This summer hasn’t exactly been the best when it comes to comedies, but that may come to an end next Friday as the new comedy Dinner for Schmucks starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell hits theaters nationally.

The film stars Rudd as an up-and-coming executive who wants to succeed so badly that he falls in line with the rest of his superiors in finding a socially awkward moron to invite to an annual dinner. Enter Steve Carell, who is a walking social catastrophe.

The film reunites Rudd and Carell for the first time since 2005′s 40 Year Old Virgin and looks to have quite a bit of hilarious moments in it. Joining in the ride are other genre funnymen Ron Livingston, Zach Galifiniakis, and Flight of the Conchord’s Jemaine Clement.

We’ve got four new clips from the film for you to check out, each of which show off the dynamic of Rudd and Carell. Paul Rudd even gets to do some physical comedy, which we haven’t seen him do in quite some time.

Check out the clips after the jump, and be sure to catch Dinner For Schmucks in theaters next Friday, July 30th.

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Apparently, director Sam Raimi isn’t straying too far from comics now that his tenure with the Spider-Man film franchise is done. According to Variety, Raimi is now attached to direct Radical Comics’ Earp: Saints for Sinners. The film will be a co-production of Dreamworks, Radical Studios, Mandeville and Star Road, Raimi’s production company.

In case you’re not familiar, the story of the project is described as “a modern-day re-imagining of Western hero Wyatt Earp fighting outlaws in a ravaged society where the only boomtown left is Las Vegas.” Co-creator/writer Matt Cirulnick will adapt the graphic novel for the big screen.

There’s no word on how this new project will fit into Raimi’s already busy schedule which includes directing World of Warcraft, based on the popular MMO, and Oz, the Great and Powerful, a prequel to the The Wizard of Oz. However, according to reports, this will be his next film after WOW.

With Raimi’s undeniable talent and love for material such as this the combo of Raimi and pretty much any comic property should be cause for happiness among fans. Now that his directing of the adaptation is set, we can turn to other important things like what part Bruce Campbell is going to play.

After some time spent in the “feel good” movies section, former wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is back doing the kind of movie he does best: action. In the upcoming film Faster, directed by George Tillman Jr., Johnson plays an ex-con out for revenge. It seems his brother has been killed after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago.

During his quest, however, he’s tracked by a veteran cop and an egocentric hit man, both of whom have deadly agendas of their own. In the trailer we get to see Johnson is really back to form and looks like he’s kinda missed all the action. There’s no mistaking his enthusiasm and skill as an action star. Plus, the movie looks pretty good. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing more.

The film, which in addition to Johnson features Tom Berenger, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Mood Bloodgood and Billy Bob Thornton, opens November 24. While we wait, check out the trailer after the jump.

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As we mentioned a few weeks ago, for those users lucky enough to get the invite, Hulu Plus is currently in it’s preview period.  As promised, Hulu has begun enabling the applications on various devices, including the much anticipated PlayStation 3 update.

In a coup for all you Playstation 3 defenders, Hulu Plus has chosen the Playstation 3 for limited console exclusivity through the end of the year. And for those of you who were concerned, no you don’t need a CD to play it like Netflix, you just need to download the free app from the PlayStation store.

The program looks almost identical to the Hulu desktop, and the video streams in beautiful 1080p (as long as your internet  and TV can handle it). Unfortunately, in order to access the preview you do need to be a PlayStation Plus member. Aside from Hulu Plus, said membership allows access to free or discounted add-ons, themes, avatars and games.

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With Comic-Con coming up this week comes all sorts of new shows, panels and previews for new TV shows. One show we’ve been following for some time, The Event, and a relatively new one for us, Outsourced. Both look interesting and we are looking forward to seeing them once they debut in the Fall.

In the meantime, as we do often, we’ve got previews for both shows from our friends at NBC to share with you today. First up is The Event where we see The President being rather Presidential and demanding to know what The Event is all about. The President doesn’t know? When something is this Top Secret, you know it’s gonna be big. And by big I mean good.

Next up is Outsourced. In this preview we meet some of the actors from the show and learn more about their characters. I’m sure we’ve all had amusing experiences with customer service from other countries so this show should be pretty funny. Plus, interesting accents are always a plus.

Bonus: If you’re attending Comic-Con in San Diego, be sure to check out The Event panel, which will be taking place on Saturday, July 24th at 11:15a in Ballroom 6A. They will also be Tweeting the panel live so if you’re not in San Diego, you can follow the action that way.

