The rise in 3D now means we’ll probably be getting a lot more trailers specifically to showcase the 3D in certain films. We just got a 3D version of the Transformers: Dark of the Moon trailer which will be shown on 3D screen starting this weekend, and now Warner Bros. have released one for Green Lantern.

The trailer begins with Geoffrey Rush, who voices Tomar-Re, explaining the origins of the Green Lantern Corps (something I would have appreciated in previous trailers as I haven’t read any of the comics). There’s lots of new footage, which should look quite good in 3D if that’s your viewing method of choice.

Watch the trailer below:

As well as Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jodran, the movie also stars Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, Mark Strong as Sinestro, Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond, Tim Robbins as Senator Hammond and Angela Bassett as Dr. Amanda Waller, and will hit screen on June 17th, 2011.

Will you be seeing Green Lantern in 2D or 3D?

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I think it’s fair to say The Curse of The Black Pearl took most of us by surprise. Right at the start of what is being perceived as Hollywood’s creative downfall (board games being turned into movies, etc.), a film based on a theme park ride frankly seemed like a horrible idea. But the movie was a ton of fun, and launched Johnny Depp’s career to new heights. Immediately capitalizing on its success, Disney greenlit two back-to-back sequels which are not nearly as well regarded as the first movie in this series. Now, with a new director and a few fresh faces, can the Mouse House breath new life into this franchise? More importantly, does On Stranger Tides approach the quality of the first movie? Read on to find out.

To instantly answer my previous question, On Stranger Tides aspires to be a standalone movie in a similar way that The Curse of The Black Pearl was intended to be a one-and-done film, so it shares some qualities in that regard. I don’t think it reaches the greatness of the original, but it’s far better than the other two sequels. The biggest difference between On Stranger Tides and the first three films is, strangely enough, something about this one just doesn’t feel quite like a Pirates movie. But we don’t have to dig far to find out the cause of the change: in 2007, Disney purchased the rights to a book written in 1987 by Tim Powers called “On Stranger Tides“. Pirates writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio adapted elements from Powers’ story – plotlines involving Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth – and took the book’s name for their own. I haven’t read Mr. Powers’ book, so I can’t pretend to be able to point to every piece of this film that was influenced by his material, but there’s a definite disconnect with the rest of the series.

Say what you will about Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End – and trust me, I’ve talked smack about them before and will continue to do so with no shame – but at least the original trilogy felt like a cohesive unit. In fact, I’d say those stories rely on each other almost TOO much - Dead Man’s Chest can’t even stand alone as it’s own movie: it’s basically just a stepping stone to At World’s End. And while the absence of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley in On Stranger Tides is greatly appreciated by this writer, something still feels peculiar. Perhaps it’s that Sparrow is a captain without a ship, spending more time reacting to situations instead of confidently charging toward a goal. Perhaps it’s the addition of the cleric character Philip and his romantic subplot with a mermaid (paired with the consequential muddling of that mythology – are mermaids evil, or not?).

Regardless of it’s foibles, I actually did have a fun time watching this movie. Rob Marshall ably fills in behind the camera, and while he can’t coax the liveliness out of his actors that Gore Verbinski managed earlier in the series or capture the same aesthetic with the camera, he does give us some pretty solid action sequences. An escape scene near the beginning was a highlight for me, and the introduction of Angelica (Penelope Cruz) – a swordfight in the back of a bar – called back to Jack Sparrow’s first meeting with Will Turner in The Curse of the Black Pearl. Other than that, though, the film was pretty by-the-numbers, never providing any surprises or unexpected twists. Characters are introduced early on that are all questing for The Fountain of Youth, and anyone who has seen a movie before can predict that they’ll all arrive at the same time for a big showdown at the Fountain, so essentially the rest of the movie is kind of just filler bullsh*t until they get there. At 137 minutes, it’s actually the shortest of the series, but I thought some severe pacing issues dragged it out and it felt much longer.

The movie was shot mostly in Hawaii, and distracted me at times by utilizing some of the same locations as LOST. There’s even a scene in the movie involving an old shipwreck in the middle of the jungle, conjuring memories of The Black Rock from the aforementioned television series. Disney cut the budget drastically from the last two films, and you can feel the filmmakers wanting to go all out in certain areas (locations included) but not having the freedom to do so. They skimp on the budget but have enough money to add unnecessary (and terrible) 3D in post? Come on. (In case that wasn’t clear enough, if you do see this movie in theaters, please save your money and just see it in regular 2D.) And to be expected, the movie leaves plenty of room for additional sequels, so expect much of the cast to return for more swashbuckling in the next couple of years.

