Director Lasse Hallstrom (best known for My Life as a Dog and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) is a man unafraid of heartwarming, and his latest, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, is shameless. The big fish tale of a romantic, mystical Yemeni sheikh (the gorgeous and charismatic Egyptian actor Amr Waked, last seen as Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law in the HBO bio-pic) with seemingly limitless riches and a cockamanie vision of building salmon fishing grounds in his native desert, Salmon Fishing neatly wraps together all the makings of an arthouse wet dream: exotic locales (the Yemen of the title and a Scottish estate that makes Balmoral look like a split level), a star-crossed yet inevitable love story between bumbling, uptight scientist, Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor, looking good in tweeds) and crisp, proper career gal Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), plus the necessary danger element in the vague shape of possible Jihadi assassins, or at least jealous locals.

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Before I can go forward with a review of director Steven Soderbergh’s latest film Haywire, I need to make a confession: I’m a big fan of almost all of his films. Sure, he’s managed to make one or two that don’t exactly work (The Girlfriend Experience comes to mind), but he’s never boring and always tries to push filmmaking and creativity in new and different directions.

Given this, I went into Haywire with somewhat raised expectations due to my fondness for his previous works. As the film unfolded I was struck by several things. First, lead actress and MMA superstar Gina Carano is not only beautiful, I would not want to ever make her angry. She’s that tough.

The film also moves quickly and at a running time of 93 minutes, almost seems a bit short. I think that’s a good thing because at the end, I wanted more.

I was also struck by how similar Haywire is to one of Soderbergh’s earlier films, The Limey (which is also my favorite of his films). I guess one reason could be that screenwriter Lem Dobbs wrote both films.

I’m not saying Haywire‘s similarity to The Limey is a bad thing, it was just interesting. More on that a bit later.

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When it comes to action movies, the name Steven Soderbergh may not come to mind first. He’s not really known as an “action director” but after watching his latest film Haywire, that title may just end up being his.

If you’re not familiar with Haywire, here’s some info about it:

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

The film opens tomorrow but to get you ready, we’ve got two new clips from it to share with you today. Both of these clips are scenes from the film and help demonstrate just what we’re talking about where Soderberg’s new title is concerned.

Haywire features MMA superstar Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor and Channing Tatum. Check out both of the scenes after the jump.

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Bryan Singer is finally sticking to what fans love by continuing to direct films in the fantasy genre. Sure, he may have burned a few bridges with his love letter to Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve in Superman Returns, but now he’s coming back with an all new twist on Jack the Giant Killer.

Along the same vein of Hunger Games and some of the new sexy “classics” done to a cool score, this flick will make you forget any of the stories done before it. Here’s the synopsis.

“Jack the Giant Killer” tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them.

Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend–and gets the chance to become a legend himself.

You can check out the trailer for the film after the jump. Catch Jack the Giant Killer in theaters on June 15th.

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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.

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We’ve talked much over the last couple years here at the site and on The Flickcast podcast about how much we really don’t care for the first trilogy of films in the Star Wars saga. For those of us who thought of the original Star Wars (before it was known as Episode IV) as an inspiration for what we do, the second trilogy of prequel films, beginning with The Phantom Menace, were better left alone and unspoken of as if they didn’t even exist.

Sadly, one man in particular seems determined to keep reminding everyone that the prequel trilogy does exist and also seems determined to squeeze every penny he can from it. That man is, of course, George Lucas. His latest transgression? The Phantom Menace in 3D, coming to a theater near you on February 10, 2012.

Yes, you read that right. We can now look forward to the exploits of Jar-Jar Binks, the “acting” of young Jake Lloyd and the excitement of discovering that a once gifted storyteller has clearly lost his way, all in the marvelousness of 3D. This information comes to us via a press release from Lucasfilm.

My favorite part of the press release? This gem: “Supervised by Industrial Light & Magic, the meticulous conversion is being done with utmost respect for the source material, and with a keen eye for both technological considerations and artistic intentions.” Excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth.

Mr. Lucas, in the name of human decency, let it go.

Fast, fun and stylish comedies are in short supply this year, so I was really looking forward to I Love You, Phillip Morris. But for all its wackiness, witty editing, colorful production design and terrific performances, by the end it was a movie I had suffered through more than enjoyed. That sounds worse than it is. I liked ILYPM a lot. I just wished I’d loved it.

Which is not to say the movie is a failure. I think it may have beeen the intention of co-directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra to tell a dark story all along. And the increasingly troubling gap between the protagonist’s inner reality and the flashy filmmaking may be a brilliant device to unease us. If so, it worked.

The true story of a devoted husband, father and deputy cop, I Love You, Phillip Morris begins just before the moment of this upright citizen’s transformation to outrageous gay conman. The outrageousness is not the gayness, but the audacity of the frauds he perpetuates. Even more outrageous are his legendary escapes from jail—four times in five years, all on a Friday the Thirteenth (because his boyfriend, Phillip Morris, whom he meets in prison, was born on a Friday the Thirteenth).

