The Hangover

Teaser trailer for the new film from the director of "Road Trip" and "Old School." Very short, but looks pretty funny!

http://hangovermovie.warnerbros.com/

New Terminator Salvation Trailer

Not much to say except, experience the bad-assery...



http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/terminator-salvation.html?showVideo=1

Oscar Recap

Yikes, 14 out of 24! Not too good this year. I knew there would be Slumdog love but not as much as there was. I guessed with my heart for most of the awards with The Dark Knight and I never get the short films right. I'm pretty satisfied with the winners for the most part. The Academy played it pretty safe as they always do. Here are some other quick thoughts:

* Could we not have given the Best Actor to Mickey Rourke? I would think the odds are good that he'll never be this close again. Also, not to take anything away from his performance in Milk as it was very good, but Sean Penn already has one and I would bet good money that Penn will be nominated again.

* I should have seen the Penelope Cruz win. Again I went with my heart as I loved The Wrestler and wanted to see Marisa Tomei get the win, and Penelope Cruz just irritates me so much. I can't put my finger on it...is it her voice or the way she carries herself...I'm just not sure. Plus, history shows that if you're in a Woody Allen film and are nominated for Supporting Actress there's a very good chance you'll win...past winners were Dianne Weist for Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets over Broadway and Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite.

* I thought Dark Knight would at least get a bunch of the sound and editing awards but except for Sound Editing the rest went to Slumdog...wow the no love for Dark Knight is incredible.

* It was good to see Cuba Gooding Jr. is still alive and well. That was his best performance since he won his Oscar.

* I felt Hugh Jackman did a very good job hosting. His opening number was great!

My Two Cents

With the Oscars up in a couple hours, I thought I'd throw out my predictions on the winners. Most of these I've given a lot of thought to but let's be serious I'm gonna be guessing when it comes to short films, costumes, etc. Enjoy!

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire (it's been cleaning up all the awards and it probably will win today...although watch out for The Reader, it's been gaining alot of steam and support)

Best Actor - Mickey Rourke/The Wrestler (it'll be neck and neck between Rourke and Sean Pean for Milk...I'm picking Mickey as everyone loves a comeback)

Best Actress - Kate Winslet/The Reader (everyone's picking Winslet so I will too)

Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger/The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress - Marisa Tomei/The Wrestler

Best Director - Danny Boyle/Slumdog Millionaire (how Christopher Nolan isn't in this list still upsets me, but Best Picture winner and Best Director winner usually go hand in hand)

Best Documentary - Man on Wire

Best Documentary Short - The Witness-From the Balcony of Room 306

Animated Feature - WALL-E

Foreign Language Film - Waltz with Bashir

Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black/Milk

Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy/Slumdog Millionaire

Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire (could also be Benjamin Button)

Art Direction - The Dark Knight

Animated Short Film - Presto

Live Action Short Film - Auf der Strecke

Visual Effects - The Dark Knight (I want Dark Knight but it will probably be Benjamin Button)

Costume Design - The Duchess (this award always goes to period pieces)

Film Editing - The Dark Knight

Sound Mixing - The Dark Knight

Sound Editing - The Dark Knight

Original Score - Slumdog Millionaire

Original Song - Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire

Makeup - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

We'll see how many I get out of 24.

The Curious Case of David Fincher

With the Oscars just a few days away, I wanted to write about a film that was on many top ten lists for 2008 and was nominated for the most Oscars (13) this year…The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I’m having a difficult time truly understanding why this film has been quite as acclaimed as it has. If you read my Top Films of 2008, you saw that it made the top 20 (#19) so I do not hate or dislike the movie in any way, I’m just confused how it is considered better than so many other films released in 2008 (among many lists it was rated above Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino, Milk, and The Dark Knight to name a few). I’m going to make a case as to why I feel it is not the masterpiece that some feel, but to do this first I feel we need to go back and view the career of the director, David Fincher. Fincher is by far one of the best directors working today, he is known as a director that takes chances and isn’t afraid to make people think about his films during them and after viewing…but in my opinion forgot all that and he played it safe with Benjamin Button. He catered to the boring, traditional aspects of Hollywood hoping for this to be his shot at an Academy Award, and in the process put aside everything that got him there. Before we go further with this, let’s look at Fincher’s previous directorial efforts. These will contain spoilers to the films so if you haven’t seen them, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

