If there’s one thing modern action films lack that their predecessors of the 80s and 90s had it’s gratuitous chick fights. They may have been a bit tacky at times, but they please about 90% of the audience going to see the film, and sometimes, just sometimes, they were even more violent than the rest of the film.

That’s exactly what we’re getting in this brand new clip from the upcoming action blockbuster Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol. Sure, the ladies will get Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, and Jeremy Renner. But for the fellas, we’ve got Déjà Vu starlet Paula Patton kicking some serious ass.

Take a look at the intense fight sequence after the jump, and be sure to catch Cruise pass the proverbial torch over to Jeremy Renner in Mission: Impossible -Ghost Protocol, in theaters and IMAX on December 21st.

Continue Reading →

He may have his hands in half a dozen TV projects, and Zach Quinto may want to quit acting, but that isn’t stopping J.J. Abrams from continuing in his reimagined world of Star Trek with a second film.

First, Abrams announces that he wants She’s Out of My League starlet Alice Eve to have a juicy role in the upcoming sequel. This is the first hard confirmation of new casting news, seeing as the deal with Benicio del Toro has yet to solidify. From Variety.

As is common with Abrams, secrecy has surrounded the pic since the helmer officially announced he would be back — including which characters the new actors will play. Sources say Eve’s character is new to the “Star Trek” universe, unlike del Toro, would insiders believe will be playing someone familiar to Trekkies.

As if that isn’t juicy enough for all you diehards out there, an official date has also been announced, which will make it hard for actors like Quinto to continue to drag their heals.

Continue Reading →

Even though the title sounds suspiciously like a video game, the lastest installment in Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible franchise, known as Ghost Protocol, is arriving soon.

Previously, we brought you the first trailer for the film, which we thought looked pretty darn good. Now, we’ve got a clip from it to share with you today.

We won’t do much to set this one up. Suffice it to say you don’t really need any explanation about what’s going on. It should be pretty obvious.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is directed by Brad Bird. It co-stars Ving Rhames, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Vladimir Mashkov, Michael Nyqvist, Josh Holloway, Simon Pegg, Lea Seydoux and Anil Kapoor.

Check out the clip after the break. Look for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol to arrive in theaters on December 16.

Continue Reading →

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Paramount is still looking to capitalize on the success of the first Paranormal Activity. That movie, made for a shoestring budget, went on to be one of the most successful horror films in history.

One of the main reasons for the original film’s success (in addition to the fack that it was scary good) was the inspired marketing by Paramount. It really helped get the word out and get people extremely interested in seeing the movie.

Well, the company is at it again and has a third film coming soon to a theater near you. Of course, they’ve got a new trailer for it out now and we’ve got it for you right here.

In it you’ll see the new film retains many of the elements of the first and tells the story of the young Katie and Kristi when they were kids back in 1988 and the first time Bloody Mary began haunting them. Look for Paranormal Activity 3 in theaters on October 21.

Check out the new trailer after the break. That is, if you dare.

Continue Reading →

The Transformers trilogy is an interesting beast. The first film was a surprisingly great sci-fi action film, the second was one of the worst pieces of junk I have ever sat through and the third comes somewhere in the middle. Despite the inconsistency in quality from film to film the one thing that remained steady in it’s excellence was Steve Jablonsky’s scores.

Jablonsky comes from the Hans Zimmer cadre of film composers who have dominated the movie score scene over the last decade. Like Klaus Badelt and Harry Gregson-Williams before him, Jablonsky made a significant impact in his career collaborating with a prolific filmmaker, Michael Bay. He had several good scores prior to Transformers, particularly The Island, but it wasn’t until he scored the giant talking robot opus that you knew you were listening to a real talent who has limitless potential.

Now at the end of the Transformers saga Silva Screen Records has put together a collection of the music from the entire trilogy, celebrating some of the best action sci-fi music ever written. The music is performed by London Music Works and does a really incredible job of capturing the essence of what the music is. This is especially great considering that at times the music actually sounds quite different.

Continue Reading →

The score for the first Michael Bay Transformers movie was something of a shock. I wasn’t expecting much from the movie, and I anticipated even less from the movie’s score. In fact, I expected something more like incomprehensible metal percussions and minimalism in the theme department.

What Steve Jablonsky delivered was nothing short of a revelation, I had a perfect  cinematic music moment during the arrival to earth scene. A moment where the music, movie and context of my own life all blended together for one transcendent moment.  This has only happened three other times in my life, and the composers responsible were named Wiliams, Goldsmith and Shore. So believe me when I say I really liked the music of the first film.

Then came Transformers 2, an abomination of truly grand proportions. The score was solid, but unspectacular. It had none of the awe and wonder that made made the first film’s music such a joy. In the absence of that we got instrumental Linkin Park! Whoop!

Now I understand a film that is second in a franchise isn’t going to have that same freshness, but I was expecting so much better. So now here we are at Transformers 3, Jablonsky has returned with almost everyone else and I am more than curious to hear what he has to offer.

