What is Casting Couch? It’s the news column that answers important questions like, what’s next for Denzel Washington? Which two Community cast members are going to do film work together? And how is that kid from Mud doing finding another job? You may had thought you’d seen the last of Mel Gibson, but a handful of public meltdowns can’t kill a career that had reached the heights of his, they can only cool it off for a few years. Is the public ready to dip their toes back into the Gibson waters to see if they’re still feeling manic and racist? That’s what Sylvester Stallone may soon find out, because Showbiz411 is claiming to have a source close to the matters that says Gibson has been hired to play the villain in The Expendables 3. It’s a rumor, but one they seem pretty confident of. If it does prove to be true, are you willing to give such a vital actor a shot at a second chance? Or does antisemitism and demanding blow jobs from everyone in a ten block radius earn someone a lifetime black mark in your book?

I gripe a lot about the speed of the internet in transmitting information. It’s almost incorrect to use the word “information,” as I think about it. It’s the spread of thought, maybe. Information should be useful and perhaps true. Thought can be absolutely wrong and still be a thought. From wrongful death notices to outright lies to painful gossip, word spreads across the internet at speeds that boggle the mind. It is this speed, coupled with twenty-four hour news channels and content hungry blogs that creates a massive demand for words, thoughts, or information. Add to that our innate desire to watch others fail, and we’re often faced with a ton of shit we shouldn’t care about. I, for one, have had enough of hearing about celebrities and all the sad shit going on in their lives.

You may have missed Mel Gibson’s latest flick Get the Gringo in its video-on-demand run. However, now you have a chance to watch it with its release on DVD and Blu-ray. It tells the story of a man trying to escape from a Mexican prison, and it shows that Gibson can still pull off being a badass on screen. Of course, who wants to be stuck in a any sort of prison, either in real life or while watching the movie in your living room? So enjoy the experience more by following this drinking game, and by the end, you might actually be convinced that Mel will come to your house and break you out of your self-made prison of drunkenness.

If you live near an Alamo Drafthouse, you probably already know that Tim League, Zack Carlson, Lars Nilsen and co. have coordinated an amazing summer series devoted to the blockbusting year of 1982. If you’ve been reading FSR lately, you already know that our site co-sponsored a screening of George Miller’s Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior in coordination with the Drafthouse’s site-specific Rolling Roadshow series. And if you live anywhere within five hundred miles of the Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas, then you probably attended said screening. But for you feral kids who may have not had a chance to witness this awesome event, or for those of you that did, here’s a first-person account of the happenings by one of FSR’s own. The Road Warrior is something of a sweet spot in Mel Gibson’s history. The peak entry in the Mad Max series (sorry, Tina Turner), The Road Warrior gives us a Gibson who is too young, too unknown, and too accented to yet become a bona fide Hollywood star, but someone who has also (thanks largely to the first Mad Max film) developed enough charisma to be a magnetic force of nature onscreen. He’s hardly a man with no name, but Gibson’s one-man machine doesn’t need to say much – hell, he doesn’t even need both eyes – to give us a degree of intensity that hasn’t been seen before, or arguably since. Yes, Max is surrounded by several comic relief characters (notably the Gyro Captain, who