ALIEN 3 (1992)

In the early 90’s there was a channel called MTV and they played these mini-movies with music called music videos, if you remember them. The hottest music video director at the time was David Fincher. He directed videos for Madonna (Vogue, Express Yourself), George Michael (Freedom ’90), and Paula Abdul (Straight Up) among others. 20^th Century Fox had the Alien franchise on their shelf which they weren’t doing anything with since the hugely successful Aliens. Despite rumors of an Alien .vs. Predator movie they decided to do an Alien stand alone film to reboot the franchise. They tapped David Fincher to be the director as he was young and talented (i.e. cheap). Fincher went into the film wanting to make a scary, creepy movie more like the first Alien as opposed to the action vehicle that Aliens was. From the get go Fincher fought with the studio over script and budget issues. He continued to make his vision the best that he could…to take away Sigourney Weaver’s sex appeal from the first two he had her character Ripley have her head shaved due to the prison planet she crash lands on…and in a shocking ending to the film Fincher has Ripley sacrifice herself to keep the alien inside her from going free…he effectively looked to kill off the franchise. The film was not well received by critics and the hardcore Alien fans hated the film. What exactly is the final cut of the film? There is a director’s cut on DVD but there is also talk that Fincher cut many story lines that 20^th Century Fox wanted in the film. Fincher had such an unpleasant experience directing Alien 3 that he has disassociated himself from the film. The young rebel with a vision was born.

SEVEN (1995)

Fincher’s next film was the story of two detectives tracking down a serial killer who bases his killings on the seven deadly sins. Fincher was given a little money and it started two up and coming young actors (Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow) and two solid actors who usually have supporting parts (Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey). Seven was a taut, gritty thriller which made a star out of Brad Pitt and has one of the most shocking scenes in film history (What’s in the box!!!???). Fincher pushed for this head in the box scene knowing how shocking it would be and how important it was to lead to Pitt’s character crossing the edge. The studio refused to allow filming of the scene, and it wasn’t until Brad Pitt stood by Fincher and refused to do anything else with the film until the studio allowed the filming of the scene. Seven was a critical and box office success and the first (and only until Benjamin Button) $100 million dollar grossing film for Fincher. No one remembered Alien 3 anymore.

THE GAME (1997)

Fincher followed up Seven with the unusual film The Game starring Michael Douglas as a man who gets an unusual birthday present from his brother (Sean Penn). The entire film was a risk for Fincher as we are left asking the entire movie, is this really a role playing game that Douglas is involved in or is it all real. The film didn’t do very well at the box office, but also did nothing to hurt Fincher’s career.

FIGHT CLUB (1999)

What can be Fincher’s masterpiece and biggest film risk, Fight Club is a trippy film about two(?) men who open up a secret, underground fight club as a cathartic way for men to release their emotions and problems. The film was one of the most publicized of 1999 and ended up a box office disappointment. Many critics and viewers didn’t understand or didn’t want to understand the main points of the film. Many critics who initially gave the film a negative review, on repeated viewings changed their minds and added it to their Best of 1999 lists. While Seven has the head in the box, Fight Club’s big dramatic twist was the revelation that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were the same person. Fincher was now starting to be known for the originality and unpredictability of his films. Fight Club is a bona fide cult classic and has been discovered by many people on DVD. The film currently ranks #21 in the IMDB Top 250.

PANIC ROOM (2002)

Panic Room was next for David Fincher and became his second biggest hit to date after Seven. Jodie Foster is a mother who locks herself in her house’s panic room with her daughter when the house is invaded by three criminals. The cool thing that Fincher does with this film is that it is very claustrophobic…all the action is done within the confines of this small room and the house. He creates great tension and drama within this small space.

