Leaked Man of Steel Toy Commercials Showcase What Superman Will Punch

Early still-in-the-works toy-commercials for The Man of Steel leaked courtesy of Bleeding Cool. So early Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh are in place where Henry Cavill and finished footage will be. So early I must confess my first reaction upon viewing was, "These have to be fake!"

They aren't, and if you're a spoiler-bitch, best not watch. These spots reveal how Zod will, probably, look (Well... he won't be bald... we think), promises of a robot army (How deliciously Fleischer!) and the use of the Black Zero.

Robocop Remake to Embarrass Sony in February 2014 Instead of August 2013

Set pictures can help as much as hurt. More often than naught, it's the latter. Exhibit A: the Robocop remake. Sony earned good will by following the formula that worked in 1986 for the original. Hire an outside-the-system, acclaimed non-American director and a cast that reads great on paper. Everything to follow Verhoeven's '87 masterpiece failing to live up to its greatness is another benefactor. How much worse can an update be when you have all those terrible sequels, TV shows, cartoons and mini-series?

Amazing as it is to imagine from those awful script reviews and set pictures that could happen.  It would explain Sony's decision to shift the release date from August 9, 2013 to February 7, 2014. Taking its post is Neill Blomkamp's Elysium, which hasn't felt heat from its set-pieces; opposite reaction in fact to a bleeding, bald Matt Damon running around outside Vancouver.

Does this extra time allow the Robocop filmmakers to stop the bleed (AKA: reshoots) or are they trying to postpone the inevitable?

Dark Knight Rises Blu-Ray Commercial; Jonah Nolan Plays Dumb on Hard-to-Misinterpret Ending

$1.075 billion box-office and generally positive reception, it's time for The Dark Knight Rises to squeeze the last ounce of dollar from the wallet – the home-video release perfectly timed for Christmas. Here's a trailer for the Blu-Ray:

This shopper can, and will, wait. I'll grab the DVD set for my two year-old Batman-crazy nephew. Warner Brothers already claimed ground for a second Dark Knight Trilogy Blu-Ray set for next year. The same set that generated those "Extended Cut" rumors. Never bought into that one, but rumor-mill says Christopher Nolan might buckle down to record commentary tracks. Only way I can imagine WB justifying playing us fans like whores with a second set, months after the first.

Meanwhile, the question of the ending was posed to co-writer (and li'l brother of helmer Nolan) Jonah by IGN Movies. Specifically if Alfred seeing Bruce and Selina was real.

The seeds planted by the brothers Nolan, and common sense, leaves an answer impossible to refute. Bruce is alive. For some unexplainable reason there are those who insist Alfred hallucinated seeing his surrogate son and his advisory-turned-lover/wife. We're not talking about the legit ambiguity of Nolan's Inception, Total Recall or Blade Runner.

That logic aside, Nolan ain't yapping either way. He points to experiences on Memento. Guess I can't blame him. He doesn't want to tell those people they're idiots. Being vague sells more copies, even if its staring you in the face like it did Michael Caine in those closing moments.

The Evil Dead Remake's First Look is a Familiar Moment

The Evil Dead remake hasn't incurred the wrath of most horror remakes. Mostly because Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell (the old dogs who made the original when they were young, hungry pups) supervising. Their roles could be nothing besides a front. But it goes a long way to ease concerns. It's also better to remake Evil Dead than go through with the oft-rumored-to-death Evil Dead 4. Think about it, do you really want to see an out-of-shape, 54 year-old Campbell in Roger Moore territory?

EW has the first look. They say that's supposed to Jane Levy, looking nothing like the plucky, red-head from Suburgatory, and remember described as "the new Ash." Meanwhile I09 has a nicely detailed summary of the trailer from the New York Comic-Con this weekend, which should be out fairly soon.

Anything The Expendables Can Do, The ExpendaBelles Can Do Better?

The appeal of The Expendables evaporated at the snap of a finger when The Expendables 2 opened. Everyone seemed in on the joke the second time (Sylvester Stallone's 2010 original played straight outta 1988 without irony or fun). The action was better. Jean-Claude Van Damme was a better villain than Eric Roberts. They had more Bruce and Willis. For God’s sake, Chuck Norris MADE A CHUCK NORRIS JOKE!

Folks, though, got their fill of retro-over-muscled 80s badasses. The better film it may be, The Expendables 2 under-performed stateside. Is that it? Doubtful (Foreign grosses improved). But for the moment, Millennium Films is going for their answer to the Chipettes – The ExpendaBelles.

Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, who wrote good female-geared fare like 10 Things I Hate About You (or as my old high-school teacher called it, "The Best Teen Movie John Hughes Never Wrote") and Elle Enchanted and crap like She's the Man and Katherine Heigl's failed vehicles The Ugly Truth and One for the Money, are on scripting duties.

They've already exhausted the concept for old-school male stars. Is going to the female-equivalent too niche? Maybe if Expendables 2 did the business it should have, this would be a better idea than it really is.

