This Week in Film News: DreamWorks rips off Pixar yet again, and Rhianna and an underwear model fight to save the earth

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Last weekend, the two big releases were The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, one of which was a super energetic, visually dazzling piece of pure movie magic, and the other of which was a run of the mill action film that totally failed to live up to the self hype. Unfortunately, it was The Expendables that dominated the box office, pulling in around US$35 million to Scott Pilgrims US$10.5 million. Stallone is already talking about a sequel. He’s also talking about an Edgar Allen Poe biopic, which I’m sure will be just chocked full of explosions.

Contrary to that last piece of news however, good movies are also capable of making money – this week Toy Story 3 supplanted Shrek 2 as highest grossing animated movie of all time (unadjusted for inflation, but still). With a world-wide gross of over US$920 million, Toy Story 3 is also now the 14th highest grossing movie of all time.

After much speculation, the female lead of David Fincher’s upcoming The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has been cast. The lucky lady is Rooney Mara, who Fincher has been working with on his current project, The Social Network. The only thing I’ve seen Mara in is the recent remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, and I will give her the credit of saying she probably gave the best performance in a movie filled with pretty terrible performances. Hopefully with a decent script and director, she’ll have more a chance to shine.

Sam Worthington has been cast in the upcoming Dracula movie by Knowing and Dark City director Alex Proyas, entitled Dracula: Year Zero. Worthington has officially worn out his welcome with me, although it might be funny hearing him switch erratically back and forth between an Australian and Transylvanian accent.

Peter Berg’s movie adaptation of the game Battleship will tell the story of a battleship (go figure) that has to defend the earth against a bunch of aliens. Thankfully, the commanding officers on the boat include Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch, pop-singer Rhianna and now Victoria’s Secret model Brooklyn Decker (pictured above). I’ll get started on the sewing of white flags.

Seth Rogen will voice the lead character in Boo U, the new film from DreamWorks Animation about a ghost who has to go back to school in order to learn how to be better at scaring people. So essentially it’s going to be DreamWorks’ take on Pixar’s Monsters Inc. Y’know…like how Shark Tale was their take on Finding Nemo, or Megamind is their take on The Incredibles. And don't get me started on Antz...

Sources: /Film, Hey U Guys, Box Office Mojo

This Week in Film News: Arrested Development movie, Justin Bieber biopic, trailer for "Jackass 3D" and the origin of "Inception"

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Saturday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

After three of the funniest seasons of TV even produced, Arrested Development was tragically cancelled in 2006 by FOX due to the fact that no one in America seemed to get it. Since then, rumours have swirled as to the possibility of a feature film, and every one in a while we’ll get a new update on the project. This time it’s creator Mitch Hurwitz, who claims he’s “half-done” with the script. I’m somewhat skeptical that this thing will ever happen, but after recently re-watching all 53 episodes on DVD in the space of about a week, I’m certainly keeping my fingers crossed. If you haven’t seen the show, comment below so I can berate you until you do.

But while that film continues to flounder, the Justin Bieber biopic is moving ahead at full steam. Oh I’m sorry, did I say Justin Bieber biopic? I meant to say Justin Bieber biopic in 3D. I actually have no idea who this person is, although based on a quick Google search I learned that he “sounds like a girl” and “is totally gay”. Thanks internet!

We’ve known for some time that Alan Tudyk (Wash in Firefly) would have a part in Michael Bay’s third Transformers film, but this week we discovered the specifics of the role. According to Tudyk he will play a Sector Seven agent, not unlike John Turturro’s role in the first two films. I don’t know about you, but when I see an actor get urinated on by a robot and who gets to utter the words “I am directly below enemy scrotum”, that is a guy whose career I’d want to emulate. Other new additions to the cast include Academy Award nominee John Malkovich and Academy Award winner Frances McDormand: no word yet as to the humiliations Bay plans to inflict on them.

Director Steven Sommers will return to helm the sequel to his 2009 avant-garde, ultra low budget arthouse picture G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Critics hailed the first film as “a master of post-modernism”, and declared Sommers “the greatest thing to happen to cinema since Akira Kurosawa”. Famed film reviewer Roger Ebert even went so far as to call it “certainly better than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. Woah woah woah! Slow down there Roger; let’s not go nuts.

