J.K. Simmons

J.K. Simmons has finally gotten the sort of recognition he’s long deserved—the character actor recently picked up a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination for his powerful supporting turn in ‘Whiplash,’ which means we’re going to start seeing him in more interesting projects. And one of those projects just might be a new ‘Spider-Man’ movie, in which Simmons could very well reprise the beloved role of J. Jonah Jameson.

This past weekend’s ‘SNL’ installment with ‘The Voice’ coach Blake Shelton pulling double duty proved every bit as exciting as it sounded (read: not), but what better way to restore the 40th anniversary season’s tempo than with ‘Whiplash’ master J.K. Simmons himself? Watch Simmons and Kenan brave the cold and bitter loneliness in this weekend’s ‘SNL’ promos!

J. K. Simmons has been giving us ‘Whiplash’ for decades now with head-turning performances in everything from ‘Spider-Man’ to ‘The Legend of Korra,’ but with the ‘Kong: Skull Island’ star finally nominated for an Oscar, that most hallowed of New York institutions will give Simmons his due. J.K. will host the final January ‘SNL’ installment of 2015, no “jk” about it.

This has been a great week for J.K. Simmons (aka Just Keep Simmons), who won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in ‘Whiplash.’ So, Mr. Simmons, you just won a Golden Globe and you’re primed for an Oscar win—what are you going to do next? He’s going to Detroit to shoot ‘Kong: Skull Island,’ which is definitely an interesting choice of location.

Pictionary! It's one of the few games that Jimmy Fallon makes his 'Tonight Show' guests play that hasn't been totally twisted from its original form. It's a classic. But it's also an interesting way to gain keen insight into the way various people operate, even away from the game-playing stage of Fallon's late show.

For those unfamiliar, director Jason Reitman puts on live reads of famous movie scripts, re-casting the roles with different actors, which often leads to interesting versions of familiar characters and stories. And while he typically sticks to films that are more character-driven and dialogue-oriented, Reitman’s next live read event has to do with something a bit more topical in pop culture: a live read of ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,’ which has just revealed several of its first cast members.

J.K. Simmons may not be a household name (yet), but he’s certainly a household face. His mere presence in a movie, whether it be a major character or brief cameo, is enough to bring any audience to attention. Few modern character actors are as good as he is and, as one of the frontrunners for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his terrifying work in ‘Whiplash,’ he’s about to get some well-deserved recognition. So it shows a great deal of taste on the part of director Jordan Vogt-Robers that he has cast Simmons in the upcoming ‘Kong: Skull Island.’ Seriously, the mere presence of Simmons is just as exciting as a mystical island full of giant apes and dinosaurs.

Damien Chazelle’s film, ‘Whiplash’—the story of a future jazz prodigy (Miles Teller) and his manipulative, sadistic conductor (J.K. Simmons, who seems to be the odds-on favorite to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) has had quite the journey this year. It premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival and wound up taking home the top prize. After, it steadily built momentum from word of mouth on the festival circuit and now, having been in release for two months, it still seems to be operating on a word of mouth system. (I still get text messages from friends back in the Midwest asking, “Should I see ‘Whiplash’? I keep hearing it’s good.”)

'The Legend of Korra' fans were a bit taken aback to find that Book 4: "Balance" would premiere on October 3, so soon after the Book 3 finale, but the characters themselves are in for a much longer wait. Not only does the first official trailer for 'The Legend of Korra' season 4 confirm "Balance" as the final season (for anyone unsure), it also teases a major time jump for the upcoming story!

There've been so many 'Spider-Man' movies, from Sam Raimi's Tobey Maguire-led trilogy to the rebooted run with Andrew Garfield, and the cinematic universe is about to expand even more with spinoffs for 'The Sinister Six,' 'Venom' and a female-led character. With such a wide breadth of movie magic, how well do you think you know our favorite webslinger? Test your knowledge with the latest installment of 'You Think You Know Movies?'