An intriguing set of promos that I saw mostly during football games led me to try this new Fox Drama series. While I have been burned in the past with partial seasons (Drive) or one season only series (Alcatraz), I decided to give The Following a try. The show is centered on former FBI agent Ryan Hardy, who is called in to consult on the escape of serial killer Joe Carroll, whom he helped catch originally. Since Hardy knows him better than anyone else, they need his help to find Carroll.

Carroll is obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe, and believes that the death of a beautiful woman is the purest form of art. He removes the eyes of his victims, as they are the window to a person’s soul.

Through a series of clues, Hardy and the FBI begin to believe that Carroll was contacting people via the internet to build a group of followers to carry out his wishes. As further proof, a woman waiting to be questioned at the police station (the naked woman with the words written all over her body seen in the promos) stabs herself in the eye with an ice pick. She appears to be the first of Carroll’s followers.

Let’s just stipulate for the record that Liam Neeson is a badass. This is even more impressive given the fact that Neeson is 60 years old, and age when most people are starting to take it easy.

Neeson apparently didn’t get that memo because he’s back with yet another action extravaganza. This time around it’s the sequel to his previous hit Taken. The film in question is, of course, Taken 2.

There’s a new trailer for Taken 2 out now and we’ve got it for you after the break. In the new film the bad guys turn the tables and come after Neeson’s character’s family, again played by Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen.

Olivier Megaton takes over directing duties from original helmer Pierre Morel. Fox releases the sequel October 5.

Some are calling it Escape From New York in space, while others are calling it not worth making a pop culture reference, but that isn’t stopping the upcoming FilmDistrict/Open Road film from Luc Besson, Lockout from hitting screens this coming Friday.

With that, and an overall panic that the film isn’t going to play as well as the studio is anticipating, Besson’s banner studio EuropaCorp has released the first five minutes of the film for free on YouTube, for those who may need more convincing to see the flick.

Sure, there are some pretty campy moments before the title card even pops up, like why they felt the need to give Guy Pierce a “futuristic” haircut, or why they thought an effective way of giving backstory to the film’s hero would be through flashbacks in an interrogation.

Regardless, the film certainly looks pretty cool, and it’s nice to see LOST star Maggie Grace and Misfits star Joseph Gilgun get some solid work in a big budget sci-fi picture. Take a look at the first five minutes of the film after the jump, and catch Lockout in theaters this Friday.

We love when good movies inspire innovative ideas. For some reason, it happens much more in the Sci-Fi genre than anywhere else, but most good ideas stem from an even better classic film. That’s what we feel like is happening with the upcoming film Lockout, starring Guy Pearce.

Take a look at the official synopsis here and see if you can pick up subtle hints to a classic film.

Starring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace and set in the near future, LOCKOUT follows a falsely convicted ex- government agent (Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison.

Just call Guy Pearce Snake Plissken and you’ve got yourself a sequel to Escape From L.A, but in space. You’ll even notice the line from the trailer “He’s the best there is, but he’s a loose cannon.”  The film also stars LOST star Maggie Grace, who’s quite good at getting herself kidnapped, as proven in Taken. This time, Liam Neeson won’t be there with his particular set of skills.

Take a look at the trailer after the jump and catch Lockout in theaters on April 20th.

If you loved the nonstop action that Liam Neeson and Luc Besson brought us back in 2008 with Taken, then you should get ready now that the excellent Rade Sherbedgia (best known in everything from 24 to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1) is being cast as the film’s major villain for Neeson to use his “particular set of skills” on. Here’s the scoop from THR:

Sherbedgia will play Murad, the father of a kidnapper slain by Bryan Mills (Neeson) in the first film. Murad is described as a vengeful man who gives orders and doesn’t take them. When Murad takes Mills and his wife hostage, their daughter is enlisted to help save them.

Sherbedgia will next star in Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, which will be released in December. Sherbedgia’s credits include Batman Begins, Mission: Impossible II and a memorable turn as Boris “The Blade” Yurinov in Snatch.

Love Netflix but not always completely satisfied with the number of first run movies the service offers for streaming? Same here. Fortunately, it seems the company is taking steps to remedy the situation in the form of a new content partnership agreements.