For all of you out there who are head over heels in love with Christopher Nolan’s Inception, stick this in your pipe and smoke it! Turns out that the plot of the film was stolen from…wait for it…a Donald Duck comic book! I haven’t been this disillusioned since we learned that the plot of James Cameron’s Avatar was stolen from Dances with Wolves, Call Me Joe, Ferngully, Noon Universe and Pocahontas. If you’re interested, the entire comic, entitled Uncle Scrooge’s The Dream Of A Lifetime can be read here.

Finally, there were a few new trailers released this week that I thought we worth drawing your attention to. First up is an awesome interactive iTrailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which allows you to unlock all kinds of trivia, interviews and even some short clips from the film. After that you’ve got previews for Jackass 3D, Sucker Punch and the very brief comic-con teaser for The Avenger. You can view the Scott Pilgrim trailer by following this link, and watch the other three embedded below.







Sources: /Film, Hey U Guys, Quickflix

This Week in Film News: The best, the worst and the most violent scoops out of Comic Con 2010

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every seven days I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

San Diego Comic Con was this week, also known as Reason No. 485 why it sucks living in Australia. Sure, the universal health insurance and low gun-murder rate is great, but I really want to dress up like Chewbacca and wait in line for hours and hours to see small snippets of footage for the new sequel that will probably end up sucking anyway.

I’m not being sarcastic.

However if I ever do get to Comic Con, I’ll be sure to watch out for crazy pen wielding lunatics who like want to stab me in the eye. That’s right. In what is believed to be a dispute over seat saving, a man was stabbed in the side of his eye during the panel for John Favreau’s new film Cowboys and Aliens. The victim was taken to hospital while the perpetrator was apprehended by police officers on scene. He was reportedly wearing a Harry Potter T-Shirt – perhaps he though his pen was a magic wand and he was trying to do a spell.

Stabbings aside, the most talked about thing of the convention was probably the surprise appearance of the entire cast of the upcoming Marvel Superhero film The Avengers. The movie promises to unite the studios biggest stars, including Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Eric Bana Edward Norton Mark Ruffalo as The Incredible Hulk. Oh, and did I mention it’s being directed by Joss Whedon? You can watch video of the Marvel Panel here, although I’d recommend you view it sitting down.

Not wanting to be outdone by Marvel, Warner Brothers released four teaser posters for The Green Lantern, the movie about the superhero who fights his enemies by conjuring up gigantic green cartoon fist with a magic ring. On second thoughts, Warner Brothers were totally outdone. That being said, this footage of the film’s star Ryan Reynolds reciting the Green Lantern oath for an adorable young fan is probably the most heartwarming thing you’ll see all year. The posters show Reynolds as Hal Jordan (aka The Green Lantern), as well as Blake Lively as Carol Ferris (aka Love Interest), Mark Strong as Sinestro (aka Bad Guy) and Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond (aka second Bad Guy).

With Predators making plenty money as the box office, producer Robert Rodriguez has been talking up the possibility of a sequel, stating that 20th Century Fox are eager to move forward. I loved Predators (check out my review here) and thought it was one of the few sequels to live up to the original. With that in mind, it seems to me like another sequel would just be tempting fate. It’s almost enough to make you think that the studio doesn’t care about artistic integrity and is really only interested in making money.

Yes, I just used the phrase artistic integrity in relation to the Predator franchise. I really loved that new film.

Michael Parks (above) – the actor best known for playing Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in several Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez films including Kill Bill, From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse – has been cast as the lead of Kevin Smith’s upcoming political horror film Red State. Parks is set to play an ultra-conservative minister based on Fred Phelps, the real life head of the Westboro Baptist Church. If you don’t know Fred Phelps is, check out his Wikipedia entry. It’s a pretty fascinating read, sort of similar to how a car-wreck or genocide can be fascinating. Having written & directed Dogma, Smith is certainly capable of lampooning religion; whether he can direct a horror movie remains to be seen.

It was announced this week that Len Wiseman, the director of Die Hard 4 and the Underworld films, has signed on to direct a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. I’m not sure how long this project has been in the pipeline, but it seems as though this announcement might have something to do with the overwhelming success of Inception, a film that certainly shares some similarities to the original Total Recall.

