The 2012 London Olympics are upon us. To get you in the mood for two weeks of athletic competition of the highest order, Movie Fanatic gives you nine films set against the backdrop of the Olympics that are sure to produce inspiration as only the Games can provide.

Prefontaine/Without Limits
Two films about the great track star Steve Prefontaine arrived around the same time, and both still manage to tell different sides of an inspiring story.

Munich
Steven Spielberg directed the powerful true story of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and the tragedy that hit the Israeli team. They were taken hostage and killed as the world watched on live television. The film is an Olympic triumph as it shows how even as the world is gathered to celebrate what unites us in sport, there are still elements that seek to rip us apart from the inside. Yet, that Olympic torch stays lit.

Cool Runnings
Cool Runnings is a whimsical tale of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team and their unlikely run to the Calgary Olympic Games. John Candy stars as their coach who believes that the most important factor to winning in bobsledding is a fast start and who better to achieve that than four of the fastest men in the world… even if their homeland never sees snow and ice.

The Cutting Edge
Fans of The Cutting Edge still watch the film to this day with the same amount of excitement as when it was first viewed. DB Sweeney is an Olympic hockey player nearing the end of his career. Moira Kelly is a “golden” ice skater in desperate need of a partner as the Olympics lie around the corner. The actors' chemistry is what makes this film pop… and the Olympic fanfare doesn’t hurt the cheer-worthy movie one bit either.

Miracle
The crème de la crème of Olympic films, this true story of the “Miracle on Ice” makes grown men cry every single time it’s witnessed. The 1980 USA hockey team did the impossible: Not only did they beat the wickedly more talented Soviet hockey squad that had won a gold medal in the event several Olympics in a row, but also brought together a nation torn apart by economic pain and national pride bruised by the Iranian hostage crisis. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Personal Best
Mariel Hemingway centers a cast of women’s track and field stars battling against each other and trying to avoid the pitfalls of love. The stress of making the U.S. Olympic team only adds to the drama in Personal Best. Of all her films, Hemingway scores a Personal Best in this Olympic tale.

International Velvet
The sequel to the 1944 film that sent Elizabeth Taylor into the stratosphere, International Velvet stars Tatum O’Neal as an Arizona teen sent to live with her relatives in England when her parents die in a car accident. Once in Britain, O’Neal’s character connects with a horse, and the two go all the way to the Olympics.

Chariots of Fire
Not only is Chariots of Fire one of the best sports films in history, it also scored a Best Picture Oscar in 1981. The true story of the 1924 British Olympic track team is inspiring, compelling, dramatic and leaves audiences with the triumph-of-the-spirit sentiment that make Olympic movies so treasured.

Chariots of Fire recently landed on Blu-Ray for the first time and there is no better time to check out our favorite Olympic film as London is set to be the center of the athletic world.

Three new featurettes on the Blu-Ray also get you in the mood for Olympic glory: Paris, 1924 -- Birth of the Modern Olympics, David Puttnam: A Cinematic Champion and Hugh Hudson -- Journey to the Gold.

Want inspiration? Check out this Chariots of Fire clip that shows the most unlikely of finishes to the British Olympic trials.

 

Chariots of Fire: Get Up Lad Scene

Cloud Atlas looks to be a pretty epic production. As such, we have to do a pretty epic post about it. Yesterday, we listed it as #2 on our TIFF films to watch list, and now we've got a 6 minute-long preview trailer, along with a director's commentary video, and a whole slew of new stills.

Check out the trailer first, followed by the commentary video:

 

Cloud Atlas Trailer

 

Cloud Atlas Directors Commentary

The film is based on a book by David Mitchell, and focuses on numerous intertwining story lines over the span of centuries. There are three--count them, three--directors on the project: Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis, and a gigantic cast that includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Keith David, Hugo Weaving (The Hobbit), and Ben Whishaw (Skyfall).

