For a movie that makes mention, nearly every five minutes or so, that this is Detroit, it seems odd that they would offer almost no evidence beyond cars. The Metropolitan? No, you silly bastards, the paper of Detroit is the Free Press. We drink Vernor’s and wholly expect to get shot exiting to both Joe Louis and Metro.

No mention of 8 Mile? Nothing of Motown? Not a word of Comerica Park. Hell, I don’t even live in Detroit, and — oh, and nothing about the Red Wings, either — and I know to reference all that.

There’s a point to that rant — as Brick Mansions is a movie about not quite getting there. The name, which is iterated an reiterated so many times before the title actually appears that I thought it had already appeared when it finally does, is Detroit 2018…or Arkham City: Detroit, a walled slum that is a world unto itself.

It has its own economy, the nature of which is never elaborated upon, and controlled largely by drug-lord Tremaine Alexander (rapper RZA) — how he became so rich and powerful selling to bums is also not very clear — who is presently engaged in catching the feisty Lino (David Belle), a slippery parkour enthusiast whose job is, apparently, swiping drugs from Tremaine’s operation and disposing of them at inopportune times.

The film opens with an impressive display of Belle’s agility, as he tumbles, glides, wall jumps, belt-lines, and neutralizes Tremaine’s thugs with minimal prejudice throughout his run-down apartment complex. It’s a good set piece, and director Camille Delamarre has a steady enough grasp of geography that you don’t get lost following Lino’s escape, but the camerawork, being yet another lift of Bourne‘s shaky cam, often makes it difficult to see what Belle is actually doing. It doesn’t ruin the sequence, and subsequent set pieces, but they’re innovative and skillfully executed by Belle, they deserve more.

Kevin Costner is one of those actors you like to watch no matetr what movie he happens to be in. Sure, he doesn’t always make the best choices and some of his movies bomb, but that doesn’t seem to make him any less interesting or appealing.

His next one is called 3 Days to Kill and we’ve got a trailer for the movie for you today. In the movie: “a dangerous international spy (Costner) is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he’s previously kept at arm’s length to keep out of danger.”

Yes, there’s a catch. “First he must complete one last mission- even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world’s most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.”

Man, we know how that can be. Look for 3 Days to Kill, which in addition to Costner stars Amber Heard, Connie Nielsen and Hailee Steinfeld, to arrive in 2014. Check out the trailer after the break.

I’ve read a lot of novels, and I’ve heard that Les Misérables is the best. I hadn’t read it, and I didn’t believe it. After seeing Les Misérables, I’m starting to.

The film is based on the musical, but its chief accomplishment is adapting the depth and breadth of an immense work. Like the best of Dickens’, Tolstoy’s, and Dostoevsky’s plots, Victor Hugo’s were thought experiments, taking an archaic or cancerous institution and following it through to the logical and often tragic conclusion. Jean Valean steals a loaf of bread and is imprisoned for 19 years.

Upon release, he must carry the past with him in his release papers, so that no man will give him work. Destitute, his last resort is to rob a church of its silver, and only through the uncommon kindness of its priest is he granted a new life. But it is threatened. Valjean has torn up his papers and in doing so risks life imprisonment — a man’s life extinguished for a mere legal technicality. Years later he becomes a successful businessman, where the unfortunate Fantine is employed, but by chance he is reintroduced to Inspector Javert, the man who oversaw his imprisonment and now dedicates his life to hunting Valjean.

Now that The Hunger Games is such a huge success, it makes sense that Relativity Media will be focusing more of their media campaign for the horror film The House at the End of the Street on Games star Jennifer Lawrence. That tactic is pretty evident in the brand new trailer for the film just released.

In it, Lawrence is front and center as Elissa, daughter of single mom Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) who have come to small town America looking for a fresh start. Of course, things don’t go as planned and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is hiding a terrible secret: most of the people in the house next door to them were murdered.

As they learn more, things spiral out of control and they end up in mortal danger. Of course they do.

Actually this sound (and looks) like a pretty good premise for a horror/thriller. And let’s be honest, Shue and Lawrence make quite the mother/daughter team.

Check out the trailer after the break. Look for The House on the End of the Street to hit theaters on September 21.

Before I can go forward with a review of director Steven Soderbergh’s latest film Haywire, I need to make a confession: I’m a big fan of almost all of his films. Sure, he’s managed to make one or two that don’t exactly work (The Girlfriend Experience comes to mind), but he’s never boring and always tries to push filmmaking and creativity in new and different directions.

Given this, I went into Haywire with somewhat raised expectations due to my fondness for his previous works. As the film unfolded I was struck by several things. First, lead actress and MMA superstar Gina Carano is not only beautiful, I would not want to ever make her angry. She’s that tough.

The film also moves quickly and at a running time of 93 minutes, almost seems a bit short. I think that’s a good thing because at the end, I wanted more.

I was also struck by how similar Haywire is to one of Soderbergh’s earlier films, The Limey (which is also my favorite of his films). I guess one reason could be that screenwriter Lem Dobbs wrote both films.

I’m not saying Haywire‘s similarity to The Limey is a bad thing, it was just interesting. More on that a bit later.

When it comes to action movies, the name Steven Soderbergh may not come to mind first. He’s not really known as an “action director” but after watching his latest film Haywire, that title may just end up being his.

If you’re not familiar with Haywire, here’s some info about it:

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious—and dangerous—trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she’ll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

The film opens tomorrow but to get you ready, we’ve got two new clips from it to share with you today. Both of these clips are scenes from the film and help demonstrate just what we’re talking about where Soderberg’s new title is concerned.

Haywire features MMA superstar Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor and Channing Tatum. Check out both of the scenes after the jump.

