The BFG

An entire universe of Roald Dahl stories are coming to Netflix.

Stretching back as far as 1890, the British monarchy has made a habit of releasing a New Years Honors List every December 31, naming outstanding Britons who will receive new orders of chivalry or other official designation. (It’s a type of being knighted, but special in some key way that I don’t fully understand; Britain’s system of honors is awful confusing.) The list singles out British-born figures who have made outstanding contributions to the nation’s “society, business, or culture.” That particular definition comes from Deadline, who noted earlier today that some familiar faces from the cinema of 2016 will soon join the esteemed ranks of the hono(u)red British: actors Mark Rylance and Naomie Harris will be among the class of 2016 inductees, adding a few letters (but what important letters they are) to their names.

Although the holiday weekend brought out a slew of new releases to compete for the top spot at the box office, this week’s top 10 was, once again, dominated by Finding Dory. The Legend of Tarzan, The Purge: Election Year and The BFG ultimately couldn’t quite match up to Pixar’s forgetful fish, but the final results were all over the place. This chart is very much a roller coaster of expectations being met and missed.

The BFG — or “Big Friendly Giant” — spends his days in Giant Country, collecting dreams from a magical tree and distributing them to the people of the world. He seems like just the sort of character who would appeal to Steven Spielberg, a big friendly giant of the film world whose work has stimulated the imaginations of millions of moviegoers. But Spielberg doesn’t fully communicate that appeal with his film version of The BFG, which contains a fair amount of lovely images but may be the director’s most listless and dramatically inert movie in decades.

Sorry, Tom Hanks — Steven Spielberg has a new favorite now, and his name is Mark Rylance. After delivering an Oscar-winning performance in Bridge of Spies, the actor re-teamed with Spielberg for The BFG, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel. A new featurette puts the focus on Rylance and his role as the eponymous Big Friendly Giant, who forms a bond with a special little girl and takes her deep into the heart of Giant Country to see where dreams are made.

he’s also made a few duds better left forgotten. ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ and ‘Indiana Jones the Kingdom of Crystal Skull’ are two Spielberg films that, let’s be honest, sucked. And those two movies also have one thing in common: they’re Spielberg sequels.

Following its premiere at Cannes (where reactions were decidedly…mixed), Disney has unveiled a new trailer for The BFG, Steven Spielberg’s fantastical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book. Starring Spielberg’s new BFF Mark Rylance in the titular role, The BFG takes us to an enchanting but dangerous world filled with bone-crunching, gizzard-gulping giants. But don’t worry, the BFG of The BFG is a nice giant. Promise!

The ‘BFG’ in The BFG stands for “big f---ing giant,” right?

It’s officially 2016. Our Best of 2015 lists have all been published and the new year is upon us, which means it’s time to start looking to the future. Yes, 2015 was a particularly good year for movie fans, but 2016 looks pretty impressive too. You like Coen Bros. movies? We got one of those. You like Star Wars? Yup, one of those too. Critically acclaimed horror movies? Sure. Pixar? Of course. Movies where your favorite superheroes beat the crap out of each other? WE GOT TWO OF THOSE. We put together a quick list of the 25 movies — a mix of both blockbusters and indies — that we can’t wait to see next year. This will probably change as the year goes on (our 2015 list included Jupiter Ascending, Aloha and Tomorrowland so we’re not perfect), but based on what we know right now, this is it. Here are the movies we’re looking forward to the most in 2016, in the order of release date (those with no release date are listed in alphabetical order).

It must be the witching hour because The BFG has arrived!