MIB 3 Trailer Released

One can only hope the third installment is better than the second movie.

The trailer does seem to hold out hope:

Peter Jackson Releases The Hobbit Trailer

It arrives December 2012.

Trailer Released For Men In Black3

The original was great. The sequel was adequate.

Here's hoping the third movie harkens back to the original.

The Avengers Trailer Hits Screens

If you're a comic book fan, or a fan of the Iron Man movies, then this is right up your alley.

It's The Avengers trailer, and it shows some familiar faces, and a couple of new ones.



Oh, and that music you hear in the background? It's none other than Academy Award winner Trent Reznor's We're In This Together Now. He seems to be the go-to guy for movies these days (can't imagine why not!).

Muppets Trailer Parodies Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

That's the Muppets movie reboot, starring Jason Segal and Amy Adams.

For comparison, here's the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trailer starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, and Robin Wright and featuring the music of Academy Award winner Trent Reznor (he of the NIN):

How Twilight Should Have Ended

Because enough can't be said of how vapid and supremely stupid this teen romance/vampire series is; everything could have been resolved after one teeny weeny change in the first book:



This movie series has been on Showtime pretty much 20x a week and it's impossible to miss one of the broadcast times. The movies are a train wreck of suck. The acting is bad. The story is awful. The movie literally sucks the life out of the Olympic Peninsula where much of the movie takes place; I've actually driven through Forks and those vistas and backdrops are spectacular - yet they've been turned in to drab and featureless.

Oh, and there's more romance between Edward and Jacob than anything shown in the film between Bella and those two.

The Official Trailer For The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Released

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (the Hollywood take):



Note that the browser might freeze for a moment while the video loads, but it doesn't seem to have any issues after. The trailer soundtrack includes Trent Reznor's take on the Led Zeppelin classic Immigrant Song, and we get quick glances at Mara Rooney's take on Lisbeth Salander and Daniel Craig playing Mikail Blomquist.

Earlier videos purporting to be the trailer have been pulled and differ slightly in content from this version. (HT: Mrs. Lawhawk)

Jason Segal's Muppets Hits Screens With Trailer

It's a love story. It's about hopeless romantics.

It's starring the Muppets (HT: Mrs. Lawhawk)?



Jason Segal is hoping to reboot the franchise, and this looks like at least a credible attempt. The Muppets, now owned by Disney, have been making something of a comeback via YouTube, but this will be their first movie venture in a decade (Muppets in Space).

This is one of those YouTube videos that became viral - Bohemian Rhapsody style:

The New York City Movie Map

Can you guess what movies were shot where in New York City (and it's primarily in Manhattan) - and were referring to New York City locations? If you're stumped, the answers are here.

There may be a few omissions, such as the movies that are included on this list that also included shots filmed elsewhere in New York City.

There are also some films, like the Godfather trilogy that used properties on Staten Island, but referred to them as being located elsewhere in the country.

Some omissions from Manhattan? All That Jazz was filmed on site at the Palace Theater.

Thor Trailer Hits Like a Hammer

You should have seen this movie coming (if you bothered to stick around for the end of the credits of Iron Man 2. Marvel Entertainment is looking to cash in on as many of its comic book creations as possible, and with the success of Spider Man and Iron Man, and even the Incredible Hulk, it wasn't going to be long before the other superheros were brought to the big screen.

Thor looks like a good old fashioned popcorn flick, and it's got a bit of Natalie Portman thrown in for good measure. Let's only hope that George Lucas had nothing to do with the story or her lines.

Star Wars Video Games Get It Where Lucas' Movies Didn't

That's right Star Wars fans. You get a much better experience for your money's worth with the video games being released by Lucasfilm than George Lucas' movie division. The cinematic interludes in the video games show a much more rich and entertaining background and interaction between characters than Lucas could convey in the prequels.

Sure, the movies were gorgeous and shot with the top of the line technology when they were released, but they lacked soul. That carried through in the visuals and pretty soon you couldn't care about what happened to the characters. Check that. You hoped some of them would die (Jar Jar, I'm looking at you). That they did not was a major letdown. Characters that you hoped would stick around a little while ended up getting sliced in half even though it would have been more entertaining to see Darth Maul connive and backstab (literally and figuratively) with Count Dooku and even with Anakin Skywalker in the wings.

There were so many directions that could have gone, but instead we got a mess of storywriting and wooden performances. It was sad when the best performances were by R2D2 and Yoda.

And yet, there are ruminations that Lucas may be attempting to put together another Star Wars movie trilogy. However, the Lucasfilm flacks have denied the rumors.