Though On Stranger Tides leaves a lot to be desired, it’s still worth seeing for fans of the franchise. Depp is great and has brought a wonderful consistency to his character throughout the entire franchise; newcomers Cruz and McShane (who plays Blackbeard) hold their own and are vibrant enough characters to sustain interest throughout. Geoffrey Rush chews through the scenery yet again as Barbossa, though, more noticably than the other returning cast members, he doesn’t seem to be having as much fun this time around. I’m a big fan of the music, but even that left me a bit disappointed considering talks of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s contributions to Hans Zimmer’s score were greatly exaggerated: the blistering guitar duo is abysmally underutilized.

So with all of that said, did this movie entertain me enough to line up for another one in the series? Sure, as long as Depp continues to remain the focus of the series. Captain Jack Sparrow is such a fun role for him, and I really enjoyed his chemistry with Penelope Cruz. So if those two are front and center in Pirates 5, I’m totally willing to go along for the ride. I’m just hoping they can tighten everything up a bit next time around. Until next time…

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For some reason i’m not as hyped for Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as I was for the previous movies. There’s no Kraken, no giant maelstrom and no impending Pirate battle (even though it only ended up being between two ships, the anticipation and expectation was still here). Nothing seems epic. However, on the flip side it seems to be returning to the style of The Curse of the Black Pearl, which many fans have been wanting.

Today Disney have released a new featurette introduced by director Rob Marshall which runs though the characters, both new and returning, and shows off some new footage.

Watch below:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is released May 20th, will include “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids and… Penelope Cruz” as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa sail to find the Fountain of Youth under the orders of King George II, only to find Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after it too. Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter who is a woman from Sparrow’s past and he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s just using him to find the Fountain of Youth.

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Today Disney released the second official trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This one features more heavily on the story (The Fountain of Youth), and we see more action from those mermaids.

It doesn’t feel as ‘big’ in scope as the previous two movies, but many have wanted the franchise to return to the style of The Curse of the Black Pearl, so it may not be a bad thing.

Watch below:

Johnny Depp returns to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow in an action-packed adventure. Crossing paths with the enigmatic Angelica (Penelope Cruz), he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. When she forces him aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected adventure in which he doesn’t know whom to fear more: Blackbeard or Angelica, with whom he shares a mysterious past. The international cast includes franchise vets Geoffrey Rush as the vengeful Captain Hector Barbossa and Kevin R. McNally as Captain Jack’s longtime comrade Joshamee Gibbs, plus Sam Claflin as a stalwart missionary and Astrid Berges-Frisbey as a mysterious mermaid.

Directed by Rob Marshall (Nine, Memoirs of a Geisha) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released May 20th.

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The Academy Awards are less than a week away and all the other major awards shows have made their opinions known; it is time for final predictions to be made. Here is my mildly self-indulgent Oscar predictions list.

Best Picture:
Let’s start with the big one. A month ago I would have said (and I believe I did say) that The Social Network had this one in the bag. I was wrong. The Facebook film has lost most of its Best Picture buzz in the last few weeks and The King’s Speech has taken over top spot, crushing the competition at the BAFTAs last week. With any luck this momentum shift hasn’t come too late and The King’s Speech will take home the prize. It all depends on how many stubborn Academy voters are still clinging to The Social Network’s bandwagon.  If it were up to me Inception would reign victorious, with Black Swan and Toy Story 3 as the other top contenders. Unfortunately for me (and Christopher Nolan) the Academy didn’t ask for my opinion.

Official Prediction: The King’s Speech

Best Documentary Feature:
I’ll be honest – I haven’t seen all the documentary nominees and it’s not a category that develops a lot of discussion. This year there just isn’t a Bowling for Columbine or March of the Penguins to create huge buzz. However, based on what I’ve seen so far this awards season, only one of the nominees has been a regular presence: Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Official Prediction: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Foreign Language Film:
Like the documentary category, there hasn’t been a huge Foreign Language standout either.  Biutiful probably has the best shot, as it has consistently been nominated this season. Also, it is the only nominee with a nomination in another category (Javier Bardem’s Best Actor nom), which will likely give it more credit in the eyes of Academy voters. Still, I won’t be surprised of the Canadian drama, Incendies, wins instead.

