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Will Ferrell Speaks Spanish? From the Casa de mi Padre Trailer, Yes!

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Will Ferrell should be funny in any language and that is the hope of producers of Casa de mi Padre. The Spanish language comedy has premiered its first trailer. Ferrell plays a rancher who must deal with the Mexican mob and their efforts to steal his land.

Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch his entire life. The property has fallen on hard times when Armando’s brother comes home with a new fiance and promises of riches. When the fiance falls for Armando and those riches come with a cost, our adventure begins.


The Hobbit: An Unexpected Still

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has its trailer premiering December 21 before showings of The Adventures of Tintin. To fan that fire of expectations, Warner Bros. has released a new still from Peter Jackson’s latest foray into Middle Earth. It features Martin Freeman in the role of a lifetime as Bilbo.

Martin Freeman in The Hobbit
The Hobbit is the prequel to Lord of the Rings and follows Hobbit patriarch Bilbo as he joins the effort to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. On that quest he meets Gandalf and another soul who will lurk during the entire series, Gollum. Oh… and he comes in possession of a certain ring.

Two New Avengers Stills: Iron Man Takes Off

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Fresh off the heat that was the new footage in the German trailer for The Avengers, Movie Fanatic has the new stills from summer 2012’s most anticipated movie. Robert Downey Jr. is flying, whether it's topping the box office with Sherlock Holmes or in this brand spanking new still of him as Iron Man from The Avengers.

Robert Downey Jr in The Avengers
The Avengers premieres May 4, 2012 and our second still only makes that date seem oh-so far away. Chris Hemsworth is at his Thor best while Chris Evans shows off his hero complex as Captain America. Those two heroes' origin films were on our Top 10 Action-Thrillers of 2011 and to see their stars combine forces has us just a little bit eager for the cold of winter to drift away and welcome the heat of summer.

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth Star in The Avengers

21 Jump Street Prom Poster Premieres

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Hot on the heels of the 21 Jump Street trailer premiere, the film has released a new poster. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are heading back to high school to stop a crime wave and may be the most dapper cops at the prom.

21 Jump Street Poster
21 Jump Street has promised a cameo from Johnny Depp to join Tatum and Hill’s costars Ice Cube, Ellie Kemper and Brie Larson. If Johnny’s on board, the ride back to Jump Street could be pretty smooth. 

In 21 Jump Street, Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are rookie cops, fresh out of the police academy. Eager to serve, an opportunity to go undercover takes them off their bicycle-riding, beachside duty and promises to be their ticket out. Of course, high school is cruel and before long, Schmidt and Jenko find themselves as vulnerable as they were as teens.

DVD Releases: Colombiana Kicks & Straw Dogs Misses

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Christmas must be coming because it seems every genre of film has a DVD and Blu-Ray release today. Arriving today is the family friendly Dolphin Tale, the comedy Midnight in Paris, Glee: The 3D Concert Movie for the music fans and dramas Warrior, Straw Dogs and Colombiana -- cinematic stocking stuffers abound. 

Dolphin Tale: Morgan Freeman and Harry Connick Jr. lead the cast in the true story of Winter the dolphin. Winter was found with her tail severed. A community pulled together while a doctor who possessed a dream combined forces to save the life of a single extraordinary dolphin named Winter.

Dolphin Tale Blu-RayColombiana: Zoe Saldana scorches as a woman who watched her family killed as a little girl. All grown up, she’s exacting revenge. The action is top notch. Saldana has a star-making turn and what works so well about Colombiana is it was fantastic on the big screen, but intimate enough to also be brilliant on the small screen.

Colombiana Blu-Ray
Straw Dogs: James Marsden steps into Dustin Hoffman’s shoes as Straw Dogs gets a 2011 remake. Kate Bosworth also stars in a film that is at times scary and other times not so scary. Of the week’s releases, it is the weakest link.

