So ever since Fox Searchlight showed up last summer with a little winner called Little Miss Sunshine, folks immediately began to scour the 2007 slate to see which film would be its cinderella story. Because you need one of those each year; a film that doesn't feature a full cast of A-listers; doesn't revolve around the politics of war; and isn't some two and a half hour period piece about a queen or a famous author with major issues. Well maybe I'm going out a limb here (having not seen the movie yet), but not only will Juno show up on several top ten lists at the end of the year, but I also feel it will land a few award nominations as well (best original screenplay, to give you at least one).

The buzz for this film coming off Toronto was stellar; our own Scott Weinberg (who's opinion you should definitely trust) said: "From arcane pop culture references to casually amusing slang words to pitch-perfect dialog volleys, Juno might be the smartest 'teen' movie since the also-brilliant Election." Big shoes to fill, sure, but I believe it -- ever since seeing Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking, I knew this kid was destined to do some wonderful things with the comedy genre. And though the trailer doesn't provide us with any laugh-out-loud set pieces, it does show a film with tremendous quirk and potential. Heck, I could watch Rainn Wilson call someone "home-skillet" for two hours alone -- but that's me. Juno is set to hit theaters on December 14. Go see it.

Now that the dust has finally settled from the summer movie season, it's time to kick back, relax and, well, gear up for next summer's blockbusters I guess. Tony Stark, a.k.a. Shell Head, a.k.a. The Golden Avenger, a.k.a. Iron Man is yet another Marvel Comics character getting the big-screen treatment, and that hotly-anticipated flick will be arriving in theaters via a nifty set of boot jets on May 2, 2008. Director Jon Favreau has posted on his Myspace page that the first teaser trailer will be playing on Monday 9/10 during several TV shows, although the most ardent of Iron Man fans will want to tune into MTV's The Hills that day because that's where the spot will air first. The teaser will show up in a bunch of places on Monday and Tuesday, including Comedy Central's The Daily Show, CSI on Spike TV and The Andy Griffith Show on TVLand. Yeah, I did a double take on Andy Griffith too. Looks like their hitting some pretty diverse demographics.

A high-res version will also be appearing on Apple.com/trailers Tuesday 9/11. Check out Favreau's Myspace for a more complete listing of shows carrying the promo. Apparently the teaser incorporates much of the footage that was shown at Comicon -- footage which, incidentally, can still be viewed via crappy cell phone video over on Youtube. Frankly, I'm surprised Paramount hasn't yanked it, but even in substandard video, the footage looks awesome, and it's all set to the Black Sabbath song Iron Man. Nice. Can't wait to see the high-def version.

After Polar Express, you've got to gore things up a bit. Robert Zemeckis is soon to return with Beowulf, and now we've got another trailer to feast on at the official website -- one safely housed behind one of those age verification pages. This time around, we've got lots of Beowulf ranting, merged with lots of blood and death. Well, what looks like animated blood that is. With this trailer, we get to see some of Grendel's victims, plus some slow-mo, blood-filled action during a Grendel attack. At the very least, you can expect this to be completely over the top.

Stylistically, I think I prefer it's predecessor, Sturla Gunnarsson's Beowulf & Grendel, which came out last year. It's far from flashy, but it's got the fighting and the drama -- just in a less-sensational package. That being said, it's pretty hard to resist the names attached to this sucker. Beyond Zemeckis, there's Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary responsible for the screenplay, and then there's the cast. Angelina Jolie has seemed to make the biggest splash so far seeing that she's pretty nude as Grendel's Mother, but there's also Beowulf -- Ray Winstone from my loved Proposition, Anthony Hopkins as King Hrothgar, Robin Wright Penn as Queen Wealtheow, Alison Lohman as Ursula, John Malkovich as Unferth, and of course, Crispin Glover as Grendel. We'll finally get to see the whole package on November 16, but if you want some epic adaptations before then, check out Gunnarsson's version.

Guess who's back? That's right, Harold and Kumar are gearing up for another wild adventure -- except this time "they're running from the joint." The first teaser trailer for Harold and Kumar 2 (which, at one point, was called Harold and Kumar Go to Amsterdam) has arrived on YouTube (you know what that means -- catch it while you can), and based on what we see, it appears we're in store for a lot more of the same goofy humor that made the original Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle an instant cult classic.

