We've moved! Moviemusereviews.com!

Dear followers, occasional readers and random Google searchers,

Movie Muse is now on a new site, and you can access it here.

Although Blogger has been good to me, it was time to allow myself greater control of the content and logistics of the site. I also wanted to make the site look as professional as possible, including having the actual domain name, in the event that I should use it as a legitimate resume tool.

The new Movie Muse will be just the same as the old, only better-looking and easier to navigate. I will even begin to start improving the content of the site now that I have more controls at my disposal. So go check it out and start leaving me feedback on how to make the site even better!

The other exciting piece to this is that I've officially launched Movie_Muse on Twitter. You can follow me here! In addition to links to all the content as it goes up on the site, I'll post some additional news and links to awesome Movie stuff around the web.

Thanks for reading! Happy Holidays!

Steven C

Deathly Hallows pt. 1 Teaser!

The trailer for the first part of the final installment in the Harry Potter films/books Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows appeared to be leaked online, but then apparently it was put out officially. Then again, the sites I read had a defunct link, so I found an average quality version of it on YouTube that hopefully you'll get to see before that possibly gets torn down.

View YouTube trailer (hopefully) here

UPDATE: Film School Rejects has the teaser plus an introduction from producer David Heyman and director David Yates.

The teaser is pretty much what director David Yates told us to expect: dark, dark, dark and darker. I know we've been saying that ever since "Order of the Phoenix" came out, but this one looks to be distinctly more realistic as Yates has indicated in interviews. Not a whole lot of magical stuff going on and a lot more real-world backgrounds and a distinctly scary/serious overtone.

"Hallows" part one comes to us in November 2010 and the second half in July 2011

Miley Cyrus doesn't believe in "Twilight"

I wouldn't normally ever blog about Miley Cyrus, but this caught my attention. Miss Tween Idol, the Ambassador of Kiddie Cool, Hannah frickin' Montana herself, does not like "Twilight." In case you don't get what that means, basically the princess of pop culture just turned around and flicked off the king and queen.

According to Cinematical, Cyrus, currently on her tweenage domination tour, was asked in a backstage interview the simple question: "Team Edward or Team Jacob?" Her response was as follows:

"I've never seen [Twilight], nor will I. I don't believe in it. I don't like vampires, I don't like the wolf that pops out of the screen when I'm watching TV at night, I don't want anything to do with it."

Shit. So not only can Miley Cyrus not make up her mind between Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, she is actually denying the series' existence, like it's Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. And to top it all off, she hates vampires. Hate.

So when Miley's singing about her "Party in the USA," she's inviting everybody in the country except the citizens of Forks, Oregon; When she says she has "the best of both worlds," it's no longer possible that one of the worlds she's referring to is the supernatural plane; As for all the children who wore vampire costumes while trick-or-treating at the Cyrus estate hoping to score a huge candy bar, I feel terrible for you.

This is a PR nightmare. You just can't have Miley Cyrus saying "Twlight" is dumb or pointless let alone that it doesn't even exist. This is like if Oprah were to go on air and say, "you know what, I hate TV hospital dramas. In fact, I don't believe that TV hospital dramas even exist." Suddenly, middle-aged women would be devastated. They'd have to cancel their scheduled DVR recordings of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. ABC would go down in flames. Similarly, all of Miley's fans are going to wonder if they should go see The Twilight Saga: New Moon at 7:30 on Friday night with their eight other friends like they'd been talking about in Home Ec since last weekend. Summit Entertainment is probably flipping out right now. Imagine if they were owned by Disney? You can't afford to not have the endorsement of your target audience's other favorite pop culture obsession.

I mean, what are 9 to 15-year-old girls supposed to believe now? That age group needs one cohesive message for everything, like "wait until you're married and in love to have sex," "marijuana leads to harder drugs" and "vampires are cool." Mixed messages incite angst and rebellious attitudes. This is why things like "don't have sex, but if you do use protection" and "vampires are cool but I don't believe in Twilight" are ineffective.

Then of course there's one other possibility: Miley Cyrus is a werewolf. That would explain her hate of vampires, her obvious downplay and poor use of language when mentioning the (ordinary) wolf popping out of the TV screen as well as why she stays inside and watches television at night instead of, say, taking walks through the forest.