Last week I gave you a review where I hadn’t seen the movie (well TV show actually), now this week I am giving you a review where I saw the movie first before I listend to the score album. In the movie, the music wasn’t as dominant as it was in the first film, but it was far more enjoyable than the last film’s score.

Continue Reading →

While most analysts thought that the famous team-up of JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg would be box office gold, but it looked like the film failed to draw a massive audience, as Super 8 only opened to an estimated $38 million this weekend.

The film only cost roughly $50 million to make, so the profit margin is larger than it would be on a bigger blockbuster. With critics knocking last week’s X-Men: First Class opening weekend draw of $55 million, this measly $38 million is just that. It turns out mediocre marketing and nameless on-screen talent isn’t all you need to have a big box office weekend.

After it’s big(ger) first weekend, First Class dropped about fifty percent, bringing it to $25 million in the domestic box office and almost $100 million worldwide since last weekend. Coming up in third place this week is the ever popular The Hangover Part 2 with an estimated $18 million.

Next week, we expect big things for the box office as Warner Bros’ Green Lantern opens in over 3,000 screens, and is one fourth of the big superhero blockbusters of 2011.

While we may have a pretty deep review of the flick later today, there are still plenty of us who are waiting impatiently to see exactly what kind of magic can happen when screen legends J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg team up on a sci-fi picture in Super 8.

Much like Abrams’ last big original sci-fi flick Cloverfield, this film has been shrouded in some pretty deep mystery since we first got a glimpse of the trailer back in January. Here’s what we have for a synopsis, in case you still aren’t up to speed.

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

Filled with no-name child actors who will most likely steal the show, the film is as pure as Spielberg’s E.T. was nearly 30 years ago. Check out a brand new featurette on the film after the jump, and be sure to catch Super 8 in theaters starting today.

Continue Reading →

Here we are, week 3 into a seemingly never-ending summer of huge named blockbusters, and the first film to come close to $100 million in the domestic box office is the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

With a budget of nearly $250 million, the film opened wide this weekend to over 4,100 screens across the country and pulled in an estimated $90.1 million since Friday. Not to mention its overseas numbers, which totaled in over $250 million worldwide.

Coming in behind the film, Bridesmaids only went down $4 million from last weekend’s $26 million to an estimated $21 million. This is a perfect example of word-of-mouth helping a film out, as the marketing normally dies down after the first weekend of a film’s release.

Doing less impressive, Paramount’s Thor lost half of its totals from last weekend, bringing it in at third with an estimated $15.5 million. Worry not, however, as the film has brought in nearly $400 million worldwide since its release date.

Continue Reading →

If you’ve been counting the weeks, days, hours, minutes and second until the third Transformers movie hits theaters and destroys everything in its path, the amount you have to count has just gotten smaller. That’s right, the release date for everyone’s favorite movie where robots blow stuff up has been moved up.

Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark Of The Moon has been moved to Wednesday, June 29th from Friday, July 1st. The studio’s big Summer 2011 blockbuster will open day and date in all markets except China and Japan on that new date.

According to Deadline, Paramount is apparently pretty psyched for the movie. “Early response to footage, especially the 3D footage, has been great so we want to get the word out that this film is as good or better than the first and much better than the last.”

We’ll see, Mr. Bay. We’ll see.

Week 3 into this year’s epic summer blockbuster season and it looks like established franchises seem to still be more of a draw than original comedies or futuristic thrillers. In its second week of release, Thor has maintained the coveted #1 spot over new releases Bridesmaids and Priest.

Last weekend, Thor opened to 3,955 theaters in the US and had a solid pull of $65.7 million. This weekend, the film opened up in a few more theaters but lost a little bit of steam and about 50% of the original weekend’s domestic take, in making an estimated $34.5 million domestic, and over $300 million worldwide.

In the new releases, Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig and marketed as the “female Hangover” came in at the #2 spot with $24.4 million. Not a terrible opening weekend, as the film only cost $32 million to make. It will be a nice companion film to Hangover 2, which hits in 2 weeks.

The only other big release this weekend was Priest, starring Paul Bettany and Karl Urban. In remaining consistent with less than positive reviews, the film opened at #4 with a measly $14.5 million. This is definitely one film that was hurt by the 3D conversion, as it pushed the release back from over a year ago, when it had a chance to stand strong in a dead weekend.

Continue Reading →

If you’ve got a movie directed by J.J. Abrams, Produced by Steven Spielberg that features some kids who team up and try to save a town from a misunderstood monster, you’re probably going to appeal to a geek audience. However, with all the movies, games and more available for geeks (and others) these days how can you be sure to reach the audience you need to?

How about putting an easter egg trailer for your upcoming film inside a newly released video game? That’s just what Paramount did with J.J. Abrams upcoming Super 8 and the brand new Portal 2 game.

The interactive trailer, which we have for you here, transfers the action to videogame graphics and puts you inside the train car that crashes and unleashes the alien. Sadly, while you can’t really do all that much in the level, it is a pretty cool way to make sure your target audience is fully invested in seeing the movie — not that Paramount really has to worry about that.

Check out the teaser after the jump. Portal 2 is available now. Super 8 hits theaters on June 10th.

Continue Reading →