We’ve gone down this road once before in 2002 with a remake of Brian De Palma’s classic Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel, and now it’s being done again. This time around the movie features Chloe Moritz and Julianne Moore, which helps considerably to peak our interest.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, it concerns a loner high school girl whose crazy mom and the mean kids at school eventually get the brunt of her blossoming telekinetic powers. IF you’ve even wished you could get even with someone bullying you, this is the movie for you.

We’re not sure any remake will ever be as good as De Palma’s original, but this trailer does help at least make this latest attempt look interesting enough so we want to know more. That’s something at least.

Carrie is due to hit theaters on October 18th. Check out the trailer after the break.

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I’ve read a lot of novels, and I’ve heard that Les Misérables is the best. I hadn’t read it, and I didn’t believe it. After seeing Les Misérables, I’m starting to.

The film is based on the musical, but its chief accomplishment is adapting the depth and breadth of an immense work. Like the best of Dickens’, Tolstoy’s, and Dostoevsky’s plots, Victor Hugo’s were thought experiments, taking an archaic or cancerous institution and following it through to the logical and often tragic conclusion. Jean Valean steals a loaf of bread and is imprisoned for 19 years.

Upon release, he must carry the past with him in his release papers, so that no man will give him work. Destitute, his last resort is to rob a church of its silver, and only through the uncommon kindness of its priest is he granted a new life. But it is threatened. Valjean has torn up his papers and in doing so risks life imprisonment — a man’s life extinguished for a mere legal technicality. Years later he becomes a successful businessman, where the unfortunate Fantine is employed, but by chance he is reintroduced to Inspector Javert, the man who oversaw his imprisonment and now dedicates his life to hunting Valjean.

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The following was discovered in the journal of Sir Heinriech Blossom Bugfellow, Gentleman:

During my travels, I came across a curious figure of Mr. Snipe, a derelict of the town who, for a small sum, would relate his tales from across all corners of the world. On this occasion, he spoke of his journey to the Gallery of the Wizened Master, a painter of rich and moving tapestries. As Mr. Snipe recalled, the Master was well known throughout the world, and his latest exhibition featured works done with a new kind of paint, one which made the images leap from the canvas and poke at your eyes.

The works were representations of a famous folk tale featuring all mixes of animals, people, landscapes, and the like. Mingling with each other, they produced images of great wonder, such as a still ocean reflecting the sky above or endless pools of glowing bioluminscence or a vast and enveloping view of a sunken ship. Certainly they stole many a breath, for one viewer was scared to cough for fear that the painting would disperse. Mr. Snipe, he assured me, found them delightful as well, but noticed, when he walked behind these pictures, that each one disappeared when viewed from a different angle.

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This is the third adaptation of a novel Joe Wright has made with Keira Knightley and the second of a beloved classic. The problem is that most of the belovees have actually read Pride and Prejudice, while the many who approached Anna Karenina got about twenty or so pages into it before throwing up their hands in frustration trying to sort out the -iliaviches from the -oliaviches.

That’s not a problem for the film, however; rather I think it may hurt its chances at the box office. Then again, the novel did find new life due to the Gospel According to Oprah, and this provides what I imagine is an excellent primer.

For one, Russian novels may suit the screen even better than their English counterparts as it’s much easier to keep track of faces than names. And Wright seems aware of this, as the names are totally unimportant. A few are bandied about, but it’s never difficult to tell Anna apart from, say, Princess Myagkaya or Countess Vronskaya or Yppikaya (notably absent from the film).

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Let’s face it, the first big screen adaptation of the comic Judge Dredd, featuring a scenery chewing Sylvester Stallone and his infamous refrain “I am the law!”, left something to be desired. However, that didn’t stop the movie from being an enjoyable, albiet rather silly, movie going experience.

Fortunately, if you didn’t care for the Stallone version, another one is one the way. This time around Karl Urban (of Star Trek and Red) takes on the iconic Dredd role and to help get you ready for the film, just called Dredd this time, we’ve got a new poster and a couple pics from it for you.

