At last Disney have released the first official trailer for Tron: Legacy. The highly anticipated sequel to their cult (but not very well known) 1982 classic, Tron.

It stars Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen and ‘recent owner of an Oscar’ – Jeff Bridges, reprising his role as Flynn.

So if you’ve not seen the original – and you really must before seeing this – it’s basic premise is… a guy is stuck in a videogame/computer and has to play the videogames to survive. That’s the basic premise, but there’s so much more to it than that. The visuals alone are worth watching the movie for. But I can’t really put my finger on what made the original work, it’s just one of those rainy day movies I watched during the school holidays and now love as an adult.

So anyway, the sequel is due out end of this year, and everyone’s hoping it will find a new generation to fall in love with it.

Watch it after the jump and let me know if you’re looking forward to it too?

The second Iron Man 2 trailer is now here. And if you had any doubts after the first trailer, then hopefully this will blow them away. It certainly did for me.

The first half of the trailer covers most of what we’ve already seen from the first trailer, but then we start to see the new shots… some new footage of Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Samuel L. Jackson’s character’s. But what got me most excited was the final Tony Stark to Iron Man transformation on the race track. It was timed to perfection, and if the movie is half as good as the trailer is, then we’re in for a great ride.

So sit back and enjoy the trailer after the jump… or if you want to see it in full Apple Quicktime HD, click here.

Hello everyone, yes it’s been too long since my last post. I’ve had a hell of a week trying to move houses and decorate it at the same time! Anyway enough of the excuses. It’s Monday morning here in the UK and I’m waking up to all the news reports about the big winners at the 2010 Academy Awards last night. So my first post today will obviously have to mention them right? If I didn’t it would just look like I’m purposely trying to avoid them.

So last night the big winner was Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq war/bomb disposal film, The Hurt Locker. This makes me very happy. Everyone expected Avatar to win Best Picture, but it’s always nice when the underdog wins. But it’s also a double whammy for Bigelow as she also took home Best Director. So take that Cameron!

Seriously though, Avatar was a great movie, the special effects were out of this world, but the plot was very mediocre. It just goes to show that you can throw a huge ton of money at a film, but it doesn’t necessarily make it better than one on a smaller budget, as The Hurt Locker proved.

The other winners last night were, Sandra Bullock for Best Actress in a film I haven’t seen yet. And Jeff Bridges as Best Actor in a film I also haven’t seen yet. And the reason for me not seeing them yet? The UK’s stupid cinema release schedule, meaning that they’re only just coming out over here. I’m sure that they’re deserving of these awards but when all I’ve seen is a trailer, then who am I to comment?

So that’s my very, very, very short summary of the Oscars last night. I know that I’ve probably missed out 99% of the other awards that were won last night, but oh well. I’ll save them for another post. I’m going back to bed now.

If you’d like to find out who the other winners were, here’s the complete list…. 2010 Oscar Winners

Yes I know what you’re all thinking… Why haven’t there been many posts for a while. Well I’m in the process of moving house this week, so things are a bit hectic at the moment. I’ll keep trying to post as much as I can, but just a warning that I may not be as frequent as I usually am.

With that said here’s something to keep you occupied for a few minutes. The new trailer for the upcoming Karate Kid remake.

As I’ve said before, my expectations are so incredibly low for this. That being said, I’ve think this trailer proves that it will be watchable at least.

It’s obvious that they’ve kept the general plot the same – kid from out of town, gets beaten up by bullies, learns a martial art from wise old man, and goes on to beat bullies in a tournament – but there are of course some major tweaks. First of all it’s set in China not California. He learns Kung Fu instead of Karate, and he puts his jacket on and off instead of waxing on and off.

The idea of Jackie Chan replacing

So give it another look and let me know what you think. Is it really gonna be that bad?

Trailer is after the jump…

Watch it in HD on Yahoo.

If you’ve seen the trailer for Kick-Ass by now, then you may think that the trailer you’re about to see is just a rip-off of that… It’s not. It shares the same theme as Kick-Ass - people in the real world that think they’re superheroes, but are actually just vigilantes – but has more of a Home Alone meets K-PAX feel to it.