Finally, this week saw a little bit more news on the Ridley Scott directed Alien prequel: it’s going to be written by Lost co-producer Damon Lindelof (above, centre). I don't know about anyone else, but I can’t wait to find out that the entire crew of the Nostromo actually time travelled to a parallel universe where they all turned out to be fucking dead! AND WHO THE HELL ARRANGED THE SUPPLY DROP IN SEASON 2! Ok, so I’m still a little bitter about how that show ended. Where was I? Oh yeah, Alien prequel. Whatever. Personally I don’t think Ridley Scott has made a great film since the early eighties with his back to back science fiction masterpieces (the original Alien and Blade Runner), but it shouldn’t be too hard for him to top Alien vs. Predator 2.

Sources: /Film, UGO, Cinema Blend, Hey U Guys

This Week in Film News: Possible Batman 3 villain, "300" prequel and Brad Pitt signs up to fight the zombies

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

With Inception in theatres, Christopher Nolan will soon be turning attention to the third Batman film, and once again rumours are swirling as to who the villain will be. A casting report out of Warner Brothers suggests that the films primary bad-guy will be The Riddler and that Inception co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the favourite for the role. Given the dark tone of the previous films in the franchise, it's not too big of a stretch to envision the endlessly talented young actor as a merciless serial killer who leaves clues for the caped crusader to follow. Or at least that's how I'd write it. Not that I'm offering...unless there's any Warner Brothers executives reading...

300 director Zack Snyder is working on a script for Xerxes, a prequel film about the villain based on an upcoming comic book of the same name. It's very difficult for me to pick the thing I hated most about 300, given how singularly idiotic that film was. But if someone had a gun to my head, it's nine-foot tall, sexually ambiguous bad guy probably would have been up there. From that, I'll let you gauge my enthusiasm for this project for yourself.

Nicolas Cage has signed on for a sequel to Ghost Rider, tentatively titled Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Cage will reprise his role as Johnny Blaze, a stunt cyclist with the ability to transform into a demonic skeleton with a flaming head. And before you get excited, no, they won't literally be setting Nicolas Cage's head on fire.

David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larson's novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo still hasn't found a lead actress, but according to Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal, the film and it's two planned sequels are all going to be "very R-rated". I haven't read the books, but based on the Swedish adaptation from earlier in the year, it's sort hard to imagine that a film with multiple rape scenes could be anything other than R-rated.

Finally, Brad Pitt will go toe to toe against an army of zombies in the upcoming zombie/war film World War Z, based on the 2006 novel of the same name. Any film with Pitt will at least garner some interest from me, although the idea of hordes of a film about zombies taking on the military would probably garner my interest no matter who it starred.

Sources: /Film, First Showing, Hey U Guys

This Week in Film News: The Avengers gets a new Hulk...maybe, and Superman gets a new director...maybe

INT. THE BATCAVE. DAY

ROBIN: "Holy lack of originality Batman! Almost all the news and rumours out of Hollywood this week seem to be related to Superhero movies! Who could be behind this dastardly act of villainy?!"

BATMAN: "There's only one cantankerous crook calamatous enough to concoct such a cowardly cavalcade of creatively questionable content Robin! It can only be...Studio-head man!

ROBIN: "Egad!"

ANNOUNCER: "That's right folks! Grab your cape and pull your underwear on over your pants! It's time for another exciting adventure in This Week in Film News!

Biff! Pow! First up, Edward Norton will no longer be playing the role of Bruce Banner aka The Hulk in the upcoming Avengers movie. Shazaam! Names being thrown around to replace him include David Tennant (Doctor Who), Nathan Fillion (Serenity) and Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island). Regardless of who will play the Hulk while he's human however, I think we can safely assume that the character will continue to look like incredibly silly in purple pants.

Another rumour going around is that Jonathan Nolan, younger brother of Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan will direct Warner Brothers' reboot of the Superman franchise. The younger Nolan has never directed a film before so he seems like something of an odd choice. However, big brother is signed on to oversee the project in an executive producers capacity, and the siblings have colaborated several times before (Jonathan co-wrote the screenplays for The Prestige and The Dark Knight).

What you see above you is a photo of Ryan Reynolds as the The Green Lantern in the upcoming movie of the same name. It's going to be something of a challenge to make this film any good, given that the heroes power allows him to manipulate green energy - for example, he might make a giant green boxing glove to hit the badguys. Works in a comic book maybe, but I'm not entirely sold on the big screen adaption. On the other hand, Ryan Reynolds was about the only decent thing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (where he played Deadpool), so at least he'll be able to make funny quips while looking ridiculous.

