X-Men: First Class "Character Trailers" Showcases Banshee, Havok & Clark Kent

When Bryan Singer said a couple of weeks back he'd cast "someone like Nicholas Hoult" as a young Superman/Clark Kent were he to make a Superman movie today (and having never hypothetically made the underrated Superman Returns), it's crystal clear why he made such a statement.

MTV has three brand-new "Character Trailers" for X-Men: First Class which are more like TV spots focused on three freshman recruits Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), Havok (Lucas Till) and the afore-mentioned Hoult as young Hank McCoy.

They're all quite good. I especially liked the one with Havok. But boy, can't you just sense the uneasiness with the marketing with all these damn trailers, one-sheets, banners, etc. I don't remember anyway near the level of these when X-Men: The Last Stand or Wolverine were about to open.

Bradley Cooper to Play the Ultimate Douche – Satan

When a sure-thing like The A-Team (as ridiculously awesome as it was – shame on you, movie-goers for not seeing it) under-performs and something like Limitless is a hit, maybe we can't be too hard on Bradley Cooper for wanting to be The Crow. No, upon further review, that one's still a head-scratcher. Nonetheless, he continues on his hunt for big-gigs as The Hangover bubble may or may not burst depending on the reception to its sequel at the end of this month.

Variety reports Cooper is looking to stick around with Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures (who were behind both Hangovers) and is "early talks" to play Satan for Alex Proyas' Paradise Lost, a 3D action-geared version of the John Milton poem.

This one, truth be told, is a better fit for the guy since he has that "charming douche" look to him.

Tomb Raider Reboot You Don't Care About Gets Writers

Oh, that's right. They're rebooting Tomb Raider. Because the world was clamoring for another hot-piece of ass in short-shorts running around fighting the supernatural and trying their damndest to "pay homage" to Raiders of the Lost Ark, which in turned "paid homage" to those '30s/'40s serials? Didn't the last Tomb Raider video-game bomb? If so, then where's this hungering for more coming from?

Eh, anyway Heat Vision says producer Graham King (who won the "Best Picture" Oscar for The Departed) has commissioned screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby to write this new incarnation. They're the guys who adapted Children of Men, which automatically gets them brownie-points from now until the end of time and are credited for Iron Man. Although it's well-established a lot of the final product was written on set.

There remains to be no director or leading lady on-board for the new Lara Croft; just a 2013 release.

No Huntsman As of Yet, But Snow White Has Her Prince

Things are still in the "Wait and see" phase with Chris Hemsworth (I think his people are waiting to see if Thor isn't a repeat of The Incredible Hulk stateside before accepting any non-Marvel deals). But there are still other roles to fill for Universal's planned Christmas 2012 tentpole Snow White & the Huntsman.

"TOLDJA" reports Sam Claflin (who's filling in for the Orlando Bloom/Will Turner/straight-man against Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow/wacky odd-ball bullshit routine in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) has been secured to play the prince. I didn't even know this action-geared take on the fairy tale, which sees Kristen Stewart and maybe Thor as the title characters on the run from Charlize Theron's Evil Queen, even featured that character.

So first you're going to be upstaged by Depp and now (possibly) Hemsworth?

Conan Trailer Plays like 80s Sword & Sorcery Cheese-Fest – Intentional or Not

Where Your Highness was purposefully aiming to honor the good and bad (but mostly the latter when you look at the films) aspects of the sword & sorcery genre from the 1980s, I don't get the impression the filmmakers behind Conan the Barbarian were. Take away the CG and this looks like it'd have played in a Drive-In double-feature next to The Warrior and the Sorceress or one of the few honest-to-God good flicks in that genre Excalibur.

The new trailer, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies, plays it straight and I struck by its blandness. I'm always an advocate for casting unknowns in the leads, but damn does Jason Momoa looks stiff here.

Spider-Man Versus Pajama-Man!

The website Pink is the New Blog (I know I'm the guy with the site called Think McFly Think, but really?) has some snap-shots of Welshman Rhys Ifans presumably walking around the set of The Amazing Spider-Man. Unless he likes to walk amongst average folk with his face covered for no utter reason like Michael Jackson used to.