The plot is described as:

A comedy centered around three characters: an everyday guy (Woody Harrelson) who comes to believe he’s a superhero, his psychiatrist, and the teenager (Kat Dennings) he befriends.

Anyway I posted a trailer for this way back in September last year, before it had been purchased by a distributor. Now we’ve got a more polished ‘Official’ version for you to watch.

Check it out after the jump…

Hollywood monster movies are big business at the moment, so looking to try and cash in on this resurgence are Ralph Winter and Terry Botwick. This producing duo are looking at releasing a Frankenstein franchise (a Frankenchise?) based on Dean Koontz bestselling novels, that see a modern day twist on the classic Frankenstein story.

The general plot is that a pair of detectives encounter Frankenstein’s monster (called Deucalion in this story) while investigating a murder. This then leads them to a bizarre array of ‘engineered’ humans.

Sounds interesting enough. I quite like the idea of a modern day Frankenstein, it’s certainly original (does Edward Scissorhands count?). I haven’t read the novels though, so can’t really give much more of an opinion on it. The producing duo do have this to say though:

These books have enough twists and turns to keep the public coming back to the theaters for many years to come,

So they’re pretty confident that it’s got longevity enough for more than one film. But then they said that about The Golden Compass, and what happened to that franchise?

Via

The Wolfman is Universal’s first attempt at resurrecting one of their classic horror back-catalogue franchises.

It stars Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, the son of Sir John Talbot (played by Anthony Hopkins), who returns to his childhood home in search of his brother, after receiving a letter from the wife of his brother (Emily Blunt), asking for his help. However upon returning he discovers that his brother has been killed in mysterious circumstances and seeks to find the killer.

I’ve been looking forward to this film for what seems like ages, but have been incredibly wary of the stories about it’s delays, edits and re-shoots. So when I finally got my ticket and sat down to watch it I was hoping that it would deliver and it would be worth the wait. Unfortunately it wasn’t.

The Wolfman butchers it’s victims, and likewise the editors of this film have butchered it too.

To start with the pace is just all wrong. It seems to plod it’s way through some scenes and yet skip and jump through others. After Lawrence gets bitten and realises he’s become a Werewolf, we jump straight to the mental asylum that he’s sent to. Apparently he’s been there before during his childhood, but it’s never fully explained why, we just have to accept that he has. We then jump to the rampage through London scene, before jumping back to the very predictable finale which frankly just seems rushed.

And then we have the love interest, played by Emily Blunt. I just couldn’t believe there was any romantic connection between her and Lawrence. Not through any fault of the actors, but because they’re just not given enough time for a connection to fully develop.

What’s completely unforgiving though is the incredibly obvious cuts that have been made during the editing process. You can just tell that they’ve cut out huge chunks of the film. The scenes just don’t seem progress smoothly. There’s one scene where Lawrence is searching the house for his father, he enters a room that he thinks he might be in, only to find his fathers dog. Then within a split second he’s out in the hallway again with no explanation as to what happened to the dog.

I feel really let down by this film, but there are a few plus points. The acting was really good, Hugo Weaving and Anthony Hopkins really keep the film together. And the effects were great, Hollywood are finally realising that not every effect can be done with CG alone. However these points alone aren’t enough to save it.

I think this film is one of those films that would really benefit from a directors cut. There has obviously been a lot taken out, but by taking out so much we end up with Frankenstein’s monster instead of The Wolfman.

I give The Wolfman 5/10… Good effort, but could have been so much better.

This is part of a new feature, where I pick a film from my collection that I haven’t seen in a while, wipe the dust off the DVD cover, and see if it’s stood the test of time. Today I pick, The Faculty.

The Faculty is a high school ‘creature feature’ directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Famke Jansen, Selma Hyak, Jon Stewart and Robert Patrick.

The basic synopsis is that a group of students suspect the local high school is being gradually taken over by aliens. Nobody believes them until it’s too late, so they have to take action themselves.