Speaking of looking ridiculous, this is a new promotion photo for the upcoming movie based on the Marvel Superhero franchise Thor. Going left to right we have Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. I don't know whether that eyepatch is in the comic or a creation for the film, but eitherway it has singlehandedly doubled my incredulity that this is supposed to be a major tentpole release.

Sources: /Film, CHUD

This Week in Film News: "Eclipse" kills audience member, "Spiderman" gets cast & Mel Gibson is a bastard

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. If you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The lead in the Spiderman reboot has official been cast and it's none other than Andrew Garfield! Crickets? Yeah, I hadn't heard of him either, but he's had roles in Boy A and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as well as the upcoming The Social Network. I'm still against this film in principal, but at least they haven't cast someone from Twilight, so we can all be thankful for that.

Speaking of Twilight, the latest film in the series, Eclipse, is apparently so bad that it is literally killing people. Well, no, not really. But in New Zealand, a 23 year-old man was found dead in his seat after a screening of the film with "no obvious injuries". I don't think it's too much of a stretch to assume that the movie was directly responsible for his death, do you? Full story here.

Avatar is already one of the most profitable movies of all time, but apparently Fox Studios want more money (go figure). So, come August 27th (in the US, Australia and the United Kingdom, and in other countries in the months that follow) the film is going to be re-released in 3D and IMAX theatres with eight minutes of additional footage. Believe it or not, I'm actually in favour of this. Avatar was a movie I saw twice in theatres are really enjoyed, but let's face it: there's not much point in seeing it unless it's on a massive screen.

But Avatar isn't going to be the only film that gets re-released. This week, we learnt that there are tentative plans to bring both Titanic and the original Star Wars Trilogy back to theatres in the next few years. The bad news? They're being converted in 3D. The fact that George Lucas is willing to whore out his beloved property isn't really surprising anymore, but I'm surprised that James Cameron is willing to convert Titanic given that he's always been an advocate for shooting in 3D rather than converting in post production.

Christopher Nolan's Inception hits theatres in the US next week, but the early reviews have already started to come in and they're almost unanimously glowing; /Film has a full roundup of spoiler free snippets, where you'll come across terms like "brilliant" and "masterpiece" with inspiring regularity. After being a little disappointed by Kick-Ass earlier this year, I promised myself I wasn't going to hype myself up for this movie; that being said, Inception is probably going to be the greatest film of all time and may very well be the one remaining hope for the originality in the movie industry (click here to read my article explaining why).

The upcoming seventh film in the Saw franchise has received it's official title: Saw 3D: The Traps Come Alive. This is definitely a stupid name, but after we learnt last week that Final Destination 5 was going to be called 5NAL DESTINATION, I'm just glad that all the letters in the Saw sequels title are actually made up of letters.

Above is the new Harry Potter teaser poster. At first I thought it was an ad for sauce. That's a fairly obscure (and not particularly funny) joke that most people outside of the UK probably won't understand.

Finally, Mel Gibson is under investigation by the LAPD for verballing and physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Allegedly, the director/actor left Oksana Grigorieva bruised and concussed, and told her that the way she dressed would get her "raped by a pack of n*ggers". Gibson being a racist and despicable human being has been old news for a while now, and sadly it probably won't have much of a detriment on his movie career - after all, being a child molester hasn't stopped Roman Polanski making movies.

In the feeble hope of turning that last horrible news item into something semi-productive, I thought I'd ask the following question: does your perception of a director or actor influence how you view their movies? I thought Gibson did a great job directing Apocalypto (and who doesn't love the first two Lethal Weapon movies?), but recently I've found it very hard to separate his real life persona from the films he's involved with. A less extreme example could be Tom Cruise, who's couch jumping antics and run ins with Scientology seem to have left the public with a bitter taste in their mouths. What are your thoughts?

Sources: Sources: /Film, CHUD, Hey U Guys, What Would Tyler Durden Do, BigPond News

This Week in Film News: "Eclipse" breaks a record, trailers for "Harry Potter" & "Paranormal Activity 2" and the worst movie title of all time

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. If you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The big news this week is of course the release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film in the ongoing story of one girl’s quest to find self-esteem. The film took approximately US$30 million in midnight showings, breaking the record of US$26.3 million set by its predecessor New Moon. I have to admit that I was a little surprised by the movies success given that I hadn’t heard that much buzz. Then I remembered that I mostly talk to people who are a) intelligent and b) have penises. Suddenly it all made sense*.

