Zac Efron

Some people stand in the darkness. Some people make movie versions of campy ’90s television series about lifeguards. It’s gonna be all right. They’re always ready, they won’t let you out of their sight, etc.

Baywatch continues its advertising campaign with a new set of motion posters to showcase each character that include Dwayne Johnson giving us the finger, Zac Efron getting his tongue stuck to the glass, and Priyanka Chopra being an ice queen.

Much like the warmer seasons, that Baywatch movie continues to come at us right on schedule. A new series of character posters copies one very well-known Game of Thrones phrase almost verbatim, but tweaks it juuust a little bit. Dwayne Johnson and his lifeguard crew are here to assure us that “summer is coming,” and Baywatch is coming right along with it.

“Everything that you guys are talking about sounds like a really entertaining but far-fetched TV show” — so says Zac Efron in the new international trailer for Baywatch, which combines the self-awareness of 21 Jump Street (or seems to be trying to do that) with the ridiculous action of your average Dwayne Johnson movie. The latest trailer for the comedic retread of the classic ’90s TV series drops the green-band pleasantries for a profanity-laden, NSFW sneak peek at the upcoming film, and though we’re not 100 percent sold on it just yet, Baywatch looks pretty darn watchable, at the very least.

It’s the holiday season, which means cozying up with family to It’s a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth year in a row, or giving and receiving presents from loved ones, or trawling the internet looking for “Happy Holidays!” tweets from your favorite Hollywood celebrities. Yesterday, the cast of the new Baywatch movie, all decked out in seasonally appropriate Santa hats and mistletoe accessories, posted a special Christmas message to their fans.

It has become increasingly apparent that the best thing a revival of a tired ‘80s pop-culture artifact can be is the neo-21 Jump Street, judging by the new trailer for the Dwayne Johnson-fronted Baywatch. The parallels are striking: we’ve got the central odd couple in the Rock’s bombastic beach hero and Zac Efron’s hard-partying young gun, light meta touches about “reviving the brand,” some playful winks to the core goofiness of the source material (the “why does she always look like she’s running in slow motion?” line may be the best of the clip), even a scene where our heroes are dressed down by a furious black cop. You may call it derivative, but I call it a good start.

Who watches the Baywatchmen? All of us, okay. We are all going to be watching the Baywatch movie, because, still, none of us can believe it actually exists. It must be seen. It must be experienced. And if you’re just dying to know what we’re all in for, look no further than this teaser Dwayne Johnson posted on his Twitter today, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s first trailer.

The Greatest Showman on Earth has been in development since 2009, with Hugh Jackman attached to play the role of iconic circus creator P.T. Barnum. Now that his time as Wolverine is coming to an end, the actor has a little more room on his schedule to tend to the long-gestating musical, which is close to lining up Jackman’s first co-star.

Despite how much of a refreshing surprise the first ‘Neighbors’ was, I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the sequel, which looked dispensable and derivative. The poster and trailer for ‘Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising’ made it clear that Nick Stoller’s sequel to the 2014 Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne comedy was simply replicating the original premise and gender-swapping it to raise the stakes. It seemed like the expected set-up for a movie to stereotype and villainize young women, ridicule and dumb them down for laughs, and subject them to dick jokes. But it turns out ‘Neighbors 2' is a more pleasant surprise than the first movie. Not only is it one of the best and funniest comedy sequels, but the most feminist, self-aware and gay-inclusive mainstream comedy of the year, if not ever.

Besides being hilarious, Neighbors never struck me as the kind of movie that needed a sequel. Frat moves in next store to family, they fight, they resolve, fin. But, Neighbors made so much money, there was no chance there wasn’t going to be a sequel, and now here we are...