Looks like the helmet is off, and holy facial hair! Hi, there, Tony Stark! Hot on the heels of this week’s previous IRON MAN 2 teaser poster, featuring Iron Man and War Machine (and the dreams of a million geeks), we’ve now got the international teaser poster for the second entry in the franchise. This new poster still sticks to the highly polished and darkening sky-heavy feel of the previous posters, but this time we get the human factor. Is this Iron Man or is it Tony Stark? It all reminds me of a horrifying story a friend once told me – the time she ended up “backstage” at Disneyland, and subsequently saw Chip and Dale standing around, fully costumed except for their character heads, which they were holding. They were holding them because they were smoking. That’s a lot of childhood dreams crushed right there.

But, good news, this poster doesn’t crush any dreams! But it does remind us that Iron Man is still just a man. Granted, a very attractive, very smoldering man…but I’m getting off course. Hit the jump to see the full poster! (more…)

44 INCH CHEST is about a husband who, with the help of his friends, kidnaps the man that his wife has been cheating on him with. The film also features one of the coolest over-40-years-old casts ever – Ray Winstone (THE DEPARTED, BEOWULF), John Hurt (V FOR VENDETTA, THE PROPOSITON, 1984), Tom Wilkinson (IN THE BEDROOM, MICHAEL CLAYTON), and Ian McShane (“Deadwood,” DEATH RACE) all have major parts and look very cool in the film’s trailer. Especially Ian McShane, one very smooth over-the-hill man.

Another intriguing thing about 44 INCH CHEST is that it is the only completed feature film by director Malcolm Venville. He’s the man attached to direct Keanu Reeves in HENRY’S CRIMES, a romantic comedy about an innocent man mistakenly accused of bank robbery. A movie that sounds quite a bit different than 44 INCH CHEST, as 44 INCH CHEST’s trailer makes it look like a pretty brutal thriller. Check out the trailer after the jump.
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BROTHERS

Director: Jim Sheridan
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire
Studio: Lionsgate
The Plot: Sam Cahill (Maguire) returns from being held as a prisoner-of-war in Afghanistan to find that his ex-con brother (Gyllenhaal) has become the man, of sorts, of the household where Sam’s wife, Grace (Portman) had been living under the assumption that she was a widow.

Keep reading to see the rest of this week’s movies. (more…)

I try not to get too fanboy when writing about things I really enjoy. I know, I know, it’s “bad journalism.” But sometimes I say shut the hell up rules and let me go nuts. If I were to refer to P.T. Anderson (now going by Paul Thomas) using Kanye West as my influence, I’d say, “you’re a great director and all, BUT P.T. ANDERSON IS THE GREATEST DIRECTOR OF ALL TIME!” I can’t tell you how often I quote his second feature, BOOGIE NIGHTS, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen MAGNOLIA. So when new information on his upcoming projects pop up, I get really, really excited.

With that unecessary introduction, here’s the good stuff. According to Variety, Anderson’s next film will be about a “founder of a new religious organization in the 1950s… ‘the Master,’ as in ‘master of ceremonies,’ a charismatic intellectual who hatches a faith-based organization that begins to catch on in America in 1952.” To sweeten this news, the Master will be played the extremely talented Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman’s only had supporting roles in Anderson’s films and didn’t appear in his last, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, this will break that tradition by giving him the lead role.

Also to be noted, the film will not be defame self-started religions, but rather explore “the need to believe in a higher power, the choice of which one to embrace and the point at which a belief system graduates into a religion.”

As of this moment, Universal owns the rights to the projected $35 million budget film, and the official title hasn’t been announced.

What do you get when you combine some of GATW, some of Broken Lizard, and all of you? ONE KICK-ASS PARTY!

Here’s the lowdown on what’s going to happen:

In attendance:
Jay Chandrasekhar
Paul Soter
Erik Stolhanske

Broken Lizard’s THE SLAMMIN’ SALMON opens Friday, December 11th, and we were asked – which we happily obliged – to throw a killer party for the boys. To make this happen, we need every one of you to clear your evening schedule on Friday, December 11th. As you can see from the flyer above (click to see a high resolution version), we’ve got a lot in store for you. Just so you know we’re ready to get the party started as 6 PM sharp, the first 25 people to show up will get a poster of THE SLAMMIN’ SALMON, signed by Broken Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske.

