The James Bond films are one of the longest and most storied film franchises in the history of cinema. Despite over twenty films and nearly five decades of action, the series has been rather consistent in the score department. For well over three fourths of the James Bond films music dudties have been held by two men, the late great John Barry and excellent David Arnold.

It was assumed that Arnold would be returning for his sixth Bond film with Skyfall, but it seems the delays caused by MGM have actually caused Arnold’s schedule to be too full, he will be spending much of the next six months being the musical director for the summer Olympics. MI6 is reporting that in Arnold’s absence, director Sam Mendes is calling on a long time collaborator to fill his shoes.

American composer Thomas Newman will be scoring the new James Bond film, “Skyfall”, due out later this year. It will be his first 007 adventure.

Newman has been a long time collaborator with “Skyfall” helmer Sam Mendes, having scored four of the directors other films: “American Beauty” (1999), “Road to Perdition” (2002) [which also starred Daniel Craig], “Jarhead” (2005) and “Revolutionary Road” (2008).

Newman is an interesting choice for a big budget action film, but in many respects so is director Sam Mendes. One thing is for certain, Newman always brings his A game, so you can expect to hear an exceptional Bond score once Skyfall hits theaters later this year.

There have been a lot of Hobbit related stories in the last few days, including the debut of the first teaser for the film. Now in addition to that first footage we are also getting the first one-sheet for the film, just in time for the Christmas cinema rush.

The poster does a great job evoking the sense of starting a grand adventure, and the focus on just Bilbo in Bag End is appropriate. Compared to the first Lord of the Rings one-sheet that focused on Frodo and the ring, this poster feels right as the beginning of the whole saga. The dutch angle and harsh lighting might seem a rather odd choice at first, but then you realize how off putting an uncomfortable leaving the Shire is for Bilbo and it all makes sense.

Everything we have seen from this movie up to this point has been amazing, it is finally starting to feel like there is a new Peter Jackson directed Tolkien film coming in less than a year. This poster helps set the tone for a two year adventure that brings us back into the glorious world of Middle Earth.

You can see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey next year and the full poster after the jump.

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In celebration of the holiday season, this week’s pick is the 1984 cult classic Night of the Comet written and directed by Thom Eberhardt. Night of the Comet is a terrific throwback to 1950′s horror and sci-fi with a unique 80s spin to it. The film stars Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Mary Woronov, and Geoffrey Lewis.

With Christmas right around the corner, the world prepares for the arrival of a comet that predicts a stellar light show that will be seen all around the world. As billions gather to await the arrival of the comet, a group of scientists have secured themselves in a secret research facility in the California desert fearing that the last time a comet like this arrived on Earth, spelled extinction for the dinosaurs.

Stewart stars as Regina Belmont, a movie theater usher who awakens the morning after the comet passes over a deserted LA. Things seem amiss when Reggie gets locked out of the theater and discovers that her boyfriend, who went to pick up some rare film cans belonging to the theater, has not yet arrived back.

Reggie sees Larry’s (Michael Bowen) motorcycle still parked in the alley and she is attacked by a zombie in overalls. Regina fights him off and takes off on the motorcycle.

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That’s right folks, the often delayed and occassionally in trouble next James Bond adventure is now a reality. In fact, it even has a title: Skyfall.

The announcement was made today at a London press conference by producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who confirmed that stars Daniel Craig and Judi Dench will indeed return in the Sam Mendes-directed 23rd James Bond adventure. Also confirmed were actors Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes, who will join the previously announced Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Albert Finney and Ben Whishaw in the film.

“We’re so delighted to have Sam Mendes direct Skyfall and be working once again with Daniel Craig,” Wilson and Broccoli said in a joint statement. “We’ve a great script, an extraordinary cast and an incredibly talented creative team for this latest James Bond adventure.”

In Skyfall “Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.” Mmm, tested loyalties and Bond stopping at nothing to save the world?

