Before seeing the film, I had a study group session, and one of my buddies in our group mentioned that he had read several of the book’s in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series. He said the theme was empathy, and, outside of that and the hubbub surrounding Card’s controversial comments on same-sex marriage, was about the only thing I knew going into the film.

And now, having seen it, I can see bits of that theme peeking through, but ultimately director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) appears to have traded depth for spectacle.

In the semi-distant future, following an attack by an alien species known as the Formics, the countries of Earth have placed their best and brightest in the International Fleet academy, a military training ground that’s preparing for the next potential invasion.  A. E. Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) a precocious youngster with a talent for strategy, is put through a series of tests administered by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford), a tough commander who nonetheless sees Ender as the one to ultimately lead the fleet to victory. Overcoming loneliness and antagonism from his peers, Ender continually proves himself through a gauntlet of war games, all throughout questioning the true intentions of his leaders.

Entertainment wise, Ender’s Game delivers. The various war games provide a fun parade of sequences for Hood to show how Ender outsmarts nigh-impossible odds (though, for all his apparent brilliance, Ender’s solutions do seem to rack up the casualties), particularly with one scene involving a weightless battle sphere. The cadets compete against each other to make it through the other team’s gate without getting shot by the opposing players’ tag-guns.

Good news for all you Ender’s Game fans out there as there is finally some forward motion on the film. Ender’s Game has had a long journey getting from a novel to the big screen and finally has a production blog. Even though there is only a single image posted so far, producer Roberto Orci promises to have exclusives from the film over the next year. This would include guest appearances by well known cast members.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Orson Scott Card book series, here is a synopsis. Set in Earth’s future, the plot presents an imperiled humankind who have barely survived two conflicts with the Formics, an insect like alien species that are usually called “Buggers”. These aliens act much like gigantic super smart Earth ants and are very protective of their queen. In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, an international fleet maintains a school to find and train future fleet commanders.

In just over a year’s time, you can expect Orson Scott Card’s name to join the likes of Suzanne Collins and George R.R. Martin as some of the best modern authors who have successfully crossed the threshold into the Film and TV medium. Card’s entry, of course, is the Ender’s Game series.

We got word a while back that Ben Kingsley is set to join the cast, which is a big name within itself, but now that’s getting completely squashed with the news that Harrison Ford and Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin are joining the cast. From Variety.

Ford will play Colonel Hyram Graff, who’s in charge of training the young male recruits at an elite military academy. Breslin will play Valentine Wiggin, Ender’s older sister, while Steinfeld will play Petra Arkanian, Ender’s ally and trusted right hand.

Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) is directing from his own script, which is adapted from Orson Scott Card’s award-winning novel. Summit Entertainment is co-financing and will release the film in the U.S. on March 15, 2013.

Set in Earth’s utopian future, “Ender’s Game” stars Asa Butterfield (“Hugo”) as the title character, a genius strategist who’s recruited by the government to help destroy an insect-like alien race.

Let’s hope this film doesn’t follow the critical responses that Ford’s last two sci-fi films, Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Cowboys & Aliens, because those were definitely not the quality Ender fans will be looking for come March.

As good as the movie was, 2003’s Love Actually had no idea what it was starting in the form of romantic comedies featuring a super ensemble cast. It was brought to the (more) public eye last year with Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day and now the ante is only getting upped with New Year’s Eve.

The film’s premise is relatively straightforward, but its the cast that really sells it.

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.

Are you ready for a cast list to be reckoned with? Take a breath, because you’re looking at seeing Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, Hilary Swank, and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara join the cast of New Year’s Eve.

How the film isn’t going to be 12 hours long, we have no idea. Instead, you can check out the brand new trailer for the film after the jump. New Year’s Eve is set to hit theaters on December 9th.

I firmly believe Zombieland was one of the best films of 2009. It simply came out of nowhere, defied expectations, and even went so far as to inspire some of us.  Given the films success it’s no surprise that a sequel would be on the horizon. Now, Variety is able to confirm that a sequel is in development and chances are it will be in 3D:

“Everyone had fun watching (the first) ‘Zombieland’; making it a more visceral experience can only make it better,” said the film’s producer Gavin Polone. “I don’t think you want to see ‘Ordinary People’ in 3-D. But ‘Zombieland’ is clearly one movie that will benefit from (the technique).”