Straw Dogs Blu-Ray
Midnight in Paris: Woody Allen deserves some Oscar love for this surprise hit of the summer. Midnight in Paris would become Allen’s highest-grossing movie of his career. Owen Wilson stars as an American author in Paris with his fiance and her family. When he becomes mysteriously transported to another era, rich with Parisian cultural history, Wilson -- and the audience -- cannot look back, er, forward.

Midnight in Paris Blu-Ray
Glee The 3D Concert Movie: The Glee 3D Concert Movie didn’t exactly set any fires at the box office. But it is a terrific gift for Glee fans, whether for Christmas or when it arrived on 3D screens last summer. It is more than a concert film. The Glee movie delves into the lives of those touched by the television phenomenon.


Glee 3D Blu-Ray

Warrior: Warrior is less of an MMA movie than it is a family drama that truly pulls at the heartstrings. All actors involved, Nick Nolte, Tom Hiddleston and Tom Hardy deserve Oscar attention. Let's hope that its arrival on DVD and Blu-Ray will allow many more to see the film that should have been a critical and box office smash.

Warrior Blu-Ray

Star Trek Sequel News: Trek 2 Will Have No Original Stars

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As J.J. Abrams has put his Super 8 experience to bed with the release of the film on Blu-Ray, he is now honing in (finally) on that Star Trek sequel. Abrams has given himself a deadline by announcing a Star Trek 2 release date of summer 2013. And now there is some casting news of note.

Captain Kirk Photo
After Leonard Nimoy famously appeared in Star Trek in a neat piece of time-bending storytelling, Abrams is saying that his sequel will not have a single soul from the original 1960s series.

Although the Nimoy visit in the first of the new series of Star Trek films was fantastic, we welcome the decision of Abrams to stick with his main cast led by Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine. There had been rumors, we think started by hardcore fans, that William Shatner would make an appearance in the Star Trek sequel. Not so much.

Dark Knight Rises Trailer Fallout: Nolan Won't Alter Bane's Voice

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Movie Fanatic premiered The Dark Knight Rises trailer 24 hours ago and although excitement for director Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film was high, there was one issue: Fans have complained on message boards that the voice of Tom Hardy as Bane is unrecognizable.

When videos first leaked from the set, it was noticeable. Most thought that it would be adjusted by Nolan by the time the trailer arrived. However ...

A high-placed source within the Nolan camp told The Hollywood Reporter, “Chris wants the audience to catch up and participate rather than push everything at them. He doesn’t dumb things down. You’ve got to pedal faster to keep up.”

Check out The Dark Knight Rises trailer above and let us know what you think... can you make out what Bane is saying?

The Hobbit Trailer: An Unexpected Journey Begins!

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Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien and the prequel to the award winning Lord of the Rings film adaptations, is unquestionably one of next year's most anticipated films.

The first trailer, released last night and posted below, should only fuel anticipation for this cinematic marvel starring Martin Freeman as title character Bilbo Baggins, and a slew of other familiar faces.

In his quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug, Bilbo is approached by wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), who guides him along the way.

Bilbo finds himself joining 13 dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakensheild (Richard Armitage) on a quest through treacherous lands swarming with goblins, orcs, sorcerers... you name it.

Bilbo also meets a creature that will change his life forever: Gollum (Andy Serkis). That voice ...

As you'd expect from the people behind LOTR, it's a sight to behold. The only drawback? Waiting until December 2012. Come along for your first glimpse inside Bilbo Baggins' world in The Hobbit trailer ...


David Craig and Rooney Mara Explore Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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Movie Fanatic flew to New York City to sit down with the cast of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Our first interview is with the film’s main stars, Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. Craig flew from London where he is filming Skyfall to extol the virtues of Dragon Tattoo. We give you a front row seat to the mutual admiration society that happens when the stars of the American version of author Stieg Larsson’s vision get together.

Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Mara and Craig are Dragon Tattoo’s Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, respectively. Their journey into the world of Larsson’s thriller and director David Fincher is coming to a zenith as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is finally in theaters. Craig and Mara take Movie Fanatic inside the Dragon.

Movie Fanatic: Ms. Mara, how easy was it to leave Lisbeth behind?
 
Rooney Mara: You work at a 100 mph for over a year on something and you wake up one day and you have nothing to do. I think it was harder to leave the whole experience behind you. It is harder to come off of an experience where you are incredibly focused and hard working.

Movie Fanatic: Do you fear any backlash to making a film based on a book that was made into a film just a few years ago?

Daniel Craig: I think that the source material is good enough. I think that everyone wins in this situation. I think that we have 65 million readers of the book and we have lots of people that have seen the Swedish version of the movie. We may get millions of other people to see this movie and everybody is going to back and read the book and watch the Swedish version. It is a win-win.

Movie Fanatic: Rooney, you were famously given a list of things you’d have to do to play Lisbeth. What types of things did David Fincher have on that list?
 
Rooney Mara: David had told the casting director to let me know before I went down the long road of auditioning that if I were to get the part that I would have to become a smoker and have to go off and be among myself for a year. I would have to be butt naked, do these horrible rape scenes, and ride a motorcycle
 
Movie Fanatic: What was the most difficult thing for you to accomplish off the list?
 
Rooney Mara: It was all challenging. I couldn’t pick one thing that was the hardest. The motorcycle was definitely the thing that I was the least excited about doing. It just seemed very dangerous to me.
 
Movie Fanatic: Did Daniel ever get on the bike with you?
 
Rooney Mara: Daniel wouldn’t get on the back.
 
Daniel Craig: That is not true!

[We all laugh]

Movie Fanatic: Lisbeth and Mikael are clearly drawn to each other in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. What do you see as what attracts these polar opposites together?


Daniel Craig: I think it has a lot to do with honesty and trust. I think that is what was so great in the books. They shouldn’t have a relationship and they shouldn’t even meet in life. I think that Salander has never really gotten to trust anyone or there are few people in her life that are straight with her and he is. They come from different social classes and whatever. He comes in and she has broken the law and has hacked into his life. He walks in and says, “Forget that. I think you’re great and I would like to work with you and I’ll walk away.” I think that this appeals to her.
 
Rooney Mara: I agree. It is that and also I think that he is one of the first people in her life to ever just appreciate her for the way she is with any sort of decency or respect.

Movie Fanatic: Rooney and Daniel, millions have read these books. As actors, how do you balance characterization and expectation?
 
Rooney Mara: To be honest, I didn’t really think much about what other people thought of her. I used what I imagined it to be. I had read all three books and I had a really clear picture of who this girl was. Luckily, David’s idea was pretty similar.
 
Daniel Craig: Exactly. In this industry, the less you think about what other people are thinking about, the better and more original you can be. You can’t go into project thinking. “How will these people like it? How will those people like it?” You want to be single minded about it. You can’t please everybody.
 
Movie Fanatic: How did you find Mr. Fincher as a collaborator?
 
Rooney Mara: David and I read through the script a few times with just us together. Then all of us sat around together and went through the scenes with [screenwriter] Steve Zaillian and Stellan [Skarsgard]. We did do a lot of rehearsal.
 
Movie Fanatic: Daniel, that contraption you were tied up to in a certain basement. You looked uniquely uncomfortable.
 
Daniel Craig: I took it home [laughs].
 
Movie Fanatic: Were there any mishaps with that and how many takes did that take?

Daniel Craig: Just another day working with David Fincher.
 
Movie Fanatic: Rooney, did you see people looking at you differently if you kept things there?

