rose byrne

This family comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne miht be the most pleasant cinematic surprise of 2018.

Despite how much of a refreshing surprise the first ‘Neighbors’ was, I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the sequel, which looked dispensable and derivative. The poster and trailer for ‘Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising’ made it clear that Nick Stoller’s sequel to the 2014 Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne comedy was simply replicating the original premise and gender-swapping it to raise the stakes. It seemed like the expected set-up for a movie to stereotype and villainize young women, ridicule and dumb them down for laughs, and subject them to dick jokes. But it turns out ‘Neighbors 2' is a more pleasant surprise than the first movie. Not only is it one of the best and funniest comedy sequels, but the most feminist, self-aware and gay-inclusive mainstream comedy of the year, if not ever.

Rose Byrne's Moira MacTaggert has some 'splainin' to do. No, literally. She has an explanation she would like to share with you in the latest clip from X-Men: Apocalypse. Not nearly as clever as last week's viral video featuring narration from George Takei, the new clip features Byrne describing Oscar Isaac's big bad and what makes him so big and bad.

Paul Feig’s The Heat took a genre that has traditionally belonged to men — the buddy cop movie — and gave it a female twist. Feig’s new movie, Spy, does much the same thing, this time for spy films, a world that has long been by, about, and for dudes and their power fantasies. Spy explicitly subverts the genre’s typical gender dynamics by casting Melissa McCarthy as a lowly, desk-bound CIA analyst named Susan Cooper, who has spent her entire career in the shadow of a glamorous James Bond-esque spy (Jude Law) and then finally gets her opportunity to step into the spotlight and become a full-fledged field agent.

This is sort of a surprising-not-surprising news item. Universal is readying a sequel to last year’s phenomenally successful comedy ‘Neighbors,’ which starred Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as married thirtysomethings whose suburban bliss with their newborn baby is spoiled by the arrival of a rowdy frat house next door. The first movie didn’t exactly leave a bunch of loose ends for Rogen, Byrne, and Efron to continue into another film, and comedy sequels don’t have a great track record. But the first movie did gross over $268 million worldwide against an $18 million budget. Hence the not-surprising part: Universal’s announcement that they’re working on a ‘Neighbors 2,’ which they hope to have in theaters by next summer.

While the latest 'Annie' trailer -- highlighting moments from the upcoming movie remake of the classic Broadway play -- expectedly has a lot of singing and dancing, it's more about the comedy this time around, which is full of your classic Broadway musical-style cheesiness cheekiness. Even Jamie Foxx's Daddy Warbucks knockoff spinoff Will Stacks can make a crack at The Dark Knight (a joke which you'll see brought up again).

'Neighbors,' the new comedy starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, doesn't hit theaters until May 9, but early buzz is already pegging this film as one of the funniest of the year, and that has not changed one bit with the arrival of the new 'Neighbors' red band trailer.

If Zac Efron can take a shot to the jaw with dignity (too soon?), he can certainly handle anything Seth Rogen has to throw at him. The two star in the upcoming comedy 'Neighbors,' the trailer for which features the two in a heated showdown as a family man and a douchey frat guy trying to boot the other off their residential block.