Like Scream was a homage to the slasher genre, this film is a homage to the b-movie genre. And like Scream there are whole load of self-references to this genre scattered throughout the film. The most notable comparison being to the similarities it shares with Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

When this was released in 1998, the actors were all fairly well known but could probably be classed as C-list actors. Fast forward a few years later and the majority are all now firmly in the A or B-list and have some really big blockbusters under their belt. The casting is absolutely superb and I think this is one of the main reasons why this movie works.

On its own the story is pretty mediocre, but the characters are so good that it keeps it from becoming what would ordinarily be a straight to DVD film. Robert Rodriguez has taken the horror ‘tribute’ genre of the late nineties – something that was already starting to wear thin – and managed to keep it fresh and watchable.

So without waffling on too much I suggest you search this one out, you won’t be disappointed. This is definitely one of those movies you should add to your collection. You’ll find it really holds up to repeat viewings.

*Sigh* Sony Pictures have announced via press release that the Spider-Man reboot will be 3-D, and is scheduled for release July 3rd 2012.

I knew this would happen. 3-D is taking over the world after the success that Avatar has had with the format. It’s no longer a gimmick, it’s now a unique selling point.

To be honest I care more about the story. I really couldn’t care less if it was 3-D, 4-D or black and white with mono sound. When will the studio’s learn that it’s the story that immerses you into a film not the special effects. They should always come after the story, and never be the main focus of a film. Did you honestly sit and watch Transformers 2 and say to yourself, ‘well the story’s crappy, but it’s OK because the special effects are awesome!’?

A couple of days ago almost everyone in the movie blogosphere started jumping up and down at the idea that Kevin Smith would be funding his next film (Red State) almost entirely through fan funding. A lot of people were up in arms that Smith would have the audacity to ask fans to fund his next film because no one else would. And I have to admit I was slightly negative towards the idea, but did give it a lot of thought as it sounded interesting.

Here’s the real deal though. He didn’t go begging to fans for money, and he has no plans to.

Smith was quick to write a blog post pointing out that it was never his idea. In Smiths own words:

The idea to fan-finance RED STATE wasn’t mine; it was suggested by someone following me on Twitter (more ambitious souls than I can wade through the morass of ass-eating bon mots smeared across my Twitterscape to find the exact moment the “Let’s put on a show”-ification of RED STATE happened).

Ok so it wasn’t his idea, will it still happen though?

This fan-financed-film (aka, “begging”) hasn’t happened yet, nor might it ever happen. While it all sounds perfectly Amish, it’s fraught with crazy pitfalls and tax problems that have required hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in legal fees to investigate even the possibility of the fan-financed idea’s merit…

And if it does happen will he be rolling in our cash laughing at our stupidity?:

If (and I mean IF with a huge fucking i & f) this fan-financed idea were to move forward? I’m not making a dime. If I were, as suggested, to turn to the fan-base to fund the movie, do you honestly think I’d even take a salary?

So what’s he going to do with any profits?

If we did fan-finance and actually make the film, let’s say it sold: what then? There will be profits? Would people get their money back? Where would that money go? Our plan is to put anything we make into a fund that would, in turn, finance other (cost-sensible) flicks fans want to see. And from that? Build a People’s Studio. Simply have any interested/frustrated/desperate party put their script on our website, open for all to read, during a “pilot season” of sorts. Script that gets the most votes, gets the loot. That flick gets made and sold, all the loot goes back into fund for next round. If there’s enough loot from RED STATE sale to do so, idea would be to fund two low budget flicks a year.

Which I think sounds like a really cool idea. We’d actually have the power to greenlight the movies WE wanted to see!

So just to summarise the facts one last time.

- Will Kevin Smith be funding Red State through fan donations?

Maybe, but if it does happen, he’ll match whatever we put in.

- Will he be keeping the profits from this film?

Nope, he’s gonna re-invest any profits back into other films.

There, I hope that clears up any negativity that’s been stirred up as a result of my (or anyone elses) blog posts. Kevin Smith is a decent guy. He does listen to the fans, and he’s not sold out (yet).

If he does decide to finance Red State or any other film through donations. I will make a donation. I want to see more of his films, and I like the idea of being able to make that happen.

I strongly urge you to read Smiths blog post in it’s entirety if you still have any doubts.

