In spite of its surface similarities to another recent series of movies about a guy who drives for a living and doesn’t ask questions, the upcoming Drive from director Nicolas Winding Refn looks pretty damn good. So good, in fact, we feel compelled to bring you a trailer for it right now

In case you’re not familiar with Drive, it stars Ryan Gosling as “Driver,” a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman that will take any job and not ask questions. However, as is sometimes the case, he discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist goes wrong.

The film also features a great supporting cast including Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar isaac, and Albert Brooks. Oh, forgot to mention that Winding Refn also won the Best Director award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. That, the cast and the trailer should be enough to sell you on Drive. If not, I’ve got nothing more for you.

Check out the video below. Drive hits theaters September 16, 2011.

Continue Reading →

Coinciding with NBC’s remake of the BBC series starring the awesome Helen Mirren, Acorn Media is releasing the original Prime Suspect, Series 1 in an individual season set on August 23rd, with guest stars Ralph Fiennes and Tom Wilkinson. Starring Oscar winner Helen Mirren in her iconic, Emmy-winning television role, the original series aired on PBS to universal acclaim with more than 20 major international awards, including seven Emmys (“Outstanding Miniseries” and “Outstanding Actress”), eight BAFTAs, and a Peabody.

The new American version, starring Maria Bello, premieres on September 22, 2011 on NBC. We’re kinda looking forward to it. Although, it’s hard to believe anyone could walk in the shoiues of Ms. Mirren. However, we’re willing to give Bello a chance because, well, you know, she’s kinda hot.

Here’s all the scoop on the DVD release from the official press release:

Helen Mirren in PRIME SUSPECT, SERIES 1

On DVD August 23, 2011

The first series of the Emmy®-winning police drama is now available in an individual set;
Guest stars include Tom Wilkinson and Ralph Fiennes;
NBC remake premieres September 2011

“Superlative” —Entertainment Weekly “Powerful” —The New York Times
“A masterpiece” —USA Today “Riveting” —The Boston Globe
“Brilliant” —Los Angeles Times
“One of the great character creations of our time” —The Washington Post
“A perfect marriage of astoundingly talented actress and brilliantly conceived character” —USA Today
“Perhaps the greatest role and performance of a female police detective, ever” —San Francisco Chronicle

Continue Reading →

The MPAA is a funny organization. Depending on the director, producer, or studio, it will determine a film’s overall success by slapping it with a rating that could cut its possible audience down to a third.

A few years ago, there was a dispute between the MPAA and Kevin Smith (go figure) about the title of his film, Zach and Miri Make a Porno. The organization wanted to give the film an NC-17 rating based purely on the premise and title, without taking into consideration the fact that it was a satire. After a debate, the film got released with an R rating and everyone was happy (except for those who saw the flick).

Now, another film with an iffy title and premise comes along and gets a hard R rating right out of the cage. We present to you the synopsis for A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.

Jason Sudeikis is Eric, a thirtysomething party animal famous among his close circle of friends for his lavish summer theme parties at his father’s swanky Hamptons pad. But when members of the crew start settling down, and Eric’s dad announces plans to sell the beach house, Eric decides it’s time for one last bash to go out with a proverbial bang—a good old-fashioned orgy. The only obstacles to overcome are actually convincing each of his reluctant friends to join in on the bacchanal, and an inconveniently blossoming romance with the real estate agent threatening to sell the house out from under him before the main event can even take place.

Giving credit where credit’s due, the film looks hilarious. A cast of Sudeikis, Tyler Labine, and Nick Kroll alone is enough to keep the laughs coming. When you add a pending orgy, things only get better.

Check out the first official trailer for the film and catch it when it hits theaters on September 2nd.

Continue Reading →

While DC is currently scratching their collective heads to figure out how to beat out Marvel Studios and their plan for world domination, they’ve had a few busts of recent history. Films like Green Lantern and Jonah Hex were pretty big flops, but nowhere near as much as the critically panned reboot/sequel hybrid Superman Returns from X-Men director Bryan Singer.

The film was panned by most fans, made some money, and did absolutely nothing for the franchise (unless you consider calling for yet another reboot a few years later “progress”). After a few years, it turns out there are still a few secrets that have yet to be uncovered about the film.

As it turns out, there was a $10 million opening sequence for the film that was shot and rendered in which Routh’s Kal-El returns to a dead Krypton to see if there is any semblance of life from his once lively home planet. Short answer: there isn’t.

