J.K. Simmons

Luc Besson is responsible for making Liam Neeson the action hero we all know and love, and it looks like he could possibly do the same for J.K. Simmons with The Lake — which will sadly not be directed by Besson, though he provided the screenplay. The Oscar-winning actor has joined the cast of Besson’s latest action thriller alongside 300: Rise of an Empire star Sullivan Stapleton.

Of all of the big sequels opening this summer, Terminator: Genisys is easily the strangest of the bunch. Simultaneously a sequel and a reboot, the film follows the template of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, using time travel to overwrite everything we know about this series so the characters can play in a wild new sandbox. Although we still don’t know the exact shape of that sandbox, a new batch of images from the film give us a look at the players in it, including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s aged Terminator, Emilia Clarke’s Sarah Connor and J.K. Simmons’ Detective O’Brien.

Before he made the Oscar-winning film Whiplash, writer/director Damien Chazelle made a short film called “Whiplash,” an excerpt from the feature script with the same characters, one of the same lead actors, and much the same story. J.K. Simmons, who won an Academy Award last week for his performance as the brutally abusive music teacher Mr. Fletcher, first played the role here. Miles Teller, who played ambitious drummer Andrew Neiman is MIA though; his part is played by Johnny Simmons from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 21 Jump Street, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

It was only a matter of time, really, but that doesn’t make this new Whiplash mashup video any less awesome. Some clever human beings have edited together footage from Whiplash with footage of Animal from The Muppets playing drums, obviously, and the results are super funny and super cute and absolutely wonderful.

It seemed inevitable, and there were some other great contenders, but J.K. Simmons has been awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at the 2015 Academy Awards. Simmons took home the statue for his fantastic, unnerving role as Fletcher, the intimidating band instructor in Whiplash.

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, watch the first footage from the new ‘Fantastic Four,’ see who is returning for the new ‘X-Men’ movie, and dread whatever Joss Whedon has in store for the cast of ‘Avengers 2.’

After the disappointment that was last week’s episode with country superstar Blake Shelton, we could desperately use another great show from ‘SNL.’ Recent Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee J.K. Simmons has arrived to perk things up a bit, bringing his versatile character actor chops to the stage as this week’s host. But did he live up to our expectations? Read on for this week’s ‘SNL’ rankings!

One of the best character actors of the past few decades, J.K. Simmons has always been one of the world’s most beloved ”that guys.” Everyone knows his face, but not everyone knows his name. However, the fact that he’s the current frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor at the 2015 Academy Awards for ‘Whiplash’ has started to change that, earning him a well-deserved moment in the spotlight and guest hosting duties on ‘SNL.’ Although much of last night’s episode saw him blending in with the rest of the cast, there was one big moment where he was called upon to poke fun at his work in ‘Whiplash.’ It was inevitable.

Super Bowl commercials are still a big, huge, massive, crazy deal, with major corporations shelling out absurd amounts of money on ads designed to win over the most reliably large and receptive audience in all of televised sports. So of course ‘SNL’ was going to contribute its own commercial parody to the mix...but man, no one was expecting something this mean, scathing or on-point.

The very nature of ‘SNL’ requires the show to stay as modern as possible, with many sketches created to directly comment on recent events or current trends. However, the show is often at its absolute best when it values humor over timeliness. We have no idea who decided to write and air a sketch that creates an alternate ending for the timeless Hollywood classic ‘Casablanca,’ but we want to give them a big ol’ hug. This is a real treat for fans of great cinema who also have a sense of humor.