*I don’t mean to suggest that having a penis automatically makes you intelligent. After all, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was the second highest grossing film of last year. Clearly the lesson here is that human men and human women are the two most moronic genders in existence. I’m applying to become a cat.

In non-sparkly news, the directors of the amazing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (my number three film of last year) have signed on to direct the Lego movie. There is little word as to what the Lego movie will be about…aside from Lego, I guess. I’d suggest making a movie out of Star Wars Lego or Indiana Jones Lego, but on further reflection that’d probably just be Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

There’s been a bunch of casting news/rumours this week for the upcoming X-Men prequel entitled X-Men: First Class. Set in the early days of the Xavier Institute, the movie will be directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) and is set to star James McAvoy as a young Professor X, Michael Fassbender as a young Magneto, Alice Eve as Emma Frost and Benjamin Walker as Beast.

Furthermore, there are rumours that the studio is interested in casting Amber Heard, Rosamund Pike and Caleb Landry Johns as Mystique, Moira McTaggert and Banshee, respectively. A lot of these actors are largely untested, but just the fact that there’s a new X-Men movie being directed by someone who isn’t completely incompetent is enough to get me excited. Looking at you Ratner.

Meryl Streep has been cast in the upcoming biopic based on the life of Margaret Thatcher, entitled Thatcher. All you need to know is that it’s Meryl Streep, so therefore she’s guaranteed to be amazing, even if the movie sucks. This is true for literally any movie: I could tell you that Meryl Streep has been cast in the upcoming biopic of Michael Jackson, entitled Jackson, and I would still be right. Meryl Streep is god.

The fifth movie in the Final Destination has just received its title: 5NAL DESTINATION. I…I have no words. No sarcastic remark. Nothing. This is the stupidest piece of titling in the history of movies. If you can think of a title for another movie that was worse than this one, please let me know. Otherwise, I’m making it official.

This Week in Trailers

After this week, I'm going to start up a separate post dedicated to This Week in Trailers, which I'm will hopefully be posting every Thursday. Until then however...

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (first theatrical trailer)

At the risk of seriously upsetting about seventy-five percent of people I know, I wasn't a huge fan of this trailer. I think the movie itself looks pretty good- good special effects, etc, but the trailer itself is just a whole bunch of overly-dramatic music, slow motion and hyperbolic text (this isn't even the motion picture event of the year, let alone an entire generation).



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 will be in theatres from November 18th 2010.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 will be in theatres from July 15th 2011.

RED (first theatrical trailer)

An action movie that stars Bruce Willis is nothing new. An action movie that stars Morgan Freeman or John Malkovich is a little more out of the ordinary. An action movie that stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren (wielding a machine gun) as a bunch of ex-CIA operatives called out of retirement is a very rare thing, and a flat out brilliant idea.



Red will be in theatres in the US from October 15th; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (teaser trailer)

One of the only original movies of last year gets a sequel. It would have to be a surprise before it could qualify as an unpleasant surprise. So really, it's just unpleasant news.



Paranormal Activity 2 will be in theatres in the US from October 22nd; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK (teaser trailer)

As excited as I am for this movie about the founding of facebook, directed by David Fincher, this first trailer is pretty useless. There's a lot of quotes taken out of context that don't really make much sense, and when it finally ends all we get is the poster we saw last week. I do like the films title design (inspired by the facebook logo), but I really need to see some actual footage before I can properly begin my over-hyping campaign.



The Social Network will be in theatres in the US from October 1st; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.

Sources: /Film, Quickflix, Mendelson's Memos

This Week in Film News: Facebook Movie, Lion King 3D and a hell of a lot of trailers

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news, covering trailers, posters and insane asinine rumours about board-game to movie adaptations. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

First up we have this new poster for The Social Network aka The Facebook Movie. But before you get worked up about how ridiculous a facebook movie seems, consider that it’s being directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club). Facebook Movie. Facebook Movie directed by David Fincher. Makes a world of difference, doesn’t it?

Disney is planning on converting The Lion King into 3D for a theatrical re-release. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see Mufasa fly towards me through the air before he’s crushed by a stampede of wildebeests.

There’s a rumour flying around that director Guy Ritchie wants Daniel Day-Lewis to play Moriarty in the next Sherlock Holmes movie. The star of There Will Be Blood might not strike some as the first choice for the role, but on a personal note, he’s my first choice for just about any role (behind Phillip Seymour Hoffman maybe, but he definitely wouldn’t fit this part).