Basically, Harold and Kumar attempt to get on a plane and go to Amsterdam, except some old lady freaks out and thinks Kumar's a terrorist. So, from there, they show us Rob Corddry behind a piece of interrogation glass cracking some joke about North Korea and Al Qaeda working together. Perhaps the greatest part of the entire teaser (and those fans of the original probably know where I'm heading with this) is the re-introduction of Neil Patrick Harris ... as himself. Yup, before the teaser cuts out, there's Harris -- behind the wheel of a car -- looking all coked up and out of his mind, as per usual. I wouldn't go touting this as a must-see comedy; I think the Harold and Kumar shtick is geared toward a particular audience (ahem, stoners), and I wouldn't expect any ground-breaking comedic moments. But the boys have their fans, and those fans will definitely be interested in seeing them up on the big screen one more time. Me? I'll be waiting for DVD ... for obvious reasons.

I just about lost my breakfast trying not to laugh when Harvey Keitel brought out the President's Book of Secrets -- a book that holds all the answers to this country's most puzzling questions, like who really killed J.F.K. and what's really going on at Area 51. Dun. Dun. Dun. And guess who's job it is to steal it? That's right, Nicolas Cage is back hunting treasures, but this time there's a lot more at stake -- like clearing his family's name. When a piece of John Wilkes Booth's super secret diary is found, not only does it tell us who his top five crushes were, but it also implicates Cage's (or his character Ben Gates, that is) great great grandfather in the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln. And since our man Gates doesn't want to be known as the great great grandson of the guy who conspired to kill one of our greatest Presidents, he sets out on an adventure to clear his family's name. Little did he know the secrets he'd uncover in the process.

This new full-length trailer looks similar to the first film in that Gates needs to keep following clues -- breaking into protected buildings, utilizing a number of one-liners, and even kidnapping the President -- until he gets what he needs. Of course, like with any sequel, the stakes are higher, the missions are harder and the wisecracks are that much funnier. Cage, Keitel, Jon Voight and Diane Kruger all return for part two, with pretty nifty additions like Ed Harris and Helen Mirren. While I'll joke about the film, I kind of dug the first flick. It's no Indiana Jones, but it's light, fluffy and fun to watch Cage figure out a way to pull off a stunt that seems utterly impossible. Kind of like Mission Impossible ... but, ya know, for kids. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets hits theaters on December 21.

A brand new trailer for Rob Zombie's re-imagined Halloween has just arrived online, and I have to say it looks pretty good. Of course, since the trailer is quite obviously cut together so that it doesn't offend anyone, we can't truly see how bloody and gory Zombie's taken our old friend Michael Myers. What we need is a sweet red band trailer for this bad boy; I want to see Myers tearing someone's head off. The violence we do see, however, looks a bit more hand-to-hand and realistic than other Halloween sequels. I dig that. I often tire of watching someone like Myers (or Jason) rip a flagpole out of the ground and stick it through some poor, unsuspecting teenager having sex. I want to see fights. I want to see people scratching and clawing for their lives. I want to see Zombie bring Myers down to a level where we can almost imagine something like this happening somewhere in the real world.

And that's what Zombie is doing with this updated version; at least it appears that way. Right off the bat, we hear a news story that compares the Myers killings (when the young Myers hacks his family) to the Manson murders. By grounding this film in reality, I feel it will be a lot more successful. I already love the stuff with Myers in the mental hospital -- this was an aspect of the Halloween story that I always wanted to see more of. Just the fact that Zombie will dedicate a good amount of the film to this time in Myers' life is definitely something that intrigues me. Will we see Myers up to his old tricks? Hell yes. There will be plenty of him returning to Haddonfield, slicing his way through neighbor after neighbor, until he finally ends up face-to-face with the sister he came searching for. I would've liked to see some more of Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) in the trailer, but part of me almost likes the fact that Zombie is keeping him in the background until it's time to see the film. Check out the new trailer, and let us know what you think. Halloween arrives in theaters on August 31.

Alviiiiin! Ah, there's just something about seeing Alvin, Simon and Theodore sing Funkytown that just brings me back to my childhood, sitting at home with nothing else to do but watch those old Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoons. The first trailer for the new, updated version of Alvin and Chipmunks has just arrived over on Moviefone and -- I dunno -- it made me chuckle. Then again, I'm a sucker for these damn chipmunks. Not to mention the hilarious Jason Lee will play David Seville; the chipmunk's (father? owner? slave?). The trailer is more of a teaser than anything else; it starts off with stock footage of what looks to be Beatles mania, followed by some '70s hippie scenes and then a little '80s dance party. All the while a voiceover tells us how "they" captivated the world only to disappear out of the blue. But now they're back ... and jamming like never before. David Cross, Cameron Richardson and Jane Lynch also star, and the film was directed by Tim Hill. Alvin and the Chipmunks will once again take the world by storm on December 14. Look out!