ZODIAC (2007)

With Zodiac Fincher didn’t need twists or shocks, what he used was solid filmmaking and created a mystery about the search for the serial killer known as the Zodiac who terrorized San Francisco in the 1970’s. Fincher does a fantastic job of involving the viewer in the search through the reporters and cops that are hunting for the Zodiac. Before Benjamin Button, this film was Fincher’s most main stream to date. If any Fincher film should have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, it is this one. This is solid filmmaking with great performances from the entire cast. I ranked this film #5 on my Top Films of 2007.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008)

Zodiac had everything going for it that Oscar likes…critical praise (only No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood were on more top ten lists for 2007), strong acting performances, strong directing, a studio that pushed very hard for it to be nominated…but was ignored by the Academy. Perhaps it was all this that drove David Fincher to Benjamin Button. Did Fincher say to himself, “I did it my way and was ignored, I’ll make a movie that the Academy always likes.” If you look at all the previous films that he made…one thing remains the same…David Fincher took risks. Whether it was killing off a popular character, decapitating one of the stars of the movie, or tricking the audience with two characters actually being one person, he kept people guessing. For whatever reason Fincher decided to give the Academy what it wants. If you’ve seen the video or read the article…Benjamin Button resembles Forrest Gump in many ways (both films are from the same screenwriter). Fincher took a film about a nice person born under unusual circumstances, surrounded him with interesting supporting characters, involved him in historical situations, and had him love then lose and then love again…a tried and true formula. But instead of giving us the “Fincher Twist” or anything shocking the film plays and ends exactly how we expected it would. There are so many things that could have been shown and done but Fincher played it safe…instead of going into details about Pitt’s world travels we are shown snippets…why could we not have seen more of that instead of Pitt and Cate Blanchett painting their apartment for 30 minutes?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a nice film there is no debating that…however when comparing to Fincher’s previous work we can see how it pales in comparison. David Fincher is still one of the best directors working today and my hope is that he goes back to the original, twist making, mind bending genius that he is. Ironically, the year that David Fincher decided to play it safe with Benjamin Button…the most original film of the year Slumdog Millionaire, a film where it’s story develops through twists and turns, will probably win Best Picture.

Super Cool New Wolverine Pic

I was over on the Ain't It Cool News website and found this new pic of the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine that Hugh Jackman sent over to them. I really like this pic...very moody and very bad-ass. From left to right is Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Taylor Kitsch as Gambit, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth, and Lynn Collins as Silver Fox.

Benjamin Button .vs. Forrest Gump

I'm currently working on a piece about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and the films of David Fincher, but I had to share this video from Funnyordie.com. Enjoy!

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

Two Passings

A sad day today as the entertainment world lost two great actors today. Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalban.

Most of you may not know Patrick McGoohan, but he was a very popular actor in England and made his way into many popular American films. Some of his best known films are, "Silver Streak" as the villian, "Escape From Alcatraz" as the warden, the cult classic "Scanners," as King Edward in "Braveheart," and as Judge Omar Noose in "A Time To Kill." He is probably best known in the entertainment community as Number 6 in the 60's British show, "The Prisoner." In "The Prisoner" McGoohan plays a resigning secret agent who is abducted and taken to a "prison" called The Village. As most British shows it is short and is only 17 episodes. They are available on DVD and I highly recommend giving the show a look. McGoohan reprised his role as Number 6 for an episode of "The Simpsons" in 2000 (The Mr.X episode). A remake of "The Prisoner" is currently shooting for channel AMC starring Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen and will be out sometime in 2009. Patrick McGoohan was 80.

Ricardo Montalban is best known as Mr. Roarke on the 80's ABC show "Fantasy Island" and as Kahn Noonien Singh in the "Star Trek" episode "Space Seed" and then reprising the role in the motion picture, "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn." He starred and appeared in a number of television shows including, "Dynasty," "The Colbys," "Gunsmoke," "Mission: Impossible," and "Murder She Wrote." Some of his films include, "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes," "The Naked Gun," and "The Spy Kids" franchise. Most recently he lent his unmistakable voice to an episode of "Family Guy" as a cow saved by Peter and Brian from slaughter. When I was a kid, my parents let me stay up late on Saturdays so I always remember getting to watch "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island," and I always thought that Mr. Roarke was so cool. Later, becoming a "Star Trek" fan the commanding presence that Montalban shows in "Star Trek 2" is incredible. You cannot take your eyes off the screen when he is in on. Ricardo Montalban was 88.

Golden Globe Winners

Hey All!