No dialogue, lots of slow shots of deep space, and Routh looking all sweaty. Overall, it’s probably a good thing this scene wasn’t in the film, but the fact that Singer and his team once thought this was a good idea should remind us that this film was probably no good from the get-go.

Take a look at the 5-minute long opening after the jump, and let’s hope this trend doesn’t continue with Zack Snyder’s upcoming Man of Steel reboot.

Continue Reading →

This year, Activision has taken the approach of “go big or go home” at Comic Con with big pushes on four of its upcoming titles set to come out over the next year. Two of these titles, Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men: Destiny both being comic book properties, and the updated Goldeneye: 007 Reloaded are no brainers. The one however that seems to stand out the most is Protoype 2.

Prototype 2 is not what many would consider a traditional sequel. First off, players do not get the opportunity to play the second tale in the Alex Mercer / Blackgate saga as the original game’s protagonist. Instead, Radical has decided to give players the opportunity to take on the role of James Heller, a former soldier whose family has fallen victim to the events of the original Prototype that Mercer has infected with a unique version of the virus that gives him powers of his own and in essence creates a second Prototype.

In our interview below, check out to see what the developers themselves feel about the title’s new protagonist. Also, get a look at the thought process behind new characters being introduced to the game, the new moral compass of the game’s new lead and even gameplay changes such as enemy AI (and the overwhelming nuisance of players being killed by a rocket shot from off screen that they’d have no way to dodge).

Take a look below at both our interview and the first third of the new full trailer for Prototype 2, coming in 2012 to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Continue Reading →

It was a bit hard to believe that a director could match, or in some ways even improve, on Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. But that’s just what director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo did when he stepped in and took on the sequel 28 Weeks Later. The film became a huge hit and we’ve been waiting to see what he does next. Now, we know.

Fresnadillo’s second English language film is the upcoming Intruders, which stars Clive Owen. The first trailer for the film has just been released and we’ve got it for you right here.

In case you’re not familiar with the film, Intruders concerns two families, one in Spain and one in the UK, who are menaced by terrifying apparitions. In Spain, a mother tries to protect her son from a faceless stranger, while in Britain, a young girl has terrifying dreams of a demon who becomes a real danger to her and her family. Owen plays the girl’s father.

Intruders also features Daniel Bruhl, Carice Van Houten and Kerry Fox. It’s set to be released October 7th in the US.

Check the trailer after the break.

Continue Reading →

This week’s pick is the classic Blake Edwards 1966 comedy What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? which stars legendary comedian Dick Shawn of The Producers (Captain Lionel Cash), James Coburn Cross of Iron (Lt. Christian), Aldo Ray Men in War (Sgt. Rizzo), Sergio Fantoni Von Ryan’s Express (Captain Oppo), Harry Morgan T.V.s M*A*S*H* (Maj. Pott), Giovanna Ralli (Gina Romano), Jay Novello (Mayor Romano), Leon Askin Hogan’s Heroes (Col. Kastorp) and Carroll O’ Connor Kelly’s Heroes (Gen. Bolt). The film was written by William Peter Blatty The Exorcist.

The film is set in 1943 when the Americans and Allies launched Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily to drive out the entrenched German army which had retreated from North Africa a few months prior as a result of Allied victory. Captain Lionel Cash (Shawn) is placed in command of Charlie Company, a band of misfits in need of R&R and are none too thrilled to be given another mission. General Bolt (O’ Connor) believes that there is some enemy resistance in the little village of Valerno.

The all too eager to prove himself Captain Cash, excepts the mission and plans to attack the village immediately. Cash introduces himself to the new company and its commander Lt. Christian (Coburn) whose insubordination and carefree attitude are the polar opposite of Cash and his “90 day wonder” mentality. Cash rounds up his company and they head off towards their objective.

When Cash and his men arrive at the sleepy village of Valerno, they find the town to be completely empty. Cash and his men find the townspeople and a garrison of Italian soldiers holding a soccer match which is interrupted when the ball lands on the bayonet of an American soldier in disbelief of such an impressive kick.

Continue Reading →

For those of you still using Facebook who have not switched over to Google+ just yet there might be some great news for you just around the corner — especially if you also happen to use an iPad. That’s right, images of the yet-to-be-released Facebook app for the iPad have been leaked by TechCrunch and if they are really the app, they look pretty great.

Reportedly, the official application has been hidden inside the iPhone app all along. Waiting, dormant, to be officially released. TechCrunch‘s MG Siegler, who has already tested the application, says that it offers an “HTML5-rich experience” and that Facebook for iPad is a vast improvement over the mobile Web interface currently available.