The Mayans, the wise race of ancients who created hot cocoa, set December 21st, 2012 as the end date of their Calendar, which the intelligent and logical amongst us know signifies the day the world will end, presumably at 12:21:12am, Mountain Time. From now until zero date, we will explore the 50 films you need to watch before the entire world perishes. We don’t have much time, so be content, be prepared, be entertained. The Film: Apocalypto (2006) The Plot: In the early 1500s, a family group of Native Americans live a happy life in the rainforest jungle. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is becoming a strong hunter under the guidance of his father Flint Sky (Morris Birdyellowhead). However, Jaguar Paw’s nightmares tell of a change that is coming. A group of bloodthirsty warriors attack the village, killing many and enslaving the rest. The warriors bring the victims with them a massive Mayan city, and the women are sold while the men are taken to the top of a pyramid for human sacrifice. Jaguar Paw tries to survive and eventually get home to his pregnant wife and child whom he left in an underground cave.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly column about movies and television and things that are said about movies and television. Sometimes it’s full of news. Sometimes it’s weird. It’s always worth reading. We begin tonight with a fact that should be well known to readers of this column. If not, you’re not paying attention, and you should feel shame. I enjoy reading the work of Pajiba’s Joanna Robinson more than I enjoy reading my own work. Which is a lot to say, as I find myself to be downright brilliant. That said, the supremely talented Ms. Robinson has written a list all about 5 Kickass Female Characters You Wouldn’t Want to Meet in a Dark Alley – including Thor‘s Sif, as played by Jaimie Alexander and seen above. The only problem is that I want to meet all of these women in a dark alley. But not in a combative manner. Unless they’re into that sort of thing. What can I say? I’m flexible.

  The Mayans, the wise race of ancients who created hot cocoa, set December 21st, 2012 as the end date of their Calendar, which the intelligent and logical amongst us know signifies the day the world will end, presumably at 12:21:12am, Mountain Time. From now until zero date, we will explore the 50 films you need to watch before the entire world perishes. We don’t have much time, so be content, be prepared, be entertained. The Film: The Road Warrior (1981) The Plot: After the events of Mad Max (1979), in which Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) saw his family murdered by a vicious gang, he wanders the desolate desert wastelands of Australia after society has collapsed. In his continuous search for fuel, he stumbles across a group of settlers who have come under attack from a gang of marauders, led by the hockey mask-wearing muscle-bound psychopath known as Humungus. The gang wants the fuel that the settlers have been refining, and Humungus shows his determination by brutally attacking the settlers out of their compound. Max makes a deal with the settlers that he will help them retrieve a giant truck that can be used to transport their fuel to a safe destination. In return, the settlers agree to let Max have all the fuel he can carry… if he survives.

Remember Mel Gibson? Well he remembers and misses you. Not all of you of course, and by ‘you’ I mean exactly who you think I mean. But he misses most of you. The past few years haven’t been all that kind to the guy, both personally and professionally, but to be fair it’s mostly his own fault. Still, I couldn’t care less about his offscreen antics and behavior. I only care about the movies. And the guy has made some great ones. He’s found massive success as a director, but his last box office hit as an actor was Signs from a decade ago. His recent one-two punch of Edge of Darkness and The Beaver failed to generate much interest, but neither of them were really in his preferred wheelhouse of blackly comic action. The best example of his from that mini genre remains Brian Helgeland’s fantastic Payback. (His director’s cut is also quite good although it drops much of the comedy.) Gibson’s latest is Get the Gringo (aka How I Spent My Summer Vacation), an action comedy about a criminal who heads to Mexico with a car full of cash and a dying accomplice only to get arrested by local authorities and tossed into a tough prison. Don’t worry though, he gets out. Check out the new trailer for Get the Gringo below.

Giving movies limited theatrical runs alongside a day-and-date Video On Demand release is becoming more and more popular in our current landscape of digital media. We’ve never seen a big movie that has high hopes of pulling in huge box office dollars take the risk, but it seems like a strategy that’s been working out well for smaller budget arthouse and genre films. The latest movie to make such a deal is probably the one with the most star power to ever take the VOD plunge. Deadline Peekskill is reporting that Mel Gibson’s upcoming Get the Gringo (formerly known as How I Spent My Summer Vacation), a Mexico-set action film that he both stars in and financed through his Icon Productions, has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and DirecTV for its release and promotion. This deal is unique in that the movie will be available exclusively on DirecTV for a period, with wider VOD options coming later in the year. The film is set to hit DirecTV customers on May 1, the same day that it will be screening in at least 10 markets alongside a Gibson Q&A taking place in an Austin theater.