What are the implications of this, you ask? When this generation dominates the workforce, we are clearly headed for an all-out war between werewolves and vampires. That, or a more immediate pop-culture message board/Twitter/Facebook cyber war where teenagers flame each other over the web with disturbing abbreviations and nicknames and incorrect grammar. Either way, bad news.

First trailers for "Clash of the Titans" and "Kick-Ass"

It's been a thrilling day if you're a movie coming out this spring. In anticipation of the Holiday movie season, teaser trailers for next March's Clash of the Titans and April's Kick-Ass have gone up online and you'll likely see them in the previews of some of the major movies coming out these next few weeks, possibly before 2012, which comes out Friday.

Both trailers look good, but before they came out, I was more excited for Kick-Ass than "Clash." Now, it's the other way around. I expect Kick-Ass to be great, but the teaser was not nearly as well done as the action-packed "Clash" teaser. The remake of the '80s film rooted in Greek mythology will surely be welcome after the dregs of January and February are done rolling out as it covets that March spot inhabited this past year by Watchmen and once by 300.

"Clash" is directed by Louis Leterrier, who directed The Transporter and the vastly underrated The Incredible Hulk from last summer (2008). As an action director he's clearly got the goods -- it will be interesting to see how the story holds up. Talent is not a concern either, with -- I don't know -- Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Although I'm pretty sure Neeson was already capable of hurling lightning bolts before being cast in this movie, I'll try and act surprised when he fries some Titans on March 26. (View Clash of the Titans teaser)

As for Kick-Ass, I'm going to hold out for a red band trailer before changing my mind about this movie (I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be "R"). It's directed by Matthew Vaughn, the fantastic director behind Layer Cake and another underrated film in Stardust and it stars Nic Cage, Christopher "McLovin'" Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz, the hysterical younger sister in 500 Days of Summer who is ten times more awesome than Dakota Fanning and Abigail Breslin combined.

The teaser makes it come across as a contrived "let's take advantage of the superhero craze" movie with KA's narration and then it starts to look like one of those dumb PG superhero movies like Sky High and crap until finally showing quick snippets of action and implying a little more violence than it shows. Ass will be kicked on April 16. (View Kick-Ass teaser)

"Prince of Persia" trailer debuts

Here it is, your first chance to see Jake Gyllenhaal with long hair and an English accent.

Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer have released the full theatrical trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, due out May 28, 2010. The movie is based on the popular video game series, and the story follows the hero Dastan as he tries to make up for accidentally unleashing the Sands of Time, which ends up turning a kingdom into ghost town and he'll do so with the help of a lovely princess (Gemma Arterton of "Quantum of Solace") and something called the Dagger of Time which allows him to manipulate time ... yea, you get it. Fantasy shit.

The trailer looks visually outstanding. The CGI looks top-notch and the action sequences, under direction of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's Mike Newell, look exciting to say the least.

I think the most interesting part, which I didn't know, was that Disney and Bruckheimer were actually trying to make this their "Pirates" replacement. Disney rarely slaps its name on just anything action-oriented and that must mean they're trying to bring the "Pirates" audience back to the theaters during the beginning of the summer season no less. There's even some witty banter attempted between Gyllenhaal and Arterton which fell flat in the trailer.

Let's be real, though. If you're going to go see Prince of Persia next year expecting the same witty adventure experience you got out of the "Pirates" movies, than you deserve to be set up for disappointment. There's no Johnny Depp and Gyllenhaal has little to know comedy experience to my knowledge. I'm sure Disney knows exactly what it's doing. They're thinking "who cares if we deceive the public into thinking this will be like "Pirates," we'll make more money and just deal with the potentially negative word of mouth from the dumb people who see it thinking it will be." It's smart, I just wasn't expecting that move.

Still, the trailer looks promising for action/adventure fans and it might make for some quality escapism a couple weeks after Iron Man 2 hits theaters.

View the at trailer IGN Video here

They just can't leave the '80s alone

Johnny 5 is angry, Hollywood. Very angry.

Listen, I know the '80s are the laughing stock of pop culture, but today's pop culture owes itself to triumphs and failures of that decade, not to mention many people hold '80s movies and TV shows close to their hearts. With all that said, is there any reason to update and remake an '80s classic?

The most recent movie to get remake treatment is now Short Circuit, the beloved E.T. meets Terminator meets War Games classic a.k.a this movie embodied the '80s. It didn't take long for the news to spread like H1N1 through the net news wire when Paul Blart: Mall Cop director Steve Carr signed on to the project.