But first, let’s get a bit of synopsis out of the way, shall we?

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed.

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First and foremost, we love Sean Bean here at The Flickcast. He’s a great actor who, unfortunately, doesn’t always seem to make it all the way through most of the projects he appears in.

That unfortunate reality seems to be about to change as Bean has been cast in not one, but three movies based on the Devil’s Peak novel trilogy. The novels, written by South African Deon Meyer, focus on Benny Griessel, a detective with Cape Town’s Serious and Violent Crimes Unit.

Bean will play Griessel in the adaptations, who’s a recovering alcoholic with family issues and other demons who also happens to be very good at catching murderers. Sounds like a role tailor made for Bean — not that he’s got issues or is a recovering alcoholic, just that we see him able to pull it off. Anyway. . .

A September start date for the first film is planned, with shooting to take place in South Africa. We will be following this one closely.

One of the most surprising facets of the hit AMC show The Walking Dead is how much of a ratings blockbuster it can be. It is particularly intriguing due to the fact that genre, horror and comic book based shows rarely dominate in the ratings.

When The Walking Dead premiered it smashed all expectations and became the highest rated show in the history of AMC. It actually continued to gain momentum with the season one finale bringing in more viewers, which was in turn also true of the season two premiere.

Falling in line with that very positive trend, the season 2 finale, which aired this past weekend, again broke it’s own record by becoming the highest rated episode in show history. All of this continued succsess despite the very public problems this show had this season is telling of the over all popularity.

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Now that Marvel has its own movie studio, it’s time for the House of Ideas to try out some fresh ones on the big screen. Sure, we all know the Iron Man and Thor sequels will make a billion dollars, but Marvel needs to think long term and use this opportunity to branch out.

Black Panther has never ranked in readership with Marvel’s flagship titles, but the movie-going audience is more diverse. A superhero film featuring a strong black cast could bring in a whole new audience to comic book movies. And the hardcore fans will always be along for the ride so long as the movie stays true to the source material.

Of course, in order to do that, the studio has to nail the casting.

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With the recent resurgence of fairy tale themed shows such as NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s own Once Upon a Time, the Disney-owned company is now prepared to launch their second fabled show in the form of a live-action retelling of the children’s classic Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

The pilot will be written by Jonathan E. Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho with Steinberg acting as executive producer with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile. It is also speculated that the series, if picked up, will air after the networks already highly successful Once Upon A Time. This version of the tale is intended as a period piece and will feature a hardboiled princess who develops a connection with a wild beast. No word yet on casting.

As if one Beauty and the Beast show wasn’t enough, the CW has also ordered a reboot of the CBS-produced version which ran on the network from 1987-1989. It starred Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Vincent, a lion-faced creature who wanders the New York sewers and occasionally quotes Shakespeare.

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Over the past two decades, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens has almost been made into a movie several times. Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam tried for years to put the comic fantasy on film, but the infamously unlucky auteur (see the wonderful doc Lost in La Mancha) could never make it happen.

There has been talk lately of a possible TV miniseries, but many of the book’s fans still hold out hope for a feature. But who could bring Good Omens‘s outrageous characters to life?

Take a look at our picks after the jump.

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With comic properties being snatched up by movie studios like lucrative hotcakes, a Luna Brothers film project is clearly inevitable. With their cinematic style, self-contained stories, and strong emotional centers, Joshua and Jonathan Luna’s titles are a perfect fit for the silver screen.

Probably the best thus far, a very original and dark superhero tale called simply The Sword could make an amazing, violent, and beautiful modern fantasy film. Of course, the cast would have to be as moving as the source material. Here are my humble suggestions for a movie adaptation of The Luna Brothers’ The Sword.

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If you’ve never read Brian K. Vaughn’s comic series Y: The Last Man, you’re really missing out. It’s very well written and has enjoyed tremendous popularity.