Since we all have a million dollars, our minds are almost always tuned to the day dream of what kind of movie we’d make with all that loose cash just lying around (since banks do nothing but lose things). Would it be a romantic horror film? Would it be a silent action film? Would we blow of all of it on lighting and forget the other elements of production design? Probably. Fortunately, we’ve all had a few filmmakers tread before us in using their million bucks with efficiency and artistry. In a world where Michael Bay needs 200 suitcases full of $1m, these directors made it happen with only one of those suitcases (or no suitcases at all), and they created a lasting legacy despite their lack of foldin’ money. If they can do it, why not us? Here are 8 great films made for under a million dollars that we can all learn from. (And if you enter our contest sponsored by Doritos, you might actually win that $1m you need for all those lights.)

Earlier today I spoke with William Monahan about his directorial debut, the really fun London Boulevard (now on VOD), and while speaking with the candid filmmaker, I couldn’t help but ask about the viking epic he was initially going to write for Mel Gibson. The untitled project was announced almost two years ago; there have been next to zero updates since then, with the exception of Leonardo DiCaprio leaving the project. Is Monahan still penning Gibson’s viking epic? No, and he never did. The writer/director said that he’s no longer working on the project — when asked about it, he responded by saying, “No, no. I don’t know exactly what’s happening with that, except it’s not going on right now. I didn’t [write anything for it], and it never went past the announcement, I believe.” Anyone who’s seen the director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven knows that Monahan is more than capable of crafting an epic, and the same goes for Gibson; their sensibilities would be perfect for one another. Sadly, their two grand styles won’t be colliding for this once promising-sounding project. Hopefully it’ll still happen for Gibson, though. It’s been too many years since Apocalypto, which is one of the best chase films ever made.

Alec Baldwin is in the news again and it’s not for winning an award or doing worthwhile. No, like most times this Baldwin has been in the news the past five years, it’s because he’s being a baby. The horrid wrong that set him off this time? A most likely poorly written joke for the Emmys was cut, a joke that would have cut at Rupert Murdoch. Baby Baldwin is using his twitter privileges again to air his thoughts, complaining about Fox killing what he thought was the funniest joke – and insisting that his pre-taped segment not air. Fox agreed, and re-shot the sequence with Leonard Nimoy. This in and of itself isn’t totally rageworthy, but it does set me over the edge because I’m collectively tired of seeing Alec Baldwin bitching on the internet – and having people still love him.

What is Movie News After Dark? It is a nightly movie news recap column that would like to make it all the way to the end of this thing without getting controversial, political or mentioning how much skinny Jonah Hill looks like President Obama. It’s just not likely. We begin tonight with the story that’s on everyone’s mind — no, not the Obama speech — the fact that Mel Gibson is developing a movie about Jewish hero Judah Maccabee, who led a second-century revolt against Hellenistic overloards in the name of the Jewish people. He’s brought Basic Instinct writer Joe Eszterhas on for the script work. There will be nothing controversial about this project.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a little early this evening, but it’s still the same badass nightly movie news column that you’ve come to love and mostly ignore. Tonight it spends time around the globe, traveling to the south of France, the Hindu Kush, the future, the 18th century, the end of the Cold War, Asgard and Sequelville (it’s right between West L.A. and Century City). But it always comes back to you, dear reader, to bring you the goods. And the bads. And well, you know. The most interesting thing at Cannes yesterday might not have been Lars von Trier’s movie, Melancholia (which we reviewed and, as it stands, liked very much), it was von Trier’s comments during the press conference. From sympathizing with Hitler to extremely young naked women, he let it all out. To their credit, Vulture has captured all the best of it and delivered a list of the 10 most controversial things Lars von Trier said at the Melancholia press conference. “Should I talk about Spider-Man now?”

