Dreamworks has released the first trailer for their latest CG-animated epic Rise of the Guardians, based on the upcoming books by William Joyce, who also happens to be a writer from the latest Oscar-winning animated short The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

The film looks to be another top notched animated action adventure in vain of Dreamworks’ recent How To Train Your Dragon, this time teaming up Santa Claus (named North), the Easter Bunny (named Bunnymund), The Sandman, Jack Frost, and the Tooth Fairy (named Tooth) to fight evil, coming off as a family version of The Expendables. Rise of the Guardians features the voices of Chris Pine, Jude Law, Alec Baldwin, Isla Fisher, and Hugh Jackman.

Check it out below:

When an evil spirit hatches a plot to take over the world, the immortal Guardians join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs, and imagination of children all over the world.

Rise of the Guardians hits theatres on November 21, 2012.

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After “LOST” director Jack Bender had to step away from the new Jack Ryan movie at Paramount due to his television commitments, the project’s future was uncertain. Variety reports that Thor director Kenneth Branagh has now taken over as director on the movie, which still has Chris Pine attached to star.

The film is currently untitled but was once called Moscow, and is said to be an origin story of Tom Clancy’s famous Jack Ryan character. He’s been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck in movies like The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, and The Sum of All Fears, and rumor had it that this story would follow the young Marine after surviving a helicopter crash.

There’s no official start date yet, but Pine wants to shoot it quickly after Star Trek 2, so Paramount is putting it back on the fast track. Thor proved that Branagh can handle action adaquately, but do you think Branagh is a good choice for this film?

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If the movie Bad Boys featured two white guys in the lead roles it would be This Means War.  The only difference between them is the filmmaking mechanics were executed better in the former while the latter encompasses playful and sharper skit ideas.

The first 10 of the 98 minutes, quickly has one getting nervous that this could be another McG stinker.  After coming off a horrible directing performance with Terminator: Salvation, the guy goes back to a genre that he has shown glimpses of being able to handle (he directed the Charlie’s Angels adaptations).  This action/comedy/romance, well, more like comedy/romance/action requires just a bit of patience.  But once the screenplay finds its groove, the laughs pile on.

And much of these laughs stem from the surprising charismatic performances of Tom Hardy and Chris Pine.  Both are secret agents with different lifestyles.  Pine embodies the flashy playboy, not-care-in-life character while Hardy is the quiet conservative…aside from his assortment of tattoos.  One thing they both have in common is they are kick-ass agents with their own unique sense of humors.  And they love wearing one-size too small V-neck t-shirts.   The duo complements each other well and their timing and chemistry is natural and fluent.  When they are separated though, the entertainment levels can falter.  The reason they get detached on screen is due to them both becoming infatuated with the same girl in Reese Witherspoon – who is aging quite well by the way.  At this point, they both try to stay one step ahead of each other as they have a gentlemen’s agreement not to sabotage the other’s chances in winning Witherspoon’s heart.

Now while their individual scenes with Witherspoon are tired and clichéd; the script remedies that with a nice angle showcasing both guys using their agency resources to gather Intel on the girl, and also keep tabs on each other’s respective progress.  Their teams fill in nicely and also project great chemistry with the leads.   And the script is aware that each agent knows what tactics the other will use, therefore, an amusing one-upmanship game is injected that also instigates laughing-with-noise moments (hey, at least I didn’t type LOL).  Then there’s the times where the camera focuses on Witherspoon and her older sister played by Chelsea Handler.  Though it was a nice surprise to see two action movie guys display solid comedic chops, the pro that is Handler steals the show with her hilarious brutal metaphors and candid one-liners.  All of this occurs when Witherspoon needs advice and runs to Handler in a decent of amount of isolated scenes when it’s just girl time.

Is there any action?  Not really.  The opening segment, which introduces the film’s underutilized villain (Til Schweiger), is moving too fast for anyone to care.  In fact, the only other action-sequence doesn’t pop up until the final 15 minutes or so.  However, that one – centered on a high-speed chase/shootout – is pretty cool in a tongue-in-cheek type of way.

Bottom line, This Means War is funny in a clever, yet dorky, manner.  McG keeps this one together behind the lens, despite going over a few rough patches.  Even elements such as the mood-setting soundtrack gives some credence that this was a well-thought-out game plan, save for a handful of execution and editing blunders.  The team of Hardy, Pine, and Handler elevate a generic script to ideal date movie satisfaction.