Deadline got the exclusive this morning when it was announced that bankrupt film studio Halycon, current owners of the Terminator franchise have this morning sold the rights to the franchise, to the investment company that they’re in debt to, but not before really pissing off Sony and Lionsgate.

If you’ve not been following the news about the Terminator franchise, here’s a quick recap…

The story goes that Halycon borrowed $30 million from hedge fund company Pacificor to purchase the rights back in 2007. Pacificor then forced Halycon into bankruptcy when it didn’t pay it’s debts. Thereby forcing Halycon to sell the rights to the Terminator franchise.

So this morning (or yesterday, sorry not very good with time zones) a marathon 5 hour bidding session began, with Sony and Lionsgate seperately bidding for the franchise, and then joining forces after the first round was completed.

Neither Sony or Lionsgate came out winners though, as Halycon accepted a bid of $29.5 million from none other than Pacificor, the creditor who pushed them into bankruptcy in the first place.

This prompted Sony’s president of worldwide affairs Peter Schlessel to ’storm out’ of the auction. No doubt because it was clear that Pacificor would pay almost anything for the franchise.

So that’s it for the moment. If Halycon get the sale approved by the bankruptcy court, then Pacificor will own the rights. In return, Halycon’s debt to Pacificor will be written off, and they’ll receive $5 million for every Terminator film made from now on.

Why Halycon couldn’t have sorted their differences out with Pacificor before it got to auction is anybody’s guess. It’s not clear if Halycon are going to continue making Terminator films – with Pacificor funelling the profits off – from now on, or whether Pacificor will go on to sell the rights off to someone else now.

What’s your view on this? Do you think there’s any hope of us getting a decent Terminator film anytime soon? Or was this all just a big poker game?

Kevin Smith needs your money to make his next film.

The director who found a cult following with Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and more recently Zak and Miri make a Porno, has had his latest pitch turned down by the Weinstein brothers. But that isn’t going to stop him, as he’s planning to fund it almost entirely through fan donations instead.

The film in question is Red State. A low budget ‘political’ horror flick about a group of misfits who encounter extreme fundamentalism in Middle America. Smith said it’s inspired by Fred Phelps, founder of the controversial militant anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas.

Following an Interview on the Cinema Studies Student Union of the University of Toronto blog, Smith said he had come up with the suggestion from one of his Twitter followers…

I was on Twitter and people are asking about Red State, and then a dude tweeted ‘hey man, what if we pay for it?’ And all of a sudden, a bunch of people were like ‘Seriously, why not?’

It sounded like such an easy thing online… but now there’s lots of checks and balances to make sure we can do it, but if that’s the case, I would be into it, and I’ll match it. Whatever you raise online, like fuck it, you put it up, I’ll put it up.

Smith went on:

God bless them. Motherfuckers want to see the movie so badly that they’re willing to pay for it with their own money? Absolutely, put their name in the credits and that movie will be a reality.

After years of support it’s unclear why the Weinstein brothers have turned Smith down this time. Obviously he’s had quite a few critical failures, but he has always maintained a strong fan base for his movies. So either they’ve lost faith in him or they think it’s just too edgy for Miramax? Smith’s view on it is:

It’s so fucking vicious and nasty and mean and stark and it’s not funny.

he goes on…

It’s this weird fucking dark little seventies horror movie…that nobody wants to make.

I feel kind of sorry for Kevin Smith. When I first heard about this idea, I was eager to sign up and donate some money to help get this made. But to be honest, now that I think about it, what will I get out of it? Ok, so I’ll get a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ credit, but if it’s successful he makes money… not me. Why would I want to invest in something that I’m not gonna get a return on? Perhaps I’m just being as cynical as ever. I mean Kevin Smith is one of my all time favourite directors, and I’ve been pretty loyal to his movies (with the exception of Jersey Girl) so maybe I’ll give a small donation, just so I can say I had a small part to play in making a movie possible.

While the idea of funding a movie entirely through donations seems like a new idea, it has been done before, although not with such a prominent director. Stephen Fry has been promoting the idea through his Twitter feed for quite some time now with BuyACredit.com.