The Snow White movie wars are heating up folks. Last week we got a look at Universal’s Snow White and The Huntsman directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Kristen Stewart.

Now, we’ve got the trailer for director Tarsem’s take on the story called Mirror Mirror. This one features a cast that includes Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer and Sean Bean.

One thing you can say about Tarsem’s films is that they are stylish and his visuals are often stunning. Plus, he knows his way around an action sequence.

In truth, I was not a fan of his first film, The Cell. That said, his most recent project, Immortals, is quite good so I have a bit of hope for this one.

Plus, this is also the Snow White film that doesn’t feature Kristen Stewart, which is a big plus in my book. Look for Mirror Mirror to arrive in theaters on March 16.

Check out the trailer after the break.

Most of the fanboys and fangirls will get plenty of Kristen Stewart next week with the first half of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, but for those who want to see her in less of a”damsel in distress” capacity and more of a strong heroine type, you’ve got the upcoming film Snow White and the Huntsman.

The film is going to highlight a bit more of a mythical take on the classic Snow White fairytale, which will be nice, seeing as how this is one of three Snow White incarnations we’re getting now, including ABC’s Once Upon a Time series and Relativity Media’s Mirror Mirror.

So you’re caught up to speed on this prett-people-filled flick, here’s the synopsis.

In the epic action-adventure Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart plays the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen (Charlize Theron) out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) dispatched to kill her.

You can see this trailer embiggened this weekend as it’s attached to reels of Immortals, or just catch it after the jump. Snow White and the Huntsman is set to hit theaters June 1st.

Fairy tales are all the rage these days. Between two brand new series starting on both ABC and NBC later this month about mystical worlds, and the ever-growing popularity of vampires and zombies, people are loving fantasy lately.

Which makes sense why two studios are racing to the finish line with exciting new projects involving the Snow White universe. Twilight star Kristen Stewart is making some moves over at Universal with Snow White and the Huntsman, while Relativity Media is now pushing some new images of their untitled Snow White Film.

For those who still need help differentiating the two projects, here’s Relativity’s breakdown of their film.

Visionary director Tarsem Singh (Immortals) rewrites fairy tale history as a wicked enchantress (Julia Roberts) schemes and scrambles for control of a spirited orphan’s (Lily Collins) throne and the attention of a charming prince (Armie Hammer). When Snow White’s beauty wins the heart of the prince that she desperately pursues, the Queen banishes her to the forest, where a ravening man-eating beast hungrily awaits.

Rescued by a band of diminutive highway robbers, Snow White grows into an indomitable young woman determined to take back her realm from the treacherous Queen. With the support of her subjects, she roars into action in an epic battle that blends spectacle, magic and contemporary humor in Singh’s signature, jaw-dropping visual style.

We’ve got a whole slew of new images for you to check out after the jump, which will have to hold you over while Relativity decides on a release date (and a title) for the film.

No, this movie isn’t a sequel or prequel to Hobo with a Shotgun, although I can see how you may make that mistake. Instead, we’ve got Gerard Butler wielding the weapons and taking care of business in this Marc Forster-directed action/drama film with a heart.

Coming soon from Relativity Media, the film is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a tough guy who’s seen and done too much. After some particularly brutal misadventures his life takes a big turn when he finds purpose in establishing a haven for Sudanese children.

We’ve got the trailer for the film for you today and in it we can see what we need to see to know this movie could go one of two ways. Those two ways depend pretty much on if we believe Butler can pull off another tough but inevatible self-sacrificing role.

We’re betting he can, but you be the judge. Watch the trailer after the jump.

In addition to Butler, Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon. It’s set to be released on September 23.

Things seemed to be going well for the upcoming reboot of the penultimate 1990’s goth film The Crow. The studio managed to lock down hot screenwriter Alex Tse (Watchmen) to pen the script, and 28 Weeks Later’s Juan Carlos Fresnadillo signed on to direct. Shortly after that, the production was able to lock in Hangover star Bradley Cooper as the gloomy hero of the film. Sadly, it looks like “lock” was not meant to be taken seriously.

It seems that Cooper is backing out of the production due to scheduling conflicts. Sadly, that means Relativity Media needs to go back to the drawing board to find a new rock and roll zombie for this upcoming reboot. THR has the report.

Bradley Cooper was to have played the title character but sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that he has now exited due to scheduling conflicts. Cooper has David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook shooting this fall and then dives straight into Legendary’sParadise Lost, which shoots first quarter next year…the exact time Relativity plans on making the high-priority Crow.

But akin to the project’s rock musician who is killed and resurrected, two new names have surfaced as possible replacements: Channing Tatum and Mark Wahlberg.

Probably the best thing you can say about The Change-Up is that it’s not as bad as it looks. Actually, no, the best thing you can say is that there’s a lot of surprising and sweet nudity.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The plot is largely what’s laid out in the trailer: Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds are two friends, one’s married, one’s a swinging bachelor, respectively. One night they get drunk and take a quick squirt in an enchanted fountain while simultaneously declaring their mutual desire to be the other.

Morning comes, and they get their wish. Hi-jinx ensue as Reynolds struggles with the pressures of fatherhood and the big, lawyer-ish-looking account that’s looming, and Bateman rediscovers the downsides of bachelor life. A plot recap is unnecessary because it’s just something on which a string of gags involving baby excretions, pregnant women, masturbation, baby nudity, dancing vegetables, and silly walks to make you grow at least six pairs of hands.

Director David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers) tries to get a laugh from nearly everything and, for the audience I saw it with, it worked. To the extent that their reaction to film became more interesting than the film itself. At first I was fascinated by the comic beats they ate up and the extent to which they were involved.