The film hits theaters October 26, after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Before then, have a look at some Cloud Atlas stills (click thumbnails to enlarge):

A few days ago, we reported that a Gangster Squad movie theater shooting scene would be cut from the film, but now Warner Bros. has announced they will push the release date back to January 11, 2013.

The film, originally set to come out September 7, included a scene where gangsters shot at an audience in Grauman's Chinese Theater. The scene was teased in a Gangster Squad trailer that played before screenings of The Dark Knight Rises until Warner Bros. ordered theaters to stop playing the promo following the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado.

The scene apparently plays an important role in the climax of the film, and thus cannot be cut entirely without being replaced by something else. While Warner Bros. initially planned to do quick re-shoots in order to make its release date, that has apparently proved impossible.

Gangster Squad stars Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, and Giovanni Ribisi, who made an appearance earlier this year in Ted (check out our Ted quotes page).

Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade have gathered at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills to talk to Movie Fanatic about their new comedy, The Watch. The trio are joined on the big screen by their Neighborhood Watch leader Ben Stiller, who told us in our The Watch interview that “I love working with these guys!”

It’s easy to see why as the comic actors have a rapport that is hilarious, even when the camera is not shooting. It is painfully clear as Vaughn, Ayoade and Hill sit in front of us, cracking each other up.

Movie Fanatic: Vince, your character is quite the protective father of a teenage girl. Is that something you will have an art-imitate-life moment later with your daughter?

Vince Vaughn: My daughter is just nineteen, twenty months now, so I’m a long way from that.

Jonah Hill: What do you do when a guy rings a doorbell for prom?

Vince Vaughn: That happened the other day. She’s too young to make her own decision. They have to walk before they fly. But for the character, he clearly has a real friendship with his daughter. The other fun part was he's a guy who takes being a father very seriously, but he is really doing The Watch because he wants some guys to hang out with. Thankfully I’m a long, long way from answering any of those questions as far as being protective. But I have encouraged her to get on some motorized vehicles, that kind of stuff. I threw her in the pool, but she swam, so it’s fine.

Movie Fanatic: [Laughs] We never see the alien ship in The Watch trailer or in the film. Do you think it was important to keep the special effects to a minimum to emphasize the comedy? You never had to use tennis balls taped to a stick for an alien…

Richard Ayoade: I did still use tennis balls in my process, though.     

Jonah Hill: Even when I acted with Richard he would tape a tennis ball to my forehead -- even though I was an actual person.

Richard Ayoade: Yeah, I find it weird to not look at people if they don’t have tennis balls attached to them in some way. I just… it didn’t feel true.

Movie Fanatic: Richard was the only one who stuck around for the orgy in The Watch…

Jonah Hill: You were throwing orgies through that whole time of shooting?

Richard Ayoade: Yeah. It was method.

Vince Vaughn: You go to Richard’s house and it’s just a ton of tennis balls and then a lot of noise.

Richard Ayoade: Yeah. That’s a passion throughout my life and that’s why I love Wimbledon so much [laughs].

Movie Fanatic: What do you want audiences to take away most from The Watch?

Vince Vaughn: I think the fun of it is that all the characters are kind of unique in their own ways, struggling with their own things, and this kind of larger circumstance will kind of bring them all together. Ultimately, I think you see a friendship or an understanding between the characters. It’s more about them being faced with something extraordinary.

Movie Fanatic: Jonah, you have done well lately doing both comedy and drama. Is that something you hope to keep doing?

Jonah Hill: I really like doing dramas. I really like doing comedies, and they are both really different. This was, I can say, the hardest I’ve ever laughed just being around the group of people while you are making a movie. On a drama set that generally is not the case. These guys are people who have made me laugh for a long time, people who I’ve learned a lot from watching their movies before I was ever in movies. I honestly… could not have had a better time making this movie with this group of guys.

Richard Ayoade: I’ve never been in a film before, so I feel uniquely unqualified to add to this…

Jonah Hill: Is this your first movie ever, really?