With the box office success of Transformers and G.I. Joe, Hollywood is obviously keen to try and cash in with more of these ‘toy movies’. So the next one out of the bag is the Stretch Armstrong movie.

According to Variety, the title role will be played by Twilight wolf boy, Taylor Lautner.

The reason for the casting is obvious. He’s got a huge fanbase thanks to the Twilight movies, and he’s managed to set himself apart from most other young actors by putting on 30 pounds of muscle.

Chances of the film actually being any good though is hugely unlikely. It’s based around a toy that you could stretch. That’s it. No back story like in Transformers. No good guys vs bad guys like with G.I. Joe. And I doubt there’s a hardcore Stretch Armstrong fanbase out there. My prediction is this will be a fun movie for kids and young teens, but isn’t likely to win any awards or keep away from the bargain bin in the DVD stores.

The studio is aiming for a 2012 release date.

Well Oscar season is upon us and the nominations are now in. There are a couple of pleasant surprises, but generally it’s a quite predictable list.

I’m going to leave my thoughts and predictions for another post though, as I’m suffering with a bad case of Man Flu at the moment, and wouldn’t want to make any Lemsip induced predictions that I might regret.

For now though you can see the list of nominees after the jump…

BEST PICTURE:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

DIRECTING:
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Neill Blomkamp and – District 9
Nick Hornby – An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche – In the Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher – Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – Up in the Air

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Oren Moverman and – The Messenger
Joel and Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Pete Docter and Bob Peterson – Up

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ajami – Israel
El Secreto de sus Ojos – Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow
Une Prophéte – France
The White Ribbon – Germany

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of the Kells
Up

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Maurio Fiore – Avatar
Bruno Delbonnel – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Barry Ackroyd – The Hurt Locker
Robert Richardson – Inglourious Basterds
Christian Berger – The White Ribbon

FILM EDITING:
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron – Avatar
Julian Clarke – District 9
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis – The Hurt Locker
Sally Menke – Inglourious Basterds
Joe Klotz – Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Yeah, I know that I’m late with this trailer. It went up last week and I wasn’t paying attention, so now I’m probably the last blog to put it up. Apologies, etc. etc.

Anyway, bring out your filofax’s, dust off your money clips and get ready for, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The sequel to eighties classic Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas reprising his role as Gordon Gekko, and Shia LaBeouf as ‘not quite a nerd, not quite a hunk’ Shia LaBeouf! … sorry, I couldn’t resist.

So Money Never Sleeps takes place roughly twenty years after the first film. Gordon Gekko is released from prison and realises that things have changed a lot since the eighties.

I’m honestly really looking forward to this. The trailer doesn’t give too much away, but it’s going to be great to see Gordon trying to adapt after so much has changed.

Check it out after the jump and let me know what you think…

So you think Avatar is the biggest movie of all time? No?, Well it must be in the top 5 at least?… Nope… how about top 10?… Still wrong. Avatar is actually the 26th biggest movie of all time.

It seems like every day now we get yet another story about how much money Avatar has taken at the box office, and how it’s becoming the biggest movie of all time. I usually skim over these stories, as statistics have never really interested me that much, but when it’s a film like Avatar, well it’s hard not to take a look. But what if it’s all BS?

Well okay, Avatar has made a hell of a lot of money at the box office, that’s true, it is the biggest ‘grossing‘ movie of all time, but ticket prices are more expensive than they were 30 or 40 years ago. So what if you look at the actual number of tickets sold?

Thanks to THR, here’s the Top 20 movies of all time … by number of tickets sold:

1 “Gone With the Wind” (1939) 202,044,600
2 “Star Wars” (1977) 178,119,600
3 “The Sound of Music” (1965) 142,415,400
4 “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) 141,854,300
5 “The Ten Commandments” (1956) 131,000,000
6 “Titanic” (1997) 128,345,900
7 “Jaws” (1975) 128,078,800
8 “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) 124,135,500
9 “The Exorcist” (1973) 110,568,700
10 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) 109,000,000
11 “101 Dalmatians” (1961) 99,917,300
12 “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) 98,180,600
13 “Ben-Hur” (1959) 98,000,000
14 “Return of the Jedi” (1983) 94,059,400
15 “The Sting” (1973) 89,142,900
16 “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) 88,141,900
17 “Jurassic Park” (1993) 86,205,800
18 “The Graduate” (1967) 85,571,400
19 “Star Wars: Episode I” (1999) 84,825,800
20 “Fantasia” (1941) 83,043,500

So where’s Avatar?

