Wow, first open discussion post of 2009. New year, same picture.

Talk about whatever you like as long as it’s related to movies, TV or Screen Rant itself.

Or maybe the fact that we don’t have jetpacks and flying cars like I was promised when I was in grammar school a LOOOOONG time ago!

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This is a must watch if you have any interest at all in action films, martial arts, sword combat or parkour. /Film got a hold of a behind-the-scenes video of the fight choreography training for the upcoming Ninja Assassin movie.

The video features the infamous 87 Eleven stunt performing/coordination and martial arts training group who also worked on hit action movies 300, the Bourne films and this year’s Watchmen (hopefully this year). They do amazing work and are becoming more and more involved in some of the biggest action films around.

Today we have the first bunch of images to be released for the sequel to Neil Marshall’s modern horror masterpiece The Descent, simply subtitled Part 2 (although word is that in the UK it will be called The De2cent). Before I express my rather strong opinion about this, check out the images below:

Apparently, a reader of JoBlo.com has in his possession the 2009 preview issue of Empire and it contains some information on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Specifically, it includes comments from Michael Bay in which he points out that Megatron will not be in the sequel to the 2007 summer blockbuster. In his comments, he references the early leaked images I wrote about back in September of what seemed to be a new tank version of Megatron from the sequel and he says that’s just some new Megatron movie universe toy made by Hasbro.

After seeing the Japanese version of the Watchmen trailer I have to ask myself: is all the best stuff getting outsourced overseas these days?

Seriously though, this latest (and by far greatest) version of the Watchmen trailer gave me chills. You gotta check it out.

A big-screen adaptation of Shazam! has long been in development over the years. And it appeared the project was picking up steam with the news that Peter Segal (the director behind Warner Brother’s recent Summer hit Get Smart) had signed on to direct.

But according to the film’s writer John August (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and Big Fish), Shazam! is in fact dead.

Although rumours have been abounding on the net about the upcoming Steven Spielberg directed and Peter Jackson produced Tintin, the guys over at AICN have managed to confirm via a “trusted source not at all involved in production” that one of those rumours is indeed true. That is that Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are set to star as the characters Thomson and Thompson respectively. They will join already announced cast member Andy Serkis (who’s playing Tintin’s friend Captain Haddock).

There was news at one point of young Thomas Sangster playing the title role but he dropped out due to “scheduling conflicts” - although I can’t see what other movie he would rather do than one directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the most famous and most loved directors out there, and produced by Peter Jackson, the man behind Lord of the Rings, one of the most successful fantasy franchises of all time.

It seemed that the comic book adaptation Jonah Hex was in trouble when Crank director’s Mark Nevaldine and Brian Taylor dropped from directing the project because of “creative differences” (although their script will still be used). However it now seems that the project is back on track as another director has been brought on board - he is Horton Hears a Who! director Jimmy Hayward, making his live-action directorial debut.

I know, I know… what the hell, eh?

For those of you fretting don’t worry - No Country for Old Men star Josh Brolin is still on-board to star, so at least we still have that to cling to. But why did Warner Bros. decide to give the directing gig to the guy who did Horton Hears a Who!?

Today we have a sweet little flash webpage courtesy of Superherohype.com which lists and details all of the powers of the upcoming Push action film.

It’s pretty cool as it details plenty of information about new powers that were not shown in the trailer and it gets me a little more excited to see this movie. You can see it by clicking on the link a bit further down the page.

You’ll notice that the very first power listed in the top left is that of pusher which when clicked, shows and describes the power of that lady from the trailer which the plot of the movie seems to revolve around. The site reveals the name of that character to be Kira Hudson.

Stargate: Atlantis is coming to a close - it’s been a great ride. The show took a bit to adjust to, but after a while the characters and new location grew on me because it had the same feel to the writing that we’ve come to enjoy from the Stargate franchise.

It was hard not to know that last week’s episode was the next to last episode for Atlantis. I went into the episode, titled “Vegas” (written and directed by Robert Cooper), not really looking forward to it. I was coming into it with a bit of a dour perspective because it was some alternate timeline story. My thought? “Why would they do this to us in the next to last episode of the series?”

WARNING: If you DVR’d the episode, a bit of an outline spoiler follows the break.