Click through to check out all the videos for these two shows.

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Paths of Glory (1957) is one of the first masterpieces from acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick. It was loosely based on a rather obscure novel by Humphrey Cobb who published the story in 1935 about an actual group of French soldiers who were tried and condemned to death for cowardice in the face of the enemy during World War I.

The film opens up in 1916 where the narrator informs the audience that after two long years, the war has evolved into a series of trench warfare where victory was measured in precious yards. A series of trench fortifications ran from the Swiss frontier to the English Channel which stopped the advancing German army within thirty or so miles of Paris. Kirk Douglas plays the leading role as Col. Dax who is a company commander and chosen by the General Corp to defend three men who are chosen as scapegoats during a failed attack on an impregnable German position.

Rounding out the fantastic cast is veteran character actor, George Macready (Brig. Gen. Paul Mireau) who is the man behind the court martial of the defendants, Adolphe Menjou (Maj. Gen. Broulard), Ralph Meeker (Cpl. Philippe Paris), Wayne Morris (Lt. Roget), Richard Anderson (Maj. Saint-Auban), Joe Turkel (Pvt. Pierre Arnaud), and Timothy Carey (Pvt. Maurice Ferol) who strikingly looks a lot like John Turturro. If there is ever a remake, Turturro ought to be cast as Pvt. Ferol.

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It’s no secret we’re big fans of Spartacus: Blood and Sand around here. We’ve talked about the show extensively and have also worried if it can return given the illness of star Andy Whitfield. Fortunately, reports now say that Whitfield is good to go and will be appearing at Comic-Con this week and then season two of the show. However, that didn’t stop Starz from going ahead with it’s planned prequel series anyway.

As we told you previously, the prequel, which is called Spartacus: God of the Arena, will be a six-part story chronicling the rise of the House of Batiatus and the first gladiator to be champion of Capua now it has a star and two supporting players. Dustin Clare, a virtual unknown in the U.S., but a popular TV actor in his native Australia, has landed the lead. Jaime Murray and Marisa Ramirez are also now set to co-star as well.

Reprising their roles from Spartacus: Blood and Sand are Lucy Lawless (Lucretia), John Hannah (Batiatus), Peter Mensah (Oenomaus) and Manu Bennett (Crixus). Murray will play Gaia, Lucretia’s (Lawless) friend and a Capua social climber. Ramirez will play a beautiful slave girl with complicated relationships. Spartacus himself, Andy Whitfield, will also appear briefly in the prequel, which is slated to begin production in August in New Zealand for a January premiere on Starz.

Then, Whitfield will rejoin Spartacus: Blood and Sand for season two, which is set to begin production later this year. So, look for both of these shows coming soon — but not soon enough.

There are very few characters in video games who can be considered icons. Those who have stood the test of time and had their image placed on millions of products worldwide for over two decades are few and far in between. One of those such legends is undoubtedly Mega Man. One might not realize it but Mega Man has been featured in over 144 titles since his 1987 debut.

Capcom has announced that the next iteration of the Mega Man franchise will be coming to both the PlayStation Store and XBox Live marketplace with Mega Man Universe. Planning to follow up on the classic style gaming of Mega Man 10, Capcom looks to redefine what “classic” gaming is claiming that “classic gaming will never be the same again.”

“We are thrilled to finally be able to announce Mega Man Universe,” said Kenji Inafune, Head of Research and Development Management for Capcom Entertainment. “This game will break the mold and challenge the conventional wisdom of what a Mega Man game can be. When fans finally get to see it, I believe they’ll envision their most far-out Mega Man dreams coming true.”

Take a look below at what can definitely be considered a trailer inspired by the classic gaming commercials of the 80′s and 90′s. How the game itself will play out is anyone’s guess but we are hoping the involvement of other Capcom franchises like Street Fighter and Ghosts & Goblins isn’t just a tease and will actually come into gameplay somehow.

Make sure to let us know what you think of this huge announcement for the franchise and stick right here all week as we hit San Diego Comic-Con and get hands on with the other games Capcom has to offer.

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During Apple’s recent iPhone 4 press conference, they made some pretty hefty claims about other smartphones having similar problems as the iPhone 4, including devices manufactured by HTC, Blackberry, and Nokia. Devices that they singled out, such as the HTC Droid Eris and HTC Nexus One, supposedly have their own history of reception problems.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who heard this and went “Huh?”, as I have had no reception issues with my recently purchased HTC Droid Incredible, because HTC has started fighting back with numbers of their own.