Richard Ayoade: Yeah, I’ve never been in a film. Not really. I think maybe for a day. There were several days when I was like, “Why are Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill looking at me? Oh! I’m in a scene with them. I ought to start trying to act back.” But yeah, that didn’t happen until late in the film. Until then it’s just a record of my bewildered face [laughs].

Vince Vaughn: Richard is so funny. It was so fun. He brought such an original voice and great ideas and is just funny in the movie. That’s the thing in life that we all remember. Sometimes it’s really good to go and not take things seriously and get a chance to laugh. This movie does that really well. You get a bunch of guys together from different walks of life and at the end of the day there’s a lot of laughter and a lot of camaraderie. For me, what I love about comedies is that it helps us laugh and brings us all closer together.

Jonah Hill: Are you crying?

Vince Vaughn: [Pretending to] No!

Chasing Mavericks tells the true story of Jay Moriarity, an American surfing legend. The film follows Moriarity as a teenager searching for a legendary wave, and the surfer who takes him under his wing. Check out the trailer:

 

Chasing Mavericks Trailer

Jonny Weston stars as Moriarity, with Gerard Butler (300) and Elisabeth Shue also starring. Shue will appear later this year in the horror film House at the End of the Street with Jennifer Lawrence.

Chasing Mavericks, formerly titled Of Men and Mavericks, is directed by Curtis Hanson. Hanson has directed such films as Too Big to Fail, 8 Mile, and L.A. Confidential.

Catch the film in theaters October 26.

Emile Hirsch is on the cusp of greatness. He has starred for some of Hollywood’s most gifted filmmakers. Hirsch went the extra mile for Sean Penn for Into the Wild, Gus Van Sant in Milk, the Wachowski brothers in Speed Racer, Ang Lee for Taking Woodstock, Oliver Stone in Savages and now William Friedkin in Killer Joe opposite Magic Mike star Matthew McConaughey. 

“I’m super lucky and privileged to work with all these great directors,” Hirsch said in our exclusive video interview. “It’s given me a real respect for filmmaking.”

 

Emile Hirsch Exclusive Interview

Hirsch, fresh from signing on to star opposite Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster and Taylor Kitsch in Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, also tells us why his Killer Joe role reminds him of an iconic Shakespeare character. “There’s something Hamlet-like about him,” Hirsch said. “He can’t seem to make up his mind.”

Lady Gaga seems perfect for the horror-action-thriller-camp style of Robert Rodriguez's upcoming film Machete Kills. Apparently Rodriguez agrees, as she has just been announced as part of the cast. Check out the poster for her character, La Chameleon:

Gaga actually has a bit of acting experience, having appeared in an episode of The Sopranos back in 2001, before she was a famous pop star. She joins a cast chock-full of (sometimes controversial) pop-cultury stars, including Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, Sofia Vergara, and Danny Trejo.

Amber Heard, Zoe Saldana, Jessica Alba, and Michelle Rodriguez (Resident Evil: Retribution) also star.

Machete Kills follows the former Federale Machete as he is recruited by the President of the United States for a near-impossible mission. Catch Lady Gaga and the rest of the cast in theaters November 16.

The Dark Knight Rises made $160 million in its first three days, giving it the third best opening weekend of all time. The film has been met with mostly positive feedback, some hesitation, and lots of sadness about the end of an epic franchise.

There's no doubt, however, that The Dark Knight Rises is visually stunning, and very quotable. Check out some of our favorite The Dark Knight Rises quotes below, and let us know which lines you liked the most in the comments section.