I debated posting the winners of the Golden Globes from this evening as I think the Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press are both a joke (it's been said by many in the past that it is very easy to "buy" a Golden Globe award). Nevertheless, the show had some genuine cool moments with Christopher Nolan accepting Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger, Mickey Rourke winning Best Actor, the tribute to Steven Spielberg, and all the "Slumdog Millionaire" love. I still find it a travesty that "The Dark Knight" was neither nominated for Best Director and Best Picture. I'm also not sure what to think, according to the Golden Globes, Anna Paquin on "True Blood" is the best actress on television? Are you kidding me? She is the weakest part of that show. Also surprising, high profile films like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," and "Doubt" went home empty handed. What did you guys think about the awards???

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Winner: Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler
Best Television Series - Drama
Winner: "Mad Men"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Winner: Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Colin Farrell for In Bruges
Best Director - Motion Picture
Winner: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Tina Fey for "30 Rock"
Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Winner: "30 Rock"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Paul Giamatti for "John Adams"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock"
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Winner: Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Laura Linney for "John Adams"
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: Vals Im Bashir
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Winner: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: "John Adams"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Winner: Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Animated Film
Winner: WALL·E
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Winner: Anna Paquin for "True Blood"
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Winner: Gabriel Byrne for "In Treatment"
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Laura Dern for Recount
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Winner: Tom Wilkinson for "John Adams"
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Winner: The Wrestler - Bruce Springsteen
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Winner: Kate Winslet for The Reader

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Teaser Poster

Here's the first poster for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Similar to the teaser posters for the first movie, they really don't show much. The story revolves around a new batch of Decepticons invading earth once they learn of the defeat of Megatron and the others. The entire cast returns for this film...Shia Lebouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and John Turturro. Joining the cast is Rainn Wilson from "The Office." Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens June 26, 2009.

A Christmas Carol Teaser Poster

Here's the just released teaser poster for "A Christmas Carol." The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis and is animated in the similar way that he did his previous films "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express." It stars JimCarrey as Ebenezer Scrooge as well as all of the ghosts. Also playing multiple characters is Gary Oldman as Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and Marley. Also in the film are Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, and Bob Hoskins. The film is scheduled for release on November 6, 2009.

Adventureland Trailer

http://newsinfilm.com/?p=6123

Here's the trailer for "Adventureland." It looks like a funny film about kids working in an amusement park in 1987. It's directed by Greg Mottola who directed "Superbad." It stars Jesse Eisenberg (sadly his best known film is probably the awful Cursed), Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Bill Hader (Tropic Thunder, SNL), Kristen Wiig (Knocked Up, SNL), and Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). "Adventureland" opens March 27, 2009.

Movie News - January 7, 2009

TRON Sequel Gets Leading Man
The sequel to the 1982 cult classic Tron (and depending where you read the title could be TR2N, TRON 2.0, or just again being called TRON) has signed it's leading man. According to Cinematical, Garrett Hedlund has been signed to play the main character who goes searching for the missing Kevin Flynn from the first film. Hedlund's best known film is probably "Friday Night Lights" where he played Don Billingsley. Hedlund joins previously signed Jeff Bridges who returns as Kevin Flynn from the first film, Bruce Boxleitner who returns as the security program Tron, and newcomer to the series Olivia Wilde (Remy Hadley on "House"). Also rumored to be joining the cast of the new Tron are Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Star Trek) and John Hurt (V for Vendetta, Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). The sequel is currently scheduled for a 2011 release and is rumored that it will be filmed in 3-D.


Mickey Rourke To Be In Almost Everything
Variety reports that, once again hot, Mickey Rourke has signed on to Sylvester Stallone's next directorial project "The Expendables." Rourke joins a cast that currently includes Jason Statham (The Transporter, Crank), Jet Li (The Mummy: Rise of the Dragon Emperor), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Vantage Point), UFC champ Randy Couture, and the return of He-Man himself, Dolph Lundgren. "The Expendables" centers around a group of mercenaries sent to South America to overthrow a dictator. It's currently scheduled for a 2010 release.

E News is also reporting that Rourke is rumored to be joining the cast of "Iron Man 2" as one of the villians. Also rumored to be joining as one of the villians is uber-cool Sam Rockwell (Choke, Galaxy Quest). Rumors are that Rockwell would play the nuclear powered Crimson Dynamo. Returning to "Iron Man 2" will be Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, and taking over for the role of Jim Rhodes will be Don Cheadle. "Iron Man 2" is scheduled for a May 2010 release.