I posted my review earlier today in light of this most annoying news. Short Circuit was actually one of the good bad ‘80s films. It was a culmination of Hollywood’s computers/future/alien fixation and it pokes fun at it. That’s half the film’s charm right there and by remaking it, you’re automatically downgrading.

And Dimension Films better not blame WALL*E for the reason this remake would have potential. I’m sorry, but you’re not Pixar. Plus, the comparisons that Johnny 5 will draw to WALL*E aren’t going to help this reboot. Johnny Five might have come first, but people are smart enough; they might not know who Johnny 5 is, but they’ll think this movie is just trying to exploit WALL*E’s popularity.

Oh, and another thing: if the way the U.S. Cellular dancing robot commercials have been received is any indication of how America feels about another scooter robot movie, then they should stop now.

I’m a very firm believer in not remaking a movie unless the original was somewhere between moderate and awful or the movie would resonate with us in a refreshing new way thanks to a modern context.

So you might be surprised to hear that I’m encouraged by George Miller’s announcement of a Mad Max 4. Honestly, I didn’t like the first two films Mad Max and The Road Warrior so I didn’t bother with Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. You’d think I wouldn’t care for a number four, but quite the contrary: I think the concept was great, I just didn’t like the execution. Read about that here.

I’m a huge fan of post-apocalyptic science-fiction and I feel like I know what makes for a good one. Conceptually, the Mad Max films are great: recycled materials, barbaric humans hording gasoline and a revenge-filled ex-cop taking justice into his own hands, but I was unimpressed with Miller’s execution. It’s likely he would still direct, but some modern special effects would do this film some good. It needs a more vivid imagination and 20 years of new minds working in the business might be all it takes.

Then again, many people loved these films and would disagree with me entirely on giving them a 21^st Century look. I certainly can’t blame those who covet this franchise for feeling that way either. We need more novelty in the movies these days, stuff like District 9. Retreading movies barely 20 years old is stale thinking.

So, Hollywood, leave our ‘80s movies alone. Stop the Short Circuit, Mad Max and Conan the Barbarian remake/sequels/reboots and whatever else you have up your sleeve.

Toy Story 3 trailer up!

After Disney pulled the leaked versions of the much-awaited Toy Story 3 trailer off various movie websites, the first trailer is officially up today! Much of what I talked about when I posted news from the D23 convention is in the trailer.

View the Apple trailer here

The trailer is very carefully planned. It doesn't give away very much (none of the new characters appear) but tells you the story line and gives you plenty to get excited about.

All I can say is Toy Story 3 is poised to be one of the highest-grossing animated films if not films period of all time. If Up and WALL*E can make tons of money for Pixar, imagine what going back to their No. 1 all-time franchise could do.

Think about the kids that grew up watching this movie, myself included (I think I was 9 or 10), are now paying their way at the movies in addition to the appeal it already has to parents and children. Plus, it's not like this is going to be a bad movie if Pixar's track record has anything to say about it. That said, name a demographic not excited by this movie. There is none. Now we just have to wait eight months.

Admit it, we all could use another good "Vacation"

Well folks, it looks like the Griswolds are coming back.

Don't worry, apparently it's not another sequel, but more like a reboot that will harken back to the original a bit. The Hollywood Reporter Heat Vision spoke with New Line recently and they've given the producing and possibly directing reigns to David Dobkin (Director of Wedding Crashers). The re-imagining will apparently follow the Griswold's son Rusty as an adult when he takes his kids on a vacation (which means you can almost certainly expect some Grandma and Grandpa cameos from Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.)

It's really easy to think "oh no, not again" upon hearing this news, but I'm open to it. It's been more than 10 years since the last and just okay Vegas Vacation, so who's to say with some fresher, younger stars and a more modern sense of humor that the franchise couldn't be great again?

They've made Right Move No. 1, which is forgetting about Chase and D'Angelo. Yes, they're much older now, but they're also going to perpetuate the same sense of humor and style of the other movies. Getting this into the hands of someone like Dobkin who (other producing/directing Fred Claus) has the chops to make it better is the right idea. Getting a hot talent (like an Ed Helms instead of a Will Ferrell) to play the patriarchal Rusty would do the film a lot of good. Do I trust they'd go with someone like Helms instead of an old reliable (but washed up) Ferrell? Don't know, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Another comfort is that New Line said they're aiming for more of Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Little Miss Sunshine type roadtrip movie, not an RVI or Are We There Yet? typical garbage film. Obviously they can say that all they want, but until we see a cast and get some more story details (the script is soon to be written) to tell if this is going to be more like Christmas Vacation (yay!) or European Vacation (gag me.) With the rich opportunities for good screwball roadtrip/dysfunctional family comedy always aplenty, it's worth finding out.