The opening shot of The Beaver is of a pool on a sunny day. A body drifts through the frame, slowly, on a raft. It’s Mel Gibson doing his best impression of a starship and The Beaver doing its best impression of Star Wars. It’s kind of a foreboding image. Walter Black isn’t doing so well. He’s depressed. But, more than that, he’s depressed to the point where he has completely checked out on his job and family. He has somehow reached such a hopeless state that he has sat passively and watched his once great toy company fall into financial straits, and his once loving family become isolated from one another. We are never explicitly told what has led to Walter’s current state, but The Beaver is mostly a film that focuses on the present moment. The past exists here as a ghost, haunting the characters and coloring their actions, but only half remembered and never spoken of. The big gimmick of the film, if you haven’t seen any of the advertising, is that Gibson’s character begins to deal with his inner turmoil by speaking through a plush beaver puppet and using a voice that sounds like Michael Caine in a bar fight. Much of the film details the phases of Walter’s beaver experiment; the initial shock, the turnaround when The Beaver starts helping Walter get his life back together, and then the darker stuff that comes as his mental state degrades again. If you saw only the ads,

Summit Entertainment has passed along to us an exclusive look at the first TV spot for Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, starring Mel Gibson. As is the case with the film, it’s not all fun and games — there’s a somber, bittersweet tone to the story of Walter Black (Gibson), a man who must use a hand-puppet that talks like Ray Winstone in order to communicate with the people he loves. As I mentioned in my review from SXSW, the film finds laughs in the situation, but balances it perfectly with the drama of a family in turmoil. The performances from Mel Gibson and Anton Yelchin, who plays his son, are worth the price of admission alone. You can see a bit of it all in the 30-second spot found after the jump.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly round-up of entertainment news and tidbits written by a Doctor Who obsessive. But you already knew that. If you didn’t, you’re about to. The sixth season of Doctor Who debuts this weekend on BBC and BBC America (at the same time!!) So of course I’m writing something about it. I just found out that season passes for ‘Part I’ of the Matt Smith-led sixth frame are available on iTunes, for those (like me) who eschew the bonds of cable providers. Also, if you’re looking to throw a Doctor Who premiere party — and invite your favorite film blog publisher — the BBC America page has Doctor Who recipes, including Ginger Companion cookies and Radioactive-Spuds with Cool Avocado Cream. Don’t put these in front of me, because I would easily EXTERMINATE! them. Get it? I’m like the Daleks of food.

As the first question points out from the Jodie Foster roundtable at SXSW, the trailer for The Beaver is truly a disservice to the film. While a decent piece of marketing material, it really does showcase the film as a fluffy drama, and The Beaver isn’t that. Foster’s film is a dark, sad, witty, and poignant — factors that Neil’s review perfectly captured — story about depression and isolation, and how there’s no such thing as quick fix for that. Summit can’t be having an easy time selling trying to sell this film. Not only for the obvious reason that I’ll refrain from mentioning, but for the simply reason that it’s difficult to accurately pitch a film like this in a two-minute time frame. Tonally, Foster goes for odd and not-so-commercial plays. Here’s what Director and star Jodie Foster had to say about marketing, commercialism, symbolism, and more:

The Beaver is just as much Anton Yelchin‘s film as it is Mel Gibson‘s. Jodie Foster‘s film is an ensemble piece, and all the leads – not just Walter Black (Mel Gibson) – are suffering from some form of depression. The greatest fear of Yelchin’s character, Porter, is becoming just like his father. He doesn’t understand Walter, and Porter doesn’t understand himself as well. The character is so uncomfortable in his own voice that he makes a living off other people’s voices; Porter writes school papers for others. Small character devices similar to that truly add a lot to the film. Being so afraid of becoming his father, Porter even has 5o-something post-its planted on his wall filled with their similarities, so he can avoid doing them. Here’s what Anton Yelchin had to say about the SXSW reaction to the film, the notecards, and his character’s relationship with Norah (Jennifer Lawrence):

Ten minutes in to Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, you may forget that you’re watching Mel Gibson. In light of all the things that have happened to Gibson off-screen, this is probably a good thing. But more importantly, it is something that any actor sets out to accomplish in every role they play: total immersion. It’s that immersion that makes this one of Gibson’s best performances to date. Could it be the best performance we’ve ever seen from him? That’s for history to decide. But this one is damn good. And it’s made better by the well-crafted film that surrounds him.