Craig and Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Rooney Mara: The eyebrows remained bleach and the piercings that I got that were real obviously stayed in. Obviously, I wasn’t wearing my wardrobe at home at night. The hair was stuck to my head so there wasn’t much I could about that. I expected people to treat me much differently, but it really didn’t happen. The biggest change that I noticed was that when you look slightly off in that way people sort of pay less attention to you and their expectations of you are lowered. I didn’t mind that and actually enjoyed that.

Movie Fanatic: How was it like shooting Dragon's stunts as someone who is actually scared at a speeding bullet flying towards them, versus what you’re doing in James Bond?
 
Daniel Craig: The most important thing about this character for me was to make him as real and as believable as possible. Obviously, there is another person that I play that would deal with it in a different way. It wasn’t like I was ever thinking about that. I wanted to put the reality into this. He gets shot and runs away screaming like anybody else would. That was really the key and it was dead easy. Just to be sort of by the by, but that is what I love about this character and the relationship he has with Salander. He doesn’t have to prove that he is a man. He is a guy and he doesn’t have to go around beating his chest and he is very happy to fall into this relationship where she is literally wearing the trousers.

Fast and Furious: Sixth and Seventh Films Coming

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Vin Diesel, producer and star of the Fast and the Furious franchise, has said that a sixth film is coming. In fact, that sixth film will be split into two parts -- a la Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So technically Furious fans, we have sixth and seventh movies coming!

Fast & Furious Photo
Diesel talked to The Hollywood Reporter about the decision to take a plot jammed sixth film and split it into two. “With the success of this last one, and the inclusion of so many characters, and the broadening of scope, when we were sitting down to figure out what would fit into the real estate of number six, we didn’t have enough space,” Diesel said.

Fast Five was one of our Top 10 Action Films of 2011.

Both new films will be shot at the same time and judging by the last installment’s $626 million global take, making two movies appears to be a no-brainer.

The Hunger Games: Elizabeth Banks' Effie Unleashes Capitol Colours

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We have breaking Hunger Games news out of The Capital. Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) is the new face of any districts’ favorite nail polish series, Capitol Colours.

Hunger Games Star Elizabeth Banks
Lionsgate, after recently releasing the new Hunger Games poster through an internet-wide campaign (of which Movie Fanatic proudly participated), is back with the Christmas treats by giving us a new image from the film contained in the Effie Capital Colours announcement. The 12 nail polishes are inspired by the 12 districts of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games.

The photo above is our first new still from Hunger Games in what seems like forever. The Elfie ad will be simply one of what we know will be an army of stills, trailers, clips and posters to keep us going until The Hunger Games debuts March 23.

Casa de mi Padre Poster: Will Ferrell Rides Cluelessly

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After premiering the Casa de mi Padre trailer yesterday, we felt it a fitting compliment to give our readers a look at the film’s new poster. After seeing star Will Ferrell in his comedic (and Spanish) element, the tone of the latest one-sheet should amuse.

Casa de mi Padre One Sheet
Sure, the idea of Ferrell parodying the Spanish language telenovellas has high humor hopes written all over it. But what gets us… is the idea of Parks and Recreation star Nick Offerman playing a U.S. Immigration Agent!

Picking the Top 10 Tom Cruise Movies: Mission Impossible

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Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol impressively landed in second place at this weekend’s box office, after opening on IMAX theaters only. Tom Cruise’s latest adventure premieres on screens nationwide today, December 21. Movie Fanatic asked you what your favorite Cruise movie was and now, to celebrate Mission Impossible 4 and its impressive return to greatness -- check out our Ghost Protocol review, we give you our Top 10 Tom Cruise movies of all time.

10. Risky Business
Cruise slid across a hardwood floor as Bob Seger sang and he announced to the world that a Hollywood superstar has arrived. During a time when teen comedies chose raunch as their comedic means, Risky Business came along and not only introduced the world to Cruise, but also showed that a teen movie could be smart, sassy and raunchily funny.

Tom Cruise in Risky Business
9. War of the Worlds
Cruise hooked up with a movie heavyweight for the first time when he starred in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Many thought, “Why remake a classic?” Why not when you have the star power of Cruise and the visual gifts of Spielberg?!

