I see a lot of movies. All too often, as I’m watching something in a darkened theater, I can’t help but think about real life.  What email am I missing?  Is anything going on with the site that I should be dealing with? Why didn’t I grab that awesome looking slice of pizza in the food court before walking into the theater?  Real life follows us around like a shadow.

But for two hours at the AMC Century City, I forgot about everything outside the theater.  I was transported to another time and place, and I loved every second of the adventure.  The only time I felt anything but enjoyment was the second I realized the movie was ending…because it hit me that I’m going to have to wait at least 2 years before I see another mission.  While everyone is going to compare J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek Into Darkness to the first film and every other Star Trek adventure before it, I truly believe everyone involved in the follow-up should be congratulated for creating a worthy sequel and a fantastic movie.  I can’t wait to see it again.  Hit the jump for a spoiler free video blog review.

About a year ago, I got to visit the set of director Louis Leterrier’s Now You See Me with a few other online reporters when the production was  filming a key 3rd act scene in New York City.  The film centers on a group of magicians who pull off bank heists during their death-defying acts, and the FBI squad tasked with catching them.  Leterrier put together a great ensemble cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Caine, Melanie Laurent and Morgan Freeman.  If you haven’t seen the trailer, watch it here.

While on set, I got to participate in roundtable interviews with most of the cast, Leterrier, and the producers, and I walked away having learned a lot about the film.  I also got a good vibe from the filming and the footage they showed us, and really think Now You See Me is going to be a fun ride when it gets released May 31st.  Hit the jump for more.

Did you like District 9?  Imagine if writer-director Neill Blomkamp had 100 million more dollars to play with and access to huge movie stars like Matt Damon and Jodie Foster to help tell his next story.  You’d then have Elysium.

Ever since the movie was first announced, we’ve been covering it here on Collider, including its presence at last year’s Comic-Con.  Since it’s the follow up to a great movie, we’ve definitely had high expectations.  If the ten minutes of footage and the new trailer that I watched today at the Arclight in Hollywood are any indications, not only will our lofty expectations be met, they’ll be exceeded by far.  We might be talking about the film of the summer.  Continued after the jump.

If you were somehow nervous Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) couldn’t handle directing Iron Man 3, it’s time to relax.  Right before the Super Bowl, Marvel invited a number of domestic and international reporters to a special screening of footage from the highly-anticipated sequel.  Normally when they do footage screenings, it’s a sizzle reel, meaning you see brief moments from a number of scenes.  However, for Iron Man 3, the presentation started with Kevin Feige (the President of Production at Marvel Studios) telling us what happens in the first 20 minutes of the film, and then he showed us what happens in the following 15 minutes.  We saw a ton of action, heard some fantastic Shane Black dialogue, learned what kind of impact The Avengers had on Tony Stark, and witnessed the power of the Mandarin.  When the lights finally came up, I was smiling ear to ear and desperately wanting to see more.

Continued after the jump.

Two of the many films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival were writer/director John Krokidas’ Kill Your Darlings and Jerusha Hess’ Austenland.  Kill Your Darlings focuses on the origins of the Beat movement and follows the friendships of Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), and William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster) as they’re tested by the murder of David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), a man in his thirties who is desperately in love with Ginsberg’s friend Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan).  Meanwhile, Austenland centers on a woman in her 30’s (Keri Russell) who is so obsessed with the Pride and Prejudice character Mr. Darcy that no real-life man can compare, and her love life pays the toll. She decides to spend her life savings on a trip to a Jane Austen-themed resort in England. The supporting cast includes Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Seymour, Rupert Vansittart and James Callis.

Shortly after seeing both films I recorded two video blogs with Peter from /Film.  Hit the jump for our thoughts.

Chances are good that you’re either a fan of pinball, a fan of The Avengers, or both. Christmas has come early for you, my friends, because Stern Pinball is rolling out three new pinball games. At increasing prices levels, you can pick up the Avengers Pro or limited editions Avengers LE and Hulk LE to make a fine addition to your home arcade. (A premium edition will be available next year.) Don’t have a home arcade? Well, hopefully these beauties will make their way into a pinball-friendly fun zone near you. Hit the jump for the press release and images of each game. 

