It’s been denied by everyone. It’s been speculated about and rumored. Oncers have been yanked around for months but finally there’s an answer. The Once Upon a Time Alice in Wonderland spinoff is real and we’ve got the trailer and pictures to prove it.

Written by Once creator Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland begins with Alice (Sophie Lowe) recounting her adventure in the strange new land she discovered through the rabbit hole and with the mysterious genie, Cyrus (Peter Gadiot) with whom she in love.

Alice’s doctors and her father think she’s gone insane but before they can give her a treatment to take away all of her memories she’s saved by the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha) and the White Rabbit (John Lithgow). They tell her Cyrus, who she thought to be dead, is alive. Together they return to the incredible and impossible Wonderland to seek him and new adventures.

Wonderland also stars Emma Rigby as the Queen of Hearts. Fans of Once will know that Regina’s mother Cora was the Queen of Hearts in that show’s brief visits to Wonderland. How then will Riby’s Queen factor in? Is this a sign that Wonderland and Once won’t necessarily have the same mythology?

It’s a sort of sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up in the sense that it focuses on the supporting characters Debbie (director Judd Apatow’s real-life wife Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd), both turning 40 the same week and juggling a handful of personal and financial problems.

Paul manages a near-bankrupt record label, signing such current acts as Graham Parker, while Debbie runs her own clothing store and tries to discover which of her employees — Jodi (Charlyne Yi) or Desi (Megan Fox) — has stolen $12,000. Added to that are squabbles with the kids Sadie and Charlotte (Maude and Iris Apatow) and Debbie’s absent and Pete’s beggarly fathers (John Lithgow and Albert Brooks).

There isn’t a conventional plot as much as an exploration of these two people, how they deal with things, how they show their love and appreciation for each other. Rudd and Mann have a great rapport, which I can’t do justice to by simply saying that they really feel like they’ve been married and are 40.

This week’s Monday Pick is the 1984 multi genre classic The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Director/screenwriter W.D. Richter (Dracula (1979), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Big Trouble in Little China) created one of the weirdest and most beloved cult classics of the 1980s.

Peter Weller (Robocop) stars as the multi talented neurosurgeon, physicist, rock musician and comic book hero Buckaroo Banzai who battles aliens know as Red Lectroids from the Planet 10 who plot to take over the Earth. Buckaroo Banzai’s character was influenced by the 1930s pulp novels of Doc Savage, much like Lucas and Spielberg’s Indiana Jones that was influenced after the literary adventure character of Allan Quatermain.

Buckaroo Banzai has always been a favorite of mine since I first saw it in theaters in the summer of 1984. It’s a very interesting/hard film to describe to anyone who has never scene it. The premise is beyond absurd but that’s what makes the film so lovable. Banzai and his team of do-gooders known as The Hong Kong Cavaliers (a version of Doc Savage’s Fabulous Five) battle the evil Red Lectroids under the command of Lord John Whorfin (yes an alien leader named John) played to psychotic perfection by John Lithgow, who is actually an Italian physicist known as Dr. Emilio Lizardo. Yeah, it’s a little confusing but when you watch the film it all comes together.

Welcome to this latest edition of Web Video Roundup where we highlight the best in online video made by pros and fans alike. This week we’ve got Captain America, Conan, a Supercut Superdump and stunt driver Ken Block doing his thing on the Universal back lot. If you haven’t seen what this guy can do with a car, you’re really missing out.

Let’s get to the vids!

• Everybody loves Jersey Shore (for some reason) so it’s time that real stars like John Lithgow and Jesse Eisenberg get in on that sweet reality money.

• Who doesn’t love some early set footage of The Avengers in which Captain America kicks some ass? We certainly do!

• Matthew Rhys puts his collective minds together to figure out how to get laid in this killer Herman’s Head-inspired short.

• Doctor Who fans will appreciate this one: the Don’t Blink Cat Strikes!

• If we see no other trailer for the upcoming Conan The Barbarian remake, this fan trailer alone will make us race to the theater with anticipation.

• There’s nothing worse than Face Blindness (whatever that is). That’s exactly what Milla Jovovich is cursed with in the new trailer for Faces in the Crowd.

There was a kind of grandeur to the science-fiction films of the 1960s. Naturally they didn’t have the kinds of special effects that we have now, but they worked on big ideas, from the nature of humanity in 2001: A Space Odyssey to the contemporary fears of overpopulation in Soylent Green to the timeless question of whether apes will be our masters in the original Planet of the Apes.

I can’t think of many (or any for that matter) modern remakes that recapture or even attempt to emulate that grandeur of their bigger-thinking predecessors (however silly their concerns may have been). Instead of big ideas, Rise has a pretty simple story: James Franco is a researcher at a drug company, working on a cure for Alzheimer’s that accelerates the creation of brain tissue.