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After studios going bankrupt, directors walking out, and everyone giving up hope on what would be the 23rd James Bond flick, it looks like things are finally coming together on what could be a huge sequel.

We know that Daniel Craig will be back, and he has recently gone on record as to say that fan favorite bad guy Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) was in contention with Ralph Fiennes to play the film’s main villain. After an interview with ABC Nightline, it looks like Bardem let slip who the victor of that battle was. From ScreenRant:

For all the secrecy surrounding director Sam Mendes’ (American Beauty) Bond film, the confirmation of Bardem’s casting came pretty casually (irony alert) as the actor sat down to talk to ABC Nightline about more serious matters – like suffering refugees. Of course, most people reading this are probably more interested in the Bond news – said Bardem:

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This week’s pick is the 1983 Cold War classic War Games directed by John Badham and starring Matthew Broderick (David Lightman), Dabney Coleman (Dr. John McKittrick), John Wood (Dr. Stephen Falken), Ally Sheedy (Jennifer Mack), and Barry Corbin (General Beringer).

War Games is the ultimate Cold War thriller that questions whether or not there truly is a winner in a nuclear war. Matthew Broderick stars a David Ligthman, a highschooler with a fondness for computers and getting himself way in over his head. Lightman uses his computer hacking skills to mostly hack into his school’s computer in order to alter his grades, a dream every kid with a computer would hope to do.

At the same time, officials at the NORAD missile defense complex in Colorado, are wanting to remove the human element from America’s nuclear umbrella and devise a fully automated response system that will launch nuclear missiles once approval has been given by the president of the United States.

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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.

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After setting up a new version of Robocop and Carrie, MGM’s reboot-o-rama continues with their plan to take the 1983 John Badam hacker thriller War Games and bring it to new audiences. With that in mind, the studio has tapped director Seth Gordon to develop the reboot and direct.

As you may know, Gordon first rose to prominence with the gaming documentary The King of Kong and most recently directed the upcoming comedy Horrible Bosses with Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Jamie Foxx.

In case you’re not familiar with War Games (although that’s unlikely), it starred Ally Sheedy as his girlfriend and Matthew Broderick as a computer hacker who finds a back door into a military computer system. Once inside, they start to play a nice game of “Global Thermonuclear War” which, unfortunately, isn’t a game to the computer. This sets off a series of events that if not stopped, could lead to WWIII.

Gordon will reportedly have a lot of leway in creating the reboot and with the level of sophistication of computer games, hardware and software these days, the results could be pretty interesting indeed. Gordon seems like a pretty good choice for this reboot.

Certainly better than the last time they tried to capatalize on War Games by making the abyssmal “sequel” War Games: The Dead Code. What a disaster that was. Let’s hope Gordon has better luck.

Happy Memorial Day to all those currently serving in the U.S. armed forces, and to you vets of America’s foreign wars.  This week’s pick is Oliver Stone’s 1986 Academy Award winner for Best Picture Platoon, which depicts the horrors and struggles of infantrymen figthing not only the enemy, but themselves during one of the most difficult periods of the Vietnam conflict.

The film stars Charlie Sheen (Chris Taylor), Tom Berenger (SSgt. Bob Barnes), Willem Dafoe (Sgt. Elias), Forest Whitaker (Big Harold), Francesco Quinn (Rhah), John C. McGinley (Sgt. O’Neill), Kevin Dillon (Bunny), Reggie Johnson (Junior), Keith David (King), Johnny Depp (Lerner), Mark Moses (Lt. Wolfe), Chris Pedersen (Crawford), Corey Glover (Francis), and veteran Marine and the film’s technical advisor Dale Dye (Captain Harris).

The film is an autobiographical account of Stone’s own experiences during 1967-68 as told by a fresh-faced new recruit Chris Taylor (Sheen) who dropped out of college and volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam.  The film opens with Taylor’s arrival in country as he and others deplane from an Air Force transport.  Taylor and fellow recruit Gardner (Bob Orwig) see body bags which are being loaded onto their plane.