While only 0.55 percent of calls received by Applecare are about the iPhone 4′s reception issues, HTC’s numbers were at a measily 0.016 percent of calls about the HTC Droid Eris. Though the phone was recently discontinued, it has been out far longer with fewer complaints than Apple claims to have received.

Regardless, any issues that the iPhone 4 has cannot be compared to phones like the HTC Eris, as its antenna is located on the top of the phone while most new smartphones have them on the bottom.

Nokia and RIM have both commented on the situation on their own, but Nokia stressed that reception interference due to human hands was a problem across the smartphone market and wasn’t limited to just Apple and the iPhone 4. Regardless of what phones have this problem, it’s unfair for Apple to just say “It’s ok that our phone has a reception problem, because these phones do too”, without first looking at the numbers.

Cerebral movie lovers can rejoice.  Christopher Nolan’s Inception handily won at the box office over the weekend, raking in over $60 Million. The film made over $3 Million on midnight showings Thursday night, and netted $20 Million on Friday, a true testament of the loyalty of Nolan’s fans.  Marketing a cryptic plot is no easy task, so Warner Brothers has to be happy about the opening weekend.

On the other hand, it might be a long climb to recoup the $160 Million budget.  The film will have to rely on repeat business from fans to maintain box office legs.  Everyone I know who really liked the movie has said they want to see it again, but it remains to be seen whether people actually follow through with those intentions. At any rate, it is nice to see an original film have a good opening weekend.

Despicable Me came in at number two, dropping about 42% from its opening weekend, which was a little higher than I would have anticipated.  It still earned a healthy $32 Million, and has grossed $118 Million in ten days. Disney’s wide release The Sorcerer’s Apprentice earned a paltry $17 Million, far below most industry expectations. The film opened last Wednesday, so its cumulative stands at $24 Million.  The film had a budget of $150 Million, so unless it performs well overseas, it stands little chance of recouping its budget.

Twilight: Eclipse dropped off 57% from last weekend, which is a fairly significant drop.  It managed $13 Million, and has made almost $265 Million in three weeks. Toy Story 3 is still doing well after five weeks, earning $11 Million over the weekend.  Its cumulative now stands at $362 Million.

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A few months ago, we brought you news of an innovative and visually stunning short that was making its way across the web titled The Raven from writer/director Ricardo de Montreuil. It seems that the film has turned enough heads, as both Universal and Mark Wahlberg have taken an interest in bringing the concept to the silver screen.

The short film, which follows Chris Black, a man who possesses a super power that can take down a current militant faction that has a stranglehold on a metropolitan city. Being only made for $5,000 on a RED camera, the visual effects are truly what make this one of the better web shorts in years.

According to our friends at Latino Review, Universal is currently interested in taking The Raven to a larger scale, with a bigger budget, and even Mark Wahlberg to produce and star. Genre favorite Justin Marks, who is also penning the script for Voltron and SuperMAX will be taking on the treatment of the film, with Montreuil still directing.

There was a bit of a bidding war between Universal and Warner Bros., but once Entourage co-creator Wahlberg got involved, Universal inevitably got the rights to the film. Be sure to check out the site for the film, and keep it here for more news as it develops on this deal.

While players think of 007 as a first person franchise when fondly remembering Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, most forget the lack of success that subsequent releases on the PlayStation 2 garnered. Hoping to reinvent the wheel, Bizarre creations is releasing a new third-person action adventure featuring the British super spy.

Coming to the XBox 360, PC, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS, James Bond 007: Blood Stone will be an original Bond experience coming from screenwriter Bruce Feirstein (Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldeneye).

In addition to Daniel Craig (Bond) and Judi Dench (M), Grammy and BRIT award winning artist Joss Stone will be featured in a leading role in the game. Stone, as seen in the screen shots below, will also be creating new original music for the game as well.

“James Bond 007: Blood Stone captures the cinematic intensity of a Bond film by immersing players in an intriguing conspiracy that will require them to think and act like James Bond,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing.  “In addition, the game will feature a diverse array of multi-player modes and debut strategic objective-based gameplay that will allow Xbox 360, PS3 and PC players to battle as teams of spies and mercenaries through authentic Bond locales.”

Check out the trailer and screens of Craig and Stone in James Bond 007: Blood Stone.

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