Back in August, Netflix closed a deal with Epix, a a joint venture between Viacom, Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate. And now, as of yesterday, the company entered into another agreement with new partner with producer/distributor FilmDistrict. Under the terms of the deal Netflix will license movies from FilmDistrict during what’s knows as the “pay TV window,” or the period of time when the films would have normally appeared on premium cable TV channels such as HBO or Showtime.

The first two movies to come to Netflix as a result of this partnership will be Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, and Lockout, starring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace. Both films are set to be released early next year.

This is good news as other services like Google TV seem to be struggling a bit to make content deals. Netflix offers a good service for a decent price and I, for one, hope they can continue to do so. They do need more first run movies, however, and these deals do seems like steps in the right direction. Lets hope they can keep it going.

Click through for the full press release announcing this latest content deal.

Many things can be said about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his career choices, but if one thing is true, it’s that he’s not playing it safe. Much like countless action stars before him, he could have done a few franchise flicks, then stuck to something safe like Kindergarten Cop or The Pacifier, but instead, he’s returning to his bad ass roots with Faster.

Johnson made plenty of money with his two successful family films, Tooth Fairy and The Game Plan, but it looks like money isn’t all that matters, as the newest trailer for Faster just hit, and there is no way this film can be construed as “family friendly”

In the film, The Rock plays “Driver”, a man who sets out to take personal revenge on the bank robbers who killed his brother. The trail of bodies and adversaries that Driver comes across include names like Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Tom Berenger, Moon Bloodgood, and Billy Bob Thornton.

The film comes from director George Tillman Jr. (Notorious) and writers Joe Gayton (Bulletproof) and Tony Gayton (Murder By Numbers).With ths newest, hyper-violent red band trailer, this film could take the place of The Rundown as Johnson’s most intense action film.

Check out the newest red band trailer after the jump, and be sure to catch Faster in theaters on November 24th.

You know her best as Sayeed’s hot yet ill-fated love interest Shannon in Lost and as a daughter who’s father “has a particular set of skills” in Taken. Now, Maggie Grace is set to jump into another role: a vampire who threatens Kristen Stewart’s Bella in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.

According to the report, Grace will play the role of Irina in the final installments of the Stephenie Meyer novel, which Bill Condon is directing as two separate films. In case you don’t know or haven’t read the books, Irina is a member of the Denali coven of vampires who are considered cousins to the Cullens as they are the only others who don’t prey on humans.

Sadly, things go wrong as they often do and when Irina blames the Cullens for the death of her lover, she plots revenge. . . and things go downhill from there.

Part one of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will be released by Summit Entertainment on November 18, 2011. The second will hit theaters late in 2012.

After some time spent in the “feel good” movies section, former wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is back doing the kind of movie he does best: action. In the upcoming film Faster, directed by George Tillman Jr., Johnson plays an ex-con out for revenge. It seems his brother has been killed after they were double-crossed during a heist years ago.

During his quest, however, he’s tracked by a veteran cop and an egocentric hit man, both of whom have deadly agendas of their own. In the trailer we get to see Johnson is really back to form and looks like he’s kinda missed all the action. There’s no mistaking his enthusiasm and skill as an action star. Plus, the movie looks pretty good. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing more.

The film, which in addition to Johnson features Tom Berenger, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace, Mood Bloodgood and Billy Bob Thornton, opens November 24. While we wait, check out the trailer after the jump.

I enjoyed Knight and Day quite a bit more than I expected to. Mind you, the bar was scraping the ground when I entered the theater. I thought the movie would be a complete disaster. Tom Cruise wore out his welcome with me long before the infamous couch jumping antics,  and while I generally enjoy Diaz, I just wasn’t sure about her playing opposite Cruise.

Cruise stars as CIA agent Roy Miller, who is on the run from his handlers.  He is feverishly  casing an airport when he spies June (played by Cameron Diaz.) Shortly thereafter, he  deliberately bumps into her, staging a “chance” encounter.

A few moments later, the two run into one another again, and you can practically see the gears going in June’s head.  Cute guy+fate = romantic opportunity. Her daydreaming is derailed when she is denied entrance onto the plane that her new friend is boarding.  He assures her, “Everything happens for a reason.”