Avatar has actually only sold 76,421,000… so far.

So remember, when you hear these stories about box office takings, take them with a pinch of salt. As for Avatar, well I hope it does end up on that list eventually, it’s still a great film.

Via

Sam Worthington of Avatar and Terminator Salvation fame, is currently in negotiations to star in Universal’s new vampire pic, Dracula Year Zero, as none other than Dracula himself.

But If you’re trying hard to picture Jake Sulley in a cape with fangs, I’d think again. Apparently Universal are going for more of an origin story here, with more of a focus on the true story of Prince Vlad ‘The Impaler’ as a flawed hero in an age of magic and war.

Worthington is going to be the obvious choice for any ‘warrior’ or larger than life role from now on, and I can easily see him as Vlad the Impaler slaying people on the battlefield, but whether he can actually carry the role into a believable Dracula is something I’m not so sure about.

Historically Dracula has been played by the likes of Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, Frank Langella, actors who are able to pour every ounce of their acting ability into the role. Worthington was good in Avatar, but I have doubts that he’ll be on a par with these other actors.

The project has no start date and it’s still in development, but as always we’ll be keeping close watch for any further developments.

Via

Gremlins… Yet another movie from my childhood that might be making a comeback. But the latest rumblings seem to be that it’s getting the 3D treatment… Ahhhh!!

Sorry about that, but I honestly don’t think I can bring myself to write another rant about why we don’t need 3D, and especially why the studios shouldn’t be using it as a ‘unique selling point’. Instead I’m just going to sit back now and wait for the 3D fad to either die out or become the norm.

Anyway back to the story at hand. Market Saw are pretty confident that Gremlins 3 will be 3-D. They have no details though other than to say it’s in the early development stages.

Honestly, I would like to see a new Gremlins film. It scared the hell out of me when I was a kid and I’d love for a new generation to discover it.

THR is reporting this morning that James Marsden has signed on to star opposite Russell Brand in I Hop. A CG/live action hybrid comedy about an out of work slacker (Marsden) who accidentally injures the Easter Bunny (voiced by Brand) and has to take care of him while he recovers.

Hmmm, Is this supposed to be a kids comedy or a weird drugs trip?

There are no more details on the project at the moment, other than the director will be Alvin and the Chipmunks director Tim Hill. Someone who obviously now has experience of live action merged with CG.

So from the very little I’ve heard about this film, will I be looking out for it? I doubt it.

This morning we’ve got a Red Band trailer for your viewing pleasure. That’s right, there may be violence, there may be nudity and there may even be the F-Bomb! I just know you’re all excited.

Hot Tub Time Machine is about four guys who get transported back to the 80s in a time machine disguised as a hot tub.

This movie looks fun, it has John Cusack in it, and I want to see it. That is all I need to say. The trailer should speak for itself.

Check it out after the jump…

Via

Well it seems that for once the speculation was right. Marc Webb - director of (500) Days of Summer – will definitely be directing the Spider-Man reboot for Sony.

The news comes from NYMag (via TheMovieBlog) where they confirm that Webb will imminently be signed up to direct the franchise.

But that’s not all. They go on to say that Webb will also be directing another two Spider-Man movies after this one.

Sony must really have faith in his abilities to sign him up for the long run. What happens if he screws it up? The general opinion around the web is that he’ll have no problems with the social and emotional side of Peter Parker, but can he direct comic-book action?

I like change, and I think it’ll be refreshing to see a new spin (sorry, bad pun) on Spider-Man. But please don’t mess it up. Sam Raimi will be pretty hard to beat, so he really needs to take it in a different direction to succeed.

I was thinking to myself the other day, what happened to The Lovely Bones? Here in the UK we had the premiere on 24th November last year, so did I miss it? Was it on a limited run? And then I found out that it’s wasn’t due out until 15th January (or 19th February if you’re in the UK). Which seems like a hell of a long time to release something after a premiere.