Jim Carrey gives a balls-to-the-walls performance as Steven Jay Russell, the church organist-turned-gay-felon, attacking the character with his usual terrier-like zeal, but also with a deep infusion of darkness. Carrey has always been able to tap into a certain twisted place, and in the past it has divided critics and box offices, most notoriously in The Cable Guy, which, coming on the heels of the wildly popular Ace Ventura, left audiences reeling.

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After some time sitting on a shelf somewhere (It premiered at Sundance in 2009) the film I Love You Phillip Morris is finally seeing the light of day thanks to a release from the folks at Roadside Attractions. From the creative team of Glenn Ficara and John Requa, who’s previous work Bad Santa is a subversive comedic favorite around here, comes this new film featuring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as prisoners in love.

This new trailer has a little fun with the Christmas season release of the film but tends to tone down the gay storyline in favor of highlighting the comedic elements. And comedy we do get as in this film looks pretty funny.

In the film Carrey plays a man who after a series of failed relationships realizes he’s gay. He then goes on a crime spree to fund his new lavish lifestyle, gets caught and is sent to prison. While in the slammer he meets Phillip Morris (McGregor), falls in love, breaks out of jail and then tries to break out his partner.

Check out the trailer below but keep in mind it is probably NSFW. I Love You Phillip Morris opens in limited release on December 3.

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Jim Carrey’s career has been on the upswing lately. From hitting with the success of Yes Man to playing just about every character in Disney’s A Christmas Carol, he’s had a good year, and he plans to continue that with the new comedy I Love You Philip Morris.

From the writing/directing team of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (Bad Santa, Bad News Bears), the film stars Carrey as Steven Russel, a conman who recently discovers his own homosexuality. Russel gets incarcerated for his crime and meets Philip Morris (Ewan McGregor), who he then falls in love with. Things then become zany as the film turns the Romantic Comedy on it’s head.

The movie will most certainly turn heads, as this is one of the first mainstream comedies to boast the flamboyancy of male homosexuality (outside of I Love You Man dancing around the subject). Lots of interesting tones that the film deals with, which you can catch a glimpse of in the trailer after the jump.

I Love You Philip Morris also stars Leslie Mann, and is hitting a theater near you on March 26th.

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“More of this is true than you’d believe” –opening credits for  The Men Who Stare At Goats. Irreverent, sarcastic, and funny as hell, The Men Who Stare At Goats is based on a non-fiction book by Jon Ronson. Ronson is a journalist who stumbled upon a secret military group that was formed in 1979 specifically to harness paranormal and psychic powers to use in warfare. The men in this group were training to become “psychic warriors” who could walk through walls, read thoughts, and kill someone just by staring at them.

Ewan McGregor plays Ronson in the movie. His wife has just left him (for his one-armed boss), and he has no sense of purpose. He goes to interview a man who claims that he used  to be in  a psychic military unit. His story is so crazy that Ronson writes him off as being a kook. He decides to go to the Middle East to cover the Gulf War, partly to impress his ex-wife, and partly because he has nothing to lose.

Upon arrival, he runs into Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who just happens to be one of the people mentioned by name by the crazy man he just interviewed in the states. Astonished by the coincidence, he starts tagging along with Lyn pleading with him to tell the truth about whether he was in the secret unit. Bit by bit, Lyn tells the story (through flashbacks) of the formation and eventual disintegration of the military unit known as the “New Earth Army” in military circles.  The story finally leads up to what Lyn is doing in the Middle East.

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The new biopic Amelia stars two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as the aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. Often remembered more for her mysterious disappearance than her aerial accomplishments, the new movie tries to steer focus back to her highly publicized, if short lived career as a professional female pilot. Only eight years after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote, Earhart burst onto the public radar in 1928 by being the first women to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming an instant celebrity. Just nine years later, on July 2, 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, giving birth to several theories and myths regarding her death.

Directed by Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) Amelia is a visual feast, as expected by a director that seems to delight in filming rich colors and textures—the only thing Vanity Fair had going for it was the exquisite Indian-influenced production design, while Monsoon Wedding, a personal favorite, burst with it’s saturated color choices. What impressed me the most was the aerial footage, vast and luscious and beautifully shot, they transported the audience and inviting us to experience the wonder and infatuation Earhart must have felt while in the cockpit.

Watching the film, you GET why Earhart risked her life and spent a fortune financing her voyages. At a time when women were barely able to work outside of the home, she was sailing through the sky (phenomenon that is viewed more as a tedious hassle by modern day travelers, than the improbable feat it actually is) and accomplishing feats that only a few men had successfully done before her.

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