What you see above is one of the first photos from the set of Transformers 3, which is guaranteed to be one of those movies that I bitch and moan about forever but when it comes out I’ll definitely see, only to bitch and moan about my decision to do just that. Sigh. Anyway, this photo gives us a look at Megan Fox’s replacement, Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

This Week in Trailers

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (new international trailer)

With every clip new for this movie I get more and more psyched. Director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) looks like he has perfectly combined film, video game and comic book aesthetics. This end of this trailer gives us our first look at Brandan Routh (Superman in Superman Returns), one of Ramona’s evil ex-boyfriends.



Scott Pilgrim vs. The World will be in theatres from August 13th.

PREDATORS (new international trailer)

I’d actually recommend you DON’T watch this trailer, as it gives away one possibly two character deaths. However I can tell you that the movie looks incredibly awesome, and bloody as hell (which I suppose falls under "incredibly awesome" anyway).



Predators will be in theatres from July 9th.

THE GREEN HORNET (first theatrical trailer)

A superhero comedy starring Seth Rogen and a villainous Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). I’m sold.



The Green Hornet will be in theatres in the US from January 14th 2011; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE (2nd trailer)

A return to 3D in it's purest form, where stuff flies at your face for no other reason than to provoke the reaction “ooooh, stuff is flying at my face”. This movie looks pretty awful.



Resident Evil: Afterlife will be in theatres in the US from September 10th and in Australia from October 7th.

Sources: /Film, HeyUGuys, Quickflix

Weekly-ish Film News: Avatar, Kick-Ass & MILA KUNIS AND NATALIE PORTMAN MAKE SWEET SWEET LOVE!!!

Sorry about not writing a news post last week – school is really starting to pick up, and I suspect my posting rate will become increasingly erratic over the next couple of months. I know this will be hard for the legions of you (ha ha) who rely on me to keep you updated (after all, this is the only site on the entire internet that covers movie news!) But keep your chin up – after I finish my studies I’ll have nothing to do but blog, continuously and vapidly, until I completely exhaust the small amount of creativity I possess. For now, I’ll try to keep up some sporadic coverage of news…so enjoy it while you can!

Today, as many of you may know, is Avatar Day. And that means that the first trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar is finally here. You can watch the trailer here, and check out some new photos from the movie (like the one above) here.

Bootleg footage of the Iron Man II Comic-con trailer hit the web last week, but unfortunately it has since disappeared. So, if you haven’t seen it, you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you it was COMPLETELY FREAKIN’ AWESOME. Basically it was everything you wanted to see – highlights include some funny dialogue between Iron Man and Nick Fury (played in all his eye-patchy glory by Samuel L. Jackson), another funny scene in which Tony Stark refusing to hand over the Iron Man suit to the US government, as well as a cool introduction to the films villain, Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke. And then finally, in the dying seconds of the footage, we get our first look at War Machine (played by Don Cheadle, replacing Terrance Howard), Iron Man’s mini-gun wielding sidekick. Like I said – it was awesome.

But Iron Man wasn’t the only bootleg footage to come out of Comic-con. We also got our first look at Kick-Ass, the new black comedy/superhero satire film from Matthew Vaughn (the director of Layer Cake). The movie is based on the ongoing comic series by Mark Millar, and stars Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski, a New York teenage who decides to become a superhero. The concept doesn’t sound that great, but the online buzz about this movie is that it is fantastically fucked up. I don’t know many specifics, but I do know that one of the films main characters is an eleven year old girl who moonlights as an assassin (see the picture above). Sounds like a recipe for success to me! Once again though, the footage has disappeared from the web - hopefully we'll see a proper trailer soon.

Remember that DreamWorks Animation movie that I told you about a few months ago? It’s called Oobermind…it’s about a reformed super villain? No? I probably wouldn’t remember either, seeing as the only thing remotely appealing about it (aside from the fact that it’s so blatantly an attempt to replicate the success of Pixar’s The Incredibles) was that it was going to star Robert Downey Jr. And now, it doesn’t even have that. The titular character will now be voiced by Will Ferrell, pretty much ending any interest I had in seeing the film.

And now that Downey isn’t involved in that project, he’s free to start talks to play the vampire “Lestat”, the main character of The Vampire Chronicles, a series of books by Anne Rice. Two books in the series have already been made into movies – Interview with a Vampire (in which Lestat was played by Tom Cruise), and Queen of the Damned. I haven’t read the books or seen either of these films, so I don’t really care about this piece of casting. However, a couple of my friends have objected pretty strongly to the news, so…I guess I’ll take their word for it and say that this (to quote one of them) “totally sucks.”

