Summer Wars

Summer Wars is the new film from Madhouse  Mamoru Hosoda, who previously directed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which I quite liked. It didn’t have grand ambitions or anything, but everything it did was very well done and showed real potential, particularly in exploring the life of a teenage girl.

Here’s the plot synopsis:

Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He’s good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has — until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiancé at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there. A late-night email containing a cryptic mathematic riddle leads to the unleashing of a rogue AI intent on using the virtual word of OZ to destroy the real world, literally. As Armageddon looms on the horizon, Kenji and his new “family” set aside their differences and band together to save the worlds they inhabit

The domestic trailer (below) has dubs, which while still unconfirmed to my knowledge, leads me to believe that’s how it’ll be seen on the big screen.

Here’s the current theatrical schedule:

Dec 3-8: Chicago, IL –  Siskel Film Center
Dec 10-16: Los Angeles, CA – AMC Covina 30
Dec 24-30: San Francisco, CA – Landmark Bridge Theater
Dec 29-Jan 4: New York, NY- IFC Center
Jan 5-12: Boston, MA – Museum of Fine Arts
Jan 7-13: Denver, CO – Starz Film Center
Jan 7-13: Santa Fe, NM – CCA Cinematheque
Jan 14-20: Los Angeles, CA – Laemmle Sunset
Jan 21-27: Philadelphia, PA – Landmark Ritz at the Bourse
Jan 23-Feb 3: Honolulu, HI – Academy of Arts,
Jan 28-Feb 3 Seattle, WA- Landmark Varsity

And if your city isn’t included on that list, FUNimation is saying the movie will hit DVD and Blu-ray in the spring, specifically on February 15th if Right Stuf is correct. That’s good for me because I don’t watch dubs, so I might not have to wait too long to see it in my preferred manner.

Tron Legacy picks up a nearly three decades after the original with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Bruce Boxleitner returns as his character, and is joined by Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, John Hurt, Beau Garrett and James Frain. Joseph Kosinksi is making his directorial debut on this one. Daft Punk has provided an original score, a fact that is almost overshadowing the movie itself.

TRON: Legacy will be in theaters on December 17th.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, his first original film, over at Apple. Snyder previously directed Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen, and was recently tapped for the next Superman movie. Snyder co-wrote this one with Steve Shibuya.

Emily Browning stars as Babydoll, a young teen locked away in a mental asylum against her will who leads a band of other girls on an escape attempt, which involves diving into their imaginations ala so many other films, most recently like Pan’s Labyrinth. The other girls are played by Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung and Jen Malone. Their adult captors are played by Oscar Isaac, Carla Gugino and Jon Hamm, while Scott Glenn plays the Wise Man seen in the trailer telling the girls what to do.

See the trailer at Apple.

I think I liked the teaser better for the potential it showed, while the performances and dialogue here seem rather stilted and corny. But I’m not expecting greatness or anything from the premise, though hopefully it’s still fun. Not sure how I feel about the girls looking so damn young and hyper-sexualized, even in their own fantasies, no less! I’m hoping this doesn’t turn out to just be mindless wankery for fourteen year old males.

Sucker Punch will hit theaters on March 25th, 2011.

AMC’s unveiled a four minute trailer for The Walking Dead, it’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comics series of the same name. On top of that, we’ve got a firm premiere date of October 31st at 10pm. That’s right, Halloween night. Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) is the man spearheading the long-form tale of the zombie apocalypse. The show stars Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Emma Bell (Amy),  Steven Yeun (Glenn), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale) and Laurie Holden (Andrea).

The premiere will be an extended 90 minute episode written and directed by Frank Darabont with five additional episodes making up the first season. Episode 2 is written by Darabont and directed by Michelle Maxwell MacLaren. Episode 3 is written by Darabont, Chic Eglee and Jack LoGuidice and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton. Episode 4 is written by comics creator Robert Kirkman and directed by Johan Renck. Episode 5 is written by Glenn Mazzara and directed by Ernest Dickerson while the sixth episode is written by Adam Fierro and directed by Guy Ferland. If the initial season is successful we should expect to see season two expanded to a full thirteen episodes.

Given what we’ve seen in this trailer, Frank Darabont’s involvement, the cool plotting of the comics and the great casting, I think we’re in for a treat come Halloween.

