Category Archives: Movies

Dueling Snow White trailers: ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ & ‘Mirror Mirror’

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Universal Pictures is prepping a new movie that warps the classic Disney fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarves into an epic action-adventure starring Kristen Stewart (Twilight) as Snow White, Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen, and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as a huntsman who teaches Snow White the art of war. The trailer, narrated by Theron in character, is quite epic in scale and has me anticipating the June 1, 2012 release date. However, I am not so sure how it is going to hold up with Stewart in the lead role; her acting turns in Twilight and Adventureland have me a bit worried.

Hop after the break to watch the trailer for another Snow White adaptation, Mirror Mirror. Continue reading Dueling Snow White trailers: ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ & ‘Mirror Mirror’ →

‘The Hobbit’ production vlog #4

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Peter Jackson is at the very top of my list of people who are awesome. The behind the scenes video diaries he’s been churning out from the set of the upcoming two-part prequel The Hobbit are simply fascinating. The theme of the fourth vlog is 3D filmmaking. Jackson and his crew are shooting The Hobbit in 3D using RED EPIC cameras and 3ality lenses. The camera department is home to a grand total of 48 RED EPIC cameras on 17 3D rigs. Interestingly, all of the different camera rigs are named after Jackon’s family members and inspirations. All of the scenes from the film are being shot at 48 frames per second at 5K resolution for a more realistic and immersive picture. The diary explains how everything from the set design to makeup is affected by the way in which the high-res 3D camera rigs pick up colors and tones. Oh and get this–even the concept art is drawn in 3D with red and blue colored pencils! Go behind the scenes with Jackson in the video above. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey releases December 14, and part two subtitled There and Back Again comes out one year later.

Comedy trailer roundup: ’21 Jump Street’, ‘Wanderlust’, ‘Project X’

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Check out these trailers for three upcoming comedy films. First up is a red band trailer for 21 Jump Street, a film based on the 1980s crime drama that starred a young Johnny Depp. The theatrical adaptation stars Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as young undercover cops investigating crimes at a high school. It hits theatres March 16, 2012.

Jump after the break to watch the trailers for Wanderlust and Project X. Continue reading Comedy trailer roundup: ’21 Jump Street’, ‘Wanderlust’, ‘Project X’ →

Stop-motion animation studio LAIKA is back with ‘ParaNorman’ [trailer inside]

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Here’s a nice Halloween treat for us all: a teaser poster and trailer for the upcoming stop-motion animated feature ParaNorman. The movie is from Focus Features and LAIKA, the same partnership that produced 2009’s critically-acclaimed Coraline. ParaNorman is directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler; Butler imagined and penned the original story. The voice cast includes Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elaine Strich, Tempestt Bledsoe, Bernard Hill, and Alex Borstein. The trailer, embedded after the break, doesn’t reveal much of the plot as it includes zero dialogue, but this quick synopsis should suffice:

A misunderstood boy who can speak with the dead takes on ghosts, zombies and, worst of all, grown-ups, in order to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Norman Babcock is an outcast in his small New England town. When a horde of zombies is unleashed on the populace, Norman learns he must use his paranormal powers to make things right again. That’s not an easy task when you’re only eleven. And you’ve just been grounded. 

The movie poster and teaser trailer make ParaNorman out to be a strange, dark, and visually stunning piece of work worthy of much anticipation. It releases wide August 17, 2012 in 3D. Continue reading Stop-motion animation studio LAIKA is back with ‘ParaNorman’ [trailer inside] →

Trailer: ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’

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From Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment (the animation studio behind Despicable Me) comes a film adaptation of one of Dr. Seuss’ most popular children’s stories, The Lorax. Danny DeVito stars as the voice of the orange, furry Lorax and Zac Efron voices the protagonist Ted. Here’s a nice synopsis:

The 3D-CGI feature Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is an adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a boy as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. Danny DeVito will lend his vocal talents to the iconic title character of the Lorax, while Ed Helms will voice the enigmatic Once-ler. Also bringing their talents to the film are global superstars Zac Efron as Ted, the idealistic young boy who searches for the Lorax, and Taylor Swift as Ashley, the girl of Ted’s dreams. Rob Riggle will play financial king O’Hare, and beloved actress Betty White will portray Ted’s wise Grammy Norma.

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax hits theatres in 3D on March 2, 2012.

Trailer 2: ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’

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Here’s a new trailer for the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise subtitled Ghost Protocol. Star Tom Cruise comes off as even more badass than in the first trailer! I, for one, cannot wait to watch Cruise as Ethan Hunt scale the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. The action looks incredible. M:I 4 is out December 16.

Teaser trailer: ‘Grim Night’

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Check out this teaser trailer for Grim Night based on a spec script penned by first-time feature writers Brandon Bestenheider and Allen Bey and produced by Bryan Bertino (The Strangers) and Adrienne Brittle. According to Deadline, there was a heated battle over the script among the big movie studios and in the end Universal Pictures purchased it making a deal “in the high six- or seven-figure range.” The plot is creepy all the way to its core, and horror fans are eating this up. The teaser trailer introduces us to a world where there is one day every year when creatures known as “Grims” terrorize and murder people on Earth. The scariest bit is that the Grim attacks are extremely violent and senselessly random. The movie will focus on a family in small town America defending themselves against the hooded Dementor-like Grims. Since it’s so early in development, there is no telling how much the final product will look like the teaser embedded above. If the young writing duo and veteran producers are smart, they won’t deviate too far from what they already have. The scary, apocalyptic, gritty and viral-video feeling here is very reminiscent of recent flicks like Paranormal Activity, District 9, and Bertino’s own The Strangers. More as this story develops. Oh, and good luck sleeping tonight after watching this doozy.

