiering on Fox in either late September or early October.
 

Source Movieweb

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Wicked  Blood tries to toe the line between sophistication and artifice, but with a story centered around the standard mafia double-cross set in Louisiana told from the view point of a teenaged girl it just comes across as strange and not all too believable.

Abigail Breslin plays Hannah, a teenage girl trapped in a corrupt Southern underworld of violence, guns, drugs and biker gangs. Constantly at odds with her older sister, Amber (Alexa Vega), Hannah finds her only refuge in chess, which she uses it as an analogy she applies to life and plays with her drug-addicted Uncle Donny (Lew Temple). All three live in fear of “Uncle Frank” (Sean Bean) Stinson, a criminal kingpin, who runs the family business with an iron fist, aided by his brain-damaged and psychotic brother Bobby (Jake Busey). But when Amber falls in love with Bill Owens (James Purefoy), an outlaw biker, meth trafficker and Stinson family rival, Hannah devises a plan to pit one against the other in a cunning game of revenge.

The entire flick has a very Sopranos feel to it, but with a back woods flare. You’d be more likely to believe they were dealing in raccoon pellets than “hillbilly crack” aka meth given the landscape and the incredibly small cast. The number of extras are few and far between making the town seem even more back woods.

But what Wicked Blood lacks in story, it more than makes up with performances. With Breslin there’s no overacting, there’s a coolness that’s exuded and far beyond her years that really carries the movie and keeps the interest. Vega really embodies the small town girl wanting to break out. Temple as the addict and former chess champion Donny is just as entrancing. Bean is well, he’s Bean and he’s perfection. When he and Busey get on camera they make the best of what they have. Purefoy struggles a bit in the beginning with stiffness, but finds his feet before the end to turn in a solid performance.

The video conversion is nothing to complain about. The blu ray is crisp. The audio is clear.

Extras: The only bonus features are separate interviews with Breslin, Bean, Purefoy, and Vega.

Bottom line: Despite a clichéd plot and slightly unbelievable story elements, Wicked Blood excels because of some powerhouse performances.

Wicked Blood hits DVD March 4th. 

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"BREAKING BAD" MEETS "JUSTIFIED" IN A 

STAR-STUDDED ACTION THRILLER FEATURING 

OSCAR®-NOMINEE ABIGAIL BRESLIN, SEAN BEAN, 

JAMES PUREFOY, ALEXA VEGA AND LEW TEMPLE

WICKED BLOOD

Street Date: March 4, 2014

BD/DVD srp: $24.98/$19.98

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

It's the ultimate endgame, as "Breaking Bad" meets "Justified" in the new action thriller WICKED BLOOD!  Backed by an all-star cast, Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin is Hannah - a teenage girl desperate to free her family from the corrupt Southern underworld of violence, guns, meth and biker gangs that surrounds them.  A chess-wiz, Hannah lives with her older sister, Amber (Alexa Vega), and her

drug-addicted Uncle Donny (Lew Temple) and they all live in fear of "Uncle

Frank" (Sean Bean) Stinson, who runs the powerful crime organization in a ruthless manner.  But when Amber falls in love with Wild Bill Owens (James Purefoy) an outlaw biker, meth trafficker and Stinson family rival, it's Hannah who devises a plan to pit one against the other in a cunning game of revenge.

CAST 

• Abigail Breslin (August: Osage County, Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland)
• Alexa Vega (Spy Kids, Machete Kills)
• Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings, GoldenEye, Age of Heroes)
• James Purefoy ("The Following," John Carter, Ironclad)
• Lew Temple ("The Walking Dead", Lawless, Unstoppable) 

BONUS FEATURES

• Interviews with Abigail Breslin, Sean Bean, James Purefoy & Alexa Vega

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Type:  BD/DVD

Catalog #:  EOE-BD-7659/EOE-DV-7587

Running Time: 94 minutes

Genre:  Action

Rated:  Not rated

Aspect Ratio: (BD) 1080p High Definiton (1.85:1)/(DVD) 16 x 9

Audio:  (BD) DTS-HD Master Audio/(DVD) 5.1 Dolby Digital

Language: English w/SDH Subtitles

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