So much so, in fact, that it’s one of the reasons Vaughn ended up as a writer for ABC’s LOST for several seasons. Now, it looks like Vaughn’s TV writing career is going to continue.

According to Deadline, he has been signed to write Showtime’s drama series adaptation of Stephen King’s 2009 novel Under the Dome, from DreamWorks Television. According to the report, Vaughn was chosen after a long search by the show’s producers and will begin writing the adaptation immediately.

In case you’re not familier with the story, the supernatural thriller concerns locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. Yes, it takes place in Maine. Try to contain your surprise.

To be honest, this is not my favorite Stephen King novels. However, Vaughn is one of my favorite writers so hopefully he will bring his trademark wit and style to the project. The series expects to begin filming early next year for a debut sometime next Fall.

It what may come as sad news for fans of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower who were anxiously awaiting its translation from book series to feature films and TV series, it looks like Universal has decided to pull the plug. News came late yesterday that the studio decided to not move forward with the extremely ambitions adaptation of the series which would have started with a trilogy of films and two limited-run TV series.
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So now the filmmakers, which include star Javier Bardem, director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and Mark Verheiden, who was set to co-write the TV elements with Goldman, need to look for a new place to set up. It’s going to be a tall order finding a studio that’s willing to go on the hook for what would surely be a commitment of at least $500 Million (or more).

It’s not that hard to understand why Universal was reportedly more interested in doing one film to see what happens before moving forward with the rest. In this climate that’s a big bite for any studio to take and they were probably looking to minimize their risk. Makes sense.

In case you’re not familiar withThe Dark Tower series, it centers on the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers named Roland Deschain who becomes humanity’s last hope to save civilization as he travels the land on a journey towards the Dark Tower. Along the way, he encounters all manner of characters, both good and bad, in a world that’s part Old West and part magical realm.

It’s quite an interesting series so let’s hope it finds a way to the big screen. In the meantime, Marvel is doing some excellent adaptations of the series which are plotted by Robin Furth and scripted by Peter David. Stephen King serves as Creative and Executive Director of the comics.

A lot of movies these days manage to have one or two interesting actors in them with the rest of the cast being so-so. However, once in a while a movie comes along that had way more than that.

In the case of the upcoming adaptation of the John Le Carre espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy each and every actor in the film is not only interesting, but a major talent who brings a great deal to every role they play. The cast of this film includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ciaran Hinds — so you can see what I mean.

We’ve got a trailer for the film to sharer with you today. In it you get a good idea of the story and the amazing ensamble that’s been assembled for the film. Apparently, a clip of the movie and the screenplay were shared with audiences at the Berlin Film Festival in early February where Gary Oldman’s performance as George Smiley was particularly praised.

Who knows, perhaps it’s time for Oldman to finally be recognized for his body of work? Perhaps an Oscar is in his future? We’ll see.

Focus Features releases the film in the US on November 18th. Check out the trailer after the break.

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The Devil in the White City has been a wildly successful book, and now word comes that it is finally being developed into a movie, with Leonardo Di Caprio attached to play the role of serial killer H.H. Holmes.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (by Erik Larson) is the bizarre true story of an infamous serial killer who used the 1893  Chicago World ‘s Fair as a device to procure his victims. It is estimated that Holmes murdered anywhere from 27 to 200 men, women and children.

Holmes built an elaborate killing chamber that included a self-contained cadaver disposal in a hotel near the fairgrounds.  His story is woven with that of Daniel Hudson Burnham, an architect who was responsible for designing and building the elaborate fairgrounds “aka The White City.”

According to Deadline, Di Caprio’s Appian Way and Double Features jointly acquired screen rights to Larson’s book.  The movie will be written prior to shopping a studio. Di Caprio will produce and star.

Recently, Di Caprio helped bring another beloved book to screen when he played Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island.