"The Expendables" Trailer

Lionsgate has unleashed the trailer for Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables, due to hit theaters on August 13th.

Starring what seems to be every major action star and wrestler-turned-action-star on the planet, The Expendables is about a group of mercanaries who are double-crossed (by the usual villians who should know better) while on a mission to overthrow a corrupt South American dictator.

Click below to play Spot the Badass for yourself:

For those keeping score, The Expendables cast includes Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, and what appear to be cameos by Bruce Willis and a certain California governor. 

The plot, of course, seems utterly ridiculous, but with a lineup like that, this movie definitely has the potential to be spectacularly awesome, especially in August when the big summer releases are winding down.

Domestic "Iron Man 2" Poster

Right on the heels of the release of the international Iron Man 2 poster comes the US version, courtesy of Superhero Hype.  It's minus the 'splosions from the international version, plus the shot of Whiplash has been switched to an image of Iron Man (falling? flying? I can't tell), and features a much cooler shot of War Machine.

Personally, I liked the image of Whiplash on the international poster better.  Probably because I think Mickey Rourke is going to rock this film.

Iron Man 2 releases in the US on May 7th. 

The Buzz & Woody Project

Got a couple of new Toy Story goodies today.  First, Disney/Pixar has announced special "Cliffhanger Edition" screenings of Toy Story 3 that will be shown at specially selected colleges.  Students who would like to see the first 65 minutes of the movie for free (which I'm not quite sure I can see the point of, but hey, it's free) can sign up at the official Disney/Pixar Facebook page for details.

Those of us who cannot attend one of the Cliffhanger screenings - because some of us were in college when the first Toy Story movie was released and have long since graduated - are not being totally left out in the cold.  The blu-ray editions of the first two films that were released last week each included an $8.50 coupon good towards a Toy Story 3 ticket for when it's officially released on June 18th. 

You can also check out the new viral videos just released by Disney/Pixar, which includes this hilarious Paranormal Activity spoof:

One, two, Freddy's coming for you...

Freddy Krueger will not just be invading our nightmares in theaters again next month, it appears he's also returned to his old stomping grounds on MTV (at least something from the 80s still remains on MTV).  Click 3X premiered three new 'break-ins' in which the razor-gloved terror will be interrupting regular programming to promote the shockingly impressive-looking remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. 

Check out of one of the clips below:

As someone who has childhood memories of fleeing to the movie theater lobby to play video games during one of the original Nightmare films, (and who still remembers this MTV promo), I wasn't originally sold on a remake of one of my favorite horror films.  But between the genius casting of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy, and the clips I've seen so far, I'm really starting to look forward to seeing this. 

I may even stay in the theater for entire movie this time.  Seriously, he used to scare the crap out of me.

Bryan Singer Not Directing X-Men: First Class?

Interesting news coming from HitFix:  apparently Bryan Singer may not be returning to direct X-Men: First Class after all.

According to their souces, Singer is currently in pre-production on the Warner Bros fantasy film Jack the Giant Killer, and there is absolutely no chance that he will be able to start work on the new X-Men prequel before that film is finished. 

Fox, rolling in Avatar gazillions right now and not wanting to wait to get their next X-Men projects up and running, have apparently already met with "at least two filmmakers this week" to possibly take Singer's place if he is unavailable to direct the film.

HitFix didn't say who the possible replacement filmmakers were, but did report that they were people with comic-book movie experience who fanboys would definitely approve of. 

Going by that, I'm going to hope that Brett Ratner hasn't received any phone calls from Fox recently. 

The timing seems weird on this news.  It was just earlier this week that Singer and X-Men producer Lauren Shuler-Donner spoke with the Los Angeles Times about their plans not only for X-Men: First Class, but also hinted that Singer might possibly direct Wolverine 2 and maybe even an X-Men 4.  He's certainly seemed excited about his return to the franchise since it was announced he would be back for this film.

Now it looks like he may just have a producer role on First Class and Wolverine 2, and his directorial return will have to wait until X-Men 4 (if that happens at all).  If there's any positive to be taken from this so far, it does look like this is going down a lot more amicably than the whole X3/Superman Returns fiasco did a few years ago.