8. Far and Away
Some adore and others loathe this Ron Howard picture that starred then husband and wife Cruise and Nicole Kidman. We love its sweeping romance, adventure and rare cinematic chemistry that transferred from real life to the screen. Normally, real life husbands and wives fail in the onscreen chemistry department. With Cruise anchoring, he and Kidman kick ass.

7. Interview with the Vampire
There was, and still is, discourse about whether Cruise was right for the role of Lestat. We think Cruise nailed it, but this is about the top movies of Cruise. What makes Interview with a Vampire a great film is Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst and the landscape provided by author Anne Rice.

6. Rain Man
A year before Oscar would finally recognize Cruise and nominate him for Born on the Fourth of July; he scored a stellar part opposite Oscar winner in Dustin Hoffman and went toe-to-toe with him. Cruise showed incredible range in Rain Main and flexed his acting muscles in a role he took to prove something to himself.

5. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Ghost Protocol is not only one of the Top 10 Action-Thrillers of 2011, but one of the best films of the year and absolutely one of Cruise’s best films… period. Normally the fourth film in any franchise fails to live up to expectations. Mission Impossible’s fourth foray into the world of Ethan Hunt was a Cruise masterpiece of performance and persona meeting at the right place at the right time.

4. A Few Good Men
Speaking of going toe-to-toe with great Oscar winning actors (like Rain Man above), the courtroom scene where Jack Nicholson barks, “You can’t handle the truth!” only works as well as it does because of the fierce questioning laid forth by Tom Cruise prior to Nicholson’s explosion. Cruise combined his The Firm legal swagger with the military panache he learned in Tom Gun to craft a military legal eagle that soared.

3. Born on the Fourth of July
As an actor, pure thespian we’re talking, there is no better performance by Cruise than in Born on the Fourth of July. Perhaps it was the telling of a powerful real man’s story? It doesn’t matter how Cruise found his power for the film, his portrayal of Ron Kovic is the stuff of moviemaking legend.

2. Top Gun
If Risky Business put Cruise on the map, then Top Gun made him an A-list superstar. The Tony Scott directed patriotic fest channeled Cruise’s innate cockiness into the character of Maverick that produced pure gold. Top Gun, in our mind, is a virtual tie with the number one Cruise film. But, because of the quality of the actual film…

Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire

1. Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire is our top Cruise movie of all time. From beginning to end, it is a cinematic journey that is not only the superstar at his best, but a film that goes down as one of Hollywood’s best. Cruise’s sports agent loses it all, only to find there was so much more to life than he ever thought. It has to be one of the top character arcs of the last two decades. That is thanks to the talent of a certain Tom Cruise.

The Adventures of Tintin Movie Review: Is Tintin Terrific?

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Much of the world is completely enamored with Tintin and his adventures. There is a big question mark that the European born character could cross the Atlantic and become a huge movie star in The Adventures of Tintin. After witnessing Tintin on the big screen, the answer to that inquiry should be a resounding yes. With Steven Spielberg directing and Peter Jackson producing, the introduction of Tintin to U.S. audiences should be effortless.

The Adventures of Tintin: New Still
Tintin is a young reporter who lives in London and has become quite the celebrity solving the cases no one else can solve. Along with his trusty dog Snowy always at his side, on the pages of the Tintin series, adventure permeates. Spielberg’s Tintin has strong Raiders of the Lost Ark feel and thus a project has found its perfect projector in the Dean of Film Adventure.

The Adventures of Tintin surrounds the title character as one of his most challenging riddles arrives. After coming into possession of a model ship, he is warned trouble will follow. Sure enough, when he returns home after going out a little later, the ship is gone, his home is trashed… but one clue remains.