That’s pretty good news, especialy considering using Facebook on the iPad now is rather lame. Using the iPhone app upsized for the iPad has been my go to for the most part as I really don’t like the experience using it via Safari. A dedicated app for Facebook on the iPad is the best way to go.

Facebook for iPad is expected to launch soon but an exact release date is still unknown. Click through for a few more images. Head over to TechCrunch for a lot more.

Continue Reading →

It’s an unspoken law of Curb that Larry’s powers can never be used for good, and any attempt to break that law carries an alarmingy high penalty. I have a soft spot for episodes like this, because more often than not I sympathize with Larry, so I like any episode that suggests it’s Larry who’s sane and there’s cosmological forces conspiring against him.

It’s not any surprise that things such as asking a friend’s wife to stop saying “Lol” instead of laughing or telling Susie to cut out that annoying “Ahhh” after taking a sip backfires. More surprising is that each women immediately suspects that it was her husband who put Larry up to pointing out their flaws. Accurate as their suspicions may be, it’s still not out of character for Larry to say anything (nor out character for anyone wanting to take advantage of his “social assassin” skills), but do women have an ability to distinguish between what’s authentically Larry and what’s not?

But supernaturality aside, “Palestinian Chicken” is a first-rate episode (after two somewhat lackluster installments). Not only do we get to see sex with an anti-semitic beauty (the owner of the Al Abba chicken restaurant who blurts out a stream of insults during coitus, my favorite being, “I want to f*ck the Jew right out of you”) from Larry’s perspective, but we also get it from a now-deeply religious Marty Funkhauser’s perspective as he awkwardly sits downstairs. Added to that is Larry’s habit of singing the theme song to the 1955 Adventures of Robin Hood TV show post sex. Genius.

Continue Reading →

Comic-Con in San Diego is great event that excites the senses like no other. The sights and sounds are unlike any others (and unfortunately, sometimes so are the smells). Those of us lucky enough to see Comic-Con in person would be remiss not to allow others the opportunities to see them as well.

From beautiful women in sexy costumes to guys decked out in full combat gear and gigantic booth displays and monstrously oversized robots, visually Comic-Con has everything. And you can’t forget the celebrities.

Where else in the world could someone see Hulk Hogan signing autographs and ten minutes later find Wonder Woman having a beer at the bar. (Wonder Woman wanted to make sure everyone knows she does not encourage underage drinking). We had some other great photo galleries during the show and now we’ve got a brand new one with a bit more epicness.

As always, we send out a special shout out to the fanboys and fangirls who spent hours of hard work creating some of the best costumes we have seen. Each year, people keep getting better and this year’s Con was proof again of that.

Take a peek below at more amazing pics from Comic-Con 2011 from San Diego.

Continue Reading →

One of the very first booths I hit on the show floor this year was Bioware’s SWTOR – or Star Wars: The Old Republic – the company’s massively multi-player game set in the Star Wars universe. In development for the last five years, I was excited to learn there would finally be hands-on demos of the game both at the Con as well as off-site at the Hilton Gaslamp across the street.

To coincide with Comic-Con this year, Bioware announced pre-orders for the game on Thursday, which would allow players early access to the game as well as spiffy in-game bonuses. Given that the game’s release window is set for Holidays 2011, it made sense for the SWTOR team to leverage Comic-Con to start showing off their shiny new MMORPG.

After a roughly 45-minute wait, myself and a dozen other eager players were ushered into the booth and each seated at one of the high-end Alienware gaming rigs running SWTOR. We slipped on our headphones and were given 15-minutes on the clock to put the game through its paces. I decided to play a Sith Warrior, went through a brief intro and my character was jumped into a desert-like world ripe for the exploring.

Continue Reading →

It turns out, after tons of doubt that Captain America: The First Avenger would undertake the final Harry Potter film in the box office on the biggest nerd weekend of the year, San Diego Comic-Con, we were all wrong.

In reality, the film actually did just that, and took the #1 spot for the weekend, totaling an impressive $65.8 million here in the US. While this is excellent news for the new films from Marvel Studios and Paramount, the real story here is how much of a drop Harry Potter had.

From last weekend’s $169 million opening to a mere $48 million this weekend, the film dropped over 70% in just a week. Either everyone who was going to see this film saw it in the first weekend, or the word of mouth wasn’t as good as the folks at Warner Bros were hoping for.

Also opening this weekend, the R-rated version of No Strings Attached, starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis and titled Friends With Benefits managed to stay in the top 3 with an estimated $18 million. Just a simple million less than the one that starred Kutcher and Portman.

Continue Reading →