Robin Gameplay Footage From Arkham City

Often times I feel a bit fatigued from all the Batman bad-assery talk from long time fans and general public alike. Even though ole Batty isn't my favorite character, there's no doubt he seems to be the only character DC can continue to keep popular in various forms of media.

Checking out my Arkham City countdown app on my phone, we're left with 11 days until the release of the highly anticipated sequel to a Arkham Asylum. That was a fun game and quiet possibly the best comic book related game to date. Arkham City seems to have stepped everything up a notch with being able to take Batman out in the city for more exploration of Gotham.

This Robin clip that debuted today has me more excited about the game than before. These levels will be the ones I look forward to playing most. For the moment this character is only available with an exclusive pre-order through Best Buy. I hate these exclusives and wish they would just have it as a standard option when you purchase the game, but there could be hope later on to get the levels with Robin by other means. 

Shame Teaser Poster

The reason the J. Edgar posters were only the second blandest posters I have seen this year is because I stumbled across this one as I was about to submit that article. I mean really? is there a competition to create the shittiest, dullest poster possible going on and I am not aware of it?

Apparently this film has lots of graphic sex and is directed by an indie darling who shares his name with screen legend Steve McQueen. Honestly if you want graphic sex go watch some porn.

The Hollywood Reporter got the scoopage.

I am very pleased to be able offer readers of this blog an exclusive first look at the teaser one-sheet for Shame, Steve McQueen's controversial new drama about a sex addict (Michael Fassbender) and his sister (Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan) that premiered at Venice -- where Fassbender was named best actor -- and played Telluride and Toronto in September, was acquired soon thereafter by Fox Searchlight, and will be released theatrically on December 2. The poster will be on display for the first time tomorrow night at the New York Film Festival's gala red carpet screening of the film.

Many who caught Shame on the festival circuit, including yours truly, found it to be very impressive, but doubted if it would ever see the light of day -- or, I should say, dark of a public theater. Why? Because it includes numerous scenes depicting full frontal nudity (including from Fassbender and Mulligan) and sexual activity (of a number of varieties), none of which can really be "edited around" since they pop up throughout the entire film and are integral to its plot. This meant that any studio interested in distributing the film would have to accept the fact that it will receive an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, which inherently limits the number of theaters in which it can be screened and publications in which it can be promoted.

Nevertheless, Searchlight decided to take a chance on it, presumably because they think that Fassbender and Mulligan's gutsy performances might register with the Academy's acting branch (which has been known to reward risky and risque work every so often, such Michelle Williams' in Blue Valentine last year). And, indeed, if any studio can turn Shame into an event movie and/or awards contender, it's Searchlight, which has pulled more than a few rabbits out of hats in recent awards seasons, and, based on the release date for Shame, is still digging for another.

Two J. Edgar Posters

Comingsoon.net debuted these via Warner Brothers and despite being a fan of both Eastwood and DiCaprio, these are the second blandest posters I have seen this year,  just terrible.

Jamie And Peter Like This: Wilford Brimley Edition

Unfortunately for the both of us, Jamie and myself talk a lot. 75% of the time we are discussing the latest and greatest in the world of film and television. Not only do we use our "not so smart phones" to pass our vast movie knowledge back and forth. We also take advantage of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to bring the proverbial noise.

Although there might be a future for Twitter related posts we're going to start with the some Facebook interactions. The first one involves Coccon and some 90210 related back and forth.

New Tower Heist Trailer

Comingsoon.net got this via iTunes, and yes it looks as awful as it did in the first trailer, no, maybe not quite as awful, but still not worth wasting the old hard earned on, and I still ask the question, "Why Casey why?"

Two New Images From The Raven

I'm not sure what to make of this one but I like Cusak and I liked what James McTeigue did with 'V For Vendetta', so I am looking forward to seeing the trailer tomorrow.

Shocktillyoudrop.com got the scoop.

Two brand new photos from The Raven have been released in anticipation of a trailer debut. Relativity plans on releasing the first preview tomorrow, October 7, Edgar Allan Poe's "death day."