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This week’s pick is the 1984 release of director Joseph Zito’s Missing in Action which was the first installment of the franchise. Chuck Norris stars for the first time as Col. James Braddock, who years earlier escaped a POW camp in Vietnam and returns with an American delegation to find out whether or not Americans are still being held prisoner.

The film also stars M. Emmet Walsh (Jack “Tuck” Tucker), David Tress (Senator Porter), Lenore Kasdorf (Ann), James “Lopan” Hong as (General Trau), and in one of his earliest roles before he became an international star, Jean- Claude Van Damme simply as “The car driver”.

Being labled strickly as B-movie entertainment, the film was considered by many critics and fans of the first Rambo film as a rip-off. Both Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were intrigued by a screenplay which was floating around Hollywood at the time by an up and coming writer/director named James Cameron, who had graduated from the Roger Corman school of movie making, and had made a name for himself with a small successful Science Fiction film called The Terminator that very same year.

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Games based on popular or cult classic movies don’t always deliver the goods and often seem more like a cheap grab for cash than an actual attempt at creating a good game. However, there are sometimes exceptions. One of those exceptions is the new game Army of Darkness: Defense game from Backflip Studios and MGM Studios.

Army of Darkness: Defense is a mobile castle defense game designed as a homage to Sam Raimi’s 1992 classic film and takes place during the pivotal castle scene from the movie where Ash and his allies defend the powerful Necronomicon within Lord Arthur’s fortress from the onslaught of the Deadites.

In the game you take on the role of the chiseled chin, one-liner-spouting Ash while summoning familiar troops, spells and weapons from the movie to help in the defense. Gameplay features include over 150 direct lines of dialogue from Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, and beautifully animated graphics using the well-known “Granny 3D” engine.

Army of Darkness: Defense gives Ash the ability to call upon a wide variety of allies to help preserve the Necronomicon including swordsmen, armored knights, archers and more. In addition to the originally composed sound and music, the app also features many of the famous characters from the movie including Arthur, Henry, Sheila, the Wiseman, Evil Ash, and more.

Check out some screens from the game after the jump. Pick up your copy of Army of Darkness: Defense now in the iTunes App Store for iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad.

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This week’s pick is yet another classic from the world of Golan Globus a.k.a. Cannon Films, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) which was directed by Lance Hool and stars Chuck “White Lightning” Norris as Colonel James Braddock in this prequel to the Missing in Action franchise.

The film also stars Soon-Tek Oh (Col. Yin), Steven Williams (Nestor), Cosie Costa (Lt. Mazilli), David Chung (Dou Chou), John Wesley (Sgt. Franklin), Christopher Cary (Emerson), Bennett Ohta (Capt. Ho), Joe Michael Terry (Cpl. Opelka), and Professor Toru ”Sub Zero” Tanaka (Lao).

The film opens in 1972 Vietnam where Col. Braddock (Norris) leads a rescue mission along the Cambodian border. A squad of American troops are pinned downed by enemy fire when Braddock and a rescue team land in a chopper to ferry them out. As they take off under heavy fire, a rocket round takes out the hydraulics and the chopper goes down. All the men on board are soon listed M.I.A. ‘Missing in Action’ and become a painful reminder of America’s failure to win the Vietnam War.

The film then flashes forward ten or so years later where Braddock and his men are prisoners in a camp run by the sadistic Col. Yin (Soon-Tek Oh) who forces Braddock’s men and others to grow opium for a French drug smuggler named Francois (Pierre Issot). Yin has spent years trying to break Braddock and make him confess to ridiculous war crimes. Yin also uses psychological torture against the prisoners by telling them that American ambassadors are being killed throughout the world, and that world opinion has turned against the United States because if its long war against the peace loving people of Vietnam.

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