I'll (May) Be Back – Terminator 5 Stalled

Movie Hole reports Terminator 5 is a no-go, for the time being.

Appears to be uneasiness towards why it hit a nail in the road. But we all know. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bad press hasn't let up since the "Secret Lovechild with the Nanny" scandal. His recent autobiography and accompanying 60 Minutes interview added more urine to that corpse. Arnold is and will always be the face of Terminator. No amount of Batman actors, Charlie's Angels directors and CGI stand-in Arnolds will prove otherwise.

Even going for the "Getting the band back together" pitch, a winning formula and the only way to keep Terminator going, still depends on Schwarzenegger's ability to get people in... and he's doing himself no favors as of late. No investor will pony up the $200-$300 million check with that Achilles heel.

In case you were curious of the pitch:

"The concept 'would've centered on an alternate timeline in which Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese lived' (as far as I could gather, that interchanging timeline storyline, that would mean the cast of the original film – Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn could reprise their roles.) 'But there's no movie at the moment, thus no locked-in script.', we're reminded again."

My pal Clint Morris is right when he says J.J. Abrams is owed a 10% gross-fee. That's too close to Star Trek for comfort.

Want to See Pacific Rim Footage? Here's Vague, but Cool-Looking, Art Instead!

Guillermo, you're a cool guy. If I ever get to meet you face-to-face, you'd probably be my new best friend (Sorry, Chip). But dude, you've got to stop talking about how cool Pacific Rim looks and show us. Comic-Con sizzle-reels don't count. You could get on stage and fart into a microphone or scream, "FUCK OBAMA! VOTE ROMNEY!" and they'd still go see your new movie.

This artwork, via Coming Soon, is being showcased at the New York answer to Comic-Con. Yeah it looks cool. It looks cool to a room full of nerds who are gonna see Pacific Rim anyway. Knock this crap off, fellas, and get to the damn trailer already.

Gangster Squad Trailer - Big Names Wearing Big Clothes in Big Time Period

Delicate line to walk for period settings. When opting for recognizable actors, filmmakers have to be careful. What you want are those household names blending into their characters and the environment. Bring their persona into whatever time period you're recreating and not come off as a distraction, like having Jack Nicholson, with all his isms, in Chinatown. What you fear are those famous faces playing dress-up like li'l kids.

Watching the new Gangster Squad trailer, I'm struck by the latter. It's an impressive ensemble. Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, Robert Patrick and Nick Nolte all look fine. Filling out the roles as written in the character-breakdown. Nothing more or less.

But that January 2013 release date, man. The tragedy in Aurora deflated any momentum the original trailer had. The sole distinguishing part was what ultimately, and understandably, led to the reshoots and five-month delay; the movie-theater shootout.

They say that single-handedly led to the January move. There is truth there. It would have been distracting and distasteful. That doesn't however make up for how generic the rest of Gangster Squad looks. If you're predisposed to the gangster genre, especially the period-setting, I imagine you're already enticed to see this. As a guy who considers himself a fan of said genre, I remain unimpressed.

Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty Theatrical Trailer

"You will never find him..."

Spoiler alert: they do.

The full-length trailer to Zero Dark Thirty is here. What started as your typical covert-action thriller with pedigree (Helmer Kathryn Bigelow's follow-up to The Hurt Locker) became the subject of much debate when real-life stepped in. The death of Osama bin Laden gave Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal gave them an ending.

The cast, the cinematography, the mood; everything registers here leading to a great closing shot. I want to see those black ops kill that bastard.

So Much for Distancing Yourself From Raimi - Spider-Man Sequel to Feature Mary Jane Watson & Harry Osborn

Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn were two vital components to Spider-Man lore and had big roles in the Sam Raimi iteration. So when The Amazing Spider-Man came along, it was all about starting over anew. Don't bring on direct comparison unless it's unavoidable like Uncle Ben's death. So the new Peter Parker was an asshole, douchebag loner with no friends. Hence no Harry and Gwen Stacey, one of Parker's early loves from the comics and memorable only for her infamous death at the hands of the Green Goblin, is the new love-interest. It helped that they hired Emma Stone, who had great chemistry with Andrew Garfield during and between takes.

Even with those changes, which had to be made, it still drew ire for retreading territory covered before (and better) by Raimi. Per Variety, those criticisms won't end for the untitled sequel. MJ and Pete's best-frenemy are returning.

Shailene Woodley (quite good in The Descendants and whose weekly drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager was just announced to end – timing!) is in talks for Mary Jane. No word on Harry and rumor-mill also pegs Electro as one of the new baddies. That I like - a weird Kingpin/Electro amalgam was the heavy in James Cameron's 1993 "scriptment" for you trivia nerds out there. Then again, implementing Harry and the looming shadow of Norman Osborn in Amazing Spider-Man (who the filmmakers chicken-shittedly implied wasn't harassing Curt Connors in that jail-cell when it clearly was) suggests they'll settle on someone for Green Goblin.

So... are we going to pretend this isn't lazy? Judging by the reaction, that's a bingo.