My love for Vin Diesel is odd even to me.  He’s not my type but the man makes me giddy and happy when he’s on screen.  I guess its a an animal thing (see what I did there?)

Anyway, he’s one of those bad ass action guys that has charisma and presence (we won’t speak of The Pacifier) and the bonus that he’s a Dungeons and Dragons geek makes me giddy.  It also makes me imagine wonderfully naughty things happening on a table in a basement covered in maps and player sheets where many a D20 and a pewter figure of an elf get knocked off.  But I digress…

The international trailer for Riddick gives us some more meat to chew on of the the 3rd film in the trilogy.  It looks like Riddick may have headed back to the world seen in Pitch Black to hide.  What I want to know is what happened to all the Necromongers?  And I keep reading that Karl Urban is in the cast list but I don’t see him anywhere.

What’s really distracting though is this guy who I’ve dubbed Spanish Gerard Butler.  His name is Jordi Molla but I was getting confused in a few of those shots and waiting for him to kick Riddick off a cliff.

Okay actually its the Wolf of Wall Street, but if I can make a Warren Zevon joke I will do it damn it.

Anyway, this looks phenomenal and will no doubt garner more Oscar noms and wins for most of the people involved.

Also Matthew McConaughey you need to stop being so awesome.  You’ve won my heart as a cannibal (and promptly tried to eat it) and then made me feel more unease in a theater than I ever have with Killer Joe after having made me thank God above for assless chaps.  So yeah, you are a roller coaster of emotion.

The Wolf of Wall Street hits the street on November 15th.

Oh and for all you Walking Dead fans out there, check it out..SHANE IS ALIVE AND LOOKING BETTER THAN EVER

Yes…yes please now.

Get ready for more awesome Korean cinema! This summer will premier the star-studded and entirely Korean made SNOWPIERCER!

Snowpiercer is the story of a not too distant future where the remaining population of earth are all aboard a super-train that travels a loop around the entire globe, winding it’s way around so that one transit takes a full year. Oh ya, and the world is in an ice-age. It’s based on a French graphic novel called ‘Le Transperceneige’. It looks gritty and dark and crazy fun. If you’ve ever seen “The Host“, another film be the same director, Joon-ho Bong, then you’d expect nothing less.

Checkout this awesome cast!

Chris Evans
Tilda Swinton (Yes that’s Tilda Swinton!)
John Hurt
Jamie Bell
Ed Harris
Octavia Spencer
to name a few!
 

It’s here! The trailer for the next installment of the hilariously long dramatization of a tiny but precious little book, The Hobbit!

Having been a little non-plussed by the first one, i’m very anxious to see this next one as the meatiest bits of the book are with the Elves, when they get to Lake Town and then when they have to sneak into the Lonely Mountain. There appears to be, as in the last one, plenty of fabricated supplemental plot-lines, like Gandalf and Radagast doing weird stuff regarding the Necromancer’s presence in the Forest to the south. And also now the addition of some Elven characters that did not appear in the book either, most prominently Legolas. But if that didn’t really bother you in the first one then it shouldn’t been an issue here either.

Noticeably absent from the trailer however is Beorn, the shape-shifting man-bear (or bear-man depending on how you interpret Gandalf’s waffling). If they’ve left him out i know a LOT of people who will be pissed.
*EDIT* Upon closer viewing of the trailer there is a single shot, about one second long, of the Dwarves and Bilbo holding back a giant bear from breaking down a door. This (as is becoming a trend with these films) never happened in the book.

Sigh, i’m not legalistic about these books, i didn’t throw any tantrums over the changes they made in the LOTR series. But i do think these Hobbit movies are playing really really fast and loose. I enjoyed the last one well enough, and i’m sure i’ll enjoy this one too. But i can’t help wondering what it would have been like to see something closer to the book that i love so much.

We’ve had vampires and we’ve had zombies.  Now it sounds like Frankenstein is going to be making a comeback next year.  With Once Upon a Time having had a major plot point which focused on the creature, we’ve got a couple other possible series which could see Victor Frankenstein’s unholy son back in the limelight.  But the big screen is going to be the place to find him as well next year.

Sadly, the Guillermo del Toro led version of the tale seems to be on a permanent hold but you can’t keep a good monster down.  Next year we will be treated to at least two new film versions starring the creature (who’s real name was Adam in the book…just so you know.)

Aaron Eckhart is starring as the creature in I, Frankenstein.  It’s based off the comic book series that was written by Kevin Grevioux the man also responsible for Underworld (and who played the big bad ass werewolf/lycan Raz in the film.)  He’s also in this movie alongside his Underworld co-star Bill Nighy.  It will be hitting screen in January of 2014.  We’ve only got some images so far but they look awesomely gothic:

Also recently announced was the release date for Frankenstein to be directed by Paul McGuigan.  McGuigan has directed some of the best (and nearly all of) the Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  He’s also the director of Lucky Number Slevin.  His version of the tale is being penned by Max Landis, the writer of the underrated The Chronicle.  It’s also set to star Daniel Radcliffe as the hunchback Igor (which should be interesting.)  As of right now no set title has been given to the project (we’re just going to go with Frankenstein right now.)  But the movie has been given a release date of October 2014 (which means it will most likely be taking on Paranormal Activity #121003.)

STARZ also has another new series coming in January.  This one is also a period piece that focuses on Pirates, promising to be a more realistic take on the nefarious sea dogs of old.  Black Sails looks interesting and appropriately grimy and nasty.

Also sailing the channel seas next year is Crossbones on NBC, created by Neil Cross the man behind the amazing series Luther.  It has John Malkovich cast as Blackbeard (which sounds awesome) and is being produced by Josh Friedman who headed The Sarah Conner Chronicles back on Fox.  No footage yet but we do have this niffty image that was released as a promo shot (click to make bigger):

Although STARZ sort of dropped the ball with Camelot (which I really enjoyed) its bringing us another knights and kings soap with a stellar cast with The White Queen.  The story of Elizabeth and Edward, the series is set to focus on the women who plotted and fought battles more bloodthirsty than those on the battlefield.

The cast includes Max Irons (yes, the son of Jeremy,) Janet McTeer, Rebecca Ferguson, and James Frain (who is trying for the Sean Bean award for not living in the films and series he stars in.)

It looks interesting and it’s a nice change from the typical male centered fare.  I think series like TrueBlood and Game of Thrones have shown that strong female leads can keep the audience interested.

The White Queen starts on Starz August 10th