Two sequels have been announced over the past fortnight, both of which will make you question your faith in humanity. First is GI Joe 2 – the first movie has made around $US100 million dollars already, which I guess was all the excuse they needed. I haven’t seen the movie (and I sort of doubt I ever will), but just the idea of a GI Joe 2: Revenge of the…whatever sort of makes me shudder. But it gets worse. We’ve also gotten confirmation on White Chicks 2. Now, not only did I not see White Chicks, but I don’t think I know anyone who did. Why they would feel the need to make a sequel is beyond me…oh well…it’s not like I’m going to watch it.

Finally, I have an intriguing piece of news about The Black Swan, the upcoming film from Darren Aronofsky, director of The Wrestler and Reqiuem for a Dream. Now, I've already writen a little about this flick, which is some kind of supernatural drama about a ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in competition with a rival dancer (Kunis) who may or may not be real. But what we've learned this week, via a script review over at ScriptShadow.com, is that in the movie "Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis have sex…And not just nice sweet innocent sex either. We’re talking ecstasy-induced hungry aggressive angry sex."

Now, I don't want to overplay the significance of this. Based on the talent of the people involved, I was already interested in seeing this movie. However...let's be honest...this new piece of information may be the single greatest piece of information in the entire history of pieces of information, or the history movies, or the history of hot steamy lesbian sex! I'm trying really hard not to be a sleazy arsehole here, but come on! That's freakin' fascinating, and if I hadn't already been sold on the movie, this would probably have single handedly convinced me to buy a ticket. That being said, one incredible scene does not make a movie - just look at Mulholland Drive. Okay, bad example - most people love that movie. But I hated it, despite Naomi Watts and Laura Harring getting...horizontal.

DVDs

The last fortnight hasn't afforded Australia much in the way of movies on DVD, but we have seen a ton of awesome TV shows get their due diligence. New releases include Mad Men Season 2, Californication Season 2, Dexter Season 3, The Shield Season 6, and last but certainly not least, Battlestar Galactica (the new version) The Complete Series on DVD and Blu-ray.

Sources: /Film, Hey U Guys, Not all Texans ride horses to school, Movie Buzz, EzyDVD

Weekly Film News: Ben Lyons is no more! Virtual lap dances for everyone!

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In a piece of news I’m filing in the “stupendously awesome” category, Ben Lyons will no longer be hosting At The Movies (the American version, not the Australian one). Lyons and his co-host Ben Mankiewicz will be replaced this September by two legitimate film critics, Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott, both of whom repeatedly appeared as guests on the show during the Ebert & Roeper phase. This means that viewers will no longer have to put up with Lyons' celebrity ass kissing and shallow, poorly articulated reviews – this is the man who called I Am Legend “one of the greatest movies ever made”. Good riddance. For more information on this story, visit www.stopbenlyons.com

Above is the first poster for James Cameron’s Avatar and…it’s a big blue guy! I believe this is one of the Na’vi, the alien protagonists in the film. Interesting to note that Cameron is listed as “the director of Titanic” – you would think this film would appeal more to the Aliens/Terminator crowd.

A few weeks ago, I reported the rumour that Robert De Niro had joined the cast of Robert Rodriguez's upcoming film Machete. Well not only has De Niro's involvement been confirmed, several other huge names have signed on, including Steven Seagal, Lindsey Lohan and Jessica Alba. Now I'm not a fan of any of these three, but I think they're all kind of perfect for this project, a sleazy Mex-ploitation film. Additionally, the film will feature Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey, Michelle Rodriguez and, of course, Danny Trejo as the eponymous character. You can watch the Machete Trailer (originally attached to the Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse) here.

Eli Roth has posted on his myspace page a minigame for Inglourious Basterds, the Quentin Tarantino WWII film in which Roth stars alongside Brad Pitt. The game is simple - use a baseball bat to bash in the skulls of Nazi's. Kill enough Nazi's, proceed to the next level. Best of all, if you make it to level 15, you can get a copy of the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack (when it is released) absolutely free. So click here for the link and start walloping!

