Trouble With The Curve - Official Trailer

Most thought the legendary Clint Eastwood had signed off as an actor with Gran Turismo, but he's back here as an aging Baseball scout who's losing his eyesight and ends up bringing his daughter (Amy Adams) along on one last scouting mission. Justin Timberlake plays a younger baseball scout who has a friendly rivalry with Eastwood and is the romantic interest for Adams.

I'm not sure if this is Oscar bait, I tend to think not despite Eastwoods presence. It looks more like a warm, fun feel good drama to me, a movie that perhaps presents a chance for Clint to sign off with something uplifting as an actor.

Christopher McQuarrie to Rewrite and Potentially Direct 'Without Remorse'

Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie (Way of the Gun, the upcoming Tom Cruise film, Jack Reacher) has signed on to rewrite and potentially direct Without Remorse, an adaptation of Tom Clancy's 1993 novel.  The project was previously announced back in 2010 with Shawn Ryan (creator of FX's The Shield) writing the script.

For those unfamiliar with the book, Without Remorse centers on former NAVY Seal and CIA operative John Kelly, who in Clancy's universe, exists in the world of Jack Ryan as well.

Word is that Paramount (currently developing a new Jack Ryan film starring Chris Pine) is keen to have this film set in the same universe as their other famous spy, a la an Avengers move where potential cross-over films can occur.

The character of John Kelly, co-named Mr. Clark, first appeared in 1994's Clear and Present Danger (played by Willem Dafoe) and also appeared in 2002's The Sum of All Fears (played by Liev Schreiber).

No word yet on who could possibly star in the flick but it would be safe to assume at least one of the Avengers (besides Robert Downey Jr. of course) would be up for the role: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Jeremy Renner.

The full synopsis for Without Remorse listed below [via Amazon]:

Avid readers of Clancy's bestselling techno-thrillers ( The Hunt for Red October et al.) know agent John Kelly, code-named Mr. Clark, as Jack Ryan's "dark side." Here, in 1970, Vietnam vet Kelly gets involved in a secret operation to rescue 20 American pilots from a North Vietnamese prison camp. Betrayed by someone in Washington, the mission ends in apparent failure. Clancy balances the military movements with a dark narrative of Kelly's tragic personal life. While mourning the death of his pregnant wife in a traffic accident, Kelly picks up a young hitchhiker named Pam, a prostitute and drug "mule" fleeing her cruel masters. The pair fall in love and set out to bring down the drug lords, but an error on Kelly's part leads to Pam's horrible demise at the hands of the vengeful criminals. After his own recovery from a shotgun blast, Kelly begins methodically to murder his way through the drug ring.

Source: Deadline

Oh Yeah, Joss Whedon is Directing Avengers 2

Rest assured this doesn't appear to be a repeat of the summer-long negotiation tactics, eventually went public to sway favor with fandom it got so heated, between Marvel and Jon Favreau over Iron Man 2. We know how well that turned out.

Joss Whedon has signed on to write and direct The Avengers 2, Disney big-cheese Bob Iger revealed this afternoon at the Disney Investors Conference Call. No release is in place but we wouldn't be too far off to guesstimate a summer 2015 date is in order. Whedon will also spear-head a "Marvel-based" television series for ABC, confirming those rumors from a few weeks back.

This is 40 Trailer is All Over the Place

It relied on "We are Young" as the background music to a fault, yes. As if that song wasn't over-exposed as it. The first trailer for This is 40, the "sort of sequel" to Knocked-Up, set up the narrative. Getting older sucks. But at least there's your significant other to go through those aches and pains, and kids maturing into li'l pains in the asses with, right?

The second trailer for Judd Apatow's latest, from Yahoo! Movies, doesn't fare as well. Trying to juggle a lot of themes here. Not that they aren't relatable. But stick to one and run with it. Feels like Apatow to reaching for too much here.

First Official Look at Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln: As Awesome As You'd Hoped

Let's not get ahead of ourselves with silly "Oscar talk." But when Daniel Day-Lewis announced in the title role of Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, it was unavoidable. Oscar #3 notwithstanding, you knew, at the very least, it was going to be an awesome performance and God help us when we got our first official look at Lewis in character.

True, there were set pictures awhile back. Not taking away from those (They helped quench our thirst) but seeing Lewis all decked out as our greatest U.S. President, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, does wonders. I want a trailer ASAP. Wait, forget that, and just give me the finished film. Can't wait till November!

The Great Gatsby Leaving Christmas 2012 for Summer 2013

Remember Titanic vs. The Man in the Iron Mask?

December 25th was supposed to be Round II in the epic question of if Leonardo DiCaprio could kick his own ass at the box office. This time, the actor is headlining Django Unchained and The Great Gatsby. Both touted as Oscar contenders and, hopefully, commercial hits. Alas we'll never know the outcome.