For the record, I went solo to the press screening and still obviously dug it.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

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TrekMovie has word that the official start date for production on the Star Trek sequel is January 15th, 2012, which they point out is over 4 years since the first film began shooting in 2007.

The site also notes that co-writer/producer Roberto Orci confirmed the script has “been done for a while” and they’re currently working on the third draft. Orci commented on the site saying “rewriting is a good thing which normally makes the script better. We like to keep pushing the script, even if no one gives us notes.”

Most of the sets from the first film are being taken out of storage (such as the USS Enterprise) and VFX house Industrial Light & Magic has already started work on some of the effects shots for the movie. As there will be plenty of space shots they can begin working on them now without any cast or shot footage.

Finally, TrekMovie suggests Hawaii could be a shooting location for the film (J.J Abrams shot Lost there) as the location team are looking for a “jungle planet” environment.

Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho are all expected to return, and while he isn’t confirmed, Benicio Del Toro could take on the villain role.

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20th Century Fox have released the first official trailer for This Means War. This rom-com spy movie comes from McG (Terminator Salvation) and stars Chris Pine and Tom Hardy as two spies who find out they’re both romantically involved with Reese Witherspoon.

Watch the trailer below:

The world’s deadliest CIA operatives are inseparable partners and best friends until they fall for the same woman. Having once helped bring down entire enemy nations, they are now employing their incomparable skills and an endless array of high-tech gadgetry against their greatest nemesis ever – each other.

Pine and Hardy didn’t need to make this movie (Seth Rogen, Sam Worthington and Bradley Cooper were offered roles/attached, but left the project/turned roles down). They are generating enough interest without starring in a glossy studio rom-com, but I suppose it’ll give them a shot at carrying a movie that isn’t a tentpole by Christopher Nolan or J.J Abrams.

This Means War is set for release on February 7th, 2012 and might be worth a view for some silly harmless entertainment (this is from the guy who directed Charlie’s Angels).

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This news won’t be a surprise to anyone as we’ve all been expecting it, but Vulture has word that J.J. Abrams “has finally committed to shooting Star Trek 2″.

Over the past year Abrams has been busy directing Super 8 so he was only able to focus his attention on Star Trek 2 this summer. Writers Damon Lindelof, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman have since been working on the script based on a 70 page outline they had in May, which now looks to be developed enough for Abrams to commit as director.

Vulture says “pre-production is underway”, “the script will be done by month’s end” and “Abrams will start shooting this winter”. Paramount had originally set a June 29, 2012 release date for the sequel, but the delay in filming caused them to give G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation that slot. The studio will likely be aiming for a summer 2013 release, unless they want to rush it for late-2012 (which is already pretty crowded).

Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho are all expected to return.

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Things have been quiet on the RoboCop reboot front since Jose Padilha (Elite Squad) was hired by MGM in March to direct. Screenwriter Josh Zetumer said filming wouldn’t begin until the script was “good enough”, and it must be getting near to that stage as MGM are apparently eyeing a number of actors to lead the film, with one particular actor in mind.

From Twitch:

Does the world want a younger, prettier Robocop? Apparently MGM does as Twitch has learned that the Star Trek actor is the studio’s top choice to take the lead in the upcoming reboot of the scifi franchise. There is no word as to whether director Jose Padilha agrees with the selection and the offer has not yet gone out but we’re told Pine currently tops the MGM casting list.

If this pans out then it will represent a dramatic shift in the character. At the age of 30 Pine is a full decade younger than Peter Weller was when he first took on the role and much more a heart-throb movie star than Weller ever was.

Pine will be busy shooting the Star Trek sequel whenever that gets into gear (likely towards the end of 2011), but he’s got nothing planned for 2012 yet so he could potentially take on the role if he wanted it. With the character having his face covered for a good section of the movie they’ll need an actor who can act through the helmet, like Peter Weller did in 1987, so getting an actor with the acting chops required should be MGM’s priority.

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The live-action adaptation of anime graphic novel Akira is moving forward, and following a rewrite from Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves Warner Bros. has complied a short-list of actors for the two leading roles. Unsurprisingly, none of them are Japanese actors, which has causes a bit of controversy amongst fans.

Here’s the run-down, from Deadline:

I’m told that for Tetsuo, Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy have been given the new script.

For the role of Kaneda, the script has been given to Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix. The two leads are expected to come from that group of actors.

