Man, I am absolutely loving the posters they're creating for The Dark Knight. Sure, there's been like 9, 10, 357 of them, but each one packs a solid punch. Batman On Film have debuted the latest of the batch, which, obviously, showcases the film's big villain: The Joker. Only thing I don't get about this poster is why they would put the words 'Coming Soon' underneath? Why not show off the film's July 18th release date?
For those who haven't stopped in to hang out here for awhile, The Dark Knight has been a subject of debate lately. First, Elisabeth wrote a Fan Rant on the selling of that Joker toy, and how some folks are cleaning out the supply, jacking up the prices and selling it on eBay -- profiting off Ledger's death and the increased demand for a collectible. Meanwhile, I pondered whether Ledger may get himself an Oscar nod out of this role; how it's about damn time we start recognizing the wonderful performances in these fanboy flicks, instead of focusing solely on special effects and sound editing. So feel free to chime in here or on those other posts. Unlike the poster, we'll tell you The Dark Knight arrives in theaters on July 18.
Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game everyone in Narnia was talking about a thousand years from now! Last week we asked you to dust off that pimpin' fedora and come up with a caption for a photo from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- which, for those who've been counting down the seconds (looks away in shame!), hits theaters in less than one week! Congrats to Anthony T. (who won the first three Indiana Jones films on DVD) for a caption that was, well, a real hidden treasure.
1. "We've finally made it to the tomb of the ... Goddammit Nicolas Cage!!!! What are you doing here?!!" -- Anthony T.
2. "Unbeknownst to the two adventurers, the shadowy figure behind them had just enough silly string left to seal their doom..." Sean A.
3. "Geez, Dr. Jones. I know I told you I'd help you clean out your attic, but I'm going to need more than $10 an hour..." -- Pete M.
This week we're all returning to the land of Narnia in honor of the highly-anticipated sequel to The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We're not asking you to take out the villains and save a prince, mind you, but we would like a funny caption for the photo below. In return, you see, three lucky winners will be awarded one Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian cast-signed poster, one Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian soundtrack and one Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian illustrated "making of" book. You know the drill ...
It is the wee hours of the morning here in the Colorado Rockies -- and when they said the teaser trailer was to debut Friday, they weren't kidding. They wanted you all to wake up to it. How nice of them!
It is up courtesy of Yahoo! Movies (along with a bunch of new photos), so unfortunately we can't embed it. While it looks better than I expected it would, there isn't much to inspire a lot of excitement for me. I thought the one thing this movie would have in its favor was a new location. But despite being located in China, it manages to boast as many desert battles as the previous two installments. Now, I know there are deserts in China, but that isn't exactly the geography the country is most famous for. Wouldn't you take advantage of the beautiful mountains and bamboo forests? Unless, of course, you were banking on using those dissolving sand effects again, already evident on the poster. (They do venture into the Himalayas at some point from the looks of things. Dissolving snow effects?)
Still, it looks like there are some impressive action sequences. Those terracotta soldiers have always given me the creeps, so bonus points for managing to play on one of my archeological fears. And its nice to see Brendan Fraser again -- like Johnny Depp, he must have a portrait of himself aging in an attic somewhere. His movie son looks older than he does.
The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will be released August 1st. What do you think -- a good way to spend the end of the summer, or are you just going to buy another ticket to Indiana Jones?
(In addition to the trailer, Universal released a slew of new Mummy images. Check those out in the gallery below.)
Just when I thought the day would end without a single bit of funny ... The Promotiontrailer has finally arrived! You've probably heard us talk about this movie a good gazillion times already, but if you haven't, listen up: It's really good and stuff. Yes, a bunch of us here at Cinematical saw The Promotionwhen it premiered at SXSW in March and we absolutely fell in love with its characters, its story, its performances and its charm.
Written and directed by Steve Conrad (writer of The Pursuit of Happyness), The Promotion stars Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly as two guys who REALLY want to land the new managerial job at the supermarket across town. In fact, both will go to great lengths to get that job -- and, while the premise sounds sort of played, silly and uninteresting, the execution is wonderful. This is truly one of my favorite films of the year so far, and we hope you like it too. Moviefone just premiered the new trailer (see above), and they did a pretty good job setting the film up for you, tone and all. As I've said, it's Election set in a supermarket -- so when you watch the trailer, keep that in mind.
