Like a successful spy, the quiet and grippingly brilliant Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sits unobtrusively amidst the flashier year-end Oscar contenders—alternately heartwarming (We Bought a Zoo), Artistic with a capital “A” (Hugo, The Artist), tragic (War Horse, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), scene-devouring and envelope-pushing (Shame), glossily true to life (Iron Lady, My Week with Marilyn) or purpose-built to sweep awards (The Descendants, Carnage).

Based on the classic spy novel, this film adaptation necessarily abridges Le Carré’s densely plotted story far more than did the famous 1979 six-episode BBC miniseries starring Alec Guinness (who, for generations of fans, is the quintessential George Smiley). And yet it feels in no way over-simplified or dumbed down. Quite the opposite.

A raft of the world’s finest actors (nearly all male—this is a man’s world)—Colin Firth, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, Toby Jones and Gary Oldman as protagonist George Smiley—play high-level operatives in the British Intelligence at the height of the Cold War. When a mole is detected, it’s up to Smiley to ferret out which of his colleagues is the double agent.

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Recently, we had the first trailer for the upcoming adaptation of the John Le Carre espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and lo, it was good. Now, there’s a new trailer that’s just arrived online and it’s even better.

With a cast that includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ciaran Hinds it’s easy to see why this film is starting to gain so much attention. Plus, it’s based on a very well known and successful novel, so that’s going to factor in as well.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, here’s some of it to get you even more interested.

The man he knew as “Control” is dead, and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley isn’t quite ready for retirement-especially when a pretty, would-be defector surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British Intelligence. Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal cadre, Smiley traces the breach back to Karla-his Moscow Centre nemesis-and sets a trap to catch the traitor.

Sounds good to me. Focus Features releases the film in the US on November 18th. Check out the new trailer after the break.

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One thing you can expect from a Tarsem Singh movie is a heap o’ interesting visuals. Combine that with Greek mythology, add some broth and a potato, and boy, you got yourself Singh’s latest, Immortals. Better yet, you got two stills and an epic poster, courtesy of Comic-Con.

Immortals stars Henry Cavill (Superman: Man of Steel) as Theseus, a stonemason who gathers a group of followers to take down the vicious King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), a brutal tyrant on his own mad quest to destroy humanity and overthrow the very gods themselves.

In his quest, Theseus is aided by the oracle Phaedra (Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto) and a slave (Stephen Dorff). It may sound a bit Spartacus and Troy­-y, but we’ll be watching to see what Tarsem does with 3D—coming from the guy who directed The Cell and The Fall, the pairing seems obvious.

Immortals is scheduled to open November 11, 2011. You can check out more photos and the poster after the jump.

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The story picks up where Part I left off. If you really need to know, you can always rewatch the last movie (Heaven help you), but I’m a casual fan and had no trouble jumping right in. Harry and co are holed up in the Weasley family safehouse with Mr. Ollivander (John Hurt) and one of the goblin bankers of the Wizard World’s enormous vault Gringott’s. The group needs him to break into the vault and destroy a chalice that holds part of the soul of Lord Voldemort (or “Horcruxes” for the Potter fans)—and break in (and escape) they do. I’m pretty sure the entire sequence is the most accurate movie representation of the US’s financial collapse we’re likely to see.

From there they travel back to the wizarding school Hogwarts to destroy another Horcrux and oust Snape as the acting Headmaster. At the same time, Voldemort’s army (why was the wizarding world so scared of him before? It appears the whole of them were his allies?) prepares to march on Hogwarts while Harry scrambles to finish up the tasks that will ensure Voldemort’s total destruction. I won’t dwell on recapping because 1) it’s not particularly necessary and 2) anyone reading this will likely already know, so we may as well just get right into the review.

For all the complaints that were and could be (justifiably) leveled against Part I, Part II is a rather wonderful return to form, evoking the grandeur of the previous Potter films but furthering it with higher stakes and a more serious tone. Many have lauded the later Potter films for their “darkness,” and while I didn’t quite agree with them then, the credit is now well deserved.

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Harry Potter has been a generation defining cinematic event. Never before has a film franchise gripped the collective imaginations of so many for nearly an entire decade. Since 2001 there have been 8 Harry Potter movies, all of them have been well received, some are bordering on classic of an age. Today Warner Bros. released the latest and likely last trailer for the final chapter.

Apple has the new trailer and it delivers on just about every note. Showcasing large battles, epic moments and even some love sprinkled in for the ladies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is primed to be the most exciting Potter movie yet.

