Robocop is finally getting an upgrade. After months of rumors,  it looks like MGM has finally found their leading man for the upcoming Robocop remake. With potential stars ranging from Michael Fassbender to Russell Crowe, they finally decided on Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman to play the cyborg police officer.

According to Deadline.com, MGM has made an official offer to Kinnaman, who is best known for his roles in AMC’s The Killing and in the Denzel Washington/Ryan Reynolds thriller Safe House.

In the ultra-violent 1987 original, Peter Weller played officer Alex J. Murphy, who is brutally gunned down in the line of duty. In this futuristic version of Detroit, crime has gotten out of control and the normal police can’t stop the criminals. After the privatized police department resurrects him as a half-man, half-machine cop, Murphy is haunted by his human memories while facing both a sadistic criminal syndicate, as well as a corrupt corporate board.

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Those of you who caught last year’s break-out superhero film, X-Men: First Class, most likely developed a totally normal man-crush for a certain featured actor in the film. Believe it or not, it wasn’t for former heartthrobs James McAvoy or Kevin Bacon. The standout role in the film clearly went to Michael Fassbender, who played Eric “Call me Magneto” Lensherr.

Fassbender was slightly less known before the role, and is quickly becoming a big player in the competition for leading man in Hollywood. It seems that even First Class scribe Simon Kinberg agrees, and plans on expanding Fassbender’s story a bit more for the proposed sequel which he’s working on now. From MTV.

What’s what was so cool about the first one and what we want to continue. Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man. He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy.

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Following his success with Black Swan, director Darren Aronofsky has made the ambitious decision to have a biblical epic as his follow up film. The film is Noah, which will center on the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark. Due to his estimated $130 million budget, Aronofsky is looking to find a bankable star to get backing on his passion project.

Originally, He wanted Christian Bale to star, but Bale passed. Aronofsky looked at Michael Fassbender as a good replacement, but Fassbender claimed to be too busy.  Now Deadline is reporting that Darren has finally found his Noah, and it is Gladiator star Russell Crowe.  Even though no deal has been officially signed, an agreement with Crowe is said to be in place.  With Crowe seemingly in place, Aronofsky is now searching for the villain of the film and has his sights set on Liam Neeson.  The villain will argue against Noah’s faith as he builds a massive ship to weather the impending flood.

Paramount and New Regency want to start shooting Noah this summer for a 2013 release.

Aronofsky has already told his version of the story of the Bible’s Noah through a graphic novel with artist Nico Henrichon. The story is not a direct interpretation of the original biblical tale but a more fantastical vision of the story. Aronofsky has been dreaming of bringing this story to life since he was 13 years old.

Now John Logan is re-writing the film’s script and various studios are getting interested in co-financing the ambitious project.  For a sneak peak at the graphic novel, see the video after the jump. Pardon the French.

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Before I can go forward with a review of director Steven Soderbergh’s latest film Haywire, I need to make a confession: I’m a big fan of almost all of his films. Sure, he’s managed to make one or two that don’t exactly work (The Girlfriend Experience comes to mind), but he’s never boring and always tries to push filmmaking and creativity in new and different directions.

Given this, I went into Haywire with somewhat raised expectations due to my fondness for his previous works. As the film unfolded I was struck by several things. First, lead actress and MMA superstar Gina Carano is not only beautiful, I would not want to ever make her angry. She’s that tough.

The film also moves quickly and at a running time of 93 minutes, almost seems a bit short. I think that’s a good thing because at the end, I wanted more.

I was also struck by how similar Haywire is to one of Soderbergh’s earlier films, The Limey (which is also my favorite of his films). I guess one reason could be that screenwriter Lem Dobbs wrote both films.

I’m not saying Haywire‘s similarity to The Limey is a bad thing, it was just interesting. More on that a bit later.

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When it comes to action movies, the name Steven Soderbergh may not come to mind first. He’s not really known as an “action director” but after watching his latest film Haywire, that title may just end up being his.

If you’re not familiar with Haywire, here’s some info about it:

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

The film opens tomorrow but to get you ready, we’ve got two new clips from it to share with you today. Both of these clips are scenes from the film and help demonstrate just what we’re talking about where Soderberg’s new title is concerned.

Haywire features MMA superstar Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor and Channing Tatum. Check out both of the scenes after the jump.

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In what will surely come as a surprise to many people who don’t follow the Internets (also, most likely to mainstream audiences), Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life was the top film at the 15h annual Online Film Critics Society Awards. The awards are given out by the Online Film Critics Society, an organization made up of film reviewers, journalists and scholars based in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific Rim region.