Halloween 2 Teaser Poster

Hey All! So I wrote my horror flick piece on Sunday and now comes word that Rob Zombie is getting ready to start production on Halloween 2 for an August 2009 release and they release the teaser poster. I guess they're going for August because of the success of the first one in August, but it just seems weird not releasing a Halloween movie in October. The only cast member currently signed is Danielle Harris who, if you've seen the first movie, survived a brutal stabbing by Michael Myers. Interestingly enough, Danielle Harris' film debut was in Halloween 4 (1988) where she played Michael Myers' niece whom he terrorizes and then terrorizes again in Halloween 5 (1989). Well, here's hoping it's better than the original Halloween 2 (1981).

Fast and Furious Trailer

http://www.fastandfuriousmovie.net/

Here's the trailer for the fourth film in the Fast and Furious franchise...originally titled Fast and Furious. You take THE out of the title and you got something new. Titles aside, I actually really like this trailer...I like trailers that show long pieces of the movie as this one does in the beginning of the trailer. Probably the best movie trailers to utilize this concept were the Lethal Weapon films whose teasers were 2 minute action pieces taken directly from the film (I've included a link below for the one I could find). Warner Brothers also did this last year when the IMAX versions of I Am Legend included the first 9 minutes of The Dark Knight. This movie actually is the sequel to the first one as the second only had Paul Walker and the third didn't have any cast members from the previous two at all. This movie could be some fun...if it's anything like the first...leave your brain at the door and enjoy.

Lethal Weapon 2 Teaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAqpcuIqODo

I Love You, Man Trailer

http://www.iloveyouman.com/

Here's the trailer for "I Love You, Man" which opens March 20th. This is a pretty funny trailer and it looks like it could be this year's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." It stars Paul Rudd, currently on a hot streak after "Role Models" (one of the funniest films of last year), Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Rashida Jones (The Office), Jamie Pressley (My Name is Earl), and Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live). The film is about Rudd, who has never had a male friend, looking for one to be his best man at his wedding. Rudd is a very likeable actor and hopefully this film will be as funny as his most recent efforts.

Upcoming Horror Flicks

Hey All! I'm a big fan of horror flicks. If they're done right I think they're a fun guilty pleasure. Some classic horror films are A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), Halloween (1978), Psycho (1960), and Scream (1996). Scream brought the horror movie back and with it's success studios began putting out horror movies like crazy. There seems to be one or two released every month. Also, with the current lack of original ideas in Hollywood we're seeing a lot of remakes, and horror movies are prime remake material as the studios are basically pushing the genre and in many instances hire unknown (cheaper) actors which in turn make them quite cheap to produce. There have been some really good ones in the past 5 years or so...The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Dawn of the Dead (2004), and to some extent Halloween (2007), although I find some of Halloween very disturbing. However, there have been some truly awful remakes as well...most recently Prom Night (2007). Here are a few horror films you can look forward to in the next couple months.


The Unborn opens this week (1/9) and all I can really say is...based on the poster...what is this movie about? Nice advertising campaign.


http://www.mybloodyvalentinein3d.com/mbv.html

My Bloody Valentine 3-D opens the following week, January 16th. When talking about remakes this is a perfect example...the original from 1981 wasn't a success and went on to be a cult classic on video. Remaking a film that didn't do well in the first place...what's there to lose? You're not messing with a classic like Psycho and doing a shot for shot remake (which nearly killed Vince Vaughn's career). Adding the 3-D aspect could make it a fun ride. The film stars Jedsen Ackles (CW's Supernatural), Jamie King (Sin City), and Tom Atkins (that's right movie geeks...THAT Tom Atkins...The Fog, Escape From New York, Halloween 3, Lethal Weapon).


http://www.fridaythe13thmovie.com/

Friday the 13th opens appropriately on Friday February 13th. I gotta say, I'm actually looking forward to this one. This remake is coming from the same team that did The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake which as mentioned I thought was good. The trailer has a lot of the same creepy, scary qualities. The film stars Jared Padalecki who is attempting to corner the horror genre all for himself (House of Wax and co-stars on Supernatural).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUqsXvBAqRY

I also wanted to bring up one more horror film...Trick 'r Treat. The film has been done for over two years but still waiting for distribution. It has been screened at a couple horror movie fests through out the country and that's about it. It's produced by Bryan Singer and directed by Michael Dougherty who wrote Superman Returns and X-Men 2. It stars Bryan Cox (Manhunter, Troy, Bourne 1 and 2), Dylan Baker (Spiderman 2 and 3), Anna Paquin (X-Men, True Blood), Leslie Bibb (Talladega Nights, Iron Man), and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica). It revolves around three different stories on Halloween night in a small town. The trailer is super creepy and I've seen bits and pieces on the net and looks really scary. Here's hoping it's released in 2009.