James McTeigue directed the film which stars John Cusack and Luke Evans. The Raven is a fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.

"My Week With Marilyn" Trailer

The Weinstein Company is rolling out the Oscar bait with a trailer for My Week With Marilyn.  Set in 1957, My Week With Marilyn depicts the tension between Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Sir Lawrence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) during production of their film The Prince and the Showgirl, as well as Marilyn's week-long escapade with Showgirl assistant Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne).  The film is directed by Simon Curtis, and based on Clark's two diary accounts of the infamous week: The Prince, The Showgirl, and Me and My Week With Marilyn:

Looks pretty good.  My Week With Marilyn is set to premiere at the NY Film Festival on October 9, and will go into regular release on November 4.

Possible Bond (2)3 Title Sounds Less 007, More Roland Emmerich

If it's to be believed, and after Quantum of Solace (Remember when we all thought it was going to be called The Property of the Lady?) we shouldn't put anything past Sony and Eon, the title for Bond (2)3 may have been discovered.

What Culture! (formerly Obsessed with Film, and for a second there, I thought was a Yakov Smirnoff fan-site) caught wind of a slew of URLs being registered for Sony via a brand protection company:

"http://whois.domaintools.com/jamesbond-skyfall.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/jamesbond-skyfall.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/jamesbondskyfall.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/jamesbondskyfall.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfall-film.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfall-thefilm.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfall-thefilm.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfall-themovie.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfall-themovie.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfallfilm.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfallmovie.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfallthefilm.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfallthefilm.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfallthemovie.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/skyfallthemovie.com"

If the title is Skyfall, fine so be it. Not what I had in mind. Surprised the Broccolis didn't go for something more akin to Ian Fleming but I just want to see Daniel Craig cracking skulls in the role for a third time before calling it a day. Get the impression this will be his swan-song from the franchise and I hate the idea of him repeating what happened to the (also) great 007 Timothy Dalton.

Who Wants to See Tower Heist in Their Pajamas?

Sure, it's a pain in the ass going to the movies. It used to the biggest problem was sitting in front of some asshole that talked during the movie and didn't understand the concept of shutting up. These days finding that guy would be a Godsend compared to the little pricks that spend 90 minutes playing video games with their cell phones or texting instead of watching a movie in a darkened room with hundreds of strangers. Because God forbid they turned off the Goddamn phone. Gasp, indeed.

Universal is hoping that rage will translate to you being stupid enough to shell out six times the amount of the average movie-ticket just so you can see a big-release in your home (where you can worry about your own damn kids texting, babies crying, etc. instead of someone else's) three weeks after it opens theatrically.

That's part of an experiment the studio, via their corporate master Comcast, will conduct in Atlanta, Georgia and Portland, Oregon next month, reports the Los Angeles Times. Instead of using some piece of crap they know is going to fail anyway (which yours truly thinks would make the most sense) they're going to make the Brett Ratner-directed, Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy-starring comedy Tower Heist as their guinea pig. Fork over $60 and you too can see the shenanigans of Stiller, Murphy, Ferris Bueller and Precious as they con the douche from Crimes & Misdemeanors.

Doesn't matter how hard they try to replace DVD with Blu-Ray on the market, home video sales as a whole are on the decline and studios are desperately looking for a new model that can squeeze as much money as possible out of their products with the rising costs to production and distribution. I'd hate to live to see the day when movie theaters go extinct as the drive-ins did for our parents. Those assholes I vented about notwithstanding, nothing can beat the experience of seeing a movie on the big screen with an audience.

Julia Roberts Set to Scare Humans & Dogs in Tarsem's Snow White

A YouTube video of a dog afraid of Julia Roberts made the news-circuits yesterday and this morning, Entertainment Weekly has the first-look at Roberts as the Evil Queen in Tarsem Singh's untitled Snow White film.

This is either the strangest case of coincidence or a genius piece of viral marketing by Relativity Media.