Check out the details at the Heat Vision site.

Waiting on the Weinsteins pt.2 "Youth in Revolt" yanked off fall slate

What exactly is The Weinstein Company doing? First, as I posted a couple weeks back, they pushed The Road to November 25 after messing around with it for a year prior to that. Then there were rumors about Rob Marshall musical Nine being moved to after January 1, which were denied. Now, it turns out we won't get to see the Michael Cera comedy Youth in Revolt in October, according to a press release, we'll have to wait until January 15.

/Film had the best coverage I found of the news, offering some solid insight into the decision. You can read what Russ Fischer wrote here.

The article points to the film that TWC picked up at TIFF this past week, A Single Man, a film created by Gucci fashion designer Tom Ford that's gotten a lot of Oscar buzz. The film stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore about a gay English professor who suddenly loses his partner and struggles to live his life as usual as a result. Fischer wrote that he thinks the move was spurred by Weinstein's serious hankering for an Oscar. I have to agree.

Earlier this year, Entertainment Weekly did an interview and an eyebrow-raising piece on Harvey Weinstein about his shamelessly aggressive push to nab The Reader an Oscar nomination, angering The Dark Knight nation and possibly causing this coming year's ten-film Best Picture category. To say the least, it was apparent that the gold statuette was a high priority to him and TWC. If Harvey's not sold that Nine is the next Chicago, I could understand him wanting the hot commodity in A Single Man.

Those of us that just wanted a good comedy to make the Fall season more light and entertaining (and certainly fans of the C.D. Payne book) are going to have to deal with it. TWC obviously has some cash concerns despite the better-than-expected success of Inglourious Basterds and appeasing the loyal young adult crowd who likes films with substance is not top priority. 

The Oct. 30 weekend that the film would be released on is also somewhat log-jammed including Michael Jackson tribute film This is It, Boondock Saints II and rival comedy Gentleman Broncos from Fox, not to mention that's Halloween weekend. Youth in Revolt screened to some favorable reviews from sites, namely Cinematical, so perhaps TWC figured not to let it get smothered. Regardless, we'll have to enjoy it as a post-Oscar films snack early next year.

Disney con dishes on Toy Story 3, Pirates 4

It might not be Comic Con, but it's getting close. I know I promised more TIFF coverage today, but I've lost my research, so that's out. Anyway, Disney's D23 convention made some big movie headlines Friday and over the weekend that I figured were worth scooping despite being a few days late. I've bulleted them here. Most everyone had this news covered, but I'm paraphrasing this all from Variety.

- A lot has come out about "Toy Story 3" these last few days. Here's what we know. The premise is that Andy goes to college and his toys get donated to a daycare facility except for Woody, who Andy takes with him. Timothy Dalton will play a thespian hedgehog named Mr. Prickplepants, Michael Keaton will play a Ken doll and Bonnie Hunt, Jeff Garland and Whoopie Goldberg are among other new voices. At some point, we know Buzz malfunctions and speaks Spanish. That's a good deal to be excited about for next June. 

- Yes, Johnny Depp was sailed on stage in costume to announce "Pirates of the Carribbean: On Stranger Tides" would be coming to dominate another July weekend in 2011. The details don't go beyond that, so all the rumors over Pirates 4 are still in play. No director is attached and it appears unlikely Gore Verbinski will return. I'm a big fan of the Russell Brand as some member of the Sparrow family idea to be honest and after Brand worked with Disney on "Bedtime Stories," it seems possible. Disney Chairman Dick Cook also announced Depp is to play Tonto in a "Lone Ranger" update. Apparently Depp has no limits as we suspected.

- The Muppets will be returning to the movies and yes, Jason Segel is involved. Let me say that again: yes, Jason Segel is involved. If you didn't see "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Segel cannot contain his Muppet love. I could care less about a Muppet movie, but Jason Segel's script is partly behind this project and for them to dust off an old property with limited 3D potential to create what Cook says is called "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made," something good must be brewing here.

