The current big trend in H-Town is revisiting fairy tales and giving them new spins. People should know better than to complain about this trend, because retooling fairy tales is the basis for most of modern storytelling, so this always seemed like a natural place for Hollywood to go.

Early on, one such project seemed like the worst, pandering tripe imaginable. Snow White and the Huntsman seemed like a hallow, Twilight meets Lord of the Rings mash-up with a recognizable name. Taking all the worst parts if Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood to forge one super stinker of a picture.

Somewhere along the line, the stars converged and this movie actually turned the corner on it’s perception. With each passing trailer the movie looks more and more like an epic adventure worthy of a mass audience.

Now a brand new trailer has hit and it continues the trend of making the movie look better and better. It has scope, it has visual flare, it has Bob Flippin’ Hoskins as one of the seven dwarves! Snow White and the Huntsman might not just be good, it might actually pretty fantastic.

Check out the new trailer after the jump.

Continue Reading →

Tales from the Crypt, the campy-yet-excellent horror staple of the early 90s television, is back in news as producers are hoping to reignite that spark once again with a modern reboot. After 15 years of being off the small screen, the horror series will be returning to television.

The new series is being developed by Gil Adler, a producer on the original HBO series, and Andrew Cosby, best known for his work on Eureka. The hour-long series will be based on the comics. Unlike it’s predecessor, the new series will not follow the anthology format, but will follow a standard series format using the characters in an ongoing storyline format.

Those of you who read the original comic books will see this is a strange turn of events as the comics didn’t have much in the way of returning characters. Other than The Crypt-Keeper, The Vault-Keeper and The Old Witch, all other characters and the “victims” of the stories always changed. It is also being reported that  The Crypt-Keeper, The Vault-Keeper and The Old Witch are not going to be part of the new series.

The original HBO series, which spawned collectibles and movies through out the 90s, ran for seven seasons. It attracted an impressive stable of directors and actors including Robert Zemeckis, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Buscemi, Tim Curry, Whoopi Goldberg, Teri Hatcher, Kirk Douglas, Joe Pesci, Brad Pitt, Ewan McGregor, Malcom McDowell, Bob Hoskins, Brooke Sheilds, Benicio Del Toro, Demi Moore, Martin Sheen, Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks, William Friedkin, Tobe Hoober and Michael J. Fox.

Continue Reading →

Right after the presentation late yesterday at Comic-Con in San Diego, Universal Pictures released the first promo images for their upcoming re-imagining of the Snow White story called The Huntsman. And to be honest, they look pretty cool.

In this images we get our first look at Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Charlize Theron as the Queen, Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman and Sam Claflin as the Prince. The film also features Ian McShane, Eddie Izzard, Bob Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Steven Graham and Nick Frost.

Sadly, no pics of any of them just yet. Got to get the big characters and big actor names out in front first, apparently. According to reports from the panel, the proof of concept footage from the film looked pretty good too so if these images and that fact give us a bit of hope that the tend will continue and this movie will end up finishing the sam way.

The Hunstman opens on June 1, 2012. Click through to see all the rest of the images.

Continue Reading →

Zulu Dawn (1979) is the prequel to the 1964 film Zulu which tells the story of a proud British army which suffered the worst defeat ever inflicted by a native army during the Victorian era. Burt Lancaster (Colonel Anthony Durnford), Peter O’ Toole (Lord Frederick Chelmsford), Simon Ward (Lt. William Vereker), Bob Hoskins (Sgt-Major Willams), James Faulkner (Lt. Melvill and film’s producer), Denholm Elliot (Lt. Col. Henry Pulliene), and Sir John Mills (Sir Henry Bartle Frere) head the cast of British officers and bureaucrats which began the legendary Anglo-Zulu war.

The film is a rather well researched account of the battle at Isandlwana. This was in Zulu land which bordered the British colony of Natal in South Africa. In January, 1879. Sir Henry Bartle Frere (Mills) is the High Commissioner for her majesty Queen Victoria who along with Lord Chelmsford (O’ Toole), insight a war against King Cetshwayo, the King of the Zulu people who rules in ways that the British view as a threat to their colony and hegemony in the region.

After a British ultimatum to disband his army, Cetshwayo refuses to capitulate to the British and the war begins. Lord Chelmsford leads his army which consists of two battalions of the 24th regiment of foot, to cross the Buffalo River which divides the border of the Zulu territory. Believing that their technological superiority will aid them in victory, the British send 1350 troops against a Zulu army of 25,000.

Continue Reading →

Charles Dickens purists, fear not. Robert Zemeckis remains faithful to the beloved tale, all the while putting his own spin on the story. This version is a little more exciting,  and a lot more sinister than previous outings (it also happens to be in 3D),  but I loved it.

I don’t think I really need to spend much time on the plot. Everyone knows the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the original curmudgeon who hates everyone and everything and is just downright unpleasant. One Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts;  his former business partner Marley;  the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.

Continue Reading →