At the party, we’re going to be hosting an oyster eating contest, which will come with an awesome prize for the winner. The dudes will be commentating and MCing during that contest. So pretty much, you’re going to be laughing your ass off as you’re stuffing your face. Bring your cameras and DVDs for a chance to get photos with the dudes and autographs. Your lover will be super-impressed!

If you are interested in competing in the oyster eating contest, fill out the form after the jump. Tell us why we should pick you. Make sure you’ll be able to make it – if you don’t show up, Michael Clarke Duncan, who plays “Cleon ‘Slammin’ Salmon” in the film, will hunt you down and feed you to the fish!

We’ll announce and contact the lucky contestants next Thursday. Let us know if you need any additional details @ [email protected]. See you next Friday! (more…)

Summit Entertainment, the company that brought us the big screen adaptions of the TWILIGHT saga, is now on board to produce the film adaptation of the Top Cow Productions comic book, “Alibi.”

Variety reports that Summit is teaming up with Mandeville Entertainment’s David Hoberman and Todd Leiberman for the film. They have even named a writer for the adaptation, John Hlavin, who’s best known for working on the FX series, “The Shield.” Hlavin has quite the plateful when it comes to writing projects, as he is already committed to writing the latest sequel to UNDERWORLD (yup, that makes four), as well as the western GUNSLINGER.

“Alibi” centers on John Stephens, a popular socialite whose life serves as the alibi for his twin brother – a government assassin.

All parties involved are hoping that ALIBI will see around the same amount of financial success as WANTED, which was adapted from a Top Cow comic. That film went on to gross $340 million worldwide.

Mixing the post-apocalyptic genre with the action genre is a hard thing to sell. It seemed to work with CONSTANTINE, but not so much with END OF DAYS. But never have we seen a film of LEGION’s scope in this sub-genre of action, so there could be a savior for it after all.

In all honesty, it’s hard to tell from what we’ve seen thus far just which side of the line between good and evil the film will fall on. Well, here are a few more photos to help you decide how you feel!

The film stars Paul Bettany as newly fallen angel Michael, here on Earth to protect a diner waitress (Adrianne Palicki) that just happens to be pregnant with the unborn messiah. There to help them are a ragtag group of ordinary people (Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Lucas Black), holed up in a middle-of-nowhere truck stop to fend off an onslaught of angels and demons, in attempts to save humanity.

Check out the stills after the jump! (more…)

Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors with such a unique vision that I would literally watch his take on anything. Hell, I would even watch a Quentin Tarantino-directed Muppet movie. He has shown us with his most recent INGLORIOUS BASTERDS what he can do when he steps out of his regular fare of the crime genre. I only wish we could have seen that rumored Quentin Tarantino-directed CASINO ROYALE. Well, add another big franchise to that wish list of unique takes on classic stories we will never see from Mr. Tarantino.

It seems that way back when, before it was even in script form, Tarantino was offered to helm GREEN LANTERN (which coincidentally is now being directed by CASINO ROYALE director Martin Campbell). “I was offered the ‘Green Lantern,’ ” Tarantino recently told MTV. “Not since it’s been a script, but just like, ‘Hey we own the ‘Green Lantern.’ Would you like it?’”

Being a self-professed “big comic book fan,” Tarantino said, “there’s a little part of me that’s like, ‘Wow, if I was in my 20s, this would be the genre I’d want to specialize in,’ but they weren’t making them then, or at least not the right ones. But there also is an aspect where I’ve kind of outgrown that a little bit.”

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Warner Bros. International and Platinum Dunes have released a few production stills from the upcoming A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake. With everything I see from this film, it looks to be achieving the essence of the original, while stepping it up a notch in tone and creepiness factor. It is my honest opinion that the original always felt a little too goofy and campy when it should have played more straightforward and dark. Hopefully, that is what we will get from this new take starring Jackie Earle Haley (WATCHMEN) as Freddy Krueger, the gloved slasher back from the dead to haunt the dreams of unsuspecting teens.

