The American Pie franchise lives in two planes of existence. For some the movies represent a loud and raunchy franchise that has slipped from the main stream and lives in the proverbial cinematic dumpster. For the rest of you American Pie represents something much more, and those direct to DVD sequels don’t even register in your mind.

As far as the theatrical films are concerned, the franchise has been about growth and the slow onset of adulthood. We have been with Jim and his friends through some of his most important life milestones, and we as an audience have grown up with them.

So the impending release of American Reunion has a chance to really be something special for an entire generation of film fans, and thankfully this most recent trailer has amped the nostalgia levels all the way to eleven.

Of course reckless nostalgia can be a really bad thing, and that will be the one test the movie will have to pass to be any good. However, the high school reunion plot should provide an easy in for a fond looking back tone. So long as they do not over milk it, odds are we will be in for a pleasant treat this April.

Check out the new trailer after the jump.

It’s hard to believe but there are some franchises that seem to take on a life of their own long after the original cast & crew has moved on to greener pastures. One of those franchises is American Pie, with an insane 7 films under its belt.

Who says you can’t go back to the drawing board for number 8? Certainly not the original cast, as they’re ALL returning for the 10-year reunion of when they started back with the first American Pie.

Hard to believe the only person who’s made it through all 7 films is Eugene Levy (or maybe it’s not that hard to believe) but he’s back and still playing the poor man’s Jerry Lewis. Here’s the film’s synopsis.

In the comedy “American Reunion,” all the “American Pie” characters we met a little more than a decade ago are returning to East Great Falls for their high-school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t and that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship.

It was summer 1999 when four small-town Michigan boys began a quest to lose their virginity. In the years that have passed, Jim and Michelle married while Kevin and Vicky said goodbye. Oz and Heather grew apart, but Finch still longs for Stifler’s mom. Now these lifelong friends have come home as adults to reminisce about—and get inspired by—the hormonal teens who launched a comedy legend.

Check out the first “trailer” for the film after the jump, which has no official footage, but rather a photo booth-style slideshow giving us a taste of whats in store when American Reunion hits theaters on April 6th.

This week On the Radar we’re talking about how Michael Bay simply isn’t impressed with 3D conversions, Harold and Kumar are set to return for a Christmas movie, Big Bang Theory‘s resident babe takes on a big screen role and will Two and a Half Men lose its star actor?

Kenneth Branagh talks Thor

With all the news of Iron Man and Captain America sweeping the Internet we haven’t heard a lot about Thor lately.  Well, director Kenneth Branagh has offered up some information about the production this week:

“Inspired by the comic book world both pictorially and compositionally at once, we’ve tried to find a way to make a virtue and a celebration of the distinction between the worlds that exist in the film but absolutely make them live in the same world,” Branagh said. “It’s about finding the framing style, the color palette, finding the texture and the amount of camera movement that helps celebrate and express the differences and the distinctions in those worlds. If it succeeds, it will mark this film as different…. The combination of the primitive and the sophisticated, the ancient and the modern, I think that potentially is the exciting fusion, the exciting tension in the film.”

Holy cow!  That update reads as though it was being delivered as a Shakespearean monologue.  Here’s hoping Branagh still remembers we’re comic book fans at heart and want to see some series action as well as crafty dialogue. Bring the thunder, Branagh, not the theater.

Big Bang Theory’s Cuoco heads to the big screen

While not Kaley Cuoco’s first film role it is her first big debut project since the explosion of popularity around The Big Bang Theory.  Cuoco is set to star in I Hop, a film by Alvin and the Chipmunksdirector Tim Hall:

“[Cuoco] will be playing the sister of James Marsden’s slacker loser Fred, taking him in after their parents kick him out and finding herself also saddled with Brand’s Easter Bunny Jnr, following his accidental injury by Fred.”

With James Marsden and Russell Brand already signed on it’s hard to decide just what this film will be like.  Mind you, is anyone going to say “no” to more Kaley?  I’m definitely not.

With Christmas less than 72 hours away, it looks like the studios are putting out quite a few last-minute gift ideas for you to snatch just in time to throw under the tree. This week’s big releases include District 9, (500) Days of Summer, and the second Family Guy Star Wars Special: Something Something Something Dark Side.

Of these releases, we are all pretty excited about the new Family Guy DVD this week. It’s the sequel to 2007’s Blue Harvest Star Wars special. This time, Seth McFarlane and his team spoof the events of The Empire Strikes Back. This special is never-before-seen, and won’t get airtime until mid-March.

Check out this week’s releases:

Movies

District 9 ~ Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope (DVD and Blu-ray)

(500) Days of Summer ~ Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (DVD and Blu-ray)

All About Steve ~ Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church (DVD and Blu-ray)