Not long now! Downton Abbey fans get a glimpse of Shirley MacLaine in action as third series promo is released

Daily Mail

The stars of the show have been giving tiny sneak peaks of what to expect in the next Downton Abbey series over the last few weeks as they work hard shooting new scenes.

But now fans have been treated to an actual glimpse of the upcoming third series after producers released two 20-second promo clips today.

In the first online video, the Grantham family is seen discussing the imminent arrival of Lady Cora's mother Martha Levinson, to be played by Shirley MacLaine, who is travelling over from America in the series.

Scroll down for trailers...

Her big entrance: Shirley MacLaine, seen face-to-face with Dame Maggie Smith for the first time in the new third series, is the second American to star in the show

And it was Lady Crawley, played by Maggie Smith, who seemed the most excited about her arrival, as she said: 'I'm so looking forward to seeing your mother again.'

The second clip gives viewers the first glimpse of Maggie Smith and Shirley Maclaine coming face to face on screen in the show for the first time.

In character, Smith tells Maclaine: 'You Americans never understand the importance of tradition," Smith tells her rival.

And she replies: 'Yes we do. We just don't give it power over us. Maybe you should think about letting go of its hand.'

First look: Dame Maggie Smith can be seen in a new teaser promo for the upcoming series of Downton Abbey, released online today

A glimpse of what's to come: The first of the two 20-second clips sees the Granthams chatting about the arrival of Lady Cora's mother Martha Levinson, to be played by Shirley MacLaine

Sparks are set to fly between Dame Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess Violet Grantham and Shirley McLaine’s Martha – Lady Grantham’s mother.

Dame Maggie’s acerbic putdowns alone make Downton Abbey worth watching. 

But for series three it seems she will be fighting Miss MacClaine’s Martha Levinson for the best waspish one-liners. 

The frosty on-screen relationship is already being dubbed the “battle of the matriarchs” as the pair become embroiled in a bitter power struggle. 

Excitement brewing: The two clips have been released as producers gear up anticipation for the new series

Speaking at the launch at London’s Mayfair Hotel, show creator Julian Fellowes said earlier this month: ‘We were lucky enough to get hold of Shirley MacLaine so the whole thing went off like a firecracker. 

‘You've got these two very different women. You see that for the Violet, things were better in the past and everything is falling to bits. 

‘Martha is the opposite and thinks everything now is great, the future is terrific. They punch at equal weight. When they're both on screen you want to look at both of them.’

Executives admitted that it took Miss MacClaine, 78, a little time to adjust to the style and rhythm” of the language in Downton Abbey but she worked hard to perfect it.

Producer Brian Percival added: ‘When she first arrived in the limo and all the members of the cast were standing to welcome Martha, we had to remember that it's not Shirley MacLaine it's Martha Levinson.

Taster: The characters discuss the arrival of Shirley MacLaine's character Martha Levinson in the first snippet

‘It's so easy to fall into that trap because she's a living legend. She's incredibly warm-hearted and witty.’

Following the twists and turns of series two viewers could have been forgiven for expecting a fairytale ending for the third run. 

In fact, it appears things become even more fraught for the Crawley family and their staff with money woes, heartache and fights for justice to come. 

Lady Mary and Matthew, whose will-they-won't-they love affair kept audiences on tenterhooks for the first two series, appear to still be struggling to make their relationship work.

Setting up the series: The two legendary actresses swap dialogue in the clip as fans eagerly anticipate the third series

At the end of the Christmas special last year fans saw the couple finally get engaged.

But a mystery disagreement could scupper the promise of a Downton Abbey wedding as scenes reveal Lady Mary considers whether she is making the right decision. 

Set in the early 1920s’ with the family attempting to return to normal after the horrors of the First World War, the new plot also shows them threatened with the loss of the entire Crawley fortune. 

The Earl of Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville, has made a poor investment choice which could have serious repercussions for the everyone at Downton Abbey.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2191160/Downton-Abbey-fans-glimpse-Shirley-MacLaine-action-series-promo-released.html#ixzz24DVWSF9R

Happy Birthday, James Marsters (50)

**I have had a lot of debates about your age.  You look amazing and you are a fantastic actor.  We salute you!

Spoilers - ‘Doctor Who’ Season 7 Episode Details; Images

Screen Rant by Scott Stoute 

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With details slowly trickling in and time nudging closer to the highly-anticipated seventh season of  Doctor Who, the BBC released a set of new and somewhat spoilery images of the first three episodes of the upcoming season. In what is expected to be one of the best seasons yet, the Doctor (Matt Smith) will be joined by some familiar faces from the past and will even receive a new companion – but that means saying a teary final goodbye to his beloved Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill).