- Robert Zemeckis, the CGI-happy filmmaker, showed "A Christmas Carol" footage, but then announced his next project: a 3D adaptation of the Beatles' animated film "Yellow Submarine." That announcement met a lot of excitement after the Beatles big video game and album release date last week.

- Guillermo Del Toro, who was rumored to be working on a big project, came out to announce a partnership to create Disney's Double Dare You, which will focus on scarier stuff (kids level scary I'm guessing), but anything Del Toro puts his creative mind into warrants attention.

- Tim Burton, who showed off some more of next spring's "Alice in Wonderland," will apparently have his Disney short film "Frankenweenie" (1984)  turned into a full-length feature. The short was about a boy who revives his dog the Frankenstein way but the dog goes crazy. It's a childrens' Frankenstein story I guess.

Toronto International Film Festival kicks off tonight

As a movie blogger, it wouldn't be fair to keep ignoring the many esteemed film festivals that take place around this time of year, so I've decided to preview this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), a nine-day extravaganza that previews just about everything the fall has to offer in terms of American movies and showcases many films from countries all over the world looking for an American distributor.

Of course I don't know anything besides most American films, so it will be hard for me to give you the scoop on anything from abroad, but a few notable non-American films did catch my eye when browsing the festival's schedule based on the reputation of the people making them.

Since the festival spans a good deal of time, I figured I would start by previewing just this weekend's fare, which is substantial, and then cover the rest on Monday. I've highlighted one interesting film from each night and listed some notable other showings below it.

Thursday, Sept. 10

"Antichrist" - Lars Von Trier

This dramatic horror film from Danish director Lars Von Trier was so controversial when it debuted earlier this year at Cannes, that the jury gave it the festival's first anti-award for its misogynistic views. Interesting considering Von Trier won the Palm D'or in 2000 for his film "Dancer in the Dark." "Antichrist"  stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a couple whose son falls out a window to his death while they're doing it, causing the wife to become depressed. They retreat to a cabin in the woods where things get crazy, to put it lightly. To get an idea for how intriguingly horrific this film is, take a look at these posters. One is a hauntingly brilliant poster and the other gives you a sense of what's been said about this film. If you're curious enough, the film will hit art house movie theaters on October 23.

Other Thursday showings: "Broken Embraces" - Pedro Almodovar (Spain), "Jennifer's Body" - Karyn Kussama

Friday, Sept. 11

"Dorian Gray" - Oliver Parker

The Oscar Wilde story gets a modern flourish thanks to Oliver Parker, who's done many other Wilde adaptations in the past. The film just opened in the UK but has no US release date as of yet. My guess is it won't be long after TIFF before it gets one. The film stars "Prince Caspian" hearthrob Ben Barnes as the eternal youth with an aging portrait of himself and co-stars Colin Firth, "Peter Pan" remake's Rachel Hurd-Wood, Emilia Fox ("Cashback") and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" beauty Rebecca Hall.

Other Friday showings: "The Informant!" - Steven Soderbergh, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" - Grant Heslov and vampire flick "Daybreakers" - Peter and Michael Spierig

Saturday, Sept. 12

"Defendor" - Peter Stebbings

Woody Harrelson stars as a self-made and powerless superhero vigilante named Defendor who is just a loser guy under the delusion of being attacked by the mysterious "Captain Industry." He befriends a druggy prostitute in Kat Dennings ("Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist") and his friends and family try and convince him to give up the act.

With "Kick-Ass!" due out in the spring, another comedy about other self-made superheroes, whoever picks up "Defendor" will have to make a serious decision about what to do with it. TIFF marks the film's world premiere and having seen the trailer, I have to say that it holds promise as a dark comedy. Nobody can play dumb hero like Harrelson, that's for sure. (View Trailer here)

Other Saturday showings: "Up in the Air" - Jason Reitman, "A Serious Man" - Joel and Ethan Coen, "Whip It" - Drew Barrymore

Sunday, Sept. 13

"Capitalism: A Love Story" - Michael Moore

Of all the controversy that constantly swarms Michael Moore, one thing is for sure: Dude loves him those Canadians, so it should come as no shock that the film will make it's second ever showing at TIFF. This film will hit at a time where party politics is at one of its all-time lows, so it might make sense to say the film might be more controversial in a America than "Antichrist" will be.