The trailer plays heavy on the idea that this is not just the last movie in a series, but it is the finale of one the biggest things ever on the big screen. There are elements of past films in the trailer that really sell the notion that something bigger than a standard blockbuster is at play here. Also seeing as many of the side characters as possible getting screen time in the trailer is such a fitting way sell the best cast fantasy franchise this side of middle earth.

Check out the trailer after the jump.

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We’ve been following the progress of director Tarsem Singh’s Immortals for some time now. Of course, one of the reasons is that soon-to-be-Superman Henry Cavill is the star of the film. However, that isn’t the only reason and only one of the reasons the film looks pretty cool. The others you can find out by watching the brand new trailer for the film just released today.

In it we get our first good look at Cavill in action along with some of his co-stars. Regardless of your feelings about director Tarsem’s previous work (Catwoman, for example) he seems to have turned a corner with this one and has his act together. We’re looking forward to it.

Before you click through to check out the trailer, here’s a bit about the film’s story to get you in the mood:

As a power-mad king razes ancient Greece in search of a legendary weapon, a heroic young villager rises up against him in a thrilling quest as timeless as it is powerful. The brutal and bloodthirsty King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his murderous Heraklion army are rampaging across Greece in search of the long lost Bow of Epirus. With the invincible Bow, the king will be able to overthrow the Gods of Olympus and become the undisputed master of his world. With ruthless efficiency, Hyperion and his legions destroy everything in their wake, and it seems nothing will stop the evil king’s mission.

As village after village is obliterated, a stonemason named Theseus (Henry Cavill) vows to avenge the death of his mother in one of Hyperion’s raids. When Theseus meets the Sybelline Oracle, Phaedra (Freida Pinto), her disturbing visions of the young man’s future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction. With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final desperate battle for the future of humanity.

Check out the trailer after the jump. Immortals hits theaters on November 11th.

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As its Friday that means, among other things, new episodes of Syfy’s original series Stargate Universe and Merlin will be beaming their way to your TV screens this evening. To help get you ready for the fun, adventure and drama, we’ve got previews for the shows for you right now.

Starting with Stargate Universe, the preview brings us a mysterious planet orbiting an uncharted star and the crew of Destiny need to investigate and figure out what’s going on and if they are in danger. Will they find out in time? Tune in tonight.

Next on Merlin, Morgana’s emerging power leads Merlin to make a difficult choice. What will he choose and how will he face the consequences? That would be telling and we don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Instead, be sure to check out both shows starting with SGU at 9/8C followed by Merlin at 10/9C on Syfy. Until then, be sure to check out the previews after the jump.

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Avatar may be raking in zillions of dollars week after week, but we like to look to the future of IMAX and 3D, as Disney is getting set to release Tron Legacy in December of this year. The effects alone should bring in plenty of Avatar super fans to the theater, not to mention the generation that grew up with the first Tron, who will undoubtedly bring their families to the sequel.

While some of us got an up-close encounter with the blue lightcycle from the upcoming Tron Legacy back in July, we were still hungry for more..well, more colored lightcycles, frankly. Finally, we’ve got another pic to salivate over.

Tron Legacy, starring Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde, John Hurt, and Garrett Hedlund, hits theaters on December 17th.

Our pals over at MTV Movies Blog have got the exclusive first look at the sleek new lightcycle, which you can check out after the jump. We’ve seen yellow and blue, when do we get a glimpse at the other colors?

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With the screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows getting split into two films, the first of which hits theaters next November, we’re just now getting a glimpse at the first scenes from the film.

The book was claimed to be too epic in size by Warner Bros. to be released as one film, so it will be split between two films on November 19 of 2010 and July 15 of 2011. This is the final chapter in the book’s series, and according to IMDb, the premise alone is pretty heavy.

Voldemort’s power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore’s work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for them, so everything they do must go as planned.

Check out the first featurette and teaser for the film after the jump, in which producer David Heyman and director David Yates discuss working on the project. The next films also star John Hurt (Alien, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) reprising his role as Mr. Ollivander.

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Of the mid season shows kicking off on NBC this year, one has seemed to stick out above the rest. Done in the vein of Smallville or Muppet Babies, Merlin is the episodic adventures of the great English wizard when he was only a teen, coming to terms with the mystical world he would one day rule.

The series was created by the same team that brought the witch drama Hex to the BBC a few years back. In fact, Merlin originally aired on the BBC back in September of 2008, and now NBC is bypassing BBC America to bring it straight to primetime network television. Merilin airs on NBC every Sunday night, with episode 9 hitting this weekend.

Check out a brand new clip from the series after the jump.

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