Previous to this video we knew a few details about what’s coming up, including King Gorilla’s release from jail, another appearance from Professor Impossible and a Fantastic Voyage scenario. Of course, there’s certain to be tons of new SPHINX stuff seeing as that’s the current drive of the mythology. The trailer shows off a few new enticing tidbits, like the return of Hank and Dean’s past selves (read: clones). Oh, and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch will gargle and spit.

It all looks insane and ridiculous and hilarious as usual, so I can’t wait.

Meanwhile, The Venture Bros: Season 4 Vol. 1 will be hitting DVD on October 26th. There won’t be a Blu-ray until around March when the full season is released on disc.

The 5th season won’t have a ‘big bad’ like John Lithgow or Jimmy Smits but that doesn’t mean there aren’t new guest stars. The big two are Peter Weller (Robocop, Fringe‘s “White Tulip”) and Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You, The Bourne Ultimatum), along with Johnny Lee Miller, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Shawn Hatosy and April Lee Hernandez.

Dexter returns to Showtime on September 26th.

Tron Legacy picks up a nearly three decades after the original with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Bruce Boxleitner returns as his character, and is joined by Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, John Hurt, Beau Garrett and James Frain. Joseph Kosinksi is making his directorial debut on this one. Daft Punk is notably composing the film’s score.

TRON: Legacy will be in theaters on December 17th.

Cooperative play seems likely given most of the trailer involves both Rayman and Globox running around, but nothing is confirmed on that front.

Look for the first episode of Rayman Origins later this year, presumably on PSN and XBLA.

The new game features a pretty spiffy visual style based around yarn and other cloth textures, and even turns the aesthetic into a gameplay element. Kirby seems to have lost his ability to inhale enemies and assimilate their powers, but he makes some automatic transformations when performing certain actions, like turning into a car when dashing or a submarine when swimming. The game will also enable cooperative play between two players. Perhaps the best news is that the game is being developed by Good Feel, the crew behind Wario Land: Shake It!, so we already know they can pull off a great Wii sidescroller. It looks great to me, and it’s fantastic to that we’re getting a 2D sidescrolling rendition. The art style is also really cool and special, something that can really give a game some great character (see: Yoshi’s Island).

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is set for release this fall on the Nintendo Wii.

The first trailer is up at Apple for Never Let Me Go, Mark Romanek’s (One Hour Photo) sophomore film based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Sally Hawkins, Charlotte Rampling, Andrea Riseborough, Nathalie Richard, Ella Purnell, Isobel Meikle-Small and Charlie Rowe. Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) wrote the screenplay.

I quite liked the novel and I’m a fan of Romanek’s directing, so this is a majorly anticipated film for me. Hopefully everything translates to the screen well enough. Romanek certainly scored some great actors for the lead roles, that’s for sure.

I’ll leave you with the novel’s book jacket description:

From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, a moving new novel that subtly re-imagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love.

As a child, Kathy–now thirty-one years old–lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.

And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed–even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.

A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance–and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work.

Fox Searchlight will release Never Let Me Go on October 1st.

True Blood kicks off its third season on June 13th.

As you can see, the story involves a politician (Matt Damon) running up against a group of people who can stop the world and ‘adjust’ it to keep things going according to certain plans. Among the adjustments they deem necessary is preventing him from developing a relationship with a ballerina (Emily Blunt). There wasn’t a whole lot of meat to the short story, so I hope it’s developed more here, in more ways than just introducing the romance angle. Either way, it’s good to see a science fiction film coming that doesn’t involve big special effects or a teenaged target audience, though those things are fine when done well.

The Adjustment Bureau will hit theaters on September 17th.

For what it’s worth, it’s been confirmed that none of the voices in that clip are Isaac’s, although he won’t be a silent character this time around.

The Dead Space franchise is probably my favorite new IP of the current gaming generation. I love the action-horror combo, and the rich universe behind the games’ stories. I’m also a complete sucker for horror stories involving creatures and futuristic manmade structures (see: Alien and its sequels, Eden Log), even though so few are good. But with just the first game, the creators introduced so many interesting elements to the world, between the government and corporate factions, the Church of Unitology and no shortage of individuals with their own agendas. It feels fully fleshed out and complex, without clearcut good and bad guys, just a lot of people’s differing interests and beliefs colliding during an alien infection. And it’s all pretty well told, unlike the Resident Evil games. I’m also a sucker for world-building in games, hence my love for this franchise and the BioShock series, two that let the player piece together the story and universe through lots of little details obtained through text logs, audio logs, various NPCs, etc. I love that stuff, it really gets me right in there with the character and his situation. It also helps that EA is looking at the franchise as a multimedia property, with comics, other games, movies and soon books backing up the universe. The animated movie kind of sucked, but the rest of their efforts have been solid thus far.