But whatever is going on...Fox, please don't screw this up!

Sneak Peak of the Deathly Hallows

Sounds like a lot of cool stuff was shown at the 2010 Showest convention this week:  early screenings of Toy Story 3, Clash of the Titans, Prince of Persia, Kick-Ass, footage from Inception, hell...I'm even hearing terrific things about the Karate Kid remake. 

But today, the final day of this annual movie theater owners convention, the lucky attendees got to see some early footage of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  And not just scenes from Part 1 of the final chapter of the Harry Potter film series either.  Going from this description on Comingsoon.net, it sounds like they got to see stuff from both parts of the final film(s). 

Unfortunately, no one has been kind enough to sneak this footage to YouTube yet (and I doubt it would stay up there long if it did), but even though it was reportedly unfinished, just from the description it sounds like it looked pretty damn awesome. 

So what was seen?  Plenty of Voldemort plotting Harry's demise, the revolt at the Ministry of Magic, the Seven Potters escaping from Privet Drive, a glimpse of Bill Nighy as Rufus Scrimgeour, Bellatrix doing her crazy Death Eater-thing at Malfoy Manor, the trio being chased by the Snatchers, some of the Harry-Ron-Herminone arguing in the tent during the Horcrux hunt, a dragon and some thestrals, and what sounds like a bit of the Battle of Hogwarts.

My favorite part of the footage description is the ending shot of Voldemort (presumably at their final confrontation in the Great Hall) asking Harry, "Why do you still live?" to which Harry reponds "Because I have something to live for."

Wow.  It sounds like it's going to be amazing.  Word is we will get a finished trailer at some point this summer, but until then I think my excitement level has already gone up a bit.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 will be coming to theaters (in glorious 3D, of course) on November 19, and Part 2 arrives on July 15, 2011.  Which seems like a really long time away.

A Netflix Lawsuit? Really?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume we all have our issues with Netflix.  Last month I held on to a blu-ray of Zombieland until they finally took (500) Days of Summer off of the 'Long Wait' status it was stuck on in my queue since December.  Enough was enough. 

Then I sent it back and they sent me Public Enemies instead.  Sigh.

I'm also going to assume that not many people are loving the deal Netflix recently made with Warner Bros that prevents them from mailing the studio's new releases until 28 days after their release.  I don't love it either, but from a business standpoint, it does make sense.  DVD sales have slowed, and this gives them the opportunity to try and boost sales before making the movies available for rental.  If it works, I'm sure the other studios will be making similar deals too. 

But no one seems to be angrier about these rules than Manhattan's Susan Uman, who according to the NY Daily News, is filing a class action lawsuit against Netflix for "decreasing the value of her Netflix subscription."

One of her lawyers even went so far to claim that Netflix customers are being harmed by these new rules.

Harmed?  Are they joking?

I'll admit I was annoyed when it took me 10 minutes to figure out why Where The Wild Things Are wouldn't be available until March 30th.  But harmed?  Of course not.  

I have lots of movies in my queue I could watch in the meantime.  Hell, I still have blu-rays I got for Christmas that I haven't watched yet.  I just got all three seasons of the original Star Trek TV series, thanks to an awesome Best Buy sale.

So these new Netflix rules, while again, annoying, do give me the opportunity to catch up on other movies and TV shows that I also want to see. 

If you're any kind of a real movie fan, it's really tough to be starved for entertainment.  And if you have the kind of money where you can just throw it at a lawsuit like this, you probably also have the extra cash to just blind buy The Box (yes, the The Box was one of the movies listed in the suit) if you're so desperate to see it as soon as it's released.  The whole thing just seems silly to me. 

January start for "Wolverine 2"?

Looks like Hugh Jackman will be getting his claws out again (and let's hope they have some better CGI for them this time).  According to The Hollywood Reporter, a script is completed and filming on Wolverine 2 is scheduled to begin in January 2011.

