Roman Polanski may get some heat for personal things going on, but that isn’t stopping the man from cranking out some quality films in the immediate future. The first of which is Carnage based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. Here’s the premise.

A showdown between two kids: about eleven, in a local playground.  Swollen lips, broken teeth…  Now the parents of the  “victim” have invited the parents of the “bully” to their apartment to sort if out.  Cordial banter gradually develops a razor-sharp edge as all four parents reveal their laughable contradictions and grotesque prejudices.  None of them will escape the ensuing carnage.

A plot like this, with such thick character development, could only get justice from a director like Polanski. The play has starred such great actors as Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini, but the film will bring names like Jodie Foster, Kate Winsley, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz together to discuss this battle.

Check out the trailer for Carnage after th jump and see it in theaters later this year.

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On the surface, The Beaver is the story of Walter Black’s struggle with depression and the unorthodox means with which he copes, and, finally, his desperate attempt to return to a normal life. On a deeper level, it presents a much darker problem: What if one morning you woke up to find you had lost all interest in your family?

No reason, no explanation, just disinterest and dissatisfaction with the very things you thought were supposed to make you happy. This is Walter Black, played by Mel Gibson in perhaps the best performance of his career. Walter is CEO of a successful toy company, is married to a beautiful, smart woman successful in her own right (and played by director Jodie Foster), and has two children.

However, Walter’s life is far from perfect: His son Porter (Anton Yelchin) hates him and keeps an ongoing list of post-it notes detailing each quirk of his father that he himself exhibits and needs to rectify. Hhis youngest son Henry feels so ignored that he retreats into anonymity, so much so that when his own mother picks him up from school, she needs to make several passes to find him. His wife Meredith herself struggles to keep her family together before throwing up her hands and throwing Walter out.

But serious as these family problems are (and they aren’t particularly serious—what teenage boy doesn’t resent his father? What child doesn’t feel neglected? What mother doesn’t feel she’s the family adhesive?) they’re not the cause of Walter’s depression, or at least he seems so oblivious to them that it seems unlikely.

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International Creative Management (ICM) has started zeroing in on the comic industry’s more notable assets, with the announcement of signing writer Grant Morrison. Being one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies, ICM already boasts an impressive list of clients such as actors Jodie Foster and Al Pacino, director Woody Allen, television personality Ellen DeGeneres, author Patricia Cornwell and musician Beyoncé, to name a few.

As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, Morrison has 20 years under his belt, penning fan-favorite works like JLA, X-Men, Doom Patrol and the current Batman and Robin. The spotlight has shined on him even more lately thanks to his ‘Batman: R.I.P.’ and Final Crisis projects, and the gaming world got a dose of Morrison thanks to his classic Arkham Asylum: A Serious Place On Serious Earth graphic novel that became the inspiration for the hit video game Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The newly formed DC Entertainment also counts on Morrison’s contributions and consulting as their goal of emulating Marvel Studios’ approach to comic movies intensifies. Other notable comic creators under ICM’s management are Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and legendary artist Neal Adams, who signed with them in August.

Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows like Trick ‘r Treat (pictured above with Anna Paquin), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Chinatown, Bones Season 4 and the complete Stargate: Atlantis series.

Check them out.

Movies

Anvil: The Story of Anvil ~ Robb Reiner  (DVD)

Assassination of a High School President ~ Kathryn Morris, Michael Rapaport, Bruce Willis (DVD and Blu-ray)

Chinatown ~ Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston (DVD)

Contact ~ Jodie Foster (Blu-ray)

Dance Flick ~ Damon Wayans (DVD and Blu-ray)

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