So anyway, Dead Space 2 is pretty much one of my most-anticipated games coming within the next year, at least with what’s currently known.

Dead Space 2 is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2011 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC systems.

Alone among assassins, Jack is a master craftsman. When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Larry that his next assignment will be his last. Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell. The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde, is in the offing as a weapon is constructed. Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto and pursues romance with local woman Clara. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.

The American also stars Bruce Altman, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli and Violante Placido. The script was written by Rowan Joffe.

I’m pretty excited about this one for two reasons. First, George Clooney has pretty great taste in projects and is among the only stars making mid-budget dramas for adults. Second, Anton Corbijn has won me over both with his extensive history of gorgeous music videos and his feature debut Control, an incredibly engaging biopic about Ian Curtis, singer for Joy Division.

Focus Features will release The American on September 1st.

Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named “Dren”, the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators – only to have that bond turn deadly.

Guillermo del Toro is among the executive producers who helped get this long-gestating project the funding and support it needed. Alongside Natali, the script was co-written by Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley star.

Splice will receive a wide release by Warner Bros on June 4th.

It looks pretty sweet to me. It’ll be great to have another film centered around Batman, especially since the last two DC Comics animated films were team-up/team movies. A smaller main cast should let them deliver stronger development for the characters that are present. Plus, if you know anything about this story, you know it’s going to be dark and rife with some psychological challenges for Batman. Bruce Timm and the others involved have been bold enough to compare it to Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, so there you go. If it comes anywhere close to that one’s quality, we’re in for a treat.

Batman: Under the Red Hood is due on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27th. Along with other bonus features, it will include an original short film starring Jonah Hex.

Pre-order from Amazon:

• Batman: Under the Red Hood (Blu-ray)
• Batman: Under the Red Hood (Special Edition DVD)
• Batman: Under the Red Hood (Regular DVD)

Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named “Dren”, the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators – only to have that bond turn deadly.

Splice will receive a wide release by Warner Bros on June 4th. Mark that date down!

Treme begins its 10 episode first season on Sunday, April 16th at 10pm following the fifth episode of The Pacific. I couldn’t be more excited to see it. There’s a great cast, amazing creative pedigree and a guarantee of great music.

The show has a large and impressive cast featuring Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Kenneth Williams, Stephen Graham, Aleksa Palladino, Paul Sparks, Paz de la Huerta, Dabney Coleman, Vincent Piazza, Anthony Laciura and Shea Whigham. To see who they’re all playing, check this post.

Russell Crowe stars as the titular hero along with Cate Blanchett (Maid Marion), Kevin Durand (Little John), Mark Strong (Sir Godfrey), Matthew Macfadyen (Sheriff of Nottingham), William Hurt (William Marshall), Danny Huston (King Richard) and Scott Grimes (Will Scarlett). Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Man on Fire) wrote the screenplay.

I’d say it looks good, although after Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven if we really need another historical war/action film from Ridley Scott. The aesthetic is the same, and we’ve already seen similar duels and bigger battles, only this time the action will be PG-13. I realize it’s generally a different story, but after watching the trailer I can’t help but feel I’ve already seen this, and perhaps in better form.

Robin Hood is scheduled for release on May 14th, 2010.

Disney unveiled a pretty spiffy teaser trailer for Tron Legacy in front of Alice in Wonderland last weekend before releasing it to the net a couple days ago. Tron Legacy picks up a nearly three decades after the original with Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Bruce Boxleitner returns as his character, and is joined by Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, John Hurt, Beau Garrett and James Frain. Joseph Kosinksi is making his directorial debut on this one.

View the trailer over at Apple.

Besides the visuals, the most exciting thing about this movie is that it’s being scored by Daft Punk, and yes, that’s their new music in the trailer. Even if the movie is a total bust, at least there’s that.

My big fear for this movie is that the Garrett Hedlund won’t be a satisfying lead. I can’t say I’ve seen him in anything, except for Troy apparently, though I don’t remember him at all. It’s just that all the parts of the trailer that make me hesitate in my anticipation involve him. To be sure, I’ve seen way too little to make any real call, but he reminds me of Hayden Christensen and his physicality of Chris Pine, neither of which is a positive mental connection for me. That shot of him walking into the distance makes me think of the 30 Rock episode where Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy tries his hand at acting and forgets what humans look like when walking… hopefully he delivers in the final product.