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Check out the insanely awesome photos of the first three episode of Doctor Who series 7 “Asylum of the Daleks”, “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” and “A Town Called Mercy” :

Between these photos and the epic recently released trailer its getting difficult to contain the exciting for the upcoming season of Doctor Who – and the fact that the BBC still hasn’t let us know the exact date the new series will hit our television. In the meantime, check out descriptions of the three episodes shown in the images:
Asylum of the Daleks
In this “epic Dalek adventure” the Doctor is captured by his oldest foes and taken to Skaro, (the Dalek home-world). With Amy and Rory’s relationship in meltdown, The Doctor is forced on an impossible mission – to a place where even the Daleks are too terrified to enter… the Asylum, a snow-covered planetary prison confining the most disturbed and insane of their race. The Doctor must not only find an escape route but save the marriage (and lives) of his in-laws.
Asylum of the Daleks was recently screened at BFI Southbank on August 14th and will be screened at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival August23–25.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Taking place ten months after the events of “Asylum of the Daleks,” Dinosaurs on a Spaceship starts off in Ancient Egypt with The Doctor chilling out with Queen Nefertiti (Riann Steele). He soon receives an ominous call that an unmanned spaceship will crash into Earth in six hours. With Nefertiti in tow, he picks up an Edwardian big game hunter (Rupert Graves) and his faithful companions Amy and Rory – but accidentally ends up taking Rory’s father Brian (Mark Williams) on the TARDIS as well. They land on the spaceship and come face-to-face with the toothy smiley of two ankylosaurus dinosaurs – if that wasn’t enough, unbeknownst to The Doctor there is someone else onboard who will stop at nothing to keep hold of his precious, prehistoric cargo.
A Town Called Mercy
The Doctor and his companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams visit the American Frontier where he finds himself the reluctant Sheriff of a Western town under siege by a relentless cyborg cowboy, named Gunslinger. If that wasn’t enough, the Doctor encounters a mysterious, alien doctor named Kahler-Jex, who seems to be hiding a dark secret.
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Check back with us for more on the thrilling upcoming season series 7 of Doctor Who
Source: Doctor Who News

ChristianAnswers.net Film Review of the Week - ParaNorman - Moral Rating: Offensive—not recommended

**Had to post the Whole Thing...

“You don’t become a hero by being normal.”

Welcome to Blithe Hollow, a small town that is proud of its history, especially an incident akin to the Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of years ago, a council of seven elders held trial to persecute and execute a witch. Upon her death, she cursed the village and promised she would return some day and raise the dead, getting her revenge by ultimately condemning the souls of her persecutors/victims to eternal damnation. In present day Blithe Hollow, the city is all decked out in various witchy themed shops, signs and statues. Now meet Norman, a young boy with a unique talent: the ability to see and speak with the spirits of the dead. Misunderstood by everyone—his father, his sister, his schoolmates—Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is determined to avoid everyone. Teased and taunted by all, he is called a weirdo and a freak. The only ones who seem to accept Norman as he is are his mother (Leslie Mann) and his friend Neil (Tucker Albrizzi).

Recently, Norman’s gift starts to turn into a curse when he starts seeing things. These new visions are all pointing him to the witch’scurse which is threatening to come true. A dirty, seemingly homeless and “crazy” man that Norman has always been told to avoid seeks Norman out to warn him about the witch’s curse and to prepare Norman to stop it. This “crazy” man turns out to be Norman’s uncle, Mr. Prenderghast (John Goodman), who also has the gift to speak with the dead. After hedies, Mr. Prenderghast’s spirit makes contact with Norman and tells him what he needs to do to stop the witch’s curse, but he only has until sundown tonight.

After a school performance gone awry, thanks to Norman’s visions, he has been grounded. Left at home with his teenage sister to watch him, Norman sneaks out to stop the witch from returning and raising the dead from the grave. En route to performing the task, Norman bumps into the school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who then follows Norman to the graveyard. Meanwhile, his sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick) discovers that Norman has left and sets out to find him. She goes to his friend’s house, and meets Neil’s older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck). Trying to win Mitch’s affection, Courtney asks for his help in finding Norman. After Neil confesses what Norman is up to, they head out to find him.

Unbeknownst to them, Alvin has prevented Norman from stopping the curse, and they’re a little busy running away from the zombies. Norman, Courtney, Mitch and Neil all get in Mitch’s van to get away from the zombies and to try to figure out what went wrong and how to stop the zombies from attacking and eating everyone. However, the zombies reach the town and chaos ensues, as the townspeople start fighting the zombies. The chase leads to the historic Town Hall which may hold the answer Norman is looking for, but only if the townspeople are willing to admit his talent is the real thing and not a figment of his imagination.

The film includes some inappropriate language. I counted one “OMG,” two “d**nations,” one “jack***,” one “p*ssed,” an exclamation of “Sweet Baby Jesus,” and references to hell. While it wasn’t said, there is a reference to the “f word.” There was name calling, some aimed at Norman (freak, weirdo, loser), some aimed at Neil (fat, fatty). We even see some of these spray painted on their lockers. When someone asks Norman what he’s watching on television, he responds “sex and violence.” During a rehearsal for the school play, the teacher calls all the students a “useless bunch of-” and then it cuts to the next scene.

During one scene, we see a billboard advertising the “Lucky Witch Casino,” with a picture of a woman in a suggestive pose with cash sticking out of her cleavage. While searching at the town hall, Alvin mentions an adult video store across the street. We see Mitch in only a towel when he answers the door, , and he catches Neil “freeze-framing” an aerobics DVD on the instructor’s rear end. Also, we learn Courtney’s attempts to flirt with Mitch are all for nothing as he tells us his boyfriend is into chick flicks—an audible gasp went through the theater, after this remark.

