Dwarves in Rivendell.

Accompanying the release of an iOS app, several new images from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey make the rounds. (As you have probably heard, this is part I of III now, along with The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again.)

A Chameleon in District 3.

Jeffrey Wright signs up for Francis Lawrence’s Catching Fire as Beetee, a.k.a. the computer guru from District 3, joining Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, Sam Claflin as Finnick, and Amanda Plummer as Wiress.

Cloud Sources.

“In the Wachowskis’ work, the forces of evil are often overwhelmingly powerful, inflicting misery on humans, who maintain their faith until they’re saved by an unexpected miracle. The story of the making of “Cloud Atlas” fits this narrative trajectory pretty well.“

The New Yorker delves into the Wachowskis’ adaptation of Cloud Atlas, soon to be at a theater near you with Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Doona Bae, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Jim Sturgess, Keith David, David Gyasi, and Ben Whishaw. (The extended trailer is above.) “‘The problem with market-driven art-making is that movies are green-lit based on past movies,’ Lana told me. ‘So, as nature abhors a vacuum, the system abhors originality. Originality cannot be economically modelled.’ The template for ‘The Matrix,’ the Wachowskis recalled, had been ‘Johnny Mnemonic,’ a 1995 Keanu Reeves flop.“

Let’s Do Lunch.

This has been languishing in the bookmarks: Awesome People Hanging Out Together. By “awesome,” read “famous” a lot of the time — but still, very fun to peruse.

Twenty Years of Garmonbozia.

“Does it work if you haven’t seen the TV show? As Lynch might put it, gosh, no. (It’s a prequel, but it bends time and space to wrap up a few stray plot threads from the series — if you’re working your way through the show on DVD, treat the movie like a coda or you’ll be lost.) But that’s what’s fascinating about it — in some ways, Lynch’s most uncompromising and unrelenting movie is the one he made while beating the dead ghost-horse of a canceled soap opera.”

Twenty years after its opening, Grantland‘s Alex Pappademas takes another look at Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. I never understood the hate this film received. (Then again, I also liked Peaks’ much-maligned second season.) Sure, it’s a bit all over the place, but there are impressionistic moments in Fire Walk With Me — the trapped Leland monkey, the picture-within-a-picture, the phantom Bowie — that still frighten me for reasons I find impossible to explain, much in the same way some of the third act bizarroland suicide stuff in Mulholland Drive — the blue box, the creepy homeless guy, the little tourists — seems to bypass my brain completely and just frazzles my spinal cord. And what’s not to like about Special Agent Chet Desmond?

Keep Your Lid On.

“Nah, it stayed a hat and no, I didn’t chase it. Nothing more foolish than a man chasin’ his hat.”

Not No Parkay, Not No Margarine.

Jennifer Garner, Olivia Wilde, and Yara Shahidi are dueling maestri of butter-carving in the new trailer for Jim Field Smith’s Butter, also with Ty Burrell, Hugh Jackman, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry, Ashley Greene, Kristen Schaal, and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Getting a definite Mike Judge vibe from this.

The High-Water Mark.

“And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.”

“So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”

Worst. Prom. Ever.

From a remade vampire to a remade witch: Entertainment Weekly gets the first look at Chloe Moretz’s prom night in the remake of Carrie, also with Julianne Moore in the Piper Laurie role. Carrie is just not a film that needs to be remade, but if you are going to remake it, Kimberly Peirce is an interesting choice.

Prohibition…What Fresh Hell is This?

John Hillcoat’s Lawless — with Shia LaBoeuf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska, and an eyebrow-less. potentially scenery-chewing Guy Pearce — gets a director-edited red band trailer. They had me with Hillcoat, although in all honesty I kinda hate the new name of this film — It sounds like a Seagal flick. (I preferred The Wettest County.)