We've already been treated to pictures of Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand on the set of ROCK OF AGES, looking straight out of the '80s with big hair and crazy fashion. Now director Adam Shankman has tweeted out another picture from the set, this time of Tom Cruise as aging rock icon Stacee Jaxx.

Shankman spoke with USA Today about the role, saying "his character has elements of Axl Rose, Keith Richards and Bret Michaels." He added, "we did a huge amount of research on what people were going through in this period," while also relying on personal experience since he "knew a lot of these people because my dad was a music business manager."

Check out Tom Cruise as rock god Stacee Jaxx after the break. (more...)

Kimbo Slice was once a YouTube star, rising to fame after videos of his brutal street fights were posted to the popular video hosting site. Shortly after his rise to Internet notoriety, he made the transition over into professional MMA, a career that ended more quickly than everyone expected.

Kevin Connolly, most famous for playing Eric Murphy on HBO's Entourage, is looking to turn Kimbo's story into a film which he would direct.  He told The Wrap, "I’m trying to get the Kimbo Slice story made. I have his life rights, we have a script that’s great. It’s out and about, and the powers that be are trying to put the money together…Kimbo Slice is known as one of the first YouTube celebrities. He was the first person I ever sat in front of a computer and typed somebody’s name into YouTube. His fights ended up on the Internet, his backyard fights, and he all of the sudden...became this celebrity." (more...)

Well, it looks like Lionsgate saved up all their blood-marked marketing dollars for Marcus Nispel's CONAN THE BARBARIAN for this new red band trailer. After a laughably boring teaser trailer that didn't tell us much other than that Jason Momoa's Conan likes to "live, love, and slay," we're finally getting a good look at what the film will actually be like. Turns out, bloody! No, seriously, there's a lot of blood here - the good movie kind, that spills and arcs and looks like congealed Pinot Noir.

Starring Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ron Perlman, Leo Howard, Steve O'Donnell, Raad Rawi Fassir, Nonso Anozie, Bob Sapp, and Milton Welsh, the 3D (of course) release reintroduces the epic battles of the titular Barbarian (fine, splitting hairs, the Cimmerian). Conan's personal blood-soaked quest becomes a supernatural war when he must take on men, monsters, and more sword fights than you can shake, well, a sword at.

Check out the bloody new red band trailer after the break. How many gallons of the fake stuff do you think were spilled in its creation? (more...)

There's not much about 30 MINUTES OR LESS that doesn't appeal to me. From ZOMBIELAND director Ruben Fleischer, the film stars some of my favorite comedic talents, from Danny McBride to Aziz Ansari to Nick Swardson, with a generous dash of Jesse Eisenberg (who is starting to look comfortable delivering laughs to an audience) and Michael Pena. The film also has an amusing premise that doesn't get too complicated in its pursuit of laughs - Eisenberg is a loser pizza delivery boy who gets kidnapped by McBride and Swardson, who force him to rob a bank with a bomb strapped to his chest. Ansari is Eisenberg's best friend who gets pulled into the madness.

Today, we get a red band trailer for the late summer flick, and it pretty clearly shows us some of the wacky, raunchy hi-jinks we can expect from 30 MINUTES OR LESS. Looks like movie-goers might finally be treated to a big studio comedy that is genuinely funny without being ridiculously mean or stupid. Imagine that! Check out the red band trailer after the break. And, please, be nicer to teddy bears than these guys are. (more...)

Gordon and the Whale has teamed up with Screen Gems to give our AUSTIN readers the chance to see ATTACK THE BLOCK before it opens...and for free! The screening will take place on June 23, 2011 at 7:30PM.To redeem passes, follow the link below and enter the code provided. But you better act fast...the link is only good for so many passes so once they're gone, they're gone. Good luck, movie lovers!

These passes are first-come, first-serve and do not guarantee you seats. Due to the high demand of this film please arrive no later than two hours prior to showtime or there may not be any more seats available.

PLEASE ONLY ENTER IF YOU CAN SURELY ATTEND THE SCREENING. ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD. MUST BE AT LEAST 17 YEARS OF AGE TO ENTER. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. (more...)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the most prestigious alliance of individuals working within the world of film. Every year, invitations are sent out to actors, animators, cinematographers, and various craftspeople in the film industry, and the Academy has announced this year’s invitees.

In the actors branch, invitees include nominees Jesse Eisenberg (THE SOCIAL NETWORK), John Hawkes (WINTER’S BONE), Jennifer Lawrence (WINTER’S BONE), Ellen Page (JUNO), and Jacki Weaver (ANIMAL KINGDOM). Also in the mix are Robbie Coltrane (MONA LISA), Jennifer Garner (JUNO), and Beyoncé Knowles (DREAMGIRLS). (more...)

Not many have had the chance to see the latest flick from Álex de la Iglesia (ACCIÓN MUTANTE, THE DAY OF THE BEAST) about a circus clown in a very tumultuous time of Spain's history. Up until now THE LAST CIRCUS has only been hitting the festival circuit, in the U.S. anyway, and this country is in for a twisted treat they never knew they were missing. I have been lucky enough to see this film twice so far at different festivals (read my review here) and cannot wait to see it again when it begins it's limited American release starting on August 12!

To celebrate, Magnolia Pictures has released a lovely red band trailer online and we have it here for your viewing pleasure. After watching, be sure to keep an eye on the film's official website and like them on their Facebook page to keep up to date on any new screenings in your area.