Official Prediction: Biutiful

Best Supporting Actor:
Up until the BAFTAs Christian Bale had won almost every single Supporting Actor trophy he could find for his role in The Fighter. And for good reason. Bale is well-known for his astonishing physical transformations (see The Machinist), and The Fighter is no exception. Any trace of Bruce Wayne is gone and Bale’s acting totally immerses you in the character of Dickie Ecklund. However, Geoffrey Rush, who pulled off a phenomenal performance in The King’s Speech has been a consistent nominee this season, and was finally rewarded at the BAFTAs. His win may be partly attributed to the BAFTA’s favoritism toward British films and the strong momentum The King’s Speech has been gaining. Whatever the reason, Rush’s win makes him a viable contender for the statuette. The other three nominees, while all putting forth incredible performances, don’t have the buzz or the critical reception surrounding them to garner a victory.

Official Prediction: Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Best Supporting Actress:
This category has been a delightfully unpredictable crapshoot this year. No single nominee has stood out above the pack. The momentum of The King’s Speech might propel Helena Bonham Carter toward a win, especially after her BAFTA victory, although I hope that won’t be the case.  Jacki Weaver (The Animal Kingdom) had some decent buzz early in the awards season, but it has mostly faded away. Hailee Steinfeld, the True Grit darling, has a decent shot since the Academy loves the Coen brothers and has a history of favoring young actresses in this category. Where we are mostly likely to see a win, however, is from The Fighter duo – Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. Both of them have been ubiquitous this year (minus a couple notable snubs – I’m looking at you BAFTAs) and the fact that there are two nominations from the same movie adds clout to their chances. Melissa Leo has been the stronger nominee, winning a Golden Globe and a number of other awards, so I’m placing my bets on her.

Official Prediction: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Best Animated Feature:
Toy Story 3, hands down. I’ll be stunned and horrified if anything else wins. I liked How To Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist has a cool retro thing going on, but they just don’t compare to Pixar’s latest gem. Don’t believe me? The fact that it’s the only nominee in this category that also has a Best picture nomination should convince you.

Official Prediction: Toy Story 3

Best Adapted Screenplay:
While The Social Network has been losing some serious Best Picture momentum, Aaron Sorkin has not lost any for his script. He has won at the WGAs, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, the Scripters, and too many more to mention. Even in awards where there is only one screenplay prize (like the Globes, where they don’t split original and adapted screenplays), Sorkin has won.

Official Prediction: Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay:
The only reason any of these nominees has a chance is because The Social Network is in the other category. That being said, the battle is likely between David Seidler (The King’s Speech) and Christopher Nolan (Inception). Nolan is in contention purely due to his WGA win – the WGA’s strict eligibility restrictions prevented Seidler from being nominated, which left the field wide open for Nolan to step in. The fact is, however, that Seidler has the upper hand at the Oscars thanks to his huge number of other wins.

Official Prediction: David Seidler (The King’s Speech)

Best Actor:
This one shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Colin Firth has been cleaning up this category right from the beginning. His performance as King George VI in The King’s Speech is about as close to flawless as you’re going to find. In another year we might have seen a younger actor like James Franco (127 Hours) or Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) take home the top prize. Javier Bardem (Biutiful) and Jeff Bridges (True Grit) have both received honors recently, so the Academy shouldn’t feel obligated to snub Firth in order to honor them.

Official Prediction: Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

Best Actress:
Earlier on this season this was actually a tight race. Both Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan) came strong out of the gate. Since then, however, Bening has all but disappeared off the radar and Portman has continued to soar. I like to think that this is because people have good taste. The other three nominees shouldn’t pose much of a threat. The only way I can see Natalie Portman losing is if a whole bunch of Academy voters decide Annette Bening is too long overdue for a win.