The film is helmed by former music video director Samuel Bayer and written by Wesley Strick (CAPE FEAR, WOLF) and newcomer Eric Heisserer. It is set to hit theaters April 30th of next year.

Check out the stills and synopsis after the jump! (more…)

It’s the announcement filmmakers from all over the world have been waiting to hear for months – the official list of the films to make it into competition for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Out of over 9,800 entries, only 200 shorts and features were chosen to be in the festival. The feature-length pool alone had 3,724 entries; only 113 could be picked.

This year’s festival will be held, per usual, in Park City, Utah, from January 21 through 31. My parka is packed.

Hit the jump to see the full competition list! (more…)

Shana Feste’s LOVE DON’T LET ME DOWN has just assembled its principle cast. Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund, and Leighton Meester are all set to star in the “country singing drama.”

The film follows Hedlund’s character, “a young rising singer-songwriter who becomes involved with a fallen country singer played by Paltrow.” Hedlund and Paltrow then set out on a tour to get both of them in the spotlight, made all the more complicated by the fact that they are joined by Paltrow’s husband (McGraw), who is also her manager, along with Meester’s “beauty queen-turned-singer.” Romantic entanglements, complications, and probably lots of sad love songs ensue. (more…)

I am a huge Tim Burton fan, especially when he dabbles in stop-motion animation. There is something unique and simply spectacular in his films like THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and CORPSE BRIDE. Well, it looks like Burton might be adding another stop-motion film to his list of hits before too long, that being his feature-length adaptation of his short film, FRANKENWEENIE.

FRANKENWEENIE was one of Burton’s first films, meeting completion all the way back in 1984. That might be two years before I shot my way out of my mother’s womb, but I have still seen the film multiple times. If you have yet to see the short, YouTube that sucker, which is divided into three parts, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

As you can guess, this new FRANKENWEENIE will include a lot more story and plot lines than the original because it’s, well it is going to be longer. More time to fill, more room to explore. So what is going to be added to the original story? I cannot tell you all that much, unfortunately, but I can let you read a recent casting call that was sent out. Why is that of any significance? Because casting calls, like this one, usually come with a background of characters and sometimes snippets of events as well. Learn more about the upcoming FRANKENWEENIE project after the jump. (more…)

One look at these shots of Justin Timberlake on the set of THE SOCIAL NETWORK, and I’m 12 years old again. There’s even a shot of him wearing an NPR shirt! Oh, little nerd heart, be still! Old school JT fans will notice that he grew out his curly whiteboy fro to appear more like his character, Napster’s co-founder Sean Parker.

Check out a closer look at Justin, as well as Jesse Eisenberg who plays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, after the break. (more…)

Alright, all you saints! The time has come to announce our winner of the BOONDOCK SAINTS II contest, in which contestants had to tell us what makes them the biggest, most die-hard BOONDOCK’s fans. The winner is to be awarded a theatrical sized, foam core-backed BOONDOCK SAINTS II poster signed by director Troy Duffy and actor Norman Reedus.

But because we love you Gordon and the Whalers so much, we are actually going to award two of you with signed posters! If you are in fact one of these winners, please contact [email protected] within 48 hours with your full name and the address you would like your prize to be sent to.

Now, without further adieu, here are the winners of the uber-cool, autographed BOONDOCK SAINTS II posters. After the jump of course! (more…)

On Monday, the big buzz was that director Paul Greengrass had quit the BOURNE franchise and would not be returning to direct the fourth BOURNE flick. Rumors abounded – that Universal was displeased with Greengrass’ latest outing, GREEN ZONE, going over time and financial budgets, even that Greengrass was upset that the studio had brought in another writer without Greengrass’ okay.

It’s official now – Greengrass is out. Universal released a statement from the director yesterday, wishing continued success to the franchise he helped make great. Now, Universal is left without a director, but early buzz is pointing to George Nolfi or Tony Gilroy as possible contenders.

Hit the jump to see Greengrass’ full statement. (more…)