Star Trek Trailer

http://www.startrekmovie.com/

Here's the trailer for Star Trek opening May 9th, 2009. It's been out since Quantum of Solace but I still wanted to post it. I simply LOVE this trailer. Being a closet-Trekkie, I love the Event nature of the trailer...the quick action shots, the bombastic music, this trailer succeeds where I feel Wolverine failed.

Wolverine Trailer

http://www.x-menorigins.com/

Here's the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I'm a big fan of the X-Men films so I'm pretty stoked for this one. My only concern is that the trailer didn't grab me the way I hoped. The movie looked cool, the action looks great...but I guess I was wanting more. It'll be interesting how much they put Gambit into the film as comic book fans have been wanting to see him in a movie for years. It's also interesting that Ryan Reynolds is in this as the character Deadpool, and depending how well Wolverine does there is talk of a Ryan Reynolds/Deadpool film.

Terminator: Salvation Trailer

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/terminatorsalvation/

Here's the trailer for Terminator Salvation which opens Memorial Day weekend. I think it looks pretty cool and we'll see how it stacks up to the other films in the franchise. Christian Bale in my opinion can do no wrong and is one of the coolest actors out there today. My only concern is that the film is directed by McG who's main claim to fame is "Charlie's Angels" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle."

Review - The Day The Earth Stood Still

The original "The Day The Earth Stood Still" from 1951 is a science fiction classic directed by Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Star Trek: The Motion Picture) and its underlining theme dealt with the Red Scare back in the 50's. It would seem to make sense that in our current times of unrest in the Middle East and terrorist threats that this film could be remade with similar themes. However, what everyone behind the new "The Day The Earth Stood Still" forgot to do was add interesting characters, not to mention smart characters. The film stars some box office heavyweights...Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, and Kathy Bates. Not to mention solid character actors from television including, Jon Hamm from "Mad Men," Kyle Chandler from "Friday Night Lights," and Robert Knepper from "Prison Break." Sadly, all the characters are either exteremly boring (Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm) or very, very stupid (Kathy Bates, Kyle Chandler). It's been a long time that I consistently shook my head through an entire movie over every dumb decision that is made.
The story centers around an alien name Klaatu who is sent to earth to determine if humanity is worth saving. When he first appears in Central Park he is shot by the military and taken to a hospital when scientist Jennifer Connelly begins to feel sorry for the alien. And just to show how terrible humanity is, every decision made is of a violent nature. It is decided that Klaatu needs to be tortured for information, the military attacks Klaatu's spaceship only for it to retalihate, and when they are pushed back...they decide to attack the ship again and again.
By the end of the film I wanted Klaatu to destroy humanity. There was not one piece of evidence that proved that we are worth saving...why he came to the decision to save us I'll really never know. I also forgot to mention that Jennifer Connelly has a son played by Jaden Smith (Will's son) who just might be one of the worst child characters ever in film. Save your money, save your time and avoid this debacle. I would personally change the title to, "The Day My Life Stood Still," and lost almost two hours of my life I'll never get back.

Welcome!

Hello Everyone and Welcome to what I hope will be an active page in regards to all things entertainment...movies, television, music...anything and everything will be discussed, scrutinized, and bantered about. We'll have reviews, news, and gossip. My goal is for this page to be an interactive one stop shop for entertainment. I'll keep it updated daily with all the entertainment news you guys can keep up with...but what I really want is YOUR comments and opinions. If I write a review you do or don't agree with? Comment on it. Have a review of your own? Send it in and I will publish it to the website. I am hoping for contributing writers to make this OUR website. I know a lot of movie buffs like myself, let's make ourselves heard. Thanks and I look forward to a fun site!