At first, we were skeptical too. It didn’t seem like Ben Affleck would turn out to be a good director. However, surprisingly, he has.

His next film is the upcoming Argo, which features Affleck in the title role of CIA officer Tony Mendez, an “exfiltration” specialist, who develops a plan to free six Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran while it was under attack from Iranian militants.

The first trailer for the film has arrived and in it we see some of Mendez’ plan forming and get more of a feel for the film itself. Gotta say it, this looks pretty good

Argo, which is set to release on October 12, also features Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, Tate Donovan, Victor Garber, Scoot McNairy and John Goodman. Check out the trailer after the break.

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For what feels like years (and probably is), the idea of a TV series based on the popular dark comic Powers was that of a myth. In the last few months, that idea has become more concrete, as Brian Michal Bendis has pushed to get his famed crime fiction adapted into an ongoing series on the FX network.

Now, things are getting more real as British comedian Lucy Punch (Dinner for Schmucks) has been cast as the lead in the upcoming series. From Deadline.

Lucy Punch has been tapped as the female lead in the FX drama pilot Powers. Based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, the project, written by Charles H. Eglee and to be directed by Michael Dinner, is a police procedural set in a world where superpowers are relatively common. It centers on two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim (Punch), in a Homicide department that deals with cases involving “powers” (people with superpowers).

Super 8 star Kyle Chandler is currently being pursued to play opposite Punch as Christian Walker, a detective who is put on “powers” cases because he himself was once a superhero.

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I’m hesitant to write a summary of Super 8 because I went in knowing nothing about it, had some reservations at first, but was so surprised at around the 10-minute mark that I immediately came on board. So if you’d like to enjoy it cold, read no further. Though I suspect that warning could apply to any film.

Super 8 takes place during the summer of 1979 and follows an outcast group of kids deeply engaged in one of the great pleasures of childhood: making movies. There’s the director Charles (Riley Griffiths), Joe, the makeup guy (Joel Courtney), a few of their bucktoothed, gangly friends, and the female lead Alice (Elle Fanning). Of course, these kids invest much more into their movies than my friends and I ever did (makeup? Multiple angles?), and one of the running gags is Charles’ insistence on production values, regardless of whether it endangers the cast and crew.

While shooting one of the scenes at an abandoned depot, a train barrels past and is derailed by a truck driving down the tracks. The magnificent crash is caught on film and the kids discover that the driver of the truck, who miraculously survives, is their science teacher Mr. Woodward (Glynn Turman), who tells them to get the hell out of there just as the feds arrive.

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We’ve been following this one for a long time since the days when we only knew a bit about the story. Fortunately, over the months we’ve gotten more and more info about J.J. Abrams Super 8, including a poster and a couple trailers.

Now, as the movie is getting even closer to its release date, we’ve got more to share with you in the form of an actual clip from the movie.

In this one we’re given a bit more of the scene where the kids are making the film that causes all the trouble. Unfortunately, a lot of it is the same footage we’ve seen already including the truck versus train explosion and the kids running from it.

It does, however, play up the obvious budding romance between the main kid and the girl that almost gets away. I wonder if, during the course of the film, those two crazy kids finally get together? And by “get together’ I mean hold hands or have one very innocent kiss, much like Elliott did during the “free the frogs” sequence in E.T. It is a Spielberg homage, after all.

Even if we have seen a lot of it before in other trailers and whatnot, it only serves to enhance my desire to see the entire film. Damn you Abrams, you got me.

Check out the new video after the jump. Super 8 arrives in theaters on June 10th.

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Previously, we had just a teaser for this upcoming J.J. Abrams homage to Steven Spielberg known as Super 8. Now, thanks to the magic of the Internets (and the Paramount PR department) we’ve got a full trailer for the movie to share with you today.

This one brings a lot more of the story and characters and goes a long way to cementing this as one of the must-see films of the year. Written and directed by Abrams, the film’s plot has been kept pretty close to chest until now.

From what we’ve gathered, a group of kids in 1979 catch something inexplicable emerge from a train wreck on their super 8 movie camera. Naturally, all hell breaks loose and these kids are the only ones who know something evil this way comes.

Not sure exactly how much Spielberg had in the way of direct influence on this movie, but his influence is felt heavly nonetheless. It looks and feels like a movie he would have made himself during the Close Encounters and E.T. days. And that, at least to us, is a good thing.

Check out the trailer after the jump. Super 8 hits theaters on June 10th.

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It’s Emmy time and the nominations were announced this morning in LA at the Academy of Arts & Sciences for the 62nd annual awards show. It was a big day for HBO as it’s show The Pacific received the most nominations with 24.

Other shows nominated for several awards include Fox’s Glee with 19 nominations, AMC’s Mad Men with 17, NBC’s 30 Rock and HBO’s Temple Grandin and You Don’t Know Jack with 15 each, ABC’s Modern Family with 14 and NBC’s Saturday Night Live with 12.

Also nominated in a big way was ABC’s Dancing With The Stars with 9, Showtime’s Nurse Jackie with 8, CBS’ Two And A Half Men with 6, CBS’ Big Bang Theory with 5. HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, CBS’ How I Met Your Mother and NBC’s The Office all tied with 4.

As it often does, HBO led with 101 nominations total. ABC, with 63 nominations, received the most for any broadcast network followed by CBS with 57, NBC with 48, FOX with 47, and mighty PBS with 32.

All in all it seems like quite a diverse group of shows were nominated this year and we congratulate all of the nominees. Plus, it’s nice to see people finally get recognized for their work including Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights as well as Betty White with her 20th nomination for hosting Saturday Night Live.

Click through for more nominees and be sure to check out the official Emmy site for more. The 62nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards air on August 29, 2010 on NBC.

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