Tintin is voiced by Jaime Bell (Billy Elliot) who reteams with his Defiance costar Daniel Craig, who portrays dual roles, Ivanovich Sakharine and the evil Red Rackham. Every good adventure should have a crisp hero villain battle at its core that is often a fragile thing to achieve on film, especially when animation is involved and actors rarely share studio time. Craig and Bell are as swift in their story collision course and each are only outdone by the Captain.

Andy Serkis, in dual roles as Captain Haddock and Sir Francis Haddock, does it again. His work with motion capture is under serious consideration for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. In The Adventures of Tintin, Serkis explores new territory. His Captain character is boorish while still possessing huge heaps of compassion.

The production of Tintin is mind blowing. It is a visual marvel that Jackson and Spielberg have crafted. The audiences’ mind will constantly be asking: Is this real or is this animation? We’ve come a long way from the incredibly good for its time Polar Express, and more recently A Christmas Story. Tintin and his adventure’s sweeping action sequences speak to that immensely. When seamless animation is executed, motion capture or otherwise, thrills and suspense can interweave flawlessly and produce brilliance.

What holds Tintin back is its pace. It feels long at 107 minutes. Spielberg, and this is why we love him, is from the old school of not employing the tightest cutting when it comes to long intros or exits. He is a visual filmmaker who never wants to leave out a thing of beauty. When the action of Tintin is cooking, the film sizzles. Yet, some of the interlude scenes lack luster.

Overall, with a well executed story, astonishingly gorgeous filmmaking, solid performances and a film that entertains, The Adventures of Tintin is a solid holiday film.

It's A The Hobbit Day: New Poster Too!

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Break out the mugs at the tavern because it’s quite the day at The Shire in the world of The Hobbit. Movie Fanatic premiered the new trailer for The Hobbit earlier, and now the studio has given us a brand new poster.

The Hobbit Poster
And, if that wasn’t enough, we now have an official synopsis. So, ladies and gentleman of Middle Earth, we give you the happening on The Hobbit:

The Hobbit follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
 
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever... Gollum.
 
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities... A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.


Woman in Black: Two Daniel Radcliffe Stills Scare Us

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The more we see of Daniel Radcliffe and his first post-Potter role, the creepier we get. It’s not the actor, simply the feel of The Woman in Black. The horror flick is the first film role after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Should it win an Oscar?) and follows a mystery with horrific overtones.

Daniel Radcliffe and Cirian Hinds in Woman in Black
Radcliffe portrays an attorney finishing up business for a recently deceased client at his home. Things go bump in the night and our journey begins. What’s grabbing our eye with the release of these two new Woman in Black stills is the presence of Cirian Hinds. He seriously impressed us in The Debt, then in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and we cannot wait to see who he has morphed himself into with The Woman in Black.

Cirian Hinds in The Woman in Black
The film arrives February 3, 2012.

Top 10 Rented Netflix Movies Ever: Which Is Number One?

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Netflix is probably excited to enter 2012 with its mixed 2011 behind it. The company is still the nation’s leading movie rental service and as we head into 2012, Netflix has released its top 10 list of their most rented movies since their Inception. Get it?

Top 10 Netflix Rented Movies:

10. No Country for Old Men
Javier Bardem won an Oscar. The Coen brothers crafted an instant classic and legions of movie aficionados rented our first title.

Anton Chigurh Picture
9. Iron Man
Could Robert Downey make it as a superhero? That question was more than answered with Iron Man. The 2008 flick is still as fun to watch today as it was the first time.

8. Inception
Christopher Nolan’s wild ride that is Inception starred Leonardo DiCaprio and still has people trying to figure this film out as it continues to dominate the rental charts.

7. Sherlock Holmes
Robert Downey does it again! Both Sherlock and Iron Man are in our Top 10 Robert Downey Movies and judging by the number of times Sherlock and Iron Man have been rented, a nation agrees.