If you've always wanted to see a group of ninja elves beat the crap out of Vince Vaughn, you're in luck -- the first theatrical trailer for Fred Claus has just arrived online. And all that fake snow on the ground left me wishing this current humidity attack on NYC would just go away. I type, and I sweat. It's crazy. We recently shared four new teaser posters for Fred Claus (one of which is featured over there to the right), and Jessica wasn't so crazy about the cutesy air-brushed Vince Vaughn vibe to them. Well, the trailer is a tad better. Directed by David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers), don't expect a slew of raunchy Christmas jokes here. Based on this preview, it looks like they're going right after the kids with a bunch of generic North Pole antics, a slew of midget jokes (half of which were probably already used in Elf) and the story of a family relationship gone sour.

That said, I'm a sucker for Vince Vaughn (even though I feel he continues to play the exact same character in every movie), as well as a sucker for inventive Christmas tales. Just looking at Santa and hearing Paul Giamatti's voice immediately brought a smile to my face. Kevin Spacey also shows up as the business man who's looking to put the kibosh on Christmas (there's always one of those somewhere), Kathy Bates seems to be playing Santa's mom, Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Claus and Elizabeth Banks as the hottie assistant. Hmm, I wonder if she and Fred will eventually wind up together? Oh, and Rachel Weisz is somehow sandwiched in there too, along with everyone's favorite Hollywood whore, Ludacris (don't even get me started on how much I despise that man and his cheesy "Look at me, I'm an awesome actor now" tactics). Bah humbug. Check out the trailer and let us know what you think; Fred Claus will sprinkle Christmas cheer on theaters everywhere beginning November 9.

Look, it's Steve Carell ... and he's stuck in a phone booth. Still stuck. Still stuck. Part of me waits for a long-haired Keanu Reeves to show up and go, "Dude, you just open it like this." But no. He's still stuck. And ... the bit is over. Phew. The first teaser for Get Smart has arrived on MSN (of all places), and includes a few quick scenes of Steve Carell doing stupid things in a tuxedo. Strike that, he does attempt to throw something at the dude from Borat (looking exactly like the dude from Borat), but this time he's in a suit. But then he's back in a tux fumbling with a bunch of beads. We're also presented with a few quick (and I mean, quick) glimpses of Anne Hathaway running, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson smiling and Alan Arkin walking. Get Smart comes out next summer ... and I can hardly wait.

But perhaps I'm being a bit cynical here; after all it is early and it is one heckuva hot day here in New York City. Based on the popular 60's television series, Get Smart is sort of like The Pink Panther, but American. The film follows the bumbling Maxwell Smart, aka Agent 86 (Carell), and his much more competent partner, Agent 99 (Hathaway), who both work for an agency named CONTROL that frequently does battle with the evil forces of KAOS. Arkin will play the Chief of CONTROL, while The Rock takes on the role of Agent 23. Terrence Stamp also shows up as Siegfried, KAOS agent and enemy of Smart. The good news is that Carell seems perfect for the role, and I'm sure he'll deliver more than a few laughs. And until we get our hands on something a bit more substantial, I'll do my best to reserve judgment. Seeing them release the first trailer almost a year before the film comes out means there's definitely more heading our way in the coming months. Get Smart is set to stumble into theaters on June 20, 2008.

The most fascinating part of this newly-released trailer for Gone, Baby, Gone is that at no point do they advertise the fact that Ben Affleck directed. Yup, Ben Affleck. And for those of you wondering where the hell Affleck has disappeared to, well, he's been off piecing together what looks to be a gem of a film. Based on a Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel, Gone, Baby, Gone tells the story of a little girl who goes missing and the intense (but possibly corrupt) police investigation that follows. Affleck seems right at home with this flick (literally), as it's shot in Boston and stars his kid brother, Casey (in a role that will either make or break his career as a lead actor). I guess you can say I came away with a Good Will Hunting meets The Departed vibe, and if the film excels in one particular area, it's in the acting.

Right off the bat, Ed Harris looks phenomenal (as always) in the role of Detective Remy Broussard. Morgan Freeman also shows up hoping to deliver another solid performance. I love Freeman just as much as the next guy, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that he's beginning to bore me just a bit. Michelle Monaghan stars as the worried girlfriend who's there to cough out lines like, "I think you're getting in a little too over your head." Amy Madigan plays the missing girl's mother in a supporting role that's about as juicy as they come. Also showing up in one way, shape or form are John "Taggart" Ashton and Robert "The Other, Other Brother" Wahlberg. I have to say the film looks pretty damn good, and not what I would expect from Affleck's first directorial effort (he also co-wrote the script along with Aaron Stockard). Let us know what you think; Gone, Baby, Gone hits theaters on October 19.