Other Sunday showings: "Precious: based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire" - Lee Daniels, "The Road" - John Hillcoat

"The Road" moves to Thanksgiving

For those of you that agreed heartily with my choice of putting the film version of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" on my must-see list for the fall, you will certainly be interested to hear that Dimension Films has pushed the movie back to Thanksgiving instead of its original Oct. 16 release, another piece of news today that I caught wind of at /Film.

The move is certainly an interesting one this late in the game. The Weinstein Co. (Dimension Films is part of it) already has Rob Marshall's anticipated movie musical "Nine" scheduled for that weekend, so it must plan on a limited release of "Nine" or moving the Oscar contender closer to Christmas. 

As for what this means for "The Road," which has already seen its fair share of date changes, it could be a positive or a negative. My instinct would say the film's debut at Telluride earned it some solid buzz and now TWC feels a bit cocky, which means this film good be as good as expected. Regardless, the change leaves "Where the Wild Things Are" as the only major contender for Oct. 16. Wanting to see both films, that saves me a decision to say the least. 

Thanksgiving weekend, however, is no easy time slot. "The Road" will be up against the wide release of family flicks the "Fantastic Mr. Fox," Disney's "Old Dogs," and a film with a similar demographic in "Ninja Assassin," not to mention contending with the first full week of "Twilight Saga: New Moon." Then again, of all those films, I would certainly want to see "The Road" the most. What about you?

"Up in the Air" teaser is up online

You might not know director Jason Reitman by name, but you sure know his body of work. Does "Juno" and "Thank You For Smoking" ring a bell? Whether you consider him on the cusp of becoming one of the best comedy directors of our time or not, the teaser for his new movie, "Up in the Air," was just released exclusively on the internet and exclusively through the movie blog /Film. Check it out here.

"Up in the Air" just made its debut at the Telluride Film Festival where it made quite an impression. It stars George Clooney as a corporate downsizing guru trying to rack up 1 million frequent flyer miles whose job and anti-monogamy sentiment are threatened by two different women. 

Coming from Reitman, the expectation is comedy with a dramatic twist, but this teaser takes strictly to the more dramatic side of things. Throughout the teaser, Clooney is delivering a speech and images from throughout the film complement it and sometimes contradict it. It's definitely setting up to be the more wise and meditating on life sort of film; It will be interesting to see if Paramount continues to push the film this way as the release nears on December 4. Co-starring are Vera Farmiga ("The Departed") as Clooney's love interest, "Twilight" star Anna Kendrick and Reitman regulars J.K. Simmons and Jason Bateman also appear. You can also catch a glimpse of Danny McBride in the background and though he's not listed, I swear I saw a bushy-bearded Zach Galifianakis.

Long-awaited "Boondock Saints" sequel arrives in October

It's been 10 years since this random dude name Troy Duffy made a crime thriller that no one saw about two devout Irish Catholic brothers that turn vigilantes called "Boondock Saints." Then some teenager discovered it on DVD and ever since it became a focal point of millions of sleepovers and teenage male bonding nights across the United States. At some point in the decade since, every person who saw that movie heard about Duffy's plans for a sequel either themselves or from a friend.

Well, it's finally here and dropping sooner than anyone expected. "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day" will be released in theaters on October 30. That's right, just before Halloween. Fuck "Saw VI," it's All Saints Day. (Well, technically November 1 is) The best coverage of the news (and the trailer) I found was on Rope of Silicon here.

Regardless your opinion of the trailer or whether there needed to be a sequel, this news is a relief. I am of the many former teenagers that made the original a cult classic and have heard of the sequel being in the works for ages, so it's nice to know it's finally happening. 

As for the quality of the movie, the trailer has some promise. The slow-mo artsy gun sequences are definitely back and the sense of humor looks mostly intact. One thing this movie doesn't have is Willam Defoe and he was a huge part of what made the original so good. Can't speak to the premise, but the original was built on its scenes anyway, so as long as Duffy pumped this movie up with creativity it shouldn't disappoint too badly.

Downey Jr. convinces Favreau to play "Cowboys & Aliens"

Since we don't have any "Batman 3" news to watch for obsessively, the next step down the totem pole of "people whose every move we follow" is Robert Downey Jr., especially when he's in collaboration with his Iron Man franchise director Jon Favreau. The two will be working together on "Cowboys & Aliens," a  graphic novel adaptation that Downey Jr. has been attached to for quite some time now.