With Rise of the Guardians opening November 21, last week I got to see the finished film at DreamWorks Animation and it’s really well done.  Not only is the animation great to look at, it’s got a strong story that’s character driven and it doesn’t rely on stupid jokes.  In addition, unlike most superhero films that spend half the time introducing characters by explaining their origin and showing off their powers, what’s fantastic about Rise of the Guardians is we join almost everyone in the middle of the story.  I wish more “origin” stories would do this.

If you’re not familiar with the story, it  revolves around the rebellious Jack Frost (Chris Pine) teaming up with other mythical figures North aka Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), E. Aster Bunnyman aka Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), Tooth aka The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), and the Sandman to battle the evil Pitch (Jude Law).  Hit the jump for more.

Colin Farrell is holding a futuristic black gun that fires energy rather than bullets.  He’s standing behind a sliding white door inside a capsule that travels through the center of the Earth.  Inside the room he’s trying to enter, armed Federal soldiers are guarding a valuable prisoner: Melina (Jessica Biel), one of the leaders of the underground resistance, and she’s trying to get rid of Vilos Cohaagen (the leader of the United Federation of Britain, who’s being played by Bryan Cranston).  An assistant director calls action, the door slides open and Farrell comes barreling in, firing his weapon and killing three soldiers.  After freeing Biel, Farrell explains that Cohaagen is lying and he’s not with him. As he pleads with her, it’s clear Biel is not sure what to believe, but she eventually embraces him with watery eyes.  After a long kiss, they race out of the capsule and someone calls cut.

Let me back up a second.

As I type these words, it’s August 11, 2011 and I’m at the Toronto International Airport on my way back home.  Yesterday, I spent all day on the Toronto set of director Len Wiseman‘s Total Recall remake.  While some set visits might be a few hours, we arrived on set around 10:30am and didn’t leave until 10:30pm.  It was a crazy day where we got to see tons of cool production art, interview the cast and filmmakers, and we saw huge practical sets that are going to look amazing on screen.  For my full recap and video blog, hit the jump.

In the middle of February, I was able to visit LAIKA Studios in Hillsboro, Oregon to get an early look at their upcoming 3D stop-motion movie ParaNorman.  As a big stop-motion fan, it was incredibly cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at how it all comes together, and to see where they made their last film, Coraline.  While I assumed the process of making a stop-motion movie doesn’t change, when I visited LAIKA I learned that new technology is helping to make ParaNorman one of the most technically advanced stop-motion movies ever made, and some of what they’re using is straight out of an episode of Star Trek.  And the best part: the technology will soon be in everyone’s homes!  Hit the jump for more.

When Sony took the stage at CinemaCon 2012 yesterday afternoon in Las Vegas, they had a short one hour window to show off their various upcoming movies.  As we sat in the darkened theater waiting for the presentation to begin, we debated how could they have the stars and filmmakers talk about their movies and also show off tons of footage.  But rather than follow the typical studio roadmap, Sony decided to just show a non-stop sizzle reel sans movie stars that included the world premiere of Skyfall footage (a teaser trailer) and tons of new footage from all their 2012 films included The Amazing Spider-Man, Total Recall, Looper, Resident Evil: Retribution, Hope Springs, Premium Rush, Hotel Transylvania, Sparkle, That’s My Boy, and Men in Black 3.  More after the jump.

When Disney took the stage for their CinemaCon 2012 presentation yesterday afternoon, they didn’t mess around.  Loaded with footage, movie stars, filmmakers and information, the presentation was definitely aimed at letting exhibitors around the world know that the Disney umbrella (which now includes Pixar, Marvel, Walt Disney films, and distributing DreamWorks live-action films) is loaded with a lot of big properties and they have no intention of slowing down.  While some of the upcoming properties just had the stars and filmmakers talking about the movie (The Lone Ranger), others like Frankenweenie had Tim Burton on stage with Sean Bailey (President of Production at Disney) talking about why he wanted to make a stop-motion black and white movie, followed by the screening of a full scene.