6. The Departed
The Departed is our second Oscar winner for Best Picture after No Country for Old Men. Director Martin Scorsese finally got his Oscar for directing DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson in this crime classic.

Frank Costello Photo
5. The Hurt Locker
Boom! Our third Oscar-winning Best Picture is the most recent. The 2009 winner of film’s top prize starts our top five countdown to the most rented movie in Netflix history.

4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Brad Pitt went from old to young and director David Fincher had his most popular film. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is, frankly, a surprise to Movie Fanatic that it is not only on this list, but as high as number four. A terrific film, guess it’s holding up well!

3. The Bucket List
Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson popularized the phrase Bucket List and put it right into the pop culture vernacular with their film of the same name.

2. Crash
And now the fourth Oscar winner for Best Picture lands at number two and it was a shock to the world when it was announced that it had won. The heavy favorite that year was Brokeback Mountain, which is not on this list. Hmmm...

1. The Blind Side
Sandra Bullock won her Oscar for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, a fantastic film no matter how many times you see it. The fact that it is Netflix’s top rented flick is not surprising at all.

The Blind Side poster
What films did you expect to see on this list? Comment below…

The Hobbit Trailer: What We Loved

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Upon watching the highly anticipated The Hobbit trailer, one thing ran through our mind here at Movie Fanatic. The fact that Peter Jackson has returned to Middle Earth is beyond necessary and the proof is in the glimpse we got this morning with the film’s first trailer.

Ian McKellen in The Hobbit
Many names had been attached to the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, but for whatever reason so many of them did not work out. There was financing trouble, then the merger of New Line (who owned the Lord of the Rings movies) with Warner Bros. and more directors fell by the wayside.

Jackson had previously stated that he did not want to return to J.R.R. Tolkien’s world and was seeking new challenges. Time would find him changing his mind and as a fan of the series who now has seen the first images of An Unexpected Journey (the first of the two Hobbit parts), all is right in the universe.

The trailer also gave us a re-introduction to Gollum and we even got a “precious” out of the guy!

With a few more years of technological growth in terms of filmmaking, the other aspect of The Hobbit trailer that struck us is how Jackson utilizes the medium impeccably well. What we’ve seen in the trailer appears to tell us that story triumphs science. New Zealand is still his canvas and the effects he employs are merely his paint brush. The colors come from his vision, his actors' performances and the words of one of the greatest storytellers of all time.

Prometheus: One Day Teaser to the Trailer

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It’s only one day away: The trailer for Prometheus! In honor of the less-than-24-hour arrival of the Prometheus trailer, the studio has released a one-day-away teaser to the first peek at Ridley Scott’s newest science fiction opus.

Stay with Movie Fanatic as we premiere the Prometheus trailer tomorrow!

Dragon Tattoo Exclusive: Legend Christopher Plummer Visits Movie Fanatic

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Christopher Plummer is a film icon and could easily rest on his laurels, but 2011 was possibly his best year ever. The 80-year-old actor is visiting with Movie Fanatic at the Crosby Hotel in New York City reminiscing on the year that was, and taking us inside the David Fincher world of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. Plummer even shocks us hilariously when we walk in the room to meet him.

Christopher Plummer in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
"Come here, quick and look. There’s a man out there who is about to be in trouble. He took someone’s parking space and then parked his car horribly,” Plummer said as he smiled looking out the hotel’s window. “Look at him taking up the whole street.”

After sharing a laugh, the legend asks me to take a seat. We start by asking Plummer about the best line in the entire movie, and it’s in the trailer. He delivers a line where he describes his family to Daniel Craig’s Mikael Blomkvist using the most loathsome of descriptions. “You die for lines like that," Plummer said as he laughed. “You hope you get them all the time. If they’re so well written, which this was, all you have to do is say them.”

“It’s a lovely line and it’s very Swedish,” he said and laughs again.