Hey, we knew the web-slinger reboot was going to be cheaper than the Sam Raimi productions but this is ridiculous!

Sorry, but yeah it appears Marc Webb & Co. are going for some practical effects on set such as make-up which is always a good thing in my never-so-humble opinion.

Look Who Showed Up on The Hobbit Set?

Maybe I'm wrong here. But it looks like The Hobbit is one Helluva laid-back production. That might explain why Peter Jackson looks happier than he has in awhile. He's healthy and back in familiar territory. I'm referring to both Middle Earth and the fact that they're shooting in his home New Zealand.

With that in mind, I'm surprised Jackson has found his Fili replacement (since the originally-cast Robert Kazinsky vacated the role) so quickly. In his now-routine Facebook updates, Jackson reveals the identity of the new Fili and another addition to the cast:

"Dean O'Gorman will be playing Fili.  Dean's a terrific Kiwi actor, who I am thrilled to be working with. He's recently been in an excellent TV series down here called 'The Almighty Johnsons', and I should let fans of that show know that our shooting schedule allows Dean to continue with a second series next year.  Dean will be joining us next week.

I'm also pleased to announce that Lee Pace will be playing the Elven King Thranduil. Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters, and Lee has always been our first choice for Thranduil. He's going to be great.  We loved his performance in a movie called 'The Fall' a few years ago, and have been hoping to work with him since.  When we were first discussing who would be right for Thranduil, Lee came into mind almost immediately."

Also pleasing to fans is confirmation that Hugo Weaving will return as Elrond, as per Stuff.Co.Nz (via One Ring). The above-picture of Weaving and Jackson on set was probably the big give-away to that news, I guess.

Typecasting Strikes Again – Larry David Playing Nun in 3 Stooges

Like many of you good readers, I too immediately think of middle-age Jewish comedians when I think of nuns.

It's not like there's that much invested in the Farrelly brothers' Three Stooges movie at the moment. I say, "What the Hell!" and go for it.

"TOLDJA" says in addition to Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso as the title characters and Jane Lynch as Mother Superior, Larry David has joined the cast as Mother Mengele, the nun responsible for running the orphanage the characters grew up at.

As long as you keep your expectation less to Curb Your Enthusiasm and more towards The Paul Raiser Show, then you should be fine. Even my father (a lifelong fan of the Stooges short-films) doesn't even care about this.

We Won’t be Calling Him "Commander!" Anymore

Since they neutered the original cast down to three, this news isn't surprising in the least especially considering how his career has taken off after the fact (Once you go Nolan, baby...). But still it hadn't been made officially official until now.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt confirms to Collider he won't be returning as Cobra Commander for G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes. He's pre-occupied with his time on The Dark Knight Rises, and you just know the moment he and his agent worked their asses off to get outta that G.I. Joe contract when the opportunity arose to do the third Batman movie with Christopher Nolan.

Besides, it's not like they can't find someone else to hide their face and warp his voice.

Chris Hemsworth is the Latest Snow White & the Huntsman Contender

It'll only be a few more days 'till Thor hits stateside and we see if Chris Hemsworth can gain from the good-will he's already earned from his Star Trek performance. While there's still the matter of The Avengers for next May, beyond that is a question-mark for the Australian actor. It's rather on the soon-ish side of things to discuss Thor or Avengers follow-ups.

But while we wait to see how Thor does this weekend (I personally think it's going to do OK, but nowhere near spectacular numbers), Hemsworth is already on Universal's radar for Snow White & the Huntsman, reports Variety. The trades say he's the front-runner for the title role next to Kristen Stewart and the part is reportedly his if he so chooses.

I'm guessing Hemsworth and his representation are waiting for the afore-mentioned opening weekend for Thor before making further commitments (i.e. his pay-bump would go up if Kenneth Branagh's Marvel epic clicks) assuming the shooting schedule for The Avengers doesn’t intervene with Snow White. This would also make him the fourth actor linked to the part starting with Viggo Mortensen, Hugh Jackman and most recently fellow Aussie Joel Edgerton.