You will want to see this. Trust me. (more...)

Fox Searchlight has hooked us up with an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette of their new movie, THE ART OF GETTING BY. Starring Freddie Highmore, Emma Roberts, and Michael Angarano, the film follows "George [Highmore], a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally [Roberts], a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit."

Our very own Kate Erbland saw and reviewed the film back at Sundance when it was titled HOMEWORK. In this featurette, Highmore and Roberts give us a quick rundown of Sally and how she brings the rebellious George out of his shell. THE ART OF GETTING BY is now playing in select theaters. Hit the break to see the featurette! (more...)

I am proud to present the return of Found Film Friday! And what a find I have for you, thanks to Robert Wilonsky over at The Observer.

Airports are such an absorbing institution. All those people, day in and day out, traveling for business or pleasure. On vacation. To reunite with loved ones. To shake hands over a corporate deal. Hundreds upon thousands of people a day, on their way to or from somewhere important. It's people watching at its finest and most fascinating, as people are free to move about the country from city to city. But what happens in this mecca of movement when the white eyed flights turn red?

Allow photographers Joe Ayala and Larry Chen to show you. The pair became stranded overnight in DFW (an airport so massive it has its own zip code) on their way home and armed with only a camera and extreme levels of boredom, they set out into the hollow terminals to document their night. The events that ensued became the following short film.

For your viewing pleasure, I present to you your Found Film Friday for June 17th, 2011; STUCK. (more...)

With THE TREE OF LIFE, its IMAX counterpart THE VOYAGE OF TIME, a romantic drama led by Rachel McAdams and Ben Affleck, and maybe even another project in the next few months, director Terrence Malick is perhaps the busiest he’s ever been as a filmmaker. However, his schedule might become even busier.

The Film Stage relays an interview that Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematographer for THE TREE OF LIFE, conducted with film magazine Les Cahiers du Cinéma. In that interview, he stated that Malick is prepping a six-hour edit of the feature from the initial eight-hour cut. It’s also been confirmed once again that THE VOYAGE OF TIME will happen and is currently in the process of being made. (more...)

Benedict Cumberbatch (FOUR LIONS) and Luke Evans (CLASH OF THE TITANS) are the latest to join the cast of Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT. By the time this thing is over, the film will literally employ every British actor alive and working.

Cumberbatch will play Smaug the dragon via motion capture following in the footsteps of Andy Serkis - one of the first actors to perfect the craft of mocap performance in Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY. Cumberbatch will also lend his voice to THE HOBBIT's Necromancer character, playing dual roles in the film. Evans will play Bard the Grim, expert archer and heir of King Girion of Dale - who has an unfortunate meeting with the dragon. The pair round out the last few major roles that had yet to have been cast in the film, already underway on production in New Zealand. (more...)

The LA Times Blog is reporting that screenwriter Simon Kinberg has been hired on by Universal to do a re-write on OUIJA - the film from McG based on the popular mysterious, mystic board game. TRON: LEGACY scribes Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis wrote the first draft.

This is the third film Kinberg will have worked on with McG, including 2006's X-MEN: THE LAST STAND as well as the upcoming rom-com THIS MEANS WAR. The rest of the writer's credits include similar fare such as xXx: STATE OF THE UNION, MR. & MRS. SMITH, and JUMPER. Hey, at least he has one with decent credit to his name with 2009's SHERLOCK HOLMES. That counts for something, I guess.

However, I imagine this project would be a tough angle for any writer. How does one adapt a board game in general, let alone one that simply has the sole purpose of slowly moving from letter to letter as it spells out a sentence supposedly being communicated from beyond the grave? I mean the opening credit sequence writes itself but beyond that, what do you do? (more...)

This week's column actually stretches two weeks back as things have been a little slow on Netflix's streaming service. A slew of quality additions was immediately followed by a dry patch. Now that it seems most of the country is suffering from a monstrous heat wave (it was 103 degrees here in Texas yesterday!), I imagine you guys are looking for something to do inside where it's cool.

Should you choose to skip the cineplex this weekend, there are plenty of options for you. Let's take a look at a semi-autobiographical tale of a makeup effects artist in the making and a Chinese melodrama centered around the shared love of movies. (more...)

We've been hearing a lot about PACIFIC RIM over the past few months, mostly about the addition of Guillermo Del Toro as director and Charlie Hunnam being cast in the lead role. As production gets closer and closer (it's currently slated to begin in the fall), we're naturally going to start hearing more about this project. The latest bit of news concerns Charlie Day landing a role in the film.

Day has had somewhat of a burgeoning film career over the past year. He had a hilarious supporting role in GOING THE DISTANCE and is also part of the ensemble comedy HORRIBLE BOSSES alongside Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman.

His most notable performance has been on the FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a show I'm not a fan of. It's not Charlie Day's performance that sets me ill at ease with the show, it's the broad similarities between the characters which leads to uninteresting interactions which drives me nuts. Why have three of the same character in a show? (more...)

Just a day or so after his long-talked about film, LABOR DAY, found a lead in Kate Winslet, it looks as though director Jason Reitman is looking to get a writing gig out of the way before starting production on his next film.

THR is reporting that Reitman has been hired to re-write the screenplay for the Steve Carell vehicle, BURT WONDERSTONE, for New Line. The film will look at the world of magicians in Las Vegas, in particular the story of one man, an aging magician dealing with a new, younger man taking his spotlight. (more...)