Over at Latino Review they’ve got a story up about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra director Stephen Sommers being locked out of the editing room and fired from the film. This story is based on an internet message board post at producer Don Murphy’s website claiming to be from an “insider” who talks about how bad the film was testing with audiences and that in an attempt to save the film, Sommers was fired and a new “fixer” editor was brought on board.

Latino Review has also updated the story recently with an interview with the film’s producer, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who denies everything and says of the story: “It’s very unfair to Steve, it’s completely untrue he was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous. The movie tested very well.” He goes on to say that: “Everybody was happy, the studio was happy, the filmmakers were happy, the audience was happy with the movie. We had three test screenings, three different times and tested it and each time it just got better and better. We started off in a good place and we ended up in even in a better place, which is what you hope on a film from testing it.”

Whatever your personal feelings about the upcoming film, its easy to understand why the producer of it would want to immediately squash any and all rumors about a troubled production. However, and this is something people probably don’t realize, especially if they’ve never worked on a film before, most productions have problems. You can’t have that much money and that many people working together on that kind of schedule with so many balls in the air and not have problems. It’s just the nature of filmmaking. So, he may not just be trying to save face.

Although, test screenings and their results are usually an internal matter and not info studios like to have circulating, especially if the news is not so good. So sadly, if this info is actually true, this may indeed be a case of damage control and the film may be as bad as people seem to think it is. That said, I’m actually looking forward to the movie.

I had all the G.I. Joe stuff as a kid and seeing it all on the big screen will hopefully be a real treat. Of course, as with most movies coming out of Hollywood these days, it could also be a loud, explosive mess emphasizing style over substance and not be good at all. You pay your money, you take your chances. Either way, we’ll find out when the film hit theaters on August 7th.

UPDATE: Today in Variety, the trade has a story which completely refutes the entire thing and says Sommers was never fired or anything like it. So, there you go. Just another day in Hollywood.

Last night during the MTV Movie Awards, which we highlighted for you here, they debuted a few new clips from some of the most anticipated movie releases coming up this Summer. One of those clips was this new one from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which we’ve brought you some details about before and are pretty excited about. What can I say, the movie looks cool.

And now, the full length of the footage is available online. In fact, its right there below for you to watch and enjoy. I think it looks kinda cool and maybe you will too. The footage features some of the main characters from the film doing their “Real American Hero” thing including Duke (Channing Tatum), Baroness (Sienna Miller), Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans).

The action looks great and all the actors seem to be taking their roles very seriously — which is a good thing. This could have easily devolved into camp. But so far, it looks like its just a fun, straight up action movie. Thank goodness.

Check out the footage after the jump. The Stephen Summers directed G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits theaters on August 7th.

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We’ve been covering this one for a bit now and are pretty darn excited for it to come out. Well, at least some of us are. Now, over at Empire Online, they’ve got the first look at the brand new international poster for G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra.

The film, based on the hugely successful line of toys, features Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid and Channing Tatum as Duke, the hero who is part of an elite military force that must take down an evil organization bent on world domination: the sinister and mysterious Cobra.

The Stephen Sommers directed film hits theaters on on August 7, 2009. Until then, be sure to check out the full poster after the jump.

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For last week’s Pull of the Week and more, click here and here!

Pull of the Week:

Captain America #50 – Marvel – $3.99
Score: 7.5

Talk about promotional timing. This month, Captain America gets it’s 50th issue. Next month, Marvel lets the series go back to its original numbering and gives Cap his 600th issue. So what does writer Ed Brubaker bring to the 50th issue of Marvel’s Sentinel of Liberty? A birthday issue. The pages open with a dramatic action sequence from Penciler Luke Ross with Bucky being chased down the street by three heavily armed high-tech equipped villains. Bucky talks about how this birthday for him is just any other as he is doing what he has seemingly done on every birthday he can remember… fight.

As Bucky continues his confrontation, he takes the reader back to his memories of various birthdays like the bar-room brawl he encountered at sixteen, fighting alongside the Invaders at eighteen and interrogating a Nazi with Steve Rogers, his idol and partner, on his twentieth birthday. He even fades back to a few brief memories as his time as the Winter Soldier where he didn’t even experience his birthdays anymore.

As Bucky remembers his past while dealing with his present danger, he must contend with something that will forever haunt him, something he cannot argue. Bucky knows he is not the real Captain America. No matter how much good he does for the world or how many people he helps to make up for his past, he will never be Steve Rogers.

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This is part two of this week’s Pull List, check out yesterday’s reviews here.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 – Marvel – $3.99
Score: 8.0
Under the cover headline “They’re exactly what you think”  stands a team of unknowns in the same pose as the Young Avengers on their first cover. In the opening pages the reader is introduced to this new cast of characters who introduce themselves to a group of liquor store robbers as the “Young Avengers”. The rag-tag group is made up of Coat of Arms (sword wielding artist who had brought the team together), Enchantress (not the classic Thor villain, but with similar powers), Egghead (a robot), Big Zero (a size changer with a bad attitude), Executioner (a weapons expert) and Melter (the team leader whose name is fairly self explanatory for his powers).

Originally announced as Norman Osborn’s own team of Young Avengers, this issue shows that the team actually has no affiliation with the former Green Goblin but instead came together in an effort to be heroes similar to the way the original Young Avengers had done. Their methods however quickly come into question as their “success” isn’t gained in the way any hero would have done.  This brings about what looks to be the theme of the issue, and hopefully the rest of the series, of “what makes a hero a hero?” Seen in actions of the characters, flashbacks and conversation between Melter and Coat of Arms, this seemingly simple question is one that is actually very hard to answer.  Even Melter, the one who is so in tuned with what his idea of what makes a hero and his desire to be one must question his own place on the team as the issue plays out.

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Last week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt had to go it alone and discuss topics such as Predator and Robert Rodriguez news, blockbusters like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek, the fate of TV shows like Dollhouse, Lost and Sons of Anarchy and lots more.

This week, Christina is back and the trio hits the ground running with discussions on the box office success and relative merits of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the latest G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra trailer, the upcoming District 9, produced by Peter Jackson, the appeal of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, renewals for some of the team’s favorite shows like Southland and Heroes, J.J. Abrams taking on an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower and the potential box office for Star Trek’s opening weekend.

Plus, the team makes more cool picks this week including one of Matt’s favorite TV shows, Party Down from Rob Thomas and Paul Rudd, Christina’s pick of the very funny Hot Fuzz featuring Simon Pegg of this Friday’s Star Trek and Chris’ picks of the comic book Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and the movie The Player, directed by Robert Altman, written by Michael Tolkin and starring Tim Robbins.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter or via email. Thanks for listening.

Like it or not, there’s going to be a live-action G.I. Joe movie hitting theaters on August 7. For better or worse, you can put me in the “like it” category because for some reason this movie looks good to me. The casting (Dennis Quaid as General Hawk, Channing Tatum as Duke, Sianna Miller as The Baroness and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cobra Commander), tone, look and attitude all seem right for a movie like this and I can’t wait for it to come out.

Fortunately, to help pass the time until that happens, there’s a new full-length trailer for the film now available online, courtesy of MySpace. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra looks cool so check it out.

G.I. JOE trailer in HD