Warner Brothers figured two Leos in one day was too much and announced this afternoon the 3D Gatsby courtesy of director Baz Luhrmann is vacating Christmas Day, and the 2012 awards circuit, to an unspecified summer 2013 date arguing competition is too fierce. Ironic since Django's shoot went overscheduled and concerns arose if it could make its release date.

The move is not off logically-speaking. They're right. This Christmas is packed with the afore-mentioned Django, Jack Reacher, Les Miserables, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, This is 40 and Zero Dark Thirty fighting for your $10.

Where they lose me is moving to summer. The studio has that packed with The Hangover 3, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim and 300: Battle of Artemisia. Where do they expect to slot Gatsby and why move there if they already have their ducks lined up? Unless one of their tentpoles has also been delayed?

Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty Teaser Trailer

The teaser trailer for Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty is here, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, along with first-look images and an interview with Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal:

Doesn't matter what Bigelow or Boal says. There will still be those who insist Zero Dark Thirty is nothing more than a glorification of President Obama's move to send Osama bin Laden straight to Hell. They insist it isn't and I'll take them at their word.

But it left Sony worried enough to bump its release from October to December, some speculating the move would strength Obama's re-election chances (It wouldn't - this election is all about the economy, kiddos). Whole thing is irrelevant. That bastard's elimination was a victory for everyone; left, right and center.

Weekend Box Office: August 3-5

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Dark Knight Rises - $36.4 million

2.  Total Recall - $26 millon

3.  Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - $14.7 million

4.  Ice Age: Continental Drift - $8.4 million

5.  The Watch - $6.3 million

6.  Ted - $5.4 million

7.  Step Up Revolution - $5.3 million

8.  The Amazing Spider-Man - $4.3 million

9.  Brave - $2.8 million

10.  Magic Mike - $1.3 million

The race for first between Total Recall and The Dark Knight Rises turned out to be not much of a contest.  In its third weekend, the Batman finale remained in first place with an estimated $36.4 million, while Sony's Total Recall remake lagged behind with $26 million.  That's not good news for the outlook of Total Recall, especially since Sony is believed to have spent a ridiculous amount of money making it, and it's not likely to make that money back.

With a domestic total of $354 million, The Dark Knight Rises is in great shape, even if there's little to no chance of it catching up to The Dark Knight's $533 million domestic total.  The film is doing even better overseas, where it has earned $378 million. 

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid saga continued this weekend - for the first time, opening during the summer instead of during the school year - and earned an estimated $14.7 million.  That's lower than either of the two previous Wimpy Kid movies (they earned $22.1 million and $23.8 million on their opening weekends, respectively), with plenty of kids still enjoying summer vacation, the movie should have some steady attendence during the weekday matinees.

Next weekend sees the continuation of the Bourne franchise with The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner, as well as the Will Ferrell/Zack Galifianakis comedy, The Campaign.  For the rest of the grownups, there's also the dramedy Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones.

'Dumb & Dumber 2' Back on Track?

For those who don't know, earlier this year it looked as if the long in-development follow-up to the 1990s comedy classic, Dumber & Dumber, was finally going to happen with directors The Farrelly Brothers and stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels all agreeing to do the sequel.  The flick would pick up 20 years after the duo's trip to Aspen and have nothing to do with the awful 2003 prequel, Dumber & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.

But just as much as it all seemed too good to be true, news came a few months back that Carrey - the one must-have to the whole project - had backed out due to "a lack of enthusiasm" from the studio to do the sequel.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that basically mean in Hollywood terms, "they didn't want to pay me what I wanted?"

Anyway, as big a letdown as that news was, it now looks like Carrey may have come around and is willing to do the project again (maybe he realized all the money he would make off of percentage points from the film's box office?).

Speaking to Hollywood.com, Jeff Daniels (who's been absolutely fantastic this summer on HBO's The Newsroom) says progress on the film is back on:

"We almost were able to kinda get it done this year, but they're still working on the script.

"Jim wants to do it, I want to do it, the Farrellys want to do it... We're all hoping that it'll come together early next year."

Not exactly the most reassuring words but it's more enthusiastic then saying, "The project is completely dead because Jim doesn't want to do it."

Let's hope they can all work out the differences and shoot this thing early next year (it was supposed to shoot this Fall).

More on the project as it becomes available.

Source: Moviehole, Hollywood.com

New "Dredd" Images

The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland (28 Days Later) and director Pete Travis bring the iconic masked police officer Dredd to life in this futuristic neo-noir action film. Filmed in 3D with stunning slow-motion photography sequences, the film returns the celebrated comic book anti-hero to his dark, violent and visceral roots.