For me, the only part of the Oscars worth watching every year is their tribute video, highlighting those in the movie industry that passed away in the previous year. It always puts a lump in my throat and often surprises me due to the passing of people I hadn’t heard about. And with the actors who were popular decades ago, it gives me a sense of melancholy nostalgia.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) has put together their version of a tribute video which you can watch below, and it gave me the same feelings I just mentioned (I wasn’t aware they do one every year). It’s a beautiful video and very classy. They did miss a couple of people which I mention below.

A couple of weeks ago Screen Rant reported on the word that Sylvester Stallone was pursuing Sandra Bullock for his new project The Expendables. Well it appears that has been disregarded by a Nu Image/Millenium spokesperson as “merely wishful thinking for fans.”

Well that’s disappointing. (Although offline, site-runner Vic did say he thought it highly unlikely Bullock would appear in the film.)

I was really looking forward to the notion of seeing Stallone and Bullock reunite after well over a decade since they appeared together in Demolition Man. They had good chemistry together in that flick and it’s a shame we won’t get to see that again in The Expendables.

A new poster for the newest live-action Street Fighter movie subtitled The Legend of Chun-Li has made its way online. The movie, directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Cradle 2 The Grave), is a PG-13 adaptation of the popular video game. It will star Kristin Kreuk, Michael Clarke Duncan, Neal McDonough, Taboo, Chris Klein, Moon Bloodgood, Edmund Chen, Cheng Pei Pei, Josie Ho and Robin Shou.

Check out the poster below:

Short Version: While Valkyrie offers a few thrills, the rest is just OK.

Screen Rant reviews Valkyrie

Valkyrie is director Bryan Singer’s WWII true-life ensemble film about a cabal of Nazi officers who conspired  to kill Adolf Hitler during the later days of the war. Overshadowing all of that is, of course, Tom Cruise, who stars as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the German officer who hatches the plan to overthrow Hitler, codenamed Valkyrie.

Click to continue "Valkyrie Review"

Since there hasn’t been any coverage of the new Tim Burton produced animated film 9 here on Screen Rant thus far, I thought an update was in order.

The film will be directed not by Burton himself (who’s serving as producer, alongside Wanteddirector Timur Bekmambetov) but by Shane Acker, who directed the same-titled short film that this is based on. It will be written by Pamela Petter, who wrote Monster House and Tim Burton’s own Corpse Bride, and will be voiced by Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly.

Short Version: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a technical masterpiece that plays like a dream in motion - but it’s a dream that drags on just a bit too long.

Screen Rant Reviews The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film adapted from the 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, about a man who is born old and proceeds to age in reverse until his death. The film adaptation takes this interesting premise and stretches it out (way, way, out) into a lengthy meditation on the nature of life, death, and everything human that is crammed in between.

Click to continue "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review"

It’s that time of the week again. Sunday is here and therefore we must be due a Weekend Movie News Wrap Up. This week we look at the box office as well as:

No Cleo for Hugh Jackman; Mars attacks G.I. Joe; Thor lands in present day and Zombie unleashes a look at Michael Myers in Halloween 2.

With nothing but torment, the BBC1 teased people throughout the show with only the age of the new actor to play Doctor Who, as being 26. Tweeters and bloggers alike were going crazy. Some didn’t think it right that the new Doctor be younger than they are, but then, they just don’t get it then, do they?

What took me by surprise was that despite all the names that were thrown in the mix, a new one suddenly popped up as a favorite before the announcement: Matt Smith. I did my research and when it was announced, I was no longer surprised or saying what everyone else was saying: Who!?

Northampton-born actor Matt Smith has been officially announced as the new Doctor Who. Smith will appear in the iconic role starting in 2010, taking over the role from David Tennant. Smith is the 11th actor to take on the role and youngest actor ever to play the good Doctor.

The blurring of merchandising and film continues with Mattel aggressively pursuing bringing a “Hot Wheels” movie to the big screen. I’m sure I don’t need to explain to anyone what Hot Wheels are - those cool little metal toy cars that (at least if you’re a guy) you’ve known and loved at some point in your life.

So with brand recognition that strong, how could they NOT make a movie about them, right? RIGHT?

Over at Esquire there’s an interview with Clint Eastwood, and I just had to post some excerpts here. This has been a rough year for Hollywood in regards to the passing away of some awesome actors and directors from an earlier era. An era before political correctness and sensitivity training ruled the day.

We’ve lost the likes of old greats like Roy Scheider, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman and Sydney Pollack (among many others). And I’m already dreading the day we lose Clint Eastwood.