Tron Legacy will hit theaters on December 17th.

Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7th, 2010 with Jon Favreau in the director’s seat once again. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, with Gwyneth Paltrow also returning. Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as Rhodes. Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell claim new characters Whiplash, Black Widow and Justin Hammer, respectively. Samuel L. Jackson will also be featured again as Nick Fury. Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) wrote the screenplay.

Anyway, here’s some of the recent videos.

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, etc. are all returning to their characters. Jim Varney passed away shortly after Toy Story 2 was released, so he’s been replaced by coincidental friend Blake Clark as Slinky Dog. A whole host of new characters are appearing in the third film, voiced by the likes of Timothy Dalton (Mr. Pricklepants), Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Garlin, Ned Beatty (Lotso), Kristen Schaal (the triceratops), Bonnie Hunt and Michael Keaton (Ken).

Lee Unkrich is making is his solo directorial debut (he co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo) from a script by Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine).

Toy Story 3 hits theaters June 18th.

Hye-ja is a single mom to 27-year-old Do-joon. Her son is her raison d’être. Though an adult in years, Do-joon is naïve and dependent on his mother, and a constant source of anxiety, often behaving in ways that are foolish or simply dangerous. Walking home alone one night down a nearly empty city street, he encounters a young girl who he follows for a while before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and Do-joon is accused of her murder. Thanks to an inefficient lawyer and an apathetic police force, Do-joon’s case is quickly closed, but his mother refuses to let this be the end of the story. Trusting no one, Hye-ja’s maternal instincts kick into overdrive, and she sets out to find the girl’s killer and prove her son’s innocence.

The story is sort of the inverse to Memories of Murder, which followed police repeatedly attempting to match people to a serial killer’s profile and the limited circumstantial evidence. For those who care about such things, Mother is South Korea’s submission for the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film.

Mother is receiving a limited release courtesy of Magnolia on March 12th. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. It’s definitely my most anticipated release of the spring, though closely followed by the Red Riding trilogy and Shutter Island.

I don’t know whether this will prove good or not, but it does look better than most movies based on SNL sketches. Along with Forte the movie stars Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillippe, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Powers Boothe and Rhys Coiro. Forte co-wrote the script with John Solomon and Jorma Taccone, which is the trio behind the show’s sketches as well. Taccone is making his feature debut as director, with experience directing SNL‘s digital shorts and the MacGruber sketches.

MacGruber hits theaters on April 23rd.

Boardwalk Empire will premiere in the fall.

I don’t know what to think of this one. I loved The A-Team as a kid, but it’s very much a product of the ’80s and this appears to be sticking extremely close to the source material besides changing the war these guys fought in and upping the ante in over-the-top action. I suspect this will be a casual rental for me during those times I get tired of more serious fare, unless I hear it’s great fun.

The A-Team hits theaters on June 11th.

Treme is David Simon’s much anticipated follow-up series after completing The Wire. Eric Overmyer is the co-creator and wrote and produced on the last two season of The Wire as well. Wendell Pierce (Det. ‘Bunk’ Moreland on The Wire) stars as a jazz musician with an ex-wife and new baby. Khandi Alexander (NewsRadio, Simon’s The Corner, CSI: Miami) plays the ex and a barkeeper. Melissa Leo (Frozen River) is a civil rights attorney while John Goodman plays her husband, a college professor. Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn) portrays another musician. Clarke Peters (Det. Lester Freamon from The Wire) plays a Mardi Gras Indian chief. Rob Brown and Kim Dickens round out the main cast.

Treme is set to premiere in April on HBO, with unconfirmed reports saying the 11th.

Kick-Ass looks pretty fun to me, and has been very well received from some already held private screenings. Hopefully the full film delivers on the atmosphere and humor the trailers convey.

Kick-Ass is set for release by Lionsgate on April 16th, 2010.

You can view the trailer at Apple.

Inception is based on an original idea by Christopher Nolan that’s been described as a “contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind” and it deals with dreams of one sort or another. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, Lukas Haas and Dileep Rao. DiCaprio plays a CEO-type, Cotillard is his wife, Gordon-Levitt is an associate while Page plays a young grad student who’s at DiCaprio’s character’s side. Watanabe has the villainous role and is blackmailing DiCaprio’s character.