John Blake: Don't you want to know who he is?
Jim Gordon: I know exactly who he is; he's The Batman. | permalink

Lucius Fox: I call him The Bat, and yes Mr. Wayne it does come in black. | permalink

John Blake: You made some mistakes, Miss Kyle.
Selina Kyle: A girl's gotta eat.
John Blake: Well, you got quite an appetite. | permalink

Bane: I'm Gotham's reckoning. | permalink

Bruce Wayne: Why didn't you just kill me?
Bane: Your punishment must be more severe. | permalink

Jim Gordon: We were in this together, and then you were gone. Now this evil...rises. The Batman has to come back.
Bruce Wayne: What if he doesn't exist any more?
Jim Gordon: He must. He must. | permalink

Selina Kyle: My mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men.
Bruce Wayne: This isn't a car. | permalink

As so evident in The Watch trailer, Ben Stiller’s Evan in The Watch takes his job very seriously. When the night security guard at the Costco where he is manager is slain, Evan is motivated to form a neighborhood watch to protect his small Ohio suburb. What he could never have foreseen was the alien invasion that that murder announced.


Along for the ride is Jonah Hill's Franklin, Vince Vaughn’s Bob and Richard Ayoade’s Jamarcus. It quickly becomes abundantly clear that three-fourths of this quartet of amateur security have motives for joining The Watch beyond public safety.

Hill portrays a twenty-something man with dreams of a law enforcement career who still lives with his mother. Vaughn is a married father of a teenage girl who is branching out and he doesn’t like it. The neighborhood watch is an excuse to get away from his home life and drink a few beers with “the guys.” And Ayoade is a Brit sorely in need of company. He’s down for anything!

What works the most is the comic chemistry between the leads of The Watch cast. It is close to being the best comic cast ever. Witnessing them in action is a pure delight. Each flexes their comic muscles in a manner that is selfless in its effort to deliver what is funniest to audiences. Not only do Vaughn and Stiller have a ridiculous rapport, but watching their humorous volley in roles we’re used to seeing them in, is truthfully enjoyable.

Seeing them switch parts might have been interesting. Imagining Vaughn as the straight man who yells a lot and Stiller portraying the neighbor who just doesn’t seem to get how serious this local murder is has major potential. Then again, that is what they did in Dodgeball, and why should two wildly creative people stick to the same formula? There’s nothing humorously edgy about that.

But, the safe route in terms of characterizations works for The Watch because the whole alien invasion aspect of the story demands it. Vaughn’s over-protective father, Ayoade’s happy-to-be-invited-to-the-group guy and Hill’s militant wanna-be vigilante, coupled with Stiller’s in-control man in an out-of-control situation is casting genius. There is no question their humor pops.  

Slightly off the mark, unfortunately, is how the film strays a bit during its second act closing. There is the predicable falling out between our four friends that feels a bit forced and unbelievable.

But, in the end, this is a thrilling and comedic joy to witness as a whole. The fab four have a delightful time, and so does the audience. Their comic camaraderie is stellar and sanctimoniously silly in light of the alien invasion that is thrust upon them.

We loved Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, but now we'd like to see what he can do without that weird inhaler mask on. Hardy will go from playing a comic book super villain to a Virginia bootlegger in Lawless.

Following the Lawless gun infographic, we now have a little taste (albeit a highly alcoholic, fiery, disgusting taste) of what moonshine is all about. Check it out:

Lawless stars Hardy, Jason Clarke, and Shia LaBeouf as the bootlegging Bondurant brothers. Guy Pearce plays a Special Agent assigned to the town, with Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, and Mia Wasikowska also starring.

John Hillcoat directs the screenplay by Nick Cave. Lawless comes out August 31. Until then, check out the Lawless trailer.

One thing permeates above all else throughout our Step Up Revolution review: Mob rules! The Miami-set film continues the franchise’s modus operandi for delivering dance with a dose of cultural thoughtfulness.

As seen in the first three minutes of Step Up Revolution, the flash mob is the means to a societal changing end this time out.

Ryan Guzman is Sean, a waiter at a luxury beachfront hotel by day, and The Mob’s -- his dance ensemble -- co-captain every other minute of the day. He and his dance crew have successfully avoided arrest while staging some of the most extraordinary routines across South Florida. When he meets Kathryn McCormick’s Emily, not only is his heart intrigued, but Sean sees something in Emily as a dancer than can push his flash mob over the top.