Considering the original "Iron Man" script writers -- Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby -- originally took to writing the script about a Cowboys and Native Americans dispute in the 1880's Wild West that gets interrupted by a UFO, it's not surprising Favreau was roped in. Now, the script is in the hands of gold mine writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman ("Transformers" and "Star Trek") and the movie has LOST producer Damon Lindelof on board, so you can bet all systems are go to get this thing filming next year and in theaters for a summer release in 2011.

The news was first made available from The Hollywood Reporter, but you can get the more geek-friendly version which includes the "Cowboys & Aliens" premise along with a link to the complete graphic novel her at Cinematical

In other Downey Jr./Favreau news, Marvel and Paramount -- creator and distributor of "Iron Man 2" -- are allegedly fishing for estimates on what it would take to turn the highly anticipated sequel into 100 percent 3D. After all, if "Avatar" works out even in the slightest in 3D this winter, following that up with the first summer blockbuster ever in 3D in a movie that's more of a surefire hit than "Avatar" sounds like a pretty smart idea.

Disney buys Marvel Entertainment, monopolizes my childhood

Completely out of nowhere, it was announced this morning that Walt Disney Co. had purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Wow. 

I've been following the news on JoBlo this morning, and the superhero movie-lover inside me wondered immediately how it would affect the current Marvel films in development. The answer is apparently that it won't -- any contracts already an existence between Marvel and other studious will be honored. The other exciting bit of news is that John Lasseter, the mastermind behind Pixar, has met with Marvel's creative staff and apparently already gotten the wheels turning on how the two might work together. Oh yeah, i felt a shiver right there too.

Well we know Marvel stockholders are dancing in the streets right now and that Stan Lee and Mickey Mouse are probably kicking back somewhere, but what about the rest of us who care very little about the financial side of the deal? Do we want Marvel's superheroes in the hands of a family entertainment conglomerate?

From the fan perspective, there's definitely negative and positive. As far as future films, we definitely won't see the results anytime soon, but it's hard to imagine that Disney, the biggest family friendly brand name in the world, would put Cinderella's castle before before the opening credits of a dark PG-13 superhero movie like "The Dark Knight." Perhaps it could just carry the Touchstone name, but then there's also the risk of a Marvel character getting dumbed down to PG levels to snag that family audience. 

Disney clearly likes superhero movies -- "The Incredibles" and "Bolt" -- so in hindsight their interest in Marvel's properties makes sense. It's hard to imagine X-Men and Spider-Man becoming any more globally recognized considering Marvel's dozens of toy contracts and TV shows (and Broadway musicals) and whatnot, but with Disney it's definitely possible. 

What first comes to mind is theme parks. Orlando already plays host to Spidey and Hulk rides at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure so I'm curious how Disney World might take advantage other than the obvious selling of merchandise, Spider-Man in the New Year's parade, some corny stage show and maybe something in Tomorrowland.

The possible Marvel-Pixar collaboration is the most exciting; talk about two of the movie business' most respected brands. I don't think this means a Spider-Man action figure will be a last-minute addition to "Toy Story 3" (although a cameo would be cool to get the buzz going), but any kind of spin-off of a Marvel character(s) could have huge commercial cash-hoarding potential.

As a child who grew up watching Disney movies only to have them replaced by Marvel cartoons, this kind of deal is pretty exciting. Both are such powerful brands that their reach, albeit a little overwhelming, could really make something special happen. I eagerly await news of that first true collaboration and you can bet I'll be musing about it. 

Teaser hits for Chris Nolan's "Inception"

I would normally steer clear of giving you two news pieces regarding Leonardo DiCaprio right on top each other, but when "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan tells us anything about an upcoming project, the world should give momentary pause, so do your part and watch this awesome teaser for next July's "Inception" starring the aforementioned DiCaprio as well as Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and Cillian Murphy. The only thing Nolan has said about the film is that it's a sci-fi crime thriller taking place in "the architecture of the mind." Sounds perfect and getting another mid-July release date for an original film speaks volumes to Warner Bros.' confidence in this one.

View the teaser at Rope of Silicon here

"Shutter Island" pushed to February

The recently released trailer for Martin Scorsese's next feature film "Shutter Island" has just become a teaser. Paramount Pictures announced a couple days ago that the film has moved from its October 2 release date all the way to February 19, 2010. Rabble rabble rabble.