All the names mentioned are fairly young up-and-comers (plus Joaquin Phoenix?). With an August shoot planned it shouldn’t be long before both Tetsuo and Kaneda are cast, however as James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are already paired up on X-Men: First Class it’s unlikely we’ll get both of them.

As well as hiring non-Japanese actors for the leads Warner Bros. has also moved the location to the US, with the story now taking place in “a rebuilt New Manhattan where a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment”. I can understand why the studio has ‘Americanized’ it ($$$), but I can also understand why fans of the graphic novel will be annoyed.

The whole theory behind adapting well known properties is to attract the built-in audience (and not to piss them off in the process), but it seems Warner Bros. has just bought the concept and aim to sell it as big-budget movie with big effects to the masses. Anyone remember The Last Airbender?

Albert Hughes, one half of The Hughes Brothers who were responsible for The Book of Eli, is directing.

Any Akira fans have an opinion on this short list of actors?

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20th Century Fox has announced that Tony Scott’s Unstoppable which starred Denzel Washington and Chris Pine will become available on DVD and Blu-ray on February 15th.

The movie managed to take $146 million at the worldwide box office, which is a decent amount for a $100 million movie but a bit lower than your typical Denzel flick (Book of Eli made $157 million and DeJa Vu made $180 million). Unstoppable also had great reviews and currently stands at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it might be worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Check out the specifications below:

UNSTOPPABLE Blu-ray Extras:

Disc One:

- Derailed: Anatomy of a Scene
- Hanging Off the Train: Stunt Work ?
- On the Rails with the Director and Cast
- The Fastest Track: Unleashing Unstoppable
- Director Commentary Track
- Tracking the Story: Unstoppable Script Development

Disc Two:
- Digital Copy

UNSTOPPABLE DVD Extras:

- Director Commentary Track
- Tracking the Story: Unstoppable Script Development

Unstoppable will be available to pre-order on January 19th.

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Director Tony Scott returns to the world of high speed pursuits in Unstoppable, his fifth collaboration with star Denzel Washington. Inspired by true events, the film follows an out-of-control train as it tears through the Pennsylvania countryside and the two mismatched railroad employees who take it upon themselves to stop it.

I must admit: while Tony Scott’s filmography is fairly populist and mostly enjoyable to me, I’m beginning to tire of his frenetic style and predictable storylines. Never has this been more apparent than in Unstoppable, a movie that – by the very nature of its plot – almost demands that you sit on the edge of your seat but never actually does anything to earn that demand.

Most of the reason I didn’t particularly care for the film is due to the lackluster script by Mark Bomback. It’s exactly the type of movie you think it’s going to be, and the movie takes absolutely no risks in telling this story. Every character is a walking cliche, from the hard working but under-appreciated Connie Hooper (Dawson) to her buffoonish boss (Dunn), and the movie somehow manages to make the main characters almost totally uninteresting. There are the standard family issues – Washington’s Frank Barnes is losing touch with his teenage daughters, Pine’s Will Colson has a strained relationship with his wife and son – but there is so little time spent building those relationships that we don’t particularly care if the issues are resolved.

Sometimes a movie can be so mediocre that it angers me more than a truly awful film. I feel bad ragging on a movie like this because A) I’m not a screenwriter, nor do I know to what degree the studio altered the script and B) it’s actually a competent movie and I’m sure a lot of people will like it. It’s comfort food for your eyes on the big screen, with serviceable performances from everyone involved but nothing fresh about the presentation. Many of Scott’s films tell stories that have been told before, but usually he brings something new to the table that at least makes it interesting (Top Gun‘s dogfighting sequences, for example). In Unstoppable, even the action is predictable and without consequence. (Small spoiler alert – even the one railroad worker we think dies in an action scene is revealed to have miraculously survived in a cheesy end-credits explanation scene.)

Nearly everything about this movie seems uninspired or too on the nose, even down to Scott’s fetishistic portrayal of machines as villains and the John Henry-esque human spirit triumphing over it. This film also had trouble gaining speed (so to speak) in preproduction; Washington dropped in and out of involvement and rampant budget cuts came down from the studio, and those problems seemed to translate into the final product. There’s no life in this film, and everything is frustratingly average. The only patch of brightness belongs to Ethan Suplee, who sells the guilt of causing this whole thing with ease but – again – doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

I was thoroughly unimpressed with Unstoppable, but what did you think about it? Did the Apollo 13 ending seem endearing to you or more like an inadequate imitation? Sound off in the comment section. And shouldn’t this movie have been called Stoppable? Until next time…

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