Both of the upcoming animated releases that aren't Wall-E or Space Chimps got new trailers yesterday. Here's one for Igor (and here's a link to the poster we premiered a few weeks ago), and here's one for Kung Fu Panda.
Kung Fu Panda looks like it'll be just a step or two above -- *shudder* -- Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Igor, on the other hand, looks like a charmer: the premise is inherently nerdy, requiring viewers to think back to the original Frankenstein films (or at least Young Frankenstein, or Van Helsing in a pinch) to get the joke, and the trailer has a few big laughs.
The biggest upside of Kung Fu Panda coming out on June 6th: those of us who frequent AMC Theaters will no longer have to endure the Kung Fu Panda-themed pre-movie interlude exhorting viewers to shut up. I'm not sure how many more times I can listen to Jack Black tell me that he can hear me texting before I have an aneurysm. But I guess I should be grateful AMC is no longer airing that horrid Three Doors Down "Citizen Soldier" video pimping the National Guard (because no one screams "role model" to teenagers like the lead singer of Three Doors Down). That thing gave me nightmares.
Isn't it pretty? I'm still alarmed by the squareness of Obi-Wan's beard though, even the Clone Trooper helmets have more softness. The poster has been released to herald the debut of the trailer, which will air May 8th simultaneously on Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, CNN and Boomerang. It will air at 7:58 in all U.S. time zones. According to the official Star Wars site (where the poster can be purchased and press release can be found), Amidala will be on the front lines alongside Anakin and Obi Wan, and we'll also be introduced to Anakin's Padawan, Ahsoka. Does it surprise anyone else they let him have a Padawan? Way to go, Jedi Academy.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars comes to the big screen on August 15th, with the premiere of Cartoon Network's weekly series debuting sometime after. With all the big summer movies this year, it's really hard to remember this is coming out too. What a geeky year.
Well, as probably the biggest Speed Racer booster on this blog (I see the movie Tuesday night, and James's review was music to my ears), I guess it falls to me to report the bad news as well. If you believe tracking numbers -- and you might justifiably be skeptical about them (David Poland likes to hammer on the point that they don't capture the teen demographic) -- then there's good reason to think that the movie might come in a distant second to Iron Man when it hits theaters this Friday. The Hollywood Reporter's sources peg it at $25-35 million for the weekend, which would be perfect positioning for it to eat Iron Man's dust. Warner Bros.' efforts to control expectations notwithstanding, it would also be a pretty big disappointment for one of its major summer tentpoles.
I can't say I'm surprised -- as I warned a couple of weeks ago, this is an expensive brand-name release where the target audience has never heard of the brand name. As someone with a soft spot for the Wachowskis (I only abandoned ship on The Matrix after Revolutions rather than Reloaded, and one day I'll write up a defense of the latter film), I was hoping to see them return to the top of the A-list. But if we're being honest, the Hollywood Reporter's estimate seems right to me. So I'd settle for a bow that isn't embarrassing.
It was briefly leaked online last week, but now the new official trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is online ... and you can watch it above or over on IndianaJones.com. This is the trailer that begins to explain the story; how, as per usual, Indy is off in search of some artifact (the crystal skull) which comes with a spooky-cool story (the person who has possession gains great powers), but there's an evil group (the Russians) who want to use said artifact to their advantage. Sound familiar?
But it's cool, because Indiana Jones is back. And Marion Ravenwood is back. And a whole new generation now gets a chance to enjoy one of my all-time favorite movie characters on the big screen for the first time. And, well, you got Steven Spielberg who, last I checked, makes some pretty good films. What's not to look forward to? In addition to this new trailer, you can check out two new TV spots for the film here and here -- both of which use a combo of footage we've seen previously, and there may even be some new stuff thrown in too.
With all this Iron Man talk, did you realize we're only a couple weeks away from Indy? May 22? C'mon! Am I the only one excited about this?
Gallery: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Above: Aaron Eckhart as the villain Two Face in a very brief appearance during the latest trailer for The Dark Knight.
