by Grace Suh, Jan 6 2012 // 10:00 AM

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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Posted in: Movies · News · Reviews
Tagged: Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Movies, Reviews, The Dark Knight Rises, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
by Nat Almirall, Aug 19 2011 // 1:00 PM

There’s a scene midway through The Guard where Brendon Gleeson and Don Cheadle have an extended conversation in a pub. Cheadle’s explaining some details of the drug ring and criminals the two are trying to stop. Gleeson looks like a boy being handed his homework assignment and is far more engaged in his beer and the pub’s shoot-’em-up arcade game.
Then you notice that Gleeson’s plastic arcade gun is pressed directly against the screen—he’s cheating. Now if you don’t know anything about arcade games you may miss it, even if you do, you may miss it, and while it doesn’t quite save the scene from being some overly long exposition, it’s a fantastic character touch. And that’s kind of the The Guardin a nutshell: a movie that’s willing to make sacrifices of pacing, plot, and whatever else if it can just have some more fun with its protagonist.
And, for the most part, it works, thanks to Gleeson, who plays Boyle, a roly-poly Irish West County policeman who sees himself as slightly above the law. He’s not the type of fellow who’d commit actual murder, mind you, but he doesn’t mind stopping off at the pub for a quick pint while on duty or even sampling a spot of acid now and then.
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Posted in: Comedy · Foreign Films · Movies · Reviews
Tagged: Brendan Gleeson, David Wilmot, Dominique McElligott, Don Cheadle, Fionnula Flanagan, John Michael McDonagh, Katarina Cas, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, Rory Keenan, Sarah Greene, Sony Pictures Classics, The Guard
by Chris Ullrich, Aug 4 2011 // 1:30 PM
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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Posted in: Adaptation · Drama · Movies · News · Trailers
Tagged: Benedict Cumberbatch, Focus Features, Gary Oldman, John Hurt, John Le Carre, Mark Strong, Spies, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tom Hardy
by Joe Gillis, Jun 30 2011 // 7:38 AM
A lot of movies these days manage to have one or two interesting actors in them with the rest of the cast being so-so. However, once in a while a movie comes along that had way more than that.
In the case of the upcoming adaptation of the John Le Carre espionage novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy each and every actor in the film is not only interesting, but a major talent who brings a great deal to every role they play. The cast of this film includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ciaran Hinds — so you can see what I mean.
We’ve got a trailer for the film to sharer with you today. In it you get a good idea of the story and the amazing ensamble that’s been assembled for the film. Apparently, a clip of the movie and the screenplay were shared with audiences at the Berlin Film Festival in early February where Gary Oldman’s performance as George Smiley was particularly praised.
Who knows, perhaps it’s time for Oldman to finally be recognized for his body of work? Perhaps an Oscar is in his future? We’ll see.
Focus Features releases the film in the US on November 18th. Check out the trailer after the break.
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Posted in: Movies · News · Novels · Trailers
Tagged: Adaptations, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Firth, Focus Features, Gary Oldman, John Le Carre, Mark Strong, Movies, Soldier, Spy, Tailor, Tinker, Tom Hardy, Trailers
by Nat Almirall, Jun 18 2011 // 12:12 PM

Green Lantern is a comic-book movie that’s ripped straight from the comic book. To some people, that will be a plus, to others a minus; more specifically, those who enjoyed the cartoonyness of The Fantastic Four movies can appreciate it; those who didn’t and want a half-hearted “message” to justify their camp will not.
The premise is ridiculous: The Green Lanterns are a gang of buff aliens sworn to protect the 3,600 sectors of the universe. One day a nasty alien called a “Parallax” shows up and starts bumping off the Lanterns, including one Abin Sur, apparently the protector of earth’s sector, who escapes to our planet, mortally wounded.
Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a test pilot and “man without fear” (fearlessness being a big plus to the Lanterns) who’s chosen by Abin Sur to take up his mantle, or ring, or lantern, or whatever. Soon after Hal’s traveling through the galaxy to the planet Oa, where fish men and talking brick shit-houses explain the origins of the Lanterns.
There’s the obligatory scenes of Hal’s cross-training, which introduces us to the power of the Lanterns—basically anything goes so long as it’s green and comes from the ring all Lanterns wear; they can fly, construct objects of any size and shape, and, presumably, whip up some dynamite green eggs and ham.
