Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Teaser Looks As Stupid As It Sounds

Ladies and gentlemen, if I may, if any of you are flabbergasted by how bad Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter looks, from this teaser trailer courtesy of Time, what were you expecting? The title says it all.

Not a defense for the Timur Bekmambetov-directed, Tim Burton-produced adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's "biography" on the 16^th U.S. President's secret life. Reminds me of Sucker Punch, i.e. glossy, hyper-stylized crap coming from the mind of an adolescent fueled on whatever "looks cool."

Russell Crowe in Talks to Join Dracula Tale 'Harker'

When we first heard word about a year ago of Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio teaming to bring the spec script Harker - a re-imagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula told from Jonathan Harker's point of view - to life, there was much to be excited about.

For one, the vampire genre was in dire need on a re-invention with the Twilight craze being on the loose the past few years.  Also, the fact the Leonardo DiCaprio was involved in the project and anything the guy has his hand in will be top notch.  Finally, the fact that Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Orphan) would be directing as he has proven himself as an up-and-coming capable director.

Since then, the only news about the project was that Collet-Serra had left the project to work on the live-action adaptation of Akira.  However, since that project has recently run into budget problems, it seems as if Collet-Serra is back on the project with a star to go with him.

Vulture reports that none other than Academy Award winner Russell Crowe is in talks to join the film for the title role as Harker (in this tale he will be a Scotland Yard worker in England - not a lawyer as in previous incarnations - who hunts down the monster causing havoc).

No word yet on who will play Dracula or when the film is will start filming but it's safe to say the flick will go before the camera sometime by the end of the year.

"Let The Bullets Fly" Trailers

In the lawless land that is rural China in the 1920s, legendary bandit “Pocky” Zhang (Jiang Wen) and his gang stage a train robbery. They are quite unhappy to discover that instead of silver, the only thing left on the train is the con man, Tang (Ge You). Desperate, Tang explains that he’s on his way to Goose Town, where he’s bought himself a governorship. If allowed to live, he will help Zhang assume the governorship in his place… where Zhang can make more money in one month as a corrupt politician than he can in a year’s worth of train robberies. With Tang as his prisoner/counselor, off they go.

But neither realizes that Goose Town is already under the iron rule of the wealthy Master Huang (Chow Yun Fat, The Killer, Hard Boiled), whose charming exterior conceals a ruthless, conniving crime lord. As Zhang begins to see how badly Huang oppresses the citizens of Goose Town, he decides to do something about it, and Huang quickly senses a major threat to his empire.

Thus begins an escalating series of hyper-violent (and hilarious) mind games between the bandit and the crime lord, while the devious Tang tries to play both sides until he can exit the situation…preferably with a profit. The stakes quickly rise to ludicrous proportions in this masterfully vicious, pitch-black action-comedy (China’s highest grossing film of all time), and you’ll be laughing the entire time as double- and triple-crosses, razor-sharp wordplay, and hundreds of thousands of bullets explode across the screen.

"Monsieur Lazhar" US Release Trailer

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, MONSIEUR LAZHAR tells the poignant story of a Montreal middle school class shaken by the death of their well-liked teacher. Bachir Lazhar (Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, offers the school his services as a substitute teacher and is quickly hired. As he helps the children heal, he also learns to accept his own painful past. This moving film features exquisite performances by Fellag and a stunning ensemble of child actors.

Awards

   ** Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film **
** Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012- UPC Audience Award **
 ** Toronto International Film Festival 2011: Winner – Best Canadian Feature Film **
** Locarno Film Festival 2011: Winner – Prix Du Public Award **
   ** Locarno Film Festival 2011: Winner – Variety Piazza Grande Award **
** Namur Film Festival 2011: Winner – Special Jury Award **
** Hamburg Film Festival 2011: Winner – Art Cinema Award **
** Windsor International Film Festival 2011: Winner – People’s Choice Award **
** Official Selection – Sundance Film Festival 2012 **

Battle For Superman Rights Slowly Glides Forward

As the Man Of Steel is being prepped to fly Summer 2013 we haven't heard much over the battle of Superman that is slowly being fought in the courtrooms.

The latest skirmish in what is a long drawn out war involves DC Comics arguing that they should have complete access to legal documents which Toberoff has claimed were stolen from him are are privileged.

I'm not going to pretend to be some kind of guru of law, you can read more details below of hearing before the 9th Circuit in Pasadena or click HERE for the original documents filed with the court on May 14, 2012

On Tuesday, counsel for attorney Marc Toberoff went before the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit in Pasadena, challenging an order for the production of privileged documents that were allegedly stolen from Toberoff's law firm by another attorney and handed to Warner Brothers during representation of the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman.

The publisher's complaint says that Toberoff persuaded the Siegel and Shuster's heirs to terminate their agreements with DC Comics and file invalid copyright notices. The heirs entered into a joint venture with Toberoff's Pacific Pictures Corp., granting him a controlling stake in the heirs' interest in the superhero character.

The documents at issue were unearthed during a theft investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office, and detailed Toberoff's interactions with the estates.

Magistrate Judge Ralph Zaresky rules that DC comics should have access to the documents last year, over Toberoff's objections that he had an agreement with the government to keep the documents under wraps.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski and judges Diarmuid O'Scannlain and Norman Smith heard arguments from Toberoff's counsel, Richard Kendall of Kendall Brill Klieger, and DC Comics' attorney, Matthew Kline of O'Melveny & Myers.

Kozinski asked Kline why the documents were not protected under attorney-client privilege. The judge noted that even if an attorney states explicitly that he has a waiver from his client, that is not enough. "Where is the client's action?" he asked.

Kline argued that all the evidence showed that the clients had expressly waived the attorney-client privilege and that Toberoff had obtained their consent to release the documents.

