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Peter Travers Reviews Inception, Praises Nolan’s Non-Commercial Head Trip Of A Thriller By Russ Fischer/June 23, 2010 4:53 pm EST Even if this wasn’t one of the most listless summers in recent memory, we’d be pretty well-primed for the arrival of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Given that the studio summer slate has been so utterly dull, Inception is something I know a lot of people are desperate for: a smart, imaginative thriller with a big-budget visuals, a top-notch cast and a fan-favorite director working together....

Q&A: Why Wasn’t ‘Toy Story 3’ Nominated For Best Screenplay? By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 28, 2011 6:00 pm EST When the Academy Award nominations were announced earlier this week, Toy Story 3 got nods for best picture, adapted screenplay, animated feature film, original song, and sound editing. Some of the /Film readers have been wondering — why was Toy Story 3 nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and not Best Original Screenplay. Is it because it is a sequel or based on preexisting story material?...

Screenwriting Bits: ‘Basic Instinct’ Scribe Joe Eszterhas Returns With ‘Lust;’ Chris Denham To Rewrite ‘Area 51’? By Russ Fischer/April 9, 2011 1:30 pm EST Is Paramount doing some late in the game work to Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli’s new film Area 51? Bloody Disgusting reports that Chris Denham has been hired to rewrite some of the film, the wrinkle being that Area 51 wrapped months ago. Reshoots will follow for the ‘found footage’ film that follows " three teens whose curiosity leads them to the notorious Area 51 portion of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada desert....

Sequel Screenplays: Kurtzman And Orci Discuss ‘Star Trek 2’; Danny Trejo Says ‘Machete Kills’ Is Written By Russ Fischer/Dec. 2, 2010 3:30 pm EST Sequel time: Star Trek 2 and Machete Kills couldn’t be more different, but since there’s a slight bit of news about the screenplay progress for each of them, why not make a little sandwich post? First up, Machete star Danny Trejo has told Bloody Disgusting that Robert Rodriguez tells him the script for Machete Kills is done....

Seth Gordon To Direct ‘WarGames’ Reboot For MGM By Russ Fischer/June 23, 2011 6:37 pm EST How would a new version of WarGames work in the age of Anonymous and LulzSec? The original film was released in 1983, when hacking was, to most people, almost a sci-fi concept. So when Matthew Broderick played a kid who hacked into a government installation and almost started WWIII through what he thought was an innocent game of chess with a supercomputer, the movie earned a response more due to paranoid fears of political instability and technological dependence than because anyone really thought that a kid would hack the machine brain of the defense department....

Sony Pictures Classics Buys Sundance Hit ‘Smashed’ Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead By Russ Fischer/Feb. 6, 2012 9:00 am EST Sundance has been over for a week, but a few films are still being picked up by distributors. One of the more acclaimed Sundance hits this year was a picture called Smashed, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul as an alcoholic married couple. When Winstead’s character sobers up, she has to deal with a few lingering issues from her drunk life....

Superhero Bits: Batman, Avengers, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles By Germain Lussier/March 13, 2012 11:00 am EST Want to watch some clips from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon? Why is Batman always running from stuff? What does Peter Dinklage look like as Wolverine? How about Winnie the Pooh characters as The Avengers? Would you like to see images and videos from the re-opening of The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventures?...

Trailer And Clip For ‘Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides’ By Russ Fischer/Jan. 11, 2011 3:00 pm EST Tomorrow night the PBS series will devote a 90-minute episode to Jeff Bridges, in a profile / celebration of his work called Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides. See a trailer for the show, and a bonus clip, after the break. The lesson to take away from this episode of American Masters seems to be: “Jeff Bridges is awesome....

True Grit: See 500 Rooster Cogburns, And Learn The Truth About Matt Damon’s ‘Abs Double’ By Russ Fischer/Jan. 4, 2011 4:00 pm EST Is True Grit going to be the new The Big Lebowski, inspiring fan gatherings all over the country? Probably not, but on the eve of the opening of Joel and Ethan Coen’s new version of True Grit, hundreds of people gathered in front of Judge Parker’s gallows at Fort Smith, Arkansas to partially recreate the classic showdown between Marshall ‘Rooster’ Cogburn and Lucky Ned Pepper....

Universal Studios Sound Department Tour By Peter Sciretta/Oct. 18, 2010 10:00 am EST Our friends at Soundworks have posted a behind-the-scenes tour of Universal Studios located in Universal City, CA hosted by Chris Jenkins, Senior Vice President of Sound Services. Universal’s Sound Editorial and Design Department provides state-of-the-art sound design and editorial services for live action and animated feature films, episodic television, interactive games, theme park rides and TV & airline versions....