Now, I’ve never been sold on the whole 3D thing.  Personally, I think it’s a gimmick and haven’t gone out of my way to see any recent 3D films.  Simply put, I have yet to find a compelling reason to see a film in 3D over its standard counterpart.

That being said, Zombieland may just be the film I actively seek out a 3D theater to see it in.  It was so brilliantly campy that it begs to bring that pseudo third dimension to the adventures of Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). It’s perfect, and so would a title of Z3D.  Okay, that may work better for a third film, but it’s still cool.

Zombieland opened this week and let me tell you it is, in my opinion, one of the best films of 2009. Only a day into its release Hollywood insiders were predicting the movie could go onto make $30 million in its opening weekend. If that happens it means Zombieland will have made back the $26 million and change it cost to make. While those numbers may not carry the weight of the billion dollars The Dark Knight made Zombieland’s rapid return on investment cannot be overlooked. Hollywood, take note, Zombieland should be the new standard of success.

All that said, I’m not writing a review of Zombieland by any means (Chris already wrote a great one), nor am I looking to talk about the merits of the film, of which there are many. No, I’m casting all the business stuff aside for the moment to speak about one thing: inspiration. You see, immediately after watching Zombieland I got home and was compelled to write (in this case a novel I’m working on). I had in me a burning desire to create. Therein lies the true success of Zombieland. For this writer, it spurred the creative forces that drive cinema.

How did it do this?  Simply put, the film was honest. There was no allusion to a grand design or twist ending. The characters were endearing and story practically A to B simple. Moreover, it defied stock conventions of the genre.  The girls weren’t running away screaming and guys not always the most heroic. These were characters anyone in the theater could relate to personally or through friends they probably know.  Being able to create that rapport with the audience was the secret weapon of Zombieland.  It connected with viewers (trust me on that, I saw the response from the packed theater first hand) and even if only for a few moments at a time they could see themselves in that world of zombies and loved it. Those are the moments writers, specifically, aspire to.

Part monster movie, part buddy road comedy with a dash of romance thrown in, Zombieland manages to deliver on pretty much every level. Featuring terrific performances by the entire cast, including Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, this film is able to deliver genuine laughs, genuine scares and genuine entertainment for its entire running time. Its a solid piece of filmmaking by director Ruben Fleischer, and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, that should definitely find an audience.

The premise of the film is, as it should be, relatively simple. The world as we know it has come to an end due to some unspecified reason and the dead are now walking the earth. In this world we first meet Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) who, being the introverted, Mountain Dew drinking, pseudo-loser he is, has managed to stay alive due to his nature and adherence to rules he’s come up with as a new citizen of Zombieland. His rules, such as “Cardio Good, Bathrooms Bad, Always shoot zombies twice, etc.” and his loner, anti-social nature have served him well and enabled him to survive.

So, its somewhat against his better judgment that he decides to team up with Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) on a road trip to find out if any of his family might still be alive in, you guessed it, Columbus. In case you’re wondering, the names characters call each other in Z-land are where they’re from and not their actual names. Better to not develop real ties with anyone seeing as how they might be eaten by zombies at any moment. This provides a bit of insight into the characters and also a bit of humor as well.

We here at The Flickcast have been pretty vocal about our love of all things zombie, so it only makes sense for us to swoon over new footage of this Fall’s horror comedy Zombieland starring Jessie Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. Now hitting the web is a new swear-tastic “Redband” trailer with slightly more footage.

Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, (who’s claim-to-fame is creating the reality-tv parody The Joe Shmoe Show) and directed by Ruben Fleischer (who directed 3 episodes of The Jimmy Kimmel Show), the film focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Check out the new trailer after the jump, which has slightly more footage, and much more zombie-goodness.

The film stars Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland), Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone’s (Superbad) and Abigail Breslin’s (Little Miss Sunshine) and is said to be “Hollywood’s answer to Shaun of the Dead”, but will probably shake that stereotype once we finally see it on the big screen October 9th.

Check out all the “Redband” zombie action after the jump.