Meanwhile, the location of their rehearsal space and the watering hole where they all meet is being threatened. A local developer (Peter Gallagher, at his slimy best) is seeking to level the entire area and build a luxury property.

The crew decides to take the focus of their dance extravaganzas to a more pointed political turn. The result is a series of mind-blowing flash mob experiences for the audience, with each topping the last.

These dance numbers are when Step Up Revolution is at its best. The film is flimsy on its political message, but when they start moving, it is unlike anything you’ve seen before onscreen with a group of dancers. But, that is why we go to the Step Up movies -- it’s all about the great moves, hot music and wild fun. In that capacity, Step Up Revolution succeeds.

But between the toe-tapping majesty, the film is held together by a string. Then again, as we said before, that is not why people line up to see Step Up. The reason to witness this film on the big screen, as seen in the Step Up Revolution poster, is the dance routines that will honestly leave you breathless. To think about the planning, talent and tenaciousness that went into staging these numbers, it is simply mind-blowing.

The film formerly titled Ten has a new name and some new cast members. Terrence Howard and Dawn Olivieri are in talks to join the cast of the action thriller, now titled Breacher.

Howard is known for his work in films like Crash, Hustle and Flow, and Red Tails. He also played Lt. Col James Rhodes in Iron Man. Olivieri is best known for her TV work, including appearances on shows like Heroes and Californication.

The two actors join Sam Worthington (Avatar), and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who are already signed on to star.

Breacher follows ten DEA agents who pull off an elaborate heist in the guise of a sting operation, and are mysteriously killed off one by one. It is set to be released some time in 2013.

Baseball scouting has been the subject of some of the best Albert Brooks/Brendan Fraser comedies of all time: The Scout, The Baseball Star Finding Guy, Project Young Skilled Athlete 2: Rise of the Guy Who Could Be Good at Baseball in 3 or 4 Years. Okay, only one of those is real (guess which one!).

Now Clint Eastwood will play a scout in the upcoming baseball drama, Trouble With the Curve. It will be the first time Eastwood has acted in a film he didn't also direct in over twenty years. Exciting! Check out two stills from the film, courtesy of EW.com:

Justin Timberlake and Amy Adams also star, along with Matthew Lillard and John Goodman. Adams is set to star in the upcoming The Master, with Goodman appearing in Argo, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Trouble with the Curve follows Eastwood as an aging scout who brings his daughter (Adams) on his final scouting assignment to check out a new prospect. No word on who exactly the "prospect" in question is, but we're assuming it's Timberlake, who, as a 31-year-old, would actually be at least halfway through his baseball career in real life.

The film hits theaters September 28.

For the latest edition of the Movie Fanatic Round Table, we convene the best and brightest in Hollywood to discuss how Hollywood has responded to the horrible tragedy at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater last Friday.

Our Movie Fanatic discussion this week is solely centered on the theater shooting in Aurora and the horror there that claimed 12 lives at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. As the nation heads to the movie houses for the first weekend since the tragedy, we wonder:

What should Hollywood’s response to the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado be?

Eric Eisenberg, CinemaBlend.com
Hollywood should respond with sympathy for those involved and perhaps a few donations to those affected without health insurance, but if we’re talking about content change they shouldn’t change a damn thing.

Had James Holmes gone to a football game to murder people, people wouldn’t say that the sport caused the rampage and the same should go in this situation. Violent movies had absolutely nothing to do with Holmes’ behavior -- it was the fact that he obviously had some serious mental issues.

This is the exact same issue that came up after the Columbine shooting and it’s as ridiculous an argument now as it was then.

Ryan Downey, MTV.com
I was still in my seat, with two of my friends next to me, after a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises when I turned my phone on and saw the news on Twitter as it was breaking.