Malick’s film took the top prize for best picture as well as director, supporting actress (Jessica Chastain), editing and cinematography. No other film won more than one award.

Michael Fassbender took best actor for Shame and Tilda Swinton was best actress for We Need To Talk About Kevin. Best supporting actor went to Christopher Plummer for Beginners.

Click through for the full list of winners:

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Just when you thought Michael Fassbender couldn’t get any more serious and awesome, the redband trailer for his new NC-17 rated film, Shame, hits the web. In it, Fassbender is staring down a young redhead on a train, letting his mind do the wandering, and things come across a bit creepy.

The film was just today nominated for a Spirit Award in the Best Foreign Film category, and has made tons of news in terms of how raunchy the film is (much like any NC-17 film gets). Here’s the premise of the film:

Brandon (Fassbender) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control.

For the ladies, you’ll get tons of Fassbender in many different positions, and for the dudes, you’ll get Fassbender putting plenty of young ladies in many different positions. Take a look at the new trailer after the jump and catch the film in select theaters this weekend.

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Much like how Ryan Gosling’s Blue Valentine seemed to be getting tons of heat for getting a controversial NC-17 rating, it looks like Steve McQueen’s Shame is getting the same amount of press. The film, starring X-Men: First Class star Michael Fassbender, is getting quite a lot of eyeballs due to its graphic nature. Here’s a rundown of the film’s premise.

Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a New Yorker who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. When his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control.

Who wouldn’t want to see Fassbender as a tortured sex addict? Certainly not the members of the MPAA, that’s for sure. The movie is set to be complete Oscar bait for the coming award season, so you’re going to want catch this trailer before it becomes the talk of the water cooler group.

Check it out after the jump, and catch Shame in select theaters on December 2nd.

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As a fan of all-things X-Men I was slightly worried about a movie featuring the origin of the group and the lives of the young and future X-Men. Turns out I really had nothing to worry about because X-Men: First Class was awesome and director Matthew Vaughn did a bang up job.

Now, the movie is soon to arrive on Blu-ray, which is the only way to see it. We’ve got all the info on this release for you below, straight from the official press release. Plus, read carefully (especially if you’re attending Comic-Con in San Diego) for a special prize commemorating the film’s arrival on Blu-ray.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

The Ultimate Blu-ray and DVD Experience Arrives on First Class Friday, September 9th

BONUS OFFER: First 1,000 Fans to Pre-Order A Blu-ray or DVD

During San Diego Comic-Con Receive a Limited Edition X-MEN: FIRST CLASS T-Shirt!

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Historical dramas are often hit or miss. Sure, history can be very interesting but it also can, at times, be rather dry and boring. Fortunately, when you combine the talents of actors Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Kiera Knightly and director David Cronenberg, history suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.

Now, as if to prove my point, a new international trailer is for Cronenberg’s upcoming film A Dangerous Method has arrived. As I said, Cronenberg is directing from a screenplay adapted by writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure.

The film takes place right before World War I and follows the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung (Fassbender), his mentor Sigmund Freud (Mortensen), and Sabina Spielrein (Knightly), the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Of course, drama ensues. But good, edgy drama.

Check out the trailer after the jump. A Dangerous Method hits theaters later this year.

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For those keeping count, X-Men: First Class is the fifth film in the X-Men series and, chronologically, the first. It opens with the same sequence of a young Erik Lensherr in a Nazi concentration camp, wrenched from his parents and twisting the metal gates, as in the original X-Men film, but expands on the events immediately following: Erik is brought before Nazi scientist Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who tries to harness Erik’s gift by promptly shooting his mother. Across the world, a young Charles Xavier, possessing the gift of mind-reading, catches the shapeshifter Mystique breaking into his family mansion.

Fast-forward to 20-some years later, it’s 1962 and Charles (now played by James McAvoy) is a prominent biologist at Oxford whose work focuses on genetic mutation; Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is working as a waitress and posing as Xavier’s sister; Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) is hunting down the Nazi scientists who killed his family; and Shaw is now leading a terrorist organization known as the Hellfire Club, aided by his henchmen Emma Frost (January Jones), who also has the power to read minds as well as morph into a sexy diamond, and the demonic-looking Azazel (Jason Flyming), who can teleport as well as impale victims on his pointy tail; finally, there’s Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne), a CIA agent who’s hunting down Shaw.

MacTaggert’s investigation uncovers Shaw and his merry band of mutants, which leads her to team up with Xavier and take the villains on aboard Shaw’s yacht, right in step with Lensherr. Shaw escapes, and MacTaggert, Xavier, and Lensherr head back to the CIA, where the three set up a mutant task force (the gathering of which is one of the movie’s best scenes) to save the world.

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