In addition to what I just mentioned, Kevin Fiege from Marvel talked about Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 2, and The Avengers.  Pixar’s John Lasseter talked about their next four years of movies including director Lee Unkrich‘s untitled Dia de los Muertos movie, Bob Peterson‘s The Good Dinosaur, Pete Docter‘s untitled movie, Monsters University (including world premieriing the teaser trailer) and a clip of Finding Nemo in 3D and the first 30 minutes of Brave.  More after the jump.

When Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov took the stage at CinemaCon today, the big debate was over what footage he would showcase.  While rumors were flying that he’d show ten minutes of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps, and that Christopher Nolan would show something from The Dark Knight Rises, no one was sure of anything.  But when he stepped off the stage after the presentation had ended, he had shown clips from some of the biggest films of 2012 and he also made history by world premiering the rumored Hobbit footage.

During the presentation we saw footage from Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, Jay Roach’s The Campaign, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby in 3D, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages, and it ended with 10 minutes of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in 48fps.  Hit the jump for more:

Last night at CinemaCon 2012, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation showed off footage from their upcoming 2012 movies including director Christopher McQuarrie‘s One Shot (starring Tom Cruise), Sacha Baron Cohen‘s The Dictator, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, Rise of the Guardians, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

In addition to the footage, if you’re a fan of J.J. Abrams Star Trek and anxiously awaiting the sequel, during a tribute to a retiring Paramount executive, Abrams was interviewed on set wearing a very cool Star Trek 2 crew hat.  While he was only on screen for a few seconds, it was clear he was on the deck of the Enterprise, the hat had a number 2 in the front, and I immediately wanted to own one.  Hit the jump for more.

Moriarty (Jared Harris) is sitting at a table inside the Hotel De La Ville in Paris surrounded by people.  He’s reading a newspaper inside the cafe.  After a few seconds, someone walks in to tell him something.  While I can’t hear what they’re saying, the news must be important since he gets up after hearing it.  As he rises out of the chair, the focus of the shot pulls to an old man sitting at a table in the foreground of the frame.  The man is unremarkable.  He wears a suit of no importance.  He has a long grey beard and long grey hair.  I didn’t notice him until the camera pulled focus.  As Moriarty leaves the room and the man jumps out of his chair, I realize it’s Sherlock Holmes in disguise.

But let me back up a second.

Back in January, I got to visit the set of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows when the production was filming 45 miles outside London at Waddesdon Manor.  While on set, I got to participate in group interviews with Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, producers Susan Downey and Lionel Wigram, and director Guy Ritchie.  As you might imagine, I learned a great deal about the Sherlock Holmes sequel, and if you hit the jump, you can read my “20 Things to Know” and watch a video blog about the visit.

When James Cameron first announced he’d be post converting Titanic for a 3D re-release in April 2012, I was a bit skeptical.  After all, I think most of us can agree that post converted movies are usually substandard to ones being shot in 3D, and since the movie is 15 years old, I figured it would be an insane challenge to get it right.  However, earlier today I visited Paramount in Hollywood and got to see about 18 minutes of the converted film on the big screen.  So what did I learn?

Never. Ever. Bet against James Cameron.

The footage I saw this morning left me speechless.  I’m not joking around when I say it’s the best post conversion I’ve ever seen and it looks like they originally shot it in 3D back in 1997.  In addition, Cameron told us before they post converted they created a new 4K master and did a full color correction and cleaned the film.  So even if you see the film in 2D or 3D in April, you will not believe how crystal clear the images are and how good the film looks.   However, before you start to think Cameron made any changes to the actual film, he told us they are not editing a single scene.  He’s not pulling a George Lucas.  Hit the jump for more.