Inception opens on July 16th, 2010.

Two longtime NYPD partners on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card find themselves up against a merciless, memorabilia-obsessed gangster. Jimmy (Bruce Willis) is the veteran detective whose missing collectible is his only hope to pay for his daughter’s upcoming wedding, and Paul (Tracy Morgan) is his “partner-against-crime” whose preoccupation with his wife’s alleged infidelity makes it hard for him to keep his eye on the ball.

The cast also includes Seann William Scott, Adam Brody, Kevin Pollak, Susie Essman, Jason Lee, Michelle Trachtenberg, Rashida Jones and Fred Armisen. The script is by Robb Cullen and Mark Cullen, who have worked on shows like Las Vegas and Heist.

Watch the trailer over at Apple.

Cop Out is due for release on February 26th, 2010.

In the futuristic action-thriller Repo Men, humans have extended and improved our lives through highly sophisticated and expensive mechanical organs created by a company called The Union. The dark side of these medical breakthroughs is that if you don’t pay your bill, The Union sends its highly skilled repo men to take back its property…with no concern for your comfort or survival.

Remy is one of the best organ repo men in the business. But when he suffers a cardiac failure on the job, he awakens to find himself fitted with the company’s top-of-the-line heart-replacement…as well as a hefty debt. But a side effect of the procedure is that his heart’s no longer in the job. When he can’t make the payments, The Union sends its toughest enforcer, Remy’s former partner Jake, to track him down.

Now that the hunter has become the hunted, Remy joins Beth, another debtor who teaches him how to vanish from the system. And as he and Jake embark on a chase across a landscape populated by maniacal friends and foes, one man will become a reluctant champion for thousands on the run.

The following red band trailer features some gore and brief nudity.

It’s working off a classic tale of the oppressor becoming the oppressed, but it’s also a relatively fresh scenario that’s timely given all debate surrounding health care issues. Having a medical procedure put oneself into major debt certainly isn’t science fiction. I think it looks rather fun and it’s nice to see the lead action role go to someone new to the genre.

Universal is releasing Repo Men on April 2nd, 2010.

Inception is an original idea by Christopher Nolan that’s been described as a “contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind” and it deals with dreams of one sort or another. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy and Tom Berenger. Michael Caine and Dileep Rao have smaller roles as well. DiCaprio plays a CEO-type, Cotillard is his wife, Gordon-Levitt is an associate while Page plays a young grad student who’s at DiCaprio’s character’s side. Watanabe has the villainous role and is blackmailing DiCaprio’s character.

Inception opens on July 16th, 2010.

Knight and Day is set for release on July 2nd, 2010.

There’s a new international trailer for Robin Hood, the next film from Ridley Scott, that shows off a lot more of the movie than the domestic teaser. Check it out at Yahoo UK.

Russell Crowe stars as Robin Hood along with Cate Blanchett as Maid Marion and Kevin Durand as Little John. The cast is rounded out with Mark Strong, Matthew Macfadyen, William Hurt, Danny Huston, Scott Grimes and Alan Doyle. Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Man on Fire) wrote the screenplay.

Robin Hood is scheduled for release on May 14th, 2010.

Check out the trailer at Apple.

Clash of the Titans is directed by Louis Leterrier (Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk) and tells the story of Perseus and his attempt to save the Earth from Hades. Sam Worthington stars as Perseus, with Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Danny Huston, Polly Walker and Nicholas Hoult round out the cast.

Clash of the Titans is due out March 26th, 2010.

Check out the trailer here.

Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7th, 2010 with Jon Favreau in the director’s seat once again. Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, with Gwyneth Paltrow also returning. Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as Rhodes. Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell claim new characters Whiplash, Black Widow and Justin Hammer, respectively. Samuel L. Jackson will also be featured again as Nick Fury. Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) wrote the screenplay.

The teaser trailer for the new Robin Hood film starring Russell Crowe is officially up at Apple. Enjoy the first glimpse of Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, which looks delightfully full of cool, medieval action.

Watch the trailer at Apple.

Russell Crowe stars as Robin Hood along with Cate Blanchett as Maid Marion and Kevin Durand as Little John. The cast is rounded out with Mark Strong, Matthew Macfadyen, William Hurt, Danny Huston, Scott Grimes and Alan Doyle. Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Man on Fire) wrote the screenplay.