James McTeigue, the director of V for Vendetta and the upcoming Ninja Assassin will reportedly be making a film based on the Edgar Allen Poe poem The Raven. Well, kind of. According to McTeigue, "it’s like the poem, The Raven, itself, crossed with Se7en", and will tell the story of Poe himself, who joins forces with police to catch a serial killer who's murders are inspired by Poe's stories. This sounds pretty cool, but the definitive version of The Raven will always be from The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror.

The above photo is from A Couple of Dicks, the new buddy cop action comedy starring Bruce Willis (pictured...obviously) and Tracey Morgan. It was posted by the films director, Kevin Smith, on his twitter page, alongside the words "This is my Bruce-Willis-holding-a-gun picture. There are many like it but this one is mine". For those who don't know, I am a huge fan of Smith's and can't wait for this movie, scheduled for a February 2010 release in the US. However, the films name will probably change due to problems with advertisers; might I suggest "A Couple of Arseholes"?

We saw four very different trailers premiere this week. The first one was for Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, based on the best selling novel of the same name. The second was the red-band for Zombieland, the horror comedy starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. Third was the trailer for Good Hair, the Chris Rock documentary that explores the obsession African-American women seem to have with hair. And finally we have the trailer for Nations Pride, the Nazi propoganda film from Alois von Eichberg. Ok, not really! Nations Pride is a film featured in Inglourious Basterds, and this fake trailer (directed in reality by Eli Roth) is part of the movies viral marketing campaign.

Finally, in what is either the most awesome or the most depressing piece of viral marketing ever, societyargirls.com will allow you to recieve a virtual lap dance in the comfort of your own home. A promotion for the upcoming film Gamer (click here to see the surprising kickass trailer), the way this works is simple: you print out a piece of paper and put it on the floor in front of your chair. Point your webcam at the paper and voila - projected on your computer screen will be a video of you recieving a lap dance from either "Candy" or "Aiko". All things considered, I'm glad I don't own a webcam, because if I did I know I would try this out and then feel like a total jackass afterwards. Still, it's amazing what we can do with technology these days!

DVDs
New DVD releases in Australia this week include Let The Right One In, Inkheart, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Boston Legal season 5

Sources: /Film, First Showing, Hey U Guys, Movie Buzz, EzyDVD

Weekly Film News: Nightmare on Elm Street & Alien reboots, 300 sequel & music from Tron: Legacy

In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Above is the new teaser poster for the reboot of Nightmare on Elm Street. Unlike most genres, I actually like it when horror movies are rebooted/remade/reimagined/given a preposterous and unnecessary sequel (set in space?). Best of all, this film will star Jackie Earle Haley, who played Rorschach in Watchmen, as Freddy Krueger.

Darren Aronofsky’s next film is no longer going to be the reboot of RoboCop – instead, it will be The Black Swan, a supernatural drama about a ballet dancer (played by Natalie Portman) who finds herself in a competition with a rival dancer (played by Mila Kunis) who may or may not be real. I was really looking forward to seeing Aronofsky (who previously directed The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream) direct a big action movie, but this project sounds pretty interesting as well.

The Alien prequel has been confirmed, as has its director: none other than Ridley Scott, who in 1979 directed the original Alien film. I’m not really looking forward to this movie; I love the first two, but after that the franchise went to hell, and I’ve no desire for it continue. Still, if we have to have a prequel, I’m glad Scott is directing.

A sequel to 300 is apparently a possibility, with Frank Miller, the writer of the original comic, reportedly working on a second issue. I don’t think I’ve ever shared my feelings towards that movie on this blog; the short version is that I hate it with a fiery passion that consumes my soul. I don’t really even see how they could do a sequel…didn’t 299 die?

A bunch of trailers where released this week, for films including Tron: Legacy, Ninja Assassin, the Coen brother’s A Serious Man, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, as well as the 3D re-release of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. You can view all those trailers here.



Finally, I have here the first track from the Tron: Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk, and it’s pretty freaking awesome. As I said in my write up of the recently released teaser, I have never seen the original Tron film, but this track and that footage both get me really excited.

DVDs

Only two notable DVD releases this week in Australia, but I plan on buying both of them immediately. Firstly, we have the two-disc special edition of Watchmen. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the directors cut version, so I'll probably end up double-dipping on this purchase.

Secondly, we have the second half of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica. I have actually seen the ending already, but this was undoubtedly one of the best shows on television - both intelligent and action packed - and I can't wait to own it on DVD.

Sources: /Film, Movie Buzz, EzyDVD