Oliver Stone is a very capable director. His visual style makes almost anything he crafts watchable. Unfortunately, lately his choices in films have not really allowed him to embrace his more frenetic skill sets.

That is about to change when the gloriously chaotic Savages hits theaters. For those unfamiliar with Stone’s new film here is the synopsis:

Laguna Beach entrepreneurs Ben (Aaron Johnson), a peaceful and charitable Buddhist, and his closest friend Chon (Taylor Kitsch), a former Navy SEAL and ex-mercenary, run a lucrative, homegrown industry—raising some of the best marijuana ever developed. They also share a one-of-a-kind love with the extraordinary beauty Ophelia (Blake Lively).  Life is idyllic in their Southern California town…until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them.

Sounds like a ton of fun, and now thanks to MTV we get a chance to see the trailer deliver on that promise. The film looks like a cross between Domino and Traffic with all the best parts of each preserved. Of course we wont know if that for sure until the movie is actually released, but this trailer has put Savages high on our to-see list.

Check out the full trailer after the jump.

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Happy Memorial Day to all those currently serving in the U.S. armed forces, and to you vets of America’s foreign wars.  This week’s pick is Oliver Stone’s 1986 Academy Award winner for Best Picture Platoon, which depicts the horrors and struggles of infantrymen figthing not only the enemy, but themselves during one of the most difficult periods of the Vietnam conflict.

The film stars Charlie Sheen (Chris Taylor), Tom Berenger (SSgt. Bob Barnes), Willem Dafoe (Sgt. Elias), Forest Whitaker (Big Harold), Francesco Quinn (Rhah), John C. McGinley (Sgt. O’Neill), Kevin Dillon (Bunny), Reggie Johnson (Junior), Keith David (King), Johnny Depp (Lerner), Mark Moses (Lt. Wolfe), Chris Pedersen (Crawford), Corey Glover (Francis), and veteran Marine and the film’s technical advisor Dale Dye (Captain Harris).

The film is an autobiographical account of Stone’s own experiences during 1967-68 as told by a fresh-faced new recruit Chris Taylor (Sheen) who dropped out of college and volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam.  The film opens with Taylor’s arrival in country as he and others deplane from an Air Force transport.  Taylor and fellow recruit Gardner (Bob Orwig) see body bags which are being loaded onto their plane.

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Just in case you thought nobody would go see a sequel to a 1987 Oliver Stone flick, the director pulled a rabbit out of his hat and helped the film release at #1 at the box office with an estimated $19 Million opening weekend. Zack Snyder’s Legend of the Guardians, which also opened on Friday, came in a close second with $16.5 Million.

Many may feel like $19 Million isn’t much of a take for a film of Wall Street’s caliber, but if you were to compare it to the film’s predecessor, it made nearly half of the all-time domestic gross of the original film in it’s first weekend alone. That’s right, 1987′s Wall Street only made $44 Million to date, and a laughable (By today’s standards) $4 Million in it’s first weekend. So $19 Million may not be considered big money in today’s scheme of things, but it’s quite a step up from $4 Million.

One notable piece of news from the weekend box office is what a massive flop that You Again turned out to be. The film stars Kristen Bell, Jaime Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and the thought to be bankable Betty White. With an estimate production budget of $20 Million, the film greatly underwhelmed both critics and moviegoers, as it only pulled in $8.3 Million for the weekend and came in at #5.

In other films, Affleck’s The Town took an $8 Million cut from last weekend’s $23 Million at #3. Screen Gems’ Easy A took slightly more of a hit, only making under $11 Million this weekend.

Next weekend, we’re expecting a much bigger box office take, as Sony’s The Social Network opens in 2,700 screens. Horror remake Let Me In starring Kick-Ass star Chloe Moretz hits 2,000 screens from Overture Films, and Buena Vista’s Secretariat sneaks across the country in nearly 500 screens.

It’s been 23 years since the original Wall Street, and Michael Douglas reprises his role as corporate raider Gordon Gekko, freshly released from prison and ready to ascend right back to the top from which he fell. The role of Gordon’s protégé, played by Charlie Sheen in the first film, is filled by current hot-property Shia LeBeouf, the kid who’s been popping up in every big-budget production from Transformers to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I’m not entirely sure why.

Here he plays Jacob Moore, a clean-air advocate and propriety trader for the crashing firm of Keller Zabel, headed by his mentor Lewis Zabel (Frank Langella). The reason Zabel’s headed down the tubes is because of a bogus rumor spread by hedge-fund manager Bretton James (Josh Brolin), who purportedly also had a hand in bringing Gekko down. James offers to buy the dying firm for a pittance, which leads Zabel to commit suicide and sets Jake out for revenge.