So why the delay?

Variety have just done a report on the reason behind this delay, and while the obvious reason is to avoid releasing something at the same time as box office giant Avatar, the less obvious reason is because they wanted to appeal to the ‘Twihards’ (that’s a Twilight fan to you and me).

It seems The Lovely Bones initial target audience were older adults and literary fans. But after a few test screenings and a disappointing opening on Dec. 11th, they’ve don’t a complete 180 and marketed it instead at young teenage girls. More specifically, the type that would watch the Twilight films.

Apparently the films spiritual themes and father-daughter relationship were what younger females responded to most. So they’ve re-done their ad campaigns, and stuck the trailer onto the trailers for New Moon.

Now I’ve seen the trailer for The Lovely Bones and to be honest it didn’t really impress me that much, but thinking about it from a teenage girls perspective, I can kind of see the appeal.

Except I’m not a teenage girl, so fully expect it to be a huge disappointment.

Up in the Air is directed by Jason Reitman and stars George Clooney as a business traveller who spends a lot of time travelling around America by air, accumulating a ton of airmiles and loyalty points. His job once he reaches his destination, is to fire people. This job however, is under threat from a young graduate (Anna Kendrick) who has bright ideas about cutting costs by doing the firing via webcam. And during his travels he meets a fellow business traveller (Vera Farmiga), who he develops an unorthodox long distance relationship with, which ultimately leads him to question his lifestyle.

This film is bewilderingly described as a romantic comedy, and while it has romance, and also some laugh out loud moments, it’s anything but the usual rubbish that’s churned out every other week. First of all the dialogue from Clooney flows smoother than silk. His ability to maintain that cool, suave persona of his always seems completely effortless, and it really suits this role. But what I liked most about this film was it actually had emotion – Something that is always severely lacking in the usual rom-com – and I actually found myself caring for the characters.

Whenever I watch a film I try to predict what path it’s going to take. And by the first half of the film, I was pretty confident that I knew where it was going. So when the film took a different direction three quarters of the way in, I was taken completely off guard. This is what I love most – but rarely find – in a good film.

The friends who I went to see the film with, said they felt slightly depressed by the end of it. I don’t think that was its intention though. Everyone expects a happy ending, and when they don’t get it, you automatically assume it’s a sad or unhappy ending. If you look closer though, you’ll realise that this isn’t what it’s trying to achieve. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but I think Clooney’s character is actually content with his unconventional lifestyle by the end of it, and trying to change that just lead to unhappiness for him, so why change things?

If your girlfriend, wife or partner is trying to drag you along to one of the many rom-coms out there at the moment, I urge you to try and get them to see this instead, so they can see how it’s supposed to be done.

8.5/10

This week there has been a tidal wave of Spider-Man rumours, following the announcement of Sony’s plans for a reboot. The one thing people want to know is, who will direct it?

Some of the names that have been put forward for possible contenders include… James Cameron, David Fincher, Michael Bay (god forbid) and Wes Anderson. Now we’ve got another name to add to the list. Marc Webb, director of romantic indie flick, (500) Days of Summer. The reasoning behind Sony being interested in Webb, is that they feel he portrayed young people (in (500) days of Summer) the same way Sony want to portray a young Peter Parker in their movie.

I think I’d be okay with Marc Webb as the director if that’s the direction they want to go with the reboot. As long as they leave him alone and don’t interfere too much. But we know that’s not going to happen. Sony want a cake made their way with their ingredients. All they need is someone to make it.

There’s sure to be plenty more gossip as the weeks role on. But as always, take the rumours with a big pinch of salt.

Via

If there’s one movie that I’m really looking forward to, more than any other this year, it’s Kick-Ass. I’ve not read the comics on which it’s based, and I’m pretty sure I’ll never get around to reading them before this comes out, but just from the buzz that this film is generating on the Interwebs, I’d say this is going to be a must see.

Check out the latest trailer below and let me know what you think. Is Kick-Ass going to be just another Mystery Men, or is it going to bring something new to the superhero genre?

Via