The legendary actor has had quite a year. His turn in Beginners (one of our Best of 2011, so far) was astounding and critics' awards and nominations are beginning to pile up, like his recent Best Supporting Acting nod from the Golden Globes. “It’s been a great year. I’ve been incredibly busy. That’s wonderful to be remembered by them,” he said of being honored by his peers. The Santa Barbara Film Festival is even awarding Plummer their Modern Master Award. “If your own peers like you, well, usually they hate you [laughs]. Maybe that will only last this year. They’ll go back to hating me.”

We then asked Plummer what he thought it was about Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that has made it an international phenomenon. “Most of the world has a morbid curiosity. If you’re a mystery writer and a journalist at the same time [like Larsson], you’re going to try to squeeze the most horrific thing that you possibly can,” Plummer said.

“It’s a wonderful yarn, too. The public will always be fascinated a) with horror, and b) with a wonderful tale. To top it all off, the audience is really going to be pulled in, particularly in the movie version because of that androgynous creature called Lisbeth Salander, who is so incredibly played by Rooney Mara. That is a performance that is so courageous, to say the least, as well as heartbreaking. It is extraordinary the relationship she has with Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist.”

Speaking of Mr. Craig, who knew he has his biggest fan in Christopher Plummer? “Personally, he’s a charming, very funny guy,” he said and laughed. Professionally, Plummer was blown away by his subtle power and the selfless act of Craig’s playing a man whom we don’t normally see from the actor who is Bond.

“And as an actor, he is simply wonderful in an extremely difficult role. He’s playing a loser. The way he tackled it was fascinating because he didn’t push it. He was in himself and doing a job and getting it done. Suddenly, later on in the story, his warmth comes through. You see there’s something behind this guy. She sees it too because she needs it, even though she denies it most of the time [laughs]. I’ve always admired Daniel since his work in Munich, he was absolutely marvelous. Then, he did the James Bond. I thought, 'Yes, he is extremely good as James Bond -- a real, tough guy, man.' But, he’s such a more wonderful actor than that. And here he is in a wonderful part and if he goes on doing the trilogy which sees his role becoming deeper, I think he’ll make a great success out of this. He’s only going to do films of great quality and James Bond, too. Why not?”

The director of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher, is notorious for his dozens of takes on his sets. But Plummer did not find Fincher’s methods taxing in the least. “He’s so versatile. He’s a chameleon. He becomes the story that he is shooting. None of them look alike. Panic Room was miles away from Social Network -- you wouldn’t have known it was the same guy directing it,” Plummer said.

“There are no tricks with him or signature way of cutting. He treats each story honestly for the story’s sake so that you don’t believe that anybody is directing. That is the highest you can give to a director. You see him maneuvering Tattoo. He comes in and does a different kind of directing, he orchestrates with his camera and editing. He’s one of the best directors in the world, no question. He doesn’t play the game. He plows on and does it. That’s why I love him so much.”

Christopher Plummer and Daniel Craig in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
At 80 years of age, Plummer could easily retire and rest on his well-earned laurels. That is never going to happen. “Retirement is out of the question,” Plummer said and smiled. “I have to keep going. First of all, I have great fun in my profession. I don’t find it boring at all. I love the craft of acting. It keeps your mind fresh. You’ve got to keep working hard.”

Plummer has appeared in a slew of different movies from all kinds of genres as he’s starred in Priest, Last Station, Dragon Tattoo and Syriana -- and that’s just in the last few years. Variety is the spice of life for this actor. “So many actors like being a star, so they remain the same. That is a movie star,” Plummer said. “Acting for me is variety -- being someone else. Then it’s on to the next film where I’m completely someone else. There’s always a disguise of some kind.”

Alas, our time with an icon was coming to a close. So, we just had one more question: What does Plummer appreciate most about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? “I like the fact that this is particularly Swedish,” Plummer added. “It has all that grey haunting and ominous atmosphere hanging over it that hangs over all Swedes, who deal with it in a very sophisticated way.”

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