The mood and scenery throughout the film is all dark and creepy looking. There is a lot of imagery of witches, zombies, brains, zombies eating brains, skulls and references to Ouija boards. There’s a good bit of what I would refer to as “gross-out” scenes involving the zombies dead, decaying bodies, they show Mr. Prenderghast die, and also when Norman goes to visit Mr. Prenderghast’s body. We also see Alvin squash a bug with his hand, and it shows the bug guts left behind on the locker door. If you’ve seen the trailer, then you’ve seen the image of Neil kissing something… and while we don’t see it, the audience understands he’s kissing a ghost dog’s behind.

Buried under the deluge of a worldly view of the afterlife, there is actually a nice story being told. A child with an extraordinary gift has given up the struggle to fit in. He has already made up his mind that he has to deal with his problems and tasks alone, but, despite this, his friend Neil is determined to be a good friend. Even at the point where Courtney, Mitch and Alvin want to give up on Norman and leave him to his weirdness, Neil stands up and says he won’t leave Norman, and tells his brother Mitch, “You can’t make me.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12—“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

However, Mitch picks Neil up and carries him away and leaves Norman alone to his seemingly impossible task. Of course, Norman feels alone, he listens to his parents argue about him and his obsession with dead people and ghosts. His mother says he’s just sensitive, but his father is very hard on Norman. Norman hears all the negativity his father feels towards him. This is not how a father should treat his son, even if he isn’t what he thought his son should be.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged” (Colossians 3:21).

Any time Norman tries to explain what he has been through, no one listens to him or they chalk it up to his imagination or believe him to be insane. At some point, Norman has to deal with the witch and the cause for her curse—revenge. People were mean to her, and so her chosen course of action is to be meaner back. The Bible makes it clear that we are not to get revenge on our enemies, the vengeance belongs to God (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 12:17-21; 1 Peter 3:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:15). We are called by God to love our enemies (Luke 6:27).

The movie is definitely dark in nature, and I would definitely not bring the little ones to this movie. While opportunities abound for discussions of what the Bible tells us about the afterlife,witches, dying and resurrections, Hell and those who speak with the dead (or claim to), I would recommend choosing another flick for the big kids, as well.

Leviticus 19:31—“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them”

One other thing worth mentioning is God has given each of His children a gift, He grants us each talents. It won’t be like Norman’s gift of seeing and speaking with the dead, but our gifts are to be used for His glory and furthering His kingdom (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11; 1 Corinthians 12). If you do decide to try this one out, and if you have the choice of seeing it in 2D or 3D, I say save your money and see it in regular 2D. I watched it in 3D and was not at all impressed.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• WINNING SOULS— Why do many Bible-believing Christians share their faith, starting with the Genesis Creation account?
• RAMADAN— What is this Muslim holy time?
• PRAY FOR MUSLIMS— How should followers of Jesus Christ pray for Muslims?
• 4TH DAY OF CREATION— Was it 24 hours long or millons of years?
• TELEVISION VIEWING—How much TV is too much TV?

Negative

Negative—Think and READ before you take your kids to see PARANORMAN. Let me begin by saying that I WOULD NOT recommend this film to anyone. I normally turn to this site to seek out reviews, before taking my family to see a movie. Unfortunately, no reviews were posted here. I didn’t know much about it, but my kids were asking to go. It’s rated PG, so I figured it would be a funny animated kids’ movie. Unfortunately, it turned into something completely different. As I sat in the theater with my family, I could not believe my eyes and ears. It’s bad enough that Hollywood feels that they need to insert various scenes of subtle adult humor into all kids movies these days, but this film puts it right out in the open.

Off the top of my head, this is what I can remember: A young child is watching an exercise video and freeze framing it on a woman’s rear end. Another young teen says that he would rather be locked inside of an adult video store than in a library. This same character has many other inappropriate actions, including grabbing a girl’s behind. We also have a teenage girl drooling over a teen boy (shirtless in a towel), and she touches him. Later, we have a teen boy talking about his boyfriend. And this is all in a film aimed at young children. There are also instances of inappropriate language in the film. Although animated, there is violence and evil portrayed.

The quality of the animation is good, and there are some interesting parts of the story. However, everything else takes away any merit this film might have. My patience is growing thin with Hollywood. As Christians, and as parents, we need to stand together and demand quality entertainment from the studios. Hollywood only understands dollar signs. Stop spending the money on these movies and start spending them on something better. If we do this enough, Hollywood will change.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
—David, age 45 (USA)

Negative—This movie should not have been rated PG. It should be rated at least PG-13. We took our children and ended up leaving and getting our money back. This is not a movie for Christian families. It seems that Hollywood keeps pushing the envelope and America keeps getting worse morally. We need to make sure we always make the right choices for our children, and I feel we did when we left the movie. We did not make a scene we just left and asked for a refund. Regal Cinemas was more than understanding. Do not take your children to this my fellow brother and sisters in CHRIST! GOD BLESS!!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
—Mike, age 37 (USA)