Jared Hess to direct third Shanghai Noon movie

- Jared Hess (Masterminds, Napoleon Dynamite) will direct Shanghai Dawn, the third film in the Shanghai series that stars Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. The first two were 2000's Shanghai Noon and 2003's Shanghai Knights.

- Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible 5) has joined The Greatest Showman on Earth, a musical about P.T. Barnum. It stars Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle WIlliams, and Zendaya.

- Gary Oldman is set to play Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, all about the Prime Minster when things weren't going so well for Great Britain during WWII. Lily James (Cinderella), Ben Mendelsohn, John Hurt and Kristen Scott Thomas co-star.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Movie Review

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Starring the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, David Cross, Lucy Liu, James Hong, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Haysbert. Directed by Jennifer Yuh.

Saw this at the $1 theater. Should come out on DVD pretty soon, actually.

I really enjoyed Kung Fu Panda, and I was worried the sequel might diminish the memory off the original. My fears were unfounded, although I will say this isn't as good as the first.

Jack Black voices Po, the Baby-Huey of a panda who's now really good at kung fu, to where he can stand tall with the furious five. A new threat is sweeping across China. Turns out China's emperor family are peacocks, and the evil prodigal son Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) has returned to reclaim his throne. He's raised an army of assassins and brought a secret weapon to help him conquer the country. But the subplot is that Po, adopted by a goose, wants to learn about his biological parents, where he comes from.

There's more fighting and a bit darker tone this time around. It's also left wide open for Kung Fu Panda 3.