During a board meeting with the investors, one of his brightest test subjects escapes and crashes the party at exactly the wrong time. The beast is put down, but she’s revealed to have been pregnant, and Franco adopts her son (prophetically named “Caesar” by Franco’s senile father, played by John Lithgow). As the years go by, Franco realizes that the cure injected into the mother has been passed on to Caesar, who’s developed into a Superchimp, exhibiting an uncanny intelligence.

This week’s pick is another salute to our WW II flyboys in Michael Caton-Jones’s Memphis Belle (1990).  The film stars Matthew Modine (Captain Dennis Dearborn, Pilot), Tate Donovan (1st Lt. Luke Sinclair, Co-Pilot), D.B. Sweeney, (Lt. Phil Lowenthal, Navigator), Billy Zane (Lt. Val Kozlowski, Bombardier), Top Turret Gunner), Eric Stoltz (Sgt. Danny “Danny Boy” Daly, Radio Operator), Sean Astin (Sgt. Richard “Rascal” Moore, and John Lithgow (Lt. Col. Bruce Derringer, an Army publicist writing a story on the crew of the Memphis Belle).

The film is set in the spring of 1943 where American B-17 heavy bombers of the 8th USAAF have been practicing daylight strategic bombing for almost a year against targets within Hitler’s Fortress Europe. The crew of one bomber the Memphis Belle, are the first ever crew to successfully complete their twenty-fifth and final bombing mission before they are allowed to rotate home for R&R.

The film opens where the crew of the Belle are grounded due to their plane under repairs after their last severe mission. As the twenty or so planes from the group arrive back, personnel on the ground can see the battle damage inflicted on the bombers due to enemy guns and shrapnel from air bursts over the target. The last returning bomber’s landing gear is damaged and the plane crash lands on the field. They can hear the men on board screaming as they are trying to get out and then the plane explodes. The men look on as fire and ambulance crews respond to the fiery wreak.

Here it is, the brand new trailer for the upcoming Rise of the Planet of the Apes. 20th Century Fox has released the second trailer for director Rupert Wyatt‘s film which stars James Franco, Andy Serkis, Frida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, and Tom Felton.

The new film is a reboot and prequel of the Planet of the Apes franchise which takes place in present day. It features a science twist on how animal testing eventually leads to an ape revolt and the apes, well, rising.

The new trailer gives us more info on the plot and more about the setup that eventually leads the apes to realize their human masters need to go. So, far, after two trailers, the film is looking pretty good. It reamins to be seen if it eventually lives up to the hype. Sadly, it probably won’t.

Either way, check out the trailer after the jump. Get your stinking paws on Rise of the Planet of the Apes when it takes over theaters on August 5th.

Yes, folks, it’s time for more Planet of the Apes as 20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for one of its potential Summer blockbusters, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The new film, a prequel to the original film series, is an origin story where scientist James Franco is experimenting on apes to find a cure for Alzheimer’s and instead creates a mutated ape called Caesar, played by Andy Serkis.

Obviously, complications ensue and Franco’s character is forced to choose between his love of science and protecting his new creation. In the trailer we get our first good look at the apes as well as Franco and some of the film’s co-stars.

Not sure if this is an improvement over the original Apes films made famous by Chuck Heston and Roddy McDowell. Still, it’s got to be better than Tim Burton’s attempt. That just wasn’t good at all.

Check out the trailer after the break. Get your stinking paws on Rise of the Planet of the Apes when it invades theaters on August 5th.

With Hollywood scooping up as many franchises and rebooting them as possible these days, each of us are bound to see our favorite childhood TV show turned into a multi-million dollar film. For fans of The Smurfs, especially all the members of the Official Smurf Fan Club, that dream is finally coming true.

A few months back, Columbia Pictures announced that they were retooling the 1980s cartoon for not only the big screen, but in 3D as well. Now that some time has passed, the first poster has been revealed, showing us what the new-and-improved smurfs will look like, and if anyone has ever collected the Smurf figures, they know what to expect.

Everyone’s favorite serial killer is back, as Showtime’s hit series Dexter is about to start its fourth season as well as a new animated series of webisodes. /Film brings us the Season 4 Trailer, as well as a peak at the new animated series, Dexter: Early Cuts, both of which debuted at the Dexter panel at Comic-Con.

The fourth season of Dexter revolves around Dexter and Rita’s new son, Harrison. Deborah, Dexter’s sister, will have a former flame return as the Miami Police Department attempts to track down the Trinity Killer, played by John Lithgow.

/Film mentioned that the producers and writers of Dexter reiterated that unlike the first season, this new season of Dexter would stray from the plotline originally outlined in the books.

Dexter: Early Cuts will be an animated series of webisodes, centered around Dexter and his ominous past. We’ll get to learn more about his first kills and follow him as he perfects his technique. The webisodes will surely give some insight into this awesome character.

Dexter returns to Showtime on September 29th. Dexter: Early Cuts debuts sometime in Fall 2009 on Sho.com. You can check out the trailer after the jump.