I am still processing it. I really can't fathom the situation. Oftentimes the mass culture will come out against violence in the movies, in TV, in music, in video games. But I don't think censoring art will do anything to stop random crazy people from carrying out senseless, vicious and cowardly acts. Note that this guy was armed to the teeth and covered in body armor and yet gave up to the cops without a fight. He's a true coward in every sense of the word.

I handle the box office stories for MTV News and I was incredibly queasy thinking about how to incorporate this into that. Nikke Finke was rightly piled on for wondering aloud, so soon, about how this would affect the gross. Ultimately I advocated against running any stories like that and my editors agreed with me.

The studios made a classy and respectful choice when they chose to withhold reporting the usual celebratory numbers over the weekend.

Prior to learning of the tragedy, my friends and I had just sat through the entire Nolan trilogy at one of the "Dark Knight Marathons." There is no blame to be assigned to the people who made or distributed these movies, nor the people who went to see them. Folks asking "why were kids at that movie?" are asking the wrong freaking questions about what happened. I hope we see real change in society from this tragedy, but I don't think that has to be within the movie community.

Roth Cornet, AMCTheaters.com
That's a tough one. Christian Bale has visited the victim's families which feels like an appropriate response.

It's tough because there's nothing anyone can say that makes it better. It's a senseless, horrible tragedy that will continue to echo in the lives of those affected for years to come.

Aside from donating funds to assist the victims (and leaving out the political aspects), extending one's deepest sympathies is all any of us can do.

Gerrad Hall, TheSevenSees.com
Should studios be responsible for the safety of the audiences they lure into theaters? I don't believe so. Are movie theater metal detectors the solution? Ugh, I hope not, but I certainly won't stop going to the movies if that does become the answer.

I think Warner Bros. has handled this in the best possible way -- from the pulling of the Gangster Squad trailer to the cancellation of the Paris premiere, withholding box office numbers to their contribution to charities supporting victims and their families, which I highly admire. I hope more studios follow suit with their generous gesture.

Already, Hollywood is being flooded with complaints about movies being too violent and that the shooter in Aurora, Colorado was inspired by the actions of despicable and insane characters. 

I hope this doesn't become a battle of the Constitution's First Amendment Free Speech Clause -- protecting movies and other entertainment -- against our right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment. But in my humble opinion, movies don't kill, people do.

Joel D. Amos, MovieFanatic.com
How Hollywood should respond is exactly how it did. I was impressed with how the studios banded together and held back box office results until Monday morning. If nothing, this town is all about the ticket sales. To not want to publicize the money-making aspect of their business and letting the nation and citizens of Aurora grieve, studios showed great class.

Warner Bros. could have made an enormous deal out of the fact that The Dark Knight Rises had scored one of the biggest non-3D openings in movie history. Not publicizing that fanfare shows that the studio felt deep remorse and responded as a caring entity, rather than a for-profit corporation. 

Also, completely unconnected to the studio and done on his own accord, Christian Bale’s visit to the hospital to spend time with those injured and families affected by the shooting is pure class. It has nothing to do with Hollywood as a whole -- it merely paints a picture of the wonderful human being that Bale has become.

In terms of content, we’ve had these discussions dozens of times before and the fact remains, Hollywood will not stop producing violent movies until the audiences cease to buy tickets for them. Violence even permeates the trailers aired on networks, such as the youth-centered one that aired with The Dark Knight Rises MTV footage. You could argue that filmmakers are merely holding a mirror up to our larger society, or that the proliferation of guns in our culture is at an all-time hazardous high, but in the end it’s about what one individual with a completely distorted mental presence can do if they set their mind to it.

Be sure to come back next week as our Movie Fanatic Round Table explores some lighter topics, such as: What movie fans can expect to treasure in the future based on what we collectively saw at Comic-Con, what the best TV-show-to-film adaptation in history is... and which performer out there deserves a John Travolta-type comeback.

Sylvester Stallone talks about the "minor miracle" of getting more or less every big action star in the world together for one film in this new behind-the-scenes featurette for The Expendables 2. Check it out:

 

The Expendables 2 Featurette

The film was written by Stallone, and stars him along with Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Willis is set to star in another action movie this year, Looper, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Check out the Looper trailer for a look.

Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, will be a part of a drug-themed crime drama, Breacher (formerly titled Ten)

The Expendables 2 hits theaters August 17. For more, head over to this cool Expendables 2 Comic-Con poster.

Three new films hit theaters this final weekend in July, hoping to triumph over a superhero in his second week of release. Ben Stiller joins forces with Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill to take part in The Watch, while the Step Up gang is fostering a Step Up Revolution, And lastly, Matthew McConaughey turns dark in the Texas thriller Killer Joe.

The Watch: A trio of comedy stars, Stiller, Vaughn and Hill, are joined by the U.K.’s talented Richard Ayoade in a story that is more about an alien invasion than the neighborhood watch moniker the film used to have before headlines forced its name change. As we state in our The Watch review, the stars alone are worth checking out the film, even if the plot is muddled and slow.

 

The Watch Trailer

Step Up Revolution: Like The Watch should be seen for its comic genius leads, the latest Step Up film is a must-see for people who treasure dance that pushes the envelope. The Miami-set action finds a flash mob dance ensemble creating mass spectacles in order to stop a developer from leveling a South Florida neighborhood. Our Step Up Revolution review delves further.

 

Step Up: Revolution Clip

Killer Joe: The entire cast shines in William Friedkin’s return to the cinema. The director casts a spell that is so ripe with things that are so wrong, and that it is exactly the reason why this film is so right. McConaughey is a lawman, who is also a for-hire killer. When a trailer park family employs his services, as explored in our Killer Joe review, disaster and brilliance emerge.

 

Killer Joe Trailer

Welp, they convinced me. Whatever it was they were trying to convince me of, I'm on board. Cohesive arguments be damned, I say! Give us the dance!

See if the Mob changes your mind too, in this dance clip from Step Up Revolution:

 

Step Up Revolution We Are the Mob Clip

The film is out in theaters today, and stars Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman, Adam Sevani, and Peter Gallagher (American Beauty). It follows a dance crew fighting to save their historic neighborhood from a wealthy real-estate developer.

Read our Step Up Revolution review for our opinion, and let catch the film in theaters now.

Good news for Paul Thomas Anderson fans! His upcoming film The Master will be arriving sooner than we thought!

The Master will now receive a limited release on September 14, instead of the original October 12 date. The film will now be going up against The Perks of Being a Wallflower (watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower trailer), Resident Evil: Retribution, and the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo.

The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, a magnetic intellectual who begins a religious movement. Joaquin Phoenix plays a drifter who becomes a part of Dodd's movement, but then starts to question his teachings. Amy Adams also stars.

This will be Anderson's first film since 2007's 8-time Oscar-nominated film There Will Be Blood. For more, check out The Master trailer.

Boy, this promo is only 12 seconds long, but the activity sure looks paranormal. Check out a new video that teases the full Paranormal Activity 4 trailer, premiering August 1:

 

Paranormal Activity 4 Teaser Trailer

In fact, the teaser mostly uses footage from the previous films, but it certainly does its job in getting viewers pumped up for the first full trailer.

Paranormal Activity 4 is the newest installment in the popular horror movie franchise. It is directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schuman, and scheduled for release on October 19.

With the third film acting as a prequel to the first and second films, the biggest question is when 4 will take place. Perhaps the first trailer will clue us in. Stay tuned!

We teased the possibility last week that The Hobbit could become 3 films, and now Peter Jackson has officially announced that it's true!

Jackson took to Facebook this morning to tell fans that he will shoot a third Hobbit film.

"The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth," wrote Jackson.

"...On behalf of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Wingnut Films, and the entire cast and crew of The Hobbit films, I’d like to announce that two films will become three."

The first installment, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters December 14, with the second film set for December 13, 2013. Jackson made no mention of a shooting or release schedule for the third film.

Take a look at The Hobbit image for more.