VOTD: Every Lightsaber Ignition And Retraction By Peter Sciretta/Aug. 6, 2010 3:00 am EST Someone has too much time on their hands and decided to edit every single lightsaber ignition and retraction from all of the Star Wars live-action movies into one short two and half minute video. You can watch said video embedded after the jump. via: nerdapproved VOTD: Every Lightsaber Ignition And Retraction By Peter Sciretta/Aug. 6, 2010 3:00 am EST...

‘John Carter’ International Trailer Shows More Of Carter’s Trip To Mars By Russ Fischer/Dec. 23, 2011 6:01 pm EST The first teaser for Disney’s John Carter, and the trailer that followed, skipped over most of the details of how Civil War soldier John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is transported to Mars. You see glimpses of his existence on Earth, but for those who don’t know the story on which the movie is based, the real details are still a mystery....

‘Lone Ranger’ Saddles Up After Participants Take 20% Pay Cut; Johnny Depp Calls Tonto A Salute To Native Americans By Russ Fischer/Oct. 13, 2011 10:36 am EST We’re still talking about Disney’s crazy-ass $215m Lone Ranger, to be directed by Gore Verbinski with Johnny Depp playing Tonto and Armie Hammer as the Ranger, because Disney is still planning to make the damn thing. The studio put the project on hold weeks ago, then went through quite a bit of public wrangling over budgets and fees....

‘Now Is Good’ Trailer - Dakota Fanning Has A British Accent; Also Terminal Cancer By Angie Han/March 6, 2012 11:00 am EST Jeremy Irvine was a total unknown when Steven Spielberg plucked him from hundreds of aspiring young actors to lead the World War II drama War Horse, but he’s wasted no time booking subsequent roles to boost his profile. In his first post-War Horse project, Ol Parker’s Now is Good, he romances a cancer-stricken Dakota Fanning as she attempts to seize what’s left of her days....

‘Operation Early Bird’ Is Your Chance To See ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Prologue Early By Germain Lussier/Dec. 9, 2011 11:45 am EST Briefly: The Dark Knight Rises viral site Operation Early Bird updated this morning with a map of IMAX theaters in the United States and United Kingdom where audiences can see (the much buzzed about) Dark Knight Rises prologue in IMAX. For free. Tickets might be sold out already so head there now....

‘Prometheus’ At WonderCon: Ridley Scott On Making More Sci-Fi Movies, The Complications Of CGI, Fassbender On How To Play A Robot By Adam Quigley/March 18, 2012 1:00 pm EST WonderCon may not command the same audience as Comic-Con, but that doesn’t mean its without its fair share of powerhouse panels. Point in case: Prometheus, the full trailer for which has now been made available online, as have some other goodies....

‘Red State’ Character Poster: Melissa Leo As Sarah By Peter Sciretta/Dec. 30, 2010 9:00 am EST Ma’s Meatloaf has premiered the sixth poster from Kevin Smith’s upcoming horror movie Red State. The newest character poster features Melissa Leo’s character, Sarah. As you know, Red State is set to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival next month. Hit the jump to see the poster in full. Melissa Leo as Sarah Red State Character Poster:...

‘Savages’ Trailer: Oliver Stone’s Colorful Drug War By Russ Fischer/April 5, 2012 10:00 am EST Yesterday we saw the first bit of footage from Oliver Stone’s new film Savages, in which the girlfriend (Blake Lively)of two pot growers (Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch) is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel, the better to get said growers to work for the bigger outfit. The film features the sort of cast you’d expect to see Stone pull together: in addition to the leads there are Benicio Del Toro, Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Demian Bichir, Salma Hayek, Joel David Moore and Emile Hirsch, and it is shot in a style reminiscent of a few of his lurid ’90s entries such as U-Turn and Natural Born Killers....

‘W.E.’ Trailer - Madonna’s Second Directorial Effort Looks Pretty, And Pretty Silly By Angie Han/Oct. 19, 2011 3:00 pm EST Madonna’s first directorial effort — 2008’s Filth and Wisdom — wasn’t exactly well received, but you don’t get to be a pop icon of her magnitude without thick skin and a lot of persistence. The multihyphenate returned to the director’s chair this year for W.E., a drama consisting of two interlocking tales: one, the very well-known historical romance between Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough) and King Edward VII (James D’Arcy); the other, a contemporary affair between a married New Yorker (Abbie Cornish) and a museum guard (Oscar Isaac)....

And Now Russell Crowe Is Linked To Jaume Collet-Serra’s ‘Dracula’ Retelling ‘Harker’ By Russ Fischer/Feb. 10, 2012 10:00 am EST Briefly: I don’t know what Russell Crowe’s agent is doing, but it is working. Casting news and rumors have been thick of late for the actor. Though he said the report of MGM looking at him for RoboCop was untrue, there is still the matter of Crowe being in talks for Darren Aronofsky’s Noah and Akiva Goldsman’s adaptation of the Mark Helperin novel Winter’s Tale....