Fresh on the heels of the new trailer comes a Los Angeles Times interview with Aaron Eckhart. Possible spoilers abound -- in fact, I think there is a fairly huge one in there that I cannot believe slipped by. And people rag on us for being spoil sports! So, in order to preserve your innocence (I'm upset that mine is now gone), I shall copy the best quotes here.
Eckhart addressed the fact that the world has not been given a glimpse of his scarred district attorney, and promised that whatever fans have cooked up in their brains is nothing like what we're going to see. "That's right, people don't really know yet. I can tell you that, basically, when you look at Two-Face, you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid. I can't talk about it beyond that because I don't want to give away too much of the plans by Chris. There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small; Chris is going way farther than people think."
Folks expected a huge opening take forIron Man, but $201 million worldwide? Damn. And doesn't it feel a whole lot better when a film that makes that kinda money actually deserves to make that kind of money? Anyway, as expected, Marvel went absolutely nutty over this news and, while announcing quarter one profits, took some time to give us tentative release dates for Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers. Marvel Entertainment will not release a film in 2009, but first up in 2010 will be Iron Man 2 on April 30. Two months later, on July 4, 2010, Thorwill debut in theaters. So, like this summer, we'll be getting two Marvel flicks in 2010 -- and if Thor wants to claim fourth of July weekend, that film better know how to kick some serious ass. You don't jump on July 4th without knowing you have a set -- know what I mean?
Similarly, in 2011, Marvel Entertainment will debut another two films. First, on May 6, 2011, we have The First Avenger: Captain America (new title I believe). Then, in July, the biggie -- The Avengers! There was no word of an Ant-Man film in there, though last we heard it was in development with Edgar Wright attached. Honestly, unless they push The Avengers to 2012, I don't see where Ant-Man could fit in. Additionally, I imagine we'll have to wait to see how well The Incredible Hulk does, seeing as they may want to sequel-ize that one too. Otherwise, Iron Man will be the only franchise to debut a sequel prior to an full-on Avengers flick.
Phew. Chime in, folks. What do you think about it all?
We wouldn't have it any other way: just a few weeks after the Wachowskis' Speed Racer hits theaters, the Asylum will unleash its knock-off-of-the-month: Street Racer! (To read up on what Asylum is all about, take a look at my post about Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls from a month or so back.) The plot: "After serving time for a tragic accident, in which a young boy is crippled, an illegal street racer finds himself dragged back into the world of high speed competition on the side streets and highways of Los Angeles."
If you thought that the company's efforts to make spartan, homemade versions of studio blockbusters were lovable, or in some other way admirable, take a look at their Street Racer trailer and you may change your mind. Obviously unable to come up with anything resembling the Wachowskis' blue-screen fireworks, the Asylum opted to essentially make The Cheap and the Furious and cynically tie it in to Speed Racer. Of course whether it's actually any more cynical than I Am Omegaor Transmorphers is an open question. And the film's tagline, which the Asylum is clearly proud of -- "You're never more alive... Or closer to dead!" -- is kind of awesome, in a horrible way.
The director, Teo Konuralp, made a no-budget sci-fi thriller called Feedback a few years ago that actually got some good reviews. If Street Racer represents "selling out," then he's sure found an odd way of doing it.
Most of us haven't even seen Iron Man yet (though it's possibly just me -- everyone on my MySpace and Facebook is horrified I haven't, and it wasn't even midnight in my time zone), and already they're planning the sequel. Iron ManCinematical reviews are here and here.
Brad Grey, head honcho over at Paramount, told Entertainment Tonight that if all went as hoped with the first movie, the sequel will come out this very week in 2010. (I just saw into the future ... and I'm pretty much typing this same post with the third installment in 2012.) Since it doesn't look like Iron Man is going to be a disaster at the box office, I think it's safe to say you can start counting down to 2010.
Hopefully, as much care and attention will be lavished on the sequel -- again, I haven't seen it yet, but all appearances and reviews suggest that they really knocked it out of the park. It would be awesome if it surpassed X2: X-Men United, which I think is the best superhero sequel yet. (Though maybe your opinion leans more towards Spider-Man 2.)
