Tag Archives: movie notes

Trailer: In Time

In the late 21st century TIME has replaced MONEY as the unit of currency. At 25 years old, aging stops and each person is given one more year to live. Unless you replenish your clock…you die.

Intrigued, are you? Read on for the synopsis:

When Will Salas is falsely accused of murder, he must figure out a way to bring down a system where time is money — literally — enabling the wealthy to live forever while the poor, like Will, have to beg, borrow, and steal enough minutes to make it through another day.

Pop star-turned-actor Justin Timberlake stars in this must-see sci-fi action thriller along with Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory), Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer (White Collar), Olivia Wilde, and Cillian Murphy. Andrew Niccol (Gattaca) directs. Watch an extended look at the film after the break.

In Time (originally titled I’m.mortal) hits theatres October 28, 2011. Continue reading Trailer: In Time

Trailer: Martin Scorsese’s Hugo

Scorsese’s fully embracing 3D with his upcoming flick Hugo. The family-friendly adventure film stars Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas), the phenomenal Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass, Let Me In), Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, and Sacha Baron Cohen. ComingSoon.net provides a synopsis:

Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, the ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, seemingly without a key. Based on Brian Selznick’s award winning and imaginative New York Times bestseller, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” this magical tale is Academy Award-winner Martin Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D.

Dig the trailer above. Hugo hits theatres November 23, 2011.

Trailer: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in the fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Ghost Protocol is directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles). Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg reprise as Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn, respectively, and Jeremy Renner, Josh Holloway (Lost‘s Sawyer), Anil Kapoor, Paula Patton, Vladimir Mashkov, Michael Nyqvist, and Lea Seydoux join the cast. M:I 4 is a Bad Robot Production; J.J. Abrams produced the film (with Cruise and Paula Wagner) and co-wrote it with André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum (these guys previously worked with Abrams on Alias).

Here’s a synopsis that’s making rounds across the ‘Net: This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. You have never seen a mission grittier and more intense than this.

The trailer, in a word, is awesomesauce. It’s action-packed, thrilling, and sexy–a great mix if you ask me. And how insane is that final sequence we’re left with? Cruise actually scaled Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, to get the shot. Plus the theme song, it never gets old.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol hits standard and IMAX theatres on December 16, 2011.

Pixar ventures into new territory with upcoming fairy tale ‘Brave’ [Update: teaser trailer]

Oh, isn’t it beautiful? Take some time to scan the official movie poster for Pixar’s Brave above.

Pixar’s thirteenth animated film Brave is going to shake things up on more than one level. Firstly, go girls: Brenda Chapman is helming the film alongside Mark Andrews; she is the Pixar’s first female director. In addition, the movie stars Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), the first female protagonist in a Pixar film. Second, Brave plans to go where no Pixar film has ventured before. “What we want to get across [with the teaser] is that this story has some darker elements,” co-director Mark Andrews spills to EW. “Not to frighten off our Pixar fans — we’ll still have all the comedy and the great characters. But we get a little bit more intense here.”

The animation is spectacular, and the first official poster really does an impressive job getting that idea across. The detail is incredible. See those stones looming behind the letters? “[They] are actually a pretty important set in the film,” producer Katherine Sarafian tells EW. “We can’t say what happens there, but they were inspired by an actual location in Scotland that we visited multiple times during our research. It was a very powerful setting for the kind of things we want to have happen in the story.”

Here’s a brief synopsis of the story: Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave is slated to release in 3D on June 22, 2012. After a look at this grand poster, anticipation is high. A teaser trailer is expected to play before Cars 2 (which hits theatres tomorrow, June 24). Once it hits the ‘Net I’ll make sure to embed it after the break.

Update: The teaser trailer has arrived. And it’s just as gorgeous and thrilling as you probably expected it to be. Watch it after the break.

[Via EW-InsideMovies] Continue reading Pixar ventures into new territory with upcoming fairy tale ‘Brave’ [Update: teaser trailer]

Trailer: Footloose

Reboot time! The 1984 classic Footloose is making a comeback with a brand new cast. Newcomer Kenny Wormald is ready to step into the big shoes once filled by a young Kevin Bacon to star as the rebellious Ren MacCormack. Country singer Julianne Hough plays the minister’s daughter Ariel, Dennis Quaid is her father, and Miles Teller is Ren’s friend Willard. Need a recap on the story? Here it is:

Ren MacCormack is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel in the process.

Footloose is a timeless classic. Is a remake necessary? Probably not. But the music and dancing entwined in this love story is so fantastic that I wouldn’t mind watching it all over again in a slightly altered modern form. Dig the trailer above and get ready to snap in the aisles when Footloose circa 2011 hits theatres this October.

Producer Brian Grazer confirms ’24’ movie is coming soon

24 fans, I’ve got even more good news for you. Less than one month after Kiefer Sutherland confirmed a summer 2012 release for the film adaptation of the FOX show, 24 executive producer Brian Grazer tweeted, “Got off the phone Keifer yesterday [4/4] and we are very excited about producing the ’24’ movie for next year.” Grazer co-owns Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard; the TV production company backed the show for all eight seasons. Good to know that Grazer is on board for the flick.