Jake’s also engaged to Winnie (Carey Mulligan), owner of a fledgling environmental blog and Gekko’s daughter, whose relationship with her father has been estranged ever since the suicide of her brother Rudy. At a signing for Gekko’s new book, Jake meets up with his soon-to-be father-in-law and two form a pact: Gekko will help Jake bring down James if Jake helps Gekko reconnect with his daughter. And all the while Jake struggles to get his pet project, a clean, fusion (I believe)-based energy company, off the ground.

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Things have been pretty quiet for the upcoming sequel to Wall Street since we caught a glimpse of some set photos with Shia LeBeouf and Frank Langella a few months ago. Since then, production has finished up and we finally have a trailer to enjoy.

The film follows almost real-time after the events of the original 1987 film. Gordon Gecko is getting out of prison, and wants back in the game, except everything is different now. Douglas joins in with newcomer LeBeouf, as well as some old friends including Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, and Frank Langella.

Given where the economy and Wall Street is today, compared to 1987, you can expect this film to take an interesting turn and border on didactic. Oliver Stone is returning to helm the sequel, who’s best known for his topical films such as World Trade Center and  W, so expect to see some potshots taken at the financial climate.

Check out the first new trailer after the jump, and catch Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps in theaters on April 23rd.

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Oliver’s Stone’s Natural Born Killers is a movie that, even with its political and social overtones, still stands the test of time. It’s a bravura tour de force motion picture that still pushes the limits of the form to this day. And now, a brand new Uncut Version and Director’s Cut has been released by Warner Home Video, which is sure to delight fans of this controversial motion picture.

An extremely violent satire of modern media that still asks questions 15 years later, the film is a brutal, bloody, surreal and stylized journey along with terrible twosome Mickey and Mallory Knox. Their tri-state killing spree brings questions of the media and its obsession with “celebrity” into focus. Even though this film was created before people like Paris Hilton, or whomever, could be considered a “celebrity” simply by virtue of being on the Internet or videotaping themselves having sex, it predicts a culture obsessed with these pseudo celebs all too realistically.

The story is presented in extremely diverse ways utilizing different colors, film stocks, presentation styles and many other ways, sometimes causing the very sensory overload in the viewer Stone is trying to show has overcome society. This somewhat over-the-top approach to the film only serves to heighten the experience and provides a great deal of fodder for standout performances by leads Woody Harrelson and Juliet Lewis as well as co-stars Robert Downey, Jr., Tommy Lee Jones and Tom Sizemore.

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Seeing as how October is the month of spooky and scary Halloween and its associated themed entertainments, we’ve got something here just for you. If you’re a fan of movies like Natural Born Killers and think you know the movie very well, we’ve got a website for you.

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of the film and its upcoming director’s cut release on Blu-ray and DVD on October 13th, Warner Bros has created a site and included a pretty detailed trivia game to test your knowledge of the movie. The questions range from the rather simple to the much more detailed and specific so if you are not sure of your Natural Born Killers knowledge, you may want to get the film first and then try your hand at the trivia.

You don’t win anything at the site except the right to post your score to your favorite social networking site — which allows for a certain amount of bragging rights at least. The film, which stars Woody Harrelson, Juliet Lewis, Robert Downey, Jr., Tom Sizemore and Tommy Lee Jones, is written by David Veloz and Oliver Stone and directed by Stone. Head on over to the site and test your knowledge today.

It seems that 2009 is the year for remakes, reboots and sequels. Even more so than in years past. With news of a reboot for the Predator franchise, a Dune reboot and a prequel to Alien, now comes word, via the Huffington Post, that Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone are on board for a sequel to Stone’s 1987 ode to greed Wall Street. According to the site, Douglas will reprise his role as Gordon Gekko and Stone will direct from a screenplay by Allan Loeb.

Regarding the story of the film, the site quotes 20th Century Fox spokesman Gregg Brilliant, who says: “We need to keep the story line under wraps, but it’s literally ripped from today’s headlines. It’s going to be very big and very cool.” Brilliant also said the project is timely and relevant given the state of the world.

Douglas is apparently very excited to reprise his role saying Gekko has endured as a character because audiences gave him the “same kind of respect we’ve got for the great white shark.” He’s a villain,” the actor continued. “Gordon Gekko is a great, old-fashioned villain. And, interestingly enough, if you look at most actors’ careers, their biggest achievement, not necessarily success, but (achievement), is playing a bad guy.”

The film, currently carrying the clever title Wall Street 2, starts filming this sumer. No word on if Charlie Sheen will reprise his role as Gekko protégé Bud Fox. However, there’s some speculation around the Internets that Shia LeBeouf may play the latest young turk to learn form the master Gordon Gekko. We’ll keep you updated.