Robin Hood is scheduled for release on May 14th, 2010.

You can view the trailer over at Apple.

Nothing in the trailer particularly offends my tastes, but I can’t say I see much of interest either. Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of magic and fantasy, so I’m not really in the target demographic anyway. It’s a collaboration of Disney and Bruckheimer though, so I’m sure it’ll be a hit at the box office.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice hits theaters on July 16th, 2010. That’s the same day as Christopher Nolan’s Inception for those already scheduling their summer movie viewing. I know which one I’ll be at.

You can view the trailer over at Apple.

Greenberg (Stiller) is at a crossroads in his life. Out of a job and none too interested in finding one, he agrees to housesit for his younger and more successful brother, thereby getting a free place to stay in Los Angeles. Once settled in, Greenberg sets out to reconnect with his old friend and former bandmate Ivan (Ifans). But times have changed, and old friends aren’t necessarily still best friends, so Greenberg finds himself spending more and more time instead with his brother’s personal assistant Florence (Gerwig), an aspiring singer and herself something of a lost soul. As their relationship develops through a series of embarrassingly awkward romantic encounters, even someone as irascible as Greenberg might have at last found a reason to be happy.

I think it looks like it could be fun and interesting. It’s certainly in line with Baumbach’s other films about aimless discontent, and I definitely liked Kicking and Screaming and The Squid and the Whale. The best thing going for this is that it features Ben Stiller taking on a serious role for the first time since 2001′s The Royal Tenenbaums.

Look for Greenberg in theaters on March 12th, 2010.

Kick-Ass will be released on April 16th, 2010.

The plot revolves around a ‘good’ Lex Luthor appearing from an alternate universe to recruit the Justice League to battle the Crime Syndicate on his Earth. The Crime Syndicate is an evil reflection of the Justice League, with members sharing similar powers and histories to the heroes. A war between the Justice League and Crime Syndicate engulfs both worlds while a plot by Owlman (Batman’s evil counterpart) may jeopardize existence itself.

A few voice actors have been announced with Mark Harmon playing Superman, William Baldwin as Batman, Bruce Davison as the president, James Woods as Owlman, Gina Torres as Super Woman and Chris Noth as Lex Luthor. Dwayne McDuffie (of many Justice League and Justice League Unlimited episodes) wrote the script while Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight) and Sam Liu (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies) are jointly directing.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths will be released on DVD and Blu-ray early next year.

Clash of the Titans is directed by Louis Leterrier (Unleashed, The Incredible Hulk) and tells the story of Perseus and his attempt to save the Earth from Hades. Sam Worthington stars as Perseus, with Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Danny Huston, Polly Walker and Nicholas Hoult round out the cast.

Clash of the Titans is due out March 26th, 2010.

I’m inclined to say it’s one of the most beautiful trailers of the year and is possibly my most anticipated movie of the rest of the year.

The Weinstein Company will give A Single Man a limited release beginning December 11th, and it’s currently planned to expand more by Christmas.

Evelyn Salt is a CIA officer who swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. When she is accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy, Salt goes on the run to clear her name and ultimately prove she is a patriot. Using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative, she must elude capture and protect her husband or the world’s most powerful forces will erase any trace of her existence.

Based on what the trailer gives us, this looks incredibly silly and nonsensical. It’s Minority Report without all the precog stuff that would make an accusation of a future assassination mean anything. You know how she could prove her innocence? Sit tight in protective custody for a day.

I’m sure there’s a twist or two in there to justify all the chase sequences, and I’m putting my money on Jolie actually playing two characters. Someone else is out there who looks just like her or is disguised as her. That’s my bet.

Salt will hit theaters on July 23rd, 2010.

Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig also lend their voices to the movie.

How to Train Your Dragon will be in theaters on March 26th, 2010.

A rogue prince reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Mike Newell directs the adaptation of the video game franchise. Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina, Toby Kebbell and Ben Kingsley star.

Well, it looks like what you’d expect given that it’s a Jerry Bruckheimer production and it’s designed to kick off the next Pirates of the Caribbean caliber franchise. Lots of action, big special effects, a period location, a romance featuring a spunky female, etc. That is to say, it’s a formulaic summer blockbuster from one of the kings of Hollywood, leaving me completely indifferent.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will be released on May 28th, 2010.

James Cameron wrote and directed the film, his first narrative work since Titanic. It stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder and Dileep Rao.

Avatar will be released on December 18th.