In related news, TVLine recently interviewed Elisha Cuthbert about her new ABC comedy Happy Endings and they managed to squeeze in a question about her future involvement with 24. When asked if she would reprise Jack’s daughter Kim Bauer for the film she said, “I would do it, for sure. It’s such a part of my career — and I would only hope that they would want Kim Bauer to be a part of it.” She concluded, “I’d be thrilled to go back to Kim anytime, but as of now I haven’t heard anything. So I don’t know!”

[Via EW; TVLine]

Trailer: The Big Bang

A private detective is hired to find a missing stripper but the job turns complicated when everyone he questions ends up dead. From the mean streets of Los Angeles to the desolate desert of New Mexico, Cruz must contend with a brutal Russian Boxer, three brash LAPD detectives, an aged billionaire looking for the Big Bang, and the billionaire’s stunningly gorgeous wife. The solution to the mystery will cost ten lives, net $30 million and just might explain – well – everything.

So why should you care? Take a look at this cast: Antonio Banderas is the private eye (and who doesn’t like a good murder mystery?) and he’s surrounded by fantastic TV stars like Prison Break‘s William Fichner, No Ordinary Family‘s Autumn Reeser, Lost‘s Rebecca Mader, and Breakout King‘s Jimmi Simpson. James Van Der Beek and Snoop Dogg are thrown in for good measure. Should be a fun ride!

The Big Bang opens May 13.

Trailer: Super 8 (plus synopsis)

After dropping two teasers on us (the one from way back in May and the 30-second Super Bowl spot), Paramount opened the crack a bit more today providing us with a full-blown theatrical trailer for Super 8, the shrouded-in-mystery sci-fi Spielberg homage from writer/director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg. The studio even let loose a synopsis!

“In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth — something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.”

That pretty much sums up what’s going on in this new trailer. Looks like we can expect a character-driven story with phenomenal visuals and a mystery (alien invasion?) hanging over our heads. Can’t wait. Super 8, starring Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills, opens June 10 in standard and IMAX theatres.

Look after the break to see the official movie poster.

[Thanks, Andrew F.] Continue reading Trailer: Super 8 (plus synopsis)

Trailer: ‘Super’

From writer/director James Gunn (Slither) comes Super, a story that centers on an everyday guy (The Office‘s Rainn Wilson) who transforms himself into a superhero named the Crimson Bolt after his wife (Liv Tyler) falls under the influence of a ruthless drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). Ellen Page (who acted alongside Wilson in Juno) plays his sidekick Boltie and together they fight against local crime. Nathan Fillion also plays a masked crusader. Instead of me trying to force a plot synopsis on you, simply mash play and fall in love with the trailer above. Super performed well when it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year (IFC Films picked it up for distribution), and anticipation is ramping up for its U.S. theatrical release that is April 1.

Trailer: ‘X-Men: First Class’

This trailer is so impressively epic I’m just going to let it speak for itself. Watch it many times.

X-Men: First Class stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, January Jones, and Rose Byrne. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass). Opens June 3, 2011.

Synopsis: X-Men: First Class charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to prevent nuclear Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

Snyder’s Superman is Henry Cavill

Say hello to the new Superman.  27-year-old British actor Henry Cavill, who is best known in the States for playing Charles Brandon on Showtime’s The Tudors, has been cast to play the Man of Steel in Zack Snyder’s reboot of the franchise.  Said Snyder in a press release: “In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen. I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield.”  Interestingly enough, Cavill was tapped for the lead role in 2006’s Superman Returns, but as we all know the role went to Brandon Routh and now they’re rebooting it.  Cavill’s certainly got the looks to play the part, and we’ll soon find out if he’s got the silver screen talent to captivate audiences when he stars in the fantasy-action film Immortals later this year.

Superman was written by David S. Goyer and its producing team includes talents Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, and Deborah Snyder.  The movie’s on track for a 2012 holiday release.

[Via EW]

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ casting scoop: Anne Hathaway is Catwoman, Tom Hardy is Bane

We’re finally starting to get idea about what Christopher Nolan’s third and final Batman film will be about, now that we know Catwoman and Bane are involved.  Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs) has been cast as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman).  Cue statement from Nolan: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.”  Tom Hardy (Inception) is Bane, or as he’s better known as “the man who broke the Bat”; in the comics Bane is an abnormally strong villain who literally breaks Batman’s back and learns Batman’s secret identity.  Another statement from the director: “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”

Movie buff?  The last time Catwoman and Bane made it to the big screen was in 1996’s Batman Returns (Michelle Pfeiffer) and 1997’s Batman and Robin (Robert Swenson).  I’m trying real hard to forget that 2004’s Catwoman (Halle Berry) was ever made.

Christian Bale, Hathaway, and Hardy are locked in; can’t wait to see who gets called in next.  The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20, 2012.

[Via Deadline]