As hinted at in one of the post-credits scenes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the sequel will take place in Japan.  The script, written by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) is based on the Frank Miller and Chris Claremont comics, in which Wolverine faces off against an astounding number of angry ninjas, all for love of Mariko Yashida, the daughter of a Japanese crimelord and the only woman who may be able to tame Logan's feral nature once and for all.

The article confirms the Japan storyline, calling the script "a beautiful story,” and "very different than the first film.”

And by "very different" we do hope he means it will be at least 20 minutes longer, with better special effects, much more bloodshed (it's got ninjas, for god's sake!), and a promise not to start any lines of dialogue with the words "Before I gut you..."

I did enjoy the first film a lot, though, so I'm excited for the sequel, especially if they also bring back Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed.  He rocked the first movie (and is currently rocking Broadway with his performance in A View From The Bridge, which I saw last week).

Of course, it's worth pointing out that this news comes from Roger Friedman, who was famously fired last year after not only reviewing the unfinished workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine that leaked online, but boasting how easy other movies were to download.  So we're just going to go on faith that this information is actually correct here.

But if it is, it's going to be a busy few months for Hugh Jackman.  He was recently in Shanghai filming a role as a nightclub owner in Wayne Wang's Snow Flower & the Secret Fan (where will reportedly sing in Chinese!), he is set to begin work on Kevin Lima's comedy Avon Man in April, and he will start filming alongside boxing robots in Shawn Levy's Real Steel starting in June.  Also, Precious director Lee Daniels mentioned in a USA Today interview this week that Hugh will play a role in his upcoming civil rights film, Selma. 

I'm exhausted just writing that.  All we need now is to find out what his next Broadway gig will be and I think I'll be even more psyched about all this movie news.   

Conan Live?!

Possible exciting news for Conan O'Brien fans (like me) still mourning the end of his run on The Tonight Show - TheWrap is reporting that a deal is nearly in place for Conan to perform in a live show that will tour several cities in the US.

Thanks to his NBC exit deal, Conan will not be allowed to appear on TV until at least September.  Speculation is that his next show will end up on Fox, but nothing official has been announced yet, and probably won't be for some time.  In the meantime, fans who united during last month's late night wars have kept themselves entertained by sharing classic Conan clips through various social networking sites - such as the "Walker Texas Ranger Lever" clip that was posted by the 'I'm With Coco' group on Facebook today:

Conan O'Brien - Walker Texas Ranger Clips

Alheretic | MySpace Video

I really miss Conan.  And it's only been a month. 

Again, nothing is official yet, but a live show should be a lot of fun - especially if this tour should launch just as Jay Leno returns to The Tonight Show (which may soon be minus a bandleader).  Shows like Family Guy and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia have done successful live events, and members of SNL's cast also did live shows during the writer's strike.  It would also keep the Team Coco momentum going straight into whatever TV project Conan ends up at next.  Let's hope it happens - and that we get a TV announcement soon as well. 

Maggie Gracie to Return to "Lost"

As usual, the creators of Lost will not be letting a little thing like being killed off several seasons ago prevent a character from returning to the show.  Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Maggie Grace is now confirmed to reprise her role as Shannon during Lost's final season. 

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have not revealed when or for how many episodes Shannon will be returning, but they do promise "we have a good story for her."

Shannon, as Lost fans will remember, was (in the original timeline, anyway) accidentally shot to death by Ana Lucia during Season 2.  With this season's new 'what-if-the-plane-never-crashed' alternate timeline, all we know is that she was not even on the flight back to LA this time.  Her stepbrother Boone, who had flown to Sydney to bring her home after a con with her boyfriend went wrong, was now flying home alone.

(he's also now sitting in a different section of the plane - something I noticed while re-watching my Season 1 dvds this past week)

Of course, many things are different about this alternate timeline version of the Oceanic 815 flight - besides the fact that it doesn't crash in the first place.  Several characters from the original flight are missing - and how the hell did Desmond get on the plane?

With only 14 episodes left, we'll hopefully be finding out soon enough.