Official Prediction: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Best Director:
This one might be a bit of a heads or tails call. Personally, I’d scrap all five nominees and hand the award to Christopher Nolan (Inception). Unfortunately, the Academy won’t allow me to do that. Trust me, I asked. The Best Director race looks like it has come down to Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) and David Fincher (The Social Network), which is more or less a reflection of the Best Picture race. The Academy has a long history of giving Best Director and Best Picture to the same movie. In fact, in the last 30 years, the Best Picture has won Best Director 24 times. Similarly, the Directors Guild of America award has been nearly perfect in predicting the Best Director Oscar, only missing the mark six times since its inception over six decades ago. In light of the fact that The King’s Speech is the Best Picture frontrunner and Tom Hooper won the DGA award, it would seem that he is the one to beat. But Fincher has continued to snag directing awards even when The Social Network loses the Best Picture category (ie. at the BAFTAs).  Fincher also has the “long overdue” card in his hand, having directed films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fight Club, and Se7en, whereas before The King’s Speech Hooper was almost exclusively a TV director. It’ll be close, but I expect Fincher will end up getting love from ol’ Oscar.

Official Prediction: David Fincher (The Social Network)

All of those other minor/technical awards:
I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m an expert on sound editing or sound mixing (or even really understand the difference between the two) or any of the other minor/technical awards. I expect that Inception will walk away with a number of them (the rotating hallway scene alone should give it the Visual Effects award) and Alice in Wonderland is looking good for the Costume Design statuette. The Social Network’s musical score (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) looks to be the front runner in that category, and my makeup artist mother says that Barney’s Version should nab the makeup award.

The 83rd Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 27 and will be hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. You can see all the nominees here and feel free to make your own predictions in the comments section below!

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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts displayed their unabashed favoritism toward British films this Sunday by showering The King’s Speech with seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Colin Firth. The biggest surprise is probably the fact that Tom Hooper did not grab the directing prize after his DGA win. Instead, he watched David Fincher (The Social Network) walk away with that one.

The other huge shocker was Christian Bale’s (The Fighter) Supporting Actor loss to Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech). Bale has swept almost every single Supporting Actor prize, big and small, this awards season, so it was unexpected to have him go home empty handed, especially this close to the Academy Awards. I truly hope it doesn’t hurt his chances at an Oscar win.

The King’s Speech also nabbed the Supporting Actress award for Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Queen Elizabeth. It makes me wonder if the BAFTAs would have blindly given The King’s Speech the Best Actress prize too, had there been a nominee.

Most of the rest of the awards were predictable: Darren Aronofsky (director of Black Swan) accepted Natalie Portman’s Best Actress award (she’s super pregnant and didn’t attend the ceremony); Aaron Sorkin was honored for The Social Network’s Adapted Screenplay; Toy Story 3, of course, won Best Animated Film; and Inception was given three of those awards that nobody is very interested in (Sound, Production Design, and Special Visual Effects).

It’ll be interesting to see how much of an impact the BAFTAs have on the Academy Awards. You can see the full list of BAFTA nominees and winners here.

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Following the release of those 10 measly seconds earlier this week Disney has premiered the whole Super Bowl TV spot for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Quite a lot of new footage is shown including Captain Jack Sparrow having a sword fight with Blackbeard, and more of those mermaids.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will include “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids and… Penelope Cruz” as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa sail to find the Fountain of Youth under the orders of King George II, only to find Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after it too. Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter who is a woman from Sparrow’s past and he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s just using him to find the Fountain of Youth.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released May 20th 2011.

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Update: The King’s Speech is now available to pre-order from Amazon on:

- DVD
- Blu-ray

The King’s Speech has been gaining a lot of momentum over recent weeks and it is looking likely that it will be crowned Best Film at the Oscars next month. The film garnered the most Oscar nominations of any other 2010 release with twelve in total, including: Best Picture, Directing (Tom Hooper), Leading Actor (Colin Firth), Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush), Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter), Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score and Sound Mixing.

Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company today announced that The King’s Speech will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 19th.

Special features include:

- Commentary with director Tom Hooper
- The Making of The King’s Speech (20 minutes)
- Archival footage of the actual King George VI

The movie follows the story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

The King’s Speech is now available to pre-order from Amazon on:

- DVD
- Blu-ray

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Disney today unleashed the first official trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, giving us our first good look at Captain Jack’s fourth outing.

We see Keith Richards return as Jack’s father Captain Teague, mermaids, Blackbeard, Penelope Cruz and more of what we’ve come to expect from Jack Sparrow.