[Via Deadline]

Joss Whedon’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ project revealed

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On Monday, this little bit of exciting news came to light: Bellwether Pictures announced that Joss Whedon (Dr. Horrible, The Avengers) secretly adapted and directed a modern version of Shakespeare’s classic comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Never heard of the backing studio Bellwether Pictures? A press release explains its origin; it’s “a micro-studio created by Joss Whedon and Kai Cole [Whedon’s wife] for the production of small, independent narrativesfor all media, embracing a DIY ethos and newer technologies for, in this particular case, a somewhat older story.” The film was shot in black and white over the course of  just twelve days in “exotic” Santa Monica, California. It stars many of Whedon’s past collaborators from Firefly, Dollhouse, and his upcoming horror film Cabin in the Woods. The two leads are Amy Acker (Dr. Claire Saunders from Dollhouse) and Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce from Buffy and Angel) as Beatrice and Benedick, “the world’s least likely lovers headedfor their inevitable tumble into love.” The supporting cast includes Nathan Fillion (Firefly) as Dogberry, Clark Gregg (The Avengers) as Leonato, Fran Kranz (Dollhouse) as Claudio, Reed Diamond (Moneyball) as Don Pedro, and Sean Maher (Firefly) as Don John. Says Whedon, “The text is to me adeconstruction of the idea of love, which is ironic, since the entire production is a loveletter – to the text, to the cast, even to the house it’s shot in.”

Whedon made the decision to move ahead with his passion project while filming The Avengers in New York. After the Marvel filmed wrapped, he planned to celebrate his 20th anniversary with his wife Kai by taking a break from work and going on vacation. Kai ultimately pushed Whedon into Much Ado About Nothing and together they financially backed the project, made casting decisions, and shot the entire film inside their home. Kai is an architect and she ended up designing the set and decorating the house.

In an interview with EW, Whedon described his take on the Shakespearean play. “I had trouble at first, because it had the words “About Nothing” in the title. So I was like, “I don’t have anything to say about nothing.” But really when I started pouring over it, I got a very strong sense of how a little bit dark and twisted it is. The movie’s in black-and-white partially because it’s kind of a noir comedy. I realized that everybody in it behaves like such a dolt — an articulate dolt, but a dolt. I fixated on this notion that our ideas of romantic love are created for us by the society around us, and then escape from that is grown-up love, is marriage, is mature love, to escape the ideals of love that we’re supposed to follow. So that clicked for me when I realized, oh, I get why it matters everybody goes through the weird machinations we go through.”

Actor Sean Maher shed some more light on what to expect with EW. “It does feel contemporary. The direction we were getting from Joss was to make it was real, especially with the language, not to be big and Shakespearian, but to bring it in and be intimate and bring it as close to a realistic way of speaking as we could. And Joss’ house is just magnificent. Not ostentatious by any means, but just a maze of halls and so many different bedrooms and this pool that overlooks the Santa Monica mountains. It’s gorgeous, just the most perfect setting. Everybody who was there, so desperately wanted to be there and you felt that. It really felt like we were doing something great. So I’m excited.”

And so now I bet you’re wondering when the general public will be able to see Whedon’s rendition of Much Ado About Nothing. “I haven’t heard anything yet,” he told EW. “I’ve just been enjoying the Internet response. We’re feeling our way on this one, just like Dr. Horrible. I do mean it to be in theaters. But we haven’t gotten any real plan except [going to] film festivals because it sounded like it would be festive.”

There you have it. The veil has been lifted from Joss Whedon’s passion project, a modernized version of a classic Shakespeare play. While we wait for official announcements concerning the film’s distribution, feast your eyes on two images from the production featuring Sean Maher and Amy Acker plus a a still from the official movie website. The full press release sits after the break.

[Via MuchAdoTheMovie; EW] Continue reading Joss Whedon’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ project revealed →

Movie poster: ‘The Three Stooges’

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Sean Hayes (Will & Grace), Chris Diamantopoulos (24), and Will Sasso (MADtv) are Larry, Moe, and Curly in The Three Stooges reboot helmed by the Farrelly Brothers (Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary). The feature will apparently play out in three half-hour shorts and will follow the three knuckleheads as they grow out of an orphanage and journey into adulthood. The latest sources say the dim-witted trio will find themselves in the middle of a murder plot and then starring in a reality show. Jane Lynch (Glee) and Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm) have been cast as Mother Superior and Sister Mary-Mengele, respectively, and will fill the screen during the Stoooges’ time at the orphanage. Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Jennifer Hudson, and Stephen Collins round out the impressive supporting cast. A trailer should release soon, but for now we’ll have to deal with this teaser poster featuring silhouettes of Curly and Moe Howard and Larry Fine. According to Deadline, the 20th Century Fox logo is intentionally cropped out; ha! The Three Stooges releases April 4, 2012.

[Via ComingSoon.net; Deadline]