Technology Gets Closer to Sci-Fi Exosuits

The military has been fascinated with trying to develop exosuits to give its soldiers enhanced speed, agility, and strength. A new exosuit design by Raytheon has managed to leapfrog over past iterations of exosuits, but it's still a long way off from the Iron Man suit worn by Tony Stark in the comics and movies.

The new robotic suit called Exoskeleton (XOS 2) – released by Raytheon Company – is lighter, faster and stronger than its predecessor, yet it uses 50 percent less power. Its enhanced design also means that it is more resistant to the environment.

Raytheon is developing the robotic suit to help with the many logistics challenges faced by the military both in and out of battle. Repetitive heavy lifting can lead to injuries, orthopedic injuries in particular.

Instead, the XOS 2 does the lifting for its operator, reducing both strain and exertion. It also does the work faster. One operator in an exoskeleton suit can do the work of two to three soldiers. Deploying exoskeletons would allow military personnel to be reassigned to more strategic tasks.

While the new suit doesn't have the grippers of the Aliens' inspired power lifters, the motivations behind the design are the same - to give a single person the ability to lift far more than they could otherwise do unassisted with greater agility and mobility.

We're still a long way off from the Iron Man suit, let alone the power suit in Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie).Yet, we're seeing the technology finally catching up with the science fiction.

New Glimpses At Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Movie

A new trailer to whet your appetite (HT: mrs. lawhawk):

First There Was Iron Man; Now There's Iron Baby

Okay, the baby in the iron man suit may not be Robert Downey Jr., but he may actually be cuter:

100 Great Movie Quotes

See if you agree.

I'm sure they left more than a few out.

Movies in 30 Seconds

How about Office Space:



Or maybe the Harry Potter movies (1-5):

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Trailer Released

Behold the beginning of the end for the Harry Potter movie phenomenon. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been split into two movies, with the first part to hit theaters in November. The finale comes in July 2011.

Peter Jackson To Helm Hobbit Movies

The Hobbit, the JRR Tolkien novels that precede the timeline of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, continues to be held up because of ongoing trouble with MGM's possible sale (and which is also holding up the production of the next James Bond movie starring David Craig). Yet, Peter Jackson, the director who brought the Rings trilogy to the big screen to tremendous acclaim now looks like he's going to direct the Hobbit after all. (HT: Mrs. Lawhawk)

The delay meant that Guillermo del Toro couldn't stick around for the demanding two year movie shoot in New Zeeland.

Almost one month after Guillermo del Toro dropped out of directing The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is in talks to helm the two films in the franchise. While we wait for the studios involved or Jackson’s manager to confirm, there are lots of questions that remain before The Hobbit can actually begin production, let alone reach the big screen.

First, MGM, the debt-laden studio that owns 50 percent of the rights to the classic tale, is facing an uncertain future. The studio failed to attract bids high enough to satisfy its creditors during an auction earlier this year, and the latest plan may see Spyglass Entertainment running the studio in a prepackaged bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Talks are continuing and no decision has yet been made, though some resolution is needed before the studio’s debt waiver expires in mid-July. Some Hollywood insiders question whether production could actually proceed if there’s a chance that those rights could wind up in bankruptcy court along with the rest of MGM’s assets (it’s the same reason why the Bond franchise is tied up since MGM owns half of those rights, too), but sources close to the Hobbit project insist that MGM’s financial woes aren’t a factor in this production.

Mother of All Movie Bombs

Uma Thurmann's latest flick about motherhood has turned out to be a major bomb. In fact, it looks like it will go down as one of the worst movie flops of all time, given the way that all of 11 people shelled out money to see Motherhood when it opened in the UK over the weekend. The movie was released in the US last October, and it did all of $40,000 worth of business.

Uma racked up a higher body count in the one fight scene in Kill Bill Vol 1 at the House of Blue Leaves against the Crazy 88s that went to see this movie. Her box office take isn't going to sit well with executives who green light projects and sign off on salaries. It's going to drop her value to studios and reduce the chances that she can headline a major production.

Methinks that Uma is going to need her muse Quentin Tarantino to come to the rescue with another movie to help remake Uma's movie image.

A Tipping Rant To Rival Mr. Pink

Dave Sax, who wrote the great book, Save the Deli, has turned in a real barn burner for the New York Times on tipping.

That's a rant to rival that of Mr. Pink, played by Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs.

Mind you, Sax's rant is one that ought to be best savored in the company of those familiar with Reservoir Dogs, but I'm sure that everyone has an experience with tipping that they'd rather forget--service so bad that you didn't know how you could leave anything for a tip or that the tips were included in the price because you were a large group and the service wasn't nearly what it should have been to deserve 20% (or 18%).