Now would be a good time for you well-read Iron Man fans to jump in with where you want the sequel to go. (Or, if you're feeling mean, you can also start screaming "sell out!" or something along those lines.) I wish I could throw in a story suggestion here, but I can't ... I'm still waiting to see it! You should feel really bad for me.
Oh, this is going to be huge. There's a new 3-minute trailer for Will Smith's Hancock available here and ... well, go see for yourself. I recommend the Quicktime version.
I know the all-too-common criticism that "all the good parts are in the trailer" makes this less meaningful, but: Every frame of that thing is gold. The first minute or so, with Will Smith as a sarcastic, rude, drunken superhero, is simply brilliant; I've watched the five-second exchange between Hancock and the indignant bystander ("I can smell that liquor on your breath!" "'Cause I been drinkin'!") a half-dozen times now and giggled every time. Smith deserves an Oscar just for his delivery of that line, and we don't even get to hear the whole thing (I'm guessing the next word is "b*tch"). The second half of the trailer, giving us a glimpse of Hancock's attempted PR comeback with the help of an opportunistic publicist (Jason Bateman) isn't as incredible, but I love the focus on what it's like to be a superhero not in a universe where you can do whatever you want, but in the American bureaucratic state. Hancock's canned press conference apology is priceless.
The special effects look seamless, and I'm particularly curious to see a full-on summer blockbuster done in director Peter Berg's signature volatile shaky-cam style. From what I can tell, it's a bit toned down but still unmistakably present; look at the SUV scene in the opening seconds, and the introduction of Jason Bateman about a minute in.
This looks like a summer movie made by a bunch of very smart, very talented people. And that's something to look forward to.
Due to a snafu (my own fault), I did not have a seat at Tuesday night's Iron Man screening in Philadelphia. So while everybody who is anybody hereabouts was giddily watching Tony Stark transform from an arms dealer to an ass-kicking, metal-suited superhero, I was in a different theater one block away watching Patrick Dempsey be a bridesmaid in Made of Honor. There'll be a Cinematical review of the movie on Friday, but for now I'd like to ask a very specific question: what on earth could that title possibly mean?
Others who have seen the movie have referred to "Made of Honor" as "a pun," or even an "appalling pun." Okay, but a pun usually involves conflating two words or expressions that make sense in the same context and happen to sound alike. In this case, I only count one. Yes, I get it -- Dempsey plays the best friend of a woman who is getting married, and so she names him her maid of honor. It's funny because he's a guy, but he's the maid of honor. Hahaha! Fantastic. But made of honor? What, like built of honor? Who? Patrick Dempsey? I'm not connecting the dots.
It's here, in glorious Quicktime, and not a moment too soon for a June movie. Head over to Apple to watch it. This trailer is a vast improvement on the first, shades of the television show abounding everywhere. And this is definitely going to be much more action packed than Ang Lee's version. Erik Davis was right on the money in his NYCC report -- read his take on the trailer here.
I can't help but feel it was too long though -- between the two trailers, I feel like I've seen the whole movie, barring 18 minutes of that purported 20 minute fight between Abomination and Hulk. The encounter (pictured above) between Tim Roth and the Hulk is absolutely priceless, though. I won't say what it is and spoil it -- but I can't say I haven't wanted to do the same to a few of Roth's nastier characters.
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1. "We've finally made it to the tomb of the ... Goddammit Nicolas Cage!!!! What are you doing here?!!" -- Anthony T.
Both of the upcoming animated releases that aren't Wall-E or Space Chimps got new trailers yesterday. 
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Folks expected a huge opening take for 
We wouldn't have it any other way: just a few weeks after the Wachowskis' Speed Racer hits theaters, the Asylum will unleash its knock-off-of-the-month: 
Most of us haven't even seen 
Due to a snafu (my own fault), I did not have a seat at Tuesday night's Iron Man screening in Philadelphia. So while everybody who is anybody hereabouts was giddily watching Tony Stark transform from an arms dealer to an ass-kicking, metal-suited superhero, I was in a different theater one block away watching 
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SCOOP: Spider-Man 4 and 5 Might be Shot at the Same Time!
Cinematical Seven: Disney's Awesome Live-Action Kid Adventures