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Posted in: Action · Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Movies · Reviews · Warner Bros
Tagged: Angela Basset, Blake Lively, Clancy Brown, dc comics, DC Entertainment, De Line Pictures, Geoffrey Rush, Green Lantern, Mark Strong, Michael Clarke Duncan, Peter Sarsgaard, Ryan Reynolds, Tim Robbins, Warner Bros
by Matt Raub, Jun 17 2011 // 10:00 AM
Ryan Reynolds may be running around in a computer-generated suit all weekend on the big screen, but you don’t need to rush out to the theaters to join in on the Green Lantern Corps fun, because MIMOBOT has got you covered with their brand new line of Green Lantern-themed USB drives.
With characters like Hal Jordan, Tomar-Re, Sinestro (seen here) and Kilowog, you can purchase all of your favorite Corps members and have them storm your data storage dilemmas with their capacity of up to 16GB.
The drives also come with some pretty sick features already pre-loaded, such as tons of wallpapers, icons, avatars, and even a killer animated desktop screensaver for you diehard fans out there.
These drives can carry some of your most important and bulky files, and they even come at a pretty decent price. Ranging from 2GB all the way up to 16GB, you can get these from anywhere to $22.95 to a solid $59.95 for the top-line capacity drive.
You can pick these drives up right away over at the MIMOBOT website, and check out some of the high-res images of each character after the jump. Green Lantern’s Light!
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Posted in: Action · DC · DC Entertainment · Gear · Geek · Movies · News · Tech · Warner Bros
Tagged: DC, Geoffrey Rush, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, Kilowog, Mark Strong, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ryan Reynolds, Sinestro, Tomar-Re, Warner Bros
by Matt Raub, Jun 8 2011 // 8:46 AM
Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned sneak peek? Everybody does, which is why we’re bringing you a heaping chunk of clips from next weekend’s super hero blockbuster Green Lantern.
In the clips, we’ve got just about everything you’ll be looking forward to in the film (minus any big spoilers, of course) such as the origin of Hal’s oath, the introduction of Dr. Hammond, some great moments with the aliens on Oa, and a few bad ass ring manifestations from GL himself.
The clips are just enough to get any fan on the fence about seeing the film, especially after seeing the first shots of Reynolds’ CGI mask. For the die-hards, this will only make you want to see the film a little more, again without spoiling anything.
Be sure to check out the full 7 minutes of clips after the jump, and catch Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively, and many more in Warner Bros’ Green Lantern next Friday, June 17th.
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Posted in: Action · Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Movies · News · Sci-Fi · Video · Warner Bros
Tagged: Blake Lively, Green Lantern, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard, Ryan Reynolds, Warner Bros
by Chris Ullrich, May 20 2011 // 5:32 PM
Just in time for the weekend and, perhaps, the end of the world as we know it comes this brand new Green Lantern trailer from Warner Bros via Yahoo Movies. In it we get a lot more action and see what that power ring can do in the hands of an expert.
Plus, we get a lot more about the origin of the Green Lantern Corps as well as a bunch more footage not seen yet, at least to the general public. This trailer will be shown in theaters in 3D. Sadly, we only go 2D here (for now).
Check out the brand new trailer after the break. Green Lantern arrives on June 17th.
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Posted in: 3-D · Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Movies · News · Trailers · Video · Warner Bros
Tagged: 3D, DC, dc comics, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan, Haley Atwell, Mark Strong, Martin Campbell, Peter Sarsgaard, Ryan Reynolds, Temura Morrison, Trailers, Warner Bros
by Chris Ullrich, May 4 2011 // 2:00 PM
You’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right? Well, not exactly — at least in this case. Warner Bros. has released a brand new trailer for the upcoming Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds as the title character.
In this new one we get a much more complete picture of what the movie is trying to accomplish both visually and story-wise. More Reynolds, more bad guys, more Oa and more action are, with each new trailer, making this look like one of the films to beat this Summer.
I don’t know about you but this is really starting to look darn good. Having not seen it yet we can only guess how it compares with Thor, Captain America and more but if the movie holds up as well as the trailers seem to indicate it will, we’ve got a real fight for comic book movie supremacy this Summer.
This Summer seems like a great time to be a nerd, geek or fanboy/girl.
Check out the new trailer after the jump. Green Lantern hits theaters on June 17th.
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Posted in: Movies · News · Trailers · Video · Warner Bros
Tagged: Comics, DC, Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, Mark Strong, Martin Campbell, Movies, Peter Saarsgard, Ryan Reynolds, Temura Morrison, Trailers
by Joe Gillis, Apr 27 2011 // 9:00 AM
It’s beginning to smell a lot like Summer so that means one thing (no, not that). It means Summer blockbuster movies will be coming at us in droves over the next few months all vying for your hard-earned entertainment dollar.