But during his rebuttal, Kendall said that grand jury secrecy offered "complete protection" against disclosure. He added that he had asserted attorney-client privilege "every which way" and noted that "the entire crime was the theft of privileged documents."

Seeking a Friend at the End of the World Trailer is Great

Lose the starship battles in space, cool-looking aliens and robots. Science fiction in its simplest form is asking, "What if?" Take ordinary people in a world not unlike our own and put them in extraordinary situations. What if an asteroid was headed straight to Earth in three weeks and there was nothing we could do to stop it? What would you do?

That's the question posed in Seeking a Friend at the End of the World, the trailer you can watch below courtesy of Yahoo! Movies.

For Steve Carell (who truly is the Everyman among comedy stars, and not Adam Sandler though he likes to think he is) and Keira Knightley, it’s taking a road trip to see the girl who first broke your heart and family respectively.

We can guesstimate the world will probably not end and Carell and Knightley will probably fall for one another on their trip. But that doesn't matter if the final product is as captivating as this great trailer suggests. We could be in for the purest science fiction film since Children of Men, even though yes, this is wrapped in the "dramedy" sub-genre. I can't wait to see it this June.

George Lucas Wants Press, and You Just Gave It to Him

For a guy the Internet claims they can't stand, they can't stop talking about him. Look, George Lucas is a smart guy. He wouldn't have been able to turn his low-budget Flash Gordon-inspired, space opera adventure serial into the biggest film series if he wasn't. He knows exactly what he's doing when he makes provocative statements as he just did recently to Heat Vision, regarding the tired debate of Han Solo shooting first in Star Wars. You know it's topical when there are t-shirts about it.

Cut to many movie-news/commentary outlets (Many of whom I read and the webmasters I interact with on a regular basis and consider good, smart guys) getting up and arms and further bringing into discussion how out of his mind Lucas is.

Here's the thing though, fellas. Old George knew exactly what he was doing by saying that. He knew you'd all get livid and give him press...because that's exactly what he wanted. Not to mention, he's said this stuff about Greedo shooting first before. Many times over the years since he first made that change to the original Star Wars in 1997.

Like I said, Lucas is a smart guy. The Phantom Menace is back in theaters today, now in 3D, and all the attention/press it can get, the better in Lucas' mind. He's not wrong thinking that. But right now, it's all about riling up the hardcore fans that grew up adoring Star Wars, Empire and Jedi. Oh sure, they were angry Lucas tinkered with the trilogy for the Blu-Ray releases, for the umpteenth time. Yet most of those fans shouting the loudest I guarantee bought the damn Blu-Rays. He's just going to keep egging you guys on until the inevitable time comes when he gives the go-ahead on releasing the original trilogy in their unchanged forms with state of the art sound and picture transfers and talk up how "wrong he was to deprive fans of what they really wanted," or some nonsense to that effect. And he'll have played you all for suckers.

By complaining this loud, all you're doing is giving him more power, guys. Next time, Lucas makes another remark like this, just ignore it.

Jean Dujardin Makes Valid Case That He Should Star in Everything

Jean Dujardin is silent no more.  Courtesy of the crew at Funny or Die, the Oscar-nominated star of The Artist beat to the punch his inevitable casting as the French-accented villian in any number of movies that Hollywood is likely willing to make by simply auditioning for all of them at the same time here:

As funny as this is (and I know I'm not the only one who would totally support Dujardin taking out Jack and Jill), there's a sad amount of truth as to how likely this is to actually happen anyway.  But seems like a cool guy, so I'm willing to watch any other role he gets to play.

The Artist is in theaters now.  And it's awesome, so go see it.

Legendary Pictures Pulls Plug on Paradise Lost

The writing was on the wall.

When word first broke of Legendary Pictures delaying the January start-date on Paradise Lost, Alex Proyas' retelling of John Milton's epic poem, for budgetary concerns, no amount of "Oh we'll start filming this June only with a tighter budget!" reassurances could make us think otherwise. Not to mention, when you see how Warner Brothers has been stalling or outright killing other tentpoles including Arthur & Lancelot and Akira.

This afternoon, Variety tweeted what we all saw coming. Paradise Lost is dead. "TOLDJA" elaborated on the matter saying the decision came down to the film's expensive motion-capture effects. All we're left is the image of Bradley Cooper as Lucifer above and him showing off pictures from his iPhone to Empire awhile back. Perhaps it was too risky commercially-speaking, but I hate when a film with this much potential bites the dust.

Henry Cavill Picks First Post-Superman Project

There were two ways to go for Henry Cavill.

He could take his Man of Steel money and sit out the remainder of 2012, doing nothing but reading scripts, doing press for The Cold Light of Day and preparing himself for the onslaught of media attention/press as the June 2013 release of Zack Snyder's Superman reboot approaches. If the outcome is favorable for the British Kryptonian, the offers will come pouring in; a risky proposition depending on how the movie is received. On the other hand, he could also take the first decent-looking job thrown at him after taking off the red-and-blue costume this month.

According to Variety, he's (wisely) taken the latter approach. Cavill is in talks to star in The Great Wall for Legendary Pictures and director Edward Zwick, hopefully this isn't another one of those "God bless white people" epics. The sole plot synopsis says it "looks at the mystery behind how China's Great Wall was constructed from a story conceived by Legendary Pictures chairman Thomas Tull and Max Brooks."

As much as being the new Superman will change his life, Cavill had better be ready to start thinking ahead career-wise. He needs to show the public he can play roles past a flying, red-cape wearing superhero while he can if he wants to avoid type-casting once the franchise (eventually) peters out. It would also help if their commercial projects too. Either way, he's off to a good start at making that happen.