Ever since "The Departed" kicked ass and snagged Oscar glory a few years ago, I placed "Shutter Island" on my list of films to keep an eye on. A Scorsese film once again starring Leonardo DiCaprio based on a Dennis Lehane ("Mystic River," "Gone Baby Gone") novel? A can't miss film on credentials alone. In it, DiCaprio plays a U.S. Marshall assigned to investigate a the case of a missing patient at an insane asylum, which turns into a giant conspiracy involving himself. Although now knowing it's more a supernatural horror thriller that won't likely receive Oscar attention makes this news easier to take, it removes one of very few must-see fall movies from my list. In fact, it might've been the one I was looking forward to most.

The reasons are economic, which is understandable. Paramount certainly didn't know a couple years ago when it was lining up for fall '09 that the conditions would be the way they are. I haven't done research, but I'm guessing they're too stacked up, and to help a commercially weaker February, they planted one of its sure sellers. Let's hope they didn't just kill the buzz. 

Deny it if you want, but a large segment of your audience sees Martin and Leo's name attached to a film in October and they think "Oscar -- this is something I can't miss." Instead, "Shutter Island" will release amid the Oscar debate with the ceremony just two weeks later. Unless Oscar buzz in general gets people interesting in going to see good movies that don't get nominated, there's no boost factor for being in February. Considering the new ten-film Best Picture category, "Shutter Island" might have even had a chance of scoring a nomination.

Worst of all, still, is we have to wait for what will surely be a good film. I'm not expecting greatness from such a genre change for Scorsese, but this movie looked worth the high price of admission.

Avatar teaser released!

If you've caught any of the buzz from Comic Con this year or know anything about the winter movie schedule, then you've heard of "Avatar." James Cameron, the infamous director of the original Terminator movies and of the single greatest cinematic anomaly of all time, "Titanic," has reemerged over ten years later to take on what he believes is the perfect project for the world's introduction to full-on live action 3D.

The film had been kept under wraps forever, but now we finally know what this thing will look like (at least in 2D) thanks to Apple's release of the first official teaser. The story, to give you a sense of what you're looking at, revolves around Jake (Sam Worthington from "Terminator: Salvation"),a paraplegic soldier on the planet Pandora where humans and the native Iraqis--err--Na'vi, the tall blue cat-like creatures you see, don't get along. With his limitation, Jake has an Avatar created of himself (a Na'vi version of him) that he takes control of (a concept you'll get used to in this fall's Bruce Willis sci-fi actioner "Surrogates" if you've seen that trailer). I might have botched some of the tiny details there, but you should get a good idea of what's going on in this teaser, which looks promising, by the way.

Click here for the Apple "Avatar" teaser website.

As announced at Comic Con, tomorrow is "Avatar Day," where free tickets have been given away in which select theaters will get footage of "Avatar" in IMAX. Tickets for this even crashed the "Avatar" website, to give you a sense of how well Fox has hyped this thing up. For those of you like myself that are fine waiting to see the movie in theaters when it's released, "Avatar" drops in on the hot date of December 18.

For the official website and news on "Avatar Day," click here

Lionsgate to open up a can of "Kick-Ass"

After making a splash with folks over at Comic Con last month, the new superhero action comedy "Kick-Ass" has finally been picked up by a U.S. distributor. Lionsgate announced it plans to give the Mark Millar ("Wanted") comic-book-based film a wide release next year.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn ("Layer Cake" and "Stardust"), "Kick-Ass" is the story of a kid who decides he wants to be a superhero just because (good reason enough in my book) and joins up with other powerless humans with the same ambitions. The film stars Nicholas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin') as a character named "Red Mist", soon to be household name Mark Strong (upcoming "Sherlock Holmes") and 12-year-old Chloe Moretz -- who was awesome in "(500) Days of Summer" -- as a the gun-toting, foul-mouthed "Hit Girl." Check out some bootleg Con footage and more info here.

After reading about some of the footage shown at Con including the fuzzy bit I linked to above, "Kick-Ass" looks like it will be one of the more successful of the ambitious superhero spin-offs. Vaughn's aforementioned two projects have demonstrated both his sense of humor ("Stardust") and capability for stylish action ("Layer Cake"), so I've no doubts we'll be clambering for "Kick-Ass" with "Iron Man 2" as the only other major superhero flick slated for 2010.