One of those potential blockbusters in Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern, featuring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. If you’ve been keeping up with the TV spots and trailers then you won’t find much that’s necessarily new in this one released today.
Instead, the extended TV trailer takes the 90 seconds from the previous trailer and adds more footage to fill in the gaps and add scenes never seen before. It looks pretty darn cool.
In addition to Reynolds, Green Lantern also stars Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Temuera Morrison, Geoffrey Rush, Tim Robbins, Michael Clarke Duncan and Angela Bassett.
Green Lantern hits 2D and 3D theaters on June 17, 2011. Check out the trailer after the jump.
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Posted in: Movies · News · Trailers · Video · Warner Bros
Tagged: Angela Bassett, Blake Lively, Geoffrey Rush, Green Lantern, Mark Strong, Martin Campbell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Peter Sarsgaard, Ryan Reynolds, Temuera Morrison, Tim Robbins
by John Carle, Apr 18 2011 // 9:00 AM
As much pressure as a movie game has on it, Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is getting an extra added dose as it is the first video game based on the DC comic book property as well. While various Green Lanterns have been featured as supporting cast in other games such as Justice League Heroes, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and DC Universe Online , this will be the first time Hal Jordan will be taking the starring role.
More important than the game’s graphics, story or even voice acting comes the question, will the game make a player feel like the Green Lantern? Some games recently have done a great job putting players in to the role of their headline hero and let players blissfully experience the super hero feel that they expect like Batman: Arkham Asylum or Wolverine: Origins.
Others haven’t been so successful, with the notable example being pretty much any Superman game ever created as the invincible Man of Steel seems to always constantly be in danger of dying.
When it comes to the Green Lantern, especially Hal Jordan, the use of the ring to create solid light constructs is paramount. While some Lanterns just shoot bolts of light, Hal has the creativity of someone from planet Earth backing him, resulting in everything from baseball bats to machine guns.
Take a peek below at how Warner Bros. Interactive has incorporated these concepts in to the in game combat of Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. While we haven’t gotten our hands on the title yet, seeing these images gives us hope that they understand the excitement behind the prospect of playing as Hal Jordan.
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Posted in: Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Games · News · Nintendo · Playstation 3 · Trailers · Video Games · Warner Bros · Wii · Xbox 360
Tagged: Blake Lively, DC, Double Helix Games, Gameplay Footage, Geoffrey Rush, Green Lantern, Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, Griptonite Games, Mark Strong, Martin Campbell, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Ryan Reynolds, Video Games, Warner Bros, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Wii, Xbox 360
by John Carle, Apr 8 2011 // 8:00 AM
With the upcoming Green Lantern eature film drawing ever closer to release, it is no surprise that there will be a licensed game title coming out around the same time. Enter Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters which will be coming out for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS.
Harness the power of the ultimate weapon! Inspired by the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures’ superhero feature film Green Lantern, Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters soars onto game consoles this summer, extending the theatrical experience of one of DC Entertainment’s most popular superheroes. Playing as gifted pilot Hal Jordan, the first human Green Lantern, gamers will create an arsenal of ring constructs and take flight in outer space and beyond to restore intergalactic order. Players will use the Power Ring to build an array of weapons from green energy to defeat the Manhunters – an evil android race bent on destroying the Green Lantern Corps.
Set for June 2011 release, Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters will place players in the role of Hal Jordan, the first Green Lantern of Earth, defending Oa from a group of Manhunter androids bent on the destruction of the Corps. The XBox 360 and PlayStation versions will feature the likeness and voiceacting of the film’s star, Ryan Reynolds.
Also exclusive to the next-gen consoles will be optional 3D:
Xbox 360 and PS3™ gamers can play in anaglyphic 3D with technology that is compatible with all standard TV sets and visible while wearing the 3D glasses that come packaged with the videogame product. Fans can also enjoy the game in stereoscopic 3D when playing on any 3D HDTV while wearing active shutter glasses that are compatible with the television.
As you can already see from the screens and trailer below, the game looks to capture some of the more iconic moments of Green Lantern’s combat whether it is creating power beams to shoot enemies to extra large firsts or even complex devices like a Gatling gun for combat. Take a look for yourself and let us know what you think so far about Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters after the jump.
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Posted in: Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Games · Movies · News · Playstation 3 · Screen Shots · Trailers · Video Games · Warner Bros · Wii · Xbox 360
Tagged: Blake Lively, DC, Double Helix Games, Geoffrey Rush, Green Lantern, Griptonite Games, Mark Strong, Martin Campbell, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3, Ryan Reynolds, Video Games, Warner Bros, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Wii, Xbox 360