Watch below:

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will include “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids and… Penelope Cruz” as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa sail to find the Fountain of Youth under the orders of King George II, only to find Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after it too. Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter who is a woman from Sparrow’s past and he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s just using him to find the Fountain of Youth.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released May 2011. Thoughts on the trailer?

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I’m guessing many of you have never even heard of The Warrior’s Way. It’s OK – I hadn’t either. Shot back in 2007 and shelved until this past Friday, the samuari/western mash-up earned only three million dollars in its opening weekend, one of the worst wide-release showings of the year. But does that mean the movie is terrible? Actually, it kind of is – but it’s also more entertaining than it has any right to be.

Set in an indeterminate time period that’s neither future nor ancient past, the plot follows an epic swordsman (Jang Dong-gun) on his quest to defeat every member of his rival clan. When it comes down to the last member – an infant girl – the swordsman can’t bring himself to kill her, and (shocker!) decides to adopt her and go on the run from his own clan. He holes up in a dilapidated wild west town full of circus characters; the society inexplicably can’t get their act together enough to finish the construction on the circus. The town is populated with all sorts of crazy characters: the height challenged leader of the group (Tony Cox), dressed to the nines but known as “8 Ball” because of the number eight scrawled on his bald head; the ex-gunfighter-turned-town-drunk (Geoffrey Rush); a ruthless band of outlaws with a leader (Danny Huston) who enjoys the company of adolescent females; and one of the aforementioned females (Kate Bosworth) who scarred his face and escaped his clutches, now – of course – out for revenge.

As totally contrived as that plot sounds, there’s a colossal difference between a movie like this and one like Faster, a similar B-movie themed flick from earlier this year: style. For all of its attempt at recreating 70′s revenge movie nostalgia and a sense of raw filmmaking, Faster took itself way too seriously, to the point of being detrimental. The Warrior’s Way has no problem being derivative, but it also knows that in order to have a story that’s so similar to things we’ve seen dozens (if not hundreds) of times on screen, they have to add something interesting to the equation. Even if that new addition is the something as simple as the look of the movie, shot almost entirely (if not 100%) in front of green screens down in New Zealand, at least it’s contributing something to the greater movie landscape and doing it with some flair.

Like a trainwreck on fire, The Warrior’s Way makes it hard to look away: all the dazzling colors and washed-out backgrounds are punctuated with CGI blood spatter as swords go slicing and bullets go blazing. There’s a distinct B-movie vibe on full display here, and because the entire film is played tongue-in-cheek, it’s hard not to appreciate the over the top attitude. The influence of Zack Snyder is felt not only in the green-screened look of the movie (ala 300), but also in handling the action; the movie cribs Snyder’s style but does it adequately enough to make the fight scenes worth seeing. I won’t list all of the movies this one copies – that would be an insanely long list – but in an effort to report on the tone of the movie, two came to mind. Clive Owen’s Shoot ‘Em Up shares the cartoonish atmosphere, and, to a lesser degree, the final act of John Woo’s Hard Boiled comes to mind (the baby being the key part of that allusion). More than anything else, though, The Warrior’s Way feels influenced by video games. The ability of the near-perfect hero to thrash hundreds of bad guys with little to no danger feels like the best sort of cheat code, one in which to enjoy the barrage of battles and not worry for a second about pesky things like health or mission goals.

It’d be a shame not to mention the performance of Geoffrey Rush, currently gaining awards momentum for his work in The King’s Speech, but here channeling co-star Johnny Depp from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This is Rush’s chance to play the stumbling drunk, the wheezing teetering boozer always a second away from passing out, and he does it with gusto. Kate Bosworth also committed to her role, and while I initially found her harsh accent to be grating, I must admit she grew on me as the movie progressed. Danny Huston plays the villain with equal parts camp and sleaze.

It’s not even worth it to bring up questions of logic in a movie like this. (If the people in this town are all so jovial and work so well together, why don’t they just finish building their Ferris wheel so they can start the circus like they wanted?) This is a movie in which text pops up to alert us that our hero is “the greatest swordsman in the history of mankind…(ever).” It’s totally aware of its place in the overall movie realm and embraces that as much as possible. The Warrior’s Way is a fun watch – totally unrealistic, ludicrous in almost every way – but unquestionably a lot of fun. Until next time…

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